The emphasis on customer service. The implied belief in the power of the consumer.
Seeing 'Tel Aviv' next to 'Kuwait' on a Baggage collection screen. The unmentionable land casually, unselfconsciously mentioned.
Seeing more Afro-Carribean people. In Kuwait there are few. Filipinos, Indians and other Arabs comprising most of the ex-pats.
The omnipresence of advertising and the marketing mythos -rendered in a language I can understand and so not escape from. Alas.
The security announcements and warnings -instructing me to be loyal to my bag. Will these ever end?
That you can't smile and wave at strangers and get welcoming, or at least unfreaked out, responses.
A certain levity and liberation in the air, in the spirit, in the general atmosphere.
A greater quiet - even in London.
Beautiful English women with radiant eyes and flowing blonde hair.
The vivid, fresh colours of my homeland. In the brick, the trees, the telephone boxes, the terraced houses.
A sense that it is very different, and makes me feel different.
A happiness to be here.
A certain reluctance to return.
The thought to stay.
3 comments:
“Seeing more Afro-Carribean people. In Kuwait there are few. Filipinos, Indians and other Arabs comprising most of the ex-pats.”
Interesting!
Of course, it is well known that racism tends to be much more prevalent in Africa and Arabia than in Europe. But I wonder whether you can confirm that. Or that even dark-skinned Arabs are considered inferior to their lighter-skinned relatives?
Racism is insitutional and rife in Kuwait. The other non-white folk are racist too, between each other and together against the Kuwaitis and Arabs. The least racist people, in my experience, are the Caucasians.
I think racism is only really considered unacceptable in the eyes of the world if it is white man's racism. While this is logically insane, it makes sense given the ideological narrative of a world's response to the legacy of European Imperialism. But does this make it justified?
I don't know why there are so few afro-carribean people in Kuwait but I'll try to find out.
I don't know why there are so few afro-carribean people in Kuwait but I'll try to find out.
I think you've just answered that - expertly, if I may say so!
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