See-through clear bags are not new per say, they’ve come and gone on the fashion scene several times before. I remember sporting a big see-through blue on my first day of college back in 1998. These days everyone is Read more »
I saw a man heading to his to workplace today on a motorcycle.
The weather was gorgeous, warm with a cool breeze. Traffic was horrible even as early as 7 A.M. Roadworks didn’t help much in the traffic department. Drowsy car drivers almost slumped on their steering wheels -at least I was- waiting for the traffic sign to go green, and then there was this motorcycle slipping through traffic, not taking much space at all, and he made it to Read more »
My dear friend and fellow blogger M3a 7amad Qalam sent me a big fat gooey chocolate cake named after him from the Chocolate Bar. Read more »
In a dark alley right besides Solo Pizza Neapolitan sits a little burger joint sporting a very hip identity of not having a name or a sign on the door, the name is Read more »
I saw this sign last week in a Sunday market booth and as I reached the last line I cracked up laughing! It was so funny!
I hope it draws a smile on your face the way it did mine. No offence to guys :p
Rated in the top ten movies currently running in the USA is The Vow. Based on a true story, a newly married couple get into a car accident which wipes the wife’s memory and lets her not remember anything about her loving husband. Not even meeting him. In her eyes he is nothing but a stranger she is supposed to go home with.
The movie is very sweet. Chopped like shawerma in Kuwait especially when they say their vows which is what’s the movie is all about anyways. I liked it a lot and enjoyed it but my husband fell asleep and started snoring b3d! Wakhezyah fashla!
It is not a male’s movie at all. When I nudged the man and woke up he said the movie was slow -I thought it was sweet- and that it was too constant: sweet but you can’t strongly feel the sorrow or the happiness or the love. I agree with that. The movie lacks intensity which would have made it a much much better movie. I enjoyed it yes but I’m not sure I am going to add it to my DVD collection though.
Oh and Channing Tatum should really invest his movie payment in fixing his teeth! A movie star acting in Hollywood should NOT have such horrible teeth especially when acting with Rachel McAdams flashing her perfect pearly whites.
The Kuwaiti Student Organization at Kansas State University held a National & Liberation Days event on the 25th of February on campus in Manhattan, Kansas. The event was attended by the Kuwaiti students at Kansas State University as well as students and faculty from all around the world.
The guests gathered around to celebrate.
Chatting to the guests.
Faculty members showing the Kuwaiti spirit. Wanasa y7leelhom!
The guests being shown around the gallery showcasing Kuwait the past, present, and the future.
Even kids were celebrating 
Students joining in!
Many booth’s were set up around the room which included taking photos of the guests in the Kuwaiti clothing, writing their names in Arabic and Kuwaiti girls drew henna patterns on the female guests hands.
Shabab el Kuwait in traditional dishdasha’s.
Of course no Kuwaiti event is complete without serving Kuwaiti snacks and desserts throughout the event and concluding with a Lamb machboos dinner that everyone enjoyed. I wonder who cooked that though? Do you guys know how to cook machboos?
Kuwaiti students who participated in the festivities.
The executive committee of the Kuwaiti Student Organization.
Gawakom Allah shabab o banat ma ga9artaw. Insha2 Allah kilha chan senna o you are back bel shahada to celebrate with your families back home
Thank you Yousef Al Sharif
How many times did this happen to you? You are in a mall or in a restaurant or even the Co-op. Alone, or with friends, or your family, or your husband. Then you see a married girl friend of yours walk in with her husband, sees you from the corner of her eyes, then either she walks away hurriedly or pretends she didn’t see you and walks right by!
You are sure, 100%, that she had seen you. You also know she avoided you just because she is with her husband. The next time you see her husband free she will be all over you kissing and greeting you like the friend you are supposed to be.
Eshda3wa! Ma7ad 3ndah rayel ‘3airich? Eb naklah? Your actions say one thing and one thing only: you are insecure! I have no problem encountering women with my husband. I have no problem introducing him to my girl friends and saying this is flana and this is flana. You know why? Because I have confidence in myself, my marriage, and most importantly: my husband!
Do you think your husband is blind? or that if he saw a friend of yours who is a woman that he will suddenly cheat on you? What kind of a relationship do you have with this man? You call this a marriage? Where you are afraid of every woman who walks the face of the earth? What about your house keeper? Isn’t she a woman too? What about your sisters? What about his unmarried girl cousins? What about his female work colleagues?
You can’t stop your husband seeing other woman. If he is going to be unfaithful to you, he will be unfaithful even if he lives in the land where no females walk on the face of earth. If he meets your girl friends it tells him you have utter confidence in him. If he has to run after you while you flee every female who might say hello to you eventually he might rebel and want to show you that he can and he will cheat on you with another woman if he wants to, just because he could.
Your action just make us laugh incredously at you and pity you and your limited mentality. So grow up. 3aib 3leech. Have confidence in yourself woman! For the love of god believe in yourself and trust your life partner!
What do you think? Did this happen to you before?
Our friend Meshary was in 52 Degrees the other day and took some pictures of the newest items they have in stock for me. I Read more »
As my Bu Tootee is now officially a “7aji” and as customary for 7ejaj I wanted to throw him a big reception with dinner for his family and friends. However he hates being the center of attention so he refused point blank but said I can get him 7ajj themed chocolate to distribute. Now I’ve never done this before and usually I only trust my own taste but I have no time.
So help me please, where do I buy him a good quality good wrapping very elegant modernish not khabba chocolates for distribution that would take my order for next Monday without complaint? and not obscenely priced with bya3 el ward wrapping?
Help?
A while ago I dropped my Butootee to the airport and watched him pass the gates on his way to 7ajj, leaving me alone with the feeling of someone squeezing my heart until I could no longer breathe.
For a moment there I thought about running after him, clinging to his dishdasha and asking to go with him. Wherever he goes, I go. A blink too late as he disappeared behind the security guards on his way to a spiritual journey he has been aching for since forever.
How I got the courage to pull my feet away and return to my car is beyond me. I felt like crumbling on the airport floor and staying there until next Friday when he comes back. Everywhere I look people are happy, smiling, together, flying away to enjoy the vacation I now regard as a long lonely sentence. Eyes clouding with tears I drove home through the never ending traffic to a cold silent apartment.
Allah ya7fothah o yrj3ah bel salama. May god help my poor lonely heart, I already feel lost and dazed without him 
No more posts for the day by the way.
When I was packing my husband’s bags for 7ajj I had this overwhelming feeling of wanting to surprise him with something when he unpacks. I thought about stuffing the No3man dolly but then I was afraid No3man would decide to stay in Mecca and never want to come back. I thought about writing him a love letter, then I immediately remembered WHY I have sworn never to write the man a love letter again. As a matter of fact I have Read more »
Since Bu Tootee is going with a 7amla he must pack his bags and ship them before he travels. Yesterday we finally packed his bags and today he should drop it to the 7amla. I am listing what he -well I to be concise- packed for future reference and for anyone who might need ideas:
Big Bag to be shipped:
1- 3 E7rams. Taken out of their packaging and washed.
2- Shoes: White slippers for e7ram, Bathroom Slippers, Trainers.
3- A full set of underwear for a few days, socks, and Dishdashat noom.
4- A change of clothes for 3 days after e7ram was done. 3 Shirts & 3 Trousers.
5- Toiletries: Scent free toiletry kit (post). An extra bar of scent free soap. An extra bottle of scent free shampoo. Toothpaste, Toothbrush, Shaving Cream, Face Wash, scented toiletries for after 7ajj, perfumes, body wash, and mofraka.
6- A cream for rashes and a heat cream thing for sore muscles.
7- Toilet seat covers, travel wipes, dettol wipes, and that gel you put to kill the germs on your hands.
8- Small packages of kleenex and Ear cotton puds.
9- Pins for e7ram, and a nails and hair grooming kit.
10- Towels
When he goes to the airport he will be wearing one e7ram, the belt, and the e7ram shoes and pulling a handbag. In the handbag which he is taking to the airport he has:
1- A change of clothes: Underwear, socks, tshirt, trousers, and Dishdashat noom.
2- Dettol wipes, travel wipes, kleenex, and toilet seat covers.
3- A first aid mini bag: Panadol, Vitamin C, Limesip, Zirtec, Buscopan, Gaviscon, Plasters, and mini sweets.
4- Chargers for the Galaxy Tab and the Phone.
5- Money, Passport, and 7aj and prayer booklets.
6- Extra set of pins.
I hope we didn’t forget to add anything. Do you have something to add maybe? Or something you or a relative is taking and should be helpful.
This year my Butootee has decided to go to Hajj insha2 Allah. Its his first time going to 7ajj to “explore” before he takes me in the years to come insha2 Allah 😀
So he has done his homework and searched for the best 7amla to take him to Mecca especially considering he is going all alone. He chose a small 7amla called Labeek and will be sharing his room with two other men he doesn’t know. So recently all we’ve been doing is preparing for his trip.
First he had to go get his 7ajj vaccinations which took us several days going from one medical center to another until we found the right one. Then we had to go buy him the 7ajj e7ram’s. He bought 3 only but I think we need to buy him some more. he bought white slippers and a black belt so I guess his e7ram outfit is complete? Bought the dettol wipes as well and the 7amla gave him a big bag and a handbag that must be packed and ready to be shipped on October the 27th.
What else do people buy to prepare for 7ajj? I remember hearing about a scent-free toiletry kit for 7ajj but I don’t know from where to buy it. Tried Al-Shaye3 and they only had the deodorant. I suppose he needs towels mo? and a clean change of clothes for when he finishes his 7ajj rituals. What about socks? Or blankets?
Have you been to 7ajj before? Is there something you recommend we buy? and from where?
1- Hamburgers! In the 70’s and 80’s it was all wimpy, hardeez, and hungry bunny, in the 90’s it was Mcdonald’s, fuddruckers, Burger King, and Johhny Rockets. In the 2000’s we first had the locals B+F, Burger Hub, and Slider Station and now the new burger franchises which keep on coming and coming! Get a Burger franchise and you will be rich
2- Henna! No matter how many new beauty products and hair friendly dyes are invented. No matter how many hair treatments are used. The disgusting 7enna is still a favorite amongst Kuwaiti women! Its messy, it smells really bad, it gives your hair an orange hue, is impossible to wash out, and makes your hair as dry as a witche’s broomstick! Yet women still use it! Why? Beyond me!
3- The 3baya! Even though it evolved from a 3bat raas to 3baya islamiya and gotten all jiggy with tons of crystals but the black fabric is here to stay. I personally a7eb 3bat el raas. Reminds me of the 80’s jam3iya Look: Farg 3adel, Big Sunglasses, 3bat raas on the shoulders, an Egyptian dara3a in a vibrant color, and a wooden gobgab! Classic!
4- Mesabee7! No matter what era we are in, our men will always have an expensive mesba7 flying around in their arms. Not necessarily for prayers per say but its a must have acceossory. Now, cham wa7ed fekom inbag mesba7ah el kahrab bel dewaniya?
5- Bukhoor <3 La Jo Malone wala Air wick. Foggy bukhoor with its oriental scent always win <3
6- Bye Bye London Play! Almost 90% of the Kuwaiti population have seen it and those who haven’t will have to see it because we still rave about it and laugh over it and use its names and phrases as quotes.
7- Pizza Qay9ar! The ultimate celebration food! Until this day I manage to find a plate of pizza Qay9ar in gatherings and buffets. Never ever goes out of style 😀
8- Ke7el elhnood. Even though there are a million posh brands of expensive makeup out there, the best most used Kohl pen is the one sold in the little Indian stalls in traditional souks. You can buy a dozen with the price of one Estee Lauder Kohl pen and they will give you the blackest best kohl rimmed eyes you’ve ever drawn.
9- Banak! No matter how many new munchies are invented and out every day, people would still buy banak from the guy 3nd el dowwar. Still block the traffic and buy a clear bag filled with salty little fellas that can break your teeth into two. No matter how many times you explain how banak is made, it is still bought and consumed when in season. Not a fan, ashwa!
10- Leggings! The fashion world has already left them behind, yet the Kuwaiti women still use them excessively! The fatter and more voluptuous the woman the more fond she is of leggings. They are using white and flesh colored ones b3d with really short tops and you have a live demonstration of the girl’s jiggle test result as she walks around. Araf! Bs 3ad! El Ra7ma!
What else do you think that would never go out of style in Kuwait?
The first toys donation I knew about was from Dhari Al-Huwail, the guy behind Nuttella Darrio Pizza in Read more »
Did you know the bow tie is back?
I read the line above on a website selling ties and bow ties and I snorted. When were they ever fashionable? Apparently I am mistaken for I have been seeing them around K-Town for two days in a row!
Big colorful ridiculous bow tie on an immaculate outfit worn to a place where its guaranteed you will be seen by half the Kuwaiti society. I don’t even know the things name in Arabic, aside from what I call wardat fa6oo6a that is. I sincerely hope it won’t catch on like Men wearing a head band habba thing but you never know with this society! Now I long for the days when shaved bald heads where in style! At least they were macho, not ridiculously clownish.
Guys, would you wear a Bow Tie in public?
On Thursday we were invited by VIVA to attend a “Sports Event”. The nature of the event had an air of mystery surrounding it so we went with high expectations to Read more »
Yesterday I was in 360 Cinescape when I saw an exhibition of the Cinema’s History and artifacts in Kuwait. It is so worth a visit and I enjoyed it very much. What caught my attention however is the stars who once sang in cinema Al Andalus. I knew Abdul halim, fairuz,om Kalthom sang there in the golden ages of Kuwait. I didn’t know that bands like Boney M did too! O someone who looks like the Opera’s Pavarotti but I am not sure and that guy who screams in Rocky Movie and sings living in America -dunno his name-!
I am trying to imagine Kuwaiti men i the 70’s, big hair or long hair with Charleston trousers filing in to Al Andalus cinema and dancing to Daddy Cool and No Woman No Cry! What happened? Why do we have to board a plane to Dubai and Abu Dhabi to listen to good music? In the SIXTIES and SEVENTIES of the past CENTURY we had bands playing in our country… why can’t we have the same in the 2nd decade of the 21st century? He who wants to listen can go listen, he who doesn’t want to can stay at home. Live and let live!
I want to see Ballet, Swan Lake, Lord of the Dance, Opera, Fairuz, something… anything in my own country. It’s not my fault I was born too late in the 80’s y3ni!
If you’ve been reading my blog for a long time you would recognize the strange purple pasta above. No I didn’t make it, my beloved husband Butootee made Read more »
Soccer fan? Of course you are. Then empty streets of Kuwait when a match is on is a solid proof that most of you guys and girls are soccer fanatics. Therefore, you will be ecstatic to know that you can get your latest soccer gear at the comfort of your own home with a click of a button very very soon because Kuwait’s first online shop is going to launch soon and make you guys very happy.
To make you happier, Danderma’s readers will have an exclusive 30% discount on their purchases for a whole week after the official launch date, which is going to be soon. So keep an eye on this blog, for the launch news and discount are exclusive to Danderma’s blog only 😉
Soccer District, we are eagerly awaiting your launch. Bring it on!
1- unremittently Breakfast at work. We do’t usually do breakfast at work with big gatherings and hoopla but it so happens that the first day of your diet always coincides with having breakfast at work. Which ruins the entire weekly plan :p
2- http://thevintry.com.au/product-tag/barossa-valley/ Family Gatherings. You have been good all week. Then comes the weekend with your family gathering looming. You lecture your self and say you will eat two spoonfuls of this and than and nothing else. Then your mama’s hot apple cake is sitting there and it smells so good and you already ate the entire fattoush bowl at lunch and oopsy daisy you are tumbling out of the wagon into the abyss!
3- Food Ads and Brochures. Is it just my imagination that the day you start dieting those damn brochures appear out of no where on your door step and newspaper’boxes and even at your cars window with yummy pictures screaming eat me eat me I am a phone call away?
4- Living with a man. They just can’t stop eating, 24 hours, the most delicious food ever and they have testosterone to the rescue. What is a girl to do? Wear a blindfold?
5- Food gifts from abroad. If you receive a mountain f chocolate from Geneva or a carton of the latest flake from London, do you think it would wait four months for you to end your diet? Really? Yeah I didn’t think so either.
6- Celebratory Invitations. We celebrate by food. A’s birthday, B’s Graduation. C’s promotion. You go into a restaurant in the middle of the diet week, you try to stick to salad and water… they suddenly that gooey chocolate cake is in the middle and you take a bite and everything is ruined for you
7- Courses with Buffets. You go to a course without having breakfast. Then the break comes and you try to stick to your diet by looking at the buffet spread ahead of you. Luscious croissants, gleaming danish, golden samboosas. You try to resist then you realize you won’t have this buffet every day and your defenses crumble and in no time you are waving bye bye to your diet.
8- Twitter & Bog Posts. Well I am guilty as charged. Its just too damn hard to not crave something badly when the pictures are so graphic and the description says good and yummy. 7ram :'(
9- New Restaurants. It so happens that restaurants decide to bloom like mushrooms, one after the other, exactly when I start my diet. Everyone is talking about try restaurant X or Y. We are human after all, we say we need to try it to get it out of our system. Then you try it and your diet takes a suicidal jump out of the window.
10- Coming home after grocery shopping. What’s a dieting girl to do when she returns home to find her coffee table filled with all the forbidden goodies shown in the picture above? You can resist for a day or two waiting for them to vanish, but eventually your hands will betray you and grab a piece of chocolas with one hand while strangling the diet with the other.
What usually ruins your next Sunday’s diet plans?
Men of Q8
One hour before the wedding Take a bath, shave, put on bukhoor, wear your dishdasha, ghetra and 3eqal. Grab your accessories (pen mesba7 watch). Put your feet into a good gleaming sandals or shoes and go.
During the wedding Go inside, congratulate the groom and his family, meet with friends over the buffet, eat laugh have fun. If necessary get into the car zaffa of the groom and honk your horn while driving all over Q8. Go inside the womens hall to say a 2nd congratulations. Go home or to your dewaniya or gahwa and enjoy the rest of your day. Business as usual.
Women of Q8
When the invitation arrives Search everywhere for a dress, shoes, clutch, Jewelry, accessories, suitable lingerie for the dress. This could go on for days and might involve ordering things online. You must also go on a diet. Call every salon in town to reserve makeup and hairdo appointments and put your name on a waiting list if necessary.
A day before the wedding hair removals, manicure and pedicure appointments, eye brow and facial hair threading, bleachinig face or back hair.
The day of the wedding Take a bath, spend the entire day at the salon getting your hair pulled and pushed and steamed and sprayed into place. Get into the chair where a makeup lady will tell you your face is too dry and tons of makeup is applied to your face. Dash home and get inside your endless garments, get out your Jewelry, your perfumes, your 3baya or whatever you will wear to cover up. Get into your heels, shuffle to the car, don’t forget the card or you won’t be allowed to enter, wait forever for the elevator with many other women there, get out of your cover, check your makeup and hair and look before going into the wedding hall, say hello and find a chair to sit in, reserve the chair for your friend/family and endure one thousand and one attempts to ward off women who want that chair you reserved. You must dance, you must fix your look every now and then, you must wait until midnight until the bride and groom are happy together on the koosha before you are allowed something to eat. Totter around the buffet in your heels with your swollen feet at 1 AM to try and find something to eat. Shove food inside your mouth that is tasteless somehow, you cannot really enjoy your dinner. By the time you are finally allowed to go home you must wipe off all that makeup, take out one thousand endless little pins, wipe your makeup some more while you are so tired and want to just crash on your bed, hang your clothes and take off all those jewelry and put them back into their boxes. Your hair feels stiff, your face feels raw, your feet are swollen, your day is gone.
Don’t you wish you were a Kuwaiti man right now? Lucky THEM!
My dear VW Touareg was taken to the service on Saturday. My husband came home with some paper he gave me and asked me what exactly was I doing with the car?
Apparently the blue marks on the Touareg’s body in the picture above are all hits and bumps? and that they were inflicted by my driving? How strange. I don’t remember hitting anything, or seeing any of these things.
Apparently the VW guy was baffled but then why my husband told him that its my wife’s car he understood and began cracking jokes! How rude!
I am a very good very calm driver. I don’t speed. I don’t hit stuff. The only thing “bad” that I do is that I don’t brake before speed bumps. That’s it. No more no less. Eshda3wa…
Hmph. Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do before?
Yesterday and for the first time since our marriage years, my husband “accidentally” opened the car door for me! I say accidentaly because I know his view on car door opening. Also, he didn’t keep the door open or close it. He kinda yanked it open by mistake thinking it was his door and then ran away to his own side of the car. Its a good thing he didn’t close the door before I got inside.
I remember a long time ago in some parking, we were waiting to park when we saw a nice young Q8i couple. The guy opened the door for his wife, waited for her to settle in, closed the door after her then went to his side of the car. Of course it took them forever to vacate the spot but his chivalry was touching -and macho FYI-.
So I asked my husband ‘Why don’t you open the car door for me?’ Y3ni at least for once in my life 3ad eshda3wa? His reply? ‘I will open the car door for you if you agree to take off my shoes and wash my feet daily!’.
For gods sake! Is opening the car door really that demeaning? Why? There is no need to do it on a daily basis but once in a blue moon is really touching and considerate? Is that the way the men look at door opening? It is some form of demeaning gesture that makes you less of a man and more of a maid? Is that why I had to hold open the door for that guy and his wife coming out of Johnny Rockets and the guy went out in all his glory with the wife trailing behind him while I opened the door, wanting to slam it in his face and knock some sense into his arrogant face?
Why? Why won’t you open the car doors? Let women know… because we women think its nothing but na7asa o la3ana from your part. Enlighten us with your perspective please!
