Martin Luther King

Dr. Martin Luther King’s 87th Birthday was last Friday, and yesterday was the official holiday in the US celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King.

I was reading his “I Have a Dream” speech and couldn’t help but dwell on the portion “I have a dream
that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of
their skin but by the content of their character.” Has Dr. King’s dream been fulfilled? Would he be happy with what’s happening in America now?

After reading his speech, many questions and thoughts started orbiting in my head. I couldn’t help but wonder, has Dr. King’s dream been fulfilled? Would he be happy with how America is today? America has changed dramatically from what life was like in 1963. I think the most obvious is that America’s first African American president was elected and almost finishing up his second term. I might not agree with President Obama’s politics, but he is an example to everyone of how working hard and setting goals will get you to where you want. Another item of change would be that there is diversity all around. Major cities have become melting pots of different cultures and religion. There are different races in all different professions, but sadly I think it ends there. The tolerance for the different colors, cultures, and religion is missing.

For a man whose life work was dedicated to civil rights and used “non-violent resistance” tactic, it
would be painful to read about all what’s happening these days. The cases of Trayvon Martin in Florida, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Tamir Rice in Cleveland; and Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Sandra Bland in Texas, the Indian grandfather who was paralyzed in Alabama, the girl being pulled and dragged out of her desk in South Carolina. I am sure there is many more, but their names weren’t in the news so we have no idea. Racial profiling and abuse by the police has become a national topic of talk. I know there is a gray area in all this, but I just can’t understand how all this is happening. Has this always been happening and not publicized because of social media?

As a person of color (yes brown girl writing to you), it sickens me that in 2016, blacks and whites are
treated differently. It’s wrong that depending on your skin color you will be judged. It makes me sad
that the dream of Dr. King, to be judged by your character and not by color has not been fulfilled 63
years after his speech.

Happy New Year!!

 

I would like to wish everyone a wonderful and blessed New Year!

Canada Pictures

As I said in my previous post, we were able to visit our family and friends in Canada and Texas!The weather was fabulous and I was able to even enjoy some great thunderstorms! The funny thing is, since coming back to Kuwait we have been having rain off and on and at times it’s even turned into to flooding! Rain in Kuwait is never a good thing, but that’s a post for another day!

So this trip was an interesting trip because I had to take my Canadian citizenship oath! I’m still not sure how I feel about this..I think I’m still in denial about getting married to a Canadian….and to think the farthest from Dallas I thought I’d be  was Toronto – how did I end up in Kuwait? Alrighty, back to the

I think this picture summarizes our relationship: Laughing and dysfunctional in a good way – The story behind this was The Husband wanted me to hold the certificate and we were fighting over how to hold this and our wonderful friend started taking pictures of this.

citizenship story – The Husband is happy so that’s all that matters! I think his happiness come from having not to spend time renewing my PR card and having to deal with all the paperwork and hassle. Anyhow, there’s a lot more other details in this, but I don’t want to bore you with all the crazy nonsense that I had to go through for all this. All that matters is we are done with Canadian and                                now onto American! <— Wishful thinking on my part

This was one of my most favorite trips back because we were able to see so many people and also have an almost relaxing and enjoyable time. Trips back home are usually not relaxing because we are on the go from morning till night, but on this trip we were able to spend time with our family and see some of our friends.

While we were in Toronto, we were able to do a 3 day getaway to Montreal and it was such a great trip! Montreal is on my list of Top 5 favorite cities to spend time in. I had a lot going on before leaving on our trip and Montreal was the perfect trip for us to just decompress and just have some fun. We mostly spent time just walking around the different neighborhoods and going to the different cafe’s and restaurants.

I can go on and on about our trip so instead of that, I’ll share the pictures so you can see our experience.

After I did my oath – The picture where we look normal and not fighting 🙂

Dual Citizenship…

Beef Pho!

Pork Meatballs

Lamb Skewers – This is from a Chinese place that we’ve been going to for years! I love this place and I found a recipe to recreate this, but haven’t tried it out yet…

I am not a cat fan, but found these cute socks at Wal-Mart and started using it as a sock puppet and started talking to The Husband on our drive to Montreal…

Lobster Mac & Cheese

Smoked Salmon sandwich! Yummmy!

I forgot what this was, but it was delicious!

A savory crepe at Jardin Nelson!

Sangria anyone? I think this was the theme of our trip! 😉

Us in front of the basilica

Inside the Notre Dame Basilica! My picture does not do it justice..

3 ladies sitting and gossiping, so cute

Random greenery

Montreal Poutine with smoked meat

A favorite smoked meat palce!

Five Spiced Pork Belly sandwich from Banh Mi Boys off Queen Street in Toronto

We have seen this sign everytime traveling back from different road trips off 401 but never go in, but this time we went to the Apple Farm and picked up boxes of Apple Pie and Apple Crumble for the rest of the family!

A crazy thunderstorm that came while we were driving back from Montreal. This was such a scary storm and we couldn’t even see in front of us.

Fresh Cannoli made from this small Italian cafe!

Celebrating my birthday with our sweet niece

First time our niece let me hold her and of course ice cream cake is involved!

Blowing out the candles!

Wedding

All dressed up and ready for the wedding

All dressed up for a wedding

The Husband and I with the newly married couple!

Easter Sunday

The Husband and I woke up at 2:30 AM early this morning to go to church for our Easter service. We had to arrive around 4 so that we can get a place to sit! When we reached the place was empty and I was thinking, o man I could’ve slept an extra 30 minutes, but then by 4:15 the place was packed and people were sitting on the grass and all. 

It was such a wonderful feeling to be in the midst of so many people of the same faith and being able to worship God together. There were so many different people from all types races and walks of life, but coming together and praising God was just amazing.

I took a couple pictures, you can see the transformation from night to sunrise.

Here’s the sun slowly starting to rise.

Below is a link for a song that I really enjoy listening to (Sorry I tried to integrate it into this post, but wasn’t able to)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLy8ksqGf9w&list=RDaowdjLeaCYs&index=4

Try Again

Dear Blog Readers,

I am so sorry for not writing since my January New Years 13 days late post! I have just been so busy with work! I’ve been taking pictures, but not able to post it. If you look in my Blog folder, there are about 10 differetn drafts that I’ve started, but not completed. For some reason the motivation just isn’t there.

After coming home from work, I am just exhausted. I have to cook (We let go of our maid..) and then I try to work out.. Try being the key word, by then it’s usually around 10 or 11 and then I’m ready to just pass out.

One of the reasons I started this blog was to update folks on what’s going on in our Kuwait life and also to improve my writing skills. I even joined a few writing clubs, but didn’t really keep up with it. Anyhow, enough excuses! I need to just get back to it.

Happy New Year!

I know I’m 13 days late, but wanted to say Happy New Year to everyone! Wishing everyone a wonderful and blessed New Year!

I Love September

I know lately I’ve been slacking on my blog, and not sticking my 3 posts a week, but I have just been so busy with work and traveling! So hoping to make up for it by keeping track of my days and write something atleast 2 times a week!

September is my favorite month of the year! The air turns a bit cooler, in Kuwait this means from 130 to 100, which is a HUGE difference. My memories of childhood come back to me.. The excitement and fear of the new school year to start, all the shopping and prepping for the first day of school, and seeing my friends and finding out who will be my teachers for the new year… Ya I was a nerd…

In Toronto, Fall is my favorite time of the year because you see all the leaves changing colors. I love seeing the orange, yellow, and red leaves as I drive through the streets. In September the Mister and I would drive to Ottawa or Niagara just so we can enjoy the beautiful foliage around us. I really do miss doing things like that living in Kuwait! Here the palm trees just get closed up for the winter! No leaves to change colors. 😦

Another reason to love this month is because of football! I miss watching football! I miss being in Texas where everything revolves around different sports! I miss the Cowboys!

Another reason why September is the best time of the year is because it’s a great for change! You might be thinking, uumm isn’t January just a few months away? September is not a “New Year”, but I like to do them in September because no decision I ever make in January ever sticks so if you start them early, you will get used to it and by January you’ll have your resolution already in the basket!

My last reason for loving September is because it’s my Birthday month! WooHoo! This year I turned 30! Yup, I still remember turning 20, and now I’m 30. I don’t think it’s hit me that I’ve turned 30 because I don’t feel any anxiety or anything really. To celebrate my birthday the Mister and I went to Thailand. We wanted to go to a few cities to see Thailand all around but because of how busy work was we weren’t able to get away for longer than a week. We decided to just relax and chill so we went to Phuket. We went during off season time so it was great! Another reason to love September is the kids are back in school so many places are not as busy! Phuket was pretty dead so we were able to relax and enjoy the place without having to deal with so many tourists all around!

I’ll write another post later on about my thoughts on Phuket.

That’s all for now!

Marriage as I know it

Last weekend a friend of mine came over and we were talking about random things. She mentioned a series of videos she watched by Mark Gungor. So then we (Friend, The Husband, and I) sat and watched one of his seminars, and The Husband and I really enjoyed watching it and I hope we’ll be able to continue watching them together.

I was Googling Mark Gungor and was just going through different links on his website, there was one page that was all different types of articles. As I was going down the different titles I saw the first link under Married Life that says “10 Resolutions for My Marriage in 2014” The reason this caught my eye was in the beginning of the year The Husband I wrote five things that we wanted from the other person to make our marriage better. The sad part about this is that we both wrote our five points, but then never got the chance to discuss it! Anyhow, I saw this and thought I’d see what this lady’s 10 Resolutions for Marriage was. (You can read it by clicking HERE)

She starts of the article by stating she has an amazing marriage, but she can do better! I think I am also in the same boat! I have a wonderful marriage, but I know I can be a better wife. I love my husband more than I did the day we got married, but I can be a better person a nicer person to my husband.

After reading this article, I started thinking about what makes a good wife and what I’ve learned about marriage in the five years I’ve been married. I am writing this through my perspective as a wife and have provided Bible verses. Even if you are not religious, I think these are good points to go on. I am not writing this as a marriage expert because I have only been married for 5 years and I know there are many other capable people out there who can say so much more, but these are a few thoughts that I have come up with that have helped me in my marriage.

After reading my points you might think I am not a feminist and I don’t care about my rights as a women, but being a submissive wife does not been that you are letting your husband tell you what to do or you have no rights… I will write another post on my views of submissiveness.

1. Make sure to keep your marriage in your prayer! God has a plan in every marriage and for us to know what that is,we need to pray and seek God’s will! (Proverbs 2:1-6 & Proverbs 3:5-6)

2. Show your husband love, Show your husband kindness, be a peaceful wife, have a joyful heart, Show self-control and restraint, strive to be an excellent wife, always be faithful to God and you will be faithful to your husband, Be gentle and tender towards your husband (Galatians 5:22-23)

3. Don’t give up on your marriage! Love never fails! (1 Corinthians 13)

4. Don’t be selfish.. It’s not about you always! (Philippians 2:3)

5. Be respectful towards your husband (Ephesians 5:33)

6. Keep the Lord as your number one (Colossians 3:17)

7. Marriage brings together two sinners (Romans 3:23) so marriage should make two forgivers.

8. Serve your husband by submitting to him! (Ephesians 5:22-24)

9. Be slow to speak, quick to listen, and slow to anger (James 1:9) I am the type that is quick to speak, but the husband is very methodical in speaking and I can at times just go on and on. I have learned over the years to listen more because The Husband has much to say.

10. Smile! After a rough day at the office, when he comes home.. SMILE at him! When we were in Toronto, one thing The Husband likes me to do when he gets home is get up and greet him with a smile and hug. Remember a smile goes a long way!

11. Don’t think what you see in the movies or read is what real romance is like. Grand gestures is not what is real romance (not that grand gestures are bad…), real romance is the everyday things. True love is sacrificing things you love for your spouse, sharing your burdens, listening to everything he says, keeping promises, making him happy just by doing simple things.

These are a few points I have come up with and there are many more. I am not a perfect wife, but a wife that sins and I have to constantly work to remind myself these things.

You are not alone!

“You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you’ll win, no matter what the outcome.” – Patch Adams, Patch Adams

Yesterday morning I was reading through different headlines and saw there was a post saying Robin Williams dies of an apparent suicide at 63. I had to Google Robin Williams to make sure it was true. This was a complete shocker! One of the most talented actors who was known for his comedic roles killed himself.

As I am writing this post, it just feels so surreal to be writing about him in a past tense. Writing about a man whom I had grown up watching, killed himself. I couldn’t help but reminisce of my three favorite movies of Robin Williams. The Genie in Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, and in Patch Adams. I remember watching Aladdin and Mrs. Doubtfire countless time. Mrs. Doubtfire especially, I remember this was one of the movies my brother and I could watch over and over with our parents!

It just breaks my heart when I think that he felt he had no where else to go or no other choice and had to end his life for that reason. Nobody knew what he was struggling, but one thing is that his struggles are not uncommon.

I am not writing this post to say suicide is wrong or right. Growing up in an Indian family, discussing situations like this is taboo, but I just want there to be an awareness that depression is a disease. This stigma that is associated with depression should change. It shouldn’t be hidden away or swept under the rug. Nobody should think they are ever alone.

Speak to somebody, talk to a friend, your spouse, visit a doctor. Please try to get help! Don’t think that you don’t have an option because there is always an answer.

Get your Moushakel while it’s hot!

I love Middle Eastern food! I’ve also learned not to call it Middle Eastern food, instead call it Arabic food. One of my favorite go to meals is eating a Moushakel! I am not sure how to spell it, but it’s one of my favorite go to foods! There are two places in Kuwait that I like to go to to have this. One is a place in the city on the corner close to the Mubarakia, unfortunately I have no idea what the street name is! All I know is they’re so popular and the food is always so fresh and delicious! I took a picture of the place if that will help! The second place I like to eat my moushakel is at the restaraunt Canary. Their moushakleis also pretty good. It’s not as soft because the pita bread is not soft like the samoon bun, but it’s still a great fresh taste!

Y’all might be wondering now what in the world is a Moushakel?? A moushakel is a type of vegetarian wrap or sandwich. You might be thinking, UUMMM vegeterian? I know at first I was apprehensive also, but I love this sandwich! A Moushakel can come as a wrap using a pita bread or as a sandwich in a bun(samoon). Both ways it’s called a sandwich. I like it both ways, but I like it only from two places in Kuwait so far! The inside comprises of a nice crispy falafels that are smashed, french fries, roasted eggplant, some cucumber slices, tomatoes, and then a nice heaping of tahini. A falafel is made out of chickpeas and parsley with spices along with it. So this sandwich is full of protein and also delicious veggies!

Canary Wrap before bite

After a bite

You can see the veggies and fries sticking out and inside is the yummy falafels all inside this bun

We usually order the wraps with a side order of falafels because you can never have enough falafels! The place in the city gives you a few falafels along with the moushakel sandwich.

Our free falafels from the place in the city!

I found another blogger who also likes Moushakels and you can check out his post here.

I hope if you ever try this sandwich you will enjoy it as much as I do!