Kuwait National Day/Liberation Day 2016

55 years ago Kuwait became independent with the end of the British protectorate. This actually happened in June but they celebrate it in February in conjunction with Liberation celebrations- celebrating the liberation from the Iraq invasion 25 years ago.

Last year we had a 4 day weekend and I went to Jordan, but this year it was only 3 days because the holiday was actually on the weekend. So instead of traveling this year I just stayed in Kuwait. I basically hid in my apartment most of the weekend and tried not to drive anywhere. Kuwaiti drivers are insane on a normal day. They're triple insane over holidays like this.

The big thing to do for Liberation is basically have a water fight. It's a little like Songkran in Thailand, only Thailand is much better. The other thing they do is put up lights-- all kinds of festive lights. It's a little like Christmas. I went out a couple of times with some friends to just drive around and look at all the Liberation lights, like you do with Christmas lights. Since I was the one driving I don't have a lot of shots of the lights, but I did get some. We also went to a celebration at the park. I did drive down Gulf road, which is where the water fight happens, one time just to say I did it.

We went to a Liberation Day/National Day celebration in the park. 

They gave us a hat, a flag, and a scarf. I love swag!

Selfie!

They had free snacks like cotton candy, little slider sandwiches, and cookies. 

The amphitheater was cool. They have these grassy levels and they had these giant pillows to sit on. 

I was trying to work this shot with the flags backlit.... never really got a money shot but some of the shots were still cool enough to share. 

Lots of kids all decked out in Kuwaiti flags and colors. 

These light up shoes are so the new cool thing. 

It was all in Arabic and it was mostly little kids doing something to win a oil worker costume. 

Pretty city view from the park.

Again, pretty city view from the park. 

That building has the flag waving projected on the side.  I didn't get many good shots because I had to grab them at stop lights since I was driving. 

This was an accident but I kinda like it in an abstract way. 

The red flag is the old Kuwait flag. I kinda like the red one. 

At the grocery store. 

We could wear traditional dress or Kuwait colors the last day of school before the holiday. This is our weekly flag ceremony but this time everyone had the flags and we did a little parade where each grade walked around the yard for everyone to see how they dressed. 

One of my students brought temporary tattoos to share with the class...

so I became a tattoo artist for the morning.

This is the kid I tutor-- he looks handsome in his dishdasha

treats my kids brought

So many treats! 

I specifically did not say we were having a party in the hopes of not ending up with a TON of food-- this is what still came to class. Actually, we had already eaten some during 1st snack break. 

And this is what was left even after letting the kids eat as much as they wanted.