Sights and shapes of Al Kout

by Nebz Bandiez

Of all the malls that I visited in Kuwait, there is nothing architecturally beautiful as Al Kout Mall in Fahaheel, Kuwait. It sits along the Arabian Sea and houses branded boutiques, coffee shops, eletronic centers, cinema houses and a wet market (the cleanest wet market I've seen so far).

(Al Kout, in Arabic, means fortress by the sea).

Here are some of the photos that I took while visiting Al Kout.



Al Kout is a pier alright. In its harbor is a marina of fancy luxury boats in the North Pier and battered fishing boats in the South Pier.





Every half hour after dusk, water on the fountain dances and shows off amidst classical and new age music. (The fountain is apparently one of the biggest in Kuwait).



On top of one of Al Kout's domed towers is a magnificent view of the opulent Al Manshar Rotana hotel situated right at the center of Fahaheel.

Inside the domed tower of Al Kout:



















Al Kout is developed by Tamdeem Real Estate of Kuwait.

Great thing cards

560 years ago, someone from Germany engraved on wood the first Christmas 'card' (or more aptly, the first Christmas 'board').

150 years ago, the first commercially-sold Christmas cards was illustrated by John Callcott Horsley. It proved to be controversial because it depicted of a wine-drinking family with a small child.

135 years ago, United States had its first US-made Christmas card via Louis Prang.

95 years ago, Hallmark cards were created by John C Hall and brothers.

10 hours ago, I did these Christmas cards which you can right-click-copy for free. More tuts on Christmas cards are available in Smashing Magazine.







Info sourced from Google (where else?).

► Read Nebz's previous articles here.

Ghostly

It's gone now. All that remains in my memory is how vivid it appeared, and how unafraid I was. Well, almost unafraid. The truth is I was sweating all over before our encounter. It's from not knowing what to expect, I guess. It's from the fear of finding out that my ghastly, ghostly interpretations of how he looks like are true. Surprisingly, he looks so far from how we've conceived him to be.

You see, five years ago, I had an encounter with a tikbalang. That pipe smoking dark creature living mostly in a tree -- portrayed as having a hairy body, a hunchback, with a hoof of a horse, nostrils of a horse, long-haired, etc. Well, our tikbalang wasn't reall all that. He's dark, behairy but not a hunchback. He's piping a cigarette, not a cigar. He's scary because his eyes are not crossed and his teeth dark and stained and he's always salivating. And he has a name. Tikboy Tikbalang.

He used to live in that dark, dreary haunted house (or 'hunted haws' as we kids love to call it) near the public cemetery. After school, we kids would take that corner street even if it's out of our way, scaring ourselves with various ghostly stories, claiming that Tikboy Tikbalang is standing in one of those open windows looking at us, and then on cue, we would dart home as fast as we can, catching our breath, almost dying of laughter making fun of whoever gets home last.

Tikboy Tikbalang, hence, became a part of my youth. He taught us the wonderful world of imagining things and of weaving of stories and of scaring ourselves.

The truth is, he's the katiwala of that 'hunted haws', unmarried, loves cigarettes, and, nobody knows this except me, loves to crack jokes and to make fun of kids. I learned this one day when he caught me sneaking near their fence hoping to have a glimpse of him. I didn't know that he was out and was watching me across the street. I was stooped low among the bushes when I suddenly felt a tapping on my shoulders: sino'ng hinahanap mo? The voice was low-pitched and deep. I knew before I turned my head that it was Tikboy Tikbalang behind me. I thought I'm going to faint before I could turn around and face him, but strangely, he just laughed. Loud and booming laughter. I thought of running away, but my knees were woobling out of fear and I couldn't raise my legs to run.

He said: Tara sa loob. Mag merienda ka.

With what? Human liver, or perhaps a fresh heart? Perhaps, he guessed what I was thinking because before I can raise my eyes on him, he said: Ensaymada.

My favorite!

To cut the story short, Tikboy Tikbalang and I became friends. During the afternoons when I'm free, I would walk by their house and if he's out watering the gardens or perhaps out on errands, he would invite me over so he could ask me series of questions about how I did in school, what tests did I take, whom did I had a fight with, the sort.

It only lasted for a few years because I learned later that he died of something. Nobody told me about it until his absence in that 'hunted haws' became noticeable. When I asked his whereabouts from a neighbor, the reply was plain, simple and matter-of-factly: Patay na s'ya.

I only missed him for a few days. After that, I met many more characters less scarier and less colorful than Tikboy Tikbalang. I hope he realizes, wherever he is now, that someone did remember him (and miss him, too) even if only for a short time.

► Read Nebz's previous articles here.

Si Malakas at si Nok at si Maganda

Inspirasyong nagmula sa guhit ni Nestor Redondo na matatagpuan dito.



Mula sa isang matikas na kawayan, lumabas ang isang lalaking nagngangalang Malakas. Makisig ang kanyang katawan at maamo ang kanyang mukha. Sa kauna-unahan niyang pagyapak sa lupa, kaagad siyang naaliw sa mga magagandang pangitain. Ngunit ang isang araw na pag-ngiti at paghanga sa mga magagandang tanawin ay nabahiran ng lumbay.

Wari'y may kulang...

Inusal niya ang isang panalangin na sana'y maibsan ang kanyang lungkot. At siyang pagdating ni Nok, isang kalahating-manok, kalahating-ibon.

'Bakit ka nalulumbay?' tanong ni Nok.

'Pakiramdam ko'y may kulang, ngunit hindi ko alam kung ano'.

'Tutulungan kitang mag-isip', wika ni Nok sabay dapo sa kabilang kawayan.

Habang nag-iisip ay panay naman ang tuka nito sa kawayan. Ilang oras pa'y naramdaman ni Nok ang unti-unting pagbuka ng kawayan. Kahit si Malakas ay nagulat din.

Maya-maya pa'y isang pagkaganda-gandang dilag ang sa kanila'y tumambad -- nagmula sa ikalawang puno ng kawayan.

'Ano'ng ngalan mo?', tanong ni Malakas.

'Maganda', pangiting sagot ng babae.

Sa isip ni Nok: 'Siya na marahil ang katugunan sa kalungkutan ni Malakas. Natuwa s'ya at siya'y tumilaok.'

Nagtinginan si Malakas at si Maganda. Kinuha ni Malakas si Nok at sabay sabi kay Maganda ng: Nais mo ba ng tinola?

Jowk.

Nabuhay ng maayos ang mag-asawa. Si Nok nama'y nakakita rin ng kanyang kalahi at sa wakas ay napagtanto niyang siya'y isang ibon kung kaya't tinigilan na niya ang katitilaok, at siya ay lumipad nang lumipad.

Nagbunga ng supling sina Malakas at Maganda -- si Makisig. Lumaking mabait at masunurin si Makisig.

Epilogo:

Ngunit talagang may bagay na laging hinahanap. Wika ni Maganda kay Malakas isang araw: 'Bakit wala tayong LCD, PSP at kotse?'.

Naulinigan ni Nok ang usapan, at saka niya sinabing: 'Halikayo. Ihahatid ko kayo sa lugar kung saan maraming LCD, PSP at kotse.'

Natuwa ang tatlo sa kaginhawaang ipinangako ni Nok. At sila'y nangimbang-bayan.

Nagtrabaho bilang tagamaneho si Malakas. Si Maganda nama'y ginawang receptionist sa isang tanggapan. Si Makisig ay nag-aral sa Philippine School sa kanilang bagong lugar.

Natupad nga nila ang kanilang pangarap. Pagkalipas ng maraming taon, nagkaroon ng bahay sila Malakas at Maganda. May kotse at maliit na negosyo. Si Makisig nama'y nagpatuloy ng kolehiyo sa abroad (mas 'angat' daw kasi kapag sa abroad nagtapos) at kumuha ng medicine (sa pagnanasang sa abroad na rin makapagtrabaho at makapanirahan).

Alternatibong epilogo:

Hindi naging maiinggitin si Makisig sa mga kalarong may PSP at Nintendo. Sapat na sa kanya ang tumbang preso, holen, taguan-pong at luksong-lubid. Hindi rin s'ya ni minsan nakatikim ng Cadbury at Kisses, ngunit lagi naman siyang nabubusog ng caimito at mangga na galing sa kanilang pananim.

Wika ni Malakas: 'Magsipag ka lamang, anak. At huwag ka lamang mapanghihinaan ng loob sa kasamaang dala ng tao. May yaman ang lugar natin. Magkaroon ka lamang ng tiyaga at pagmamahal dito.'

Natupad nga nila ang kanilang pangarap. Pagkalipas ng maraming taon, nagkaroon ng bahay sila Malakas at Maganda. May kotse at maliit na negosyo. Si Makisig nama'y nagpatuloy ng kolehiyo sa Pilipinas, at kumuha ng kursong agrikultura (sa pagnanasang paunlarin ang maliit nilang bukirin).

► Read Nebz's previous articles here.

The other cover

When it rains, it pours and we will all need something to shield us from getting wet; an umbrella, for example. That's why we initially thought an umbrella would best represent our theme of rain, water and storm for July 2010.

And then came a better option: wonderful photos from Rey Ramos which depict water and beaches (see a separate article in this issue featuring his theme-related photographs).

In keeping of our three previous covers which featured excellent photographs depicting the current month's themes, we decided to shelve our being too artsy in this issue.

This is our 'other cover', or that which almost made it to being our issue cover for July 2010.

And because the work we put into doing the artwork is not a joke, I thought it would be nice to make a column out of it.

For this simple work, we used more than five different sources.

We started with Smashing Magazine's tutorials on rain showers and water drops.

The bluish background originally came from a tutorial of a deep sea setting like so.



But after some time, we get rid of the deep sea look and instead opted for the bluish background.

The rain effect was taken from a tutorial on designing a war movie poster and from this excellent day rain tutorial.

For a neophyte read-copy-and-guess-if-you-can't-follow-it like us, it was a feat to be able to get a rain effect like that. (We're sure there's an easier way to do a rain effect but we have the penchance of complicating things).

The umbrella is a hard part, too. (Yes. Even if it's amateur-ishly done, it was a laborious effort. We could have just copied an umbrella graphics and pencil-color it in Photoshop, but no. We decided to create it in Adobe Illustrator using a pen tool).

The heart-shaped handle was an accident using a warp tool in AI and we stick with it because we thought it animates the graphics a bit. (We used the same heart-shape handled umbrella for a poem in this issue).

The droplets (if you happen to notice them!) as well as the water drops were taken from brusheezy.com.

Whew!

So here's a call to our graphic artist readers out there: please, please! Share us your talent and be featured in our monthly issue. We don't pay cash, but we will assure you of our utmost gratitude (and a number of visits, too, to your site from our regular readers).

► Read Nebz's previous articles here.

What I've learned being an OFW

Inspired by and adapted from Robert Fulghum's All I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten

I learned that wisdom was not limited to the confines of our home (although I think the earliest wisdom are there to find). Wisdom is also there (or here) among the throngs of strange-looking strangers. Hence, wherever you are, be open-minded to changes, to varying opinions, to differences of people, and to new learnings.

These are the things I learned from being an OFW:

Share what you have, but leave something for yourself. We are not going to be OFWs all throughout our lives. One day, we will stop earning our OFW dollars, so although it's heartwarming to help our relatives, prioritize your family first and then yourself.

Play fair even though people around you are raking more salaries than you do while it's you who are sweating more than anyone else. Believe that in life, there is karmic justice.

In Saudi, no matter who's fault it is, you'll likely end up in jail too if you get in trouble with someone. So never ever hit anybody.

No matter where you are, it is always good to be trustworthy. Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess, or better yet, don't mess around, because you represent not only yourself but your own country.

If it's not yours, then don't take it. It applies not only to objects but also to relationships with other people.

Don't play with other people's emotions. Pinoys abroad are vulnerable. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody, or better yet, refrain from hurting someone -- emotionally, physically, and mentally.

If you can, refrain from eating outside. If you can't help it, then it's fine but make sure you wash your hands before you do. And order oil-less foods, if available.

Flush. Even if it's someone else's loo, or even if it's a public loo.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. And so are kind words from kind people. Don't ever accept kind words from people who are plainly oiling you.

Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Watch what you eat, too. It has to be balanced. Remember: You're the one earning money for your family. Think: If you get sick, what happens to them then?

Take a nap every lunch break. It freshens up the mind. Don't spend your lunch break playing solitaire or visiting your Facebook or blogging. Do that at home.

When you go out, watch out for traffic because Saudi and Indian taxi drivers can sometimes be daredevils. When out, don't hold hands unless you have documents that will prove your marital relationships.

Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up. It's like our peso/dollar exchange rates, right? Get rid of that grin when the dollars go up. Think of our kabayans whose peso earnings dwindle everytime the dollar rates go up.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we. So do all living things. But unlike goldfish, hamster, white mice and little seeds, we grow old (and the maintenance costs that go with growing old is not cheap!). So while you are still earning a living, buy your own memorial plot or pension plan or insurances.

And then remember the first book in elementary during our Pilipino reading sessions. What was that phrase we often repeat? Ay susô...susô pala?! If there's someone that we need to be susô to, it should be with the Lord Jesus. Never to a huperson. Because a huperson's approval of us is ephemeral, treacherous, and always comes with a fee.

Learn. Everyday. Even a small pebble has a lesson to teach us.

► Read Nebz's previous column articles.

Memories of my May in Antipolo

May is always the most festive of the Philippine summer months.

Yearly in May, we celebrate Flores de Mayo -- in various genre and with various gender -- to commemorate Reyna Elena and Constantine's search for the Holy Cross.

In May, we also honor San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of farmers and harvest, with Quezon's celebration of Pahiyas and Bulacan's Pulilan Carabao Festival. For those seeking a different sort of harvest, Obando commemorates it's fertility rites in honor of San Pascual Baylon, Santa Clara de Assisi and the Virgen de Salambao.

The first of May is also dedicated as Labour's Day in honor of all the workers of the world.

On May 10 this year, we elect our 15th President.

There is therefore a lot of things to look forward to this month, and all of them bring excitement and a promise of change.

A sweet-smelling fragrance of freshly-cooked kasuy, an even sweeter scent of ripe mangoes (usually eaten with Antipolo's famous suman sa ibos), the aromatic smell of burned wicks from candles used in daily processions -- those are the scents that bring me back to the Antipolo of my childhood.

My childhood was also filled with memories of devotees traveling to Antipolo every May to pay homage to Nuestra Senora Dela Paz y Buenviaje (Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage). It starts with an Alay Lakad from Quiapo Church to Antipolo Cathedral, a walk that starts on April 30 and lasts until the next day.

Because May is a vacation period for kids, we would find ways to earn a small living. We would either volunteer (for one peso coin) as traffic patrol to guide the vehicles where to park, or sell 'samalamig' (cold drinks of various concoctions) in the plaza, or vend candle sticks, kasuy and suman. I think it was during my childhood that 'takatak' (the sounds made by clacking a wooden box containing various brands of cigarettes, accompanied by Halls candy) became popular. We were never embarrassed to take those 'low-end' jobs. We were entrepreneurs at a young age! And on our first day in school the next month, we would proudly show our purchases from our May 'summer jobs'. During my time, it's mortifying if you tell your friends that you spend your summer whiling away time doing nothing.

I can't say if gone were those days because, for quite a long time now, I haven't been to Antipolo during May. I can only make a guess -- and I hope I'm wrong -- that with the advent of technology, kids nowadays would rather spend time online than on actual line. The best summer experience of a child and the sweetest too, prove if I'm wrong, can only be found outside the house. I surely did.

May will always be one of my most favorite months of the year because it conjures up images of time that is good and great and rewarding.

Breaking ground. Groundbreaking.

Breaking ground. Groundbreaking. They have exactly the same set of letters, but they have entirely different meanings. One is a celebration of a start of something (normally used in building construction). The other one means achieving something that was never done before, characterized by innovation and originality.

The online publication of The Kablogs Journal's maiden issue is, for me, an exercise that is both breaking ground and groundbreaking.

(It is also seriously backaching, if I should say, because the work behind this journal is no joke).

We are breaking fresh grounds by enjoining the members of the Kablogs family (when I checked the last count, we're numbering around xxx) to share their thoughts and talent to our journal. That's a total of xx ideas waiting to be uncovered and featured.

The journal is groundbreaking in a sense that it pooled together some of the winners of the recently conducted Philippine Expat/OFW Blog Awards (PEBA). (It's like asking the top winners of the recently concluded Oscar's to act in one film! Cool!).

On behalf of the whole team, I welcome you to the maiden issue of your journal. Your's because we are opening this journal to all who wish to contribute materials (stories, essays, poetries, photographs, etc) for our future issues.

Feel free to read the contents of The Kablogs Journal, and please do share us your feedback.

(PS: Nebz of the Dez was a shortened word for Nebz of the Saudi desert.)

Nebz is a self-confessed 'kuripot'. He doesn't wear a wristwatch and never will you see him with a jewelry. He currently lives in Alkhobar, Saudi Arabia where he works as, to Nebz's own words, 'an office slave'.