Have you ever scared your parents to death by getting lost?

I did. Twice.

The First time:
1984 In Turkey.

I have no recollection of this incident coz I was only 2. They told me that they were sitting in a big garden and all of the sudden they couldn’t find me. They scanned the whole garden and went to it’s edges trying to find me, with no luck, and after some time, they found me at near the place where they were sitting originally, but behind some trees. I was sitting on the ground and throwing little pebbles at something that made a sound. They said I was totally transfixed on the sound that I did not notice I was alone.

The Second time:
1987 in Brighton, England.

I was 5 and my brother was 9. He and I were at an amusement park at the beach and we ran out of money. The apartment wasn’t very far away, so my brother came up with a brilliant idea. The idea was: I should wait at the park, alone, while he runs back to the apartment and get some money. He pointed out the white building where our apartment was located to assure me that it wasn’t that far and that I should wait, so I agreed. He asked me to stay near the giant ‘ball pit’, you know the big pit with lots of little plastic balls in it (like this one), and I did, I waited for him to go to the apartment and back.

I waited for what seems like an eternity (you know how kids are) but I was getting bored. I dug my hands in my pockets, maybe to find something interesting to play with, but I found a couple of pounds, so I thought “why not play inside the ball pit rather than wait for him outside and be bored?” So I went in, I played for a long time and I was again getting bored, and my brother wasn’t here yet.

I got out of the pit, and waited outside for a little bit, it was getting darker and I was losing hope and I remember thinking maybe he forgot about me. So I raised my head and saw the white building and decided that maybe it’s not that far for me to walk back alone. Yeah! why not. But on my way I found my dad and uncle near a food stand buying some food, and they took me home. I remember thinking “Oh my dad is there, what a coincidence, let me go to him instead of walking back to the apartment alone.”

Now, what really happened was: My brother came back and looked around for me but couldn’t find me, so he got scared and went back to the apartment and told everybody that he had lost me. My father and uncle got freaked out and went out looking for me. My mother who was in the shower got out and put something on and went looking for me with her hair still wet. A major freaking out occured while I was playing inside that ball pool. And when I saw my dad at that food stand, turns out they weren’t there buying food (Duh!) they were asking everybody in that amusement park if they came across a little 5 year old boy.

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This according to the uploader is a rare footage of Diwan AlSager, AlGhanim, AlWazzan & AlOthman back in 1967.

I love seeing these old videos and I love hearing old stories too.

Thanks INM

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This was released by the NBK a few weeks ago. Whoever was behind this idea must’ve felt quite nostalgic for the good old days. I took pictures of every page, english and arabic, and all the pictures are clickable for a bigger view. Have fun going back in time

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My Father and Mother buy Afandi (Tangerines) around this time of the year, every year since I was a little kid. They would sit in the living room and eat some, and the smell would spread across the living room and the entire house. It’s smell proved to be infectious and every member of my family would smell it and then ask for some, and the smell only got worse with every peel of those Afandis.

I used to not like it’s smell but 20 years of Afandi got me accustomed.

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Whenever anyone says “the weather is too good to be stuck at work” a certain memory pops into mind.

I was taking a course in Kuwait University one year, and it was a Wednesday. Back then Wednesdays ruled! Well on that day everything was especially glowing; the weather was changing…clouds were crowding the sky. Ah it was a perfect day for an outdoor brunch.

As I was walking to the class with my friend, another friend of ours joined us, and he spoke about how the weather was too good to be stuck in a class room. We all agreed and nodded along until we got to the class.

Three hours later, I was in a car with a bunch of other close friends and we headed to SAS to have brunch. I didn’t attend the rest of the classes that day and kicked the weekend off early. And on our way there we witnessed a car accident, the car turned over and crashed, lots of smoke and stuff, but we weren’t close enough and we continued our way to SAS. We spent a great time that weekend because of the lovely weather. That guy was right, the weather really was too good to be stuck in a classroom.

Come Saturday, a friend and I were walking to our class room, and we stopped at an announcement board to read what’s new. That’s when we saw that A4 paper with the bad news. Our friend who didn’t like being stuck in a class room on a cool weathered Wednesday skipped the rest of that day’s classes, just like I did, and he went to the gulf road instead, just like we did, and he, unlike us, had a car accident there. Passed away on the spot.

I can’t forget how eager and happy he was that it was finally the weekend. May God rest his soul and protect us all.

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I once was inspected by the Saudi border officials, and was asked to declare whether I had x rated videos on my laptop. I was asked to start up my laptop and show them what kind of videos I had on it. Upon asking the border official what kind of files he was looking for, he responded with “A7na shabab wen3aref ba3ath.” As funny as that may sound now, I wasn’t laughing then, and he was dead serious. Adding to the “maskharaness” of this whole situation, the gentleman didn’t have any clue how to use a Mac. He then went on and asked me to do my own search for nasty videos on my laptop. In my turn, I asked what word he would like me to do a search for, and thats when he finally felt silly, and let me go.

Thanks Fawaz

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Upon roaming through the shops at the Iranian souq I came across this Dikkan – one hell of a find. It’s a tiny store only about 4X4 square meters but it’s packed full of random stuff from Kuwait’s past. To tell you the truth there were many items in there that I couldn’t recognize, items that go as far back as perhaps the early fifties. I’m sure many of the older generation would find this post nostalgic and would probably find the store entirely enchanting. The rest of you children of the Nido can take a look at the 40+ pictures and maybe get your parents to read this post and see if they recognize anything.

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Kuwait’s Kindergartens back in the day used to be from 8am to 4pm. They used to provide the kids with lunch and snacks, and they also used to let them nap during noon time.

I showed my mother the picture above, and she remembered the big hall where they used to sleep. She had this to say:

“I remember that big hall, and I remember that I cried for a whole week because of that hall. I hated the idea of sleeping in that hall and I didn’t like leaving home to Kindergarten in general. My father didn’t like seeing me crying like that and decided not to have me go to the kindergarten anymore, and instead remain at home till it’s time for 1st grade (ibteda2y).

I have a cousin who is my age, but was a year ahead of me in school, I didn’t realize the reason behind her being ahead of me till recently.. I was sorta punished for not attending Kindergarten.. they made me stay in 1st grade for 2 years. I don’t know how they did that, and how my family allowed that to happen. But back in the day, Kuwait wasn’t so organized when it came to matters like this (kanat 3ayma isalfa).”

I think this system of having the kids nap at noon time was stopped during the 70’s or early 80’s. I remember in our days we used to have breakfast and snacks.. no naps, and we’d leave home early, 12:30 or 1pm tops.

According to the email I received the picture was taken at Balqees Kindergarten in AlDasma.

Thanks H.A.S.

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I bought this box of chewing gum a couple of weeks ago for my friends at the chalet, and I can’t get enough of them ever since. I finished the first batch and now I’m half way through the second one

It also brings back so many memories!

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According to Bu Rashed, Americana is going to reopen Wimpy fast food joints throughout Kuwait. It’s not comfirmed yet, but wouldn’t that be cool? I don’t remember wimpy in it’s prime but people say, including my father, that it was the IT place back in the day.

Thanks Fahad

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