#EXPATDIARIES: today i spent my whole afternoon with my egyptian friends. they were not as young as me. actually they are "#beardaddies." one of them is my close friend who happened to be my colleague in the company i'm working for here in kuwait. though they don't speak english, it's amazing how hospitality works even without the wonders of words. . ■ i'm the youngest in the group. and we talked things for oldies. we talked about the world, marriage, our each other's culture, travel, history and a lot more. good thing my arabic comprehension worked quite well though it sucked at times. lol 😂😂😂 . ■ that short moment opened my world to deeply understand egyptians as a whole. they are men of deep family ties, culture and love. like many other nationalities, they are men who are trying to give up their own happiness for the sake of their loved ones back home. . ■ some of them have already build their own families here, where going home is only just a dream for it isn't that easy. some have already accpeted the fact that life of an expat is about tea and coffee as long as they can send a penny back home. . ■ kuwait demographics is largely occupied by egyptian expats, next to indians. many of them got lucky settling decent jobs but most are settled in smalltime jobs. others are also happy running their own businesses. . ■ my friend told me: "whatever you do in here, make sure you save enough for yourself. family is important but when you go back home, what will you do? your family don't give you back what you have given them while your abroad." he's actually right! . ■ it has become my "business" to chitchat with expats whenever i have the opportunity. i've talked hundreds of them, in fact in the last couple of months i ran a series of narratives entitled "#expatstoriesinpoetry" where i wrote their stories in poetry. (scroll down on my gallery if you want to read on). . ■ stay tuned for more expat stories in my next post -- either narratives or poetry. if you want to share your story too, dm me. and together we'll make a world difference to better understand people around us, specially expats of other nationalities. 🙉 . □ #jonpagereflections #jonathanacabo #tgif (at Khaitan, Al 'Āşimah, Kuwait)
