bazaar August 2023 issue

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JACK WILLS - THE HOUSE

JACK'S BACK TO IT

The heat is ON! But look at the bright side, its one of those summers where literally the whole world is on fire, moaning and groaning about the heatwaves and record high temperatures, with forest fires, power cuts, rolling blackouts and more, while for us guys, its just another normal August in our beloved K-town!

This issue is the perfect companion while you sit in a cool spot drinking your favorite iced coffee. We caught up with music producer, DJ and creative practitioner, Saliah who told us about how being born and raised in Kuwait was the reason her taste in music transcends boundaries, cultures and even language. From music to art, we explored the new murals at the Promenade Cultural Centre and spoke to Hisham Al Qanaie, who started his career in the arts as a professional fictional graffiti artist, later turned to painting on canvases and is now part of residency program.

When the weather is this hot, we end up chilling at home or at the chalet, so ordering in is a no-brainer, which is why we were so excited to learn about Deliveroo’s Food Trend predictions for 2040. It feels so far away because we’re already excited for personal food AIs, VR dinner parties, and restorative restaurants.

If you don’t have access to a chalet this summer, or do, but are looking for something even more fun, we highly recommend checking out the Holiday Inn at Salmiya. Spend the morning by the pool, hit the gym and then dine in one of their many international cuisine restaurants, for your much needed mini-break! No travelling required.

If rest and restoration is what’s you’re after, you don’t need a whole day to feel better, because you can book yourself one of the exclusive spa treatments available at Talise Spa at the Jumeira Messilah Beach Hotel and Spa. Instant glow-up!

Stay cool and jump right into the issue!

Ahmed El-Adly

The bazaar team...

Boss

Ahmed El-Adly

Editor

Alia Al Duaij

Operations Manager

Ihab Youssef

Content Manager

Yasmine El Charif

Mixed Media Solutions

Jennifer Cádiz

Account Manager

Ali Al-Hassan

Design

Shadi Mofeed

Staff Writer/Online Media

Mariam Raslan

Yasmin Gamal

Sahira Ladha

Contributing Writers

Craig Loomis

Mohammed Al Soukkary

Communications

Hala Y. Sharara

Syndicates & Sources

Fast Company

LA Times

MCT International

Newsweek

Printing

British Industries for Printing and Packaging

INDEX AUGUST 2023

SALIAH DJS ACCROSS CULTURAL BOUNDARIES

Saliah is dropping a hot beat at clubs and venues all over the world. Selling out headline shows, with her cross-cultural music, Saliah is showing us that we can love and celebrate all the things that make us who we truly are.

CHEEKEE MUNKEE

Back to school is a stressful time for parents generally, there are so many moving parts that need to come together. To make your lives a little easier, Cheekee Munkee has a fabulous Spring/Summer 2023 collection that brings you on-trend outfits for your little ones that are comfy, stylish and perfect for back to school looks!

CARRERA SKIPPER

TAG Heuer’s decades-long history in sports timing has encompassed everything from motor racing to skiing. But it is the fiercely competitive world of highlevel yachting that resulted in one of its best-loved and most distinctive chronographs: the brightly colored and instantly recognizable ‘Skipper’, which is finally back!

TALISE SPA SPECIALS

Get a glow up at the Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel and Spa this summer with numerous options to pick from in the world of skincare at their Talise Spa. With 111Skin Products and other magnificent treatments, you cannot go wrong with visiting them on your next self-care trip! Get yourself some of their high-end retail products as well so you can continue to shine daily.

RETHINKING RETHINKING KUWAIT

As an architect, you hold the tools that can help change the Social, Political and Economical landscape around you and improve the world around you. That’s exactly what a group of Kuwaiti architects and their pavilion, “Rethinking Rethinking Kuwait” aimed to do at La Biennale di Venezia held in Venice, Italy.

BACK TO SCHOOL WITH MUJI

We’re heading back to school and it’s time for some back to school shopping. We’ve got you covered with a handy guide so you don’t forget anything important. From the iconic gel pens to quality notebooks, you’ll find everything you need at MUJI.

PROMENADE CULTURAL CENTRE RESIDENCIES

In its latest edition of the residency program, Promenade Culture Centre is working with Hisham Al Qanaie, the artist who started his career as a professional fictional graffiti artist and later turned to painting on canvases. This mural is turning out to be a beautiful piece and we can’t wait to visit and see it ourselves!

DELIVEROO PREDICTS THE FUTURE OF FOOD

Personal Food AIs, VR Dinner Parties and Restorative Restaurants are all part of the “Snack to the Future” report by Deliveroo as they brought together leading futurists and experts from the worlds of food, science, technology and innovation to create a forward-looking view of how the world will be eating by 2040 and how our dinner tables are set to revolutionize.

SALIAH DJS ACCROSS CULTURAL BOUNDARIES P.36

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what's trending

August 2023

#1

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Info: Dozen’s cookies

Editor’s Note: Chocolate overload!

#3

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Info: Simple things for kids

Editor’s Note: Adorable and cute

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What: @crazypizza.kuwait

Info: New pizza restaurant in town

Editor’s Note: We love trying out new things.

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Info: Photographer and videographer

Editor’s Note: Nothing is as gorgeous as these photos

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Info: Nursery room acrylic organizers

Editor’s Note: A new way of organizing your kids’ rooms

JUMPING OFF

Nataly Gabrielly de Campos Castro proves you can achieve your dreams through Viajes Sem Limites

By bazaar Staff

The view from Kuwait Towers

bazaar witnessed history in the making as the British Ladies’ Society welcomed the inimitable Brazilian Nataly Gabrielly de Campos Castro to Kuwait to speak on her journey to become the first female solo traveler to visit all sovereign countries. Zoom guests from all around the world tuned in to hear travel journalist and digital nomad Nataly’s adventures, which are being followed closely and documented every step of the way by The Guinness Book of World Records.

Dragged-up by their boot straps, latchkey kid Gen X’ers may find it completely incomprehensible why Gen Z requires a “trigger” warning when something either possibly or vaguely traumatic is about to be mentioned, but even this 70’s child bazaarite was definitely left wondering why the Viaje Sem Limites speech didn’t have a “warning – traumatic content” label attached to it beforehand. Nataly sets the scene of her childhood with tales of bullying, being subjected to racism and ostracized by her peers because of her much darker skin tone and to such an extent that she could see no way out from her relentlessly painful existence – except one. Nataly’s voice broke and tears welled briefly as she recalled at times in her childhood being desperately unhappy, and it’s shocking to hear such brutal honesty coming from someone who, moments earlier, was so bright, beautiful and bouncy. One day, under the stifling blanket of an overwhelming acceptance that this was her lot and she’d had enough, she contemplated her next move on how to make the pain stop. She recalls looking down from three floors up - her chosen launching-off point - thinking, “No-one accepts me, so what am I doing here?”

But then, instead of down, Nataly decided to look up into the skies and just at the perfect moment spotted a passenger jet flying overhead. She stared at the plane, and as she continued to do so, her thoughts dramatically changed. “That day,” insists Nataly emphatically, “changed my life.” If this was a movie, the soundtrack would be reaching a crescendo, the camera in close-up capturing the change that comes into the eyes with the protagonist’s epiphany. “Why can’t I go on that plane…” Nataly questioned herself, “… to a place that no-one knows me and just start a new life? I may have problems here [in São

Paulo] but that leaves me all the rest of the world to make new friends. I’m not going to end myself because of other people’s opinions.”

With a new lease of life, “ I was born again” she says, eighteen year old Nataly applied herself to whatever would get her out of Brazil, the brilliant teenager keenly strategizing that learning a second language would help her to “conquer the world and inspire others to achieve their dreams.” While on a course, she applied for and became the sole winner of a state-wide search for students worthy of an international scholarship, the prize being funding to study abroad. This led to a number of firsts; first time to mentally and physically prepare to leave Brazil, first time getting a passport, first time to travel, first time to fly on an airplane, first time stopping off in America and Europe, first time landing in Ireland. And the first time to learn English through total immersion for the Portuguese-speaking teen. And that Irish accent is not easy. With only a year on her visa Nataly felt that her goal of being sufficiently proficient in English to travel globally was time-bound, and she sometimes studied for twenty hours a day. She explains this dogged conscientiousness by saying matter-of-factly, “I needed to get results.”

The new adventurer realized that what she was really looking for was a way to travel where the travel itself would be funding her international exploits. She worked remotely as a travel consultant helping holiday makers build their itineraries and did this for five years between Brazil, the US and Europe. Until late 2019, Nataly continued to use travel as a way to fine tune her language, communication and journalism skills. She lived in five countries and visited a further nineteen countries under her own steam, learning first-hand about other cultures and discovering and understanding more about the misrepresentation of people and the misconceptions that can be perpetuated by a skewed print [and echo-chambered social] media. “So... what if I visited every country in the world,” she asked herself. Nataly discovered that out of eight billion people on the planet, almost no-one - only a mere 150 people - had managed to complete this feat. But that also meant that it was actually possible. She read that, naturally, more men than women had done it, no Brazilian has ever done it and delving deeper into her research, she discovered that certainly no black woman had visited all of the world’s sovereign countries as a solo traveler.

Diwaniya display at Sadu House

Nataly started planning her world trip expedition; which countries are recognized, which route captures the most countries in one go, how to rustle up sponsors, what to pack, and where is a good jumping off point to attempt this intercontinental challenge. And then came the global pandemic. Nataly reveals that she considers the airplane as a vision, revealing her path and visions can be extremely motivating, just ask Joan of Arc. So what Nataly did in 2020 and for two years, instead of binging on Tiger King and making sour-dough starter, was bring the Viaje Sem Limites project to fruition. She sent more than fifty thousand emails to various countries looking for sponsorships to help her get through her journey, but managed only to get enough funding to start her journey. With 650KD in her project funding the resiliently tenacious Nataly managed to visit a massive fifty countries and is now well over two thirds of the way through the journey to visit two hundred nations in eighteen months.

“But it’s not about setting records or doing just the journey,” Nataly presses on, “It’s about opening doors for others. My goal is to be the first Brazilian woman visiting every country in record time, yes, but that was not my dream. I

want to inspire others to travel, and on a budget. To show the world and change little by little our society and surroundings.”

It’s a genuine kindness, showing her followers that it’s possible for them to complete whatever they want, achieve their dreams, and that they must always persist and not give up. Viaje Sem Limites is proof that when you travel you truly meet people, see how they live and understand them better. You’ll have to wait for the book to hear about Hungary. But bazaar can share that when asked which was the

most difficult country to gain access to, Kuwait was immediately at the tip of Nataly’s tongue. Hopefully, the hospitality made up for it.

To learn more about her journey, follow @viajesemlimites on Instagram. Contribute to Nataly’s journey and be a part of history by emailing assessoria.viajesemlimites@gmail.com.

Dining at Freej Suweileh reviewing her handwritten notes

Exploring traditional textile weaving at Sadu House

FAMILY TRAVEL HACKS

How to make lifelong memories without depleting your savings

By Lynn O’Rourke Hayes

Being on holiday doesn’t have to be about geography. It is as much about adventure, exploration or even relaxation as it is about flight schedules, hotel rooms or miles traveled.

So if a far-flung destination is not in the cards just now, consider putting your creative juices to work to manifest a never-to-be-forgotten memory for you and your family. And, don’t forget to take pictures. Clear the calendar and consider these five ways to savor some family time without depleting your savings.

1. Go for it.

Plan to participate in a half marathon, hike the canyon or camp in the backcountry. This is the year to research, plan and execute that idea you’ve been talking about but never took time to organize. Declare it a family affair and make the preparations part of the fun.

2. Trade houses.

Find a friend or family member in a nearby neighborhood who is willing to join in the fun. Think

about it: new toys in the closet, bikes in the garage, play sets in the back yard and cereal in the cupboard. (Agree up front on what is included in the deal.) Trade information about local walking paths, parks, museums, restaurants and movie theaters. Then enjoy the new view.

3. Just a weekend.

Part of the holiday mindset includes saying no to checking work email, text messages or taking distracting calls. If not for a week, agree to make family the focus for one whole weekend. Visit a new restaurant, go to a ballgame, take a long bike ride or play board games at home. If duty calls, let folks know your family is on vacation.

4. Focus on free Museums, festivals, lectures, parks, concerts,

farmer’s markets and libraries are all sources of family fun where the admission is often gratis. Check local web sites and create your no-cost itinerary for the length of your “vacation.” Look for online sources of self-guided walks or history tours and enjoy the discovery.

5. Book last-minute and local

Check travel websites or popular resorts for lastminute deals in your hometown or in a nearby city. Without air and significant gas charges, taking advantage of these down-to-the-wire deals can be worth the minimum expense. You’ll enjoy the travel treat knowing you’ve kept expenses in check.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash.

THE MOMS WHO BLOG

It’s time to reclaim the term ‘mommy blogger’

By Gwen Moran

Recently, parents of a certain age were shocked by the death of Heather Armstrong, creator of the blog Dooce, at age 47. She was arguably the most famous of a subset of writers—mostly women—who chronicled their parenting experiences online starting in the early aughts. Armstrong was crowned “queen of the mommy bloggers” in the headline of a 2011 New York Times Magazine piece.

The very term “mommy blogger” smacks of an all-too-common dismissiveness about women creatives. Novelist Jennifer Weiner called out the disparity in the literary world more than a decade ago. Today, while women are the dominant force in creating online content, they are more likely to be called “influencers” while men are called “content creators”—and earn an average of 30% more per post in influencer marketing deals, according to a report by influencer marketing firm Izea.

The original cohort of “mom blog” writers shared their experiences in ways that were honest and raw. They laid bare their lives, relaying the hilarious, embarrassing, joyful, and devastating experiences that happen within households, especially households with young humans in them. In more than a few cases, the very same words printed on the pages of The New Yorker or The Atlantic with a man’s byline would have been praised as insightful and important social commentary.

Instead, the term minimizes the importance of the movement and industry these writers created. For millions of parents, so-called “mom blogs” were—and are—an emotional lifeline as well as a practical source of information. Armstrong wrote honestly about everything from how impossibly hard parenting sometimes feels to how she felt about leaving her religion and dealing with addiction. Jill Smokler, who founded and ultimately sold Scary Mommy, wrote with unabashed forthrightness and sharp wit about her life and gave moms an anonymous place to share their own cathartic, raw, and sometimes intense confessions.

Then, others inspired us and made us feel less alone. Years before my own cancer diagnosis, MommaSaid’s Jen Singer blogged about her own experiences beating Stage III non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Singer (who is a close friend) made us laugh and cry about the realities of navigating cancer treatments while running a “frat house” for the elementary school set. Kayt Sukel, another friend, cowrote the Travel-Savvy Moms blog, showing single moms by example that they could travel the world, even with a toddler in tow.

Even when we didn’t know these remarkable wordsmiths in person, they made us feel like we did. Sure, some curated their images and posts, but most were honest, showing us warts and all, not to mention bee stings, road rashes, and abject heartbreaks. They answered the

questions we couldn’t bring ourselves to ask out loud—questions about feeling frustrated, afraid, and overwhelmed—alongside posts about what various shades of poop mean. And they often wrote those missives after the kids went to bed when they were exhausted and sporting at least one bodily fluid that was not their own.

While it’s true that anyone with a mobile phone, laptop, and wireless internet connection could start a blog, the good ones took off, attracting vast and loyal audiences. It wasn’t long before the marketers and public relations folks took notice. The suits began courting bloggers, sponsoring their posts and hiring them as spokespeople. Mom bloggers were the precursor to today’s influencers and content creators, a market Grand View Research estimates will top $140 billion by 2030. Some old-school mom bloggers, like Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond and Cool Mom Picks creators Liz Gumbinner and Kristen Mei Chase, turned their work into multimedia empires, spawning television shows, books, and other lines of business.

It’s also important to remember that this work wasn’t without risk. High-profile bloggers like Armstrong, Smock, and Free-Range Parenting’s Lenore Skenazy faced withering criticism and backlash (some of it valid), when readers disagreed with their words, opinions, or choices.

So, in honor of the writers who took on the emotional, physical, and intellectual labor of creating an entire industry as they took care of children, pets, homes, aging parents, and all manner of other responsibilities, I’d like to reclaim the term “mommy blogger.” Let’s reframe it as a badge of honor for the brave, honest, hilarious, bold, audacious women—and some men and nonbinary folks—who shared their most intimate and private moments so we could all feel a little less alone and a little more seen. They deserve our respect and gratitude.

Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash.

BORDERLESS MUSIC WITH SALIAH

Changing the way we listen

By bazaar Staff

I came across Saliah’s Instagram account on a random Tuesday while doom scrolling and stopped in my tracks. I was mesmerized for a couple of minutes while I listened to a remix of Arkab El Hantoor by Saad El Soghayar. The beat hit the sweet spot, but it was clear that Saliah’s energy ignited something in the audience that made me want to know everything about her.

Saliah is a music producer, dj and creative practitioner and has been selling out headline shows internationally for a while now. “My work has always been involved in an eclectic range of music, design and artistic direction that has a sense of purpose and storytelling. My work can and has taken many forms of artistic expression. I love collaboration and I’m always invested in working to build community.” she explains.

She was born in Kuwait and raised between Kuwait and the UK. Music was a huge part of of her life growing up, even in Kuwait. “Miami band is the soundtrack to my childhood and I still play their songs to feel that nostalgic joy whenever I’m feeling down,” she tells us. After leaving Kuwait, she was quickly introduced to the underground music scene, and started mixing drum and bass on vinyl at the tender age of 15. Her cousins would always make her mixtapes during her visits back to Kuwait with the latest Arabic tracks so she could stay current with trending songs. Sometimes they’d mix it up with their favorite Ajnabi tracks on the same mixtape, which was the norm for many kids. We easily switch between listening to Arabic and Ajnabi. “For us diaspora kids, a lot of us stuck to listening to Arabic music from the nineties and 2000’s, and this has been the inspiration for most of my remixes. I’ve used nostalgic tracks and transformed them into club tracks influenced by UK and global sounds,” Saliah said.

A career in the music industry was never a clear goal for her as a child. She considered many different options but was drawn to the arts and graduated with a bachelor’s in Graphic Design at the Cambridge School of Art and specialized in Arabic calligraphy and typography. But in her spare time, she was DJing, playing instruments and danced a style called Body Popping. “I guess I had pressure from my family to follow a more conventional career path, so I worked as a creative director for many years but pursued my hobbies consistently. When the pandemic hit, I took that opportunity to really focus on learning a new skill; music production. That’s what changed the game for me, being able to create remixes of Arabic music with a twist. This is what has taken me around the world and selling out headline shows internationally,” Saliah explains.

She told us about her very first gig, “It was on turntables and I was just 18. I remember asking my peers if they could help me place the needle on the vinyl because I was shaking so much. It feels very different now as I’m more confident in my art, but the nerves haven’t completely gone away. I still get nervous before every show because I really care about my craft. I used to hate the nerves but now I embrace them. Caring for what you do is an incredible thing, I now see it as a blessing, not a curse.” We’re glad she

stuck with it because she inhabits a space in the music scene that speaks volumes to so many of us who are between cultures and find that we can borrow her voice.

Saliah told us how most DJs think about the journey they want to take the audience on and this fluctuates depending on the type of crowd, but she likes to experiment between reading a crowd and introducing them to new sounds that might not resonate at first but might open their minds to more underground style of music and maybe discover new producers. “I obviously center a lot of my sets around my own music production too. If you’re an artist making your own music you have to push that to the forefront and find ways to make it blend with other tracks,” she adds.

She’s still very much learning and growing, while being excited to share more of her work and discover who she can fully become in the future. “I have plans to incorporate more live elements into my performances. I hope one day I can do a set that is 100% my production and perform some of that live. I’m also looking forward to incorporating my profession as a Graphic Designer into my work which I have been doing already with an amazing 3D artist called Tasty Machine in Lebanon. I of course want to continue to pass on information and do workshops to help support the growth and introduction of more women to the industry,” she tells us. And we’re excited to see more of what she gets up to as well.

Follow @saliahgram on Instagram because the energy is magical, and perhaps find out where she’s playing next and catch a show!

Photo by Aiyush Pachnanda

Photo by Antoine Wiart Lamirault

THE NOT SO GOOD FRIEND

Parents: AI bots will want to be friends with your kids. We shouldn’t let them

By Ainsley Harris

Children might soon have more AI friends than human ones, according to OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman. “A thing someone said to me recently that stuck with me is that they’re pretty sure their kids are going to have more AI friends than human friends,” Altman told Stripe cofounder and CEO Patrick Collison during a video interview at the Sohn Conference earlier this week. “And I don’t know what the consequences are going to be.”

Somewhat surprisingly, Altman added, people seem to have a hard time distinguishing between humans and AI, even when the AI is far from sophisticated. “Whatever the circuits in our brain are that crave social interaction seem satisfiable for some people in some cases with an AI friend,” Altman said. “And so how we’re gonna handle that I think is tricky.”

Discussions like this should be setting off alarm bells for parents—alarm bells far louder than the ones that welcomed the viral rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot late last fall. Then, parents and educators discovered that students were using ChatGPT to cheat or bluff their way through homework assignments and exams. Some school districts, like New York City’s, went so far as to ban ChatGPT.

Friendships between kids and AI might seem benign, by comparison. Indeed, AI-generated “friends” have a certain appeal. In a world of overloaded schedules and competitive extracurriculars, AI friends are available on demand. They can replicate themselves, so that no one feels left out. They can be programmed to encourage, rather than bully; to commiserate, rather than critique. Sure, they aren’t real friends—but what’s the problem with that, exactly? (Especially if you get the sense that your child’s experiences at recess are less Barney and Friends and more Lord of the Flies.)

But the harm of AI friendship could cut far deeper than the current angst around social media’s affect on children. Commercial imperatives underpin platforms like Facebook and TikTok, where the user is the product. Instagram, try as it might, will always have to fight an uphill battle against content that has a detrimental effect on teenage girls’ body image because that same content is lucrative fodder for likes, which translate into dollars. But if the platforms are commercial, the relationships they play host to can be real. As a result, many parents have rightly concluded that they can dull the sting of social media’s commercial imperatives by carefully monitoring who their children follow and communicate with.

Generative AI chatbots throw that logic out the window. In an AI friendship paradigm, there is no avoiding the economics. Either you’re paying for the friendship or you’re the product. The conversation might be cute, but the relationship is ultimately commercial. That bot, after all, has been

created by some corporate entity, which inevitably has its own agenda, whether monopolizing your affection, your time, or your wallet (this is right around the corner: Snapchat already has its own AI bot). Today, we project our human expectations onto AI friends. What if, in the future, the reverse is true, rendering even our human relationships transactional in nature? This is dangerous territory, with vast implications. It’s not a throwaway line for Twitter groupies.

Human friendships, at their best, are rooted in the human conception of love. Before we learn to walk, to talk, and to query chatbots, we first learn to love in deceptively simple ways. When babies cry, parents soothe them, offering a snuggle and a lullaby. When babies are hungry, parents feed them. All of our first understanding of the world

is based on touch and sound and comfort, and we bring that understanding to our relationships.

AI friends know nothing of these mysteries. They can only echo the human stories that they’ve “read.”

My kids are too young to use tools like ChatGPT, or seek out companionship in the form of an AI boyfriend or girlfriend for $1 per minute. But they are old enough to be making their first friends. Those friendships are often contentious, especially when there’s only one toy to share. But amid the tears, I see them learning the beauty of experiencing moments of joy with other humans. And I wouldn’t trade those moments for all the supercomputers in the world.

Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash.

SOFT HIKING

How to level up your trek by slowing down

By Dakota Kim

How do hikers balance the tricky — and sometimes dueling — objectives of ambition and contentment? Most days, I’m simply content to be plodding along on my local San Gabriel Valley trails, grateful to have the time and luxury to hike. I’m not looking to hike Baldy this year; instead, I’m trying to listen to my body and brain — and I know they’re not ready.

But other times, there’s an itching feeling that I’m not doing enough, or that I’ll never be a “real hiker” — and that feeling of inferiority can hit hard. When you’re raised by hard-driving, achievementbased parents in a society that often values ticking checklists over deep engagement, you tend to have a sneaking suspicion that no peak will ever merit perfection; no accomplishment will ever offer the sweet reward of contentment. As an outgoing extrovert and people pleaser, I find listening to myself a challenge. I want to stick with everyone on group hikes instead of paying attention to what my aching body or frustrated mind want.

In college, a dear friend loaned me a book that offered another perspective on activity. “The Miracle of Mindfulness” by Thích Nhất Hạnh, a French-Vietnamese Buddhist monk, presented the idea that I could focus solely on what I was doing in that very moment, and by doing so, meditate without sitting down and closing my eyes. For instance, while washing the dishes, hone in only on washing the dishes, Nhất Hạnh advises. The results of practicing mindfulness while washing dishes can be startling, as I learned.

At the time, I lived in a co-operative house, so I was scrubbing pots and pans that served 20. When I was able to practice mindfulness, I heard the clang of the pots as they hit the big aluminum wash basin, the forceful spray of the water. I felt the muscles in my arms flex as they lifted a heavy pot, and I smelled the peculiar mix of the dish soap and the remnants of a Jamaican black bean stew. I also felt a rhythm as my brain relaxed into the activity, losing itself in a flow state.

That’s the elusive state I’m looking for when I’m hiking my local trails. When I hike mindfully, I often slow down naturally. Lost in the scents of herbs and wildflowers, gazing at the clouds and the rocks in the trail, I’m focused not on achieving hard things but on enjoying. Too often we seek to collect peaks, to reach the end, without enjoying — as much as we can — the beauties of the path up, challenges included.

Now, I’ve found companions in my quest (on, of all things — of course — TikTok): soft hikers. The trend of soft hiking is a cousin of walking meditation, practiced in TikTok videos by influencers like @softgirlswhohike. Insider reports that Brits Emily Thornton and Lucy Hird started the account to show that you can take it slow — even meander — and still call yourself a hiker, without worrying about imposter syndrome. Plus, if you practice soft hiking as walking meditation (here’s more on how to do it), you could even reap the benefits of the latter: improved digestion, anxiety reduction and improved blood sugar levels and circulation.

So how do you keep accomplishing and scaling peaks, without losing sight of the softer side of hiking? I have a few thoughts.

1. Hike like nobody’s watching. Social media can make you feel like you’re inside the panopticon, always being watched and comparing your feats to those of others. Healthy competition is great, but if you struggle with shutting down achievement brain like I do, it can be helpful to turn off social media and keep your hikes to yourself.

2. Slow your roll and tune in to surrounding sights and sounds. Consciously slow down. Make it your goal to name 10 plants per hike, which requires leaning in and peering down at tiny growing things, or snapping a photo and identifying them. Try to name the birds or insects you see, or sketch trees in a journal. Plan for hikes that aren’t straight up, that meander. Turn off your step counter and listen to an audiobook on your

headphones, or just listen to nature itself. You can even record birdsong to identify later.

3. Bring a journal or recording device. Remembering your hike can bring deeper thoughts upon recollection, so consider capturing elements of the experience in a journal or recorder. This also gives you a moment to pause and reflect while you’re doing your hike.

4. Choose the right companion. Hike with a friend who wants to slow down; a senior dog who’s up for it is also a lovely slow-hiking pal. Catch up on life, and make the focus hiking side by side (look for trails wide enough for you to do so). Bring snacks so you can sit down and eat together.

5. Listen to your body. If your body is aching, don’t push it. Leaving a group hike isn’t quitting; it’s listening to yourself. Friends can support you to achieve greater heights, but if you’re not feeling the vibe of a particular trek, it’s OK to leave. Give yourself permission to set boundaries and make individual decisions, even in a group setting.

6. Set aside time to stop and play. Open up your hike to childlike imagination. See a brook with stones you can hop across, or a log you can walk across? Do it. You’ve set aside a couple hours to be open to wherever the trail takes you; use the time to truly explore. Follow your intuition when it comes to what your mind craves, whether it’s more stimulation or a moment of rest and relaxation.

Photo by Holly Mandarich on Unsplash.

AYE AYE, SKIPPER!

All-New Version of Classic Sailing Watch Marks TAG Heuer’s Return To The High Seas

By bazaar Staff

TAG Heuer’s decades-long history in sports timing has encompassed everything from motor racing to skiing and from horse racing to the many disciplines of the Olympic Games. But it is the fiercely competitive world of high-level yachting that resulted in one of its best-loved and most distinctive chronographs: the brightly coloured and instantly recognisable ‘Skipper’.

Made in various series from the original version of 1968 to the final full production model of 1983, the Skipper was once a familiar sight on the wrists of professional and amateur sailors alike – and now, exactly 40 years after it disappeared from the TAG Heuer catalog, the beloved Skipper is back.

Although later versions of the Skipper used the Autavia case, the very first examples (of which only around 300 were made) were based on the celebrated Carrera chronograph.

In keeping with that important aspect of TAG Heuer’s sailing heritage, the new generation Skipper is derived from the recently-launched ‘glassbox’ Carrera, the design of which lends itself perfectly to the creation of a sailing watch that is both good-looking and practical. Due to its lack of bezel, the way the glassbox extends to

the very edge of the case, the ingenious ‘curved flange’ dial and the perfectly placed chronograph counters, the Carrera Skipper is superbly legible in all conditions. Such a high degree of legibility is especially important when a boat is bobbing on the water during the crucial regatta ‘pre-start’ period before the gun is fired to signal the off.

The new Skipper also gets the Carrera’s robust yet elegant 39mm diameter case, the latest TH20-06 movement with bi-directional winding, an 80-hour power reserve - and, of course, a high-end, resistant textile strap. But while the 21st century Skipper is technically bang up to date, it owes its unique and unmissable look to the original model that was born from Jack Heuer’s involvement with the world’s most historic yacht race – the America’s Cup.

To understand how the connection came about, we need to re-wind to the mid- 1940s when high-end sporting goods supplier Abercrombie and Fitch began commissioning Heuer to produce A & F-branded watches to sell in its New York stores. The first was the Solunar that displayed tide times and which, in the 1950s, led to the creation of the more sophisticated Seafarer and Mareographe chronographs. The relationship with Abercrombie and Fitch was two decades old by the late 1960s, and it was Jack Heuer’s close friendship with the retailer’s president Walter Haynes that led to Heuer becoming the official timing partner of the America’s Cup boat ‘Intrepid’ – the 12-metre U.S. yacht that was to defend the trophy for the New York Yacht Club against Dame Pattie, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s challenger.

For the 1967 America’s Cup match, Heuer provided Intrepid with a set of hand-held yachting stop watches and equipped her crew with Aquastar wrist watches featuring an ingenious countdown timer comprising a red and white disc that rotated behind a series of five holes. Intrepid went on to win the event by a decisive four races to nil – in celebration of which Heuer produced the Skipper chronograph with a 30-minute subdial that was adapted to count-down the 15-minute regatta ‘prestart in three, five-minute segments.

Each of these segments was a different color, with vivid orange being used to alert the crew to the fact that there was just five minutes to go; green to represent the color of the boat’s rigging and light teal to replicate the color of Intrepid’s deck. The new Skipper revisits that distinctive and colorful livery, with a circular brushed main dial in Carrera signature blue (a tone initially inspired by the sea) and sharply contrasting sub-dials – the 12-hour counter being ‘Intrepid Teal’ and the 15-minute regatta counter having segments in Intrepid teal, Lagoon Green and Regatta Orange.

Other features drawn from the historic watch include the prominent, triangle shaped markers positioned at five- minute intervals around the outer curved flange, the bright orange central seconds hand and the inclusion of the ‘Skipper’ name at the base of the 12-hour counter. Interest in the Skipper was revived in 2017 when TAG Heuer collaborated with specialist website Hodinkee to produce a run of just 125 watches that paid tribute to the 1968 model.

Collectors subsequently began to seek-out original versions of the Skipper, some examples of which have since fetched as much as $80,000 at auction. The new Carrera Skipper, however, promises to be considerably more attainable following its July launch as part of the core collection – and the watch that will serve as the ‘flagship’ for a whole series of further maritime models that will mark TAG Heuer’s return to the world of yachts and yachting.

To learn more, please visit your nearest TAG Heuer boutique.

#SOLOFEMALETRAVELER

The safest cities and countries for women who travel alone

By Mia Taylor

Solo travel among women has been growing exponentially over the past decade. During the four years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, searches for the term “solo female travel” had increased six-fold, according to data from the Solo Female Travelers Club. And that search volume recovered in 2022 once the pandemic became less of a concern.

But even as women increasingly embark on travel alone, safety remains a top concern. The 2022 Solo Female Travel Trends Survey showed that 65% of women who travel alone worry about their personal safety.

A new report from travel insurance provider Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP) and GeoSure Global, aims to address such concerns. The report identifies the world’s 11 safest cities and countries for women traveling alone. And there’s one country in particular that appears among the top 11 more than any other.

The runaway winner of the BHTP ranking is Switzerland. In particular, Basel, Switzerland, nabbed the No. 1 spot for safest city in the world, while the No. 3 slot went to Bern, Switzerland, and No. 4 is held by Zurich, Switzerland.

Other destinations that made it into the top include Toronto, Ontario, at No. 2 and Lisbon, Portugal at 5. Orebro, Vasteras and Uppsala, Sweden, all tied for the No 6 slot, while Stockholm came in at 7. Rounding out the list were Monaco; Salzburg and Innsbruck, Austria (tie); Pamplona and Oviedo, Spain (tie) and finally Cannes, France.

“Women who are traveling alone and consider safety a top priority should look into Western Europe, Scandinavia and Canada, as these regions topped the list of safest cities and countries for women,” BHTP said in a statement when issuing its ranking.

The travel insurance provider added that the safest countries for women traveling alone comes as no surprise given that the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland were all included in BHTP’s separate ranking of the Top 10 Safest Countries for travel in general.

In a blog post about their safety ranking for women traveling alone the company further explained that “certain cultures around the world objectify women and/or treat them as less than equal. Violence against women is not held to the same standards as violence against men in some countries, sometimes with tragic results.”

However, the BHTP added that their new ranking is in “no way meant to deter women from traveling.”

“In fact, just the opposite. We want to empower women to feel safe when traveling by offering

valuable information and facts for their travelplanning decision making, and ultimately their protection,” says the company’s blog post.

Photo by Timo Stern on Unsplash

LEFTOVERS

About what gets left behind

By Craig Loomis

I motion the waitress to come over and when she arrives, I say, “Did you see that?”

“Sorry?”

“Look at all that food they left behind,” I say, pointing to the table next to me.

She follows my finger but then says again, “Sorry?”

I don’t mean to sigh but I do. “All the food they didn’t eat. Just left there. Take a look. They didn’t even bother to take it home, can you imagine?”

Right about then some mother with tiny boy hurries by, or, he hurries, she doesn’t, and together, the waitress, whose nametag reads Sally, and I watch them turn the corner, he first, she a distant second, followed by a shrill, “Ali, OUGAF WA ENTERNI.”

She shrugs, “It happens all the time.”

But that is not good enough and I have no choice but to continue. “At least take home what you don’t eat, right? This is the way of the world.”

“Yes, well,” looking around to see who might be listening, “I am on your side on this, but like I say, it’s their way of saying, ‘I’m done, full, goodbye, sah?’”

I shake my head, whispering, “Criminal.”

“It’s the culture, you know. When you have a lot, this leftover meat, potatoes, peas, bread, the lentil soup, is nothing. There’s always more where that came from.”

“Just think of all the people in China that are starving.”

“China?” she frowns.

“You know what I mean.”

“But China?”

“Ok, it’s a figure of speech.” And I can’t help but keep looking at the table full of uneaten food: the basket of bread, a plate of untouched fried chicken, scoops of mash potatoes, two bottles of water, corn on the cob, . . . “Not right, I tell you.”

Two very white dishdashas stroll by. Something is funny and remains funny until they too turn the corner and disappear.

By now she has taken her waitressing to the table, collecting the many leftover plates, lining them up on her arm like she has a magic trick in mind. I want to ask her what she will do with all that perfectly good food but I already know the answer and I don’t want to hear her say it so I say nothing. This is when I have to fight back the urge to ask if I can have what they left behind, “Just throw it all in one big plastic bag,” but negotiating for someone else’s leftovers is all wrong. Balancing plates and dishes, Sally ever so slowly makes her way to the kitchen, turning to back into the swinging door.

Someone needs to be punished, in some way, but who? The leftover culprits are long gone,

moving on, no doubt, to half-eaten vanilla ice cream cones, or taking only one bite from a brownie and leaving the rest because it tasted ‘funny’. I turn to see who else is there, who else would be courageous enough to back me on this. Two old people with two cups of coffee, reading two newspapers are three tables over; teenagers are absentmindedly picking at a large plate of French fries while staring into their iPhone; and finally one large hijabed woman is looking down at her fingers, wiggling them this way and that, frowning. In sum, I detect no courage nearby.

When Sally resurfaces from the kitchen, I motion her over again but this time she only motions back before moving on to the two old people who want their bill. I glance one last time at the now empty table before declaring, “You’ve got to take that home for later, a midnight snack, or better yet, a little something for the maids and driver.” That’s when the little boy with mother return, and like before he is in front, his tiny legs churning, and before the mother can do her duty and say what needs to be said, I yell, “Ali, stop, damnit.”

Photo by Swiss Educational College on Unsplash.

ENHANCE YOUR STAY AT THE HOLIDAY INN & SUITES KUWAIT

Located in the center of Salmiya, Holiday Inn Kuwait offers you a little bit of everything you need

By bazaar Staff

Holiday Inn & Suites is designed with comfort, ease of travel and family in mind. Whether you’re here for a few hours or a few weeks, choosing Holiday Inn & Suites not only makes your trip a memorable one, but offers you and your family countless activities to ensure that you’re always just one step away from a new and relaxing experience during any time of the year.

With 189 spacious, modern rooms and 92 residential suites, the rooms offer an unobstructed view of the Arabian Gulf and all feature flat-screen televisions, satellite channels, and complimentary high-speed internet so you can stay connected anywhere you go. Add to that the pool area, gym, 22 fully equipped meeting rooms and of course, their 7 incredible restaurants.

It doesn’t matter what you’re craving for lunch or dinner on any given day because Holiday Inn & Suites has you covered with the best cuisines from anywhere in the world. The Rib Eye steakhouse includes premium meats that will leave you coming back for more or if you’re looking for something closer to home with great Arabic food, Ayam Zaman has cemented itself as one of the best Middle Eastern restaurants to visit for the great food, atmosphere and even if you just want to sit back with a coffee and enjoy some shisha.

That’s not all though because Holiday Inn & Suites also includes three magnificent Asian restaurants. Tang Chao offers cuisines inspired by the grandeur of the Tang dynasty by carefully curating the menu to keep the beautiful Chinese tradition of color, aromatic flavor and excellent taste. On the other hand, Sakura encompasses the Japanese love for food and focus on quality ingredients, preparation and presentation while being one of the most notable Japanese restaurants in the country. It doesn’t stop there though as Jamawar blends an ambiance of charming traditional Indian Décor imported straight from India to top off a luxurious setting and delivering original Indian cuisine infused with the finest and freshest ingredients.

The food choices keep on going with the Al Diwan, which offers a rich international buffet during all times of the day whether you’re visiting for breakfast, lunch or dinner and The Garden, which is the perfect spot to relax with friends and family while enjoying a multi-cuisine menu along with special events on weekends. And if you’re looking to just have snacks and coffee, then you cannot go wrong with L’Aroma Café, offering a wide range of cold and hot international beverages and light meals throughout the day. However, as great as the food is all under one roof, there is a lot more to Holiday Inn & Suites. Their convenient location is only a 20-minute drive from the Kuwait International Airport. It’s also approximately the same distance away from The Avenues Mall and 360 Mall while being just a

“189 spacious, modern rooms and 92 residential suites, the rooms offer an unobstructed view of the Arabian Gulf.”

few minutes away from Marina Mall and other local attractions including the Kuwait Beach Front, Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Center and The Scientific Center making it the perfect place to stay while getting a chance to go around the different places in the country.

Their spacious rooms offer extreme comfort as well as an incredible view of the Arabian Gulf to enhance your mornings and nights in your room as you watch TV, catch up with work using their high-speed WiFi, or just lay down and relax.

If you decide to enjoy a day in the hotel, then you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to get to the pool area and enjoy the pool bar’s food and beverages throughout the day. You should also visit their 24-hour fitness center, which is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to satisfy all fitness levels while also offering a wide range of classes tailored to adults, children and juniors.

The Holiday Inn & Suites also offers Concierge Services, Foreign Currency Exchange, Private Limousine Services and many other amenities to ensure that your stay is as comfortable and as safe as it could possibly be.

It’s almost impossible to make the wrong choice if you choose Holiday Inn & Suites for your next vacation or staycation!

Make sure to follow Holiday Inn Kuwait on Instagram @holidayinnkuwait or call them on +965 25760000 for more information.

All the dining you love. All the rewards you deserve.

Dine, save and earn at our participating restaurants with a dining discount of 25% for IHG One Rewards Club, Silver Elite and Gold Elite members, and 30% for Platinum Elite, Diamond Elite and InterContinental® Ambassador members. Plus, members earn 100 reward points for every $10 spent.

BECOME A GMAIL PRO

5 essential Gmail features that Google forgot to tell you about

By Doug Aamoth

But if you use Gmail to get actual work done, there are a handful of really helpful goodies that aren’t quite so obvious unless you look for them. Here are five of these time-savers that you may have overlooked—until now.

Add a recipient in the body of a message

This one’s about as straightforward as it gets, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing it existed, given that there’s nothing in the Gmail interface to spotlight it.

You’ll get a dropdown with a selection of your contacts: Click the person’s name and they’ll be added as a recipient.

Open your calendar in a sidebar

If you live inside Gmail, you probably spend a fair amount of time with Google Calendar as well.

Kill two birds with one stone by keeping your calendar open on the right-hand side of Gmail at all times.

In the upper corner to the right of your inbox, you’ll notice icons for Calendar, Keep, Tasks, and Contacts. Click the Calendar icon and you’re good to go.

You’ll see your entire day at a glance and you’ll be able to create new meetings with a couple of clicks. I actually prefer the simplicity to the fullblown Google Calendar interface.

Explore add-ons galore

You may already be using Chrome extensions for Gmail, but Gmail itself makes it easy to find a heaping helping of add-ons that work across several browsers, not just Chrome.

In the same right-hand column where you click the Google Calendar icon to open it in the sidebar, there’s a nondescript plus-sign icon. Click it, and a bountiful marketplace will pop up. It’s chock-full of handy integrations from the likes of Zoom, Webex, Docusign, and a ton of other providers large and small.

Hover to quickly sort your inbox

Here’s a feature that had been staring me in the face for a while before I actually realized how useful it was.

Clearing out the morning deluge of overnight messages is as easy as hovering over each one. When doing so, you’ll notice four icons on the rightmost side of each subject line: archive, delete, mark

unread, and snooze.

With a single click, you can send each message elsewhere. Blaze your way through your inbox in no time.

Create templates for repetitive messages

And last but not least, arguably the greatest Gmail time-saver of them all: templates. If you find yourself constantly tapping out the same messages over and over again, you absolutely must use this feature.

To do so, create a canned message. Once you’ve gotten it just how you like it, click the threedot icon on the far-right of the bottom of your message, then Templates > Save draft as template > Save as new template.

Give it a name, and then the next time you need to use your templated message, click the same three-dot icon, then Templates, and then click on the name of the template you saved.

The contents of the canned message are automatically inserted into the body of the email: no typing required.

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash.

Most of us have been using Gmail for so long that we never really bother to explore new features that have been added over the years.

GOING REMOTE

7 remote-first tech companies that are hiring right now

By Doug Aamoth

Spring has finally sprung. But you’re either staring at a cubicle wall, a vast and loud open office, or a combination of the two. There’s never been a better time to ditch the office and work from home. Here’s a short-list of remote roles from companies with solid Glassdoor ratings and work-from-anywhere mindsets.

Chainlink Labs

Chainlink Labs builds data infrastructure for smart contracts and offers unlimited time off, fully-paid health benefits, and flexible hours. It’s got an almost dizzying array of open positions right now, so if you’re interested in blockchain technology, this is a great place to check out.

Glassdoor rating: 4.7

Current openings: 30+

Positions: Tons of engineering roles, followed by a handful each in finance, support, product, security, and others.

Clevertech

Clevertech builds custom technology solutions and apps for businesses. Perks include a $1,500 per year personal development stipend, one month of paid time off upon joining, and flexible hours.

Glassdoor rating: 4

Current openings: 20+

Positions: Heavy on engineering, with a sprinkling of analyst and other business-side roles.

Nagarro

Nagarro pitches itself as a “digital product engineering” company and has remote positions available all around the globe, including a bunch in the United States. Benefits include flexible scheduling, a work-from-anywhere policy—including several on-site “hives” if you want to get out of the house—and

pretty standard health, retirement, and PTO offerings.

Glassdoor rating: 4.2

Current openings: 18

Positions: A handful each in engineering, biz dev, product, support, and others.

Toptal

Toptal places experienced freelance tech workers with top companies around the world. It offers fullpay medical benefits, flexible time off, and a paid sabbatical after five years.

Glassdoor rating: 3.8

Current openings: 15

Positions: A bunch of sales roles, a couple of marketing roles, and a role matching talent with clients

Note: Open roles are marked “U.S.-Based” or “International” although several international roles include Canada. Check the location(s) in the righthand sidebar of each role.

Recharge Payments

Recharge Payments builds subscription payment technologies and has been remote-first for almost 10 years. Benefits include full-pay healthcare, an $800 monthly wellness stipend, flexible time off, and 16 weeks of parental leave.

Glassdoor rating: 3.6

Current openings: 10

Positions: A few engineering roles, a couple of

finance/legal roles, a couple support roles, and then one each in marketing, product, and revenue.

Uscreen

Uscreen helps content creators and businesses monetize and distribute videos. The company offers unlimited time off, a home office or coworking space stipend, a wellness stipend, and flexible parental leave.

Glassdoor rating: 4.5

Current openings: 7

Positions: A couple each in marketing, finance, and sales, plus a customer success manager role.

OnTheGoSystems

If you’re a morning person, check out translation technology company OnTheGoSystems, which has a handful of roles available during European working hours. Benefits include a home office stipend, wellness stipend, and a one-month paid sabbatical after seven years.

Glassdoor rating: 4.6

Current openings: 5

Positions: UX, content marketing, PHP/React developer, front-end React developer, and a technical writer role.

Photo by Peggy Anke on Unsplash.

DON’T BE ACHILLES

How one tendon can throw you off your stride

By Joel Streed

But if it’s injured, the pain, typically located in the back of your calf, and lack of function can throw you off your stride for months.

Recognizing when you’re at risk for Achilles tendinitis and knowing how to prevent it can keep you walking, running and exercising without pain.

Who’s at risk

Achilles tendinitis most commonly occurs in people who suddenly begin increasing the intensity or duration of exercise or haven’t been appropriately trained for their sport.

Overuse activities, such as walking the dog, hiking, basketball and golf, also can lead to injury and make the problem worse. But you’re also susceptible due to:

-- Your sex: Achilles tendinitis is most common in men.

-- Age: You’re at a higher risk as you get older.

-- Flat feet: A naturally flat arch in your foot can put more strain on the Achilles tendon.

-- Obesity: Carrying extra pounds also increases tendon strain.

-- Poor footwear: Running in worn-out shoes or wearing footwear inappropriate for your sport can injure the tendon.

-- Weather and terrain: Tendon pain occurs more frequently in cold weather than when it’s warm out. Running on hills also can put more stress on your Achilles tendon.

-- Medical conditions and medications: People with psoriasis, high blood pressure or who take certain types of antibiotics, called fluoroquinolones, are at higher risk of developing Achilles tendinitis.

Preventing tendon injury

Although you may be at risk, these simple strategies can help prevent injury to your Achilles tendon:

-- Increase your activity level gradually. If you’re beginning an exercise regimen, start slowly and gradually increase the duration and intensity of the training.

-- Take it easy. Avoid activities that place excessive stress on your tendons, such as hill running. If you participate in a strenuous activity, warm up first by exercising at a slower pace. If you notice pain during a particular exercise, stop and rest.

-- Choose your shoes carefully. The shoes you wear while exercising should provide adequate heel cushioning and firm arch support to help reduce the tension in the Achilles tendon. Replace your worn-out shoes. If your shoes are in good condition but don’t

support your arch, try adding supports in both shoes.

-- Stretch daily. Take the time to stretch your calf muscles and Achilles tendon in the morning, before exercise and after exercise to maintain flexibility. This is especially important to avoid a recurrence of Achilles tendinitis.

-- Strengthen your calf muscles. Strong calf muscles enable the calf and Achilles tendon to handle activity and exercise stress better.

-- Cross-train. Alternate high-impact activities, such as running and jumping, with low-impact activities, such as cycling and swimming.

Treating Achilles tendon injuries

Most Achilles tendon injuries can be treated at home using the RICE guidelines:

-- Rest: You may need to avoid exercise for several days or switch to an activity that doesn’t strain the Achilles tendon, such as swimming. In severe cases, you may need to wear a walking boot and use crutches.

-- Ice: To decrease pain or swelling, apply an ice pack to the tendon for about 15 minutes after exercising or when you experience pain.

-- Compression: Wraps or compressive elastic bandages can help reduce swelling and reduce movement of the tendon.

-- Elevation: Raise the affected foot above the level of your heart to reduce swelling. Sleep with your affected foot elevated at night. Over-the-counter medications, such as ibuprofen or

naproxen, can help reduce inflammation and relieve pain.

If the pain continues or worsens, you may want to talk with your primary care provider or a foot and ankle specialist who can address both orthopedic and podiatry issues. You may need imaging tests, including X-ray, ultrasound or MRI, to better diagnose the injury to the tendon.

Your health care team may recommend that you see a physical therapist. Typical physical therapy includes:

-- Exercises: Therapists often prescribe specific stretching and strengthening exercises to promote the healing and strengthening of the Achilles tendon and its supporting structures. Eccentric, or negative, strengthening involves slowly raising and lowering a weight. It’s especially helpful for persistent Achilles problems.

-- Orthotic devices: A shoe insert or wedge that slightly elevates your heel can relieve strain on the tendon and provide a cushion that lessens the force exerted on your Achilles tendon.

If several months of conservative treatments don’t work or if the tendon has torn, your health care team may suggest surgery to repair your Achilles tendon. Healing can take months, so it’s best to be aware of your risks and practice preventive strategies to keep you active and pain-free.

Photo by Maxwell Nelson on Unsplash.

The Achilles tendon is a long band of tissue that connects calf muscles at the back of the lower leg to your heel bone. This tendon is used when walking, running, jumping or pushing up on your toes.

RETHINKING RETHINKING KUWAIT

Taking part in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

By bazaar Staff

As an architect, you never stop thinking of ways to improve the world around you. You hold the tools that can help change the Social, Political and Economical landscape surrounding you and make it better for the country and the people living in it. That’s exactly what a group of Kuwaiti architects and their pavilion, ‘Rethinking Rethinking Kuwait’ aimed to do at La Biennale di Venezia, held in Venice, Italy.

Titled “The Laboratory of the Future”, this exhibition opened its doors on May 20 and will continue to do so until November 26 and is curated by Lesley Lokko, a Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic and novelist who, amongst many other things, established the Graduate School of Architecture (GSA) at the University of Johannesburg and served as Dean of Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture.

A visit here will open your eyes to how the architects of our generation have been able to take advantage of the modern world and their knowledge and skills to create astonishing pieces in their respective pavilions. One of the pavilions, ‘Rethinking Rethinking Kuwait’, was created by a group of Architects and Designers from Kuwait along with the Kuwaiti National Council for Culture, Arts, and Literature (NCCAL).

They are exploring new methods for architectural and urban design that emerge from the intersections of space and time. It’s an ongoing investigation attempting to rectify the effects of modernist urban planning that led to the erasure of most of Kuwait’s historic built fabric.

Speaking to a couple of the curators about what made them decide to have that as the focus of what they wanted to do at this Biennale, they said “Part of the conversation initially was to question how things are administered, particularly in architectural spaces and we wanted to include everyone in this and not just be heavily reliant on seniority and expertise because there is a lot of programming that happens. For example, someone who has been practicing for 30 years is used to a certain way of thinking and their ideas will be based on existing systems.”

“We wanted to embrace the laboratory aspect of things and engage everyone. We then put out an open call and got a wide range of participants from different stages in their careers as architects, designers and creatives. Through this, we initiated discourse about how things are done and more importantly, the reason behind them. That’s how the notion of Rethinking Rethinking Kuwait began. We wanted to amplify the young voices and the tension through the discourse produced a productive dialogue on the merit of different models of thinking and how we can implement them.” they added.

The Kuwait Pavilion is rethinking urban planning processes through rethinking transportation, walkability, and accessibility. The experiment started as a response to various foreign master

planning efforts for Kuwait. The project’s focus is to improve the human scale of the city by enhancing urban transitional and interstitial spaces as well as prioritizing mass transit over individual vehicular modes of travel. The process looks at an approach to urban planning that explores a topdown macroscale simultaneously with a bottom-up microscale keeping the human experience and scale critical for the new plan. The interconnectivity of the city’s historic fabric is revisited through various scales of urban interventions, resulting in a new network of connectivity that forms multiple modes of transportation that culminate on the human scale.

The project’s title reflects the process of rethinking as an effort to decolonize architectural discourse; “rethinking rethinking” emerges as a process for reevaluating existing processes while moving beyond the colonialist principles and values typically driving the development of architectural projects. The approach examines existing conventions and precedents while allowing room for local forces to generate a new process. History is treated as a spiral rather than a linear timeline, looking for moments of precedent that can inform future development that is otherwise disjointed in a conventional linear workflow.

“We decided to focus on Kuwait City. After the reinforcement of the existing condition, there is still a trace of where the actual border condition was. Through modernism, there was a sort of grid that was imposed within that geometry and it’s clear to see that the two systems struggle to mesh with each other. So part of our process was how do we embrace the geometries and that took us back to the old fabric and saw the results that happens from organic occupation. We then established an idea where instead of prioritizing profitability, we base it on the human experience where the human body is the primary focus. Everything else should serve the human experience and not vice versa. How do we continue to open up the country and allow access to everyone regardless of where they are in Kuwait?” said the curators when speaking about what made them choose Kuwait City as their focus and how the thought process evolved.

This is the fifth time that Kuwait took part in La Biennale di Venezia and there is definitely a lot more to come in the coming years. “We look back with pride. This is still ongoing until November but we are extremely proud of the work we were able to do and how we were able to design something that you can visit and see from so many different angles with each part telling a story,” they concluded.

Commissiorer: Abdulaziz Al-Mazeedi

Curators: Hamad Al-Khaleefi

Naser Ashour, Mohammad Kassem, Rabab Roes Kazem

For more news and updates, you can follow them on @rethinking.kuwait on Instagram or visit their website www.rethinkingkuwait.com.

YOU ARE NOT A FRAUD

How to overcome imposter syndrome

By mlindsay

Imposter Syndrome is a trap—one most of us (myself included)—get caught in from time to time. That voice tells us our uncertainty equals unworthiness, and it’s only a matter of time before the other shoe drops. The same voice assures me I could and should always be doing more, trying harder. It convinces one of my high-performing employees that a deal falling through is the rule, and a closed win is an exception. Or it sells my son on the false bill of goods that one loss means more than all the success he and his teammates have seen on the field after practicing hard for months.

This all too common phenomenon—experienced by professional athletes, scientists, experts at the top of their fields, and 75% of women executives— isn’t just unpleasant to experience. This intense level of self-doubt around our abilities discourages agency and authenticity, damages productivity and performance, and is associated with burnout. Worse still, when we convince ourselves that we’re just “faking it until we make it” and focus our energy on covering up our insecurities, finding the time and space we need to learn and grow becomes infinitely more challenging—which is bad news for businesses and individuals alike.

What is imposter syndrome, and what does it look like at work?

Imposter syndrome, also known as imposter phenomenon, was first identified and named by clinical psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978. Fast forward to today. While it’s not an official diagnosis included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), it’s widely recognized among mental health professionals as a very real form of self-doubt. Often accompanied by anxiety and depression, it’s experienced by all sorts of people in any number of situations.

Unfortunately, imposter syndrome is also something that most of us keep to ourselves, making it hard to spot—especially at work. But there are some telltale signs. One I’ve seen often is a sort of perfectionism where an employee is hesitant to share works in progress for feedback. Another warning sign that someone feels deeply insecure is a reluctance to share ideas, ask questions, or request help when needed. Many who suffer from imposter syndrome are also dealing with a fixed mindset, believing— however mistakenly—that traits and talents are static. These individuals often feel that having to work hard at something means they’re not “naturally” good at it and might as well give up. Sadly, this sort of mindset can keep people from realizing their full potential. But it doesn’t have to.

As a leader, I’m always looking out for my team. Supporting my team in their struggles, successes, and, crucially, their growth, is key to who I am as a leader, and I know that growth can’t happen if they’re stuck in self-doubt. Here are three key strategies to help your team overcome imposter syndrome (and adopt a growth mindset) that I have used myself and seen to be successful.

Normalize self-doubt (and mistakes)

Feeling like you’ve somehow lucked into your success or aren’t as capable as your coworkers is something that happens to most of us occasionally. Sometimes, it coincides with challenges like difficulty learning a new skill or making a mistake. It can also occur on the heels of success. Remind your team regularly that lots of people (even Olympic gold medalists) experience these feelings of self-doubt. It’s also helpful to emphasize that stretching our limits and pursuing ambitious goals means making mistakes. When things go wrong, we have a choice: We can embrace a growth mindset, learn from the situation, and move forward with new knowledge, or we can let a hiccup along the way stop us in our tracks.

Foster a culture of psychological safety

The growth mindset needed to maintain a happy, highperforming team is only possible when your people feel psychologically safe at work. When your team doesn’t feel comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work, giving honest feedback, and making mistakes, they won’t be open to taking risks, learning new skills, or problem-solving as a team either. To enable my teams (and my kids) to be vulnerable, take risks, and grow, I back them up and champion (i.e., boost morale), as needed. For me, that means

ensuring they have the support they need to learn, grow, and be themselves.

Celebrate strengths and achievements regularly

At work and at home, I’m a celebrator. I believe in celebrating wins, big and small, whenever we can. There will always be challenges and failures to match; that’s why recognizing even the small stuff matters. Whether that means a quick call out about good work in a departmental meeting, positive feedback in a 1:1 session, or time spent together with my family to celebrate milestones like a graduation or getting a driver’s license, I’ve seen the value firsthand in helping people own their achievements and strengths. It helps them gain the confidence they need to continue to grow over time.

Self-doubt and a lack of psychological safety can keep even the most capable people from reaching their full potential. Because I care about my team, I want them to have the opportunity not just to thrive at work, but also to grow—and I know communicating empathetically and effectively and building a psychologically safe environment are a big part of that. Am I perfect at all of this? Not. Even. Close. I am a work in progress, but aren’t we all?

Photo by Claudia Ramírez on Unsplash.

KIDS CAN GO BACK TO SCHOOL IN STYLE

Fun and playful pieces for kids aged 0 to 7!

By bazaar Staff

Back to school is a stressful time for parents generally, there are so many moving parts that have to be put together. To make your lives a little easier, Cheekee Munkee has a fabulous Spring/Summer 2023 collection that brings you on-trend outfits for your little ones that are comfy and stylish, perfect for back to school looks!

Not only is the back-to-school season super busy with long list of stuff kids may need, but it also gets a little pricey, especially for clothes that kids tend to grow out of so quickly! Cheekee Munkee’s collection is homegrown, easy on the pocket, and of great quality.

For your mini fashionistas, explore Cheekee Munkee’s gorgeous range of floral summer dresses, barbie-approved pink tutu skirts and matching sets as well as gorgeous swimsuits and rash guard one-pieces crafted with girly glitter ruffles and ice cream prints. They are so trendy and season appropriate, the bazaar team only wishes they came in adult sizes!

And those with little boys, you can create picture-perfect looks for them with casual graphic tees in their favorite colors to elevated in fun playful prints, bright shorts, and vibrant two-piece sets. Cheekee Munkee’s swimwear includes colours and prints that are fun, bold and colorful while ensuring they are protected from the harmful UV rays.

Cheekee Munkee also brings you a collection of backpacks and lunch bags that are not only great to look at, but also super practical and interactive for little hands. Crafted with your child’s comfort in mind, these items feature the brand’s mascot character and unique prints. These are exactly what you need to put some pep in your kiddo’s step for their first day of school!

With this entire collection, you can let kids be kids and go about their day in absolute comfort. If you are still in the market for back to school looks, don’t miss out on this great collection from Cheekee Munkee.

You can enjoy and shop Cheekee Munkee at selected Debenhams and Mothercare stores in the UAE, KSA and Kuwait. The brand is also available to shop online at Debenhams, Mothercare and Namshi across these markets, as well as Tamanna in Kuwait. Follow them on @cheekeemunkeeme to get a glimpse of the awesome back to school looks.

TAKE THE TECH AWAY

Tech execs protect their kids from their own products

By David Lidsky

When the Big Tech trade group NetChoice sued to block California’s new law boosting online protections for kids, it painted a dystopian picture of the legislation’s impact.The law would force websites to be “roving censors of the internet” and cause them to “stifle important resources, particularly for vulnerable youth,” NetChoice said in its lawsuit.The litigation is part of an industry campaign to derail legislative efforts to shield children from the toxic impact of social media. But even as Big Tech’s proxies try to fend off regulations that could harm the industry’s bottom line, it’s worth remembering that Silicon Valley executives often endorse restricting tech products—for their own kids.As detailed in news reports in recent years, members of the tech elite have directed their nannies to keep their kids away from addictive screens and sent their kids to a private San Francisco school with a strict no-screens policy.

“I just wanted our kids to have a technologyfree start, so that they would be playing and running around and picking up leaves and getting dirty, rather than sitting inside and watching a screen,” said one parent.This attitude extends to the C-suite. Susan Wojcicki, who recently stepped down as YouTube CEO, admitted in 2017 that she sometimes confiscated her kids’ phones. Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, revealed in 2018 that his 11-year-old son did not have a phone. The following year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained that he didn’t want his young children sitting in front of a computer “for a long period of time.”

One former Facebook executive, Chamath Palihapitiya, put it more bluntly, saying that he felt “tremendous guilt” about helping to build the social network and that his children “aren’t allowed to use that shit.”

These admissions have been largely forgotten with the speed of the news cycle over the past five years. But taken together, they reveal an industry that tries to shield its kids from the dangers of technology—while touting the very same products for everyone else. It begs the question: Why shouldn’t America’s young people receive the same levels of protection that Silicon Valley parents provide for their own?While tech executives have gone quieter lately on the subject of how they regulate tech use for their offspring, there are signs that they continue to harbor private doubts about the products they market to the world. When tech-focused publication The Information surveyed more than 1,000 subscribers last year, it found that “Silicon Valley’s children spend far less time on screens than the average American kid.”There is growing awareness in this country about the dangers that social media pose for young people. Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen helped to pull back the curtain in 2021 when she released internal Meta documents showing, among other things, that the company knew Instagram is toxic for many teen girls. Reports by the Tech Transparency Project have demonstrated the failures of YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook when it comes to protecting kids from content on drugs, eating disorders, and other harmful behaviors. But Big Tech companies continue to assure people

that their platforms are safe for children. YouTube describes itself as a “vibrant community of kids and family content creators.” Google talks about “giving kids and teens a safer experience online,” and Meta touts its “commitment to child protection.” Google, meanwhile, is making a huge push to get its products into America’s classrooms for children as young as five.By trying to shield their kids from the ill effects of the products they make, tech leaders are following a pattern seen in industries like Big Tobacco, whose executives, in congressional testimony 25 years ago, conceded that they didn’t want their children to smoke.While Big Tech companies often hold up their parental control features as proof that they provide

tools to protect minors, the fact that the industry’s leaders often take more aggressive measures to shield their own offspring from the excesses of screen time and social media shows the hollowness of their marketing messages.Lawmakers considering bills to protect kids online need to get wise to this double standard when they encounter resistance from the tech industry and its trade groups. If tech leaders think their kids need more robust online guardrails, it’s safe to say the rest of the country’s children do too.

Photo by Emily Wade on Unsplash.

SLEEP IT OFF

5 ways to get better sleep

By Cynthia Weiss

As I get older, I find I have increasing issues with sleep. I struggle to fall asleep and then stay asleep. I wake up during the night and get discouraged when I see the clock. By the time I get back to sleep, my alarm is set to wake me up. I feel groggy during the day and actively look for opportunities to nap. It would be great to wake up feeling rested and ready for the day. What can I do to improve my sleep?

But You’re not alone if you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Many people struggle with sleep — and that›s a problem, since sleep plays a crucial role in your health, energy levels and ability to function at your best. Most adults require seven to eight hours of sleep each night to feel well-rested and energized each day.

If restless nights have become the norm for you, or you find that your sleep is not refreshing for you, start by observing your sleep patterns. Take notes about how much you sleep each night, what factors contribute to your sleep, how rested you feel the next morning and how sleepy you feelthroughout the day.

After observing your sleep patterns for at least one but preferably two weeks, try these five strategies to help improve your sleep:

1.

Minimize light and sound.

These two environmental factors can affect your quality and quantity of sleep. Darkness causes your brain to release melatonin for a calming, sleepy effect. As a result, it’s important to minimize your exposure to light before bedtime. Even the light from your computer, TV or other devices might make it more difficult to fall asleep. Ban these devices from your bedroom, and create a dark space using blackout shades or an eye mask. Noise also can interfere with your ability to sleep. Try using a fan or a noise machine to block out unwanted noises.

2. Get comfortable.

Adults spend about a third of their lives asleep, so it’s worthwhile to invest in bedding that comforts and relaxes you. And don’t forget about your pillows, too. Before climbing into bed, try lowering your thermostat a few degrees. Your core temperature drops during rest, and keeping your room chilly will aid in this natural temperature drop.

3. Keep a routine.

Just like kids, adults sleep better when they have a bedtime routine. Stick to a regular sleep schedule. Aim to go to bed and wake up at the same time, both during the week and on the weekends. Doing the same thing before bed each night can help prepare your body for rest and condition your brain for sleep. Stick to activities that promote relaxation, such as gentle stretching, writing in a journal, reading or meditation.

4. Manage stress.

How you handle stress can significantly affect your ability to fall and stay asleep. While stress isn›t all bad, it can disrupt your sleep when it turns into worry or anxiety. If your busy mind keeps you up at night, try practicing stress management techniques before bed. Listening to, but not watching, sleep talkdown meditations can help clear your mind before bed. Experiment with aromatherapy, deep breathing, keeping a gratitude journalor meditation.

5. Get out of bed.

If you lie in bed stressing about your inability to sleep, get out of bed and do something that will promote relaxation. This might be reading an uninteresting book, practicing a relaxation technique or focusing on your breath. When you begin to feel sleepy, head back to bed. Avoid spending time in bed frustrated about sleep.

Make sleep a priority. Even if you’re already sleeping soundly, these tips can help.

If you’re still not getting enough sleep, use these additional suggestions until you get the sleep you need to feel your best each day:

• Keep a written log of your sleep schedule this week.

• Turn off your electronic devices — including your phone and TV — an hour before bed each night.

• Do some gentle stretches before bed to help you relax.

Continue making adjustments until restless nights become a thing of the past. If you struggle with sleep despite these measures, it may be time to talk with your health care team.

Photo by Isabella Fischer on Unsplash.

GET A GLOW UP AT TALISE SPA IN JUMEIRAH MESSILAH BEACH HOTEL & SPA

With numerous options to pick from, the right treatment for you is just one choice away

By bazaar Staff

Consider yourself covered in the world of skincare! 111Skin is a luxury skincare brand that offers a range of products designed to address concerns and promote healthy, radiant skin. Exclusively at Talise Spa in Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel and Spa, the “111Skin” Spa treatments are now available, along with a range of retail products for purchase.

111Skin The Signature Harley Street Facial | 60 Minutes

A high-performance facial formulated with powerful antioxidants to neutralize free radical damage and to repair irritated skin. Their original Dramatic Healing Serum formula strengthens and restores the skin’s lipid barrier and prevents further inflammation.

Using a combination of restorative ingredients from their Reparative Collection, the facial also targets skin issues such as dehydration, sensitivity, and rosacea for skin that feels and looks calmer and deeply hydrated.

111Skin De-Puffing Cryo Facial | 75 Minutes

Designed to increase microcirculation in the skin to detoxify and reduce puffiness, this treatment brightens your skin by increasing oxygen flow. It’s energizing and makes the skin appear firmer and luminescent and is perfect for tired skin to help counteract pollution. The relaxing Cryo Globes massage sculpts and contours the face.

111Skin Rose Radiance Body Treatment | 90 Minutes

The body brush is used for the whole body to gently exfoliate the skin without irritating it, leaving the skin extremely soft. It includes a soothing massage using Rose Quartz Stones on the back and chest while the face is also treated with a Rose Gold Facial Mask to brighten and nourish the skin. This is perfect for brides or any special event.

111 Skins Products

Moroc Moroc Products

111Skin Rose Quartz Restorative Facial | 90 Minutes

Combining powerful restoration properties with the most innovative formulas to make the skin firmer. The Radiance Oil used contains gold and rose extracts with Rose Quartz Crystals to relax and soothe the mind, leaving your skin rested with a restored-looking radiance. It’s a must-have for all skin types before a big event.

111Skin Cryo Cellulite Treatment | 60 Minutes

Stimulating microcirculation and the lymphatic system to improve the appearance of cellulite, this treatment helps to ease and sooth tired legs and achy muscles while contouring the silhouette. It combines their Cryo Globes and Pro Cellulite Gel to target clustered cells that require drainage before a bespoke massage to stimulate vasodilation, bringing fresh nutrients to the specific areas.

SIGNATURE TALISE SPA TREATMENTS & FACILITIES

When we said you have a very wide range of options at Jumeirah Messilah Hotel Beach and Spa, we meant it. Other than their incredible 111Skin treatments, you have more choices of other great treatments to pick from!

Sensory Awakening Candle Massage |50 Minutes

Inspired by ancient Moroccan secrets to heal the body and relax the spirit, this treatment indulges in an overall feeling of well-being as the warmed candle melts to oil releasing the amber, vanilla, and musk oils that work to nourish, invigorate, and calm with every massage stroke.

Signature Deep Tissue | 45 Minutes

This is a powerful, liberating set of massage techniques to relieve muscular and nervous tensions and is optimal for active, stressed and sports people who want to quiet the mind and have their muscles free of tensions to the point where you’ll feel light and a little sleepy for a little bit after the massage before getting a boost of new energy shortly after.

Signature Reshape Mineral Body Wrap | 45 Minutes

This treatment stimulates blood circulation and lymph flow while promoting the elimination of excess fluid, and evens out the relief and cleans stimulate cell regeneration. It also moisturizes, nourishes, tones, and improves metabolism while stimulating collagen production. In addition, it increases firmness and elasticity.

Himalayan Salt Room

Couples Suite

Snow Room

Spa Treatments

Relaxation Area

AMRA Caviar Hammam Journey 45 | 60 | 120 Minutes

Hydrating Caviar fused with a unique probiotic technology retains your skin’s moisture and prevents trans-epidermal water loss. Your hydrating Hammam adds optimal hydration, whilst toning and plumping your skin, our Hyaluronic Acid complex captures the very essence of Caviar.

AMRA Volcanic Rock & Gold Hammam Journey 45 | 60 | 120 Minutes

Platinum, Meteorite & Volcanic Rock ingredients engulf your body in this traditional Hammam ritual, with an olfactory splendor of the powerful woody amber notes, draped with soft leather accords and exotic scents. Rejuvenating 24kt Gold, Platinum, Volcanic Rock, and Meteorite envelops the skin to hydrate, brighten, and firm, whilst our Dipeptide active technology works to tighten and lift your skin.

If that’s not enough, you can also opt for the Talise Couples’ Suite which is designed with total privacy in mind! These stunning spaces have been designed to allow couples or friends to experience treatments together in a beautiful, private setting while enjoying a tailored, truly luxurious pampering experience.

The private spa includes a steam room, showers, jacuzzi and a healing Himalayan salt room while the suits are interconnected and designed to offer the opportunity for guests to enjoy both suites and an ultimate spa experience.

Their spa facilities are like no other! Discover a transformative sanctuary at the Talise Spa where you can release your concerns, rebalance your energy, reshape your silhouette and detox your mind and spirit all in one place. Replace your tiredness and stress with rejuvenation, renewal and inner harmony. With 3,500 meters squared of luxurious space, 17 treatment rooms and two private suits, Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel and Spa offers a tailored experience for individuals as well as couples.

Their facilities include a Hydrotherapy Pool, Himalayan Salt Room, Snow Room, Sauna and Steam Rooms, Color Therapy Room, Relaxation Area and a Jacuzzi.

For more information, call +965 22269688 or visit Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel and Spa’s Instagram @jumeirahmessilahbeach or visit their website Jumeirah.com.

Hammam Rituals

DOCBOT

I’m an ER doctor. Here’s how I’m already using ChatGPT to help treat patients

By Morgan Clendaniel

With explosive interest in ChatGPT and other Large Language Model programs, many AI evangelists are touting their use as a diagnostic tool in healthcare—or even broadly declaring it to be the future of medicine. As with many high tech innovations, proclamations like this can often overshadow small but crucial applications that are immediately in our grasp.

I say that as a working ER doctor who is using ChatGPT to help treat patients right now.

But not for diagnosis. As I recently wrote about and discussed on a recent podcast, ChatGPT works fairly well as a diagnostic assistant—but only if you feed it perfect information, and the actual patient has a classic presentation, which is rarely the case. (And you don’t mind a 50% success rate that often misses life-threatening conditions.)

A more immediate utility of ChatGPT in medicine was dramatized to me at around 3am during a recent night shift, treating a 96-year-old with dementia who had difficulty breathing because of fluid in her lungs. Adding to this challenge, her three children (all in their 70s) were also in the ER room.

Understandably concerned, they hovered around my staff and me, to the point where their constant barrage of requests was actually slowing down treatment. To compound the problem, they were absolutely certain what their mother needed.

“Nurse, our mother needs IV fluids to treat her dehydration. Please hurry!” All three of them repeated variations of that request to us for over an hour.

Small problem: Administering IV fluids would have made her much worse or even kill her.

“I know that you are concerned about your mom,” I tried explaining to them. “But she cannot breathe right now because she has pulmonary edema, which is fluid in her lungs. If I hydrate her with IV fluids, it will make her pulmonary edema worse and she might die. Once we have the fluid out of her lungs and breathing better, then we can worry about her being dehydrated.”

“But whenever she is sick, she just needs an IV because of dehydration,” the patient’s son insisted, adamant. “Why don’t you just give her some IV fluid? She will be better in no time.”

I tried to rephrase my explanation in multiple different ways, but judging by their blank expressions, none were resonating. This is actually a common situation in the ER. People do not wake up planning on an emergency that brings them to me in the dead of night, and are often in a decompensated emotional state.

To make matters worse, several other patients were in more immediate need of my attention.

Desperate for a solution, I went down the hall to my computer, and fired up ChatGPT 4. I printed this response up, and read it to the concerned family. As I recited ChatGPT’s words, their agitated

expressions immediately melted into calm agreeability.

Even better, I handed the printed copy to the nurse. While the patient was waiting for an ICU bed, the family would frequently return to the nurse to ask about IV fluids (some members may have been struggling with memory impairment), and he’d read the script to them. It always received a warm reception.

Just as key, the family quietly stepped back to let my staff focus on their work. I could then devote my time with the other patients who were even more sick, and manage the chaos for the rest of the night shift.

Since this incident, I’ve taken to using ChatGPT to help empathically explain specific medical

scenarios to patients and their loved ones. It’s become an invaluable resource for the frequent situations where my ER ward is too busy or shortstaffed for explaining complex medical diagnoses in a way that is accurate but easy to understand.

In doing so, I’ve come to realize dealing with ChatGPT is like working with an incredibly brilliant, hard-working—and occasionally tired—intern. That’s become my mental model for considering the usefulness of ChatGPT.

Now, for any potential application, I think, “Would a dedicated but occasionally tired intern working on this make things easier for me and my staff—or would the work required managing them end up being more effort than just doing it without their involvement?”

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Seen from that perspective, ChatGPT or an intern can still, for instance:

• Take down my patient’s history

• Create long form written communication for patients and staff

• Explain highly technical information to patients simply with empathy and compassion

In each case, the output from the intern/ ChatGPT needs to be carefully checked before it’s used. But in these scenarios, reviewing existing work is usually much faster than starting from scratch. As for my actual human interns, ChatGPT would then free them up to focus on the activity needed most: Caring for patients.

As an advocate of expanding usage of AI in healthcare, my hope is the industry focuses on more immediately achievable applications like this, as opposed to long-term prospects in which artificial intelligence completely transforms medicine.

Many or most of these futuristic scenarios overlook the practical challenges of implementation. Satisfying HIPAA rules around patient privacy alone may take many years or decades to resolve themselves before we could even contemplate directly using programs like ChatGPT in a medical theater.

Indirect uses of ChatGPT, however, are often ready for implementation now, and are desperately needed—especially with physician burnout levels at an all-time high. Already constrained by the few minutes we are allotted to see each patient in person, we need solutions which expand and enrich the doctor-patient relationship.

These time constraints lead directly to a common complaint: “Doctor speak,” in which highly technical explanations for symptoms and diagnoses overwhelm or even confuse patients, rather than make them feel cared for. All too often, physicians and their staff are too overwhelmed themselves to explain a medical situation in patient, empathic, plain language.

According to the CDC, emergency rooms across the US see over 131 million visits per year. Assuming for the sake of argument that using ChatGPT to eliminate “doctor speak” were scaled to ERs across the country, and it saved an average of 5 minutes per patient, that would translate to well over 10 million hours of time saved per year— hours that physicians and their staff could then devote to more hands-on care for more patients.

There are still workflow challenges with these approaches. Currently, anything entered into ChatGPT is essentially published to the web;

to be in line with HIPAA, any factors that would enable linkage to a specific patient would have to be removed or altered.

Additionally, systems that put guardrails on ChatGPT’s direct interaction with patients, in the case of medical history taking (for example), would need to be developed so that the intern aspect does not start producing catastrophic advice. But these are not insurmountable challenges and the payoff is real.

I am a little embarrassed to admit that I have learned better ways of explaining things to my own patients from ChatGPT’s suggested responses. But I’m also greatly appreciative for the increased human connection I feel from a patient who understands what I am doing for them, and why.

There is a lot of hype about ChatGPT and other large language models taking away physician’s jobs because of its massive knowledge base. They won’t. But in a curious irony, my ER staff and I are able to devote far more time to the human equation of healthcare thanks to artificial intelligence.

Photos by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash.

GET AN “A” FOR BACK TO SCHOOL READINESS WITH MUJI

Your stationery haul made easy

By bazaar Staff

Nothing says school’s back in session like a new pencil case and a full set of colorful gel pens. Back to school shopping gives us major nostalgia, and taking our kids on the annual trip to MUJI to pick up all of their stationery needs and school supplies is the perfect way to end summer on a high note. These are some of our must-haves every year:

Gel Pens in all the colors

MUJI Gel Ink Pens are renowned for their ink prevention mechanism that stops the ink from flowing in the wrong direction and prevents any breaks in the writing line or ink leakage. The aqueous pigment ink doesn’t bleed or ghost on most paper and is bold and saturated. The perfect choice for color coding your notes and making sure you remember everything you studied.

File Boxes

We all start out the year promising ourselves to stay organized and on top of everything, fast forward a couple of weeks and our desks are mountains of paper. We’ve learned that the best way to keep it all under control is by investing in an assortment of file boxes. Whether you’re storing sheets of paper, books or binders, these MUJI boxes will help you keep everything accessible and tidy.

Acrylic Storage

Another great storage solution is MUJI’s acrylic boxes. They’ve become an iconic staple in every organized person’s arsenal of tools because they’re clear, they fit into any decor and don’t clash with your chosen aesthetic. They also help you see where all your things are so you don’t have to open twenty boxes before you find your favorite eraser.

Assorted Stationery Items

Most of us remember the basics like pens and pencils, but there are other tools that can help us get things done like staplers, tape dispensers and rulers. Make sure you add them, a pair of scissors, a hand held paper shredder and washi tape to your shopping bag too. You might not realize it now, but you will thank us later.

MOMMY DESERVES A BREAK

Maternity leave is not a vacation. Working moms say too many colleagues see it that way

By Christopher Zara

Giving women adequate time to recover from pregnancy and childbirth should be a no-brainer. It’s biologically normal for mothers to have time to bond with and nurture their babies. But the United States is not exactly known for catering to new parents, or even newborns for that matter. When compared with other developed countries, the United States ranks worst for paid maternity leave.

Giving women adequate time to recover from pregnancy and childbirth should be a no-brainer. It’s biologically normal for mothers to have time to bond with and nurture their babies. But the United States is not exactly known for catering to new parents, or even newborns for that matter. When compared with other developed countries, the United States ranks worst for paid maternity leave.

Still, according to a new study from Horizon Media, which surveyed 1,371 working moms as part of a campaign called The Mother of All Titles, 40% of moms feel that misconception is still absolutely rampant. While there are tons of other misconceptions surrounding postpartum, the “vacation” label is the one that moms feel most plagued by.

Sadly, calling maternity leave a vacation isn’t accidental. It’s a purposeful way to demean what is commonly a challenging and exhausting, yet deeply important, transition. Postpartum is filled with long nights, early mornings, and, oh yeah, recovery. The vacation label helps ensure that we don’t actually have to go out of our way around the office or change policies in Washington, D.C., to help new moms. If maternity leave is a vacation, that makes it a luxury— not a necessity.

For most working families, taking even six to eight weeks of unpaid leave presents a massive financial hardship, so women are routinely forced to return to work before they are ready. It’s such a common struggle that we almost forget to be frustrated by it. But when looking outside our borders, that frustration comes hurdling back. Other countries largely view postpartum as sacred. It’s not uncommon for mothers to have a year of paid leave in places like Canada, New Zealand, or Finland. To put it in perspective, mothers of Slovak Republic have 164 weeks of paid leave.

Mothers with adequate leave have lower rates of postpartum mood disorders and are able to breastfeed for longer, given that they remain close to their newborns. Likewise, quick returns to work are tough on new moms’ mental health, especially when they go back earlier than two to three months postpartum. Breastfeeding rates also plummet. While about 80% of moms start out breastfeeding, by six months only 56% still are, despite the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, then continued breastfeeding alongside solid food for up to two years.

Lack of support upon RTO

It’s tough to feel good about a lack of mandatory leave. But asking new moms to return to work as quickly as they can would be slightly easier to stomach if we supported them once they were back in the office.

But according to the new research, that’s not happening either. While 45% of the working mothers surveyed believed that having access to a lactation room, a lactation consultant, or a postpartum doula through their insurance was extremely important, only 27% said they had access to any of those postpartum services through their employer.

More women are certainly talking about these issues in 2023. And with legislation like the PUMP Act, hopefully more parents will start asking for the benefits they need and deserve. But the vacation label doesn’t make that easy. And, well, that’s kind of the point.

Photo by Christian Bowen on Unsplash.

TRAVEL HACKS

Why you should always bring 2 phones on vacations

Mark Ellwood

One time in Paris, I lost my phone and I had to spend $2,000 for a new iPhone. I’ve also had a phone stolen on the beach in Rio — a whole team of kids that came and stole my phone right out of my hand — and one that submerged into the Aegean. And one was flung off the back of a horse on the beach in Careyes. We had to turn the horse around and tried to go find it but, nope, couldn’t find it. So now I never discard my old iPhones.

You can also buy a reconditioned one online. They come in handy, because whenever I’m packing for a trip, I always throw one in my bag. I bring a spare one and an extra SIM wherever I go. The cards cost about $10. You can call your carrier and tell them to switch your number to that SIM and use it in the old iPhone.

How to beat jet lag when flying a long-haul flight

I don’t sleep well on planes. Most flights to Europe end up being too short for a proper rest, and I’ve never loved the whole hit-the-ground-running approach. Instead, I book my hotel for the night before I land, and I take the earliest flight out. If you board the plane at 4 p.m. from New York, you land at the equivalent of 11 p.m. ET, and by the time you get to your hotel you’re tired, like a normal night.

And yes, you lose half the day to sleep when you get to your hotel. But it’s better than roaming around a zombie in Paris for half a day trying to pretend that you’re normal. It eliminates the dread of waiting for your room to be ready, and by the time it’s dark out your jet lag kicks in and you’re tired again anyway. The Hoxton Hotels let you check in whenever you want.

One of his favorite cities is Rio de Janeiro. Here’s a cheat sheet

I am a big Rio de Janeiro fan. I can’t sit on the sand endlessly, no matter how beautiful the setting, so a city on the beach like Rio is the perfect way for me to do the traditional holiday things plus a lot more. I love Hotel Arpoador and the Ipanema Inn if I am just doing a quick getaway. Hotel Arpoador is right on the beach at the border of Ipanema and Copacabana. I go every day for a quick lunch and catch up on work while sitting on their terrace.

Then the afternoons are for exploring. I find myself wanting to go back to even the obvious touristic places I’ve seen a dozen times: Christ the Redeemer, Jardim Botânico, Parque Lage. I always stop by Confeitaria Colombo in Centro for a coffee, have a pizza at Canastra, a big seafood meal at Satyricon, a drink at the Copacabana Palace, watch a horse race at the Jockey Club over a late lunch at Rubaiyat. The residential streets are beautiful, but they’re really quiet. I stay on the commercial streets, where things are open until 4 a.m. and no action is happening. I try to stay around people.

Find the cheapest way to travel to a secondary city long-haul

If I am traveling for leisure and have a few days to spare, I always use Google Flights to find the city in Europe with the least expensive flights. Type in your home city, such as New York, and then for the

destination you just type “Europe” and check the box for nonstop. It’s going to auto-populate direct flights to Barcelona, Milan, Prague or Berlin. Pick the best deal, and then you can connect to wherever on a discount airline, such as EasyJet or Wizz.

Every August I travel to Patmos in Greece, and lately I’ve avoided the overpriced and oversold New York-to-Athens route and have flown instead to Berlin, and then fly a discount airline to Kos, where I catch the ferry. It’s also a way to find cheaper business class: If you fly to a market that is mostly leisure tourism, for example, you can find better deals. On the way back, I use a website called Kiwi, where you can do the opposite, saying you’ll fly from anywhere in Europe to New York.

Ask local restaurant owners and diners to score the best recommendations.

I’ll go to a restaurant that someone has recommended to me and ask around. “I’m so happy that I found this place. It was amazing. Where should I go tomorrow?” And the locals will point you in the right direction. I know what my answer would be if somebody asked me that at my restaurant. I could tell them in two seconds where to go in New York. A lot of people in hospitality would welcome that question.

European airlines offer way to cheap businessclass seats. Here’s how

When I was flying to Paris for Fashion Week, the business-class tickets were $10,000. Well, I’m not doing that — somebody else would have to be paying

for that trip for me. Instead I booked in economy each way and upgraded when I checked in. So it cost me an $800 ticket, with two $600 upgrades: a total of $2,000 for the trip instead of $10,000. U.S.-based airlines often don’t make the same offer. They usually don’t upgrade, and there’s no way to pay your way up or upgrade with miles, which is crazy when you see the inventory and empty seats. But on both Virgin and Air France, which partner with Delta, they’ll do it. Practice the hub-and-spoke ritual when planning a vacation

I would spend the whole summer at the hotel Le Sirenuse in Positano on the Amalfi Coast — waking up in that fortress of beauty and luxury. It’s just the most incredible jumping-off point for the style of travel that I like to do, and which allows me to have miniadventures every day.

I’ve looked at people’s itineraries for the South of France, and I say, “Wait, you’re going to all those places? You’re doing three days in Nice, and then two days in Antibes, and then you’re driving to Monaco for a night, and then you’re going back to St-Tropez?”

I would just stay at Antibes for a week and jump in the car and go see it all. I really like to settle in one place. I love coming back to the hotel and seeing the bartender every night and having them ask me, “Oh, how did you like the beach?” I just don’t like to repack and move my luggage.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash.

SUMMER GLOW AT XCITE YOUR GUIDE TO A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE WITH XCITE

By bazaar Staff

It’s difficult to be outdoors during the day during this summer heat but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to stay active, eat healthy and track your daily movements, especially when Xcite has it all in one place for you!

Echelon Sports Bikes

A convenient way to stay active and fit from your own home, the Echelon Sport Bike’s interactive features and virtual classes guide users to keep moving through engaging workouts. Regular cycling sessions on the bike can improve cardiovascular health, boost stamina and aid in weight management. It’s an extremely effective tool to stay safe in your home away from the summer heat while getting in your exercise daily!

Philips Air Steam Cooker

The Philips Air Steam Cooker 7000 is a cutting-edge kitchen appliance designed to promote healthier living. It combines the functionalities of an air fryer and steamer to provide you with a versatile cooking experience with minimal oil usage. The Philips Air Steam Cooker 7000 helps make your meal preps easier whether you’re looking to prepare rice, chicken, steamed vegetables or even healthy dessert options!

Apple AirPods Max Headphones

Discover a new dimension of workout motivation this summer with the Apple AirPods Max Headphones. These premium, over-ear headphones offer an immersive audio experience that will transform your workout sessions into an exhilarating escape! You can now enjoy your favorite workout beats using these lightweight design headphones with breathable mesh cushions that ensure comfort during extended wear.

NutriBullet Blenders

Your ultimate companion for achieving a healthier lifestyle this summer, the NutriBullet Blenders will quickly become your best friend! Designed to effortlessly blend fruits, vegetables, and superfoods into nutrient-rich smoothies and juices, this is your chance to embrace this appliance whether you’re aiming to shed a few pounds, boost your immune system or simply adopt a more nutritious diet.

Apple Watches

Apple really know what they’re doing in relation to fitness and that’s why we had to add two of their products here! The innovative smartwatches are the ultimate fitness companion, packed with features that will elevate your workout performance with precision. The waterresistant design will allow you to push your limits and the customizable fitness goals will motivate you to achieve your best results.

Stay updated on the latest events, monthly promotions and offers by subscribing to the monthly newsletter on xcite.com, follow Xcite’s social media channels on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat, @xcitealghanim or Facebook at XcitebyAlghanim and win prizes with contests, or visit the online store at www.xcite.com.

LONELINESS HAS HIT ‘CRISIS’ LEVELS

How do we get out of it?

By Paloma Chavez

There is a growing epidemic the country needs to worry about, and it’s only going to get worse if we don’t take action, the U.S. surgeon general says.Loneliness and isolation are on the rise in the U.S., and it’s quickly turning into a crisis — with roughly half of adults saying they’ve recently experienced loneliness, according to Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy’s 2023 advisory.

“When I first took office as Surgeon General in 2014, I didn’t view loneliness as a public health concern,” he said in his advisory.

It wasn’t until he traveled across the country to hear Americans share their stories of feeling “isolated, invisible, and insignificant” that he realized “social disconnection was far more common than” he “had realized.”

The loneliness ‘crisis’

Though the COVID-19 pandemic brought out feelings of isolation and loneliness in many, they were already on the rise.

The two make up this national issue of disconnectedness, and though they are related, they do not mean quite the same thing. Social isolation is defined by having few relationships and lack of social interaction, whereas loneliness is an “internal state.”

A 2022 study cited by the advisory showed that only 39% of Americans felt like they were connected to others emotionally. The study showed that with this increase in lack of social connection to others, there was also an increase in loneliness.

The two factors are shown to be more “widespread than many of the other major health issues of our day, including smoking, diabetes, and obesity,” the advisory says.

An increase in technology use, lack of community involvement and decline in personal participation in social interaction can partially be behind the rise in loneliness throughout the country.

Why social connection matters

It’s simple. People who feel connected to others seem to live longer. Recent data spanning 148 studies has shown that individuals with a higher level of social connection have increased their “odds of survival by 50%.”

Social connection influences health through three main pathways: biology, psychology and behavior.

The biology as in hormones, genes and inflammation; psychological as in having purpose and hopefulness; and behaviors like exercise, sleep and nutrition.

So how can adequate social interaction help a person with these three health factors?

Social connection affects the biological pathway by showing up early in life and “contributing to risk and protection from disease” along the way.

The psychological pathway is affected by social

relationships and by giving a person motivation in their life.

Behavior can be affected directly through social influence by loved ones’ words of encouragement or following by example, like being more physically active if your friends work out.

Lack of social connection, on the other hand, is a risk factor for deaths caused by disease, the advisory says. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, depression, infectious disease, anxiety and reduced cognitive function are all possible results.

A weakened immune system caused by less social interaction may increase a person’s chance of developing an infectious disease. A study done during the COVID-19 pandemic showed “a lack of social connection with neighbors and resultant loneliness was associated with weaker antibody responses to the vaccine.”

Ways to improve social connection

The advisory suggests designing a communal environment that helps build social connection through programs and institutes that bring people together.

From a government perspective, policies should be put in place to “minimize harm from disconnection,” Murthy says. Additionally, he says health care providers should be thoroughly trained on the topic and increase tracking of disconnection in communities.

The surgeon general also advises that because digital environments may be a cause of loneliness and lack of social connection, companies need to provide more data transparency so officials can more broadly understand how technology affects disconnection. He also says those companies need to increase safety standards to protect users.

For the nation to combat this epidemic, there needs to be a sense of public awareness and more research funding on the topic, Murthy says. He suggests gathering researchers, health professionals and policymakers to make a national agenda to address the issue.

Overall, he says the most important way to cultivate is something people can do in their everyday lives. He says individuals need a new sense of social connection and to build “a culture of connection” through acts of service, being kind, respecting one another, and having these conversations in schools and workplaces.

The surgeon general urges the public to act now because “our future depends on what we do today.”

“Answer that phone call from a friend. Make time to share a meal. Listen without the distraction of your phone,” he said. “Perform an act of service. Express yourself authentically. The keys to human connection are simple, but extraordinarily powerful.”

Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash

ULTIMATE RELAXATION AT THE WALDORF ASTORIA KUWAIT SPA

Indulge in the ultimate rejuvenation experience

By bazaar Staff

Waldorf Astoria Kuwait Spa, the ultimate destination for luxurious spa and wellness experiences, has exclusive membership packages for discerning guests looking to indulge in the ultimate relaxation and rejuvenation.

Pool

With its state-of-the-art facilities, luxurious amenities, and a team of highly skilled therapists, Waldorf Astoria Kuwait Spa is the perfect place to unwind and de-stress. The spa offers a wide range of treatments and services, including massages, facials, body scrubs, and more, using premium products and techniques that are individually tailored for both men and women.

Waldorf Astoria Kuwait Spa uses only the finest, most luxurious, and exclusive products for its treatments, ensuring that guests receive the highest quality experience.

The spa exclusively features premium skincare brands such as AMRA and Tata Harper, renowned for their effective and natural ingredients. Tata Harper is a luxury skincare brand exclusively available at Waldorf Astoria Kuwait, offering guests a unique and exclusive spa experience.

Experience the ultimate renewal with a toning treatment, light-therapy experience, or olfactory meditation in our relaxation pod. Let one of our skilled facialists create a bespoke pampering treatment tailored to your skin’s unique needs.

To enhance overall wellness, Waldorf Astoria Kuwait Spa blends ancient and modern modalities in its healing massages, providing a harmonious fusion of tradition and innovation for ultimate relaxation and pain relief.

Discover a world of exclusive privileges through the Waldorf Astoria Kuwait Spa’s Gold and Platinum membership, designed for both individuals and couples. Tailor your experience and enjoy the benefits, including unlimited access to the spa’s facilities, an inviting outdoor pool, and a well-equipped fitness center. Members are also granted entry to a private lounge area, an oasis of serenity, where they can unwind and savor refreshments while waiting for their treatments.

For more information about the exclusive memberships offered by Waldorf Astoria Kuwait Spa, please visit our website or contact us at +965 2477 4414

Salt Room

VIP Spa Changing Room

Spa Treatment

VIP Hammam Spa Twin Treatment Room

WE NEED TO MAKE CHANGES

It’s going to keep getting hotter unless we all do something about it

By bazaar staff

Unless you’ve been living under a rock in the arctic, then you know the entire globe has been hit with a number of devastating heat waves and storms that have surpassed anything we’ve ever experienced before. While life has gone on as normal in Kuwait because we’re already used to excruciating heat in the summer, this isn’t going to last forever. If we don’t do something, there will come a day when our climate control solutions fails us.

Albania

As individuals our contribution is minimal. Even as a single country, we can’t change the world, but we set an example and hope that even our small steps towards climate protection will work. We know our readers, so we know you aree smart cookies who care and we have a list of things that you should consider switching to.

Support Local Produce

This might seem simple but produce that was grown locally doesn’t need to be shipped from faraway places and uses less energy to be refrigerated and transported. And the more we support our local products the better they will get and it will encourage farmers to grow a larger variety.

More Greenery

Plant a tree, get a house plant or even start with a cactus. Who knows, there might be a little plant mom or dad inside of you waiting to get out. Trees don’t just convert Carbon Dioxide to Oxygen, they can also help bring temperatures down a bit, provide shade and just generally make everyone happier.

Reusable containers

This is perhaps one of the easiest changes anyone can make. Ditch the disposables and invest in glass and silicone containers for your food. Water bottles alone contribute to a massive 500 billion

plastic bottles being used each year. Get a water dispenser or filter at home. Carry your own water bottle instead for when you’re out. It may seem like a silly change but every little bit help. Buy a fancy coffee cup and use it when you’re at your favorite café.

Solar Power

If you are in the process of building your home consider adding solar panels so you can use more renewable energy. We don’ usually worry about the financial cost of energy but the environmental cost can be reduced if we make more use of our glorious sun. If you already own a home, research how you can add solar panels or windows.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.

NEW ARTWORK AT THE PROMENADE

Promenade

Culture Centre

continues to support talent with its mural residencies

By bazaar Staff

If you have visited The Promenade in the last couple of years, you’ve seen the unique artwork on the walls. These murals are part of the Promenade Culture Centre’s residency program to elevate the artistic experience of The Promenade. What commenced during the Covid-19 pandemic as a safe way for the artists to work separately in their own space, has now become an ongoing residency with amazing results; different colorful stories told around the mall, a lot of engagement with the customers and clients, with everyone interpreting the story behind the large paintings in their own way.

The bazaar team has been following the journey of the artists from the very beginning, and we love what we see! Our visits to the mall are infinitely brighter because of the stunning artworks that truly provide food for thought. The murals started with the topic of socializing in 2021 and transition in 2022, we come to connection in 2023 – which is the latest topic and will take place on the third floor of the office block, near the entrance the corporate offices of The Promenade. The artist that The Promenade Culture Centre (PCC) is working with is Hisham Al Qanaie, who started his career in the arts as a professional fictional graffiti artist and later turned to painting on canvases.

Ksenia Graovac, the woman making magic happen at the PCC, explains that “Our topics revolve around a holistic approach to the arts. We recognize the connectedness between our mind, spirit, body, and emotions. The past topics – socializing, transition and now – connection, work in favor of the theory that art imitates life. The last few years were challenging, with many individuals rethinking their decisions and paths. We were simply showing these changes and adaptations through the mentioned topics and art that our artists created.”

We are further told that the “Artistic residency is the backbone of cultural centers. What is the purpose of a center if not to, primarily, support the local artists? Our goal is to support the artists seeking a space for showcasing their artistic ability and sharing their messages with the public, as well as to provide our audiences and visitors with contemporary artistic offers. By doing this, we hope to create a cultural reservoir for all cultural consumers and position PCC on the cultural map of Kuwait.”

In 2024, the PCC will have two residency programs. The first is the mural with the topic connection. The theme encouraged exploration of the following: What does being connected mean to you? The fields in which the idea of connection can apply are numerous: physical, mental, cultural, geographic, and many more. It can be explored through connections on a human level, through time, movement, space, and memory, even a connection with self.

The response may confront these ideas directly or subliminally. Later in the year, the second edition of Visionary lab will also take place. This is a residency program where two artists work in studios in PCC to create art that is later exhibited in the Main hall.

Hisham Al Qenaie’s mural is a beautiful piece of art to say the least. He shares his thought process behind using the theme of connection to create his artwork: “For this piece, I envisioned the harmonious connection between humans, art, and nature. I portrayed this idea using minimalist human forms blended with various plants in an artistic fashion.”

Hisham embarked on his graffiti journey at the age of 13. This led him to pursue a career in architecture. Nowadays, he primarily focuses on creating art on canvases and aspires to participate in numerous exhibitions in the future.

Hisham tells us that “working with PCC was an incredible experience. It is truly invigorating to collaborate with a team that appreciates the importance of art and respects the creative freedom required for artists to openly explore and express their ideas. I found it delightful to work with this particular scale, as my recent focus has shifted from working on walls to working on canvases. Transitioning between different scales has proven to be both challenging and gratifying. The creation of this artwork has involved a combination of physical and digital processes.”

Hisham’s mural is a celebration of color – it is bright and eye-catching. Recently, he has been inspired by several artists such as Sofles, George Condo, and Cy Twombly. Hisham is truly passionate about art and believes that “artistic creations are brought to life through the profound understanding and perception of the artist. The intrinsic value of what originates from within should be cherished, regardless of external opinions.”

In relation to finding talent and continuing the residencies, Ksenia tells us “we are fortunate that Shahad Bishara, our curator and founder of Visual therapy, shares our vision of elevating cultural consumption in Kuwait and has similar views on how to support artists. Shahad is a great connoisseur of Kuwait’s artistic scene, with specific interest in newcomers and artists that are developing their artistic approach. PCC is usually looking for those artists who are keen on collaborating with the Centre, and searching for opportunities to create meaningful and impactful art. At PCC, we are looking into introducing more interaction between residency artists and the artistic community, as well as organising workshops where our artists can learn more or offer to share their own skill or knowledge. The mural residencies might shift into a different type of program in the future. No matter the direction we take, the support for art will not cease.”

Ksenia explains that the PCC is committed to contribute to the larger artistic and cultural expression in Kuwait, as well as their mission – which is to enhance the artistic expression in Kuwait through organizing thought-provoking collaborative projects. PCC’s aim, through the residencies, is to create and maintain an independent cultural space, to support new generations of artists, and facilitate a free and safe space for people to explore culture. We love how these residencies bring the community together to celebrate art.

We are so excited to see this latest mural and we will be showing up at The Promenade’s offices shortly to appreciate it in person. Continue to stay up to date with how the Promenade Culture Centre is transforming the culture scene in Kuwait, and see their latest mural unveiled, follow @pcckuwait. You can follow Hisham and stay up to date with his artistic journey @graffitifreak.

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PREPARING FOR A NEW FOOTBALL SEASON

League football returns for a brand new season with a lot of expectations

By bazaar Staff

People around the world anxiously wait for the summer as they plan their vacations to travel to see family, check out some beautiful scenery or take a break from the ‘real world’ as they refresh their minds and bodies. For football fans though, it’s down time as they keep an eye on the transfer window while counting the days to see their favorite clubs back in action.

There is a lot of football being played all around Europe this season but the main focus will be on the Premier League, La Liga EA Sports and Serie A as the teams prepare for another difficult, yet probably memorable, season ahead.

Most eyes are on Europe as some of the biggest names in world football return to fight for trophies whether with their current clubs or clubs that they have joined over the summer with an aim to make their mark. Most eyes will be on the English Premier League, quite unanimously voted as the best league around, to see if after two seasons of getting close whether or not Arsenal can finally make that leap to winning the league. Of course, Manchester City don’t plan to go anywhere and will make Arsenal’s life as difficult as possible. These are not the only teams fighting for the biggest glory as others have improved and will want to disturb the top teams in whatever way possible. Keep an eye on Manchester United and Chelsea who have had disappointing seasons last year and have a lot to rectify by the time the campaign begins.

Premier League Winner Prediction: Manchester City

If you’re a fan of Real Madrid or Barcelona, then there is a lot in store in La Liga EA Sports this season as both teams have been quite busy over the summer trying to fill the holes in their squads to ensure that they don’t come up short this time around. Real Madrid had quite a disappointing season after failing to really fight for the league title and the UEFA Champions League last time around. Barcelona on the other hand were able to be crowned league champions but had a season to forget when it came to European competitions. They will also have the extra difficult task of playing their home games away from the Camp Nou, which is being renovated throughout the majority of the season.

La Liga Winner Prediction: Real Madrid

Things haven’t been too great in Italy in recent years with various scandals and political problems happening in what is widely known as the ‘Beautiful Game’. But that doesn’t stop the clubs from fighting on through all the trouble in the background. Napoli were able to make history with a league win last season but many question whether they can do it again or will they fall to the clubs from Milan or to Juventus who all have problems of their own that they aim to get rid of. This may be the most difficult league to predict when trying to pick a winner from now and that’s what makes it all the more exciting as we prepare to watch it.

Serie A Winner Prediction: AC Milan

DELIVEROO PRESENTS THE FUTURE OF FOOD

Deliveroo Predicts Food Trends for 2040: Personal Food AIs, VR Dinner Parties, and Restorative Restaurants

By bazaar Staff

Welcome to the future of food delivery and enjoyment in 2040. From desktop to dining table, bench to beach, Deliveroo has launched a SNACK TO THE FUTURE report bringing together leading futurists and experts from the worlds of food, science, technology, and innovation to create a forward-looking view of how the world will be eating by 2040 and how our dinner tables are set to Revolutionize.

Said Seham AlHusaini, General Manager of Deliveroo Kuwait and Qatar. “As leaders in the food space, the future of food delivery looks brighter than ever, with so many industry trends to look forward to. From a rise in personalised artificial intelligence to virtual reality dining experiences, mindful eating practices, and more, the future of food has so much in store.”

According to Deliveroo’s global Snack to the Future report that was written by Avansere with contributions from Will Shu (CEO and founder at Deliveroo), other Deliveroo stakeholders and other guest experts. Here are some key predictions and technological advancements 2040 that are set to rock consumers’ worlds by 2040:

Edible Beauty: Get ready to see the food and beauty industry become more integrated than ever with a rise in edible beauty products like anti-aging ice-cream and the chance to dine from hormone-balancing and dopamine driving menus

3D Printed Meal Plans: From packed lunches to printed lunches, food prep is about to become a lot easier with advances in 3D printing technology helping you create perfectly portioned and nutritionally balanced meals, of your choice, at home

Personal Artificial Intelligence Technology

One of the most exciting food predictions for 2040 is the rise of personal artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, tailored to every diner. Expect personal tech devices to be enabled with BreathTech, meaning you can breathe on your device and get a deep level of insight into what foods you should be eating to have optimal impact on your individual health and wellbeing. Moreover, AI could also have a hand in customizing highly

personalised diets tailored to every individual’s nutritional needs. This AI technology can also offer people their own personal AI (a life-long AI buddy) which will help automate and tailor what you are eating based on your preferences and needs at any given time.

Virtual Reality Dining Experiences

Dine with celebrities, royals, and all your favourite people at your desired holiday destination, or recreate food moments from famous movies, all thanks to virtual reality (VR) technology, which will simulate dining experiences from the comfort of your home. Imagine enjoying a delightful lunch in London while tucking into a scrumptious burger on your sofa. Thanks to virtual and artificial reality technology, our brains could be tricked into thinking we are eating something while are actually eating something else. For example, fussy eaters who don’t want to eat their vegetables could put on their smart glasses and think they are eating chocolate or sweets.

‘Restorative’ Restaurants:

New restaurant concepts will immerse diners and remove outside world distractions. With some restaurants even choosing to ban personal tech devices from entry, there could be a rise in popularity of silent cafés and restaurants which ONLY offer dining opportunities that encourage mindful eating.

Personalized and convenient. Augmented and virtual — the future of food delivery and enjoyment is set to be an intriguing, immersive and innovative space to see emerge. With many new and exciting opportunities to eat anywhere, anytime and with anyone, the future of meal delivery is most certainly going to be a transformative space.

“We are excited to present Deliveroo’s firstever ‘Snack to the Future’ report and delve into how current food trends may predict the foodie landscape in 2040,”

ASK THE PEDIATRICIAN

How do I help my child heal after a stressful experience?

By Dr. Rachel Gilgoff and Dr. Devika Bhushan

Going through something stressful — losing a loved one, being bullied or even the wear and tear of constant small stressors — can affect a child for years in sometimes unexpected ways.

The good news is that your child can heal and grow through these stressful experiences without long-term effects on health. And in the process of helping them do this, you can build an even closer relationship with them.

After an extremely stressful experience, children may feel that they are “broken.” They may feel that something is wrong with them, or that they are just “bad.”’ It can be helpful to remind your child they did nothing to deserve what happened to them, that they are having normal reactions to an abnormal experience and that the experience may have hurt them, but healing is possible.

Safe, supportive, nurturing relationships can make all the difference for a child who is struggling through something stressful. Try these relationship-building activities with your child:

• When possible, reassure your child that they are safe. You can do this with words, but also with hugs, high-fives and with practical supports like a tent in their room or a “cozy corner.”

• Take 15 minutes without cellphones to follow their lead in an activity of their choice.

• Share activities such as walking, cooking, dancing and playing silly games.

• Tell your child what you love about them.

• Listen intently to what they are saying.

• Build routines such as reading a bedtime story or having dinner together every night.

• Connect with friends, relatives, neighbors and community-based services.

• Engage with a therapist or other supports: art therapy, individual play therapy, parentchild interaction therapy and child-parent psychotherapy.

Worries may keep us awake, cause nightmares or restless sleep, and younger kids may start wetting the bed again. When children are stressed, they may need more flexible bedtime routines and more help falling asleep. Try using some comforting items, such as a night light; relaxing smells; favorite toys; or a weighted blanket (only if child is over 12 months of age). Routines you might incorporate into bedtime might include listening to music, practicing mindfulness, reading or journaling.

For children experiencing separation anxiety at night, which is common after stressful or traumatic

events, consider providing reassurance that you are still present. Concrete reminders can be love notes stuck around the bedside or pieces of clothing that smell like you. For some children, consider staying in their room while they fall asleep or even letting them sleep with you for a short period of time as they process the stressful experience.

During the day, especially early on, get direct exposure to natural sunlight. This helps regulate sleep, mood and immune function, among other systems. At night, reduce exposure to screens and artificial lights by dimming them. You can even consider blue light-blocking glasses to limit exposure to the blue wavelengths of light that especially wake the brain up.

Stress can increase inflammation in the body. Stress can also lead us to overeat, undereat or crave foods high in fat, salt and/or sugar. Knowing this can help us be kind to ourselves and our kids when they reach for the brownie and the potato chips — and how we might help.

Make it easier to eat healthy foods like nuts, avocados, fruits and fatty fish. Increase the availability of vegetables at snacks and meals. Skip the juice and soda and drink water instead. Reduce foods that increase inflammation such as processed food and white (simple) carbohydrates.

Exercise can also be a powerful way of releasing extra stress energy and counteracting the stress response. Include time outdoors, which can be calming and build resilience. Mindfulness practices can help calm the stress response, improve self-regulation skills and increase self-

compassion and empathy.

Other soothing, rhythmic sensory activities can help reset the way stress is stored in our nervous system and body. Consider massage, music or movement, swimming, or you might ask about the need for occupational or physical therapy. Your child will be better able to deal with stress as they learn to manage their feelings and behavior. Build in extra structure and routines. This may include developing transition plans for going from one activity to the next, for example. Talk about and model how to name and manage strong emotions, and when to seek help or take time away from a situation.

It’s common to wonder, “Why did this happen?” “Why me?” or “Why did I survive and my friend or relative didn’t?” Even young children can benefit from experiences such as a spiritual practice or connecting to a religious community, helping others through service or volunteer work, finding a calling or purpose, including helping fix systemic injustices, or becoming a peer supporter.

Trauma and stress can impact how we think and relate to others. Some children may need extra support through their school’s 504 plans or individualized education programs, speech or language therapy, tutoring, or mental health therapy.

We know that a stressful time for your child is a stressful time for you, too. Your pediatrician can provide more resources.

Photo by Vitolda Klein on Unsplash.

TAKE A DETOUR ON THE ADRIATIC…

Going off the beaten path

By Mohammed El Soukkary

“Sweety, Where will we go this year?”

“The same place we go every year, honey.”

Those of us who can still remember the 90s (you’re still young no matter what your knees are telling you), will recognize this as a twist on the famous line from Pinky and the Brain (one is a genius and the other insane). Funnily enough, this conversation, in one form or another takes place in many of our homes as we realize that we did not in fact plan for the summer. So, because we did not plan, what do we do? We fall back on our comfort zone: we go where we know and where we’ve been before. It’s easy, its familiar and we know what to expect. What if there was another way? A detour from the well-trodden path but

still close? Places on the sea, and near the mountains? A skip away from beautiful lakes welling up with waterfalls and short trip from ancient cities? If you would like that then follow me on this little trip along the Adriatic coast.

Albania

Start your journey in the southern seaside town of Sarande, where the mountain hugs the gently curved shorline. Enjoy the scrumptious gifts of the sea in the little restaurants that pepper the bay. After your refreshing drink to help digest the heavy meal, take a short trip to the nearby roman ruins of Butrint and take a stroll through history.

As you wind your way north along the country, explore the stone city Gjirokastra so named for the unique architecture of its buildings and its castle. Along the route, make a stop in Vlore, because you can never have too much sun and sea when it is summertime. You could also take a rest in Tirana,

the capital that ties together this beautiful country and walk the city for a day to get in touch with the vibrant spirit of this place.

You can then make your way north, through the bunker speckled countryside that serve as a reminder of the adversities faced by the Albanian people as they sought their freedom and provide a stark contrast to the serenity of the country in the present day.

Every step you take, you will feel welcome. You can have coffee at any café and find yourself sharing laughs with the people there, experience not only the warmth of the sun, but the friendliness and generosity of the people. I remember my first morning there, the owner of the apartment I was renting surprised me with a scrumptious breakfast that brought a big smile to my face.

Montenegro

As you make your way north, and wave goodbye to Albania, you will find yourself on the beautifully rugged coastline of Crna Gora, The Black Mountain.

Along the coastline you will find yourself gravitating toward the historic city of Kotor, where you will feel as if you have travelled back in time while keeping all the comforts of modernity and if you’re feeling a bit adventurous, you can go up mount Lovcen to get some cardio work in before you come back down to feast on the bounties of the Adriatic.

As you drive along the winding roads hugging the mountains and kissing the sea, your head will be continuously turned by the stunning vistas on both sides peppered with little towns and ancient buildings right next door to modern developments and all the creature comforts you could ask for.

In Montenegro, you will feel small not only because of the scale of the mountain but also because the people seem to have been scaled up by about 10%; I have never felt as short as I did when I went to Montenegro. Don’t worry, you have not shrunk, its everyone else that is just very tall. Once you have had your fill, make your way north and soon you will find yourself at the doorstep of Croatia.

Croatia

When you come into Croatia through its southernmost point, you will quickly find yourself knocking on the doors of the walled city itself, home to centuries of history and seat of the Iron Throne: Dubrovnik. There is a reason that this city is one of the most visited towns along the Adriatic coast; it

strikes a balance between centuries of history and a stunning seaside vibe that is quite unmatched anywhere else. You can relax with a drink in a fancy café as you gaze out at the sparkling Adriatic sea while in the shadow of a castle that has stood for centuries.

As you make north, you can stop at any of the innumerable little towns with their own spots of history, beauty and spirit, or you could hop on a boat and skip between the islands and partake of their bounties of food and comfort. Make a stop in Split, and breathe in the lavender infused air of the city, and delight your senses with the sights and sounds of this vibrant town. The morning after you’ve partied the night away, you can head upwards in search of the Pula Colosseum for a little more history, or you could find your way towards the beautiful waterfall lakes of Plidvica; walking through that nature reserve can be described as an ASMR experience of its own.

A lot of people skip Zagreb, the capital, but I am not one of them. This city has a charm all its own, and with its endless events and activities going on makes for an entertaining and enjoyable stop along your journey. You can enjoy your coffee in the square as happy people stroll by, and as the sun sets explore the lively and fun nightlife of the city.

Once you’ve had your fill of this beautiful country, you can take a brief drive north towards the final stop in our little excursion.

Slovenia

A more serene country than this I have not yet been in. I like to stop for a little in Ljubljana just to stroll leisurely along the river and take in the sights of the town. This country is almost like a relaxing massage of the soul. When you settle in, you will find yourself loosening up and relaxing almost unconsciously.

Just driving along, you will feel like you are inside a painting that is a feast for your eyes; the mountains (the alps cross into Slovenia) and the countryside form a beautiful landscape upon which you can delight your senses.

You could stop at Piran for a last taste of the Adriatic, or explore the national park at Triglav, or even venture inside the breathtaking stalagmite caves at Postonja and venture inside the mountain itself. I personally never miss a stop at Bled or Bohinj. Both lakes are surrounded by mountains along their sides that taper down towards the waterline where you can rest your soul before returning back to reality.

Embark on this journey, that’s just a short way off the trodden path, and you will return rested, content, and with a lot of stories to tell about food, mountains, beaches, nature, caves and even a little bit of history.

You can follow Mohammed El Soukkary’s culinary adventures at @Diplocook on Instagram.

CAN A SAFARI BE ROMANTIC?

Kenya’s tented camp resorts add splendor to a honeymoon adventure

By Mary Ann Anderson

The moment was dreamlike and mesmerizing. An enormous pride of golden lions slumbered, snored and groaned in the afternoon sun, their long tails thumping against one another and then on the ground in a series of nonstop feline movements. A couple from Sweden sat next to me in the Land Rover on safari in Kenya’s Masai Mara, and the husband started counting them off one by one until he announced a total of 16 of the cats, just a big pile of lion love.

The simple idea of safari is a romantic notion, and with summer upcoming and June brides galore, the idea of an unhurried honeymoon in Kenya, with its magnificent lion prides, starlit nights and endless, windswept savannas is the perfect, if not adventurous way to begin a marriage.

With a nod to romance and love, take your pick of the following camps and lodges that range from thatched roofs to tented luxury and will leave you with starry-eyed memories of your new life together.

Finch Hattons Luxury Tented Camp, Tsavo West National Park

Finch Hattons, named for the British-born aristocrat Denys Finch-Hatton, a big-game hunter and adventurer who lived in Kenya, is in uncrowded Tsavo West National Park, a place of absolute quiet and where it’s possible on a game drive to not see another human. Each of the 17 luxury tented suites has a private deck, a sumptuous bedroom and ensuite bathroom with oversized showers. On

a clear day, Mount Kilimanjaro is visible over the camp’s natural springs. The animals are fewer here than in the Masai Mara or Amboseli but no less exciting to see, especially with wonderful birding. The food is simply outstanding, with seasonal fruit and vegetables, grass-fed beef and fresh seafood flown in from Kenya’s coast. Eating under the stars is an option. At the end of the day, opt for a treatment at the small spa. On game drives, expect to see elephants, giraffes or Tsavo’s most famous residents, lions. Visit www.finchhattons.com or Cheli & Peacock Safaris at www.chelipeacock.com

Fairmount Mount Kenya Safari Club, Nanyuki

Three things stand out in the storied Mount Kenya Safari Club. First, the equator runs directly through it. It’s fun and offbeat to stand in the northern hemisphere one second, and then step into the southern the next. Plus, the views of snowcapped Mount Kenya are unrivaled. I never once tire of

seeing Kenya’s second highest mountain in all its rugged, mountainous glory. And finally, the service is impeccable, and the staff is ready to assist at a moment’s notice. Add in its history — actor William Holden was instrumental in founding the resort — rich Colonial architecture, plush accommodations and 100 acres of lushly landscaped gardens, and it all wraps up neatly for a honeymoon escape for June brides and grooms. Second time to the altar and have little ones tagging along? Families are welcome, too. Visit https://www.fairmont.com/mount-kenya-safari/ accommodations/

Elewana

Loisaba

Tented Camp and Starbeds, Loisaba Conservancy

When darkness falls, only the constellations and moon light up the unpolluted skies of Loisaba Conservancy. With Elewana Loisaba Tented Camp’s location perched right on the edge of an escarpment, the panoramic views, both day and night, seemingly

traipse on into eternity. If not for the game drives where you’re likely to see elephant, lion and leopard, you might not want to leave your spacious tent built with custom floor-to-ceiling doors and windows and African-themed décor. If you would rather sleep outdoors, Loisaba also offers handcrafted four-poster Starbeds that are rolled out onto wooden platforms so that you can snooze underneath the wide-open African sky as you listen to the lullaby of elephants trumpet from afar. Visit www.loisaba.com or www. elewanacollection.com

Segera Retreat, Laikipia

In the undulating plains of the Laikipia Plateau, between Mount Kenya’s magnificence and the depths of the Great Rift Valley, is Segera Retreat, a collection of villas that includes Segera Nay Palad, a place that bespeaks of romance. The only way to describe the very private Segera Nay Palad most effectively is to say that it resembles a big bird nest, albeit a luxurious five-star bird nest, suspended amid the treetops of a river teeming with wildlife. Just the two of you can watch a dazzling African sunset as you toast the evening with flutes of champagne. Experience tranquility and the drama of the plains at one time. After a night of gazing at the heavens and then snuggling and slumbering under the stars, wake the next morning as elephants, giraffes and big cats gather at the river to begin their day anew. Visit www.segera.com

Richard’s Camp, Masai Mara

Time moves slowly in Africa, very slowly, and days are unhurried and blissfully long. That’s especially true at Richard’s Camp in the Masai Mara. With only seven posh tents, it’s small, secluded and intimate to ensure privacy. Lots of white linens and furniture make the camp bright and airy. Meals are served under the stars. Bird and bush walks with knowledgeable guides take you through the stark and incredible scenery that surrounds the camp. Sunsets on the Mara are dazzling as the magical transition of the colors merge with the wildly wonderful dusty, musky scents that signal that daylight will soon fade into nightfall. Celebrate evenings with the customary ritual of a sundowner on the acacia-speckled Mara and salute the view and your new marriage with a gin and tonic, on safari the traditional cocktail of choice. Visit www.richardscamp.com

Elewana Elephant Pepper Camp, Masai Mara, Mara North Conservancy

The infinite plains of Elewana Elephant Pepper Camp are known for its extraordinary plethora of wildlife. Great herds of elephants roam the hills, some curious enough to amble straight up to your safari vehicle. For romantic adventure, at night the plains and woodlands surrounding the camp come alive with a serenade of lions roaring, hyenas whooping and jackals barking. While the wildlife may be restless outside, you’re completely safe inside your well-appointed tent that

is set amid a grove of fig, ebony and elephant pepper trees. Have your meals picnic-style by the Mara River. On bush drives, watch carefully for the big cats, not only lion but also cheetah and leopard, as well as a dazzle of zebra or a tower of giraffe. Elephant Pepper Camp is just lovely and remote, two of the ideal ingredients for a honeymoon in the African bush. Visit www.elewanacollection.com

Borana Lodge, Borana Conservancy

From a distance, the thatched roofs of the eight cottages at Borana Lodge meld seamlessly and harmoniously into the warm, rusty fusillade of colors that are the hallmark of the Kenyan landscape. At an elevation of 6,000 feet, nights are cool enough for a crackling fire. Each cottage, built of rock and cedar, has a fireplace and wide, private verandah for game viewing, and the entire lodge overlooks a sparkling lake where wildlife wanders in to slurp water in both early morning and late evening. Borana Lodge scores bonus points with its spacious bathrooms with showers and tubs that provide fantastic views of Mount Kenya to the south and a panorama of mountains and desert to the north. Call it a loo with a view. The chorus of songbirds and whispers of wind combine for a natural orchestra that soothes the soul. The lodge is elegant and quiet, the way a safari should be. Visit www.borana.co.ke

Photos by Harshil Gudka on Unsplash.

AUK GRADUATES CLASS OF 2023

Congratulations and good luck!

By bazaar Staff

The American University of Kuwait (AUK) celebrated the graduation commencement of the class of 2023 on Wednesday, June 21st. The ceremony, held at The Arena Kuwait (TAK), marked a significant milestone for 340 accomplished graduates. Among them were 142 graduates from the College of Arts and Sciences, 103 from the College of Business and Economics, and 95 from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The distinguished class included 10 summa cum laude, 23 magna cum laude, and 27 cum laude graduates.

Keynote Speaker, H.E. Sheikh Fahad Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Head of Kuwait Olympic and AUK alumnus from the Class of 2014

Graduating class of 2023

Distinguished guests in attendance at the graduation ceremony included Sheikha Dana Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, founder and chair of AUK’s Board of Trustees, members of the AUK board of trustees, diplomats, dignitaries, and families of the graduates.

The ceremony commenced with the national anthem and the Holy Quran recitation, followed by a thought-provoking speech by AUK President, Dr. Rawda Awwad. In her address, Dr. Awwad emphasized the values cultivated by the graduates during their time at AUK, such as perseverance, collaboration, empathy, critical thinking, and lifelong learning. She encouraged the graduates to carry these lessons as guiding principles throughout their future endeavors.

The keynote speech was delivered by H.E. Sheikh Fahad Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, head of the Kuwait Olympic Committee and an AUK alumnus from the class of 2014. Sheikh Fahad inspired the graduates to embrace continuous learning, unlock their potential, and make choices that may surprise them. He concluded by urging the graduates to savor the summer and celebrate their hard-earned achievements.

The class valedictorian, Amal Kahwaji, who earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing with a remarkable 3.99 GPA, was announced by Ms. Hala Al-Abdulrazzaq, AUK’s dean of student affairs. Amal delivered a memorable speech, acknowledging the role failures played in shaping their successes. She emphasized the importance of celebrating the journey as a whole, learning from both victories and failures, and gaining the confidence to tackle the next phase of life.

The highlight of the ceremony was the distribution of degrees. President Awwad conferred the degrees upon the graduates based on the recommendations of the deans—Dr. Ali Charara, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Dr. Ralph Palliam, dean of the College of Business and Economics; and Dr. Mohamed El-Abd, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Each graduate was presented with their diploma by President Awwad and their respective college deans.

In a symbolic gesture, the graduates shifted their tassels from right to left, signifying their official graduation from AUK. As the ceremony concluded, the graduates joyfully celebrated the momentous occasion and captured memories with their proud parents.

Recognized for its commitment to academic excellence, the American University of Kuwait (AUK) offers a diverse range of accredited undergraduate programs. AUK’s state-of-the-art facilities include modern classrooms equipped with cutting-edge technology, research laboratories, and recreational amenities such as the gymnasium and lounge. The institution is dedicated to empowering students with knowledge, skills, and experiences that transcend the classroom, nurturing future leaders and change-makers.

For more information on the American University of Kuwait please visit auk.edu.kw and follow their latest on Instagram and social media @AUK_Official.

AUGUST MUSIC

Let’s talk about 4 albums you gotta drop everything for right now!

Artist: RAYE

Album: My 21st Century Blues

After years of being signed to a record label that won’t allow her to put out an album, she’s now a newly independent artist and released this zero skips debut album. A story that gives you chills and you’ll get them while listening too! Believe in yourselves besties.

Top 3 songs: Oscar Winning Tears, Black Mascara, Flip A Switch.

Artist: Dominic Fike

Album: Sunburn

You know that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you think of summer? Well this album pretty much sums up that feeling! A seamless nostalgic trip, just don’t forget to wear your SPF!

Top 3 songs: Bodies, Mama’s Boy, Think Fast (Ft. Weezer)

Artist: Boygenius

Album: the record

The debut studio album by American indie rock supergroup Boygenius, consisting of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus delivers sad bangers ONLY. This album honors how friendship shapes our very sense of self & just makes you put things in retrospect.

Top 3 songs: $20, Cool About it, Not Strong Enough.

Artist: KAYTRAMINÉ

Album: KAYTRAMINÉ

What do you get when you put AMINE & KAYTRANDA in a studio together? Charismatic bars and top-notch production that’s holding us thru the summer.

Top 3 songs: 4EVA, Rebuke, Sossaup

Sources: wikipedia.com

NOTHING PHONE (2)

The Nothing Phone (2) is the company’s first Android smartphone to be available in the States. It looks very similar to its predecessor, last year’s Phone (1), but boasts higher-end specs and an upgraded and more customizable LED lighting notification system on its back.

THUNDERBOLT 4 MULTIMEDIA PRO DOCK

This is Satechi’s newest high-powered USB-C dock that’s aimed at creative professionals. It has 16 different ports, supports 96-watt passthrough power and can connect several external displays.

Sony A6700

The Sony A6700 is the company’s new flagship APS-C mirrorless camera (and the first APS-C camera that Sony has released in years). The 26-megapixel camera is optimized for vlogging thanks to its small body, advanced autofocus system and ability to shoot 4K video at 120fps.

Aqara Door and Window Sensor P2

Aqara announced its first smart sensor designed to work with Matter smart homes. It has a twopiece magnetic design and is primed to be placed on a door or window. It has a programmable button and does not need a separate hub to work.

YAMAHA TRUE X SERIES

Yamaha has introduced the True X Series of soundbars and wireless surround sound speakers. There are two True X 50A and the more affordable True X 40A, both of which support Dolby Atmos as well as a multitude of wireless streaming capabilities.

FiiO FW3

The FiiO FW3 is the company’s newest pair of wireless earbuds that are designed to bring solid sound and a relatively low price. Each earbud has a DAC-and-amp combo and they support the highest-res audio files that can play over Bluetooth, including LDAC and aptX Adaptive.

Source: bestproducts.com

SNOTE

SNote is a Privacy focused, End-to-End Encrypted workspace where you can write, plan, collaborate and get organized - it allows you to take notes, store files, add tasks, manage projects and more. Whether you’re working solo or in a team.

iOS and Android

QUICHE BROWSER

Quiche Browser is a web browser with an extensive range of customization options, to suit your usage, needs, and visual preferences. Customize the toolbar style, buttons, and behavior, create your own action menus, and tweak tabs display and sorting.

iOS only

LINKY

Linky allows you to execute iPhone Apple-made apps, settings, and third-party apps by drawing gestures. With a single gesture, you can do various tasks like making a phone call to a friend or making a payment.

ZENRELIEF

No matter if you’re feeling anxious, emotional, depressed, or frustrated, we offer a wide range of small tools designed to help you get back on track; • Designed for Apple Watch, with the option to use it with your phone for an even better experience.

PLANK KING

It allows you to track your planking workouts, set goals, create training plans, view insightful stats and challenge friends. Take your planking to the next level and build a stronger core with Plank King.

NEWCLOCK

Introducing the world’s first configurable clock! NewClock allows you to add more hours to your day by changing the basic foundational units of hours, minutes, and seconds we are accustomed to.

play.google.com

itunes.apple.com

MEG 2: THE TRENCH

Release Date: 3 August

Genre: Action

Cast: Jason Statham, Jing Wu, Sienna Guillory

Synopsis: Jonas Taylor leads a research team on an exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean. Their voyage spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival. Pitted against colossal, prehistoric sharks and relentless environmental plunderers, they must outrun, outsmart and outswim their merciless predators.

THE SECRET KINGDOM

Release Date: 3 August

Genre: Family

Cast: Alyla Browne, Alice Parkinson, Sam

Everingham

Synopsis: Join siblings Peter and Verity on a magical journey to The Secret Kingdom! Hidden beneath their bedroom floor lies a land of enchantment, which must be protected from an ancient enemy - the evil Shroud.

GRAN TURISMO

Release Date: 10 August

Genre: Drama

Cast: Orlando Bloom, David Harbour

Synopsis: The ultimate wish fulfilment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional race car driver. Based on a true story.

RUN RABBIT RUN

Release Date: 10 August

Genre: Horror

Cast: Sarah Snook, Greta Scacchi

Synopsis: A fertility doctor who believes firmly in life and death, but after noticing the strange behavior of her young daughter, must challenge her own values and confront a ghost from her past.

BLUE BEETLE

Date: 17 August

Genre: Adventure, Action

Cast: Susan Sarandon, Xolo Maridueña

Synopsis: A Mexican teenager finds an alien beetle that gives him superpowered armor.

RETRIBUTION

Date: 24 August

Genre: Action

Cast: Liam Neeson, Jack Champion

Synopsis: A bank executive receives a bomb threat while driving his children to school that his car will explode if they stop and get out. A remake of the 2015 Spanish film “El Desconocido.”

Source: cinescape.com.kw

THE CONNELLYS OF COUNTY DOWN: A NOVEL

by Tracey Lange, Fiction

TOM LAKE

by Ann Pratchett, Fiction

When Tara Connelly is released from prison after serving eighteen months on a drug charge, she knows rebuilding her life at thirty years old won’t be easy. With no money and no prospects, she returns home to live with her siblings, who are both busy with their own problems. Her brother, a single dad, struggles with the ongoing effects of a brain injury he sustained years ago, and her sister’s fragile facade of calm and order is cracking under the burden of big secrets. Life becomes even more complicated when the cop who put her in prison keeps showing up unannounced, leaving Tara to wonder what he wants from her now. While she works to build a new career and hold her family together, Tara finds a chance at love in a most unlikely place. But when the Connellys’ secrets start to unravel and threaten her future, they all must face their worst fears and come clean, or risk losing each other forever.

GOOD BAD GIRL

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth. Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eightyyears-young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything. Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door…and their intentions aren’t good. With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim.

NONE OF THIS IS TRUE

by Lisa Jewel, Thriller

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast.

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew. Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety.

HAPPINESS FALLS

Mia, the irreverent, hyperanalytical twentyyear-old daughter, has an explanation for everything—which is why she isn’t initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don’t return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia’s brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak. What follows is both a tickingclock investigation into the whereabouts of a father and an emotionally rich portrait of a family whose most personal secrets just may be at the heart of his disappearance.

AFTER THAT NIGHT

Will Trent and Sara Linton are back in an electrifying thriller featuring GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton from New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter. After that night, everything changed . . .Fifteen years ago, Sara Linton’s life changed forever when a celebratory night out ended in a violent attack that tore her world apart. Since then, Sara has remade her life. A successful doctor, engaged to a man she loves, she has finally managed to leave the past behind her. Until one evening, on call in the ER, everything changes. Sara battles to save a broken young woman who’s been brutally attacked. But as the investigation progresses, led by GBI Special Agent Will Trent, it becomes clear that Dani Cooper’s assault is uncannily linked to Sara’s.

Source: Goodreads.com

by Alice Feeney, Thriller

by Angie Kim, Mystery

by Karim Slaughter, Thriller

LEO JUL 23 – AUG 22

You will need to make hard decisions around your finances this month ahead, dear Leo. While taking stock of your spending and setting budgets, look at the big questions: what needs to be in place for you to feel resourced enough to live a good life? The answers may be more than just financial, and you may need to let go of things and situations so you can make space for what you’re inviting in.

VIRGO AUG 23 – SEP 22

It is the month of contrasts, and the oppositional pull of your desire to both hide and be seen is strong—and confusing! The thing is, you can absolutely do both. Stay present to gauge what you’re capable of at any given moment. If it’s contradictory—if you’re feeling drained but need connection—perhaps you can strategize a compromise where you get what you need. It doesn’t have to be stressful. Each new day is a chance to try again.

LIBRA SEP 23 – OCT 22

Take it easy this month as you recharge your socializing batteries. Opt for smaller gatherings and intimate one-on-ones over large crowds. Or perhaps a more unstructured social event—like work dates at a coffee shop where you get the benefit of being around people, but still have a bubble of solitude. Even though it’s peak summer, you might benefit from a bit more alone time so you can feel more present when you spend time with people you care about.

SCORPIO OCT 23 – NOV 22

There may be interpersonal dynamics you’re privy to—or possibly quite enmeshed in!—that are important, but still taking a lot out of you. To top it off, you may be feeling a bit uncertain about your future. Remember that you don’t need to always be 100 percent certain to take decisive action. You can move forward even from a place of hesitation. Remind yourself of what’s most important to you in moments of confusion.

SAGITTARIUS NOV 23 - DEC 21

Even if you’re feeling disappointed with yourself, detach from the expectations of others—and don’t be too hard on yourself, either. Sometimes the hardest

work is to extend some self-compassion for your failures. Remember, failing is part of the human experience (and often the best way to learn!). Let it flow through you so you can metabolize it as lessons learned—then let it go.

CAPRICORN DEC 22 – JAN 19

You may feel a bit up-in-the-air and unsure about your next steps— especially after finishing a particular objective. Sometimes there’s a certain emptiness that accompanies accomplishing a goal. This is a reminder that there is plenty of magic during the process—just as there is a relief that comes with finishing. But if you’re not certain about what comes next, instead of over-planning and overthinking, just show up and see where the road takes you. You’ll learn and gain clarity along the way.

AQUARIUS JAN 20 – FEB 18

New collaborations are on the horizon if you put yourself out there. Find out how you can expand your circle of connections by learning to ask the right questions. When you’re not sure of the answers, ask more questions instead. This energy can show up in your relationships this month ahead. You may find that your curiosity is enhanced and you can discover the clarity you’re seeking as a result.

PISCES FEB 19 – MAR 19

You may be stretching yourself too thin. Are you doing too much? Not because you can’t say no (well, a little bit of this, sure), but because you’re genuinely interested? Picture a little kid eating too much sugar and then crashing, hard. This might be you this month if you don’t cool it with some RSVPs. Prioritize so you don’t spend the last weeks of summer so haggard that you’re too tired to even enjoy yourself.

ARIES MAR 20 – APR 19

Your task this month ahead is to understand how work and play overlap as an experience of purpose and pleasure. Like how work can be pleasurable, and play can be purposeful. This can teach you how to integrate various contradictions and contrasts in your life—you don’t have to negate the presence of one by virtue of another. More than one thing can be true at the same time. How can you better handle contradicting situations and experiences?

TAURUS APR 20 – MAY 20

The events of your past may have already taken place, but your relationship with them is not fixed in time. That is—how you relate to the past isn’t static, and your understanding of it changes as you also change. Revisiting the past can be hard, but if you’re feeling up to it, it’s worth it. Because, sometimes, change can be painful—but also, in the end, liberating.

GEMINI MAY 21 – JUN 21

A literal or metaphorical journey is possible for. Change is on the horizon— even if it’s just a seed of an idea or a desire being planted. Or perhaps you’re already deep in transition. There’s a part of you that’s yearning to take some distance from what’s familiar so you can experience a separation that’s ultimately good for you. Some of your big dreams are also starting to become less relevant. It’s time to make new ones. But take that first step outside of your comfort zone.

CANCER JUN 22 – JUL 22

This month is for opting to save your funds and enjoy your immediate surroundings instead of venturing on a faraway adventure. Occupy your time with homebound and local escapades and get creative with spending time without spending too much. You may be inspired to learn some new information or skill. Hit up your local library and community recreation centres to sign up for free events and courses. You’ll be in the mood for an intellectually stimulating and inspiring time. Source: wisehoroscope.org