This past Saturday we were witness to a world-record-breaking fireworks show from the comfort of our very home. To mark the 50th anniversary of Kuwait’s constitution, the government decided to celebrate with a $15 million show made up of over 77,000 fireworks, breaking the previously held world record by Madeira on New Year’s 2006. On November 11, 1962, Kuwait became the first Arab country in the Persian Gulf to get a constitution and have a parliament. Fifty years later, it’s dropping $15 million on an hour-long fireworks and laser show, spanning over 2.5 miles along the Gulf.

During my Gulf walks, I got to see them prepping for this all week. They had fireworks strapped to pontoons, and teams of jet-skis would then drag the floats out to designated spots along the coast and around Green Island; and multiple times I had to navigate the stroller around scaffold-towers holding up enormous speakers. From our apartment, we weren’t able to hear much at all, but we saw enough to be duly impressed. Congratulations, Kuwait! (November 2012)