We went this time without Yousef. We used to go with him almost every year since 1998. He didn’t want to go because we were going early in the morning and returning the same day at night. He wanted to stay atleast for a night. I don’t know why He doesn’t enjoy the exhibition.
We were 16 and then we were joined in Bahrain by Weld el-ma6aba. 17 chaotic guys. Very unorganized trip which made the whole thing that much better. I loved not knowing where we were going.
Remember my previous posts about the blue and green amber ? Today i’ve received from UPS my custom made blue amber misbah. Yes finally ! it went from Dominican Republic directly, So i decided to take Ali with me and head directly to souq mobarkia to make it a real misbah ( ya3ni re7t ashekaa )
We’re on our way to Bahrain. We’re a group of 16 in 5 cars about to leave Kuwait and into Saudi right now. We’re going there for the weekend and to attend a friend’s wedding in Alkhubar, which is 30 minutes away from the hotel.
My friend Talal who is a student in Dubai just wrote us saying there is a big issue going on with all the Kuwaiti credit cards (Visa, Master, and even Visa electron) that’s been used in Dubai within the last 6 months. He said they’re suspending all the cards and issuing new ones due to recent theft incidents.
He also said that NBK is going to send him his card via DHL, and that if someone who’s in dubai and in desperate need for cash, they can lift the block on his card just temporarily in order for him to withdraw some money and then block it again right away.
Did you guys know about this thing? I didn’t. All I know is that they’re replacing all of their cards with new ones with a chip in them. Sort of an update and not something serious.
Thanks Talal.
Update:
I just spoke with someone from NBK and he confirmed that there have been many pretty big hacks and theft incidents on credit & debit cards used in Dubai in the past 6 months. And it’s happening with all the other banks too, not just the NBK.
Today i found out HNM wearing these weird looking naked slippers, It may look difficult to walk around in without the straps, but the slipper sticks to your feet like magnet. There are lots of colors to choose from too.
Today was HNM’s birthday so as usual me and wife decided to bring her a gift which was wrapped by my wife. By the way i like the combination of dark and light gray.
We went today to the Men Time spa in Almuhallab mall, Me, Mishary and my 2 cousins. We booked an appointment for 4 people almost a week ahead. The spa is much smaller than the spa I reviewed last week (The Day Spa) and a step down in almost every way.
On friday we went to thba3iya to our friend’s relatives shalaih to see their collection of RC planes.. and what a collection they had! They had all the RC planes you could imagine. Big and small. mostly très big. They even built a runway for their planes. Read the rest of this entry »
This sign was on a small one room building near where we stay in france. For years we’ve been passing by without paying much attention. A couple of years ago Mom started telling me about this guy, who turned to be a great french philosopher. Apparently he stayed in our area when he was young.
I just googled and read about him. He wrote many books. I read that he invented modern autobiographies. I skimmed through his Confessions book and the first thing he wrote was a bit of a turnoff:
“I HAVE begun on a work which is without precedent, whose accomplishment will have no imitator. I propose to set before my fellow-mortals a man in all the truth of nature; and this man shall be myself.”
No imitator, huh? I bet he’s turning in his grave with the debut of every new autobiography and reality show.
Then I read a line that made me laugh:
“I believe no individual of our kind ever possessed less natural vanity than myself.”
I’m sure when this last line is put in it’s context may come off less self-absorbed/conceited, but still I find it hard to accept that someone would say something like that about himself and still think he has low vanity..
I love lattes. I’ve tried all the places in Kuwait with cafe lattes and au laits and I can say with confidence that nothing beats my own homemade latte. Well, its not entirely homemade, I use a nespresso coffee machine. The one and only place that used to make great cafe au laits in Kuwait was Cafe supreme in Alraya, and thats not there anymore. I’ve tried their other branch in Alkoot.. and for some reason I find their lattes bland.
My favorite nespresso capsule at the moment is the Livanto (the orange one). I loved their limited edition capsule too, the pink one, the one they released during the summer… Now why would they release such a good blend that everyone liked and then make it available for a limited amount of time!? Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been wanting a massage for some weeks now. I haven’t had any massages in Kuwait before, but after hearing good things about the day spa I called them up and made an appointment for a swedish massage.
I called them the same day and just 2 hours before the massage time. The swedish massage was recommended by a friend and also happened to be the only one they had for 8 pm. I went home took a bag with some clothes and a camera. I got there 20 minutes early, and I regretted arriving early. I waited by the door, in the street for 20 minutes. I knocked and called them and nothing, no one opened the door and the phone was always busy. Not a good first impression. Even the waitresses at Pomodoro (same owner) came to help and then invited me to stay at their tables which were less than 10 meters away. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I’m waiting outside and they’re not returning my calls.. definitely not a good first impression.
20 minutes later a guy opened the door and poked his head outside. I got up and started walking fast toward him. I was angry and wanted to yell at someone. The guy was very apologetic and very very nice.. I couldn’t even stay angry at this stupid incident, which made me feel bad, I wanted to lash out..
The place was dark, and I mean DARK. I couldn’t see where I was stepping at first and had to wait for my eyes to adjust, and when they did.. wow. The place was very well decorated! they did the best they could with the limited space they have. It has this indian, buddhist, cave-like atmosphere, with eastern/indian instrumentals being played in the backgound. Very relaxing. I was escorted to the other room after filling a little form, and that room looked even more exotic. I was seated in one of the chairs (pictured above) and was offered to have a drink while I wait.
The room was dimly lit too. The guy told me I could take a shower now or after the massage or both, it was up to me. The massage lasted a full hour. I enjoyed every second of it. Aside from the incident with the closed door at the beginning, the place was perfect in every way. Full privacy, very clean, and they all were very friendly. I would definitely go back.
The swedish massage costs KD18. My bill was KD22 coz I bought a bottle of their shampoo. It’s located in the Jebla area, near the church and starbucks. Right behind Pomodoro restaurant.
Yes we’ve got them in our house, today my mom was telling me about them and i was like what ?! we’ve got watermelon here? seeda i picked up my camera and went to take some pictures and if you want more pictures click below.
The results for our last poll are in. The question was What Do You Think of Gergai3an? Over 300 votes and now here are the results for each answer:
Fun 43%
Lost it’s meaning 41%
I don’t care 7%
I hate loud kids 7%
What is gergai3an 2%
It’s nice to know that it’s still fun for most people but still, we should tone down the extravagant gergai3ans. We should keep in mind that kids should still be able to enjoy it. It was meant to make them happy after all.
Did you notice how the weather changed yesterday? It wasn’t gradual. It went from dusty and zift to CHAK BOM cold!
We stayed outside yesterday for the most part. We’re in the chalet so its nice to stay out for a change, We even did some barbecuing and did not get suicidal afterwards. We grilled some burgers and sausages and then took a carpet along with a potful of tea on coal (chay dowwa) and stayed out for awhile to enjoy the weather. It was 21° in Alzour. Was it as cold in the city?
Does this mean it’s finally changing? *anti jinx!* a cold autumn for a change?
Yesterday we decided to have lunch today at Burj Alhamam restaurant so i called the restaurant and I reserved a table for the family as I usually would. He then said ‘yes sir its available for that many people at that time, but there is one request, you have to come now and pay a non refundable KD20 to complete your reservation’ i said what? why should i come today and tomorrow? i will come tomorrow and in case I wanted to cancel i will call you, don’t worry. he replied .. ‘Sorry sir this is the only way. Its our policy in every Eid.’ and yes i ended up going and paid the KD20 for the table.
I woke up around 6:00 am and I was so hungry so i decided to have my own Baith 6oma6 (Eggs with Tomatoes). For those of you who are interesting in knowing how to make baith 6oma6, below are the instructions
In January of this year I visited Kuwait for the first time in my life. It was not a long ahead planned visit. The decision to go was influenced by coincidental circumstances and made only 2 days before my flight took off. Because I was never in the Middle East before, I looked forward to it as a very interesting possibility to see more of this part of the world.
One of the only few facts I knew about Kuwait was from years back, 1973 to be exactly. Being an 11-year old boy I remembered that Israel was in war with some Arabic countries (the Jom Kipoer war) and due to that conflict The Netherlands were embargoed oil supply. Kuwait was one of the leading OPEC countries who denied to sell oil to The Netherlands. As a result of that our PM Joop den Uyl, took some hard measures to deal with this problem and did implement an official ‘no-driving Sunday’. Even though it took some time to get use to it, it became a special and welcome variety of our usually weekend spending. With the whole family we went to the high-roads to roller-skate and bicycle on this new ‘car-free’ playground. Together with lots of other children we had a great time enjoying ourselves in the cleanest air of the week.
At that time I was too young to realize what the political background of the issue was. The only thing I remembered was the sound of fear and fright in the voices of my parents regarding to the subject of ‘war’. Being in the middle of the cold-war and still in fresh memory the second world war, there was a lot of fear for another ‘Great War’. Unexpectedly I was introduced at that time in the world of global-politics. Especially by the honorary-consul of Kuwait, the most respectful Sir Mahmoud Rabbani. As no one else would be able to, he explained the point of view of the Arabic countries to the Dutch television viewers in a very clear way. For this achievement there was a lot of respect for him among the Dutch people. In retrospective, I think, he was one of the most unfortunate diplomats of his time. For accepting an invitation in a cynical television program, in which he did receive a copy of a funny song ‘Kiele kiele Koeweit’ (a Dutch totally innocent song about the oil crisis), Mahmoud Rabbani was heavily criticized by the Arabic countries he represented. This was really a pity; it was mainly because of him that the Dutch got so much more understanding for the problems of the Palestinians. But may be that’s the fate of a popular diplomat abroad.
Having Kuwait now visited twice, I must say that I’m still overwhelmed by the hospitality, warmness and the liberal thought of the Kuwaiti people. The second time I was accompanied by a television crew for making a documentary about a 10-year old Kuwaiti soccer player ‘Sayed’. The crew and I had a very nice time and great fun shooting the scenes with Sayed and his family all around the country. What an amazing talent has this boy! The film was broadcasted in The Netherlands already and received many positive reviews.
Due to these positive experiences I hope to visit Kuwait again soon, but at this moment I have only one (urgent!) question for the Kuwaiti Government. ‘Can you please cut back the oil supply again?’ It’ll bring back some wonderful memories of my youth and also helps the battle against Global Warming. Thank you in advance!
Marcel
What an interesting piece huh? I loved that he liked Kuwait and had positive things to say about his visits. As for his request, I highly doubt the government would consider such requests.
Here is a trailer of the documentary they did with Sayed.
For more information about the documentary visit Soccertalents.
Thank you Marcel for sharing your experience with us.
As the topic says, I went yesterday with my wife to Safat Alghanim to search for the Acer Aspire One which Pure mentioned in the comments in my last post but guess what ?! SOLD OUT! even with a higher price its sold out in every alghanim branch. So i decided to end this issue by spending almost triple the Acer price and bought MSI Wind U90 for KD145
