I was told that the gas stations in Kuwait won’t be operating tomorrow due to a strike. I don’t have anymore info about this. We just filled up all of our cars’ tanks.
Update:
The strike was only in KNPC stations, and Mr. Solutions just said that it has ended coz the KNPC management agreed to give the union what they want.
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 brother told me I should post about this PS3 game. Apparently it’s something a lot of guys have been waiting for 😛 It’s available now in AlRehab in Hawally.
Our friend got his neck hurt while playing volleyball in the chalet and we rushed him to Al Adan hospital.
The whole Adan experience was a sad one. I went in expecting the worst kind of doctors with the worst attitudes. I expected to have a bad experience as a result of incompetent staff. But that wasn’t the case.. that wasn’t the case at all. The doctors were doing their jobs to the best of their abilities and the nurses were running around to help as much as they could. I’m not going to talk about the receptionists because, simply, they do not qualify as human beings (inshallah ma3ashat’hom zaqqoom bichbood’hom) so i won’t mention them (again).
The one thing that was bringing the whole thing down.. the one thing that was wrong with the hospital (aside from the building itself) was the people. The patients and their families. As soon as we were by the doctor’s door the shoving and cutting inline started. We saw our number flash on the screen and went to the doctor to find a whole other family entering before us and taking our turn. And when they came out, another women wanted to cut inline and even had the nerve to feel offended when we refused to let her go in before we do.
When we were in the doctor’s office and our friend being diagnosed, there was atleast 5 attempts to open the door. The nurse had to lock the door. I asked how often this happens, and they said they visit Top Master Locksmith to get tools to fix their doors atleast twice a month.
There are always people complaining about the doctors in Kuwait and how they’re not doing their job. How they get misdiagnosed and stuff.. But now I know, in my opinion, the main cause behind such complaints.
The Kuwaiti people need to take lessons and be parented all over again before we are let out on the streets. We should go to some sort of a facility with courses where they teach us how to respect our own boundaries.. and then a whole set of other courses to teach us all about other people’s rights. How do you expect the doctor to give you a fair treatment when the nurse has to block the door by force as to not let other people in while you’re being diagnosed? How do you expect to get the doctor’s full attention when there is some idiot outside the door banging like a maniac wanting in? What goes through YOUR mind when YOU cut inline??
I think the state of Kuwait’s hospitals perfectly fits the state of it’s People’s mentality.
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. Make sure you always do a credit card comparison.
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. Click here to learn more about an alternative which is better than using your credit cards for loans.
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.
So Apple’s long awaited event took place this evening around 8pm (our time) and the following are some of the results:
New revamped macbook pro with many new features.
New silver macbooks that look exactly like the pro line have been introduced, and dropped the black ones.
Macbook air. upped the harddisk to 128gb and added a mini display port.
New led backlit Cinema Display with a magsafe to power notebooks, a 2nd USB port and a display port.
Personally I was most concerned about the new macbook pro line, since I just bought mine 6 months ago, and honestly, I thought I’d be a bit more jealous, but I’m not. I’ve always hated the black keyboard on the Air’s, but then again, I’m really impressed with the new mouse button (now THATS innovation) and the new improved battery life.
To know more about the event in details se ENGADGET’s live feed.
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 »
The ‘Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge‘ has been launched a few days ago by our fellow blogger, intlxpatr. If you have good sunset photos and you wanna participate in this challenge, you can do so by sending her an email and she’ll post your pictures and we’re all gonna vote, somehow, and she’ll decide which photographer has the best shots.
I’ve learned that photoshopping an image is considered cheating, and I also learned that I don’t have a single good sunset photo! except the one above, but that is photoshopped to death, so..
I will try and take some pictures of sunsets. You do so too!
For more information on the challenge or if you have a question, go to intlxpatr.
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. Pure Luxe Spa, Salon & Medspa is your peferct choice.
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.
I’ve been listening to this song, changes, from Will Young’s new album for the past couple of days and I can’t seem to get enough of it. I like how the lyrics are light and somewhat sad but then the song comes off happy and uplifting.
Take a listen:
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They’re going to release a new e-Go package tomorrow. It’s going to be a prepaid package, no fixed monthly fees and no subscriptions. the e-Go device (shown above) will be sold for KD 40 and then you can charge it by paying either through eezee cards or by going online and pay using your Knet or Credit card. You can choose to pay KD1.5 which equals either 500mb worth of bandwidth or 24 hours internet access.
The network connection speed is still 7.2mb for this new package.
I’m sure we’ve all seen Zain’s new backup ads by now with the old man and his old wife. It created quite a stir when they first aired during ramadan.
The ad basically used the old wife character to portray how she (the mobile) can be easily replaced by the old husband with another mobile incase of loss, damage..etc if he subscrib with Zain’s backup service. Most women (and some men) in my family found it offensive. My mother wanted to write a post on this blog and give Zain a piece of her mind. Other female members of my family were also offended and quite shocked by how degrading to women this whole ad campaign was. Other people had mixed reactions. Me and Mishary had our own little debate where one of us thought it is completely and utterly inappropriate to compare mobiles to women (wives) and the other thought they were funny. We even received emails asking us to say something about those ads. Here is an excerpt from an email we got:
“Zain should stop airing them immediately and apologize to all the people who felt offended by the Ads”
I also asked some of my friends and got different responses. Their responses:
I LOVE it! I laugh each time I see them on tv.
They’re hard to get.
Sexist and offensive.
and this has to be the best response and the most intriguing argument I got:
The ads ruffle some insecure feathers. It plays on typical and old stereotypes. Our grandfathers used to think somewhat similarly about women; they’re replaceable. And this what annoyed the Kuwaiti females the most.. It would’ve been offensive if they hired a young couple to do the ad, but they didn’t, they made them old, and that is how (most) old Kuwaiti men used to think about women anyway.
ma3alaina.. We’ll let you decide for yourselves. Participate in the poll on the right sidebar to answer this question:
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?
I know its too Dubai, but I like the sticker. You can get one from the Canada Dry Street in ‘Shari3 Alzeena’. My friend told me he paid 1kd for both plates.
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.
