Look out Weekend

Enjoy your weekend, I  leave you with this song that was part of the "Low Rider Oldies" collection I grew up with, much love for Art Laboe. Orale!

Inside Kuwaiti Courts

This is what the courts in Kuwait look like on the inside. There is wood panel and two podiums that remind me of Judge Judy's court but they aren't used. Instead your name is called and you get to go into the room (second pic) and stand in front of the judge and his secretary. The secretary's job is to WRITE down everything said, no shorthand or typing, just pen and paper. The door is open which means everyone in the room can hear your business, no confidentiality there.

If the other party doesn't show you get to come again and again, a total of three times, if one of the parties do not show within those three dates the judge will make his verdict, which of course is another appointment, of course you can hire a lawyer or give someone else permission to show up in your place. There is however a whole other process for giving someone power of attorney and that involves some running around.

 

It's all in Arabic so make sure you bring an interpreter although one time the court had an Indian lady translate for me and she butchered my version really bad so be careful. 

Arabic Alphabet

Arabic alphabet for people who want to learn the letters.

"Models" and their crew take over the Park

The kids wanted to go to the park after we had our lunch so we got all of their bikes and balls and headed to the park. Well I would have never guessed we would have run into a "modeling" shoot in the middle of the park? WTH? Is anywhere safe from hoochies? My mom and I were a few steps behind and when I got up to see where the kids were one of the photographers were taking pictures of my nephew and my kids, again WTH?

 

Everyone knows how pissed people get when their pictures are taken without permission and she had nerve to take pictures without asking parents first? I took off over the area and she didn't say anything just walked off. My nanny told me she told the chick not to take pictures and the chick smarted off something to her in Arabic.

 

The whole time these two "models" (if that's what you want to call them) were posing and laying all over the park equipment, yuck! There are kids around! They even started yelling at the kids when they were coming to close to their shoot.  Come on, who does a photo shoot on Saturday in a public park when there are children around?

 

It got worse when the "model" with the grey shirt took it off (she had a small tank top on) while she was standing on the park bridge and put on another shirt. Really? Have they no shame? She kept on pulling and tugging on her shirt until she finally took it off. This country has truly spun out of control! When I first came here you would never see half-naked chicks walking around like nothing, women were more modest, now they show everything, transvestites are out in the open, gays are prominent and it keeps getting worse.

I almost expected her to start licking the equipment like Miley Cyrus.

I guess rickety old park equipment is the new thing in modeling or else they were just cheap and couldn't afford a real studio. It seems as if no where is safe to take your kids in Kuwait.

Snoop Dogg (Lion?) and Tamer Hosny Video

I keep thinking Snoop has a new song until I hear Tamer, then I'm like meh, I thought Snoop Dogg was Snoop Lion?

He also had another video last year with Shaggy which was aight. If I listen to Arabic it's usually Khaleeji music and I think TH is lame but I love Snoop. I think he was the guy who had a video a few years back of him running, I could never get that cheesy image out of my head. He tries way too hard, kind of reminds me of Amr Diab, I remember many many years back when I used to go to AD concerts before he got all Hollywood.

What's up with rolled denim shorts?

Vial of blood by the Courthouse

As we were walking back from the court in Riggae I happened to look down and notice a vial of blood on the sidewalk, Gross!

Lamborghini Aventador in Kuwait......Sweet!!!!!!!

I saw this on my home from work yesterday and of course I had to hit my brakes and move into the middle lane to get a closer look and take a picture while trying to steer, it is after all one of my favorite cars. The first one is blurry but I managed to get a little closer.

It has the matte black paint, I wonder what it looks like all lit up at night, I'm in love!!!!! I can't decide which is my favorite, Lamborghini or Phantom. Most females are into fufu Hermes or LV bags but I am into sweet rides. I had a 69 Impala with glass packs in the states and used to drop them on guys, oh the memories.

My only question is....why is it on the back of a tow truck? Is it being repossessed?

Moroccan tailor in Kuwait City

I attended my brother-in-laws wedding last month so I finally had a reason to buy a Moroccan dress. My hubby found a tailor in the city, his dresses were a little expensive but the other shop was closed and I had only a couple days before the wedding to finish the dress. I decided on the light green dress pictured below with a sweet gold belt to match. He makes a lot of the dresses by hand but also has help from family in Morroco. He was sewing the braided designs onto a dress seen below.

One of his hand made belts...

This piece was over the top, each flower was made individually and sewn onto the fabric, it felt like it weighed 10 pounds.

He's a nice guy to took up tailoring when he was a boy and really loves making items.

Al Daman - New place for your car Registration

I happened to check my registration the other day while cleaning out my car and it was expired, I always lose tracks of the dates so time to renew. My hubby went to do the paperwork and of course the procedure has changed, wow shocking (not really). It's a nice looking place in a crappy area in Shuwaikh where you can do everything except transfers of registration.

 

You pull up, do the paperwork and hand over your keys, a valet guy takes it inside the area and brings it back while you wait. My hubby decided not to let the valet take my car because he saw him in another car sneezing and coughing all over the steering wheel and dashboard. It's up to you but some of them don't smell too good (can't wait for the whiners to complain about that comment) so be prepared.

When you finish they give you your registration in a cute little holder.

Hubby tells me the rumor is the owner is a retired Ministry guy with WASTA who got the contract which is one of a kind, let's see, 10 KD x a crap load of people daily = instant millionaire. The rich get richer while the country sits idle.

Esther's Attic, Operation Hope yard sale and season Opening

Esther's Attic/Operation Hope held their seasonal yard sale a couple weeks back, I couldn't get the word out because of my internet problem so better late than never! A big thanks to the FedEx volunteers, you guys were great and I hope more businesses can volunteer within the communities. It's also funny that my nemesis (the owner of the book store who threaten to sue me) was all smiles and greeted me too.

 

We had loads and loads of clothing and furniture and it turned out to be a very productive day. Our goal is to earn enough for our winter warmth campaign clothing 2500 needy workers. I'm pretty sure our season starts this weekend. A big thanks to everyone who came to shop til' they dropped.

Sheep slaughter in the Bushes

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 14: The Kuwait Municipality has warned the public against dealing with butchers who have no health certificates and are operating outside the central slaughterhouses in the six governorates, reports Al-Shahed daily quoting sources.

Sources from the Municipality said some of these butchers carry viruses deemed harmful to both humans and livestock. They also confirmed that the emergency teams in all governorates will closely monitor the activities of the butchers through surprise inspection visits during Eid Al-Adha, particularly at dawn.

I don't think they got the message from the government, I walked outside to see this behind my car.

 A few houses down...

What was left when we returned.

I thought moving to the city would be better, I guess everyone in this country thinks it's ok to slaughter animals where ever they want.

EEK! Magazine shut down and no return date as of Yet

It's been a long time since subscribers last received an email from EEK! and I miss it a lot. The below mentioned info was received on September 1 and nothing has followed. If there is anyone who would like to advertise their goods or upcoming events I don't mind dedicated some posts. If you're interested contact me via email: kuwait411@yahoo.com 

 

Folks greetings from EEK!land.

Sadly this mailer is not the next issue of EEK!, but a quick few words
on why we've been quiet.

First of all, we've not been shut down, or bought (and your email sent
to 5trillion e-shot shops), or a nasty car accident, or whatever, its
simply that a few things converged at the same time. Fact is we're
actually expanding into two other areas, and for that we need things to
be "bigger"; bigger PC, bigger email capacity, bigger software
capability, and of course, a bigger staff compliment. All of this went
with a nice dosage of "moving office". So, in short, its nothing short
of controlled chaos, and sadly we've had to delay on getting the issues
out.

I need to note that it may be imperative that all new subscriptions
will have to go through a bulk mail system as we simply cannot afford
putting up the kind of money required to set up our own system - but
it’s still a dream! Talking about dreams, while we've been quiet, our
subscriber count has quietly passed the 11000 mark. Oh, yes, its also
not always possible to get into our email box, apologies for those late
replies!!!
So, in short, please bear with us, things will only get better, and
YES!, EEK! is alive and well (cough-cough!) :)

Best regards,

Michael
EEK! Publisher

I  hope they get back up and running soon I really do miss the great information each month. I know they continually asked for more subscribers but it seems having so many emails turned into a headache in the end, I wish them all the luck in the world and can't wait for their return.

Indoor shopping area across from Friday Market

My hubby was in the mood to buy some plant accessories so he took us to some shops across from Friday Market, I've never really explored the shops, I usually go straight to Friday Market, I discovered a shopping area inside the building housing the small shops full of furniture, plants and all kinds of things for the house. I really love the colorful furniture they have but it's a little expensive so I will have to save up first.

 

There's rugs and a couple of old Kuwaiti shops but they were closed when we went, it seems like Kuwaiti run shops have no set schedule they just open when they feel like it. Oh well, maybe next time we will go after 5 pm, they might be open but no guarantees.

 

It totally reminded me of the swap meet stores we have back in California, definitely a neat little place to visit!

Quality Net vs Fasttelco- Who sucks more?

I would normally head a post with "which one is better" but since I've moved I found at that they both suck equally. I've had Quality Net for the last two years and the speed was so-so depending on the time of day so I thought I might try out Fasttelco as some were saying it was a better provider. My husband called Fasttelco and chose a package, the guy at Fasttelco told him we could only get 2 Mbp because of the wiring in the new place. He thought it was a nice gesture considering he didn't have to tell us that.

He ordered the package and was told someone would come to set it up the next day. The next day came and no one called or arrived so he called the service center, after a loooong waiting period he got in touch with someone who told him he wasn't in the system and got into an argument with him so he didn't want Fasttelco. We thought we would get better service with Quality Net considering we were with them for two years, wrong! After an hour holding online he got an operator, we set up the new address and he went to the head office to pay.

He was told someone would be out the next day, wrong again. We waited all day for someone to come out and after work I called the service number. First call I waited 40 minutes, no answer, second call I waited 30 minutes, no answer, third call 20 minutes, no answer. Really!? In the two years I've had QN I never called customer service, if I had known what crappy customer service they had I would have never renewed but too late because we had already paid for it. My husband had been calling from his mobile which racked up an enormous bill just sitting on hold. I told him it might be better to just go to the head office.

He waited on hold from the time he left his office until he reached QN and no one ever answered the call. I REALLY wanted to go with him to the head office and complain but he left me home. When he asked the guy about the customer service he couldn't give him an answer but promised we would get our service the next day. The next day came and we waited and waited, finally by 7 pm I had internet! I really don't understand how a company's customer service could suck so badly especially when a customer is calling from a mobile phone and being charged by the minute.

I would have liked to try Fasttelco but their customer service and empty promises made me change my mind. I'm not too happy with QN but I already had my internet box and service which is the ONLY reason I stayed with them. Is there a better internet provider out there?

Eid Mubarak

Moving Nightmare

I honestly thought I might be offline for a week max, boy was I wrong. I've been living in the same area of Kuwait since I came from Cali in 2004. Unfortunately the area has gone downhill and I didn't want my children going to government school in the area. The area has been over run with ghetto people and single creepy bachelors who gawk and stare constantly. It isn't a place for families anymore so we moved to the city area. I can see a big difference between the two areas, the old area was not given care like the new area which houses fufu Kuwaiti families.

Instead of huge buses carrying workers I'm surrounded by lambos and Bentley cars which is nice but I still haven't got comfortable with the change. I don't know where anything is and get stressed when leaving home. I do however enjoy the cleanliness and trees that line the streets. There's a huge park that is clean and close to the house.

Now comes the hell of moving, I've learned that when you move from one area to another you have to cancel your old phone number which consists of going to the airport and canceling the old line. Next step is finding the ministry in the new area and requesting a new line, paying the fees and waiting for them to do their job which can take days. After a few days you should check the line and see if it's working, if not an electrician has to be called to the residence to make some changes and activate the line which can take a few days.

After the electrician does his job the ministry has to do something to make it work and then if you're lucky it will work. At work they have blocked 90% of sites so I only had access to email, I couldn't watch my tv shows for three weeks! I just want to thank everyone for the emails and supporting me during this movement, it was really difficult.

The movers also messed up my stuff and I really hate moving. My next post will talk about the internet provider hell I went through trying to get back online, stay tuned.

Peter Pan on Ice

The Event starts on October 16th till 19th 2 shows per day the first show will start at 4:30 pm, the second show will start at 8:00 pm the show duration is 2 hrs and the tickets will be available soon starting form 7 KD per person.

Fake ‘sick leave’ a growing problem – High absence rates in public sector ahead of Eid
    

KUWAIT: Despite a nine-day holiday which officially starts on Sunday, the last working day (Thursday) saw high absence rates in the public sector and schools with one ministry recording as low as 40 percent employees attendance while schools were almost empty. Civil Service Commission records showed that around 29,000 public sector employees were absent on Thursday. Meanwhile, a senior CSC source told Al-Jarida daily that the worst rates were seen in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, where it reached over 60 percent, as well as the Ministry of Education.

 

Sources within the Ministry of Communications revealed that absent levels reached 30 per- cent in administrative departments and over 50 percent in service sectors. The Civil Service Commission opened a coordination with the Interior Ministry to match names of the absentees with those who left the country on the same day, said the senior official who spoke to Al-Jarida on the condition of anonymity.

 

He further indicated that a similar coordination was opened with the Ministry of Health in order to control sick leaves. “A doctor with increased activity in signing sick leaves will be referred for questioning”, the source explained. He admitted that many employees believe that pay deductions alone “do not deter those wishing to extend their leaves”. Meanwhile, public and private schools saw absence rate skyrocketing as high as 80 percent on Thursday, while sources within the Administrative Affairs Department in the Ministry of Education revealed that “teachers began taking leaves starting from Wednesday”.

 

Taking a leave of absence before or after holidays; especially when working days fall between holidays and weekends has become a growing problem in Kuwait in recent years. In a bid to address the issue, the government has adopted measures that include creating a database that synchronizes between sick leaves’ records and travel records in land border checkpoints and the Kuwait International Airport. However, the process has so far failed to achieve the desired results; mainly due to the lack of procedures to identify sick leaves that are signed unlawfully and lack of repellant penalties.

 

My daughter started government schools and the teacher told my husband not to bring my daughter on Wednesday and Thursday as no one would be there and the private schools were empty of students as well.

 

Now that I'm working around Kuwaitis I have collected a huge pile of sick notes. I know it seems like all of Kuwait is sick especially at work, we ran out of tissue. It shouldn't be so easy to get a sick note especially when your start times is 3:56 pm and end time is 4:04 pm, I don't think you were there for treatment, just a note.

 

Maybe they should have money deducted and a sick limit put in place, once the limit is reached you are terminated. At least the Kuwaiti female in charge doesn't accept sick notes from the students unless they have a real problem.

AWARE Center- Eid Festival

Sounds like fun!

Guess who's back......!!

I'm back finally, no thanks to Fasttelco but Quality Net finally came thru (after waiting on hold for more than an hour)......boy do I have some words for internet providers. Coming soon...