Pet Zone in Mahboula

There is a new location for Pet Zone in Mahboula, block 1 street 103. It is a very tiny place with a groomer, cat/dog products and a few things for fish. 

Most of the people there were for the groomer, not much else going on.

Flood damage in Kuwait 2017

I slept through the down pour and woke up to highway 40 being unusually crowded for a Saturday. I started seeing some closures, a police car blocking off one of the exits, then I noticed a white car hanging between the road and the collapsed part of it. I got to the base and saw this mud covering the entrance and the concrete barriers moved out of place. When I went on Facebook I finally saw the videos of what had happened while I slept.

 Sea View Complex in the dark and water being pumped from the basement parking

 The Dome mall basement completely submerged, I really feel sorry for the  Marvel Fit gym owner and the owner of the martial arts school that is under the water. They had some new expensive equipment and we all know that there isn't any kind of insurance and hopefully the can get help from the government (eye roll).

 The Light complex has gone dark while they drain the basement parking, our Zafran Indian Bistro invite was cancelled due to the damage

My video of the damage

The last part of the video shows the poor guy who had his Ferrari flooded while he was in the gym.

IMG Worlds of Adventure- Dubai

Last weekend I took the girls to Dubai, I had to visit IMG ride park for myself. It's the largest indoor ride park in the world and it's based on Cartoon Network, Marvel Comics, Lost Valley and IMG Boulevard. My little ones would always have Cartoon Network on so I was familiar with the themes. It's a small park with 22 rides and 28 restaurants and a lot of places to shop. The general admission is 245 dirhams or around 20 KD each, they open at 11 am which is the best time to go as it was empty and we rode everything many times.

My quick video below as I was Snapping everything and didn't take many pictures.

There's also a big roller coaster ride that starts off inside and then a door opens and shoots you outside, my 7 yr old had me ride it four times. We got there right as the door opened and there weren't many people. It was a half day activity, afterwards we went back to Global Village.

Taste of Kuwait 2017

It's that time of year again for the annual taste of Q8 food festival, good news, it will be free entry this year from what I've heard. That will attract a lot more people to the event. This year it will be held in Boulevard Kuwait in Salmiya from March 16-18, 2017. I won two tickets today from @Teesab, host of 99.7, a big thanks to her! We got to attend the meet and greet with Jenny Morris, one of my favorite chefs. Here are links to the paste event 2016 the only comment I have for the promoters is you should include local people who blog and have interests in local activities.

Faith vs. Your Job

A friend of mine works on Arifjan, the American military base, she is an American Muslim who wears hijab. There are several females on base who do wear hijab with no problem. This is a new year, with a new regime that has taken over. My friend went to renew her access badge which is usually no problem and everyone leaves happy. As she sat down to take her picture the lady asked to see her ears, thinking she just needed verification she showed her ears to the lady. The lady told her 'no I have to see your ears in the picture' my friend was confused and showed the lady her old badge from August and told her she wasn't asked at that time. For those who don't know about badging, fingerprints are also scanned into the system as well as a picture.

My friend waited for the manager to come, once he called her over he showed her a paper with the highlighted rule on showing ears is a requirement although it has not been implemented in a very very long time. My friend left in tears, she had a couple of days off to think about her next move. It was the thought of having a job to support her family or her religious beliefs which no one should have to choose between. Her company did try to fight for her and are continuing a their research on the situation but her badge expires shortly.

She approached the KMOI cell on base (Kuwait Ministry of Interior) about the situation as they have females who wear hijab working for them as well. He was rather shocked by the request and will discuss it with the boss. Even though it is a hard decision and big test it did bring out the best in some people who are truly concerned. Why didn't Triple Canopy send out an email to all concerned and tell them they are enforcing all rules that they previously ignored? Does every company hiring on base have to have a disclosure now stating if anyone wears any kind of faith based covering they will not be able to get badged? Isn't that along the lines of discrimination? I was told in 2012 they were actually telling females to remove their hijab for pictures as well.

In Islam for those who don't understand, it says a woman may show her hands and face only. Every person has a different level of faith, some are lose and wear turbans showing their necks and ears, some are in the middle and some cover from head to toe so one cannot judge Muslims and Islam as a whole just by one example. This rule about ears also applies to Sikh men, who are being asked to take off their turban for pictures. When a person goes into take a picture there is no warning on what will happen so a lot of people are getting a big shock.

Sadly Triple Canopy has no remorse and are rather blunt in their response. This rule is from Virginia, a military bio metric rule that hasn't been followed since the beginning of contracting in Kuwait. American employees are also issued a CAC card to access military systems, their requirement is completely different and they don't need to see ears. When a person wearing religious coverings go to take pictures for their passport they sign a waiver stating their religious beliefs and don't show their ears.

To be continued......

Mubarakiya

The last time I visited Mubarakiya I saw this new seating area. There was a sign in Arabic, my friend told me the area is 'sabeel' which is continuous charity after someone dies.

If only they would fix up all of the remaining areas of the souk. But it is a must visit for anyone coming to Kuwait.