Wednesday, April 27, 2011

US citizen goes naked in hospital

Come on you guys! Gross, eww, eww have you seen some of these contractor guys? It's bad enough to see them with their clothes on but naked? When I came here in 2004 Americans were respected but as the years went by and the contractors started getting caught for fraud, selling drugs and being arrogant and now the Kuwaities have slowly started to hate their presence here. Now the naked drunk guy? This is an all time low! People tend to forget their single actions actually reflect upon the United States as a whole, people here think we are all the same. They don't know that their are different kinds of Americans instead they link us all together. I hope he goes to jail and loses his job and gets deported, serves him right for being a disgrace to the US.



US citizen goes naked in hospital: "US citizen goes naked in hospital
KUWAIT CITY, April 26: A case of indecent behavior has been filed against an unidentified US citizen at the Mina Abdullah Police Station for taking off his clothes in front of nurses at the Adan Hospital, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.
The man was allegedly fully drunk and the incident happened when he was taken to the hospital for treatment.
It has also been reported the man picked up a fight with the paramedics and the hospital staff at the hospital reception.
When he turned boisterous, the hospital staff overpowered and controlled him."




I hope his nickname isn't Bubba. Yuck!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Boulevard, Salmiya - Future Entertainment Place

There's a new entertainment place being built in Salmiya. It's across from Souk Salmiya in what used to be a giant dirt lot. They have been building it for a while now so I'm sure it will take years for it to be completed as construction takes forever here. They have a website in which you can take a look at what it's supposed to look like when it's done. Here's a video about it.




The website is:


boulevard.com.kw


Hopefully it won't take 10 years to finish.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Safat Al-Ghanim Furniture Store

After coming back from the states I had to buy all new furniture. I found some really nice couch sets at Safat Al-Ghanim in Shuwakh. It's not too far from Avenues. They have really nice live plants as well as kid's furniture. There's furniture in different styles that will fit everyone's taste. The prices are pretty good especially if they are having a sell.


When you need a break from shopping you can grab some coffee from Starbuck's. If you're in the mood for buying a car or some electronics that have that too. It's all in one place, electronics, furniture and cars which is totally a one stop shopping place to go.



Huge couch outside..



The live plants, they have really nice bonsai trees.



The kids furniture area.



The more modern styles.


Bedding.



Happy Shopping!

Friday, April 15, 2011

LuLu Hypermarket-Qurain

The new LuLu Hypermarket in Qurain (like grain) is my new favorite place to shop. It's 3 stories and filled with all kinds of American products. They have baked goods and cakes that are really good. It's located in Qurain area which I think is exit 208 and you take that straight down to a roundabout and it's off to the left. I've always known about LuLu Hypermarket (funny name) but the old locations were not real clean and extrememly crowded but this place is beautiful.


They have electronics, furniture, clothing and of course food items. I like to be able to shop for everything in one place. It's clean and well lit. There is always someone around if you have questions. The only thing I found negative was the meat. They don't have family packs of meat, only individual pieces, I guess I will still have to go to Sultan Center for meat but overall I love it. I still haven't gone upstairs because I get too tired shopping. I usually spend 2 hours there.


There are many cashiers so the lines aren't too long and they are pretty quick to finish your transaction. I stop by the pretzel shop on my way out. When I start my diet I will have to pass it up. It gets crowded at night, I think the best time to go is in the morning or early afternoon. You will find the expats shopping then. Outside LuLu you will find a couple shops. The inside looks like the old Kuwaiti boats.

Entrance..


Inside the mall..

Fruits and vegetables..


Imported fruits..

Escalator to the upper floors..


Outside...

There were signs everywhere saying no photography. I risked jail time for these undercover pics..hahaha

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Ministry workers- Disgruntled or Just Plain Mean?

I try to avoid any Ministry at all costs. This time it involved my daughter so I had to go. Ahh the lovely Ministry of Education need I say more. I remember when I first came to Kuwait back in 2004, I dealt with it then and prayed I wouldn't have to ever go back. At that time I was single and brand new to Kuwait. I had to run around that place for over a week to get finished.


Go here, go there, upstairs, downstairs and all around. One person spoke english and she was kind of nice but majority of the women just looked at me as if I were invisible. Back then it was an old building that was outdoors except for the offices and it was summertime.


Yesterday I visited there again. Although the structure had changed, it was all enclosed and air conditioned the women's attitudes seemed to be worse, if that's possible. When they see a Kuwaiti married to a foreigner it pisses them off for some reason and they won't really help. I tried to stay far behind so they wouldn't see me.


The women gathered 8 to an office laughing so loud you can hear them down the hall. The other thing they do is eat and gossip. When anyone enters their office for help they look as if they are doing you a favor to even speak to you. Some of them love to flirt. I knew guys that would get their flirt on to get their papers done. I used to just act like a dumb expat and because they didn't speak english they would just stamp and sign.


I did get into a verbal altercation with one Kuwaiti chick working in Ahmadi. She was talking major crap about me in Arabic not knowing I understood. I just smiled as she threw the passports back at me, once she finished I told her off and the policeman standing at the counter had to intervene. She was shocked when I told her in Arabic she should watch her mouth because not all expats are stupid and don't understand Arabic.


We went to get a phone line in the Mangaf location a couple weeks ago. There was no one at the counter just purses, mobile phones and food sitting on the desk. After 15 minutes a couple chicks arrived giggling as if they were at a party, not work. Once again they act like they were doing us a favor by talking to us. I've even known them to make the process hard for people just because they want to.


They send people to places that don't have anything to do with their request. God forbid you come across some female having a bad day, she will take it out on everyone. Don't you even dare to talk to them when it gets close to lunch, they will bite your head off and send you across town for no reason.


I know I will get some negative responses to this post which is usual for those people trying to hide the true happenings but anyone who has gone to the Ministries, Kuwaiti or non-Kuwaiti know what I'm talking about.


R-U-L-E-S does anyone here know what that word means?

Friday, April 8, 2011

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW W/ JACOB ISOM "DUDE, YOU HAVE NO QURAN"

My mom loves this guy so I had to share it with everyone. Jacob Isom, the skater dude who snatched the Quran out of the hands of the guy who wanted to burn it.



Woohoo!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Planet Hollywood Kuwait

After leaving the hospital and getting my cast off we decided to get something to eat while in Salmiya. I hardly go to Salmiya anymore because of the crowds and traffic. We saw Planet Hollywood had opened. I had visited Planet Hollywood in Dubai and in San Diego so I wanted to check out Kuwait's version.


It's located across from the Aquarium in Salmiya, you can see the Planet Hollywood sign from the road as pictured below. If you take that entrance you will have to walk down stairs. That was a little painful for me but I made it. You can also take the main entrance through the main doors of the huge building and take the escalator down.


It opened on March 24th. They gave us a cute freebie drink, always love those freebies. The decorations were cool. It was smaller than most locations but still had all of the items from celebs hanging around. A life like Terminator and his motorcycle.


We took a look at the menu, there's not much to choose from. I remembered they were famous for their burgers so I ordered a B-B-Q burger. The waitress was very very new as she had to take a look at the menu to see what I was talking about. I ordered nachos for the appetizer. It took what felt like an eternity to get our food considering there was hardly anyone there. The nachos were really bad. The chips were double fried and microwaved so badly I couldn't chew them. I sent them back for buffalo wings but ended up canceling them.


The burgers were finally brought out. I guess I expected more but got a dry burger with not so great fries. I ate half of it and decided to leave. When you wait 45 minutes and get a cold burger it just ruins the feel for the place. It's a typical scenario in Kuwait. A new restaurant opens but it takes months for it to be good. Hard Rock still has the BEST nachos. The steaks and ribs are a little expensive as you can see on the menu.


Outside sign..

Front of the place...


Freebie drink....



My not so hot burger.....


Some menu prices...


The Terminator..


Inside....


This is only my opinion. Visit to form your own.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Second Sand Storm

Another lovely day in Kuwait. My mom and sister woke me up extremely early to let me know there was a sand storm coming and to tape up the windows. By 11 a.m. there was no sign of it so I gave up. I got ready to go out around 11:45 a.m. and there was the storm covering everything. So much for going out right? Around 3 p.m. the storm was gone and only sand remained.


You never know what to expect.


The storm covering everything.



Lovely view of Abu Halaifa...


Just enough dust to make people sick...


Muddy rain drops followed the storm.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

First step of doll making Completed

I guess we didn't realize how much sewing we would have to do to make dolls. I took my daughters, my mother and my sister with me. My fingers are sore from being stuck but it was fun. We had a bag of supplies to make the dolls as well as needles and different color threads. First step was sewing up the doll, that took almost 2 hours. What can I say none of us sew.

We were interrupted by a group of kids touring Sadu House. They saw us making the dolls and surrounded us stepping all over my purse and all talking at once asking us questions in Arabic. The teacher asked us for pictures, um no paparazzi please. Finally they left and we continued our sewing. At the end we moved on to the clothing but had to take it home for homework as we didn't finish in time.


It was really fun and the British lady who helped us was extremely patient with us. She had drinks, tea and cookies for us also. I love Sadu House, it's so beautiful and old school. It's too bad those kind of houses aren't built anymore. It's also a small textile museum with some old dresses and weaved items.


The starting point of my doll....


Starting to stuff it.....


The final product. I was going to give it a J-Lo booty, next doll maybe.



Ok, so her head is a bit lop sided and her arms stick straight out but I'd say I did a pretty good job for my first doll. Next Saturday should be the final product........ Stay tuned!