In case you haven’t been following up on this story check [this post] and [this post]. Last night I passed by the store with @neatkw since they offered to help tidy up the old man’s store. Yesterday was the first time I actually got to see the store properly from behind the counter and also upstairs and I am at loss for words. The place needs a lot more than just tidying.

Originally I thought that the old man was sleeping in his studio upstairs but when I went up I realized there was no bed and there was no studio. The top floor was just full of random junk, garbage, dust and even an old fridge that was over 40 years old. From what we could gather from the old man, he was sleeping on his chair on the ground floor of the store. The whole shop is just covered with a very thick layer of dust, there is barely enough room to walk and just two chairs to sit in. While trying to talk to the old man he casually pulled out a bunch of crisp 1/4 dinar notes dating back to the pre-1990 invasion like he just popped out of a time machine. He then proceeded to rip the notes up because he said they were illegal and he didn’t want to get arrested. Randomly all over the store are black and white photos probably dating to the 60s covering random events in Kuwait like sports, fires and even a flood. Communicating with the old man is difficult, he doesn’t have a timeline and he forgets a lot. You can’t tell if an incident that happened to him took place last week or took place 20 years ago.

So this is what’s happening now. The two kind ladies from @neatkw are going to try and find his sponsor and get more details off him. Then based on that conversation figure out what to do next. I personally think the old man needs proper care, somewhere like an old people’s home. He needs people around him to talk to and he needs someone to take care of him. If that doesn’t work out the idea is to make his store (which isn’t really a store right now just an indoor junkyard) more comfortable for him like replacing the old broken down film developer with a bed and clearing out all the garbage and adding other amenities like a proper bathroom.

According to a recent ranking of top universities around the world, Kuwait barely makes the list coming in 701+ out of 800 (they just grouped the bottom 100 universities into one lump). Kuwait University was the only local university that made it into the top 800. On the other hand Saudi Arabia had 7 universities make the list including one that made it to #216, the highest amongst our neighbors. Oman, Qatar and the UAE all ranked higher than Kuwait as well.

Not good.

Check out the full rankings [Here]

Old KU photo above taken from [Here]

I’ve already posted about this before but since schools just started it would be a good time to remind everyone about it.

The Regional Center for Development of Educational Software (ReDSOFT) have created a pretty amazing iOS App which allows you to download all the books for all grades required by of the Ministry of Education in Kuwait. You just have to tell the App which class you’re in and then you will then have access to all the books that are required by the Ministry for that year. The App is called “كتابي” but if you don’t have an Arabic keyboard setup on your iPhone or iPad then you can search for “nader marafie” in the App store and you’ll find the app or even better here is the direct link to the App Store [Link]

Buzfairy posted a link earlier today to around 3,700 reports on Kuwait in wikileaks. I took a look at them awhile ago and kinda hoped there was a way to search through them all and turns out there is. I searched for my blog and it turns out it was mentioned once in a cable on the Kuwait Oil Spill. If you want to search through all the wikileaks visit the following link and make sure you choose Kuwait as the country of origin. [Link]

Kuwaiti rapper Big D just released a new music video called “No More Sorrow”. It was recorded in Kuwait, shot in South Africa and edited in the UK. [YouTube]

According to the second World Happiness Report launched by the United Nations, Kuwait came 32nd in the world behind our GCC neighbors UAE (14), Oman (23) and Qatar (27). Kuwait actually dropped a spot compared to last year but on the bright side at least we came ahead of Saudi Arabia (33) this time around. Bahrain was the least happiest between the GCC countries coming in at 79 while Lebanon came in 97th, India in 111th and Egypt in 130th.

You can download the full report from [Here]

The chart above was put together by Saudi journalist Ahmed Al Omran showing the percentage of foreign workers in different GCC countries. Kuwait falls in 3rd place after UAE and Qatar and that’s really not bad. If anything Kuwait should open up more to expats since based on the chart above you can see that the countries with the highest amount of expats are the most developed while the countries with the least are further behind. [source]

Kuwait is one of the top 10 biggest improving cities according to the latest Liveability report by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The rank is calculated based on 30 factors spread out across five categories: stability, infrastructure, education, healthcare, and culture and environment. Check out the article [Here]

Thanks Bassem

According to the FlyDubai website, starting from September 15 they will be flying into and out of Kuwait from the Sheikh Saad General Aviation Terminal at Kuwait Airport. The Sheikh Saad terminal was previously used by Wataniya Airways before they went bankrupt. [Link]

According to Gallup’s global employment data, Kuwait ranked 3rd world wide with the highest population working full-time for an employer. Generally wealthier countries are more likely to have larger percentages of their population working for an employer, while poorer countries tend to have larger percentages of the population working for themselves. In Kuwait’s case considering the fact that it’s also difficult for an expat to work for themselves and the fact an expat can’t remain in Kuwait without a job is probably what’s pushing the employment percentage up. UAE who have a similar situation to Kuwait don’t rank far behind in 5th place. Check out the full list and details on this Gallup [Here]

via reddit

After finding out about the Nutella Kunafa a few days ago I asked @PinkElephant73 if she could attempt to replicate it since she had already replicated Cronuts a few weeks ago. Next day behold I get a large pan of Nutella Kenafeh delivered to my door. Surprisingly, Kunafa and Nutella do mix well together (then again what doesn’t mix well with Nutella). It’s an extremely heavy and super fattening dessert thats for sure. No idea how many calories and not interested to know either. I felt so guilty after eating a quarter of the tray that I went for an 8KM run right after to try and burn off whatever I could. If you’re interested in making it yourself, @PinkElephant73 was nice enough to share the recipe along with pictures. Check it out below:

——————————————-

Let me start by saying that this recipe is not for the faint at heart – it’s basically a lot of butter, a lot of Nutella, and only some kunafa dough. But it’s freakin’ awesome.

The cast of characters! Yes, that is 400g of butter (Sorry, Mark!). You won’t be using the whole thing, I promise! But, it makes for a more flavorful kunafa! Also, a big jar of Nutella and some kunafa dough that you can find fresh or frozen from Sultan Center.

First things first: preheat your oven to 220°C! A nice hot oven makes for a great crunchy kunafa!

Cut the kunafa dough with a pair of kitchen scissors till you get small shreds. If you’re going to use frozen phyllo dough, be sure to thaw it a few hours before using it! It makes cutting it so much easier.

Next, pour the melted butter onto the kunafa little by little and stir it in to ensure all of the dough is evenly coated with butter. Watch out for this step! You don’t want to over-soak the kunafa with butter; otherwise you’ll get a really greasy crust, and no one likes a greasy crust.

Spoon and press the buttery dough into two 9″ round pans. In one of the pans, press some more of the dough up and around the sides of the pan to make a shallow “well” for the Nutella. Bake those babies for 30-40 minutes, checking immediately after 30 minutes to make sure they haven’t burned.
When the crusts are a deep golden brown, they’re ready! Take ‘em out and let them cool.

Then, pour the Nutella into the pan with the kunafa sides as little or as much as your heart desires. Resist the urge to lick the spoon when you’re done (I couldn’t).

Flip the other kunafa onto the Nutella-filled one. I couldn’t take a picture of this step because I was too busy trying not to royally screw it up. I would say this is the hardest part.
Then, flip the entire thing onto your serving dish and voila! Nutella Kunafa!

You can do deconstructed versions of this by just toasting the buttery phyllo dough on a sheet pan as you would granola and layering it with Nutella into small serving cups. However you choose to eat it, factor in some time for a quick work-out after you’re done. Enjoy!

- @PinkElephant73

The majority of the emails I get are regarding employment rights or should I say the lack of. I completely understand why I am getting all these questions. I am personally tired of how every time I walk into a store and ask an employee how long their shift is I get ridiculous answers like 8AM to midnight!

I realize how tough it is to go and speak out to your employer about a violation since I’ve been in that situation before. I also realize how bad Kuwait’s reputation has been over the years because of the way employees are being treated.

Recently I was hired by a company to help with some employee issues. The owner of the company stated that he didn’t know how he was supposed to treat his employees so I made an easy to read table with all the obligations of an employer as well as the rights of the employees. The full version of the law is hard-to-read and long so I rewrote it into a more direct and easy to understand language and placed them in a table for you below.

The law articles are mentioned in brackets for easy reference and the full version of the law is available [Here]. Click on the link below to view the rest of the post that includes the easy-to-read the table.

Read the rest of this entry »

The news segment is on the new speed cameras that have been installed all over Kuwait. I personally found the fact that KTV2 is still alive more interesting. [YouTube]

Thanks Kuwait

Here is a list of the prices for Ramadan buffets at various restaurants. I will add more restaurants to the list as I think of them. If you know any I’ve missed let me know.

Abdel Wahab
Buffet Price: KD8.750
Telephone: 1821000

Al Noukhaza Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD13.950
Telephone: 24757775 or 1823888

Applebee’s
Buffet Set Menu Price: KD6.950
Telephone: 22407536

Assaha Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD9
Telephone: 22533377

Cafe Blanc – The Avenues
Buffet Price: KD7.5
Telephone: 22597568

Courtyard by Marriott
Buffet Price: KD9
Telephone: 22997000

Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 24757775

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Garden Cafe
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 22269666

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Ghabka
Buffet Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 22269666

JW Marriott
Buffet Price: KD12
Telephone: 22455550

Movenpick – Free Zone – Bays Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD10.900
Telephone: 24610033

Movenpick – Al Bida’a – Breeze Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 22253100

Missoni Hotel
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 25770000

Naranj
Buffet Price: KD12
Telephone: 22268666

Paul
Set Menu Price: KD7.250
Telephone: 22597044

Qasr Al-Saraya
Buffet Price: KD7.5
Telephone: 25711101

Ruby Tuesday
Set Menu Price: KD5
Telephone: 22444454

Sakura
All You Can Eat Price: KD12.950 (1st 10 Days of Ramadan)
Buffet Price: KD13.950 (11th day onwards)
Telephone: 24757775 or 1823888

Sheraton
Buffet Price: KD17.250
Telephone: 22422055

Villa Fairouz – The Avenues
Buffet Price: KD11.5
Telephone: 22597200

Zafran
Buffet Price: KD7.5 (KD4 for kids)
Telephone: 25750647

Zahr El Laymoun – 360 Mall
Buffet Price: KD7.5
Telephone: 25309511

Update: Added more restaurants to the list

Ramadan Mubarak everyone. Since Ramadan is starting I wanted to write a post just informing you on Ramadan legal issues:

Working Hours

I am sure you have all noticed the fact that working hours decrease in Ramadan. That’s not just your boss being nice but working hours have to decrease during Ramadan because it’s the law. According to article 64 of Kuwait Labor Law (for the private sector only):

“It is forbidden to allow workers to work for more than 48 hours per week or 8 hours a day, except in such events as are specified in this Law. Working hours during the month of Ramadan shall be equal to 36 hours per week”

A maximum 36 hours a week in Ramdan for a 6 day working week is 6 hours a day (basically a 2 hour discount).

Eating in Public

There is a legislation dedicated for just eating/drinking in public in daytime during Ramadan. The legislation is the smallest I have ever seen and is under law No. 44/1968 if anyone wants to look it up.

Punishment up to KD100 and/or jail for 1 month:
i) for anyone that eats/drinks in public in daytime during Ramadan
ii) for anyone that helps or forces anyone to eat/drink in daytime during Ramadan

Also, a business that is caught serving food/beverages to the public in daytime during Ramadan will be punished by having their place shutdown for 2 months.

Again Ramadan Mubarak to everyone.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at ask@fajerthelawyer.com

The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on 248am.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.