Search: “kuwait”

To stay up to date on the 3rd GCC Games which are being held in Kuwait, make sure you follow @kuwaitolympic and visit the website kuwait2022.org

If you want to check the schedule, click here.

Registration for the first race of the stand-up paddleboarding race series is now open. The series is organized by the Kuwait Sailing School and will take place this coming Friday, May 20th. If you don’t have a paddleboard you can still take part by renting one from them.

There will be prizes for winners including a KD100 cash prize for first place while every participant will also leave with a medal. After the race, there will be food, drinks, and lots of socializing. Here are some more details:

Registration Fees: KD15
Equipment Required: SUP board not longer than 12’6″
SUP Board Rental: If you don’t have a board you can rent one for KD6

Friday’s race is part of a four-part series that will take place throughout this summer. For more information and to register, click here.

Carol Souki is a Venezuelan singer-songwriter of Lebanese descent living in Kuwait. OLA is her newest single and features her brother Mazz who debuts for the first time. If you’re into salsa/reggaeton then check out the video above.

You can also follow Carol on Instagram @carolsoukimusic or visit her website carolsoukimusic.com

Fresh, a cafe that has been around since the 90s at Al-Khalid Complex in Salmiya has closed down. I’ve never been to it, I don’t even know how it managed to last for so long but I do know it’s one of those places a lot of people went to back when there was very little to do in Kuwait.

As I mentioned in another post, Al-Khalid Complex recently went through a major refurbishment and new places are opening up including Boost coffee shop. Another place similar to Fresh that also is surprisingly still open is Astra Lounge. I guess old-school places like these still have a cult-like following helping them stay afloat.

The 3rd GCC Games will be held in Kuwait in three days’ time and the Kuwait Olympic Committee yesterday published the schedule of events on their Instagram account along with the venues. Sadly the schedule isn’t very legible because it’s too tiny and it also doesn’t include any timings. They also haven’t updated their website with any information yet nor is there any mention if people can attend the events or if we need to get tickets.

Also, how come the streets aren’t decorated with flags and posters celebrating the event? It sounds like a big event but you wouldn’t tell that it’s taking place in Kuwait.

The GCC Games include a number of sports including sailing, basketball, swimming, tennis, gymnastics, weightlifting, futsal, padel, ice hockey, table tennis, esports, and more. The games are held every 4 years but the last one was held in 2015 in Saudi Arabia. At the first GCC Games Kuwait came first with 14 gold medals, 8 silver, and 7 bronze.

For more information visit @kuwaitolympic

Update: Thanks to a reader I found out that the games have an official website that includes the full schedule including the timings and venue locations. No mention of tickets so I’d assume it’s open for all on a first come first serve basis. The GCC Games website is kuwait2022.org

The French Institute in Kuwait is holding a Jazz night on Thursday with music by Ed Mayo’s Q8 Jazz Quartet. Tickets start at KD7 and there are limited seats so if you’re interested, click here.

Currently, if you want to watch Disney+ you need to use either a SmartDNS or VPN service but in 30 days’ time, Disney+ will officially launch in our region. Starting June 8th you will be able to access and sign up to Disney+ in Kuwait using your local credit card and stream their shows and movies without requiring a DNS or VPN service.

Personally, I only use Disney+ to watch The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett so I tend to subscribe to watch the new seasons, and then cancel my subscription once the season is done. But, I know parents who like Disney+ for their kids, so if you have kids you might like it too.

Right now Disney+ has an early bird offer, if you subscribe to the service from now till June 19th, you can get a year’s worth of Disney+ for the price of 8 months which is $71.50 (22KD). It’s not much cheaper than the US subscription which is $79.99 a year, but their monthly subscription is $7.99 while ours is going to be $8.99. I think our price is more expensive because they’re including some shows from Hulu like The Kardashians and How I Met Your Father, but don’t quote me on this.

If you want to sign up, head over to disneyplus.com

Not sure what feels weirder, the fact that Slider Station has been open for 15 years, or the fact that I’ve been blogging for so long that I have a review of Slider Station when it first opened. Time does fly!

Back in 2007 the food scene was a lot different in Kuwait, there were definitely not as many burger places or cool restaurants as there are now. It’s not easy for a restaurant to stay consistently good or relevant for so long, and the fact that Slider Station has managed to accomplish that is incredible.

The same company that owns Slider Station just opened up a new restaurant last week in Avenues called Midar that serves authentic Kuwaiti seafood. I booked a table for this weekend and can’t wait to try the place out.

Yesterday the non-profit media organization NPR posted an audio and written newstory on the Bidoon hunger strike that recently took place in Kuwait. If you’ve always wanted a better understanding of the situation with Bidoons, it’s worth a listen and at just 5-minutes long it won’t take too much of your time. Link

Photo by Dave Tavani

The short answer is no, it’s not getting banned. Well, not yet at least. Yesterday an MP tweeted that a padel tournament was shut down because of inappropriate clothing and the mixing of opposite sexes which led to people thinking that new stricter measures were coming to the sport. But, according to @kuwaitnews, this isn’t true. The padel tournament didn’t get shut down and is still on.

So padel isn’t on the chopping block for now.

The first Johnny Rockets in Kuwait that’s located in Salmiya has closed down. According to Johnny Rockets, they are renovating the store which makes sense since it really hadn’t changed at all since they first opened in the mid-90s. I’d know because I was in high school back then and the Johnny Rockets opening was a big thing (nothing else really existed other than Fuddruckers).

I like that it hadn’t been renovated because it still held all my high school memories like the table where I sat on my very first date or the table where me and my friends used to chill at. On the bright side at least they’re reopening again.

Zahra Marwan is an extremely talented visual artist who was born in Kuwait. When the British rule ended in 1961, her father failed to register his citizenship and so was considered stateless (Bedoun). Although her mother was Kuwaiti, Kuwaiti law stipulates that the citizenship of the children is passed on from their father so Zahra was born stateless. As more and more rights of Bedouns were removed, Zahra and her family left Kuwait and immigrated to the United States.

Zahra’s Instagram account is filled with beautifully painted memories and dreams, many of which are related to her time growing up in Kuwait. I’ve got one of her illustrations hanging on my wall and I love it along with the story behind it. I actually met Zahra a few months ago when she was visiting Kuwait and she’s as bubbly and imaginative in real life as her illustrations depict her to be. She’s a great storyteller, not only with her illustrations but also with her captions which is why when she recently published a children’s book, I ordered a copy right away.

“Where Butterflies Fill the Sky” is a book based on the true story of her and her family’s immigration from Kuwait. Her story and memories are beautifully illustrated and written making it as fun to go through for adults as it is for children. Sadly, I just checked all the online English bookshops in Kuwait and none of them seem to carry the book. I ordered mine from Amazon so I guess you’d also have to get it from there. She has a Kindle version available if you don’t want to wait, but I’d definitely recommend the hardcover edition. Here is the link to the book on Amazon.

Also make sure you check out Zahra’s Instagram account @zahra_marwan

The LEGO store at The Avenues moved to a new larger location closer to the food court, the same location where Tim Hortons (RIP) used to be.

Judging by the photos, it doesn’t seem to be that much larger than the older space, but the storefront is definitely bigger and since it’s on a corner, the space looks more inviting with all the glass windows. The store officially opens later tonight.

Update: Just got the press release and it seems the new store isn’t larger than the older one, just a different location with a new look. There is a replica of the Kuwait Towers made using 21,591 LEGO bricks, a LEGO magnifying glass that allows you to view a model in detail, and there are hands-on play opportunities.

When I mention the lack of self-checkout machines at supermarkets in Kuwait under one of my posts, a reader told me they had them at Shamiya supermarket. So I went last night to double-check and he was right, they had two of them. Turns out Mishref and Qurtoba Coop also have self-checkout machines.

I don’t shop at Coops so wouldn’t have known about this unless someone told me. Are self-checkout machines now popping up in all Coops? Cuz if that is the case it’s even weirder that a private more modern supermarket like Sultan Center or Lulu don’t have them.

Yesterday I was at Lulu getting some honey when I spotted a Kirkland Signature product. Kirkland Signature is a private label brand that belongs to the US retailer Costco. Totally random, and it was actually priced pretty reasonably (around 2.5KD). No idea if they carry any other Kirkland products, hopefully they do cuz they’re generally pretty good quality and really good value.

Update: Carrefour also carries a couple of Kirkland Signature products, an organic apple cider vinegar and an organic creamy peanut butter.