Search: “kuwait”

I missed my flight to Kuwait a few hours ago because my connecting flight was delayed. I took the picture above as I was stepping off the plane, my flight to Kuwait had just backed away from the gate and was getting ready to taxi to the runway. I missed my flight and was pretty upset. I was supposed to be back in Kuwait later today because tomorrow I was supposed to fly out to Abu Dhabi for a CTS V test drive event at Yas Marina but thats not happening now. The next available direct flight back to Kuwait is October 3rd since the flights for the next two days are all fully booked. So I’m stuck in Washington now for 3 days.

Then it hit me. I’m stuck in Washington for 3 days, that’s not a bad thing. I hear its really humid in Kuwait now so don’t think I’m missing much.

“Friday Gathering Project“ is an in-depth exploration of the living conditions of low-income migrant workers in their humble accommodations in Kuwait, bordering on high-end neighborhoods and landmark architecture. These workers are living on the margins of society though they play a key role in shaping and maintaining its physical environment.

I love Faisal’s work, check out the photos from this project on his website [Here]

Thanks kutsuit

Yesterday I posted about how Harry Pottery is now banned in Kuwait and awhile ago a reader emailed me the Ministry of Education’s guidelines for books to be excluded from schools. Check out the list below:

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Ministry of Private Education Guidelines

In accordance with the Ministry of Education’s guidelines, please find below a detailed list of the types of books and/or materials to be excluded from the School’s teaching materials and subjects.

This includes but is not limited to classroom libraries, Library collection, textbooks & Scholastic orders.

I. Books with a Religious Domain that:
1. Personify God, messengers, prophets, angles and companions of the messengers
2. Distort the messengers, their families, disciples, and traditions
3. Allege religious mistreatment between Jews, Muslims and Christians
4. Assert religion as an instigator of aggression, terrorism, activism or invasion
5. Show places of worship in an inappropriate way
6. Claim Mohammed as the “founder” of Islam
7. Describe the immigration to Mecca as, “flight” or “escape”
8. Claim Mohammed was the author of the Quran, or calling the Quran the “teachings of Mohammed”
9. Claim that Islam and other religions were spread by force
10. Offend Islamic and other religions’ traditions, the companions, scholars, and laws and legislators
11. Adopt missionary connotations when talking about religions
12. Teach Darwin’s theory of evolution or the “Origins of Species”
13. Exaggerate the differences between religious sects in Islam and other religions
14. Spread information about witchcraft, reincarnation and the transmigration of souls
15. Rephrase the Quran or other religious books by adding verses and/or chapters to it

II. Books with a Political Domain:
1. View the Arab Israeli conflict with bias and/or sympathy towards Israel
2. Focus on Jewish persecution, during the holocaust, excluding the oppression of other races’ by Hitler
3. Falsify and misinterpret the history of Arab countries
4. Denounce the policy of the State of Kuwait and its sovereignty and attack the GCC and Arab states
5. Rename the Arabian Gulf, the Persian Gulf
6. Claim the islands in the Arabian Gulf as Iranian territory
7. Claim Iran has sovereignty over the Kingdom of Bahrain
8. Distort Arab and Muslim history
9. Claim that the Crusades were caused by religious persecution of Muslims and/or Christians
10. Misinterpret Kuwait’s relation with Arab and other countries

III. Books with a Cultural Domain:
1. Show naked or immoral pictures or photos
2. Contradict Islamic law
3. View marriage as solely a sexual relationship instead of a holy union
4. Condone the eating of pigs
5. Condone the consumption of liquor, alcohol, and drugs
6. Divide or split the social unity of society

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers have opened up their first location in Kuwait at the Avenues opposite The Cheesecake Factory. A friend of mine passed by and tried it for lunch and according to him they only have two items on the menu, chicken fingers and a chicken burger. His recommendation? Skip the chicken burger and order the chicken fingers instead.

Thanks @Qatami

Four Seasons have published a press release a few days ago listing their new hotels that will be opening in 2016 and they had the below little tidbit on the Kuwait branch:

The first Four Seasons in Kuwait will be the 263-room Four Seasons Hotel Kuwait at Burj Alshaya in the central business district. An Italian dining concept created around three wood-burning ovens as well as a pan-Asian restaurant – both with outdoor terraces on the penthouse level – will be among five food and beverage options. Interiors by Yabu Pushelberg will include a spectacular indoor pool in the beautifully designed spa and fitness complex.

I just checked out the portfolio of Yabu Pushelberg and based on his previous work, I’d say we’re going to be in for a treat. [Link]

Update: Hotel is now expected to open on February 15, 2017.

Spotted the notice above at my local Sultan Center. Kinda seems a bit too soon to start not accepting old currency since it’s barely been a year since the new ones were introduced.

Update: According to the Central Bank of Kuwait website, the old currency (5th issue) will no longer be accepted anywhere starting October 1st. After that date you’ll have until April 2025 to exchange your old currency for the new one by visiting the CBK Banking Hall. [Link]

Has anyone here dropped OSN (or any other cable provider) for Netflix and Hulu? I’m currently subscribed to OSN just for the History and Discovery channels but for the first time ever I’m actually considering canceling my subscription. I’ve started spending more time with Netflix and Hulu so don’t see a reason anymore to keep my OSN subscription.

Right now I’m paying around KD12 a month for my OSN subscription which is $40 a month (the Pinoy Plus Extra package). Netflix costs like $8 a month, Hulu is another $8. If you want to be all fancy you can add the Showtime Network to Hulu for another $9. If you want to splurge, you can add HBO GO which is $15. All combined come out to $40. I get a ton of more shows than I do with my OSN subscription and I can watch them whenever I want, from wherever I want.

For those of you wondering how to get Netflix, Hulu and the rest working in Kuwait it’s easy. Previously I’ve recommended using a VPN but unless you had a very fast connection and a decent VPN service, there would be a lot of slowdown. Now I’d recommend using a smart DNS service. It’s cheaper than VPN, faster and it’s really easy to setup. I tried three different DNS services but ended up going with SmartDNSproxy.com.

Have you dropped your dish provider?

Update: I just called OSN and cancelled my subscription.
Update2: I’ve dropped StrongVPN and instead started using SmartDNS so updated the post to reflect that.

Last week after posting about how the new Iftah Ya Simsim was now being filmed in Abu Dhabi instead of Kuwait, two readers commented that even though Iftah Ya Simsim was being shot in Abu Dhabi, some of the editing was still being done in Kuwait. One of the readers even invited me to pass by the GCCJPI facilities to check it out which I did.

GCCJPPI stands for Gulf Cooperation Council Joint Program Production Institution. A super long name but if you grew up in Kuwait during the 80s, all it takes is one look at their logo to recognize who they are. GCCJPPI are behind some of the most memorable shows on television back in the 80s. They were behind most of the popular Arabized cartoons and they also created shows like Salamatak (سلامتك), Quff (قف) and of course the Middle East version of Sesame Street, Iftah Ya Simsim.

The GCCJPPI facilities are located in Salmiya across the street from Souq Salmiya. It’s a building I’ve driven by on numerous occasions but never really paid any attention to. The ground floor of the building has one of the largest theaters in Kuwait containing 850 seats while the rest of the floors are offices, recording and editing studios and my favorite, the GCCJPPI archives.

I had assumed all their archive was lost during the 1990 invasion but turns out they still have copies of everything, their archive is stacked old tapes. According to Nawaf Alshallal, the technical advisor who was showing me around, the Kuwait GCCJPPI office is currently digitizing their whole archive which I got to take a peek at. Not only are they digitizing all their videos but they’re also scanning all their old photos as well. Since I recently watched the documentary “I Am Big Bird” I was curious to see if they had behind the scene photos taken on set of Iftah Ya Simsim. Turns out they did and I flipped through them and there’s some really great never before seen stuff. I’ve already submitted a request to get a copy of these photos so I could share them on the blog. Hopefully I get the approval.

From what I felt during my visit, the GCCJPPI are finally coming back to life. I was even told they’re planning on bringing back Salamatak and Quff which is something I think we really need. I just hope whatever they create ends up on YouTube because theres no way I’d go back to watching KTV again.

It looks like Instagram ads have started popping up in our region. I spotted the ad above in my feed while another user spotted a Kraft ad. As I mentioned in my previous post, they’re soft launching at first with some preset partners, two of which seem to be Kraft Foods and Unilever. If you run into any ads let me know in the comments, I’m trying to figure out who all their partners for this soft launch are. On the other hand according to a blog post by Instagram, they’ve opened Instagram advertising to all businesses in the US market so Kuwait will most likely follow before the end of the year.

They still have the best chicken tikka in Kuwait. That’s all I’m going to say. [Map]

The Ahmadi Music Group is Kuwait’s oldest and largest performing arts organization. Their concerts include orchestra, choir, rock band, ballet, hip-hop and everything else. They’re currently looking for new members to join, no auditions necessary and everyone is welcome regardless of experience.

So if you’re interested in joining them you can pass by their first rehearsal next Sunday (13 September) between 7-9PM at the New English School (NES) in Jabriyah. There will be free donuts.

For info, call Richard Bushman 97288859 or [email protected]

The popular kids show Iftah Ya Simsim which first aired back in 1979 is coming back on air for the first time since it stopped 25 years ago. But, the show that was originally produced and filmed in Kuwait is now instead being filmed in Abu Dhabi. We lost Iftah Ya Simsim to Abu Dhabi and that sucks. First episode is expected to air on Kuwait TV tomorrow (Friday, September 4th) at 5PM. [Link]

As some of you might have heard, Instagram advertising soft launched awhile back in the States, but what you might not be aware of is that it will also be soft launching in our region very soon. Advertisers will soon be able to place ads within your photo stream which will most likely have a big impact on Instagrammers who currently charge for posts.

Not only will advertisers no longer need to pay Instagrammers, but by placing ads directly with Instagram they can accurately target their customer base. Right now there is no way for example to tell where the followers of a certain Instagrammer are residing, that will all change with Instagram advertising since advertisers would be able to specify who they want their ads to be seen by.

The official word from Instagram MENA is that they will be beta launching the program shortly with a limited group of advertisers. They wouldn’t give me a specific launch date since it still hasn’t been finalized, but from what I’ve been hearing in the grapevine, its expected to launch within the next couple of months. The partners for this launch have already been set and I know one of them but I sadly can’t share who they are because I was told off the record.

Instagram advertisers will have two buying mechanisms once this program launches:

Self-serve: This will work similar to how Facebook Ads work and, similarly, will be priced by an auction.

Insertion Order: Managed clients will also be able to book these which are sold on a fixed price, but rates aren’t yet established for the region.

The targeting aspect of these ads will function similarly to how Facebook targeting currently works.

As I mentioned, Instagram will be soft launching soon with a limited group of advertising partners. This means for now Instagrammers will not be losing a lot of income. But once this program launches officially and to everyone, they’ll most likely feel the pinch.

Update: I just opened Instagram and noticed the ad below so I’m guessing the soft launch might take place this month.

I tried passing by the Mubarakiya School last year but when I did they were closed and then I just forgot about it and never went back. Then last week I got an email from a reader that reminded me about it so I ended up passing by yesterday to check it out. The Mubarakiya School is a museum celebrating 100 years of education in Kuwait and after visiting it I’m not sure what to think of it.

I got there around 12:30 which according to the sign outside was after closing time but the door was open so I just walked in. There was a security guard at the desk who didn’t seem to mind I had come in so I just proceeded to walk into the museum. For a museum on education I thought the interior was… whats the word, futuristic? scifi-ish? Lots of geometric shaped walls with very dim lighting giving the illusion I was onboard a spaceship. I mean I liked it, a lot, but the interior seemed to overshadow the actual museum pieces which sadly there wasn’t enough of. There were just a handful of displays showcasing historical artifacts and documents in the main corridor and then there were 3 or 4 film viewing rooms. The viewing rooms had TVs that displayed historical footage (or photos) with a voice narrating, actually I’m not sure what the TV screens were displaying because they were off with just the voice narration playing. According to the security guard sometimes the AC effects the TVs, I didn’t understand how but thats why the TVs weren’t working according to him.

On my way out I picked up the museum brochure which actually contained interesting information and a bunch of old photos. Personally would have liked to have seen those old photos enlarged and on display at the museum along with the corresponding info. I’m guessing they might be part of the films in the viewing rooms which I couldn’t see but even if they were, when it comes to old photos I generally like viewing them as printed old photos. The Mubarakiya School is located in Souq Mubarakiya [Map] and is worth passing by if you happen to be in the area since its free and looks great for a museum in Souq Mubarakiya. Their opening hours are too complicated to list so instead here is a picture of their opening hours sign [Link]

Back in June I posted about how a lot of teachers were being deported for working illegally in Kuwait because the schools wouldn’t do their visas. Well now one teacher has come out and posted a video about her experience which you can watch above. Not really sure how widespread this is but I’ve also heard a lot of gym instructors have a similar issue. [YouTube]