I went to visit the early bird on the weekend after having hearing many good reviews about the place. It’s a small restaraunt situated in the Fahaheel area between two towers and is smaller than you can even begin to imagine. Owned & operated by American staff, it felt, tasted and smelled like America. I had yogurt with granola (given the whole diet thing) and that was amazing ! Calvin had the turkey sandwich, it looked really amazing! … i can’t wait until Friday is here, i’m going again!

I was thinking the other day what would it be like to through a day in Kuwait without Indians, I know this subject might be of great disappointment to some and might anger a few, but it comes from nothing but a mind that is totally respectful to all races and people throughout the world.

The truth is that in Kuwait we are highly dependent on expats to do our work for us, mostly from the Far East, places like India the Philippines & Bangladesh rank amongst the highest. But can you imagine a day going by without having Indians around? And so I sit on my desk and decide to ask this question for 4 people, Calvin (Kuwaiti born Indian who is one of the closest people to me, if not the), Mishari, a kind and humble Kuwaiti who is on the conservative and traditional side, Fadi (a Jordanian with Palestinian roots who has lived here for many years) and Tania who just joined from Lebanon and has only been in Kuwait for a month. *Mind you by Indian I mean all expats working the very jobs that Kuwait’s won’t work!

Jasem: “what do you think would happen if a day went by without a single Indian in Kuwait?”

Calvin: “disaster, street would not get swapped, garbage would not be taken away, breakfasts would never be made at homes, restaurants would be empty since there is no one to serve you and no one to cook the food, children would not be driven to school, school would not be cleaned, buses would not work, Kuwaiti would have to put their own petrol in their own cars”

Mishari: “everything is dirty, no cleaning whatsoever, garages would not work hence my car would not drive, nurses would be not available, no auditors, accountant, cashiers”

Tania: “less traffic, no taxi’s, back office operations would stop, higher unemployment in Kuwait, horrible IT systems, no pizza delivery”

Fadi: “I’ll miss my best friend Calvin”

Jasem: “no comment”

I had a chat today with Mo (a  man who is wise beyond his years) about tutoring and the conversation started and ended like this:

Jasem: what is it with these tutoring signs everywhere, i went to college I never asked for a tutor, this is nonsense.

Mo: do you even know what kind of an income some of these tutors can pull in on a monthly basis?

Jasem: what are we talking about here?

Mo: well 10 an hour, some tutor 3 at once, 30 an hour times 8 times 7 times 30. Do the math?

Mo: it’s totally ridiculous too, because the tutors are the teachers themselves which is one huge conspiracy, what makes you believe that the teachers both in universities and in high schools aren’t doing 100% job because they want/expect the students to ask them for a tutoring session which means more money in the bank.

Jasem: the education system is f*ed here!

Mo: everything else is too!

Jasem: what’s the solution?

Mo: we don’t hire monkey’s from all the over the world, we try to educate our children from within Kuwait, it’s unlikely that a Kuwaiti would tutor versus an expat (not to say that it doesn’t happen), we make sure that all school operate as if independent, school are rated based on their children’s scores which means better accountability equals better students equal less need for tutoring in universities etc.

Jasem: do you think that will ever happen?

Mo: do you think the expat pulling in 4,000 KD a month and living the high life is going to give them the chance, drastic measures need to be taken, who’s got the balls to do anything good for the country, it’s all about the bank accounts now. sad.

Jasem: let’s pick up some frozen yogurt!

Mo: you need to loose weight! shut up and drive!

Hands down the best sandwich bar in the world, best bread best meat selection the best chips! it’s just ridiculously great and now there opening in Kuwait. I can’t wait.

Location: Opposite Al Raya Complex, right next to NBK in Sharq.

- two slices of your favorite toast, and don’t get the cheap kind that feels like it was made in an emssembly line – bread with lots of love please.

- brush with olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt on them, very lightly, then toast in a pan on high heat for color & crunch.

- add good quality Dijon Mustard (or any mustard of choice)

- add your fav. turkey (I like honey roasted myself)

- add baby swiss cheese right on the bread as soon as you take off the grill for a nice melt affect.

- add avocado’s (i love them i know 99% of people can’t stand them)

assemble, place back on the grill and push down with a spoon for 5 seconds, cut in half serve with baked chips & a glass of super cold diet coke! YUMM.

A few weeks ago, I was at the Audi dealership here in Kuwait looking at possibly purchasing an Audi S8 when curiously asked the gent if he knew if they had any LP560’s on display and much to my surprise he got up and asked if I can drive him to the garage where he was going to show me something “special”.

We arrived at this old hanger where outside parked atleast 6 to 7 old hummer’s and inside was a boy’s dream come true. 2 LP 560’s, 1 in pearl white with orange interior 1 black on black and a superlaggera plus plus plus. I couldn’t contain myself and after reading so much online i’m convinced that I need this Lambo. It’s so much of every boy’s dream that it becomes a no brainer to just get one!

Here are some specs:

Only draw back: IT’S TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE & I CAN’T AFFORD IT!

At 7:30 p.m. today Calvin and I decided to have a salad, Napket was the choice and we headed to the avenues. I must admit the drive there was frustrating because it seemed like every car was on the road, it was ridiculously busy!

The restaurant was amazing, seriously. I love the decor and that’s just the start, what really was amazing was the quality/presentation of foods & ingredients. It’s rare to see here in Kuwait a place that truly take pride in good ingredients and i guess Napket is a first. Off course, i was stunned to see the plastic plates & utensils i’d rather dine off of some good cutlery and china when I’m in a place that looks like an incredible restaurant off of 5th ave however the food was damn worth it.

Jasem’s Menu:

Salad – Mixed leaves, chicken, black olives, tomatoes & pine nuts. (lemon olive oil dressing) – 5 stars.

Frozen Yogurt – with fresh mangos, and granola – 5 stars

Calvin’s Menu:

Penne Pasta with mushroom sauce – 5 stars

Frozen Yogurt – with white chocolate & strawberries – 5 stars.

I’m definitely going back, probably very soon! wanna join?!

Next time, i’ll post when/where i’ll be and your welcome to join. Oh yeah, house music is my savior!

This is truly the best shaving cream on earth I cam across it while bored at work and surfing www.neimanmarcus.com, it needs to brush hence the “brushless” part and it just pure bliss. If you want to get your hands on it click [Neiman Marcus] it costs $18.50.

The story begins when I decide to put some money on the side into a fixed deposit, however I always wondered that doing that might make me not able to use cash incase I did need it, so i got in my car drove to my bank and talked with my officer only to arrive here.

She told me to use what GB calls an E-Savings account and claimed that the beauty of this account is that it grows at 3.25% annually and your allowed to withdraw money from your account upto 3 times a month without loosing the interest. Let me recap, here’s an account that pays KIBOR plus you are able to withdraw and add funds (withdraw upto 3 times monthly) without loosing your interest on the entire monthly daily accrued rate – SOUNDS F’ING AMAZING!

A month later (today) and after finding out that i did not get paid a single dime on my account i called 1805805 to find out that you can only withdraw 1 time a month before loosing the interest, so I drove to the nearest branch, not the one that I normally visit. There they told me that you cannot take out ANY funds from an E-Savings account.

Basically,

The officer gave me ok on 3 times a month

Call center claims it’s 1 time a month

Another branch claims it’s zero times a month

I become outraged drive 200 km/h to salmiya branch just to see everyone there ready for me (since i called before i arrived and they knew what to expect) and only heard “were sorry there was miss communication, it was the HR’s fault and the guy who trained us gave us the wrong info” etc.

So what about the call center – (even though she had to confirm this with her supervisor)

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, i’m sitting here venting, pissed the —– off wondering if i should just use the camel …

Told you i was going to write about everything & anything.