Quote of the week

"Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friend's success" Oscar Wilde

Quote of the day

Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failure
Oscar Wilde

...personally disagree with it though ;)

A week in the HAREM

Just returned from the most amazing week I had since the beginning of this year. A week in Istanbul.

Istanbul is a harem for expats. With so many amazing places opened at night Istanbul is a perfect place to "detox" from reserved Middle East. The city is full of young single people. Couples hugging and kissing each other can be seen publicly. Love is all around in Istanbul!

From trendy night clubs to restaurants on the Bosphorus Istanbul is a place to be if you like to have a good time.

Rich boys buying corporate toys

When it comes to money, men are known to go and buy houses, sports cars or yachts. But when it comes to lots and lots of money, those men can't help but go and buy corporate toys.
Really big companies. Companies in trouble. Companies in industries that they know very little about.
I wonder what's the thrill? If you create your own company it's your passion. You know every little detail about it. But if you buy into business it's already someone else's child.
Somebody else's soul was put into that. I'd personally enjoy buying houses or yachts much more.

Too fat to believe it

A girl behind the counter in Starbucks had a "lovely" conversation with my best friend today
Starbucks lady: - Oh, mam, I haven't seen you here for ages.
Long pause studying my friend's face.
- You've gotten bigger.
My friend: - What do you mean?
Starbucks lady: - I mean you became a little bit fat, mam.
Smile as she left to prepare the coffee.
Long pause as my friend's jaw dropped.
My friend: - Well thank you very much, it was very nice to hear that. [round eyes, confused expression].

I couldn't believe what I heard as I stood next to my friend.
So I decided to write a few rules to all the well-wishers:

Don't: Ask a woman if she is pregnant unless she tells you or she's on her 9th month and looks like a big whale.
Don't: Tell anybody they are fat. Keep your thoughts to yourself.
Don't: Work in Starbucks if you know nothing about customer care.

That's it. In solidarity with my friend I'm officially switching to Costa!

"Female workers take group showers"

Funny title appeared today in one of the local newspapers: "Female workers take group showers". The article screamed to be every man's fantasy... hehe

It was actually very sad. It's about female employees who have to share a room with 8 others and have a shower three at a time. Their company was asked about it and now says it will build a better accomodation. I'm sure it was only after the newspaper got them a bad publicity.
Well done for the good journalism! You attracted attention to the good cause.

Affair

I've been thinking about that married girl who met my friend in a coffee shop the other day. What drives her to do this I thought. I discussed the story with one of my female friends and was very surprised to know that a lot of the married ladies I know have had an affair at least once. The girl I spoke to has an ongoing affair and is very happy about it. However, she didn't want to change anything in her marriage.
This was a shocking revelation and reminded me of the behavior of some married men I met. I couldn't help but wonder: are women's desires actually similar to those of men's? And again, does monogamy come natural?

Married affair

A single male friend of mine who lives in Kuwait came over last night for a movie and a chat. He complained that he couldn't get any action. There are no clubs to go and meet the ladies so he's only left with one option - internet dating.
He was lucky enough to met a few ladies from Romania and Philippines (and even a girl from Kuwait). Wait... don't get too excited. He only met them for coffee in Starbucks. Things like that don't happen quickly in this dry state.
To my friend's surprise one of the girls was married. This made me wonder: have the boundaries in marriage moved towards more freedom? Are women starting to behave like men in a relationship?

Rental Hell

A lot of people nowadays complain about rising rents in Dubai. And I agree it is hell... But why blame landlords all the time? Yes, they increase the rents by more than 30% in some cases but wouldn't you if you were the landlord in that situation? All the landlords are trying to do is to get as much revenue from their investment as possible. Or at least not less than others for the same kind of property.
It is a simple supply and demand situation. If there are many people who want your property and there are not enough properties like that to satisfy such demand, prices rise. It is only natural.

Take four wives in Bahrain

A Bahraini MP suggested that in order to overcome the problem of rising number of spinsters in the country, men should marry more than one woman, and up to four women.

It's weird but every time I hear about men marrying four women at the same time, I'm extreemely surprised with the society that can accept such a poligamous relationship in marriage.
Just think of it in reverse example: a married woman having sexual relationship with three other men.
Yeah, it sounds insane but that's what it is when a married man has a sexual relationship, children, shares emotion with three other women. How can someone justify something like that?

Jailed for not having sex?

A lebanese guy was jailed in Dubai for having "an illicit affair" with a Brazilian air hostess. She accused him of raping her but turns out that they didn't even seal the deal. The medical examination showed that she did not have an intercourse. However, they found traces of semen on her dress. The whole thing happened in his apartment where she v o l u n t a r i l y went after they had a drink in a bar.
And a poor guy is serving 3 months for that????? http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Police_and_The_Courts/10115821.html

The funny thing is the 7Days published the same news saying that the guy got 3 months for rape. A lot of people still believe that. I think the newspaper should apologise for wrongfully ridiculing Dubai courts.

Excellent blog

Check it out too! It's like Sex and the City. Very well-written indeed.
http://single-in-dubai.blogspot.com/

Life in a Dust Storm: We'll Get You For That.

Life in a Dust Storm: We'll Get You For That.

VEIL OFF

"Kuwait City: Nouriya Al Sabeeh took the oath in parliament in Kuwait City yesterday.
The new education minister refused to wear a veil during the ceremony.. "

Well it's about time. Kuwait needs such a positive change. Most women here don't wear a veil anyway.

Go to Starbucks or the Marina Mall! The new generation of ladies here are dressed like in the West (very well dressed in most cases).

On a similar note, watched the "Doha Debates" on BBC about wearing a veil in the West. Some reasonable people argued that wearing a veil in the West prevents from a dialogue between the two cultures. Couldn't have agreed more and thought it was the first step on trying to bring common sense into an in-grown custom.

World's most extravagant handbags

Have a look at this:

LV Tribute Patchwork Bag
$42,000
Though this tote, made of 15 different Louis Vuitton patterns cut up and reassembled, has gotten mixed media reviews, the four available in U.S. stores have sold out. But 20 are available in Louis Vuitton boutiques throughout Europe and Asia.

I mean... come on guyz. A bag with diamonds - I can understand. But this piece of s^^^t... sorry I meant to say "art" made of "patterns". hehe. Who would buy this? Although out of 6 billion people on earth there probably are 24 Paris Hiltons. And again it's down to marketing and excellent sales skills. Well done, LV!

Dubai World Cup 2007

Was very upset to have to miss the races this year. Love to get dressed up and all the buzz in preparation to go out and have fun.
Last year's World Cup needs to be erased from my memory. Champagne was lovely, but too much champagne can't be good. I remember I kept introducing my female friend to a good-looking Lebanese guy whom I just met. I think I introduced them a few times (if not more) and for some reason I kept saying that the guy was from Jordan. From what I remember, he didn't object. He probably thought there was no point. It was really embarassing. My new year's resolution was not to drink champagne like that EVER again.

Well one thing is of consolation: it wasn't just me. Here is what I found on one of the popular Dubai blogs:


"Being a Brit I have a lot to be proud of; however, having been witness to the disgusting behavior of a small but very noticeable number of Brits at the Dubai World Cup, I can only hold my head in shame.I lost count of the amount of women I witnessed there that were so inebriated that they couldn’t stand up without assistance from a friend. I lost count of the amount of men yelling at the top of their voice some derogatory comment about Arabs. I wish I had a dirham for every woman that passed me saying “My fxxking feet, are fxcking killing me”.I watched in horror as a woman stood yelling at the top of her voice at her boyfriend (poor man) because he had left her alone for ten minutes - presumably to escape her foul mouth and her ugly breasts that seem to be trying to escape from her two sizes too small dress.I was appalled to hear from my friend of a fight in the woman’s toilet between two 30 year old women. I watched in amazement as a drunken man asked my friend if he thought his girlfriend looked good in her dress and hat and then tried to fight him when he told him she looked beautiful.Sadly the above is just a few of the events we witness; on what was otherwise a beautiful day at the races. Although, also not sure about the on fire horse! Why are the Brits so shameless? Are we not used to drinking Champagne? Do we not know when to stop? Do we not care about anyone else around us, including children? Do we not care about what others think of us? And why is it only the Brits - I didn’t see any Lebanese, Jordanian, UAE nationals, French, Italians or Germans behaving this way.Now of course any of our Brit scum responsible, will tell you that I am just an old toff, who probably used to live in Surrey and who obviously doesn’t know how to have fun. The fact is that they couldn’t be further from the truth, however, I am sure they will excuse themselves with that rationale and look forward to the next event they can dress up and fly the flag for classless Chav-land.Scott Lambert.Dubai "

Interesting hat :-))

Phsychos in the skies

"Those in the UAE intent on mixing with the glamorous and exciting lifestyles of the thousands of airline cabin crew based in the country - be warned - they’re prone to brief episodes of psychosis and mental health problems, according to a new report. New research claims frequent air travellers, such as cabin crew, who repeatedly take long-haul flights risk ill health and bouts of mental health issues."

Ha ha. This must have been written by some angry female who hates good-looking cabin crew girls.

Poll results

Kuwait Times Poll

Should alcohol be legal in Kuwait?
Yes69%
Maybe1%
No16%
Loved KT's April Fools' Joke13%

Cruel joke

Kuwait Times recently published the news on the front page saying that from now on alcohol will be permitted in Kuwait. I thought: wow there will be life in Kuwait after all. I got so excited, my heart rate jumped. I wanted to forward the news to all my friends in Dubai as if to say 'You see, it's not that bad in Kuwait'... until I realised it was April 1st joke.
Guys working for the newspaper: you can't make these jokes on poor expats in Kuwait. It's just cruel ;-)

FASHION: Bags

My favorite is Bottega Veneta. I'm so sick of Prada or Gucci bags seen on almost every lady everywhere!

Just look at this understated beauty! It doesn't scream the brand name but it's recognizable immediately when you look at it. It's very unique.