Hear ye hear ye! For all you college and university students, the registration for the part-time program at LoYAC has started. This program allows you to work part-time at companies and locations relevant to major. It will allow students in Universities/colleges and Institutes the opportunity to gain first hand experience in working out there in the real world, get paid part-time work beside their academic commitment to utilize their spare time and gain valuable professional experience before graduation.

The program will run from the 5th of December 2011 until February 4th 2012. The program is open to ages from 17-27 years and to all nationalities. Students are required an academic GPA of 2.5 and above. Participants have to work between 8-20 hours per week and will have to complete 120 hours by the end of the program in order to receive a certification from LoYAC and job site.

LoYac is one of the great programs currently running in Kuwait for the youth to participate in, you can get a lot of experience with there great part-time program. I really like how they support the youth development in the community and I hope they continue to grow.

Link: Loyac

I have recently been complaining about package delays from Customs but it seems it has gone to another level. You can forget that half the people aren’t going to work because they have decided to strike until they get the salary of a CEO in a billion dollar investment company with all the benefits. There are new regulations in customs that EVERY package has to be searched and ANY media goes to ministry of information.

I spoke too soon about my limited edition Gears Of War 3, I should have just picked it up from here instead of the craziness that I now face with them. My package has been transfered to the Ministry of Information because they don’t trust my translation for video game and they said all media has to be searched by Customs not some. I thought customs was an issue before but this has been taken to another level, I went to the Ministry of Information to see what is going on. They told me that it takes 4 days to process and if its clear it is sent back to customs at the airport and then you clear it there. So basically another 7 to 10 days for the whole process to go through on top of the two and half weeks it has been in Kuwait. I will see what will happen next.

When I first saw the anouncement of a photography gallery being held in Tilal Gallery I was excited, it turned out to be four events during the whole month of September, each week being a specific type of Photography. I wanted to make sure that I went to every one of those events so it was once a week. I know that Tilal Gallery is a very nice and spacious gallery with ample parking so I wasn’t worried about getting there but the one annoying part is that they close on Saturdays so you only have time during the week to see them.

But with my schedule I only managed to make it to two out of the four events, the first part was the Fine Arts, and I went to the third one but the fourth one was the under water photography and that is the one I missed. There were some fantastic photographs and art work all ranging from 150 KD up to 750 KD which ins’t bad compared to the prices of art work I have seen and these were really works of Art. I hope to see more events in Kuwait such as this, just beautiful.

There are ideas which bring light into people’s lives and this one brings happiness into children affected by cancer. Q8Rain has been working with NBK Hospital and KACCH to help children who are going through cancer and chemotherapy. The idea is simple to bring them toys in a party once a month, they are looking for a combination of 70 Gifts for them. The idea is simple how to make their lives easier and happier, and that is a fantastic idea. This is getting a lot of support from the blogger community and friends and family, and I for one hope to participate in it.

For more details check out Q8Rain’s Blog

Link: Q8Rain

The one thing that we all live by is online purchases in my case I buy movies, electronics, hardware , books, and pretty much anything else that comes to mind. The only issue I have is when it gets stuck in customs, there were times that it would get stuck for weeks with Aramex and a few times they would lose my product which drove me nuts.

In this case I switched to MyUS and I was very happy with them, quick to reply always taking care of my shipments. I could combine items and ship certain items, and you get choices to ship through FedEx, DHL, or a combination.

After shipping so many different kinds of items through multiple ways I figured out that the best way is to ship through DHL in somewhat of medium to small size package. Sometimes I combined a lot of packages into one big package and that would get stuck for at least 10 days, and with Aramex the smallest packages take at least four days. Now with DHL & FedEx if I ship it in a more compact size even if its combined it flies under their radar and I get it out of customs the second day.

Saw the recent post on ArtOfKuwait.Org and decided to pass by Al M. Gallery which is in Salhiya on the Mezzaine 2 close to door 4. I never knew there was a gallery such as this in Salhiya and I am fan of Art but haven’t been to galleries in Kuwait because I never know when or what is going on with the galleries. Honestly I don’t have a clue about the Kuwaiti Art Scene and I want to know more but luckily ArtOfKuwait does update when there is a new exhibition so I started following them on Twitter and Google Reader. This was a very nice and cozy gallery not big but full of heart and the owner and gallery director were there talking and came by to give us information on the artist. I honestly loved the feel of the place and I hope they have more exhibitions, honestly seeing this made me proud.

One exhibition gathered together 13 artists and display 27 artworks of 80′s-90′s-00′s. Most of the artists are known already as the classics of Kuwaiti art and the artworks were approved by time.

This year the summer is cooling off earlier then usual which is a good and bad thing, I love the sea but I also love to ride. But while its still hot we are getting into the water as much as possible, and the other day the water was a bit rough but still amazing to swim in and so we headed off to Al Halah, a little island that pops up at low tide and disappears at high tide. It was a lovely cool breeze as we were on our way and honestly everything was just right, and we were have a bite from the watermelon we had packed in the ice box, took us about 15 to 20 mins to get there from our starting point.

There were a good dozen boats parked by the Island, and a few that got stuck because they went into shallow waters, honestly I would have made the same mistake if my friends didn’t tell me not to go there. The water was really nice there and we saw a couple of people that we knew. While in the water honestly the best thing to drink other then water is Shani, for some reason it just tastes so damn good and refreshing in the water, and I for one love Shani. We spent a little over an hour there before the current started to get stronger around the Island because the tide was coming back and it was dragging us away from the Island. Al Halah island is known to have whirlpools so we stuck close to the island while swimming, then we decided to head back since I knew lunch was on the way and we needed some time to get the equipment out of the water and take a shower. But while on the way back I made a quick stop to get the wakeboard out and try to wakeboard back which almost killed me, I love wakeboarding but I have NO stamina, I need to build up my stamina, I do love the water so much.

I have been hearing about Dar Nur for some time now and wasn’t sure where it was. We found it recently in 7 Zones, which is a new complex in Shuweikh. 7 Zones was supposed to be a new Sun City type location but all indoors with furniture, design, and electronics all under one rood, but due to the legal issues between the original project owners and the land owners it has someone stagnated. It feels like some what of a ghost town but there is a lot of potential for the place. Dar Nur is located on the 1st floor and I don’t have any idea how we found it, you just have to ask security because the place’s design makes you feel like you are in maze and I keep getting lost in it. Dar Nur is store with small furniture, home accessories mostly in a Mordern Islamic and Funky Design.

We were very happy to find the place open since last time when we found it the shop was closed in the evening. I loved the store the moment we walked in, it felt refreshing and a lot to look at. The first thing I noticed other then the furniture and accessories were the books, and I was honestly excited, I love finding Art books about the Middle East and Kuwait so I was rummaging through that for a little bit and picked up two books. There were some very cool acrylic tables which would lovely in any home, and there were some very cool bean bags as well. I love places like these in Kuwait and luckily a few are popping up and each one with their own specific style, I hope to see more shops such as these and I hope they become successful. If you have a chance be sure to check it out it has some fun stuff.

Finding a really good Shawarma place is surprisingly difficult, when you find a place they don’t always get it right and sometimes they only have one sandwich which is good and the other isn’t. With Shawarmaty they have both beef and chicken shawarma which are AMAZING, didn’t take long to find the place since I got both directions and an address, the only problem is that its in Jabriya and there is a lot of traffic.

I ordered three chicken and three beef shawarmas in a saj warpping, they offer the sandwich in saj and bread wrapping, I prefer the saj since its lighter and crispier. The sandwiches were done in about 20 minutes and they are pretty big, about 30 cm long so I cut them in half to get them down to a more manageable size.

As soon as I got home I unpacked the sandwiches and proceeded to, I thought I would have about three or four total of the 12 pieces that were there. By the time I was done I almost had 10 pieces of shawarma, and they were so damn tasty. So many sandwiches and an amazing sauce. The saj was perfect with them, and they honestly felt light, I just kept on eating, even thinking about it right now I’m craving them. It was the best feeling to sit on the couch full and remaining stationary watching TV shows for an hour after I was done. The best way is to call ahead and order so when you get there your order is ready.

Phone: 25331512

Recently Viva have been tackling more and more online marketing, pretty much all of the telecom companies are seeing the value of social networking and blogs in Kuwait and its a very nice thing the Big Three are doing. Recently over the past year Viva seemed to be aggressive about gaining online coverage getting more and more blogs but what I find to be restrictive about their sponsorship. If you are sponsored by Viva you can’t cover any social networking event by the other telecom companies, and you can’t cover new product details of the other company. This is when I think that advertising isn’t worth it when there are restrictions of these kinds attached to it.

Update: Wataniya & Zain do not have that policy, they are fairer in the way they do business.