A few days ago I read about British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond visit in Saudi Arabia.
Merry-go-round
Author: Julia Chodor
Cluster bombs
Just a brief comment to the radio news I have heard in the morning while driving kids to school. In the Middle East, the weekend is on Friday and Saturday. Sunday is a normal, working day.
The news: White House has quietly placed a hold on the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. You know, the cluster bombs that were banned by an international treaty in 2008, just the democratic US and peaceful Russia forgot to sign it.
I like Kuwait
Before you start to laugh at the huge flag of Kuwait hanging on the house, look at the image below. I took it few years ago in the US.
…and now you can laugh.
Kuwait newspaper and other issues
I have bought a newspaper today – Kuwait Times – it costs 150 fils.
There is news from over the world. At the first page, the biggest title is about Yemen. There is also about labor law – fines for hiring employees without visas were doubled, now it is from KD 2 000-10 000. The labor issues are very important in Kuwait as the 2/3 of the people living here are from abroad. There is also news about Philippine presidential election – there is lots of Philippinos here and about Cairo, also a lot of people from Egypt. So the first page reflects the national structure of people living in Kuwait. We just have missed Hindus. Maybe in tomorrow newspaper, there be some news from India on a first page.
At the beach
Last weekend was a bridge weekend. On Thursday we went to the, so called, private beach. It was a family day, that means that only family is allowed to enter. In Kuwait, there are also lady’s days when only women are allowed to enter.
What’s wrong with this picture?
When EU prepared a refugee relocation plan in September 2015, it assumed that EU will pay 6 000 euros for every person per year.
A little more than a half year later in May 2016, EU has new refugee relocation plan. It says that if some member country refuses to take refugees, it will have to pay 250 000 euros penalty per refugee per year.
The 3rd of May Constitution Day
Yesterday evening we went to the diplomatic event organize by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Kuwait to celebrate the 3rd of May Constitution Day.
For all those who do not know, the Polish Constitution was passed in 1791 (May 3rd) and it was the first constitution passed in Europe and second in the world after the United States.
I love buildings
We live in a nice, calm neighborhood. What I really love about the area are… buildings. They are all more or less the same size, 3-storage, but everyone is unique, I guess there is no two exactly the same houses in Kuwait – and this variety is beautiful. This picture of lovely streets is enriched by the cars parked up front – most of the time they are typical American SUV, but I also found, Porshe, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. Yes, a Lamborghini, standing in a front of the house for the whole night and nobody steals it – yeah, I know it is amazing, it could not happen in Poland.
It is amazing, that nobody steals things. You can leave your new iPad on a table in a coffee shop, come back two days later and it will be still there, where you left it. Culture is one thing, but I also think that people here are just too rich to steal.
And yes, another incredible thing, people who live in a non-democratic country can be rich. We have always been taught, that only in 100% democracy people can be rich. I just guess we have not been told exactly which people.
Welcome to Kuwait
Well, I never wanted to visit the Middle East even as a tourist, but life is tricky. Here I am… living in Kuwait.
And you know what? … it is not so bad.
My sis and me – Photo: Hanna Puchalska
