Archive for category UK
Amazing Women
Posted by Bloggylife in personal, UK on May 15, 2010
I’m always fascinated by people, meeting from different backgrounds and cultures, listening and sharing different views and aspects about life.
From Oman, India, Pakistan, UAE, UK, Libya …
Young chemist extracting substances from palm trees.
English students studying methods to enhance how English is taught back home in their schools.
Computer scientists congratulaing and hugging each other because they just submitted their 6 months long project.
A computer scientist who’s married to a network engineer. That just cracked me up!!! 
A 40 year old woman with two kids searching a cure to a disease that I can not even remember its name, it affects malnourished poor parts of the world, India, Iraq, Egypt, it enlarges internal organs leading to death. Not only does she have a PhD but also is supervising 5 PhD students in HER lab. That’s what she calls it, “My Lab”.
One just gave birth … Another looking for a job … Just failed a job interview …
A colourful bunch, talking about Africa, cannibals, food, guessing ages, shoes, badminton, volleyball, football, insects, progress, past …
All that over a barbecue on a sunny/windy day
UK Insects
Posted by Bloggylife in UK on May 1, 2010
The weather is getting warmer and usually this is when the animals and insects roll into the outside world.
I’ve noticed that the insects here are weird, I know I am in a different climate, but the variety and diversity of crawling and flying things is astonishing.
I thought about Kuwait, what do we have, “ذبان”, that’s it! It’s like the community of insects decided to migrate and the flies decided to stick around, because that’s their thing, heat, where things rot faster and it’s more funny flying and annoying the already annoyed people because of the heat! Crazy little maniacs!
I saw a black bumble bee with a red bum! Seriously it looked like a black ops recruit 
Walking in the open, so many green little flying things attach themselves to my clothes!
Being it summer and all with no air conditioning, I have to open the windows, and usually I clean up things that fly in with a towel, smacking around! The other day, I hear a loud buzz and this what came in!
OMG sooo huge! Bees are wonderful creatures. They are sophisticated living beings and it’s very hard to just smack them. I waited for it to stand still, it looked confused, seeing the outside world through the glass and not being able to get there, as soon it was still, I covered it with a small towel and set it free through the tiny crack of the window, while screaming “eeeeee, صبراي صبراي” and quickly closed the windows.
I just wonder with all the space out there, why would they fly in through the tiniest crack!
UK Summer
Posted by Bloggylife in personal, UK on April 18, 2010
Having lived most of my life in one of the hottest places on earth, you’d think I’m used to the heat! NOT! I guess I have the A/C to blame And experiencing the cold here hasn’t helped much, my body got used to it, it has become more addicted to cold, I’m going to have a hard time when I get back to Kuwait “heat exhaustion”.
What I’m missing here is my A/C. There is cool wind outside but there is a problem opening the windows, weird insects will fly in and HUGE mosquitoes!! Weirdly huge, I’ll try to snap a shot of them. But what can I do to fight off the heat, I have to leave the windows open!
Sun sets late, and I am enjoying it, I like how the sun is still up at 7 PM, the only problem is prayer time, especially Al-Esha, I sometimes stay in bed waiting for the athan.
I checked the prayer’s time in the future just to see how far late it will get, the below is in July and then it’ll pick up again.
So when it is Ramadan time in August, breaking the fast will be starting from 9 PM and inching towards 8 PM, that’ll be interesting
Summer sun is hot especially if it is direct “3ala el-ras”, so if you are in the bus, nausea is guaranteed! I’d given up trying to get used to the bus, it takes more than months to get used to be cramped in an airless, heated, full of breathing people, rotating and stopping often, as a way of transportation 
But I’m not giving up, hehehehehe
People are now out more often, like we need that! More festivals in town, singing competition this weekend, that was fun to watch. Flowers blossoming everywhere. There other day, I woke up to cheesy music and in the haze of my sleep trying to decipher the sounds, it was actually of birds singing outside my window, how lame and cliché is that!! I smiled and tried to go back to sleep … summer is kicking in …
UK Hover
Posted by Bloggylife in UK on April 17, 2010
I don’t know what the deal with this hover is???
Seriously I’ve began this question when I noticed it everywhere! First in my dorm I thought it was cute somehow personalised, then in shops and departmental stores, in hotels, then in a UK show, Whenever I see anyone vacuuming anywhere, they are using that model, what is the deal with this hover? Is it a national symbol? Aren’t any other hovers out there in the UK ?
Are you in the UK? Do you notice this around much ????
Morning Person
Posted by Bloggylife in Kuwait, personal, UK on April 15, 2010
I am a morning person, I get up even if I don’t plan it! I was not sure why? What was the motive of getting up early? I thought I’m a morning person by default, it is in me. I didn’t realise I liked waking up in the morning because of what it had to offer! Until …
I was in bed, it is 7 AM and I’m wide awake. I think what a perfect opportunity to head to town, grab coffee and take a walk, read a novel, enjoy the sunrise and the cool weather, enjoy some peace and quiet … wait …
You know nothing opens till 9 AM …
You know EVERYONE will be out in the street by 8 AM !!!
There is no pleasure in being a morning person, when everybody else in the country is!!!
Back home, I enjoyed my morning trips to pick up coffee, I love that coffee shops are open at 7 AM. Walk in malls before the shops are open. Have breakfast where only a handful of people are present. Early grocery shopping. Enjoy peace and quiet. I do not like crowded places, I plan around those.
Here, everybody is everywhere, it is a jungle out there, a jungle of humans … I got used to it I might add, but instead of waking up and going out, I’d stay put, make my own green tea, walk close by, where for at least a while wherever my eyes land … I see no one
Trailer: Four Lions
Posted by Bloggylife in entertainment, funny, UK on April 8, 2010
Four Lions tells the story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point. As the wheels fly off, and their competing ideologies clash, what emerges is an emotionally engaging (and entirely plausible) farce. In a storm of razor-sharp verbal jousting and large-scale set pieces, Four Lions is a comic tour de force; it shows that-while terrorism is about ideology-it can also be about idiots.
First I had mixed feeling about this, well after I calmed from laughing that this. I believe Islam my religion is a peaceful calling, that teach us not to harm the living and not to be aggressive unless needed to. But madness can carry out actions in the name of a cause or desperation or confusion, and only GOD can be the judge of that and them.
It is going to be released in the UK in May.
Link: IMDB
London Musical Plays
Posted by Bloggylife in entertainment, UK on April 5, 2010
In London there are many things to do and one of them is to attend Musical Plays. Usually each play has two shows a day and are off on Sunday except Thriller! Before booking your tickets straight from the theatre itself, check the half price tickets booths scattered all over Leicester Square, there are some in the underground station itself, you don’t have to go out of the station. It is a better way also, because just in case the show is sold out you can get tickets for other shows. Keep in mind that the tickets are not always discounted, depends on how the show is doing. The square has cinemas Reel, Empire and Odeon, so entertainment is guaranteed.
Plays I’ve been to from least to most liked 
Wicked is a pre-story of Wizard of OZ that we all know, it tells a story of two girls who meet in the land of Oz and become friends and how they end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.
Frankly, I lost count of how many times I yawned. It was good in some places but boring in most.
Sister Act is a musical spin-off from the same title film that starred Whoopi Goldberg. A disco diva Deloris witnesses a murder involving her boyfriend, as a protective measure till the trail she is put in protective custody in a convent. It was funny and lovely and I really enjoyed it. Especially the musical act of the cop, the bad guy entourage and the oldest nun of them all
This is a musical composed of songs by Queen the rock band, it is not their life story. The story is set in the future where all music is programmed and creativity and individuality is forbidden. Until a group of rebels decide to create their own music and find their instruments.
At first when it started with a loud rock music, I was terrified that I’ll have a headache if it keeps going on, but I LOVED the show. It was lively and I kept tapping my feet all the time. It was funny. I didn’t favour the lead characters as much as I liked the rest. It was enjoyable and not to be missed, you are guaranteed fun and good time. You’ll have a chance to sing along if you are familiar with the band’s songs. It made me go and search for other songs by them and I’m in love with their songs.
UK Thoughts
Posted by Bloggylife in thoughts, UK on March 23, 2010
One thing that stands out in UK is the queue concept, it is like a religion here! It is so important, that even one person standing by themselves is a queue. You’d find places so tiny and cramped nevertheless there you find a “queue here” sign! It’ll wiggle left and right just to fit the 3 person queue that’ll most likely have in a busy day!
Most stores and business establishments will have an automated announcement system telling you which till to go to. That’s right another British word, till as in counter. “Till number 4 please”
I wanted to buy a hot liquid container, I did not know what it is called and that is exactly what I asked the store.
“You mean a flask”
“I’m not sure, is there a picture you can show me ” Ladies and Gentlemen, this is how you learn new words
It takes a while to understand the bus system here, how you order tickets, specify the location and ticket type. “Single to the train station please” or “Student return to city center please”. Along the bus there are stop buttons for you to push so that the driver stops at your destination. See if no one is standing in a bus stop and no one in the bus pressed that button, the bus will drive by. It is tricky, but for first timers if you are totally lost, the bus driver will be happy to help and gives you heads up when you get to your stop or stare at you displeased because you pressed the button for the wrong bus stop! “Sorry my mistake”
“Whereabouts are you?” Just the British way to say “Where are you?” or simply “وينك” I’m always comparing Just as they say “I’ll ring you” as opposed to “I’ll call you”.
IT Support
Posted by Bloggylife in personal, troubleshooting, UK on March 21, 2010
I popped in my neighbour’s room the other day and her guest was having problems with her laptop. So I said: “You can give it to me sometime and I’ll take a look at it for you”.
This went by until my neighbour called saying she is having problems herself, her laptop loads forever at starting up.
I took a look at it and it turns out she installed two anti-virus programs, removed both and installed AVG for her, since I am happy with mine
Next day another one calls my room to make an appointment , she’s facing a problem with her laptop. I thought, I guess the word got out
This one’s problem was rather funny, I don’t know what she was fooling around with but she had a malicious software that kept changing her DNS settings, cleaned that up and there you go. It rather took sometime, by the end of the night she was tired and I was fired up I had to remove viruses manually and told her, that I had to Google certain processes and information to make sure they are legitimate and taught her how to remove programs and not have everything run at start-up!
I guess wherever you go, you end up being the IT support of your location
Some were afraid that I was getting annoyed by their questions. What is a DNS? Can I have two Anti-virus programs? Do I need an Anti-Virus?
I announced: “Don’t worry, this is part of what I do for a living”
Polite Thoughts
Posted by Bloggylife in thoughts, UK on March 19, 2010
Words I use now more often:
Sorry
Excuse me
Thank you
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