10 Things you can accomplish in 1 month.

Strange title, isnt it?

Well, I did a little bit of research (google), and apparently there quite a few things you can do in a month, but we'll get into these a little later in this post.

Oh, I finally managed to get my paperwork evaluated from the Ministry of Higher Education, or at least in the process of being evaluated.  If you have no idea what im talking about, refer to my older post "Welcome to Kuwait" to understand in more detail what the whole story is about.

In short, I need to get this "to whom it may concern" letter from the Ministry of Higher Education that basically states that this lovely guy (me) has not faked his 7 years in Aberdeen (Scotland) and this Bachelors in Medicine and Surgery is actually REAL.  Please employ him sometime this year.

This is because a lot of people, ya36eehom il 3afya, have forged their certificates, and are sitting there proud owners of a Bachelors / Masters / PhD in whatever you want and reaping those benefits.  This has forced the ministry to clamp down on such people by having to evaluate every single degree 10 times.  In chaotic fashion of course.

Why oh why, cant someone categorize anything?  For goodness sake, if you own an iPhone, you would know that you categorize your apps based on CATEGORY.  For example, if you own 6 music apps and 1 app on how to eat chocolate, you dont put them in one folder.  Its simple, honest.

I graduated from the UK.  So put me in the "United Kingdom Graduates" category.
So I studied medicine, as many before me have.  Put me in the "Medical" category.

Then look for my folder, and boom, there it is.  Take it, evaluate it, give me the letter so I can go start ploughing through the spiderweb that is the Ministry of Health (a process which in itself takes approximately a month to complete and get appointed somewhere).

Does that happen? Yeh, right.

I sent an email to the dean in the Uk so I can get the very same letter which I needed to finish something when I was over there.  That was 6am of a certain day.  I got a reply saying "... come pick it up from the secretaries at 12pm".

Something similar happened when I went to the MoHE (I cant be assed writing "Higher Education" every time, come on guys).  They gave me a letter / receipt sort of thing, which stated the date I applied for evaluation of my paperwork and the date Im meant to come and pick it up.

For those who are arabic-illiterate:

Name: Abdullah Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Taweel
Date of application: 19/09/2010
Date of receipt of letter: 19/10/2010


Note: Please arrive after 11am to receive your "to whom it may concern" letter.  Piss off if you come before then.


Yes, you are reading it correctly.  1 month.  1 whole month to hang around doing nothing to receive a simple "to whom it may concern" letter which I received in 6 HOURS while I was in the Uk.  If this meant that by the end of this month I'll be working somewhere and making some money, then no worries.   But no, this is simply the starting point of a long and tedious process anyways.  At this rate I'll probably be employed late 2011.  Maybe.

What could they possibly be doing with my paperwork that it takes a whole month to process?  Honestly, it boggles the mind.

Lets say for example, You want an iPhone 4.  Not any kind, you want the most legit iPhone 4 there is.  So hire my services, and you say "3baid, you have these 10 shops to go to.  These are the people I trust that have the most legit iPhone 4.  So lets say you send me to 3laiwi's shop to buy an official iPhone 4.  I go, come back with the iPhone 4 and yet still you check the bottom of the box to make sure it says "official Apple product"?

Thats exactly whats happening here.  You sent me to the United Kingdom.  You gave me a whole host of specialities and cities to apply to.  After 7 whole years there,  I hand you my bachelors degree and yet still you evaluate it?  Fine, evaluate it, but 1 month? FFs ..

So I'll leave you on a lighter note;

10 Things you can accomplish in 1 month:

1. Give a 1 month notice to your employers when you're quitting a job.

2. Get pregnant

3. Deliver the babies that you were pregnant with. (dunno whats up this and the previous analogy)

4. Take a minimum of 30 poops. (thats if you're a 1-a-day person)

5. Unlock Adelheid in King of Fighters XIII (I havent played this game, but apparently you can)

6. Listen to 14,400 songs that are 3 minutes long each.

7. Fast Ramadan again.

8. Write a book.  Maybe 2.

9. Fly to the moon and back to earth 5 times. (Check it out, here and here)

10. Drive around the world .. (Nah you cant, couldnt think of a 10th one.  Maybe you can?)

Welcome to Kuwait

After 7 years of med school and work in the Uk, you could say I sorta "acclimatised" to the way things work over there.  And on the most part, it really wasnt that complicated.


They say wait in the queue and you'll be served, they mean it.  Fair enough, sometimes the queue is as long as f**k, but you will get what you came for in the end.  Things are sign posted, "turn left here" or "jump here" or "speak to that person", and no matter how weird the situation is, at the end of the day, you'll get what you came for, regardless of how long it took.


Which brings me onto my point.  The whole reason I started blogging in the first place.


"Takhalof" \ "تخلف" / "Backwardness" / "Retardation" of this society.  It is increasing by day and night and in the 7 years I was going back and forth on holidays to Kuwait from the Uk it is progressively getting worse.


Dont get me wrong - I Love My Country - its given me loads and I wouldnt be where I would be without it , but my qualms are with the people.  The strange and bewildering thing is that its the common things you'd expect to find in an arab society, that tends to cherish its culture and tradition so proudly, that are missing!


Heres my story of the day:


So I went to the Ministry of Higher Education (which has moved to the freezone, hiya) to start what I was told a long cycle of events that would eventually lead me to getting employed and making some cha-ching.  The actual process is a bit overwhelming, but the first step was "get a to whom it may concern letter" and make your way to the ministry of health.. not too difficult..


Or so I thought.  Maybe I was mislead into this false hope that things may get done a bit quick since in my experience a "to whom it may concern letter" is simply a template on a computer screen.  Its 2010, not 1020.  Or maybe what was more misleading was the fact that while I was packing up from Scotland I wanted such a letter in the last week I was there, and I simply emailed the lady at 5pm and got a swift reply asking me to pick it up at 12pm the next day.


So I went to building 1, and was told to go to building 4 and get a number (like the ones where you press a button, get the number and wait your turn sort of thing) and bring it back to her so she can send my folder across to "get it done" basically.  So far, so good.. Order, i like this..


In building 4, I notice that its kinda .. full.  Quickly, I head to the machine, press the button and wait.  Nothing.  Press it again.. and wait.. nothing.  Ya baba, yala I need the number.  Nothing.
Then a guy comes up to me and says "Okhoy, ana yay min il sa3a 7 am, imbakhshish il security, oo makhithli raqam.  Raqmi 587, wana akhir raqam"


So I went and checked the opening times.  8am.  Its 8:15am now.  No way could 587 people have come and gone in 15 minutes.


Here I stood thinking .. He came at 7am, gave the security a couple of KD, got a number a whole hour before the place even opened, and hes the LAST number?  Number 587?  So, 586 people before him came and did the same?  What time did they come?  9alaw il fayir oo yaw?  How much did the security guy make?  Am I in the wrong profession?;p


So I went back to building 1, told that lady the story, and she said "wala shasawee yakhoy, ta3al youm il a7ad winshala takhith raqam".  Its Wednesday sweetheart, and people apparently dont work Thursday / Friday / Saturday here.  Or afternoons in general.


What do you say to people like that?  
What do you do when people who had just been praying day and night during Ramadan, being honest and sincere, come and do that just get their paperwork done?
What kind of place are we living in when il was6a isnt a privilege anymore but a necessity?
What do you do when the people who refuse to get things done with was6a get shat on, get nothing done, and basically get screwed?


The topic title is actually something thats been repeated to me many times since I told people the story.  I told my friends, family, strangers, and I get the same reply.


"Welcome to Kuwait"