Quote of the day: "I don't like that the man keeps coming back here!" "Habibi, he's our waiter."

MOP [aka OPNO's Omani husband] is sitting with his arms crossed angrily and his brow furrowed. To OPNO in a low, suspicious murmur, says:

"I don't like that the man keeps on coming back here."

OPNO raises her eyebrows, casually sipping her ice water as if she hadn't a care in the world about this dangerous, perverted predator stalking the couple [and in MOP's mind, mainly with eyes for his Western wife]. To her husband, drily, as if bored, dismisses him offhand with:

"Habibi, he's our waiter."

-an endearing post about the jealousies of Omani husbands

His Majesty got Buff

Has anyone been to the parking of City Center in Al Muwalla recently? Well the doors just have got this picture of Sultan Qaboos on them.

He's in military parade uniform. Not like the uniform pictured above, but the kind hung all with medals {which I could not find on google image search}.

The giant sliding glass door stickers before the park, some kind of National Day decoration, for sure, because National Day is Omani Christmas, with hanging cardboard Papa Qaboos faces dangling from mall interior ceilings, and blinking lights in green, white and red lining the highway in the Sultanate, is there all braced and proud.

Only... these decorations are OFTEN badly photoshopped with His Majesty staring out over mutrah or floating above some frolicking oryxes but this image took bad photoshopping to a whole other level.

Like when they whitened me to invisable on my resident card.

MOP and I almost fell over laughing when I pointed it out.

OPNO [to MOP]: "Do you see that picture of His Majesty on the doors? Does... he look a little... err, buff to you? Like he's been working out."

MOP [stares at the picture and then blinks].

OPNO: "His Majesty [I've seen him in person before so I know] is fit and all, but I think they photoshopped his chest to make him look bigger. I mean, look at His Majesty, he's got a bigger chest than Arnold!"

OPNO & MOP fall over laughing.

The effect was similiar to this. This is Mark Hamil in real life, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies:

And THIS is the figurine that made to look like him. Note the chest and arms.

Funny Ramadan Commercial Number 1: and more about Vimto

This commercial for Vimto is about having a girl's wedding maher be Vimto. It's kinda old. But I cracked open the Vimto last night after praying. For me, it is something I love about the season. Back in my country, I only bought it for Ramadan.

Quote of the Day

"Ya, it is vary Omani to ditch work to go down to Salalah for the Karif."

-Artist in Oman

Does this remind anyone of SOME people in Oman they work with????

Ab E?

Quote of the Day: It is the evil eye!!!!!!

FRIEND'S WIFE (behind her hand to friend): I think it is the evil eye.

OPNO (who is not deaf): The doctors said it just a freak nosebleed. Worst case scenario. but a noseblees nonetheless. Broken bloodvessels... in my nose....

FRIEND (to wife): The doctors don't know what caused it.

OPNO (why does nobody listen to sick people?): The doctors listed lots of things, too much AC, a long stressful journey, a sudden sensitivity to atmospheric pressure changes... It IS raining outside right now...

FRIEND'S WIFE (to nurses): I think it was the evil eye.

OPNO: (.)

note: I do believe in the evil eye as the Prophet Mohamed told us the people's envy whether they know about it or not can cause sickness, but in this case, I don't think it was it, though maybe some might feel I DESERVED THE EVIL EYE that day (LOL Z & N:p)

Alhamdulilah I am alright now.

Quote of the day: Men really do buy love at first sight here in Oman

OPNO: "I am not a romantic you know? I don't believe in love at first sight. Men are really idiots [lol]. They do believe in that stuff here in the Gulf, like they want what they see in movies. If that were true, I would be the ONE for 20 different men. "

Y: "So what do you believe in then?"

OPNO: "I believe in love in the first three conversations and after 1 kiss though. Oh yeah, and one good argument. Can't leave that one off. I believe I am the one that screams 'I love you!' in the middle of a real good fight. If you can still like someone and be terribly angry with them at the same time I think that counts more than any love at first sight nonsense."

Y: "."

OPNO: "I blame my father. If my mother had raised me better, I would have married for money or in state void of ambition, in the very least, someone with good looks who was stupid enough to believe in love at first sight. Alas, he taught me common sense."

Y: "Blessing you are to mankind."

OPNO: :XD

Quote of the Day: I read like an Omani

Quote of the day: "I read like an Omani now. I accept that the same word can be spelt five different ways."

OPNO loves OmanTV (no, I AM being serious) and PHET coverage

Am I the ONLY person in Oman that LIKES OmanTV???? LOL:XD

In the height of being stressed about one of my closest friends risking his life in a wadi during hurricane PHET the news on OmanTV broke up the usual footage of danger and destruction with a segment on how to cook Omani Halwa (traditional desert). Sitting in a sheesha cafe with floating plastic chairs (I wasn't smoking sheesha Umm Qahtan, no worries!) while people outside floundered in their non-four wheel drives as a floodgate was opened due to its limited capacity, watching pictures of sunnny arial veiws of Omani forts and a montage of the Sultan smiling, I felt reassured that everything would be ok if the woman's batch of halwa turned out.

I am serious. I DID find it reasuring. I am one of those 'think-too much people'. Mundane and ridiculous ironies are my mental crux.

All in all, I think they did a decent job of reporting the coverage on the Arabic segments (they brought in English, Indian, Philipino, and other language presenters to warn of the danger and storm direction). BUT LONG AGO learnt not to DEPEND on one form of media, newspapers, TV, blogs, internet, youtube, facebook, gossip, ect. But if you didn't know about this, you were probably only seeing Arabic, switched the chanel before the English and other-language blurps every so often, and saw only forts and halwa and Arabic reporting. Facebook group PHET seemed easier for English audiences to access and use. While one had electricity of course. I was alarmed when one english blogger informed me they had only heard of the hurricane through my blog. I wondered if they knew how to use Oman's media sources and news/radio stations.

I like OmanTV. I may be the only one, but I found the halwa cooking session to be very soothing while the indian staff at the sheesha cafe ran out to the coffee shop dressed in black plastic garbage bag rain gear to get my dinner for me and friends lost their belongings in Qurayat. It took my mind off what we'd have to deal with in the morning, and the Omani mindset it gave to me was pretty much like the British during the blitz, get on with it. "So this is how you grow your cabbages, while the Nazis zap you" par example.

I phone Omani friend A and asked, how are you out in Qurayat?

A: oh, alhamdulilah good, salaamz to you and thanks for asking.

M later tells me A's villa was submerged and she lost everything. But "all praise be to Allah" she got on with it as if nothing had happened, and we were sending our regular friday "juma mubarak" texts.

If anyone wants to donate "decent" furniture and appliances or a TV you don't need to A, let me know via this blog.

I love you OmanTV. I wish you were better organized for other people out there who haven't figured you out yet.

***I don't depend on OmanTV for accurate news. Or on any one person or media for that matter. That is always a mistake, even in so-called free media countries. All media is owned by some commercial or political interest, or it is biased (like my blog:D).***

More Arab-Ish Text Messages

From my screened messages collection of taxi drivers I made the mistake of thinking would not phone stalk me if I called them to pick me up from Sultan Center on a grocery run:

Good evnig i mis u how ar u i want see us plz i want spik weith u plz

Translated by me: Good evening. I miss you [don't know how, I took your taxi only two times and the second time told you not to speak to me rather rudely]. How are you? I want to see you please. I want to speak with you please.

I gust wan spiek witd u ather beutifl grils meen nathing to me belive me since i see u i love u i think nathing of atherz. I whant to see u plaz.

Translated by me: I just want to speak with you---other beautiful girls mean nothing to me, believe me! Since I saw you, I have loved you and now I think nothing of others. I want to see you please.

Now, I probably COULD give this to the ROP (I've certainly shown my ROP friends) or get a new sim, but honestly, the bad spelling and grammer kinda of amuse me. So I've left if it on my screened calls.

If you liked this post you might also like

What I lost in Translation, is my ability to speak English

http://howtolivelikeanomaniprincess.blogspot.com/2010/01/dumb-things-omani-men-have-said-to-me.html

Dumb Things Omani Men Have Said pt. 2

Yeah.. this is about the best car rack use I have seen in Oman thus far

Isn't this the most efficient use of a car rack you have ever seen? (sarcasm). Only in Oman lol. Made my Omani friends laugh something terrible too.

from the infamous omani taxi to the ROP cruiser- Types of Vehicles you'll encounter in Oman

I LOOOOOOVED these cartoons sooooooooooo much I had to beg expat blogger Steve from http://www.livinginoman.com/ to let me borrow them from his cartoon posts page http://www.livinginoman.com/search/label/Cartoons. I promised my Omani friends to make a Canadian edition.

Driving in Oman (and yes, I know the cartoon isn't Omani)

Worst Robberies Ever

Pull not push!


OKay, in my humble opinion, this is the WORST robber EVER.

A man robbing my old work, dropped his wallet (DL and all) on the way out. I have yet to see a robbery in Muscat.

Funny Things About Muscat

Muscat:
-All the cars are white (or black)
-SUVS like to "bully" other cars
-People don't mind blocking people in when they park and they park ANYWHERE!!!! (Once, at Muscat days, we were trapped all day.)
-Men look at you funny if you drive a truck.
-Everyone always has new cars...they buy and trade in and buy...weird!
-The street signs are often on the wrong side to see them in time for your turn-off
-People are always one to three hours late for everything.
-Men tend to annoy you but if you walk a dog they don't: D
-People jump into the bushes if you walk by them with a dog.
-People in shops tend to give me things (don't know why but they do) I never buy anything touristy (it is always given to me).
-The furniture tends to be very gaudy (tassels, B? but she likes tassels)
-The maids even iron your underwear
-not alot of Omanis do physical labour and they find it hilarious when I do
- Maids and workers are not treated very well and that makes me MADDDDDDDD! They work way too hard for the pay they get[k, that's not so funny] and people think it is okay to make racist impressions of Indians
-Not very many women wear niqab in Muscat (more wear the birqa)
-When "Muslim" men go to ex-pat places to drink they tend to sneak in hoodies and jeans to "look" American" foolin' no one
-The mall bathrooms are cleaned like every time someone uses it...niceeee (don't try the one's at the hospitol though LOL)
-REALLY if you like to use Toilet paper...LOOK before ya sit cause some people don't use it!
-The law is not really enforced when it comes to seatbelts, speed limits...and baby car eats...also kids drive in the front seat...people hold babies in the front seat!
-Yeah, the perfume. I could smell it a mile down the beach on a woman. Amouge. He he he

Drifting in Oman

One of the big trends for Muscati boys (I think all GCC guys really) is street racing and drifting. Oman is famous for its high car accident rate and harsh punishments for street racing and crashes, but that doesn't deter the youth set from this thrrilling (and sometimes dumb---if the track isn't abanoned or closed) pasttime.




LOL, reminds me of my sister's old crowd. LOL, I like how in some of the vids, the guys THINK they are drifting but they are just spinning out. LOL, how Oman winds up with so many accidents: