Voodoo Shocked

photo source

Just when I thought I got a hold on the whole culture shocked thing, I've now got voodoo shock. Thanks to this girl and now this girl too.

Thank you, Ms. Gucci and Ms. Real for scaring the daylights out of me. Especially at night when I try to drown out every little sound around me with my mp4 after I turn the lights off. On the contrary, I am a total wuss when it comes to scary things. Weird thing is that I'd never pass up a good horror flick. Why I do that to myself is beyond me. Why is it that we like to do that to ourselves? Anyways...

Before we moved into our house now, we lived in a flat. Every night, I could hear a sound on our roof that sounded like a combination of a bowling ball rolling and furniture being dragged across the floor. There was even a heavy feeling when I went up to the roof - and forget about the maid's room up there that we used for storage. I'm not joking, I think we had a ghost up there. I'm hoping we left he / she behind and they're not couped up in one of our boxes we have *yet* to unpack.

So, I'm wondering if any one else has had an univited guest in their house. What did you do about it?

Dear Neighbor:

After compliments (Sorry, I had to do it. I laugh everytime I see that on letters here.).

I know you like your chickens. And when Mr. Rooster, leader of the pack or is it peck (?) freaked out one of his chicks and she jumped over our 10' boundary wall into our back yard, my toothpaste-addicted house-keeper saved the day and picked little chicky up and threw her back over to her hubick. We're nice like that. We would never keep your chickette, unlike some neighbors who stole one of my pets and then returned it back because it ate too much food and was too expensive to feed.

(Please be ready for a slight tangent now)

Can you imagine a thief stealing something from you and then returning it back? Welcome to my world. Or how about my automatic gate opener sensors that were popped off, then newly replaced by the gate opener company only to have the same pet stealing neighbors return the sensors back because they just felt like taking them off? It's like our property is on loan to anyone and everyone willing to chip off a piece of it just for fun. The sad thing is that they're little kids. Little kids that have parents that just roll their eyes or laugh when you tell them about their latest 'crime'. Is that normal? Like, if your kid went and just ripped off your neighbor's front door handle, wouldn't you want to: a.) smack him b.) ground him if you aren't into physical repremanding c.) make him work off buying a new one to be replaced??

I remember one time my younger brother accidentaly side swiped a mailbox in our neighborhood with his beat-up little car that he paid for himself by working after school. He immediately stopped, went to the front door and admitted what he did. The homeowner was so touched that he admitted it that they refused to have him replace it. My brother still replaced that mailbox! Can you sense my frustration in people not holding themselves accountable? Now the little people are doing the same thing and it's just a big mess if things operate like this, ya know? Where was I? Oh...the chicken...

Yes, as I was saying... for the love of your prized chickettes, could you please do something about Mr. Rooster? He cock-a-doodle-doos all the flipping time and it's right outside of my double-glazed bedroom windows that Al-Hub paid wayyyy too much for and now have condensation in between the glass so when you look out some windows you see fog and they clearly block out NO NOISE. In the beginning, it was refreshing. The screech of that chicken's voice was sort of cute. With the date trees in our view, the blue skies above and the rooster singing his tune, I felt like it was farm life in the 'burbs. Now it's just annoying to hear him all day, any day and any time.

I'm sorry that I went off track with my letter, I just needed to vent to you, Mr. Neighbor. Kindly revert back to me with your intended action (tee hee. "Kindly"...another think that cracks me up).

Random...again and again.

So, my blogging spark has set fire again. What a slump I was in...

So, driving to work at the crack of freaking dawn to avoid meaningless traffic really sucks. The wank bus drivers are full on and this morning I watched with big tears in my eyes a cute little government school girl waddle herself through the dirt/sand/dust/rubbish that is in front of her line of houses with a backpack full of books that had to weigh at least 20 pounds. The wank bus was apparently so huge that the wank driver couldn't see her tredge through what you would have thought was sludge. He pulled away - she didn't make it in time. I'm sure she turned around and either walked home sad or full of joy that she wouldn't have to ride to school in that bohemeth of a bus. Where was her mom though? She walked a pretty long way without any supervision...

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Driving towards Seeb on the main hi-way is a death sentence when you come up to the Atheiba exit. And that overpass bridge where you can punch it to 120 - well, lets say you shouldn't punch it because right on the other side of that bridge you'll more than likely find someone driving either a Cadillac SUV or a Landcruiser at 80 kph in. the. fast. lane. Let's just say I now know that my new brake pads recently put on by my Maabela mechanic work real good.

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Everytime I go to Chilis, they either somehow 'forget' to give me the correct change back or they add extras to the bill. Every. Single. Time. What the heck is up with that? I'm all for tipping, don't get me wrong. But what they are doing is starting to make me think it's intentional.

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It seems that Carrefour has given up with the 50 baisa deposit thing-a-ma-bob on the carts. What the crap do people do to their carts - they're down right disgusting! Would it be too hard for Carrefour to hose them down? Gross, Gross, Gross

You nasty boys!

Can someone tell me what the heck guys are thinking (and I am putting the word guy in general terms here – they could be young ‘shabab’, they could be husbands, they could be fathers or they could just be male) by putting honkin’ huge 69 stickers on their tire covers, their bumpers, the ‘boot’ (or as we Amreekans say, ‘trunk’), on their car in general? They aren't driving 69 Cameros either!

Like, does their wife get it? What about their mom? I mean, I’m just a bystander and I sure as heck get it and I just don’t understand why. Why? Why? Why?

Nasty boys.

Butt-Head

After standing in line at Carre4 tonight for what seemed like ages, I turned around to find a line hopper. Thinking that it would be ok to just butt in front of everyone else, the guy behind him just pointed his finger to the back of the line. Mr. Butt-Head shook his head and stood there. I told him 'you can't do that,' but he just stood there. After the cashier rung up all the 900 baisa CDs (weezer, kd lang, the lilith fair concert cd and johnny cash), I paid him and then watched in shock as he picked up Butt-Head's apples and threw them across the counter.

Justice was finally served and I forgot to mention that Mr. Cashier greeted & thanked me. I finally felt like a customer.

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Randomness:


If you're in to fresh flowers for your place, check out the florist (?) shop at the Wadi Adai round about. He sells lilies for RO1 a stem.

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What the heck happened to the Japanese shop in Ruwi? It's become a dump. :(

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Is it just me or do other people come out of the grocery stores here with filthy, dusty hands and feet? Its gross. Places we buy foodstuff from are supposed to be clean, right?

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Angry in Oman has inspired me to get off my duff and get moving. I am too young to be this drained. Chub makes me tired. Tired + K1 & K2 = not good.

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I like this blog.

School, Popcorn and Halwa

A very belated Eid Mubarak to all. Eid is over and done, I ate about 4 kilos of meat in a span of three days and am now ready to get back to a normal routine. Our can-opener breaking househelper was sent back home and replaced with a new one that thinks tomatoes and potatoes are one and of the same, so Ramadan cooking was fun to say the least. Especially after coming directly home from work to cook. I haven't checked my blog in a very long time so the comments I received left me feeling pretty rotten!

Everyone - thanks for the comments.

(hanging my head in shame now)

So, school was delayed again and that leaves me wondering what to do with K2 who happens to start on November 7! Does anyone know what the plan is with the school year for the kids? Will they give intensive lessons? Will they even be given a mid year break? What about summer vacation? And if they do this so called 'intensive teaching' (that I have made up in my own mind - I haven't heard any rumors pertaining to it so don't go and say, 'L_Oman said......' The silly rumors are killin' me here. I'm going to have to come up with a post about that in the future) to cram 9 months of education that really equals about 7 after you figure in the holidays but actually is more like 3 months since the teachers are absent, don't teach or new ones are brought in and it takes time to get things back on track when they change one, will it work? Do I dare ask about the fees? I'm exhausted thinking about this, y'all!

Moving on to a new discovery...

Go buy a bag of microwave popcorn. Butter flavored is best. (Stop shaking your head and forget saving calories at this point. If you're on a diet, you're pretty much screwed. There's always tomorrow.) Now, go buy some fresh Omani Halwa. Just a small container of it will do, but make sure you buy it fresh - yesterday's halwa will do if you aren't able to find one made on the same day. If you're posh like that, get the more expensive one. I particularly like the one full of nuts and extra saffron. Pop the corn and leave it in the bag and set aside. Scoop out about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of the Halwa and nuke it in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds. Be careful not to overcook it because the stuff bubbles up and is really hot! You just want it to be soft. Work quick - you need your popcorn to be hot. Now, put the popcorn in a big bowl, then scoop out spoonfuls of the gooey halwa on top of the popcorn and just mix it with a big wooden spoon. Keep mixing until the halwa is covering the popcorn (think caramel corn looking stuff) evenly. The hot popcorn will help the halwa melt even more over it.

You're welcome!

Randomly Speaking

Since my last post, I've cursed out 8,978 people on the road.

Oddly enough, I find comfort in travelling down Al-Khodh main street. I've never had a wanker run-in once on that street. And it's always gridlock traffic there. People always give-way on that street and on top of that they 'thank-you wave'. Sometimes they even smile.

Is it just me or do the supermarkets really stink here? As in smell. I feel like I've said this before on my blog. And what the heck is going on with the shopping carts at Carrefour? And why do the check-out girls always look so annoyed at the fact they have to ring out customers?

Last weekend at Al-Bahja Mall in the handicapp parking spots in the garage (adjacent to the entrance doors), someone in a Toyota (not a camry but that new aurion or something like that) decided to park their car slanted across both handicapped spaces. They didn't have a handicapped tag or anything either. Does anyone have a conscience that does that? One time, while renewing my 'zojat muwatan' visa (spouse visa), I accidentally parked in a handicapped space. A guy pulled up with his handicapped wife and asked me to move. I felt like the ultimate idiot. I'm still embarrassed about that. There was no sign to mark it a handicapped space, but when I reversed, I did see the faded wheelchair painted on the ground. Just admitting this makes me feel terrible. So, how do people not feel bad about consciously doing such a thing here? Then, when I got to my car after I finished shopping, one of those huge Hummers was parked directly in the driving lane. I couldn't reverse and I was luckily parked by a curb. I had to drive over the curb! And did I mention that driving into the underground parking (which happens to be a one way) two 'shabab' (young guys) in a beat up Corolla exited out the wrong way, almost hitting me head on! What was their reaction? They busted out laughing. Some people may say, "Oh, it's their way of reacting to an embarrassing situation." I don't remember laughing when I parked in the handicapped parking spot that time. In fact, I probably had a mortifying look on my face due to the shame.

If someone would please tell pedestrians to haul booty when crossing a street, that would be helpful. I am paranoid about crossing a street while on foot and do the 'left, right, left' look and then listen before I cross. I never see people do that here. Why?

I miss real sales. Like dirt cheap sales. Somehow I find paying RO20 (over $50) for a shirt that is on a 50% off sale really hard. Anyone else?