A Typical Day

The alarm clock goes off at 6:15. Muna (name has been changed) gets out of bed, prays, heads to the kitchen to put the kettle on for tea, then starts getting ready for work. She decides on blue jeans, a t-shirt, tennis shoes, her new abaya, and matching head-scarf . She hears voices. Her brothers and sisters are getting ready for school and work. Muna prepares tea in her favorite Starbucks travel mug and heads out the door, yelling 'Please no fish kebsa for lunch!'. She gets into her car, and as the engine is warming up, she flips through her CD collection, trying to decide what to listen to on her way to work. Amy Winehouse will do today, she mumbles to herself.

Her 8-hour workday goes by quickly. Salim, the new administrator, was trying to flirt again. She just rolls her eyes and pretends not to notice. He's so boring amd awkward. During lunch break she opens her Facebook account. She sends several messages to friends. Four of them decide to meet up for pizza after work the next day. She has received several friend requests from suspicious looking Dhofari guys. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore, and Ignore. Mission Accomplished. On her way home from work she stops by the one and only decent DVD rental place in Salalah. The guy who runs the place is pretty cute, she thinks to herself. He tries to convince her to watch the new James Bond movie, and she explains that girls have no interest in James Bond. She decides on the new Kate Hudson flick and he sighs.

She gets home, tosses her bag on the bed, and throws on a bright orange thobe and matching losie. She heads out to the living room and greets her parents on her way to the kitchen. They tell her that Uncle Ahmed's second wife gave birth to a little boy that morning. 'Is this not his 12th child?', Muna asks her father. He shrugs. It doesn't matter in Salalah. The more, the better! 'Fish kebsa in the fridge!' her mother yells across the hall. She sighs and force-feeds herself before grabbing a Mountain Dew and heading to her room. Her younger sister, a student at Dhofar University is already waiting for her with a secret supply of Pringles and popcorn. They put up the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door. Salma, her sister, talks about her day at university and about the guy she has a crush on. Muna remembers what it was like to study with boys for the first time. She sighs and pushes the play button on the DVD player. Later that night she lies on her back on bed looking up at the ceiling thinking of the future. Will she ever get married? Are there open-minded intelligent Dhofari guys out there? Will they accept me as I am? Who am I anyway?