Omani Blogger Released

Muawiya Al Rawahi has been released. I'm not entirely sure what actually happened, but I know he's out after publishing a very odd (and slightly apologetic) letter from prison through a friend. Put down your weapons, international advocacy groups! (for background information on his arrest, read my post here)

Blogger Arrested

Apparently controversial Omani blogger Muawiyah Al Rawahi was arrested two nights ago for criticizing 'authorities' (read between the lines) on his blog. The blog post no longer exists and according to a tweet last night from another controversial blogger, Ammar Al Mamari, he's still in prison. According to Global Voices Advocacy, he wrote about a number of things including being abused as a young teenager and other stuff I can't post here. You can read for yourself here. Over the years he's criticized Islam, the government, the Mufti, the 'high' authorities, and seemed to have gotten away with just about everything. Why now?

As for Ammar, his blog was also blocked in Oman since March 2011 after he posted death certificates of protesters from the protests in Sohar and other evidence that real bullets were used when authorities claimed rubber bullets were only used. What's surprising is that Ammar's blog seems to be open now. As for Muawiyah, he's rather eccentric. I've been following his blog since 2009.

I think this is going to get ugly. You can't silence people. I can't say anymore. Keep in mind that I did not read his post and am not aware of the details.

New Blogger!

Finally someone in Nizwa! I found her blog through Andy's this morning. With Dan & Jillian in Sohar, a few of us in Salalah, a few more than a few of you in Muscat, and now our new Cat Bird in Nizwa, Oman's English blogging community just gets better everyday. Ladies & gentlemen, a hearty welcome to Nomad in the Land of Nizwa!

New Blogger!

As you can see, I'm alive after losing my long post on prostitution a couple of days ago. I'm still trying to re-write it but I have very little time (sigh). In the meantime, I'd like to welcome new blogger from Dhofar, .... our first blog for environmental issues ..... ladies and gentlemen ... please welcome ... *drumroll* .... 'Dhofar Eco Bug!'. To quote their first post: "

"I've started this blog because in the relatively short time I've been living in
Salalah I've noticed some things that, at best, cause me concern and, at worst,
make me downright angry. I hope this blog will provide a platform for people to
discuss environmental issues in the region and, most importantly, promote action
to effect positive change. Together we can make a difference".

I'm very glad you've joined the Omani blogosphere and especially the extremely understaffed Dhofari blogosphere!

Thursday

Week from hell. So glad it's the weekend (it rained, though. YAY). To my reader, Spordiac Afterthoughts, if you're attending a Dhofari wedding, it is not common to take a wedding gift. Only close friends/family of the bride usually give gifts. In fact, our society really isn't big on gifts at all, so don't worry too much if you don't know the bride personally. If you do know her personally, the norm is perfume or a watch or a beautiful scarf (shaila), or jewellery.

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This week isn't a good week for bloggers around the world. If you haven't heard about the blog scandal from Damascus, let me enlighten you. There was a FAMOUS blog called 'Gay Girl in Damascus' which highlighted what it was like to be a lesbian woman in a highly conservative Muslim society (i.e. Syria). The blog caused uproar in the Middle East and there were tons of people in Syria trying to find the blogger. The blogger then started reporting on the protests and arrests in Syria and became a 'credible' source for news agencies abroad on what was going on in Syria. Finally, a post appeared on the blog from the 'cousin' of the blogger saying Amina Abdullah (the blogger) had been snatched/kidnapped/taken/arrested in Damascus. This post caused more uproar in Syria and abroad with over 150,000 people joining the facebook page to release her. Human Rights NGOs got involved, and it was all over the internet. The blogger then was forced to confess on his blog that no, he is not a lesbian Syrian, and no he is not in Damascus. His name is Tom McMaster and he's a US Citizen doing his Masters in Scotland. It has been ALL OVER THE NEWS and as far as I'm concerned, people are over-reacting to the whole thing. But at the same time, it sheds light on the credibility of bloggers. People now assume they can no longer trust bloggers. There has been discussion over the past few years on whether blogs can be credible sources of information. I have been quoted several times in newspapers and publications around the world as 'Dhofari Gucci'. What if I turned out to be an expat man in Indonesia? (see?). It's a mess and I'm not sure what to think, but dear readers out there, no I am not a man, and yes I am a girl in Salalah. Rest assured. Cheers!

New Blogger

Just wanted to welcome new Dhofari blogger Shaboun Al Mashani to the scene. I totally dig the name, by the way. I'm assuming it's not your real name! Keep writing and I'm sure you'll build up a loyal fanclub in no time! Have a great weekend everyone!
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News next week: Largest Lulu Hypermarket in Oman opens up in Salalah on Saturday the 26th. BIG NEWS!

I LOVE FEEDJIT!

I decided to upload the little sidebar to my blog where I can monitor incoming blog traffic. AMAZING. I'm not a technology person, so I'm terrified of uploading anything new to my blog because I'm afraid all my posts will disappear, but as a person who has always been fascinated with georgraphy, I'm thrilled. In the past 24 hours alone, I've had hits from New Zealand, Texas, California, Alaska, Minsk, Cape Town, Nepal, Russia, Germany, British Columbia, Quebec, Kentucky (!), Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia, England, ... etc. WOW. WOW. WOW.

New Blogger Enters the Scene

Hey everyone! Another expat married to an Omani on the block! I'd like to welcome new blogger, Sultanate Social, to the Omani blogging scene! I should have welcomed her earlier when I first read her blog, but with the storm chaos and all ........ :)

New Blogger

I'd like to welcome Jebbali man's wife Umm Q to the Dhofari Bloggers' Scene. Welcome to Salalah and I hope your new life here will be full of happiness, adventure, contemplation, and faith. You can take a look at her blog Sweet Salalah here. And hopefully she'll get the chance to meet Rania because both of them are young mothers married to Omanis in Salalah. Back to work....

Dragon Returns

And ..... Muscat Confidential was unblocked again after 12 hours of panic. Peace.

Muscat Confidential Blocked

Dear Readers,

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Is it just my PC or has Omantel finally blocked Muscat Confidential, the home of our dear Mr.Dragon? I hadn't opened his blog for a few days but fellow bloggers informed me he had posted a rather controversial picture over the weekend? Tsk tsk...

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When I type in the link to his blog, I do not get the Blocked by Omantel page, but rather the 'Oops, the link appears to be broken' page, so I can't even send a message to Omantel asking them to unblock him. How unfair.

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We'll wait and see what happens. Meanwhile, to the rest of you ambitious bloggers out there, if you want to keep your blogs up and running, do be careful what you post.

Bloggers in the Times of Oman

Dear Readers,

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Hope you're all enjoying your weekend. I certainly am. You can read Part One and Part Two of the Times of Oman piece written by Sandhya Menon if you like. I enjoyed the article. Yes, that's my pompom/kammasha/second head in the picture. Closest you'll ever get to seeing my face!

.Thanks for all the comments (I'm still having a commenting problem so I can't always respond - damn technology). Thank you to all the losers too for your hate mail. Your insults flatter me. Do continue! And thank you Dragon for dedicating a part of your most recent post to these haters.

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Meanwhile, I'm sulking because a flock of about 100 herons seem to have missed their turning to the Salalah bird sanctuary at the beach and instead landed on one of the major roundabouts. Once they realized the grassy flowery roundabout was actually not too bad, they decided to hang out there a little longer. And DAMMIT I did not have my camera with me. I swore at the steering wheel then decided to enjoy the moment anyway and drove in circles around the roundabout.

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I was at Lulu Centre yesterday looking for coffee filters when I noticed in the crap drinks section (i.e. Tang), a new flavor was being advertised .... Tang Lemon & Black Pepper. Yes, you heard me. For years and years Oman has been addicted to Tan Mango, Tang Orange, Tang Pineapple, Tang Lemon, etc .... but with PEPPER? Someone investigate please. I'm tempted to go buy some.

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That's all for now folks!

Times of Oman Interview Questions

Might as well follow the Dragon's example and publish my answers to Sandhya Menon's questions (intelligent reporter from the Times of Oman) before the paper is out. I was asked by Sandhya (also a blogger) a couple of weeks ago if I would be willing to participate in a piece she was writing on bloggers. I agreed, for the sake of all newspaper readers who crave something interesting every once in a while.

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She also asked for recommendations and I immediately sent her the links to some of my favorite blogs. Muscat Confidential was at the top of the list and it amused me terribly to hear that he was banned by the Times of Oman and thus could not be part of the article. Shame. However, fear not, for someone must have gotten in a good word somehow and he was invited to answer a set of questions. I will say no more. Part One on bloggers is in today's newspaper and part two will be out tomorrow. Stay tuned.

PS (please note that I chose mild/polite/friendly answers for the newspaper)

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Will you ever blow your cover?

No. Blowing my cover will limit the topics I can write about. Anonymity gives me the freedom of writing honestly without worrying about being labeled.

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Are you afraid you might be found out?

Not really. I'm not committing I crime, you know? Being anonymous is just more convenient.

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If you are, what do you think the consequence would be? I chose not to answer.

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How was it for you to have moved back after living in environments that afford women much more freedom that Oman?

I do not feel that I lack freedom in Oman. I am proud of being Omani and I would never choose to live anywhere else. However, I do live in a conservative town and unlike Western countries, social networking is huge. Everyone knows everyone. It bothered me at first that I seemed to have no privacy, but I just needed time to adapt. It was hard moving from a country that values individuality back into a society where collectivistic thinking rules and people are afraid of anyone 'different'.

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Apart from realization of writing skills and a wonderful level of comfort with English, what was the reason you started to blog?

I started blogging because I want to write a book on society in Dhofar sometime in the future. A friend of mine (an author) told me that in order to work towards this goal, I had to write one good page a day. Writing for yourself can get depressing after a while, so I thought 'why not find an audience?'. Blogging was the perfect solution. I needed to write about real issues and I needed feedback in order to stay motivated. My readers are my inspiration. It has been an amazing journey.

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Do you think you can bring about a change in society, however slow and tedious, with your writing and the awareness that your blog spreads?

Definitely. When I first started blogging, I thought I'd be writing for myself, but within a month or two when Dhofari Gucci became more popular, things changed. I'd meet someone for coffee and they'd immediately ask 'Have you heard about Dhofari Gucci?'. It was insane. I came to realize that whenever anyone Googles anything about Dhofar or Salalah in English, inevitably a link to my blog shows up on the first search page. That's how most people find it. I feel a strong sense of responsibility, especially after I discovered that my articles are being used as teaching material in colleges and I even discovered that someone quoted me in their Ph.D! This is why I try to do a little research before expressing my own personal opinion.

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Has your blog ever been noticed by anyone who has objections to what you write in there?

Yes indeed. I get hate mail on a regular basis. I can't please everyone, especially since I'm writing about sensitive social issues. If you're asking about objections from higher authorities, I pick my topics carefully. My intention has never been to offend anyone. (I know that I've annoyed some officials from the Ministry of Information in Dhofar on several occasions. A lot of people don't appreciate my spreading Dhofar's dirty laundry - as they put it- on the internet)

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If yes, how have you responded/reacted?

I had to start moderating comments a few months back when Dhofari Gucci started gaining publicity.

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How far do you plan to take your blog in that that it reveals a side of Dhofar/Oman and its people that is not very well known?

Last year after doing a little online research, I realized there are absolutely no blogs about Dhofar written by Omanis in English. In fact, it's quite hard to find any information about life in Dhofar online unless through expat websites. There are many aspects about our culture that expats do not understand. So many people come here as tourists but don't have any idea about our history and society. They're shown the green mountains, beaches, camels, coconuts, etc, but where can they find 'real' information about the people? Dhofar is such an amazing place. I feel it's my responsibility to live up to the role of Dhofar's ambassador to the English speaking world. I try to stay real without sounding like a tourism website.

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Do you have any ambitions for the blog?

Yes! There's so much I want to write about and there are so many issues that need to be tackled. I'm hoping Dhofari Gucci will become the most reliable online source of information on Dhofar. In order to reach that goal, I need to find more time to do research write. At the moment, obligations and duties in my 'real' life have taken all my spare time and I find I don't have an hour or two a day to write.

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Does it bother you that you have to be anonymous to tell it like it is?

Not much. Sometimes it gets frustrating when I have to change details around before publishing posts in order to conceal my identity. However, the advantages of being anonymous completely outweigh the disadvantages.

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Does anyone know of your identity? Family, close friends?

No. However, I have met other female bloggers in person for coffee and a chat. We're now great friends. Bloggers cover up for one another because we're all on the same boat. I have met some very enlightened young women. We all have a lot in common and after following each other's blogs for a while, it only makes sense to meet in person. I'm constantly fascinated by the number of young Omani writers out there who are capable to expressing themselves so easily in English.

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How does having this unlimited space affect your personality? For eg: Are you more interested in the goings-on of things so that you can have material for your blog? Are you more socially aware because you realize you can't put up something that you don't understand?

Yes I definitely feel that I'm more tuned in to my surroundings. I'm always looking for topics to write about. When I'm with my friends, I'm constantly asking for their opinion on anything from polygamy, witchcraft, divorce rates, local traditions, to local food and music! I carry a notebook around with me wherever I go. I definitely feel more passionate about Dhofar and I find that I'm more interested in reading about the history of this region. I find that I am able to zone out and look at Dhofar from an outsider's perspective as well as from a local girl's point of view.

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Do you write in Arabic as well?

I'm fluent in both Arabic and English, and I do write in Arabic. However, I'm more comfortable writing about Dhofar in English because I'm dealing with a completely different audience. The English-speaking online community in Oman is very different than the Arabic one, and there's plenty of information available in Arabic, so why not explore new territory?

A New Beginning

" To make an end is to make a Beginning." -T. S. Eliot .

My first post of 2010. Wow. What a year/decade this has been for me. I remember New Year 2000 very well. I was in grade 9 and I had a math exam the next day, so I spent the entire evening studying and trying to stay awake for the Millenium. I finally did make it, and was blessed to see 1999 become 2000. Ten years have passed and I took time out on Thursday to reflect on all the major events in my life. I finished middle school, started high school, started painting, received a scholarship, went to university, studied like mad, expanded my horizons, fell in love with learning all over again, travelled a lot, graduated, got my drivers' license, bought my first car, started work, studied more, and this year I started my blog.

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A lot of other things happened obviously, but I can't blog about them. I feel blessed and at peace with myself and with the world. I sat on the beach with a friend on New Year's Eve. It was a full beautiful moon (lucky me!) so I did manage to get a photo of it. It was so perfect that New Year's was on a weekend, with a full moon (Dhofaris love full moons). There were hundreds of people on the beach relaxing and waiting to welcome the new year in a peaceful way.

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Blog-wise, it has been a wonderful year for me. I can't remember why I suddenly decided to start blogging. I remember thinking to myself 'Who's going to read my thoughts?', and was blown away by the number of readers, comments, and emails I have received since I started blogging in April. It has been quite over-whelming at times, and I apologize to anyone who wrote to me and hasn't received a response yet. I try my best to keep up with the emails, but if you knew how many emails I receive a day you'd forgive me. However, I do remember receiving an email from a young expat wife who was moving to Salalah and she wanted to know about life here, etc. I searched my entire inbox for her email and couldn't find it. So, if you're reading this, please write me again and I'll provide as many details as you want. Special thanks to my FIRST TWO READERS! Faith & Sting. I still have no idea how they found my blog, but they did and they inspired me to keep writing.

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Ok, enough sentimental thoughts. I wanted to let you all know that I was privileged enough to have dinner with fellow blogger Reality in Oman last week. Our meeting was not planned but it all worked out well and we ended up spending 4 hours together. She is a fascinating & enlightened young woman, and I was very lucky to meet her. The topics she blogs about are always intriguing and thought-provoking. She is quite intense, but also has a quiet sense of humor. Meeting fellow writers has been one of 2009's greatest gifts to me. I have met some very interesting and enlightened bloggers over the past few months. We inspire one another to continue writing & I don't feel the pressure and fear of them exposing who I am because we're all in the same boat together.

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Do you believe in New Year resolutions? Do you believe in opening a new page and giving yourself the chance to start over? If yes, what kind of resolutions and plans have you come up with?

Two Bloggers Meet

Dear All,
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Yes it happened. Yes I'm alive. Yes Rania is the person I expected her to be and my sources were 100% correct. And YES Rania is cool!
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As she mentioned in her post about the meeting, I did sit in my car and wait until she pulled up and then I waited until she got out and spent a few moments observing her. She was standing nervously clutching her bag and trying not to look left and right. I decided to put her out of her misery, so I approached her from behind and shouted 'Boo!'. She jumped. I smiled. Arrogant, my dear readers? Nah.
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I could tell she was nervous. I'm not that scary, but I guess after following my blog for so long, she'd created this 'Nadia' personality in her little brain and wasn't able to handle the real person. However, her nervousness didn't last for very long. After about ten minutes (and probably after I'd pulled out a pair of grilled shades for her) she started to relax. We ordered coffee (café lattes from Browniz if you really must know), and drove to the beach.
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We parked at the end of Haffa Beach, took our shoes off and settled down in our chairs with our feet buried in the cold sand (it's a nice feeling). I find it easier to talk to people in the dark for some reason. Conversations are more meaningful at night. Does anyone agree with me? We talked for three hours straight about absolutely everything. We do have a lot in common, even though she's not Omani. I guess being married to an Omani and knowing many locals has expanded her 'Dhofari Horizons'. She understands the culture and blends in very well.
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We talked about Dhofar in depth. Both of us are Dhofar-lovers. We discussed the fact that many people are now using Dhofari Gucci and Sleepless in Salalah as valid reference material on Dhofar, which is flattering yet scary. I have met so many people who have quoted my blog and even used it as teaching material. It's reached the point where if you google anything about Dhofar or Salalah, inevitably one of our blogs will show up on the first search page. We realized that it's our responsibility to make sure that what we write is good and valid material. We brainstormed so many ideas for our blogs, and listed the issues we want to tackle. As a foreigner married to an Omani, Rania has a unique perspective on life here. Positive and realistic. She's very down to earth and intelligent, and I trust that she will write excellent posts on our crazy little town.
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She was off on a camping trip with her husband's family the next day and begged me not to write about our meeting until she got back. To those of you who aren't techie-minded, I actually cancelled comment moderation this week, and so I wasn't moderating all the comments under my last post, as many of you thought. I decided to take a break from the computer this past weekend and enjoy real life. The rain in Salalah was refreshing. Winter arrived this morning. I took one look out my window and knew that today would be the first of many dry windy dusty days.
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Rania came back from camping, and told me I could write again (well, thank you!). Overall, our meeting was great, and I predict many more similar encounters. Ask any person who was on Haffa Beach between 6:30 and 9:45 p.m on Tuesday whether they saw anything … odd.

Two girls in abayas wearing grilled shades?

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Yours Sincerely,
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Nadia
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PS (In her blog, Rania accuses me of insisting on using my car to go to the beach and being bossy. Well, evidently she wasn't focused enough to realize that the beach mat and chairs came out of my car, so yes we had to take my car. Just thought I'd clarify).

Competition On The Horizon

Yes, you heard me. I have a competitor. Not too sure if I'm pleased about it or not (I'm a selfish person), but I'm happy about having another blogger from Dhofar who writes in English. She's only published three posts, but I can tell that her future observations are going to be super-interesting. I may even meet her one day (in my niqab and pink grill glasses to conceal my identity). Please join me in welcoming Rania, author of Sleepless in Salalah!

Oman Forum

Some of you may recall that during September the cool founder of OmanForum.com started up a forum for 'Blogs By Omanis & Expats in Oman'. It meant that whenever bloggers published a post in their own blogs, the post would automatically be published in the forum as a new thread. Several bloggers added their blogs to this forum including myself, Reality in Oman, and others. The advantages were that the bloggers were getting more exposure and more readers. Disadvantages were that readers commented directly under the post in the forum (so at times the blogger had no idea when people were commenting).

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However, the worst downfall is that many OmanForum readers used their anonymity to criticize endlessly and to be quite rude at times. They didn't quite understand the concept of 'blogs' and didn't see the 'blogger' as a person; merely were pissed off because some of the posts were personal and not entertaining. One guy commented on my previous 'Mixed Post' by saying "Who cares what you do before you sleep? Your writing is empty". Umm... my dear sir, I am not writing to entertain YOU. This is MY blog, MY space, MY daily journal, and I can DAMN WELL write what I want, thank you very much! I think blogs and forums should be completely independent of one another and kept far away from each other because both have completely different audiences. I found the OmanForum audiences to be rude, rather empty, and not as intelligent and respectful as blog readers. I love my readers and I take time out everyday to check out their blogs and read what they have to say. It's a give and take relationship. We encourage one another to write, and our writing is most certainly not empty.
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This morning I sent an email to the founder of OmanForum asking him to remove my blog from the forum. He wrote back immediately, bless his heart, and informed me that he had removed the entire forum completely. It was obviously misunderstood and not the success he had hoped for.

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Anyway, OmanForum.com is a great place for discussions, even if some of the members are losers. But for serious, deep writing and contemplation, let's stick to blogs and limit your readers to the intelligent type. Cheers. Going to make myself some coffee ...

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PS (an Oman Forum reader would easily reply to this post by saying 'No one wants to know whether you're going to make yourself coffee!!'. .. Haha!!)

Another Mixed Post!

Guess what?! Another random post! I seriously have scatter-brain syndrome, and I'm not even on Twitter, so I don't know what this is all about (i.e. people who use Twitter are usually scatter-brains). Anyway, here are a bunch of thoughts that are swimming around in my brain today:

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(1) I was reading G-Chan's blog this morning and she said it takes her at least an hour of thinking every night before she can contemplate sleeping. Tell me about it! I'm usually in bed at 11 p.m every night, yet I only ever sleep at 1 a.m usually or even 1:30. What do I do in those two hours? I think, analyze, contemplate, brainstorm, etc. I'm an intense person so I can't just imagine pink clouds and go to bed. No, sir, not me. I'm a deep thinker, so it's hard. Anyway, I have about three notebooks beside my bed and a bunch of pens. I usually have amazing ideas in the middle of the night (one of them was to start a blog! look where it got me) that need to be jotted down immediately otherwise I won't sleep worrying that I'll forget them. Finally, to prove to you all that I'm totally wacko, I solve math problems in bed because it helps me sleep. No, I am not a student. No, my career has NOTHING to do with math. Yes, I solve math problems in bed. Try doing (34856 x 32888 /4 - 500) in bed on a piece of paper in semi-darkness.

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(2) You know sometimes you end up having friends in life who are so sweet and kind, it's almost abnormal?! People who always take time out to ask about others, and help them, and who don't seem to carry a bad thought in their head/hearts? People who are pure, generous, caring, loving creatures who seem to be giving their all to the world? Yeah, well, when I first started this blog, I came across one of those creatures. We followed each other's blogs then met for coffee. Our first meeting proved my theory that she is probably one of the sweetest people I've ever know. Yes, I'm talking about you Shahrazad . Who knows, maybe you're evil deep down inside, but I seriously doubt it. You're one of the sweetest people I know. What was that crazy SMS conversation we had last night? It involved soap ... men ... journeys ... MAC makeup?

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(3) I met a very interesting man last night. VERY interesting. Omani orphan raised by expats? He's now a middle-aged man so you can imagine how odd that must be ...
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(4) This entire week the whole of Salalah has been full of ROP security check points. Some say it's standard procedure. Others say there are Somali illegal immigrants causing trouble. Anyway, I was stopped 3 times in a period of 36 hours. That's odd. I see the policemen being rough with all the cars in front of me 'Gimme that license! Why isn't your car renewed! What's this?! Who's that!', etc. They give you the look that says 'I'm tired, I'm a policeman, and I'm going to take it out on you'. HOWEVER, if you're a girl ......... that's a completely different story. He's my encounter last night:

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I'm driving through town and I see a flashing sign "ROP Security Check - Please Stop"...
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Nadia pulls over .. rolls down window and looks for her driver's license and car ownership:

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Police: Good evening, my dear. How are you?

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Nadia: Oh, very well officer. And you? *flashing innocent sweet smile* Policeman melts.

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Police: As you see, it's rough and exhausting. No need to give me your license. Go ahead. Sorry if we caused any inconvenience. (trying to act cool)

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Nadia: Oh that's ok, Officer. Have a nice evening! *flashes another smile*

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It's great being a girl sometimes.
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(5) I was having a conversation with Ma7feef last night about childhood crimes. I'm sure we all did something bad in our childhood that we'd rather not remember. Anyway, I was thinking about it (obviously in bed past midnight) and the only thing that came up in my mind was my evil crimes in grade nine when I was 13. It was my last year at that particular middle school before I hit high school, and the principal of my school was EVIL. When I say 'Evil' I mean evil. She used to chase girls around with scissors in case she saw loose strands on hair, etc *khuslat*. She tortured everyone in our school, including the teachers and I was determined to get my revenge before I left the school. Anyway, I spent two weeks writing an 85-line poem about her in proper 'fus7a' Arabic . On my last day at school I had printed out almost 100 copies of the poem, I went to school really early and I posted a copy up on each classroom door, including a huge colourful copy on her door. The school went into fits of hysterical laughter and the principal ended up 'arresting' several girls whom she thought had written it. I got away fortunately because I look so innocent. Only two or three friends knew about my crime. Yet over 500 people read it and enjoyed it and probably have kept copies of it. It was fun. Do I regret it? Not really.

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(6) I'm really proud of Dhofari bloggers. I don't want to discriminate between different parts of Oman, but we can't deny the fact that 99% of bloggers live in Muscat. I've only come across 4 blogs by Dhofaris. Please if you know any, send them to me! If bloggers in Dhofar can unite, then we can actually do something to serve society down here in the South (the wild wild South). Look at Bloggers Against H1N1 in Muscat! They're actually 'moving' and doing something besides hiding behind their computer monitors writing. Kudos to Bader and Muawiyah and the other Muscat bloggers who are doing something for others. As for Dhofar, I'm giving a shout-out to Ma7feef and Pepsi Diet who were brave enough to start their own blogs. Please spread the word and encourage others to start writing. As for you bloggers in Muscat, you've inspired me, and I admire you.

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Enough writing for now! Have tons of work to do.. Have a great day everyone! (PS: the photo was taken at the lookout point right before Darbat valley).

Coffee

I'm craving a cup of coffee. C.R.A.V.I.N.G. Thus, I cannot write. How can I be creative without my dose of caffiene? Ahh.. Ramadan. I'm brainstorming ideas for my next post. How about 'Why We Need More Cafes in Salalah!'.... or 'Coffee in Oman' ... or ....... something to do with coffee. Maybe later on a little polygamy or 'the dowry problem' in Dhofar. I'll think about it.

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This photo was taken up past Zaik (ADG: Go Team Zaik) in the mountains. The fog has cleared and we can now see! I'm visiting Darbat valley tomorrow if I can get someone to take me (see photo on right). Have a great weekend. Peace.

Attention Bloggers: Blogs by Omanis & Expats in Oman

To all interested bloggers, Oman Forums are trying to set up a forum for blogs by Omanis & Expats in Oman. If you're interested in adding your blog to the list, send an email with your blog to abufaisal@omanforum.com. I'm supporting this idea because I'm interested in finding other blogs in Oman. I recommend My Reservoir of Thoughs, Um3azzan's Thoughts, Keeping it Real in Oman, Sting's Vantage Point, Faith's blog, Muscat Confidential, Muscat Mutterings, A Muggle's Tale, Blue Chi, Sew Chic & Unique, etc. These are the blogs I follow regularly in English. The Arabic dudes are another list! Or, if you want your blog added to the forum but don't feel like emailing, just let me know you agree and I'll inform OmanForum.