(photo: Darbat Valley during the monsoon)
Jum'a Mubaraka (i.e. Blessed Friday) to all your readers out there, regardless of which corner of the earth you come from. Today I realized that we've almost completed two whole weeks of fasting. Unbelievable how time flies. For some reason I feel fasting this year has been much easier. Hunger strikes around 2 - 3 p.m then it's gone again. It's amazing how easy it is to program our bodies to live without food or drink for 14 hours.
Ramadhan in Salalah has been wonderful this year. It's been raining almost everyday and the weather is cool. My thoughts and prayers go out to those of you around the MENA region who are fasting in 50 degree weather (Celsius!).
Bits and pieces from Salalah (I've decided to leave my white prostitution post till after Ramadhan .. naturally):
(1) Donations for Somalia run by a group of young men in Salalah end on August 15th, so if you haven't taken your bags of rice or noodles yet, go now! They are no longer accepting clothes, so stick to dried foods. The location is next to Aqeel Mosque in eastern Salalah off Al Montazah Road. Phone numbers listed in previous post.
(2) Even though Lulu Hypermarket Salalah (the largest in Oman) is new and extremely busy, I was surprised to find that many basic products were unavailable these past couple of weeks due to the Ramadhan food rush. Some bins in the frozen food section are completely empty. When I asked an employee about a basic product that I always buy and that hasn't been available for the past 10 days (Lulu is my local supermarket since I live nearby), he said 'Oh Madam, it's because of Ramadhan'. Believe it or not, I couldn't even find a tub of vanilla ice cream! AT LULU!
(3) Tourist season is not over yet. I am able to spot at least 20 or 30 UAE cars on my to or from work everyday. I'm worried about Eid, though. Will we get thousands of tourists from GCC countries during Eid? Should I go back to Alaska?
(4) To all your Dhofaris out there, I need your help with something. I want to know where I can find the Dhofari sweet 'Qashat' on a regular basis? And does anyone know what happened to the woman who has been selling Qashat by the side of the road on 23rd of July St for years? She disappeared when the construction started.
(5) Interesting report in Business Today Magazine (Oman-based) on women in the workplace.
(6) I was very happy to see an article on fellow blogger Trygve Harris, Dhofar's very own Frankincense lady (she's not Dhofari, but almost! :) in The Week yesterday. You can read the article here. She was also responsible for the delicious Frankincense Ice Cream project at the Salalah Tourist Festival in July (based in Haffa Souq), and recently registered her Salalah based company 'Enfleurage Middle East' in Oman. I will now be able to order frankincense ice cream online! WOOHOO!!!!!
(7) And finally, Dhofari Gucci has decided (after discussing it with a friend and fellow blogger last night) that she no longer wants to have children. At this very moment, I am not kidding. As someone who follows world new regularly, it is hard to remain optimistic about the future of mankind. This week alone, tens of thousands are starving to death in Somalia, hundreds of thousands of Japanese are still trying to rebuild their lives after the series of horrific earthquakes and tsunamis, the riots England this week are a good example of why no one is safe anymore in this world, the stock market crash deserves a post of its own, the Syrian army continues to murder its own people on a daily basis, Libya and Yemen are a disaster, .. the list gets longer. And then you know what the top item is on Reuters this morning? Kim Kardashian sues Old Navy for a lookalike model. WHO GIVES A RAT'S A**?! Seriously, folks, I don't want to bring a child into this world. If you're able to convince me otherwise, be my guest and the comments section is all yours.
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Tata for now! - Nadia
I like your point about Reuters' headline.
ReplyDeleteYou've forgotten about Bahrain though.
They are still oppressed, but they have very few media outlets.
There are many reasons to not have children, but I'm not sure yours is a good one. See this quote:
ReplyDelete"The condition of man is already close to satiety and arrogance, and there is danger of destruction of everything in existence."
- a Brahmin to Onesicritus, 327 BC, reported in Strabo's Geography
This quote is from 327 BC. In other words, people have always been claiming that things were better in the past.
-Omani in US
Hi, Nadia! I'm not about to try and convince you to bring a child into this world. I just wanted you to know that I felt the exact same way right up until the time I saw my newborn son 18 months ago. For me, chiildren were like radiation; I could handle them only in small doses. I also thought "what a world to bring a child into?!" but that has all changed. Having my son makes me more hopeful (and I'm sure that's true with most people with kids). I figure that if we raise him with all the love we can, by the grace of God, there can be one more hopefully selfless individual in the world that can help alleviate some of the suffering of others and bring a bit more hope to the world. I'm sure, like me, your mind will change once you meet the love of your life. Your children will naturally (and supernaturally) be an extention of that love and you WILL be grateful and hopeful. ;-)
ReplyDeleteRegarding the point 4: I would like you to try to make your own sweets at home,,,take new trend then you will absolutely benefit yourself and not to be reliant anymore.
ReplyDeleteYou shouldn't link your personal life with the ongoing disasters and catastrophes around the World...be yourself Nadia and accept God's blessing on us,,, not to deprive yourself of having children,,who know? they might bring good to all mankind.
Never to be pessimistic cause there is no problem without solution.
SO LONG
Ahmed
hi nadia
ReplyDeletefirst you con find Qashat near alisteqrar supermarket at alsaada, regarding having child just see behined the dark glass, the hope of better life that have driven the upraisers and the good harts that responded to Somalia starvition .