Red Lobster

In Kuwait there are so many restaurants you really never have to wait.  So, a red lobster opened in the busiest mall in Kuwait and there were huge lines.  Everyone is given the buzzer that lights up when it is their turn.  However, the Kuwaities had never seen these and when they got tired of waiting they just left taking the buzzers with them, so there was a story in the paper letting people know they have to return the buzzers.  I thought that was funny.

Class Fun and Exercise

Rough week for teaching, but God is good.  It is true what they say at the beginning of the year, do not smile for the first two weeks and be extremely strict because it is easier to lighten up than get tougher.  At the beginning of this year I did not think it was a big deal if they got out of their seats to throw away tissues or get tissues or sharpen pencils, but now they get out of their seats all of the time and spend way to much time passing by all their friends and talking to them on their way to the tissue and then to the trash can, and most of the time they do not even need tissues.  I am trying to crack down now with no getting out of their seats without raising their hands, but it is difficult, and I definitely have been frustrated. 

Still God is good and I am enjoying exercising 4 times a week.  I even took a jumping class this week.  You jump on a trampoline for 45 minutes and do different moves.  It is really a fun way to exercise.  I was ok with not running out of breath, but my toes on both feet went numb, not sure why, but exercising is a good healthy release for me right now.

Souk Shopping

Yesterday and today in Oman we got to visit different souks.  You can haggle when you are there.  A souk is just a whole bunch of little shops side by side with the same exact items (pretty much) where they just want you to buy from them.  when they see people who they think have money coming they say a really high price they hope you will pay, but if you haggle it goes down (normally by half).  However, my new strategy is to just tell them a price that makes sense to me and not have them tell me a price first.  For example, I bought a snow globe tonight that says Oman on it.  I said 3 rials (the Oman money, which is about $7).  He looked at me and said ok.  Then for the fun of it I asked him how much the little bigger one was, and he said 10.  So, I know they say really high and if I low ball them first it normally works better.

Just my little tips if you are ever souk shopping.  However, I still need to work on perfecting my souk haggling skills.  My taxi driving skills of haggling are bad, because even if I haggle down a price I end up tipping them because I feel bad.  So, either way it works out about the same.

I just really enjoy Oman.

Shangri la Oman

Today was a nice day in Oman.  First I went to the grand mosque.  I had to wear my hair covered.  So, I just got a scarf here.  You can get pashmina and silk scarves very easily.  I am not sure, but in American dollars they are less than $15, so I think that is a good price.

Before I went to Oman I had two friends tell me that I should visit Shangri la.  I think I must have misunderstood because Shangri la is in the mountains and it is a resort.  I thought it would be a tourist place.  So, we ate a really nice meal there and went to the beach, which I am not sure we should have done since we were not actually staying at the hotel.  When it was time to go there were no taxis in sight.  So, we started hiking up a mountain and hoping we would find one.  We ended up coming across the security point where you enter Shangri la on the road and we got a taxi.  We were a bit out of our way, but we got to talk to a nice taxi driver who told us ab out his life.  He has sixteen brothers and sisters, and his dad had two wives.  He also pointed out interesting stuff to us in Kuwait.  So, the night turned out different than I expected, but God shows us in our lives daily how our plans may be different, but the way God works things out is amazing.  I had a very nice day.

Oman

Today is my second day in Oman, and when people ask me about stories here I often leave out just daily culture items.  So, on this post I will tell you about what I see and the similarities and differences between Kuwait and Oman.  Oman is beautiful and clean and it's beaches are great.  It is so peaceful and relaxing, even walking on a busy street downtown where there is a lot of traffic.  Kuwait has beaches.  The view is beautiful and trash is everywhere.  Also, where I live in the city of Mahboula, it just feels like we are walking on trash as we walk down the streets.  In Kuwait you cannot walk peacefully.  The non-stop honking of cars and the large amount of men lining the streets and in front of the shops.

Last night we ate at a nice restaurant.  Still, as the same in Kuwait there are cats everywhere.  The cats are sickly looking and always fighting.  Outside of my room in Mahboula the cat fights often keep me awake.  The sound of them is painful and I can't bear it.  So, eating dinner last night was good, but hard to hear the cats fighting, so I did end up feeding one of them.

Now, I am off to the big mosque in Oman that tourists can visit.