Even ventileren....

O man, wat zijn Indiers soms toch ook irritante mensen. Komt er een supervisor van een van onze locatie omdat ie problemen heeft. Dus bel ik met onze client om zijn kant van het verhaal te horen. Krijg ik een woordenvloed van onverstaanbaar Indiaas engels over me heen. Dus vraag duidelijk aan die man om rustig te praten. Dit houdt die man twee zinnen vol en rammelt dan weer door in onbegrijpbare kreten. Naja, wat een gedoe heey. Het frustreert me wel hoor maar ik sla me er door. Uiteindelijk heb ik niet het idee dat er iets zinnigs uit is gekomen. Ik moet gewoon nog leren omgaan met Indiers. Rare jongens zijn het. Maar aan de andere kant ook wel veel spanning aan mijn hoofd hoor. Het werk is wel een uitdaging maar niet makkelijk. Ik begin nu ik ook echt in de organisatie aan het werk ga dat er echt een gebrek aan organisatie en samenwerking is. Naja. beste beentje voor. Ik ga er voor. Bid maar voor rust in mijn hoofd. Alle lof aan God!

Gorgeous day (last weekend)

It is seven o clock. My alarm goes off. I want to stay in bed but I won't. Today is Thursday and I have taken the morning off. Andy – who I met at Church before - is taking me on a trip to visit some different nice Omani sites. We meet up at somewhere at at the Sultan Al Qaboos High way and start our trip in his 4x4 Daihatsu Terios. Our journey plan is to go to Wadi Shab, a supposedly a beautiful place with palm trees and pools right in the middle of the valley (a Wadi) in the mountains. Also we want to go to the so called “sinkhole”, a big hole close to the sea that holds beautiful blue green water and fish that nibble your feet.
We drive out of the parking spot leaving my car behind and heading in the direction of Sur. We drive through the mountains near Muscat and there is little traffic. The mountains are beautiful, very rocky and and have deep red brownish colour. We talk about life, church, christians, apologetics and arrive at a town called Quriyat. A small town at the Arabian sea. We take some pictures of some nice old forts (it's Andy on the picture) and drive further along the coast.
My phone goes off. It is Mr. Khalid. I tell him that I am heading in the direction of Sur. Immediately he responds by saying that this is his hometown and that I will go to Sur to meet his family and have lunch there. Later I talk to his older brother Mr. Mussalem on the phone. We are expected at two in the afternoon.

Next stop is the sinkhole in the Dibab area. And yes, it is beautiful. More than that. A nice park surrounds the deep basin which is about 40x25 meters in diameter. A starecase with remarkably big steps leads down to the pond that has many blue and green colourations. Before descending I watch an old Omani slowly finding his way downwards, his walking stik in loosely in his right hand and at every step he takes his left hand gently pulling his Dishdash to give his legs a bit more space. It is said that people used to believe that Demons used to house this pool and call it Afreet something something. A name having to do with demons. Superstition you think?

I make my way down and find myself looking at this marvellous water. I take of my shoes and take a step in the warm water. Another step. As soon as the whirling sand settles small little fish gather around my feed and start nibbling, my toes and feet. The first minute it tickles terribly, then it becomes more of a natural foot massage. I reckon about 50 guppy-like fish are indulging on what ever substance, smell or taste it is that they make them become attracted to my feet. I sit down on a rock and enjoy this natural wonder of feet nibbling creatures. We leave this place with great satisfaction. I want to go back here sometimes.
We move on and drive further East and stop a couple of times, for instance at Fins. We take pictures enjoy the warm sun, spectacular beachview sites and when it starts getting too hot we get back in our mobile refrigerator. Oman with AC is a bliss. Before getting in the car I find a piece of coral and take it with me to put it in my appartment. I don't think I can take it back to Holland through customs though. Too bad.
We don't take the main road straight to the Wadi Shab near Tiwi by the way. No we take the old road that leads through the local villages. This is the real Oman. At one point we find ourselves in the middle of a group of Omani having a barbecue on both sides of the street. Strangely they look at us as we pass their local gettogether, they don't seem bothered by us though. We keep driving and all of a sudden the road is so steep we start wondering if the car won't tip over. It does not. Luckily. And as we start wondering how to continue now, we see the sign for the Wadi Shab right there.

Now we are standing at the foot of the mountain range and about 200 meters behind us we can

see the sea. In front of us is the opening, the end of a gorge. This is an amazing canyon with jade coloured pools and streams and typical palmtrees. Entering this gorgeous place we look at the beauty of all the rich and abundant colours. The walls of mountains that we see on both our right and left hand vary from a rusty brown-red to pale orange, sandy yellow beige and almost chocoate brown and as the sunlight casts its presence over parts of the mountains, the contrasts makes it look like this place has come alive. We are astonished and overwhelmed by the beauty of this natural miracle.

In the heat we try to walk as much as possilbe in the protection of the shadow of the date palms which have already given their fruits during the summertime. Here and there we see some old palm trunks and we are told later that a couple of years ago a terrible storm had caused a destructive flood that swept away halve of all the vegataion in the area. During our hike we meet some people from various countries that are also here for recreation. They point us in the right direction and tell us that after an hour hiking there is nice natural pool. Full

of anticipation we continue hiking. I wrap my t

owel over my head to give me some protection from

the hot scourging sun. Each of usonly brought one small bottle of water so soon we start getting a little thirsty. But since we also have to make our way down we safe some of our water. Anyway, having hiked for

at least an hour – we take pictures around every corner, at every new rocks and stone and flower that we see – we reach the point were we can go no further without swimming. Therefore the bag stays at this point and Andy and I surrender to the water of this natural tropical pool. What makes it so special is that the water is warm, and it is so bright and that there are caves that in which you can swim. So there I am, in the water, looking up and it all around me is mountain and lightbeams enter the cave through cracks in the ceiling. Magnificent.

But then it is time to go back. We are already late for our lunch appointment but there is no reception here so its not possible to call our hosts. With this great experience we decend quickly and go back to our car. Mavi Mushkallaah, is the respons when we do finally call Mr. Mussalem.That means “no problem”. We are still more than welcome in his house in Sur. With a hungry stomach and directions to where we meet we rush to Sur. In Sur Mr. Mussalem has a warm welcome for us. He receives us in the guest room. A beautiful colourful room with a couch al around the room. It can easily hold 30 people. At one of the walls hangs a nice depiction of a boat. It is a Boum, a traditional Omani boat, that is however not being built anymore. On the background we see a house which is the familiy house of the Al Ruzaiqi familiy. Lunch is served and we replenish our bodies with delicious, fish, chicken, rice, fruits, dates and I don't know what more. After the lunch we continue with drinking suleymanie tea and

Omani coffee. This is sweet moderetely strong coffee served in very tiny cups. In Omani tradition this is served at arrival of the guests. The hosts stands and the guests sit and being served the coffee. New coffee is given as long as the guests wishes to get a refill. If he is done he is supposed to gently sway the cup signaling the host no new coffee is wanted. Normally people drink about three to four cups but coffee addicts will cause the host to stand on his feet for a long time since it is not considered polite to serve full cups. Only a small sip is served per cup. Go figure if you're used to drinking a venti coffee at your local Starbucks. Then it is prayer time. No problem Andy and I think, we'll wait here. It happens often that I need to wait before a meeting or whatever cause people need to go to prayer. But on this occassion our host rolls out his mat in direction of Mekka and just does te prayer in front of us. Feeling slightly uncomfertable and awkward, staring at our cups of tea I think what to make of all this. The praying ritual involves standing, kneeling, bowing, and silent prayer. I am happy we are not invited to partake in this prayer. Although, if he would have asked, I would have probably said that I would pray to Jesus instead. Anyway, after prayer we are drive to the family house, a couple of blocks away. There we meet the second to oldest of al eight brothers, Mr. Abdullah. We spend about 15 minutes there. We talk about Islamic believes and Omani culture. Mr. Mussallem explains that if a unannounced guest arrives at his house he would have to take care of him for three days without asking what his business is, or waht the reason of his stay is. Then after three days, he can ask, what is your business, what's the deal? But not earlier than having taken care of him for three days. After visiting this house we go to the farm house. This is where the familiy usually stays the other halve of the year. The house and garden are under construction. Some thirty goats, fifty chickens and two bulls are there livestock. The bulls are being held to be slaughtered at Eid, one of the Islamic holidays at the end of November. I actully may spend Eid there. The sun has set already and we need to make our way back home. But of course we cannot leave empty handed and both Andy and I bring home a bucket full of the best dates that were grown on the farm here. Delicious.
On the way back we are both exhausted and amazed by this beautiful day. Oman is a gorgeous country. The people are very hospitable. And I am having all these great experiences. I mean, look at the picture. But also I know that my position here is based on social inequity, injustice. and favoratism They way I live has a price that is paid by so many people that are less fortunate. This topic I must explore more. But not now. Now is the time to sleep, I feel tire. Good night.

Today I moved to my new apartment. I left the guesthouse. This is a nice apartment and we are still working on furnishing it. I picked some nice stuff from a local furnishing company here. The kitchen and bathroom are in need of some remodeling so I hope that that will happen soon too. But things tend to take a little more time here than I am used to. But hey, maavi mushkaalaa; no problem.

Also today I had diner with Naseem , Senior Personnel Manager (blah blah titles...) and his family. They are so kind. His brother in law was also there. Mehmood. Great guy, 28 years old, intellegent, so perfect for discussion and interesting conversations. We talked about Islamic beliefs and how it differs from the Bible. It is actually quite puzzling to me. They believe in Jesus Christ as a prophet of God and not as his Son. Of course I knew that, but I didn't know that they believe that is will come back on Judgment day. There, from what the tell me, He will have victory over the anti christ. Also they told me that they believe that the Bible is not true because it was altered. And of course the Qu'ran is not. What I didn't know was that for Muslims it is okay to marry a Jew or Christian and it is not necessary for them to convert to Islam, since they believe that God is the same as allah. I don't know though what to make of all this. I am interested to knowing whether that argument of the altered Bible is widely accepted and what the content of that argument is. So who changed what etc. Moreover, it is weird hearing Muslims speak about Jesus Christ to. Like they also know him. But different. Almost like, hey, your not supposed to know anything about him because "Jesus belongs to us"...All in all, for me it makes it all much more relevant to learn more about Jesus Christ. In a strange kind of way it seems to become more relevant to really finding out what Truth is about God. I mean, with people that don't believe in God at all, I experience the discussion to be so much more different. I'll keep you posted on this.

Yesterday by the way, I met two people at the Food expo. They are from Italy and I had good contact with them soon after meeting them. We had some laughs and it was good spending time with them. Afterwards we had a great seafood diner at the adjacent hotel. Very nice. So thanks to Elena and Flavio! They made the day yesterday.

Btw. My story of last weekend is still in progress.

Food Expo

Today, and the next to days, there is a Food Expo in Muscat. They, some department heads, decided that Al Athnain needed to be there too. So in a rush a stand was arranged and some decorations were made. I nice effort :-). Also Vegetable Biryiani (an Indian Rice dish) was served for visitors. A nice teaser to attract visitors. Still a lot improvements to be made. But I like expo's. You always meet new people, get to know the industry better and the atmosphere is also pretty relaxed. Anyway, just another day in Oman ;-) ... like life is boring here. Haha, definitely not. Actually sometimes it is a little bit too much and I do have quite some responsibilities here in the hygiene department. I will try to write a little bit more about that later. Ow, and I also want to write something about social inequality/ (in)justice. Man, there is just so much to write about :-).

To close this ongoing rambling of mine let me say. Things go well here! Gods Bless!

Just saying hi

Hi!

I am working on a long post about my experiences this weekend. But since it is not finished I'll just leave a short note here. Last night I asleep and I don't really know what happened but I was very fast asleep. Then I think I had some very weird dream and I remember that I tried to get out of it. But I couldn't. At least at first. And then when I finally did wake up I had no idea where I was. I was staring at the ceiling in the dark and I had to tell myself that I was in Oman and that I was in my bed room. Very weird. Well what you gonna do about it.

And here is a teaser for the story about this weekend:

Kitchens in the interior

19/10/09

Today I took the bus to somewhere in the middle of nowhere. So now I am at a construction camp in the desert. I will do some auditing on hygiene matters in kitchen around the sites here.

20/10/09

I visited three camps today. The second camp, in Wadi Musallem was terrible. It is pretty remote from the already remote area of Qar Na Alam, where we stay overnight. The kitchen was understaffed, a mess and and not well equipped. I feel sorry for the su

pervisor there. But it doesn't seem to be a location with a very high priority for both the client and my company. The kitchen here though is definitely the best I have seen here in the interior yet. Well equipped, well maintained, well staffed.

But of course you are more interested in reading adventurous stories about traveling through the great hazardous desert and wilderness.

Well I have took some nice pictures as you can see

About the one with the exhaust pipes here, I figure that has something to do with the oil production in the area.

he picture of the sun was taken from our car and

it is actually the same the sun as you have there.

The one with the camel made me smile. I am still waiting to see a camel with a car on its back... En voor alle mensen die denken dat ze een onderscheid

maken tussen Dromedarissen en Kamelen, vergeet het maar. Het heet hier gewoon een Kameel. De twee bultigen komen niet eens in de Golfstaten voor, daarvoor moet je meer naar kouder Azie.

And the one with the desert. Well, what can you say... It's a she... and her name is Sandy

Thursday is Saturday and Friday is Sunday

Something that I wrote earlier:

A blanket of warmth and heat. Hospitality and kindness. A 48 hours work week. A new weekly structure. A gazillion roundabouts. A crowded office. Prayer calls five times a day. A two hour lunch break. Mosques on every street corner. Just some of the first impressions that I have of this first week in Oman. Right now I feel tired.
It is Friday and I came back from church an hour ago. There is a compound that holds both the catholic and protestant church here in Oman. I visited a contemporary service of the PCO, the Protostant Church of Oman. That is already one of the things that I did not expect; the ability to practice the Christian religion here so openly. Sultan Al Qaboos is quite open minded I suppose. Yesterday, Saturday... I mean Thursday... Badr, my Omani friend getting me set up here and exactly three days older than me, showed my around Muttrah and took me to the Souk (market ) there. Also he showed me the humble home of the Sultan in Muscat.
Concerning my work, in my first week here I plunged in my work right away and found myself learning many new things while also being wrapped in confusion and struggle. I am learning about HACCP (hygiene management) while feeling that I know way too little about it. Also I have no idea yet of how to make a proper beginning in all this new information coming at me. I’ll keep you updated. Furthermore, I think I haven’t seen one person at work sitting for more than 10 minutes at his or her desk without walking out talking to co-workers or running around with a file or document of some sort. It is interesting to work in this culture and my colleagues are trying to teach me some Arabic. It is hard... I learned that the people from India here (and trust me, there are many) learn to speak the language in about 2 months. I feel I am going to need more time.
I’ll keep you posted. Much love and peace to all of you.

The sheep

Yesterday I organized a BBQ on the beach for Al Athnain employees (my company). We went to Al Qu'rum beach. Too bad the sun sets already at 6 'o clock. So it was already dark when we got there. Anyhow, with about 20 people we had a good bbq. It was nice to be around people from work outside of the working context.

In preparations for the bbq by the way we went to a slaughterhouse, bought a Somalian sheep and and left to do some other shopping at Luly Hypermarket in the Bousher area. Coming back after halve an hour at the slaughter house we found our sheep hanging upside down, the tongue hanging out of its mouth, killed and completely skinned; ready to be butchered. So as I stood two feet away from the butcher I instructed him how to I wanted the cuts and he gave me a demonstration, "how to butcher a sheep in 10 minutes?" Interesting notion, when I looked at the small heap of organs on the table I noticed the heart still beating occasionally. In my head I immediately started singing Michael Jackson's 'Beat it', in the futile hope to extend the heart's lifespan a little bit. Helas, the sheep was dead.. but ready to be eaten :)

Oman blog has opened

My dear friends and family,

Having spend a week in Oman I needed to open this blog, or it wouldn't probably ever happen.
Anyway, here it is. I will try to keep you updated regularly about events that surround my life and the activities that I partake in. Basically I will tell you how I am doing, and of course show you all the beatiful pictures of Oman (and beyond perhaps).

And by the way, I love receiving emails :-) to keep in touch with each of you personally