The Sims Resource

sallyhailsApr 6, 2008

I agree, if only we were all as liberated as you swedes $\;\)$

sallyhailsApr 5, 2008

We spent a few hours on thursday with a couple who live here, she's scottish and her husband is an omani, they were talking about the swedish tourists, they said that they like to go to the beaches, which btw are pretty much always deserted, and take all their clothes off, I started laughing because that's what they do, but over here it's a big no no $\:o$

eviApr 4, 2008

$\:D$ Neither my daughter nor I had realized thet she was not dressed like the other kids. I had to try hard to change her mind $\:D$

sallyhailsApr 4, 2008

Today we went to Sam's beach, sat with him for a while and got a bit of sun, then we walked along the beach with our feet in the ocean, it was lovely and quiet, we had the whole beach to ourselves....apart from the wildlife of course. We shared the beach with 3 Camels, a Heron and hundreds of Crabs, it was a good, but also a little sad $\;\)$

eviApr 4, 2008

Goodmorning! $\:wub\:$ I laughed reading your coments on my Gothic girl. Well, if you look closer you will see that she is far away from gothic... because it is still cutte. I try to make some non-cute kids but they never come out properly $\:\($ I remember when my daughter was 15 I went to see her professors at her school and while I was waiting for them I was watching the teens walking around. They all were dressed in black or very dark clothes and look so alike to each other. Suddently in the middle of the dark wave of teens I saw one dressed in pink and blue and white coming towards me... She was my daughter $\:D$ As you understand early next day I went shoping with her and I bought some darker clothes for her $\:D$ $\:D$ $\:D$

sallyhailsApr 4, 2008

They didn't pray for Sam, I forgot to leave a gap between 5 and am. $\:o$ The first prayer call is 5 o'clock in the morning. There are Camels, Donkeys, Goats, Cows, Jackals, wild Dogs, Hyeenas, Lizards (lots of Lizzards), we've seen some Antelope bounding around and lots of feral (wild) cats. The birds are....Flamingo's, Weaver Birds, Herons, Coots, Ducks, Seagulls and a few other birds which I don't recognise. The town that we live in is a coastal town so there are lots and lots of beaches, all with white sands, palm trees and blue seas, all are also deserted so you can have a whole beach to yourselves, apart from when the turtles come to lay their eggs. Lots of Swedish tourists come here. $\;\)$ The pace of life is so much different to britain, it's slow, relaxed and laid back, it takes ages to get anything done, the women sleep till mid day and then get up ready for their husbands getting home from work at 1 o'clock, everywhere comes alive at night and the omani's don't go to bed until about 1 o'clock in the morning, because it's so hot during the day, they do as little as possible during daylight hours and then do all they need to do in the evenings and night. The schools are not very good apparently, 30 years ago they had no schools at all and the schools now are pretty much memorise text from a book, they don't think outside of the box $\;\)$

cariadbachApr 4, 2008

$\:\)$ Hi Kristin, just to let you know that I dropped by and have been busy reading Sally's answers. We are getting to know a lot of interesting facts about that part of the world $\:P$ Hope you had a good day. I have been busy doing the TSR challenges, they are great fun but also very frustrating $\:D$

sallyhailsApr 3, 2008

The bread is too sweet, it's not very nice at all, we have some really nice bread in england and I miss it. Martin had breakfast with some omani soldiers yesterday so he gave me a little bit of insight on how they eat. They sit crossed legged on the floor, the food is on a big communial plate on a cloth on the floor, the breakfast was a bit like porridge but it wasn't porridge (don't blame me, it's my hubby's description) and you scooped if off of the plate with some flat bread, you can't use your left hand for eating, and you must take your shoes off before entering someone's house, as they pray in their house. Yes they must pray to mecca 5 times a day and we constantly hear them being called to prayer by the mosques (or however you spell it), the first call being at about 5am. $\:wacko\:$ That's all I can remember for now! hope it's given you a bit more of an insight $\:D$

sallyhailsApr 1, 2008

I forgot to say... my cleaner is from Sri Lanka $\:D$

sallyhailsApr 1, 2008

I have some pictures of the inside of my house which the people who lived here before sent us, they're on my pc so I will post them in my blog for you when it arrives, but a basic description is....white walls, marble floors, high ceilings. I don't know all about the culture yet, the rights of passage etc, but like you, I'm interested in it too so as soon as I find out I will let you know. So have you decided where you're going to Uni? You may have told me before but I've forgotten, a lot has happened since then and my brain is old and tired $\:P$

sallyhailsApr 1, 2008

I've been driving around trying to get my bearings and trying to get used to driving on the other side of the road and car, been shopping a few times, reading, surfing the net, laundry, watching tv, that's what my being a lady of leisure consists of at the moment, when I get my pc I will also be simming and creating and when I make some friends I'll be socialising. I don't have to have my head covered, I can just go as I am. I'm not sure about all the school questions you asked, but I will try and find out for you. Men and women eat in seperate rooms in their houses, I haven't seen any Omani women eating out so I guess it's the same in resturants etc too! I've been told that they also socialise in seperate rooms too i.e men in one room, women in another. The food....good question, I'm not too sure, all the food we've brought is from supermarkets which have a lot of western food, however there are sacks full of rice, flour and salt everywhere, there's lots of fruit and veg and meat (Goat, chicken and turkey and some beef), the bread is awful, thank god for breadmakers. When we've eaten out we've been to hotels & places for ex pats so it's a wide range of dishes from all over the world. They like their sweets here and have rows and rows of candy and chocolate.

drewsolteszMar 31, 2008

Hi Kristin! Thanks very much for reading and commenting in the conclusion of 'Wagon Master', it is appreciated! I have a new story "A Convenient Bride" would be honoured if you read and commented on it, cheers! $\:wub\:$

sallyhailsMar 31, 2008

Hiya, the men dress in what I can only describe as a long robe, it's usually white but I've also seen brown, green and khaki, they wear a little hat, it's a bit like a pie sat on top of their heads. The country is rich in oil but their oil is running out, they don't want their country to be too heavily westernised, like Dubai, but they have to do something eventually to attract tourists or their country will be in trouble, a lot of omani's don't work and rely heavily on goverment welfare. They have some western things here (Usually quite expensive) they have coke, sprite etc, no McDonalds but a lot of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Pizza Hut, the Sultan of Oman went to Cambridge and he also served in the British Army for a while so he and his country are friendly towards westerners & americans. All signs are written in english as well as arabic, which is a huge relief and great help. The petrol is really cheap here, it costs 12pence a gallon, compared to over £1 in britian. When you pull into a service station to fill up your car, a man does it all for you, you don't have to get out of your car, you even pay them through your window. In the shops a man packs your bags for you and will even take them out to your car. I have a cleaner who comes on a monday and cleans the whole house, she does a really good job. I am a lady of leisure, Martin is on loan to the Omani Army and advises them on their Training etc. He works from 7.30am to 1pm sat-weds. That's all I can think of for now. $\:D$

cariadbachMar 30, 2008

$\:\)$ When I was your age I trained to be a nurse and worked as a nurse until I was 30. By then I had a family we moved to live in a new area and built a children's nursery from a derelict stable and ran that for ten years. I don't go to work now , I am a lady of leisure $\:P$ I love my computer also my garden and living in Wales I do a lot of walking . We have a little place in Spain so we go there every six weeks so we keep busy. My son is doing a four year course in Computer Science, he is enjoying it very much. What course will you be doing next year $\:\)$

cariadbachMar 30, 2008

$\:\)$ Thanks for dropping by my page , glad you don't mind me snooping. My name is Jane and I come from Wales and I am very old $\:P$ I am sure you will have a great time in University. My youngest son started September07 and is having a ball $\:D$

sallyhailsMar 30, 2008

Hi Kristin (and Jane $\:P$ ) ok here goes, women here walk around in traditional dress, you know, black robes, black face masks, only their eyes showing...that sort of thing. They do work and have to have their faces uncovered when serving you in the shops etc, they do not talk to the men, look at them or touch them when they're giving them their change. Their are a lot of Indians and Pakistani's here, they do all the jobs that the Omani's find to demeaning for them to do (basically all the service jobs and manual labour), the Indian and pakistani women dress like they do in their own country. The architecture is pretty much what you'd expect (and see on the TV) from a middle eastern country....big white buildings, lots of arches, arched windows, reflective windows etc, when I get my computer I'll take some pictures and post them in my blog for you. I live in Salalah which is Omans 2nd biggest city (Muscat being their capital) but it's not a big city, it's probably about the size of a large english town. The women don't hang about anywhere, in fact you hardly see them out and about, the men hang out at cafe's, the resturants always seem to be empty and their are only 4 bars (one each in the two big hotels and two others). The omani's are not supposed to drink so the bars are for us foriegners, but saying that, Martin and I went out for a meal last night to the bar at the Hilton Hotel and there were about 10 omani's there drinking beer, I have no clue what's going on there but generally they're not allowed to drink. $\:wacko\:$

cariadbachMar 29, 2008

$\:\)$ Hope you don't mind me reading your mail. You ask Sally all the questions I am interested in so rather me ask them all again I just come over to your page and read the answers. These guest books are marvelous things $\:D$ You are more than welcome to pop over to my page and read my guest book any time , I think its only fair $\:D$ _Jane $\:\)$

sallyhailsMar 29, 2008

The people aren't unfriendly, but they're not overly friendly either, the friendliest people I've met so far are all foriegners (americans, russians, south africans, french, phillipines, Tai, german and english) The men are not allowed to look a woman in the eyes or touch you, I find that really strange, when I've been introduced to them (when I was getting all my ID cards, driving licence etc) they didn't look at me or talk to me. $\:wacko\:$ When we're out everyone stops what they're doing and stares, not really subtle huh? I just ignore them and get on with it, it'll take a bit of time to get used to. You can ask me as many questions as you like, I'm happy to answer them, that's if I can of course, so fire away $\:D$

sallyhailsMar 29, 2008

I don't think any other pet will replace Sam, he was such a character. $\:\($ What can I say about it here....it's hot, dusty, every where closes at 1pm and reopens at 4pm, their weekends are thursdays and fridays, friday is their holyday and nothing opens at all, you have to be careful driving because Camels, Donkeys, goats and cows just walk out in front of you plus their driving is very unique, they just drive where they feel like, when we go out everyone just stops & stares at you, I feel like I have 2 heads most of the time $\:wacko\:$

sallyhailsMar 28, 2008

Hiya, thanks for your kind words in my guestbook, they mean a lot to me. It is really hard, but time will heal that, I'm sure he's having a great time, he always enjoyed himself, he was such a happy dog and I miss his bouncy cheeky ways, but I have a lot of good memories to help me through. How're you?