So, what is the deal with being told you look like a barbie doll in this country?
Since I got here, people have consistently told me that...from the guy in the McDonalds handing me my food to strangers in the aisles at the grocery store to every single person in the beauty industry (nail techs, hairstylists) is this meant to be some kind of compliment? They say it like it is...or is it meant to be a veiled insult?
Because frankly, I look NOTHING like Barbie...and I'm not plastic either...nor do I work hard enough at being pretty for someone to feel the need to compliment me...so I don't know what is really going on. It is just so....weird.
What do you say to this? "(giggles) Madame, you are so pretty, just like a barbie." All I can think to say is..."uh...thank you." When what I want to do is scream that beauty doesn't matter. I think there is something about this society that emphasizes beauty to the extreme. Most of the girls complimenting me have definitely used skin whiteners and wear shades of foundation about 2-3 shades too light...it is obvious and totally wrong looking. I have heard reports that there is so much plastic surgery done here that before a man agrees to marry a woman he insists on seeing pictures of her from her childhood through adolescence so that he can figure out what their children might look like because he doesn't want ugly children and he can't tell because of all the work that has been done. They have a ton of skin whiteners here. For a society that seems to want to cover women...they sure place a lot of emphasis on beauty. And I don't fall into the beauty category in my opinion, nor do I try. I go to the mall in regular clothes and people here dress up and get all smelly and spend hours just getting ready for the mall. THE MALL! Come on...most don't do a lot of shopping...they just mill around and look at other people. They want to see and be seen. I go to get things...not to look pretty or socialize. My guess is that "you look like a barbie" means "you have fair skin." I do. I have the skin that so many of them go to extremes to get. And they have the skintones that so many in America self tan or risk skin cancer to acheive...I just wish people could be happy with whatever skin color they happen to be.
BUT if it is an insult they are saying to me...give me some ideas on a response. If I came up with my own it would be totally lame and they probably wouldn't understand it...I would probably say "No I don't. She is plastic. Blonde. Hardwork, integrity and kindness are what really matter...not looking like Barbie." See. Lame and too long. I'm just a pretty lame person...and I don't look like Barbie! Hmmmph...footstomp!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Glamazon
I am a glamazon!!!
ok, well, I wish I was and I kind of feel like it right now. Because of the strangest thing though...
I am planning our trip to Paris over Christmas, and we will be staying in an apartment.
WELL, I just booked our apartment. The owner tried to go up on the price, but I told the agent if she went back down to the original that we would get it, but otherwise not. She went down! I am going to be in a very classy apartment, near all of the fundamental Parisian sites...and somehow that makes me feel like a glamazon! I am looking at my cute new heels I just bought and I am dreaming about finding that shoe shop I saw last time and buying that pair of boots that looked like a dream...
I wonder if I can find it again! I have to go buy some new clothes...so that 1) I don't freeze to death and 2) I look as much like a glamazon as I feel. Time to get out the red lipstick and (faux) fur coat...
I am so excited!!!!
ok, well, I wish I was and I kind of feel like it right now. Because of the strangest thing though...
I am planning our trip to Paris over Christmas, and we will be staying in an apartment.
WELL, I just booked our apartment. The owner tried to go up on the price, but I told the agent if she went back down to the original that we would get it, but otherwise not. She went down! I am going to be in a very classy apartment, near all of the fundamental Parisian sites...and somehow that makes me feel like a glamazon! I am looking at my cute new heels I just bought and I am dreaming about finding that shoe shop I saw last time and buying that pair of boots that looked like a dream...
I wonder if I can find it again! I have to go buy some new clothes...so that 1) I don't freeze to death and 2) I look as much like a glamazon as I feel. Time to get out the red lipstick and (faux) fur coat...
I am so excited!!!!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thanksgiving
First...I know...I am totally behind. I have to post pictures from our previous trip and give you the low down on Italy, France and Spain. I will, I promise. I just keep putting it off because it takes so long to upload pictures. That could be because I am obsessed with keeping them big because I want the clearest pictures possible....but still, I readily admit that I could have done a better job of getting things up on this blog. Sorry.
Second...we had a new city centre open. Old news I know. To the people who don't live here...the City Centre is a shopping mall. It contains a Carrefour which is like a big walmart. Other stores include MAC, H&M, L'Occitane, Claire's...and many other stores. This one happens to have a Cold Stone Creamery! Yummy! I never liked CSC when we lived in the states, but somehow now that I am here it is heaven. And they toss the ice cream in the air and sing. Parker really likes it. So, Parker and I were exploring and we heard this sound. It sounded like helicopter propellers and then a scream like someone was falling a great distance. Apparently, someone had lost control of a shopping cart on one of those conveyer belts. We were relatively close while we were wandering around and suddenly there were all of these people rushing towards the shopping cart escalator. I posted a picture of them before, so just go back a ways and take a look. They are a pretty cool contraption, but have always scared me for this very reason. Anyway, as everyone congregated around the disaster looking down to the first floor, I caught a glimpse. Apparently, someone had decided to use the conveyer with a basket full of Rice. The big bags. So at the bottom was a tipped basket, still on the stopped conveyer, and about 9-10 HUGE bags of rice. I was unable to get downstairs for a while. I finished shopping and as I went downstairs, there was an ambulance and three ladies in wheelchairs. Someone was actually in the ambulance having their injuries addressed and there were at least 20 electricians standing by. So, here is my theory and it is in no way correct, but my guess is that a person lost control of their shopping cart (that was the helicopter sound) and the shopping cart then took out at least 4 people. Really scary. I hate those things, but I have yet to find an actual elevator or stairs in that new building. Sometimes I think the rake of the conveyers are too steep...no, I know it as I am using all of my body weight to keep the grocery cart from slipping and my worst nightmare from occuring...losing control of the cart. The sultan center is the worst in my opinion. Somehow the wheels just never lock properly. Anyway, you have been warned.
So today is Thanksgiving. An american holiday...canada has theirs at a different time. I am sure that each country has their own thanksgiving day. I mean, how wonderful is the thought that one day is devoted to being thankful...thankful for your family, country (or in my case countries), life, liberty and everything you have been blessed with. It is my favorite holiday by the way. I love Christmas, but there is something so singularly delicious about a holiday that isn't overrun with commercialism. There is no gift exchange. A feast and being with loved ones. This Thanksgiving, of course, we are away from families, but we still have each other....sort of. David is out at his work site today, so we are waiting to have our thanksgiving celebration until he returns on Wednesday. So I have a week to prepare our banquet. It is going to be amazing, but mostly it will be nice to be together again...and eating turkey. And being thankful.
I'm thankful I am not in India right now. Things are very tragic over there. I know there are a lot of people in that country and that it is highly populated and congested, but when you read the articles about all of the terroristic attacks that have happend in the last 3 years or so, you wonder 1) why haven't they done anything, 2) maybe they have done something and it could be much worse, 3) perhaps they are doing the wrong things, 4) maybe it just doesn't matter ... but I highly doubt it is the fourth one...although there is a quote from State Home Minister R.R. Patil that I find interesting "We're going to catch them dead or alive," Patil told reporters. "An attack on Mumbai is an attack on the rest of the country." It seems to me that it is more than just an attack on the rest of the country since the terrorists were specifically targeting israelis, americans and brits...seems to me like it was an attack on humanity, especially since they didn't care what got in the way of their targets. I understand that is just one small quote, but it seems such a limited view. Especially when you see the picture of blood on the ground in the train station and another of a blood spattered and burned indian child. Here is a link to the story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27928718?GT1=43001 And I am aware that terrorist attacks happen all the time everywhere and that this one isn't much different than any other, it is just that I know that once I start looking at these things as everyday occurances I will have lost my own humanity and then the terrorists really will have won. So, I am extremely grateful for the safety of my family right now. Especially today. I think that is something worth being grateful for.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Second...we had a new city centre open. Old news I know. To the people who don't live here...the City Centre is a shopping mall. It contains a Carrefour which is like a big walmart. Other stores include MAC, H&M, L'Occitane, Claire's...and many other stores. This one happens to have a Cold Stone Creamery! Yummy! I never liked CSC when we lived in the states, but somehow now that I am here it is heaven. And they toss the ice cream in the air and sing. Parker really likes it. So, Parker and I were exploring and we heard this sound. It sounded like helicopter propellers and then a scream like someone was falling a great distance. Apparently, someone had lost control of a shopping cart on one of those conveyer belts. We were relatively close while we were wandering around and suddenly there were all of these people rushing towards the shopping cart escalator. I posted a picture of them before, so just go back a ways and take a look. They are a pretty cool contraption, but have always scared me for this very reason. Anyway, as everyone congregated around the disaster looking down to the first floor, I caught a glimpse. Apparently, someone had decided to use the conveyer with a basket full of Rice. The big bags. So at the bottom was a tipped basket, still on the stopped conveyer, and about 9-10 HUGE bags of rice. I was unable to get downstairs for a while. I finished shopping and as I went downstairs, there was an ambulance and three ladies in wheelchairs. Someone was actually in the ambulance having their injuries addressed and there were at least 20 electricians standing by. So, here is my theory and it is in no way correct, but my guess is that a person lost control of their shopping cart (that was the helicopter sound) and the shopping cart then took out at least 4 people. Really scary. I hate those things, but I have yet to find an actual elevator or stairs in that new building. Sometimes I think the rake of the conveyers are too steep...no, I know it as I am using all of my body weight to keep the grocery cart from slipping and my worst nightmare from occuring...losing control of the cart. The sultan center is the worst in my opinion. Somehow the wheels just never lock properly. Anyway, you have been warned.
So today is Thanksgiving. An american holiday...canada has theirs at a different time. I am sure that each country has their own thanksgiving day. I mean, how wonderful is the thought that one day is devoted to being thankful...thankful for your family, country (or in my case countries), life, liberty and everything you have been blessed with. It is my favorite holiday by the way. I love Christmas, but there is something so singularly delicious about a holiday that isn't overrun with commercialism. There is no gift exchange. A feast and being with loved ones. This Thanksgiving, of course, we are away from families, but we still have each other....sort of. David is out at his work site today, so we are waiting to have our thanksgiving celebration until he returns on Wednesday. So I have a week to prepare our banquet. It is going to be amazing, but mostly it will be nice to be together again...and eating turkey. And being thankful.
I'm thankful I am not in India right now. Things are very tragic over there. I know there are a lot of people in that country and that it is highly populated and congested, but when you read the articles about all of the terroristic attacks that have happend in the last 3 years or so, you wonder 1) why haven't they done anything, 2) maybe they have done something and it could be much worse, 3) perhaps they are doing the wrong things, 4) maybe it just doesn't matter ... but I highly doubt it is the fourth one...although there is a quote from State Home Minister R.R. Patil that I find interesting "We're going to catch them dead or alive," Patil told reporters. "An attack on Mumbai is an attack on the rest of the country." It seems to me that it is more than just an attack on the rest of the country since the terrorists were specifically targeting israelis, americans and brits...seems to me like it was an attack on humanity, especially since they didn't care what got in the way of their targets. I understand that is just one small quote, but it seems such a limited view. Especially when you see the picture of blood on the ground in the train station and another of a blood spattered and burned indian child. Here is a link to the story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27928718?GT1=43001 And I am aware that terrorist attacks happen all the time everywhere and that this one isn't much different than any other, it is just that I know that once I start looking at these things as everyday occurances I will have lost my own humanity and then the terrorists really will have won. So, I am extremely grateful for the safety of my family right now. Especially today. I think that is something worth being grateful for.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
returned
We returned from our trip safe and sound. Yay!
BUT, now there is this fishy stink in Muscat...and the winds are really blowing today and I can't seem to keep the smell out of my house. Gaggy ick!
The smell seems to be invading from those weird open vents in the bathroom. How important are those really? I mean, could I tape them up until the smell goes away? That is where it is easiest for the stench to sneak in...ok, there is no sneaking about it - it is simply invading. Invading my smell space. Which is nothing new here in Oman...people invade my smell space all the time...but this is in the AIR...that means it is all around and embedding itself into my hair, my pores, my clothes, my organs every time I breathe in....the Stench (oh yes, it is bad enough to officially be named and recognized) is trying to suffocate me. I can tell.
More on our vacation later...I have to go spray some more room deodorizer and take a shower and try to not smell like the stench...oh and put frosting on some cupcakes and go buy a bicycle...today we celebrate Angelina's birthday at Cafe Ceramique. Hope Stench doesn't ruin this day.
BUT, now there is this fishy stink in Muscat...and the winds are really blowing today and I can't seem to keep the smell out of my house. Gaggy ick!
The smell seems to be invading from those weird open vents in the bathroom. How important are those really? I mean, could I tape them up until the smell goes away? That is where it is easiest for the stench to sneak in...ok, there is no sneaking about it - it is simply invading. Invading my smell space. Which is nothing new here in Oman...people invade my smell space all the time...but this is in the AIR...that means it is all around and embedding itself into my hair, my pores, my clothes, my organs every time I breathe in....the Stench (oh yes, it is bad enough to officially be named and recognized) is trying to suffocate me. I can tell.
More on our vacation later...I have to go spray some more room deodorizer and take a shower and try to not smell like the stench...oh and put frosting on some cupcakes and go buy a bicycle...today we celebrate Angelina's birthday at Cafe Ceramique. Hope Stench doesn't ruin this day.
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