Lately...

Ramadan has begun!  Ramadan is an entire month of fasting... no food, no drink, and no sex during the day.  This is so one can summit to God when they are "hungry".  At 6:56 pm, loud Arabic music plays over the speakers of the city; then, you are allowed to eat and drink in public.  Ramadan is a month of family time.  Muslims only work 4 to 6 hours a day in order to spend the rest of the time with their family.  It's sort of like our Christmas, except, they lose weight instead of gaining and it last much longer than a day.  

The good thing about still being in the hotel is we are still allowed room service all hours of the day.  So there is no fasting here... though it probably wouldn't hurt us.  The major downfall of most people only working a few hours a day, is that all the shops are closed during the day- even on the weekends.  So all there is to do (especially for me) is to lay at the house all day.  Austin is lucky and gets to work; however, I am sure he would make that trade. 

On another note, I have gotten my resident card and driver's license.  Which pretty much means, I'm half Omani.  Austin is still waiting on his because it is more difficult during Ramadan with limited hours.  Also, women have their own line with a lot less people so my time was much shorter than Austin's will be.  As a matter of fact, when I went to get mine, there was a line around the block OUTSIDE of men waiting for the chance to get their cards.  Not only that, the line was a line to wait to get a number to wait some more.  It is pretty crazy.  I waited 4 hours being a woman.  We will let you know if Austin gets lucky... knowing Austin, I am sure he will magically find a way to shorten his time. 

Before you can have the chance to wait in all the awful lines, you have to complete a medical at a local hospital.  Not a private hospital -- local.  This was a very bad experience for me.  My mother has always worked in doctor offices so I have seen the clean sterile environment and processes too many times to count.  Austin being prone to emergency room visits, also has been many times.  You see no dirt on the floors, only the sterile smell of cold air, hands being washed, and a nice tidy waiting room with a TV turned on the Disney channel.  Let me try and paint a picture of the clinic we visited here:  floors that may not have ever been cleaned, lawn chairs for seating, and hot crowds of people piled into one room with the smell of undeodorized armpit.  First, I was hauled down to the bottom floor along with the rest of the men for blood work and a chest xray.  We all got in a line where the lady yelled our names when it was our turn. "Lisabert," she yells.  (That meant me.)  I sat in the dirty chair and put my arm out.  Then I am stuck a needle by hands with gloves that have not been changed since the 8 men before me.  Then you are told to "urine" and given a cup with a mouth the size of a coke bottle.  Already worried since aiming I knew would be a challenge for me, I walk in the restroom to see a woman, legs spread on the toilet, cleaning herself with the hose.  This is when I started to cry.  Not because it was so bad that I couldn't pee in a cup, but that is when it really hit me that this is not America.  Not even close.  After the woman is finished I "urine", then go to wash my hands where there is no soap.  Of course, why would there be soap?!  Next they move the group to the chest xrays which weren't that bad besides the fact they had to take mine 3 times and the lady kept yelling at me to not move... didn't move one time.  Anyways.... after an hour more of being cattle, I could come back the next day to pick up the results.  Austin had a similar experience a few days later after his visa had been completed with a little more difficultly in the blood department.  The first picture is what his arm looked like after giving blood... the second is what it looks like now.  

Love and miss you guys!!!

Hehehe,

Liz and Austin