Living without Internet!!

I'm having some issues with my internet connection. I started to feel somewhat lost because I can't access the internet as I used to be. I hope in two days everything will be sorted out. I'm now in coffee shop using my laptop. It is really great to have coffee shops with free wireless internet. I hope more will open inSalalah, may be a Costa Coffee or a Second Cup in the new mall "Salalah World".

Anime Culture in Oman

Yesterday night, I copied around 10 GBs of Data from my brother's pc to a friend's portable hard disk drive. The data I copied was japanese animation or "Anime" as it is called by its fans. Although all of the three guys involved (my friend, my brother and myself) are in our twenties, we still enjoy watching anime. Virtually all of the good animation series that we watched while growing up were japanese anime but dubbed into arabic and sometimes arabised by using arabic names for the characters instead of the original ones . An example is Capatin Tsubasa which we all know in Oman by the name Captain Majid. However some great series like the Golden Dreams or (US title:The Mysterious Cities of Gold , original Japanese: Esteban, a Boy from the Sun 太陽の子エステバン, Taiyō no Ko Esuteban) retained all the original names.

Many people may think that the anime is for kids but they are very wrong. The Japanese anime and manga (comic books and magazines) is already a multi-billion industry. There are anime and manga geners for every age group and sex. There is even pornographic anime.
Thanks to Boadband Internet, around five years ago, the revival of interest in anime began. Many young Omanis strated downloading anime series that were usually subtitled in English. Moreover, many Omanis started watching episodes of new series subtitled by fans just a day after being aired in Japan. Nowadays, there are even websites where you can download anime with arabic subs such as Anime Island and Mexat.
I'm not of aware of the number of people who watches anime in Oman. However, in Salalah I know of no less than 15 persons who like to watch anime and the number is increasing. In some cases the interest in anime cuased another interst of the Japanese culture and Japan and I'm an examples.
Finally, this is a list of some of the recent anime series that I watched or still watch:
-Full Metal ALchemist
-Code Geass
-Claymore
-Death Note
-Naruto
-Bleach
-One Piece

Blog Make Over

Like humans, blogs need a make over from time to time. So I decided to change the way my blog looks abit. I have even added a face pic too lol.
I hope I will get encouraging comments about the result of my first ever blog make over XD.

Wednesday Night home

10:35 pm Wednesday night and my whereabouts are my room. Guys in Oman don't spend such a precious night home. It is the equivalent of Friday night in the US but with no clubbing for us. My friends and I usually have dinner and then rent a movie. It is the relaxed atmosphere (many don't have to go to work next Morning)that makes this night so special. Tonight I felt the urge to blog and to keep in touch with my facebook friends. I think I caught the blogging virus. The symptoms are:
-Severe urge to blog.
-Your eyes feel ichi and became red
-Getting very nervous when the browser hangs.
-Spelling mistakes and Grammer mistakes suddenly became more important than when writing your dissertation.
-Compulsive reading of other blogs even the ones written in spanish which you don't speak.
I think I will go rent a movie and get myslef a pizza lol

Wild life in Salalah's Suberbs

The other day I woke up around 3:30 am not because of the occasional teenager burning his dad's car tires on the road nor by the late night loud music enthusiasts but by the sounds of donkeys. Now don't get me wrong I don't hate donkeys, they were so useful for the Man Kind for most of the human history and still are in some places .  I even have a  T-shirt that has a zebra ( the donkey's closest cute cousin ). However, the fact that wild animals are invading Salalah's suburbs is very disturbing because of:

1-Threat of car accidents.

2-Noise pollution after midnight.

3-Uncivilized.

4-I'm not superstitious but donkey's sounds are kind of creepy at night. 

5-Hello we are in the city!

I have seen even wild white foxes in new suburban areas running around and of course we have stray cats and sometimes stray dogs.

This also brings up the topic of "domesticated" wild animals. I know many accidents that happened because of such animals especially camels. It is always dangerous to drive above 100 Km/h in the ring road especially at night time. 

I think the government should have a national plan to protect wild animals, live stock  and their owners , city residents and maintain safe roads for everyone to use. If we don't know how  to do it then may be we  can benefit from other countries' experiences, surely we aren't the only country with animals!

Part2 Shisha Cafe scene in Salalah

I Wanted to post yesterday but I had tough time trying to make my wireless adsl modem work unfortunately it didn't work so I had to buy a new one for 44 OR, I wonder why things doesn't seem to get cheaper. I guess the world wide financial crises is in a different parallel universe where Oman doesn't exist.
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Back to the topic
Shisha cafes in Salalah have already become part of Salalah's night life for many guys. We have even shisha cafes that is working 24 hours a day.
It is a fact that many men in Oman and in Dhofar in particular who will tend to spend the time after 7 or 8pm outside with friends. The locations in Salalah could be literally anywhere from the pavements of Rabat Street to Ittine but somewhere around 50% of them will spend that time in shisha cafes. I also noticed that many of those who go strictly to Shisha cafes will tend to think that everyone must be doing the same otherwise must be socially awkward.
Personally I hate shisha and any sort addictions and in this case of smoking weather it is smoking cigarettes, cigars or whatever sh.. out there.
Female waitresses, shisha and Omani women hatred of shisha cafes
It has to be noted that not all shisha cafes have female waitresses of any nationality and despite that are still quite popular. Moreover, not everyone who goes to shisha cafes cares about the waitresses. Some are very confident men who know who they are and appreciate what they have even many single guys such as my self.
I have to say that the lack of decent non-smoking cafes has forced many guys to be regulars at shisha cafes. That is said, I noticed the amount of hatred many omani women have towards shisha cafes may be because they feel threatened by the "outsiders" or because they have a personal experience with a "playful" husband. I think they have the right to do so but not to generlise not all cafes has women and not all of those women will try take advantage of the local lads. In fact, I think many local guys are to be blamed for their behavior. Not only the men but the society as a whole. There are no decent places where teenagers , guys and girls can spend quality time. No good standard coffee shops , No good sport activities and facilities , no playgrounds in most neighborhoods, no decent gyms, no public libraries, no cultural activities, no cinemas, , no book clubs, no civil service organizations. No wonder we are so behind the rest of the world.

Part1 (Shisha Cafe /resturant) scene in Salalah

It has been almost a week or so since I started this blog, I may be abit slow but I guess I should get used to the routine of blogging soon.
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This post's topic is in responseto the request of my fellow blogger Dhofari Guucci to write about what happens in shisha cafes.

I think the shisha cafes are a retively a recent phenomenon. I don't remember 10 yeara ago that there were as much or popular as they are now. In a way shisha cafes play somewhat the role that is played by pubs in the UK.
Similarites between a pub and a shisha cafe:
-Both serves an addictive substance.
-Both are places to socialise.
-Both are places where you can watch football.
-Both are places where you can meet members of the oppisite sex (to a much different degree).
In general I don't smoke shisha so I don't really enjoy going to shisha cafes but sometimes I do go.
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I have to go now , I will post again ASAP (that is probably tomorrow)

First day of the week

Today is the first day of the week, I took the liberty to blog while I'm at work because I felt like it and I know I will be having a long  working day after these fifteen minutes. Last week felt like ever and I got frustrated this weekend because of the number of weddings that I had to attend  while all I wanted to do was just to relax home, with friends or  to go somewhere like Mirbat because of the full moon occurring.  

I believe full moon nights in some cultures bring up stories of werewolves and count Dracula but I can't help it but to wonder how come the people who invented those myths chose such beautiful nights instead of the dark nights.. 

My first Blog

Since this is my first post, I think I should just talk about my self a little. I'm an omani guy from Salalah. Salalah is a city in the Saltanate of Oman and is located in the south while the capital Muscat is in the noth. I always liked my city however I have always felt the urge to travel and see the world. I do feel that travel is an eye opener and widens a person's horisons. However, I will talk about travel in other posts. The story about my blog's name is that in Oman , mountain dew could one day become the national drink, oh well may be that won't happen but Dew is very popular, some even call it the omani beer.But for certain reasons that I'm not fully aware of, I discovered that I can't stand this drink and I actually adored a different drink...Pepsi diet..