Food in Oman

Hi people out there,

as promised I'm gonna drop some lines today about the Omani cuisine to give you some insights into this culture.
You can find some pictures in my webalbum (link on the left) and here.



So, the typical Omani food is what???
Beside the typical middle east food - shawarma sandwich, foul, hommuz, sweets, fruits - the typical Omanin food consists of

rice, with chicken, vegetables, yoghurt and some tomato based sauce.

The special thing about it is the way you eat it. In usual Omani restaurants you are not sitting at a table but you have a room (say 3m x 3m) for your group where you sit on the floor. Using some coushions or pillows makes it quite comfortable. The meals is severed on a big plate or two containing the rice and the half chicken(s). Some plates with vegetables and the sauces will be placed around it. Having the scene prepared, you'll start with the meals. Everyone is sitting around the plates on the floor. First you put some sauce on the rice and mix and squeeze it with your hands so you get sme kind of a bowl. Then you build a kind of a shovel with your right hand and take the food portion on the top of your "finger shovel". To push it into your mouth you can use your thumb.
It is actually nor that complicated as it sounds. But it's definitely fun :-) hamdu'lill*allah
Going through that for the first time, the questions that came to my mind first was: Where do they get all these chickens from if 3 million people eat chicken everyday? If I have the answer, I let you know.

After the meal you can wash your hands at one of the many basins in the restaurant.

If you don't want to have one of these meals you can also spend your in any fast food restaurant, or you can have Indian, Mexican, Pakistani and all these kinds of food. In all of the many supermarkets (they call them hypermarkets here) you'll even get all kinds of Western food.


So that was a short intro into the Omani food culture.

My next report will be about our trip to the sea on Friday and hopefully about a great snorkelling experience.


Take care

Hajo

Dubai - I can't see Dubai

Hi Ladies and Gentleman,

how is life going around the world? As I mentioned last time, we, means the interns here (Mikael Finland, John US, Elina US, Mufaddal US, Celeste, US and me) plus some of the AIESEC Oman national team (Lynn, Amy his girlfriend) went on a 3 day trip to Dubai.

We left on Wednesday evening by car and we arrived really late, around 00:30 am. It took us so long because we there was a long cue at the border station. We had no complications receiving a UAE entry stamp but it took just long. We had to pass 3 "control" stations. The Omani one, where we got the exit stamp and some kind of paper. Then we stopped at a small border point, where we had do deliver this sheet of paper and then we finally came to the UAE visa station. But it was fun, and at least we still had over 30 degrees :-)

So, waking up in Dubai the next morning i was totally confused. Due to a sandstorm in Saudi Arabia, the whole air was dusty from the sand so that we couldn't see the Dubai skyline properly. It was ok when we were close to a skyscraper. But as you can see on my pictures that I took from the beach, you can hardly see the skyline, Burj Dubai or the palm island in the back. Whatever, so I have to go back then one day.

But still this city is awesome. Major parts of it are exactly how you know them from pictures or TV. Huge buildings, luxury, big cars and a really good time. The Burj Dubai is almost finished and already reach a high of 800 m. The world island is in construction too as well as the next even bigger palm island and the new project: Atlantis. Guess what that is. Only 10% of the populations are originally from Dubai. Means you have a lot of diversity and mixture from culture. The night life is fantastic as well, great restaurants, bars, clubs, and the Emirates shopping mall :-) It took us 30 min to find a free parking spot and that was a real fight.Therefore we did something great, beach and swimming in the Arabian gulf in the morning and skiing in the Emirates mall in the evening. What a life :-))) What great shishas, what a good food and lots of fun.
So take the chance and go to Dubai one day. And make sure you'll have great whether :-)

Cu soon
Hajo

my first days at PwC

Hi my friends,

It's Wednesday evening and that means....... Weekend :-)
Because of the Islamic week the weekend here is Thursday and Friday. Time to give a short recap of what happend the lastg days.

On Tuesday i had my first day here which was like any other first day I guess, getting to know people, get information about the bigger picture, read information, feeling lost sometime and get use to the enviroment. My colleagues are really nice. They absoluty reflect the hospitality and warm harts of the Omanis. Professionally I am assigend to a project about a valuation of a company, which is about to be sold. But as we don't have all the becessary data yet, it will take some time until we can really work on it. Business goes a little bit slower here :-)
Today I attended a meeting with a client which we provide with a feasibiilty study about a huge project that he wants to realise. I can truly say, you can make money everywhere right now, if you want to.

Today, I had luch arounf the corner: chicken with rice, some souces and salad. Sounds nice and it tasts like that. The only thing is that you eat with your right hand here. Of course you can get a fork and a nife, but its not that much fun :-)

No, I'm going to leave as we are heading off for Dubai today to spend some days there.
I wish all of you a great week and on Saturday you can see some pictures from me from dubai.


Ma*a-salama

Hajo

My first day - 40 degrees, sun, and great food

Hey readers,

after a really convenient 10 hours flight I safely arrived in Oman. Coming out of the air conditioned airplanes I was directly hit by 30 degree heat wave and that at 23:30h. Imagine how hot it is during the day :-) Leaving the costumes I was warmly welcomed by some AIESEC members of the national team here in Oman and some from the UAE, They attended the AIESEC Oman national conference here.

The first night I stayed at the villa where the national committee members live. It's a huge house with several bedrooms and air conditions. This was a good place to take a rest.

Today, I was exploring the town a little bit. I had a nice breakfast together with the AIESECers from the United Arab Emirates and a girl from the US, and an even better lunch with all the other guys. You'll see some pictures of us eating rice and chicken with our hands soon :-)
Additionally, I bought a new sim card for my mobile phone. If you want to reach me, just dial

+ 968 96927316

the time difference is +2 hours. Tonight I'm going to meet the other trainees here, watch Germany vs Austria and move to the house where the other trainees live.

I hope you are all doing well and stay tuned for my next posts about my first day at PwC and our trip to Dubai :-)

Hajo

My first day - 40 degrees, a new phone number, annd good food

Hey readers,

after a really convenient 10 hours flight I safely arrived in Oman. Coming out of the air conditioned airplanes I was directly hit by 30 degree heat wave and that at 23:30h. Imagine how hot it is during the day :-) Leaving the costumes I was warmly welcomed by some AIESEC members of the national team here in Oman and some from the UAE, They attended the AIESEC Oman national conference here.

The first night I stayed at the villa where the national committee members live. It's a huge house with several bedrooms and air conditions. This was a good place to take a rest.

Today, I was exploring the town a little bit. I had a nice breakfast together with the AIESECers from the United Arab Emirates and a girl from the US, and an even better lunch with all the other guys. You'll see some pictures of us eating rice and chicken with our hands soon :-)
Additionally, I bought a new sim card for my mobile phone. If you want to reach me, just dial

+ 968 96927316

the time difference is +2 hours. Tonight I'm going to meet the other trainees here, watch Germany vs Austria and move to the house where the other trainees live.

I hope you are all doing well and stay tuned for my next posts about my first day at PwC and our trip to Dubai :-)

Hajo

Preparations done !

Dear friends, my bags are packed, I'm ready to go :-)

Tomorrow, I'm going to Frankfurt and stay with my sister for one night. And on Sunday I will finally jump on the plane and lift off to Oman. So, I will send my next post directly from Oman.

Yours Hajo