Thank you, History class

I went to a quiz night last night. I had sooo much fun (I love quiz nights) and I can safely say that my presence there was needed because the rest of the table was ace at sport questions and I shine in, well... the humanities section.

Q: What was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili better known as?
A: Josef Stalin

That's right, 2 years of modern history specialising in the Russian Revolution (and then continuing it in Uni) has not been in vain because I got us 4th place in a quiz night!

Not that I'm going to get picky or anything, but we actually should have won because the teams who beat us all bought bonus points. So pffffffft to them.

Raincoats

What happened to raincoats? Seriously, they seem to have just disappeared. Which makes me sad because raincoats are fantastic. Just think about it, when has a raincoat ever let you down? Never, that's when. Raincoats keep you warm and dry and looking fantastically gorgeous all at the same. Unlike other items of clothing, they don't need to be washed and hung out to dry, they don't produce balls of fluff, they rarely rip or need patching and we all know they're cool because teddy bears and Madeline wear them. And cats:

Jennifer Aniston

Is not an actress. There we go, I'm just putting it out there. Now, I'm not saying she is bad person, or an ugly person or anything like that. But, to be an actor or actress, there are certain criteria to be fulfilled;

1. One immerses themselves in their role. This means they adopting a characters habits, speaking patterns, facial expressions, etc. Unless every character Jennifer has ever played is exactly the same in all these areas, she's not acting.

2. An actor changes their appearance for different roles. Dressing differently, changing their hair colour or style, applying different makeup and so on. I submit to you,
Jennifer Aniston in "Friends":


Jennifer Aniston in "He's just not that into you"


Jennifer Aniston in "The Break-up"


Jennifer Aniston in "Rumour has it"


Now, just so you can see where I'm coming from, let's compare Jennifer to a real actress.

Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada"


Meryl Streep in "Mamma Mia"


Meryl Streep in "The Hours"

Goodbye childhood

This is my last day before I'm an official uni student. I can just feel my innocence slipping away from me. Uni is different from school, in subtle but important ways;

1. I don't have to go in on Fridays. At all!

2. There's a pub on campus

3. You are allowed to look nice when you get your ID photo taken. This means not having your hair pulled tightly back from your face, being allowed to cover any blemishes with makeup, being able to wear clothes in colours that suit you, not being told to say "jelly beans" by the photographer. (I don't know about the rest of you, but that request always meant I ended up having a withering stare on my student ID photo instead of a friendly, youthful grin.)

4. During Orientation Week we were given a bag of useful things to help us through university life. This included:
- a pamphlet entitled Alcohol and Your Studies
- condoms
- an invitation to the Naughty Back 2 Skool Inferno: Best naughty costume winner scores big!
- information on emergency contraception (this was entitled Oh $#*! "Because $#*! happens... EC is easy to get anytime from your chemist.")
- information on "What to do if you find used syringes" (The underlining was already there, I didn't add it in)

This poor Catholic school girl doesn't know what's hit her.

Answers

The Man at the Pub said...
"OK. Are women allowed to wear open-toed footwear in Oman?"

Yep. There aren't nearly as many restrictions in Oman as there are in Saudi Arabia and Yemen (Oman's closest neighbours). There are some though, while I was there I had to cover legs, shoulders and all the bits in the middle. I would recommend loose clothing to any potential visitors (male and female) but it's not essential.
In the mosque you have to be all covered up (that means a veil for women) we saw a few people not allowed in because they were in 3 quarter pants.


Femikneesm said...
"So this is not an original question, but what were the best and worst things you saw/did?"

Hmm, I think the best thing was undoubtedly the Grand Mosque. The whole place is so incredibly intricate and well designed. It took my breath away. There aren't really any words that would do it justice, so here are a few piccies I took:





The worst is a bit trickier, I didn't care for the TV over there. But I think 90% of TV all over the world is crap anyway so that doesn't say much.
What was quite hard for me to see was the labour force. Oman imports many of its workers from overseas, especially poorer countries. They get paid more than they would
at home but their visas don't include family and I think many of them get quite homesick.

Jet lag

I was so proud of myself, I thought I had tackled jet lag head on and won. But here I am at 2:30am and I'm writing a blog. Sigh. This feels familiar.

So, Oman. It really is an awesome place - I've never seen anything like it and I really wish I'd had myself painted while I was there (henna stuff basically) because I feel so different now and I want people to notice something different about me when I walk into a room. Maybe I'll just wear the really cool ring I bought myself all the time so people can say "Where did that come from?" and I can say "Oh, I bought it in a souq in Oman."

The amazing picture just up there, I'm sorry to say, is not one of mine but it does give you a good idea of the place and of how I felt wearing pants. I'll need time to sort through my 757 photos from the 3 week trip before I can post them. So don't worry, they'll be there sooner or later.

One of the best things about the people there: they share my attitude to footwear. i.e.: there should be as little of it as possible and it should not be worn unnecessarily. Just great, I think I've found my people. (I hate covered shoes in hot weather with a passion.)

The only tricky thing here is that I don't really know where to start in my recount. So I think the best thing to do is ask you guys. If you want to know anything about the place or what I did just ask and I'll answer. The nice things about my answers is that I tend to ramble and other stories end up being told in the middle. So we might just get a few good posts out this way.

Customer of the Day #6

This is my first one on Box Office and it is way too good not to share:

"Can I get two adult tickets for Slutty Dog Millionaire?"

Either you've misheard the title or this movie is going to be quite different from what you were expecting...