Swine Flu in the News

For those of you who don't have much time for skimming the press:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/27/swine-flu-mexico Very comprehensive in my opinion

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFlu/Story?id=7436694&page=1 To quote this article:
"How does the swine flu spread?
Researchers are still investigating how easily the swine flu virus spreads, but experts said that transmission likely occurs the same way people pass on the usual flu: coughing or sneezing from sick people, shaking hands or otherwise touching people who are infected with the virus, touching surfaces and objects that sick people have touched." And to further quote:
"Can I get the swine flu from eating pork?
No. There are no signs that people can get the swine flu from eating pork."

Here is what I found printed in the Gulf News:
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Health/10307999.html Note the differences between the above articles and the Gulf News.

Read and stay informed.

Peace.

So many stories

This snap was taken coming down out of them mountains into Khasab, Oman. The blue sky that day was amazing.

When I was swimming yesterday, I got to chat with the lifeguard a bit. She was from China and had been here for 2 years. Her fiance is an officer in the army in Tibet. They are getting married some time in the Fall. He'd bought a house for them, and she'd been saving money to decorate the new house from her job as a lifeguard.

Everyone I meet here has a 'story'. People don't just decide to move to another country for the thrill of it. Most are supporting family back in the home country, or they needed work, or the opportunity was way too amazing to pass up. Everyone has a story.

I've been reading stuff in the news about the 'Swine Flu' or Piggy Virus (my own name for it). I'm calling it Piggy Virus since it gobbles up the news, gobbles some people's lives, gobbles up energy, gobbles up emotions, and gobbles up money preparing to deal with it. Along with everyone else, I hope and pray it fizzles itself out and does not spread any further. And as I think about all our friends who are planning extensive summer holidays away from this region, I hope it doesn't gobble up much needed summer holidays (sorry, bit shallow - but I'm being honest).

I can't remember if I've written about this yet or not, so my apologies if I'm repeating myself. It looks like we're going to be here for another 2 years. And, we get to stay in our same flat. Joy! No relocating to a different flat!

Also, I recently spoke/wrote elsewhere I think, about an area published 'code of conduct.' So far, myself and my friends have not noticed any kind of difference in everyday life. I'm sure there may be the occasional story now and then, but nothing particularly noticeable so far.

Peace.

Faith, Family, Friends

The munchkins have a bit of a school holiday today, so I don't have much time to write. This snap is from Khasab, Oman when my mum was here visiting. Lovely, lovely place. I love this snap because you can see my mum and Munchkin #2 reaching out towards each other.

As I've been getting back in touch with old friends, and as I stop to think about current family siutations, I got to thinking. For me, the most important things in my life are my faith, my family and my friends. Even when we don't agree, even when we temporarily lose track of one another, I couldn't make it through this life without the three.

Do I get frustrated sometimes? Yes. Do I get scared? Yes. Do I ever feel alone? Never. I may spend time by myself at the computer, but I'm never totally alone.

Living outside my home country, an old lesson has been reinforced for me. There are two sides to every story. There are two sides to every arguement. There are two sides to every compromise. Can it be hard to see both sides? Yes. Can it be hard to meet in the middle? Yes. But, without trying to see both sides, without trying to meet in the middle, how can we hang on to those we hold most dear? And those of us with faith - we reach out with our faith. We take positive action. We still reach out.

Thanks for reading my slightly more than random thoughts. Feels good to 'spit things out'.

Peace.

Contemplating the current situation

Here is Munchkin #1 encountering, up close, Myocastor coypus. This little critter is also known as a nutria and some folks call them coypu. When I was working on my undergrad degree, I needed to take Botany of the Algae. Well, its lab schedule conflicted with another class that I needed to graduate. With only one semester left until graduation, I was stuck. My professor for the Botany class made me deal: Come up with an original independent study project, do an excellent job, and I'd get credit for the laboratory portion of the class. So, finding really large rodents interesting, I studied the feeding habits of nutria to see if they were inoculating various ponds with different species of blue-green algae. This involved lots of time with binoculars in wet mushy places, loads of nutria droppings, and analyzing the digestive tract contents of one very unlucky little male that I caught. I made top marks on my project. My results were inconclusive, but I discovered some nematode species living in the nutria in my university area. Not to mention, I had to learn what A LOT of algae species looked like under a scope so I'd know what I was looking for! At any rate, I was rather excited to see a nutria in a tank at an aquarium in the middle east!

It's interesting. I never could have dreamt that I would be where I currently am - awesome munchkins and husband, 'homes' on two continents, many good friends, plenty of food and clothing, too many blessings to count. Why then does uncertainty feel so frustrating?

The current uncertainty is that we are currently discussing with our landlord here our next year's rental agreement. The problem is that I think our landlord does not realize the current economic situation here is 'different' from what's typically published. Frankly, I don't want to move. Hopefully, he'll realize that our offer is very reasonable especially in the current economic situation. I really don't want to move. Sigh.... I just need to focus on the blessings and keep moving on.

We are all very grateful for all that we have. I have no complaints.

Peace.

A thought on Women's dress from an ex-pat

I recently read an article in Time Magazine by Robin Wright, that really got me thinking. The article, "Islam's Soft Revolution" is in the March 30, 2009 edition pp. 34-38.

Before I really begin, I need to say that women cover-up here to maintain 'modesty' either for social or religious reasons or both. And what is 'modest' among different world cultures, is obviously open to many interpretations. In a Muslim country, 'modest' is going to mean more covered up than say in the UK or the U.S.A.

First, to me, the veil and hijab are two different pieces of clothing. 'Hijab', as I understand it, is to cover the head, hair and neck for modesty. The 'veil' covers the face and may or may not cover the eyes. Women in some regions of this part of the world wear a special covering over their face that is black or of a golden colored metal. I've done posts on Omani dress previously, and this form of veil is pictured in those posts. But, this different type of 'veil' seems to allow for greater freedom of the face while still maintaining modesty.

Second, on pp. 36-37 there are pictures by Olivia Arthur-Magnum (I think) that show and explain how to wear a hijab. The process and garments shown in this series of photos are very elaborate compared to what I see on a day to day basis or even compared to what I myself have at times worn (I'll come back to my clothing choices in a moment). From my experience over the last almost two years now, there are a myriad of ways that women cover themselves to maintain modesty. No doubt, the pictures on pp.36-37 are wonderfully educational especially to people in countries outside the 'middle east.' But, please don't think that this is the 'only' way that women cover to maintain modesty. No, I'm not getting into a discussion here on a 'right way' or 'wrong' ways to cover.

Third, there are times when I cover up a bit. When I travel by car, I wear a loose long sleeve shirt and loose long pants. If I am driving my vehicle of choice outside the area/city/town where I reside, I wear a very loose head covering - a long loose cotton scarf draped over my head and partially covering my neck in the front. Obviously, I am a 'westerner', but I feel it is better to maintain modesty appropriate to being in a Muslim country. This may be my current home, but it is not 'my' country. Therefore, I must respect the customs of the culture in which I reside. Not to mention, I have found that in the heat, a loose headscarf is much more comfortable for keeping the sun off than a hat! I don't sweat as much.

Fourth, when I am 'home' here in my current country in the area/city/town in which I reside, I still dress a bit more modestly than I would in my home country, to a degree. I wear short sleeved shirts, capri pants, skirts down to the knee, but I NEVER wear shorts. I even wear workout pants that extend past my knees if I'm going to the gym and a 'tunic length' shirt. Do other women here do this? No. Many ex-pat women come here and just wear whatever wherever (malls, buying groceries etc). At times, I even see women wearing such skimpy clothing that I'd be a touch offended by it even in my home country!

Fifth, some of the beaches here are different from what you'd probably expect. I have never been to a 'public' beach here. I only frequent 'private' or 'hotel' beaches. On these beaches, you see more women in bikinis than in one piece suits. There does not seem to be this focus on the perfect 'bathing suit' body for women. So here, in the middle of a Muslim country, I own and wear no less than 4 different bikinis. Would I ever wear a bikini back in my home country? I tried it a bit the last time I was home, and I got some strange looks from folks. I guess it was just strange to see a woman my age maybe or my body shape maybe wearing a bikini. Now when I go snorkeling in more public places say in Oman, then I'm more comfortable in a one piece or even my 'skins' or 'farmer Jane' style wetsuit. But for hanging out at the pool with the kids or on the beach with the family, I LOVE my bikinis - very comfortable.

At any rate, thanks for 'hearing' my thoughts.....

Peace.

Unusual stuff

Today's snap is of a sign pointing the way to the restrooms at a spot in Oman. The ladies was to the left and the men's to the right. Both are wheelchair accessible. I love the detail of this sign! Looks very different from what you are probably used to seeing if you're reading this back in my home country!

On to further unusual stuff. Some time ago I heard reports of a four foot long reef worm discovered inside an aquarium in the UK. Well, here's the report from the aquarium itself:
http://www.bluereefaquarium.co.uk/news-from-newquay/coral-worm.htm

Upon further digging, I found a website out of Singapore on these big polychaetaes:
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/worm/polychaeta/giant.htm This Singapore website claims they eat algae, but I think the Blue Reef Aquarium would claim otherwise! Or, the ones common to Singapore and the one at the Blue Reef are TOTALLY different critters altogether. At any rate, really interesting unusual stuff! I've seen a variety of polychaeta worm that 'glowed' in the dark (ie bioluminescence). I actually have two small polychaeta worms living in my aquarium in my living room. We see the little guys from time to time. For now, mine seem happy to stay burrowed into the gravel and make tunnels/tubes. I don't think they'll grow to 1.5m long, enshallah!

Totally random unusual bit, when I went to log in to my blogger account this morning, I could only get it to come up in Arabic! After some frustrating moments, I managed to get it swapped back over to English. But, since I've never used the Arabic version of blogger (which looks really cool in Arabic by the way!), I'm wondering why it suddenly was an issue today?

On to less unusual stuff, the munchkins have been very busy lately. Many students in the region are out on school holiday this week. So, we've been busy keeping busy! We visited a REALLY cool aquarium, had play dates with friends, been eating out for lunch, saw a fun movie (Hotel for Dogs) and hunted for seashells out on the beach. We can't swim in the ocean at the moment because the region is currently being plagued by blooms of 'red tide', more specifically Cochlodinium polykrikoides. Thankfully, this particular species of 'red tide' does not appear to give off a nasty neuro toxin that many 'red tides' are known for. But, we'll keep on eye on things just in case!

We have also planned out our summer holiday! We have so many things to see and do, that we had to get it a bit scheduled. The munchkins were very excited to hear that we get to spend a few nights at Yellowstone in Wyoming in the United States, and our holiday includes a night at a hotel with an indoor waterpark! Our summer holiday this year is basically a big 'ol American style road trip. Thank goodness for large SUV's!

One last brief bit....current temp outside is 93F and the forecasted temp was 83F. Hmmmm???

Wow, way too much to tell it all!

Greetings! I'm back on-line! Had a lovely visit with my mum. It was a bit lonely for a few days after she left. We did everything: coffees, breakfasts, shopping, the really really big mosque just up the road, Oman, and on and on..... We love visitors! It's more fun than words can say to show our beautiful current country to family and friends!

We all remain busy. The husband is very busy with work, the munchkins have their sports, and I have my helping others. Life remains very full!

In terms of regional news, I found a few bits folks might be interested in:

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090403/REVIEW/593475562/1008 I do not fully agree with this article, but I don't fully disagree with it either. I find the last paragraph to be one of the most interesting bits.

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090404/PAGETHREE/363917486/0/economyblog From what I've read, there is a large problem with red tide within the Gulf. The algal blooms are large and lasting. The question is, "Why?" This is the most recent and the most comprehensive article I have found on the subject.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=/data/opinion/2009/March/opinion_March117.xml&section=opinion This is an interesting piece by a London based female writer. But, it gives some interesting thoughts about life inside 'the Kingdom' (how I hear that particular country referred to in my region).

And, because so many of you seemed interested in seeing this document, here's an online pdf of the Dubai Code of Conduct:
http://www.zu.ac.ae/main/user_files/pdf/Dubai_Code_of_Conduct.pdf Recently, there was a very public raging discussion among the ex-pat women I know in the Emirates about whether or not this would be fully enforced. And if enforced, then how would it be enforced. Interesting stuff.

Peace be upon you wherever you may be.