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From Middletown to the Middle East

~ Reflections on travel and teaching

From Middletown to the Middle East

Monthly Archives: March 2016

Jobs Omanis do, part II

17 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by tgilheany in Oman

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A few observations I have heard but can’t swear to:

  • In 1970 so few Omanis were educated that most teachers came from Egypt. Now almost all teachers are Omani.
  • Almost all restaurant workers are guest workers. But the owner would be Omani – only Omanis are allowed to own restaurants (is this true of all businesses, I wonder?)
  • Some jobs are restricted to Omanis – taxi driver and water tanker driver. Why? Because these are good jobs that don’t require education, just a drivers’ license.
  • All government jobs, police and military are only for Omanis.
  • Someone working in the fields is not Omani, but the owner of the farm is.
  • An old man carrying grass on his head to his flock in rural Oman is Omani (why, if the current point about Omanis not working in the fields is the case?)
  • For every 5 foreign workers hired, a business must hire an Omani.
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Most restaurant workers are from India; these guys were from Yemen

 

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Presto Chango!

17 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by tgilheany in Oman

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Recently we went to dinner at a hotel restaurant in Muscat. It was one of the higher end hotels, and the restaurant served wine, so I guess you could identify it as a cosmopolitan or liberal space. (As I understand it, few independent restaurants, and not even all hotel restaurants, are licensed, even in the capital.) The diners were a mix of Omanis, Europeans, and folks from other Gulf states (at least one man wore what I think of as a Saudi ghutra.)

Next to us sat a middle-aged Omani couple. He was wearing the traditional Omani cap and dishdasha. She was wearing a black abaya and head covering. After they ordered dinner, she removed her head covering, kissed her husband, and excused herself. She returned without her abaya, wearing a red tank top and jeans.

Both in Oman and in other countries, I have seen women and men in widely varying interpretations of modest dress. But I have not seen someone change their level of dress “in public”, if you will.

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Define this space: public? Western? liberal?

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Greetings in Oman: more than just “hi”

16 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by tgilheany in Uncategorized

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We were picnicking in a wadi when a farmer came around the corner, carrying on his head grass for his goats. Our guide rose and exchanged the following greeting and farewell (my apologies for poor transliterating/translating – it’s what I could get from my guide after):

Salaam aleikum (Peace be with you)
Aleikum Salam (And with you peace)
Kief Halek (How are you?)
Hamdulilah ([I am well,] Thanks be to God).
Mash Akbar? (No news?)
Mash ulum? (No information?)
Diar salime (The country is safe)
Bifuthel Allah wa Qaboos (by the grace of God and His Majesty Sultan Qaboos)
Ma Salama ([Go] with peace)

…and the man went on his way.

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Wealth, poverty and wealth again

13 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by tgilheany in Uncategorized

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Oman has swung from substantial to impoverished and back again. The trading history is fascinating and romantic. In the 18th century Oman controlled a series of ports along the Somali and Kenyan coast, as well as the island of Zanzibar. Trade was conducted by dhows, the last of which was built for (for actual commercial use!) in 1951.

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Built as an actual trading vessel in 1951! Cool, but also showing the technological limitations of Oman at that time.

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The beautiful harbor and lighthouse of Sur

Nowadays in the Omani coastal town of Sur they are still building dhows. Now, however, wealthy princes from other Gulf states order them as symbols of their commercial history! Made of teak and taking a year to construct, they don’t come cheap.

Fancy new dhow!
Fancy new dhow!
Caution: symbolic use only!
Caution: symbolic use only!

During the 20th century came a time of steep decline; Oman became incredibly poor. Since 1970, however, when the current Sultan deposed his father, the increases in all markers on the human development index have been dramatic. Oman once again does a serious sea trade; this time in oil and natural gas.

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LNG tanker off the coast of Sur, Oman

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Figuring out who is an Omani, and what jobs they do

11 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by tgilheany in Oman, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

This is my first time to a Gulf country, and I am particularly interested in questions of wealth, poverty, oil, and guest workers. On my Etihad flight from New York to Abu Dhabi, no-one was wearing traditional Gulf Arab clothes. There were no men in dishdashas, and I did not even notice a woman who covered her hair. In terms of appearance, if you hadn’t told me where the plane was going I would have said India. Most of the folks who didn’t look European on this flight looked South Asian to me. Were these mostly guest workers? Or were they just Indians and Pakistanis changing planes in Abu Dhabi? And is there another airline or flight time that is more popular for Gulf Arabs?

On our flight from Abu Dhabi to Muscat, however, there were significantly more folks in traditional dress, most clearly a group of young men. When we got off the plane, there were four paths through immigration. The first was marked “electronic gates” – the young men in dishdashas went that way. The second said “GCC nationals” – I’m not sure I saw anyone head that way. The third was not labeled as far as I could tell, and we were waved that way (just on the basis of our appearance, I think). The fourth said “retinal scan”, and that is where the folks who looked South Asian went.

Since we have arrived, I’ve been getting a better sense of identifying who is an Omani and who is a guest worker. There are many, many of the latter. As a tourist, I’m pretty sure none of the restaurants I’ve eaten at have had Omani staff. At the same time, it appears that this doesn’t mean that every Omani is wealthy. We visited a fishing village today, for example, that was not fancy by any means. And one of the first things one reads about Oman is that it has far less oil than other gulf states (though oil production still accounts for over 50% of GDP).

IMG_3209

Fisherman, Qantab Beach

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