Middle of What and East of Whom?

Over here, I often try to catch myself before I use the phrase "Middle East" since it's a fairly misleading phrase (and potentially demeaning, if you think about it in terms of how the Brits labeled everything -- Near East, Far East, Middle East, etc.).  I think most of us tend to think of the "Middle East" as the chunk of countries that aren't quite Africa, Europe or Asia and is just somehow stuck in the middle. 


In case you haven't noticed, I love maps

But smooshing all those countries together into the phrase "Middle East" because we couldn't think of what else to call them doesn't really do justice to the widely different cultures, languages and income gaps of those countries. 

So first off, it's a common misconception that the Middle East means everyone's an Arab.  An Arab is part of an ethnic group that is characterized by speaking Arabic and generally originating from the Arabian peninsula.  Right off the bat that means that people from Turkey and Iran (not to mention a whole bunch of ethnic minorities throughout the region) aren't Arabs. 

A second misconception is that everyone's Muslim.  However, there are significant Arab populations that are Christian and even Jewish, particularly in the Levant region (which includes Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Cyprus and Israel/Palestine).  There are also a number of non-monotheistic religious minorities, especially as you move east out of the Arabian Peninsula. 

Another big difference in the income disparities across the region.  Oman is part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes the wealthiest countries in the region (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).  As an example, the GDP per capita in Qatar is a whopping $93,825 (it's only $51,479 in the US and the only two countries with a higher GDP per capita than Qatar are Luxembourg and Norway!).  In stark contrast, the GDP per capita in Egypt is $3,256 and in Yemen it's only $1,498.  As you can imagine, the quality of life is vastly different between a GCC country and some of the other countries in the region.

On a personal note, living and traveling in a GCC country versus a non-GCC country is really noticeable.  When I was in college I traveled to Morocco, Egypt and Turkey and absolutely hated it.  In Morocco the men in the souks grabbed me, tried to haul me into their stores and offered me camels and goats for my hand in marriage.  I was so uncomfortable traveling there and felt so unsafe that I eventually started wearing a head scarf and only going into the souks with male friends.  Egypt was crowded, dirty and some of my most vivid memories are not of the pyramids, but rather the appalling living conditions in Alexandria.  And while Turkey was my favorite of the three, I was groped by a cab driver there and quickly learned it wasn't safe to travel alone.  In fact, I was so disenchanted with the region that I changed my focus in college to Central Asia (which still fell under a History degree in Middle Eastern studies). 

Living and traveling in the GCC is completely different.  Here, it would be wildly inappropriate for a man to touch a strange woman in public and people actually go out of their way to avoid bumping into someone of the other gender.  Veiled women here are given a wide berth and, apart from rare circumstances like going to the movies on the opening day of X-Men, no one has even touched me while I've been out and about.  For example, yesterday morning the elevators were really slow, so about six people in the lobby at my office were waiting for elevators -- when the doors opened I got on with three women wearing abayas and, despite the fact that the elevator could have easily held all 6 of us, the men waited to take a separate elevator.

Another big difference is the attire.  In the major cities outside of the GCC and Iran, men and women tend to wear normal Western clothes.  Women in these countries are often seen in Western clothes, though with more conservative hemlines and often with a headscarf.  In the GCC countries, most local women wear the abayas in public and the men wear dishdashas.  So if you're watching the news in the US and you see video footage of Arabs protesting wearing jeans and t-shirts, chances are they're not in a GCC country.

Protest in a non-GCC country (Lebanon)

Protest in a GCC country (Bahrain)

And if you have any doubts about the wealth of the region, just look at Dubai, a shining example of extravagance and ridiculous luxury. 

(I promise, sooner or later I'll start doing something fun here and then you'll have posts with pictures and funny stories rather than informative posts!)

In the Event of the Zombie Apocalypse

Everywhere I've lived I've always given some thought as to how my location might affect my ability to survive a zombie apocalypse.  And by "zombie apocalypse", I really mean when the shit hits the fan globally, whether it be as a result of brain-eating zombies or something of a political nature, like dropping nukes or blowing up oil fields (and no, I'm not one of those doomsday preparers or anything, it's just an entertaining way for me to analyze security risks). 

In 2009, Slate published this "Choose Your Own Apocalypse" game.  I thought it was genius and always wanted to throw a party with that theme. Here's the Slate piece (though it doesn't look like you can still play the game): http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_end_of_america/2009/08/how_is_america_going_to_end_8.html

For example, I lived in Los Angeles for three years and I thought that was pretty much the worst place to ride out the zombie apocalypse (or even a minor political kerfuffle).  While LA had pretty much perfect weather, it had a lot of other negatives -- it was a densely populated city full of a bunch of crazy people (including a bunch of gun-toting crazy people), many of whom belonged to gangs and others who were so far removed from reality that I wouldn't be surprised if they attempted to fight off the zombie hordes with movie props (though really, how awesome would it be to see people fighting off zombies with Star Wars light sabers, but I digress).  So yeah, LA would have been a bad place to ride out the apocalypse. 

Here are some thoughts on what it would be like to ride out the zombie apocalypse in Oman (think of this like my previous informative post about Oman, though only with zombies and a lot of jest):

Pros:

- While Muscat is the most populous city in Oman, it still only has 1.2 million people.  And the total population for the entire country is only approximately 2.8 million, which I'm pretty sure is less people than a single neighborhood in LA.  And since humans have a tendency to freak out and fight each other when the shit hits the fan, I'm thinking that being somewhere sparsely populated is probably a good thing.

- As I've mentioned before, Muscat is a long city with the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other.  That makes it far more defensible than most other capital cities.  And, even if the city itself was overrun, once you get past the mountains into the desert, it's hard to imagine many attackers/zombies following suit since the crags are pretty formidable (and the old forts could serve some useful modern purposes):

 

- I've always felt that surviving the zombie apocalypse would also require surrounding yourself with people who had useful survival skills.  Texas was a pretty good place for finding that.  I'm not sure that the inhabitants of Muscat (Muscattians?) have particularly good survival skills, but outside of Muscat you've got about a million and a half people who are used to surviving in one of the harshest places on earth.  I've always had a healthy respect for the Bedouins, who have made the desert their home despite all odds (although, admittedly, I'm not sure how happy the Bedouins would be about adopting a white girl with no survival skills at all, since lawyering probably isn't going to be in high demand post-apocalypse).

 

- Arabs are famous for their hospitality to guests and it is one of the central features of Arab culture.  It makes sense -- if you live out in the desert, there is the chance that you could be stuck without food or water and someone else's hospitality (and generosity) might be the only thing that saves you (here's a good article that goes into more detail on Arab hospitality).  As a result, hospitality to guests is such a deeply ingrained cultural value that there's a chance it might even survive the zombie apocalypse.  So it's nice to know that if I was being chased by a zombie and knocked on someone's door for sanctuary, there's a decent chance that here they'd open the door, invite me in and offer me food and water (unlike in the US, where I'd likely be met with a shotgun to the face).

 

- If you're going to a formal event in the West, chances are you're putting on a tux.  Contrary to what James Bond movies would lead you to believe, tuxes are not inherently good for fighting in.  Here, when you want to go to a formal event, you slap on one of these wicked looking daggers:

So while they may not have a lot of guns here, at least most males have awesome daggers to fight zombies with.

Cons:
- If I were Sarah Palin, I'd say that I can see Iran from my backyard.  And Pakistan.  And I guess if I squinted I could see Afghanistan.  Not to mention that Yemen isn't exactly a beacon for peace and democracy at the moment.

In most good post-apocalyptic scenarios, you generally have a mad scientist or someone trying to create a weapon of mass destruction and accidentally creating a brain-eating parasite.  Or something.  But anyway, I figure there are plenty of mad scientists in Iran and even more not-mad scientists trying to create biological weapons.  And if something were to go wrong, Muscat is really only a hop, skip and a jump away (assuming zombies can swim).  Plus, if another well-meaning country dropped a nuke on Iran (or Pakistan), I'm pretty sure I'd be in the fallout zone and at risk of growing mutant appendages. 

You have to go see the full comic at: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/zombie_how

- The weather here in summer can reach 120* F and it is not a dry heat.  It feels like the swamps of Florida combined with sticking your head in the oven.  I've always assumed that one of the first things to go in an apocalypse would be the electrical infrastructure, so you've gotta assume that sooner or later we'd lose air conditioning here.  And if that happened I'm pretty sure I'd walk out to meet the zombies unarmed.  Not to mention if you had to escape Muscat over the mountains -- then you'd just have endless desert that would probably kill me within the hour (they actually call that part the "Empty Quarter").

Stolen from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Oman


At the end of the day, I'd still take my chances riding out the zombie apocalypse in Oman rather than LA.  Although the proximity to Iran doesn't exactly make me feel all warm and fuzzy...

The Working Class - A Maid's Life

Like in many other Gulf countries, the workers in Oman primarily come from the Indian subcontinent or the Philippines.  They need the jobs and the labor is cheap (not so different from the Mexican labor force in America). One of the interesting features of this is that most expats and Omanis have live-in maids and most houses here even have maid quarters (mine are outside of my townhouse in the basement, which is also where the washer and dryer are located).  In order to sponsor a maid, however, you must be married, so most of what I'll share below is stuff I've picked up anecdotally since I'm not married and can't have a live-in maid (nor would I want one as a single person).

From what I've gathered, when an expat family needs a maid they go to a staffing agency and request sponsorship for a maid through the Omani government.  The expats pay for the trip over here from whatever country the maid is from originally and cross their fingers and hope they get a good one (I'm not sure you can "return" a maid if you're dissatisfied and get your money back).  Once the maid is under your sponsorship you are obligated to pay for her trip back to her home country once every two years (yeah, you heard that, she only gets to go home once every two years).  It seems like a decent salary for a maid here working for an expat family (Omanis apparently pay less) is about 180 Omani Rials a month (or about $468).  Now, keep in mind that the maid doesn't have any expenses other than her cell phone and maintaining her family back home (since most don't drive and they live with the family sponsoring them), so it's actually really good money for many of the maids here.  And it sure beats slaving out in the insane heat like the male workers here (more on that in another post).

And while each maid and family is different, the maids in general do everything in the households here.  Laundry, cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, dog walking, car washing, you name it.  You can see how appealing it is, especially if you're a family recently moved over from the US, since having a maid can afford a family so much more free time.  And you never have to worry about who is going to watch the kids or the pets if you want a night or a weekend off.

The interesting thing about this is what happens to people who grow up relying so heavily on maids -- many Omanis that I've met have no idea how to cook or clean or do their own laundry and the same is true for expat kids who have been raised over here.  And while it's certainly a relief to have a maid and not have to do all those things, it's also somewhat alarming that we have so many people (Omanis and expats alike) who are now unable to take care of themselves in pretty basic ways due to reliance on maids.

Likewise, you'll occasionally meet people who have handed so much of the child-rearing over to the maids that you wonder if they're even parents at all.  I've heard stories of expats who, when their maid ran away (since you can't really quit if you're a maid), freaked out and asked "Well, who is going to take care of the kids now?"  Uh, you…that's why you had kids, right?  To help rear and parent them and not just hand them off to a stranger you flew over from the Philippines?

Now look, those of you who have met me know that I'm not so great at feeding myself -- I think a PB&J sandwich or a bowl of cereal is a perfectly appropriate dinner since cooking is just way too much effort.  And one of the reasons I didn't bring my dog over is because I couldn't have a maid and I'd need someone to walk and take care of him while I'm out of town.  And if I had kids I'd damned sure want a maid to help out.  So I'm by no means knocking the benefits of having a maid and it's one of the very big perks for an expat family out here to have the help and support of a maid.  There are just a lot of moments where I meet people who have become so reliant upon their maids that they've forgotten how to be self-sufficient (or, in the case of kids raised here, never learned to be self-sufficient).

With regard to the treatment of maids, as I mentioned before, you can't really quit if your family treats you terribly.  And apart from the once-every-two-years trip home, I don't know that there are many more obligations on the treatment of a maid.  I've heard stories of maids forced to work 15 hours a day with only one day off a month, who weren't permitted to use their cell phones to contact their kids.  I've seen maids quarters that were tiny little un-air conditioned boxes and must be unbearably hot for most of the year here.  And in the United Arab Emirates, apparently it's common to see small children hitting their maids in public while the parents look on.  So if a maid is unhappy with her situation here, she has a few options: (1) pay for her own ticket home (generally impossible), (2) find a new family to take over her sponsorship or (3) run away and work somewhere illegally.

But as many stories as I've heard of maids being abused I've also heard the same amount regarding untrustworthy maids.  Maids who steal, maids who bring men back to their rooms, maids who run prostitution rings out of their rooms, maids who go wild when the family is out of town and throw parties in the home…and on.  All of which is further proof why I don't want a live-in maid.  

The other thing that's really interesting is seeing how different cultures deal with essentially having servants.  As an American, I grew up in a place where virtually no one had servants and where an important aspect of our culture was to be self-sufficient and capable.  So, for the most part, when Americans do get maids over here, we tend to treat them pretty well.  Partially because we're just so excited to not have to do our own laundry and mostly because we didn't grow up in a culture with a servant class that could be abused or demeaned.  Yet that does not appear to be the case for some European countries and is definitely not the case for Arab or Indian families.  Interestingly enough, Indian maids aren't treated any better in Indian households than they would be anywhere else -- there doesn't seem to be any sort of cultural solidarity or looking out for one's own countrymen (I wonder if it has something to do with the caste system still alive and well in India?)

It's not often that I say I'm proud to be an American, but I'm so glad to be self-sufficient (even if I suck at feeding myself) and that I grew up someplace where that was valued.  And as a final story, I have a large window over my kitchen sink and at night, when I'm doing my dishes, I get a number of knocks on my door from people asking if I need a maid.  Apparently it's so shocking that a white person is doing their own dishes that everyone assumes I must need assistance!

**Disclaimer: In this post I make generalizations about some cultures and ethnicities and most everything in this post is based on things I've heard rather than seen firsthand.  Please recognize that no culture or ethnicity is homogenous and "generalizations" is just a fancy word for stereotyping people; while I hate to do that, I also want to share my thoughts and experiences, even if it means I have to engage in a little stereotyping based on hearsay.**

A Day at the Beach

After a lot of research into beaches in Muscat that we could wear bathing suits to, a friend and I set off yesterday to the Oman Dive Center for a lovely day at the beach.  It's a private beach near the Shangri-La Resort that has a beach bar and restaurant, lounge chairs and a pool.  It was in a gorgeous cove overlooking crystal clear water and was a perfect way to spend the day (and 4 Rials). 

I will say that despite the fact that it was a private beach, we were still stared at in our bathing suits.  But no one said anything and we weren't being disrespectful at a private beach, so that's all that really mattered.  Next time I want to go back with a snorkeling mask, since there were fish and turtles throughout the cove.

I've promised myself that, no matter how long I'm here for, I can't allow myself to become immune to the beautiful scenery.  The day that I stop noticing the beauty of the mountains or the ocean will be the day I no longer deserve the gift of being here.

Some Thoughts on a Culture of Violence

One of my Omani coworkers is preparing for a business trip to the US and came to me with some concerns last week -- she's worried about how dangerous the US is and her parents are concerned about her facing violence there.  I started to scoff at her concerns, but then thought of the most recent act of senseless violence in Santa Barbara.  And I thought of the Sikh man in New York who was almost beaten to death by teenagers accusing him of being a Muslim fanatic.  And I thought of how acts of violence in the US are so commonplace now that we're not even surprised by them (though we do still manage to feel appalled).

When I was preparing to move to Oman, my friends and family were concerned about my safety here.  I assuaged their concerns by telling them that Oman is one of the safest countries in the world.  Despite my cited statistics, many still felt that terrorism would be rife in the Middle East.  And while that may be the case in other parts of the Middle East, it's certainly not the case here, and sadly I'm more likely to be the victim of a terrorist attack in the US than here.  Other friends raised concerns about some cultural acts of violence in the Middle East that we occasionally read about in the news -- women having acid thrown in their faces, women being stoned to death by brothers and fathers, tribal clashes, etc. Apart from the fact that this would be extremely rare in Oman, I was never concerned for my own safety by these stories since these are aspects of certain cultures and I'm not a part of their culture, merely an observer.

It occurred to me today, while reading about the Santa Barbara shooter, that it's important to make distinctions between cultural violence and random violence.  Each culture accepts certain levels of violence, which other cultures may find appalling (for a moment take "right and wrong" out of the equation and just look at examples).  The death penalty in the US; euthanasia in certain European countries; being stoned to death for adultery in Yemen; genital mutilation of women in Africa; male circumcision; abortion, etc.  Some cultures may find the death penalty cruel and horrific, yet the American culture has, for the most part, accepted the practice.  These could be classified as cultural violence and, to the extent that certain cultures have practices that the majority of the rest find abhorrent, we should focus on education and providing people with alternatives to such violence.  Not because our culture is better or theirs is worse, but because by reducing some of these violences people can have better qualities of life.

Yet what we see so often in America is not cultural violence but random violence.  We've seen so many school shootings, movie theatre shootings, bombings at sporting events and so on that we've become immune to the fact that only in America does random violence occur with such frequency and severity.  From a foreigner's perspective, it may even start to seem that the random violence in America has become cultural violence.  And that's a sad state of affairs indeed.

So when my coworker expressed concerns about how dangerous America is, I didn't have a good response.  I tried to make her feel better as best I could and then gave her advice that made me feel ashamed.  I advised her not to wear her abaya -- there are still too many ignorant Americans who think that all Muslims are terrorists and I didn't want her to call unnecessary attention to herself while traveling in the US. 

For all of you that worried about my safety here, feel better knowing that I'm very safe indeed.  I only wish I could honestly tell my coworker that America is just as safe.

A Little Bit About Muscat

Ok, so now a little bit about Muscat, which is the capital of Oman and my home for the next year-ish.  As you can see from the map below, Muscat is a long city that's bordered by the ocean on one side and a huge mountain range on the other.  Theoretically the mountain range shields us from the worst of the heat in the desert, but it's hard for me to imagine it could possibly be any hotter (the heat index today is 120* F).  It also makes for some pretty spectacular scenery while you're driving around.

The view on my drive home from work

Though most expats live in the area north of Bausher on the map below, I live in the Seeb area.  I live up in the hills and have a spectacular view of the mountains, though it takes me about 25-30 minutes to drive down to the areas where we socialize (like Shatti al Qurum and Madinat Al Qaboos).  But since I'm only 10 minutes from work and 13 minutes from the best mall in town (which also holds the grocery/everything store), I'm pretty happy with my location. 

Physical 3D Map of Muscat

Certain parts of Muscat also have a really beachy feel, which helps make you feel like you're on permanent vacation (as long as you stay indoors and just look at the pretty outdoors and don't actually walk out into the sauna).  But with the ocean comes humidity -- whoever said that it's a dry heat over here was so so so wrong.  It's like the worst of the humidity from Florida mixed with sticking your head in the oven.  It's too hot to even use the pool!  But at least it's pretty...

Getting a Liquor License

After getting a work visa, driver's license and Omani resident card, the one last piece of documentation I needed was a liquor license.  Since Oman is a Muslim country and Muslims are not permitted to drink alcohol, obtaining liquor in the Middle East can be a bit of a challenge. Though based on some stories I've heard, it's much easier in Oman than in some of the neighboring countries.

Here, non-Muslims can get a liquor license from the police stations, which limit the amount of money you can spend on liquor in a given month (if you're a Muslim you're shit out of luck, though you can still drink at bars that serve liquor).  Liquor licenses are only required to buy alcohol for your homes -- if you want to drink at a bar or restaurant you don't need to find a license, you just have to find one of the few places that sell alcohol (and be aware that many places tend to lose their liquor licenses every once in a while, so your favorite watering hole may be occasionally dry). 

When you apply for the liquor license you have to state your annual income, since the amount of liquor you're permitted to buy is based on your annual salary (which is smart -- you don't want people spending their entire paychecks on booze).  You also then request a monthly allowance; one of my coworkers apparently requested 1000 Omani Rials per month (equal to about $2700) but found out that the limit is 400 OR per month.  I was also told that Western expats can have larger liquor allowances than expats from the Indian subcontinent, which I found very interesting. 

I'm not a big drinker, so I wanted to request 50 OR (about $130) per month, but the PRO helping me get my license was appalled that I wanted so little and tried to encourage me to get 150 OR.  I compromised with 100 OR, which is still way more than I expect I'll ever need, though at least this way I'll always have extra allotted to me each month, so I can volunteer to help other people buy booze for parties or celebrations.

My PRO also pointed out some of the liquor stores, which have covered windows and interesting names like the "East Africa Trading Co."  I haven't been inside one yet, though one of these days I'll need to go on my first booze buying adventure!