Rumors

I am not going to name any names here, but if you know my Six Schoolers then you will know exactly who said what in this exchange:

"My mom says that Omanis are all horrible drivers. And it is because of the way they learn. They learn to follow like THIS CLOSE (indicating about 10 centimeters of space with hands) and so of course they have lots of accidents and they are just, well, bad drivers."

"What?!?!" This is said in an outraged voice, just in case you didn't get that with the punctuation. "My mom learned to drive in America but a lot of my family learned to drive here. And my family members who learned to drive here are no different with their driving than my mom."

Both students look near tears but, as this is no different from any other day in the life here, we move on with things. However, this has put me in mind of the many, many rumors that circulate here. Perhaps because of the limitations of the media here, an awful lot of news gets spread via word of mouth.

I have been nosing around for the juiciest rumors and have come to the conclusion that I run with the wrong crowd here. We are just not gossip mongers, although I have run across a few unsubstantiated rumors over the previous week. Here they are in no particular order, although it seems the rumors I hear are mostly centered around traffic, money, schools, and entertainment. It is what makes the expat world go round.

1.) Expats cannot buy pickup trucks here.

This one tops the list because, while it seems unlikely, it also seems to hold some truth. After all, I cannot say that I have EVER seen a non-Omani driving a pickup of any sort. Perhaps this is because we don't own camels and so why would anyone ever need a pickup without a camel?

Thank you to gettyimages for the photo I have tried to capture so many times but have failed

2.) The majority of freight-carrying trucks here, including those hauling petrol products, are driving with brakes so minimal that they cannot stop without serious lead time. 

The statistic I heard is that only 2% of trucks meet the country's safety requirements (which are obviously, if this is true, not that strictly enforced).

But who needs brakes when you have these! 

Thanks to wildcardtravels.blogspot.com for the photo I have always been too lazy to get!

3.) Women are not allowed to test for a driver's license here on a car with a manual transmission.

I know, I know. I have blogged about this before, but it bears repeating just because it is so unbelievable. Does anyone know if this is really true?

Tempting? Immoral? Or just too hard to deal with? Not sure.

4.)  A pay raise of ___% is just around the corner! (You can fill in any number between 20 and 50 in the blank)

This one circulates about twice a year but, thus far, no gigantic pay raise has graced our banking account. The latest rumor on this is 40%! If only.

5.) School fees are going up __% next year! (insert a number between 5 and 12 in the blank).

With the strangle hold that the five well-respected English-medium schools have here, they seem to have free reign to raise their fees. After all, everyone pays a non-refundable fee/tax to put their children in any one of these schools, and withdrawing said child from the school results in a forfeit of that tax. As a result, if a child is enrolled in one of those schools there is little choice but to leave them where they are and ride out the rise in fees.

6.) Skype will soon be unblocked. 

Oman is anti-VOIP and so I am back to paying a premium price for international phone service (as opposed to paying next to nothing when I lived in Korea and not paying anything at all while in Mexico, China, and England since calling was either impossible when I lived in those places, or exorbitant). I guess I need to be grateful for the ability to call at all, even if it does cost more than Skype.

7.) Ministry officials are closing the ______________ because they want to take it over as their personal playground (insert any of the numerous Muscat clubs' names here).  

This is one of the difficulties of living in a place like Oman. Without a group of members with the right wasta (roughly translated as 'influence'), any club, structure, or organization can be closed, removed, reshuffled, or restructured at the drop of a hat. It's enough to make a wasta-less individual like me a bit jumpy to tell the truth. There is a certain level of corruption present as well, making us little guys all a bit edgier still.

Capital Yacht Club Closing...okay, so this is an old article, but it is a good picture of the forces at work.   

And this one from Muscat Mutterings is an interesting read about local corruption.

8.) Ikea is coming!

I will believe it when I see it.

Like I said, I run with a pretty dull crowd...or possibly one that has better things to do than worry about gossip.