In the news

I thought it would be an interesting diversion to take a look at the local newspaper and share some of the published articles and advertisements. It gives great insight into daily local life and in many ways is quite different from what we see in the U.S.

Eid Al-Adha

Since these newspapers were published before Eid al-Adha (prounounced eed), you will learn a little about this religious holiday and culture. Eid al-Adha is the second Eid celebrated by Muslims world-wide, commemorating events regarding the life of Abraham and Ishmael as recorded in the Quran. For more info on this holiday, I suggest you search on the Internet. It is quite interesting.

Part of the Eid holiday involves a sacrifice. Since this is a holy holiday, the sacrifice must be performed according to a defined ritual. Living in a city poses certain problems for ritual sacrifice, so below is an article describing how they are dealing with this problem in the city by setting up a mobile abattoir to drive throughout the neighborhoods to perform the ritual sacrifices without sacrificing sanitation. (Abattoir: slaughterhouse for animals for the purpose of human consumption).

The central abattoir gets backed up with requests during Eid, so they set up mobile units.

Here are some more pictures of Omani citizens preparing for Eid al-Adha.

Classified Ads

These are a sampling of some of the ads found in the paper a few days ago. Of course, in the U.S., it would not be allowable to state one's gender or race, but it is common-place here.

I'm not sure what kind of nursery they are referring to, but I think it's children...

Advertisements

Have you had a McArabia lately?

Shari'a-compliant means that the charge card conforms to Muslim Shari'a law.

Cultural Diversity

I don't recognize most of the actors/actresses
mentioned on the entertainment pages!

The two pictures above are showing celebrations of the Hindu religious celebration of Durga Puja. 

General Information Articles

This state of the art eye operation center--quite different construction from what we might find in the U.S.

This article refers to the expat laborers brought in from other countries
(India, Pakistan, Philippines, etc.) and the crowded living conditions
 under which they live. It is an interesting read.

The flight schedule out of Muscat is small enough to be "memorized"
as well as published daily in the paper.

The newspaper also carries a few comic strips, horoscopes, local news as well as news from around the world. I hope you enjoyed browsing through a sampling of newspaper articles. Living in another culture requires an understanding and sensitivity to the people and their practices. There is not a right or wrong, just different.  I am constantly learning how even though we are all human, our upbringing provides such a different way of looking at things, and that we should continually strive to understand one another.