Eish... it's been a weird day...

Well, I've sorta gotten over my I hate everything day, but I could add a few more things to that list... so dont get me started... :)

But I just have to tell you about my day today - it high-lights a typical day in Oman.. :) Okay well maybe not in Oman but definitely in my life at the moment...

Okay - so our mission today was
1) Renew Kids Passport
2) Amend plane tickets
3) go to DHL to collect a package - apparently - they DONT deliver here... WEIRD!!!
4) Do a deposit at The National Bank of Oman
5) pop into a mall we hadn't been in before - they had signs of 50% sale up!!! it was a must!

So we set out on our "adventure"

Before I get to the knitty gritty - I have to explain the roads here - if you want to go ANYWHERE you have to go VIA somewhere else (a good RSA saying explaining this would be you have to go via Upington to get there... ) a lot of the roads are one ways so you have to go passed / around the place you want to go and make your way back to it.. and of course you end up on the wrong road and happen to pass by where you want to be on the other side... It really makes for fun trips, we just pack in a picnic...

So - off we go via upington....

1) At the SA Embassy - In TYPICAL South African Government style - when I collected the application form - they had forgotten to give me half of it, as well as the list of things needed - so we accomplished - NOTHING - however - I must admit it had me and hubby in hysterics on having a typical "South African Government worker" (wink wink) assist us - it was like being back home... ;)

Then over the road is the place to amend the tickets - but it took us many trys and errors, round trips etc to get to the Emirates Building...

2) Where I had forgotten our passports and tickets on the desk at home... oopsie daisy... (can I tell you how impressed hubby was....)

on to the deposit

3) we spent an HOUR driving up and down and round and about no avail no National Bank of Oman. Millions of other banks but NOT the one we are looking for - but we happened to pass (in the right direction) the Mall we wanted to go look at...

4) Zankher (I think you spell it like that) Mall... It only opens at 10!!!! and it was 9'o'clock...

WELL YES - hubby was not impressed with me at all... But what is it with this place - there is NO standard times for anything opening or closing here - its hit and miss and really really weird times. Our Local DVD shop only opens at 18h00???

So we go home..

We get onto the National Bank of Oman's website - click on the Branch Location Button - and it gives a list of all branches - NO OTHER INFO!!! WTF - so it says Al Khuwair Branch and thats it - well that was EXTREMELY helpful in finding out where they are located... not even a bloody phone number...

Then I had a brain wave - get hold of Oman's version of Wiki... OmanForum!! (hereafter refered to as OF) its a forum for both Expats and National's either in Oman or was in Oman (although we have one member who's never even been here! WEIRD!). You can paste any question, and you will get good answers within minutes if not seconds. Of course there is the social side of it too (DOH! like where I have meet all my friends... haha - yes I have had to scoop that low to make friends here... ;) (JOKING PPL you know I love ya!) but it really is the most amazing place to find really good info on Oman. And really within 10 minutes I had an answer and knew exactly where it was.

So then off we went again and started all over again,

We decided to not amend the tickets just yet - as we are still argueing on when we are going back on hols.... I will NOT be in Cape Town during the 2010 World Cup - forget it!!

SA Embassy - again - GREAT South African SERVICE... at least it was a laugh.. But what was funnier was that when I asked how long before the passport will be ready - she said 3 months... WOW! thats better service than what you get in South Africa... ROFL - I would recommend you all come here to get your passports renewed... :)

National Bank of Oman - I walk in and it didn't look like the banks I know back home in RSA... Opps after about 5 minutes of wondering around pretending I can read arabic signs I found the tellers right at the back around the corner (how weird is that!). Join the queue and wait my turn. Then some national female goes to the one teller JUMPING the whole queue... boy was I peeved... the audacity of it all.. but I let it go, deep breaths... Then the teller started banging on his window and tell me to come here - but he wasn't being that friendly - so I was like FFS what now... so he tells me, "why you standing in queue - this is a ladies only teller" and he helps me before that National who I thought was pushing in... GOOD JOB I held my words... hahaha

DHL - nothing major happened here - except the whole weird way you had to go to get there.. and you end up passing it 100's of times before you figure it out!

Then we finally got to the Mall - the sale was good, but oh my golly gosh the taste in furniture - erg disgusting - but I did see the most amazing desk I WANT!!!

Then hubby says we can have a coffee... Cant for the life of me remember the places name.. I ordered the Iced Chocolate Cuppachino... ERG it was disgusting... basically it was like Frisco instant coffee (for those who dont happen to know what Frisco is - it must be the worse instant coffee you can get (erm apologies for those who like it) its basically just chicory not even caffeine) so a cup of that coffee with 3 ice cubes in it... Where the hell was the chocolate??? erg I'm getting shivers just thinking about it...

Anyhoo... Off to a more decent coffee shop tommorrow - where I will make up for todays mistakes... Off to meet some random strangers I met on OF... erg hope they not mass murderers... but its all good - taking my wingman with me... ERG - I met her on OF too... ;)

Oh one other thing that had me giggling today....
Got an email from Kids teacher with "forthcoming attractions" And there was a note at the bottom - Swimming is stopped for the winter season.... WTF!!! it's over 30 degrees outside people... OMW!!! imagine having a school tell you they stop swimming when the temperature reaches 30!!!

Till next time
xx