A Collections of Random Similarities and Differences

       I've been living in Oman for over a month now! Time has flown and dragged by, school goes by second by second but hanging with my host family turn hours into moments. When Middle Eastern culture is mentioned it brings to mind women in all black, mosques, and hot, weather. My host sisters throw abayas over their jeans and t-shirts, and wrap their hair in hijabs before they leave the house, call to prayer rings out from the Muscat's many mosque.
   There are many large differences in food (rice is eaten everyday), relgion, and language, that it is easy to over look the small things. The similarities and differences of how people live their everyday lives. I love discovering the small similarities and differences, the ones that would go unnoticed unless you where actually living in the country. Here's to the little things!

Differences:

• Almost no one eats peanut butter, but there's almost always Nutella! Looking for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? You might not find one, but you can have a Nutella and Puck Cream Cheese Spread sandwich instead, which is my breakfast everyday. 
• Facial tissues are everywhere, taking the place of paper towels. They're the soft papering kind that absorb water, not Kleenex. 
• Coffee is always served black. Tea always has sugar, and the most popular kind is made from milk not water, and sometimes has oregano.
• It is very rare for dogs to be kept as pets. Cats are kept as pets, but are given meal leftovers rather than Fancy Feast or Friskies.
• When you enter a room you greet everyone with a quick handshake. 
• Pepsi is more popular than Coke.
• Ramen is nowhere to be found, instead the dry, possibly plastic, instant noodles are none as Indomie.
• Exercising isn't as common here, which probably owes to the fact it's usualy over 90 degrees F. 

Similarities

• Hair salons are the same, with the cushioned chairs and the stylist that overestimates what a centimeter is. 
• Most people have smart phones, and they use them constantly. Samsung phones are more popular than iPhones, but both are more expensive than in the U.S. 
• Boys do pull ups in doorways, maybe that's just my host brother.
• Girls stay up late eating chocolate ice cream and gossiping about the guys they like. 
• Siblings play pranks on each other. My host brother took a nap on the couch and ended up with pen-ink hearts drawn on his face. 
• Teenagers download movies illegally. 
• Korean dramas take high school girls and turn them into addicts, watching episode aft episode of Boys over Flowers.