Some Odd Things

We finally got our stove and washing machine working, well at least the stove works. It's nice to be able to cook sometimes when we want to, especially with how rude the people in the restaurant at the hotel are. We also got a new washing machine but Trina just tried to use it and it doesn't work, so it will probably be another couple weeks until that gets working for real this time. As for the shows, they've been OK, not as crowded as last week but still pretty good. The weekend starts tonight so hopefully it will be a nice big crowd for that. We shall see. So from the short month that I've been here I've noticed a few odd things that I would just like to share with everyone. So here's a short little list.....

1. There are stray cats everywhere in our apartment complex and every Sunday there are these two men that go around and gather them all up and wash them. They give them full on baths with soap and everything.

2. On TV here they edit out any kind of romantic scenes. even just kissing but they leave all the swear words in.

3. Also on TV I was watching Masterchef and they were cooking pork, and anytime they said the word pig or pork they edited it out! What the? I mean I know they can't eat pork because they are Muslim, but they can't even hear the word either?

4. For being such a peaceful place I've already seen three fights at the two clubs in the hotel, and those are just the ones I've seen, I'm sure there have been more.

5. There are Malaysians everywhere and they always seem to find me, there are two Malaysian women that come to the club and they are just as crazy as all the ones I met when I was there. Yikes!

6. There are tons of people living here for work but none of them seem to like it here and they aren't very happy. Why not find a job somewhere else then?

I think that's about it for now, I'm sure there are many more things for me to witness so stay tuned!

Little Disturbance

Last week was such a great week! Every single night at the club was packed and we had people dancing. Before we got here they told us that no one would ever dance and people wouldn't really pay attention to us. So either they were lying or else we're just really drawing in the crowd and making people interested with our music. Either way it's a great thing.

With all that goodness though there was a pretty bad event last week too. On Friday morning our band leader JD, and our drummer Jay came back from partying at like 9 am and decided to go to the buffet for breakfast. I guess they were both really drunk still so they were like holding each other up so everyone could see they were drunk. Before I go any further let me just say, one of the first things they told us when we got here was that no matter what we do we cannot disturb the hotel guests. They said that we will get sent home immediately if we do anything that to cause a scene or disturb the guests. So anyway I guess Jay was yelling loudly and swearing and all sorts of stuff in the buffet so one of the managers told them to get their food and go eat in the back employee area. I don't know what happened after that but something caused Jay to start arguing and so the manager took both of their plates and told them to just go back to the apartments because they were causing a scene. They told them to come back later for a meeting with the GM. So we all thought we were probably going to be sent home, but in the end our new manager at the club smoothed things over and it was OK. I'm glad it worked out but at the same time I'm annoyed that they got away with doing something like that. If it had been any of the rest of us we would have been sent home immediately, but because he's the band leader they just said don't do it again.

Another good thing is that I got all of my medicines back. When we got here they took all of the medicine that I had brought with me, I guess it's just protocol for them to check and make sure it's all legal stuff. But it sure took them a long time to check, but now I have it all back and I am quite happy about that. I can't wait to see what exciting things this week will bring!

More Jellyfish!

So I was at the beach again yesterday just walking around as usual enjoying the sun when all of a sudden I came upon this big clear blob laying on the sand. I had no idea what it was so I poked at it with my sandal and realized it was a Jellyfish, a dead one. It looked just like a breast implant on the sand. Now you may ask how do I know what a breast implant looks like, but I've watched tons of plastic surgery shows and these Jellyfish look just like that. As I kept walking there were more and more on the shore(nice rhyme). I don't know why there are so many all of a sudden but I'm going to research it because lets be honest, what else do I have to do?
But that's not the only excitement going on around here. On Sunday night the entertainment manager of the club, which is our boss here, came into the club extremely intoxicated and made a fool of himself. He was standing on tables, yelling things out, and came and sat on the stage while we were performing, which is illegal here. So anyway he got fired last night. He was with another guy in the hotel who was participating in the same shenanigans but I don't know if he got fired too or not. Now I don't know who is going to be our boss here anymore but I hope it's a change for the better and not worse. I'll let you know when I find out.
And lastly, after the shows last night Trina brought these three guys from the UK back to our apartment. I don't know why, she says they just followed her, but who knows for sure. Anyway they were really drunk and were asking to borrow my clothes but I said no. So then they went in Frank's room and started trying on his clothes because he wasn't here. After Trina stopped them from doing that then they went in her room and tried on her dresses. I wish I could have gotten some pictures of that, but even without pictures that's the type of thing you will never forget. It was a weird night.
I'm glad some exciting things are finally happening, this place needs to liven up a little.

Good Times

It's been a few days since my last post, not much has happened. The shows have been great, especially last night, I don't know why but it was really crowded for a Sunday night and we had tons of people out dancing! It was a nice surprise!
We ended up not having to work on Saturday so that was a nice surprise too, I didn't really understand why we were going to have to work on our day off anyway so it was nice to get it off. I didn't do much that day, watched a lot of shows on my computer and just hung out all day, it was nice. Then that night Trina and I went over to the other apartment and cooked some food, it was fun to cook since we haven't been able to for so long.
I've been going to the beach just about every day, I mean there's not much else to do, but it is quite nice just to walk along the beach and see what creepy creatures I can see in the water. I haven't seen anything else too exciting yet but I'm still keeping my eyes open.
Last night I got to Skype with my fam again, it was so fun! This time it was my Aunt Kathy, Aunt Karen, my Grandma, Dad, Mom, Travis, Pam and Kat. I seriously love that I can talk to them and see them. It makes me feel like I am home for that short time. They were all getting together to have the famous St. Patrick's Day dinner! I'm glad I couldn't see or smell the food because I would have missed it too much!
That's about everything I have to report on so far. Happy Monday!

St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! This week has been great so far because there is an Irish band here that's been playing at the club the last two nights so we have only had to do two sets instead of four! It's been a nice little break for my voice! The Irish band is pretty good, they have six members and then two dancers that come out on the dance floor and do that step dancing, Lord of the Dance style stuff. We found out that tonight though, on actual St. Patrick's Day the band is playing somewhere else in the hotel so we are playing all our normal sets plus extra sets because they think it's going to be extra busy, but we'll see.
Besides that things have been going good, we've been playing the Wii a lot, but I always lose, I've never been very good at any video games except for maybe like the cooking ones, ha ha. But that's alright it's still fun to play.
We're still waiting to get a working stove and oven in our apartment, a washing machine, and my curtains fixed in my room. We needed a new shower curtain too but we finally got that yesterday. They're just very slow here and not much ever gets done. They told us the washer and stove would be here yesterday but it wasn't. So now we just have to wait more. Oh well.
Hmmm...what else is going on....it's getting hotter by the day. Every day I go outside I can feel the temperature climbing. They said after April we pretty much will not want to leave the apartment until like 5 pm every day because of the heat. I'm not really looking forward to that. But that's why I've been going to the beach every day because I want to get some fun beach time in before it's too hot to get out there! Oh and also last night I got to Skype with my aunt Randi, my mom, Trav, Ashes, and Kat, it just so happened that they were all up at my house getting their hair done by Ash. It was so fun to see and talk to all of them, and to make faces with my bro. It's nice to see things are just the same as when I left!
I think that's about it on the updates, have a great St. Patrick's Day, don't forget to wear your green!

Jellyfish

So the day off was great, I watched three movies, we all played the Wii together and then everyone went out partying til about 8:30 am but I stayed in because I need to get my voice back together. It seems I made a good decision too because it's starting to come back now. I don't know what the deal is, I'm thinking maybe it got shocked from going from such a humid place to a place that's so dry, or maybe I'm just exhausted, who knows. But also I think that no voice is made to sing this much this many nights a week, but it's all good, I'll get through it!
Last night the shows were pretty good, not a huge crowd, just a nice size, but still not many people danced. We did have some crazy characters trying to get up on stage with us and some other weirdos that I think were on drugs, but other than that it was just a normal Sunday night! We found out that we don't get a day off this week because of St. Patrick's Day, I'm not really sure why since it's on a Thursday and our day off is Saturdays but we just say OK and whatever. But then we get a make up day off next Tuesday so that will be nice.
Today Trina and I went and walked on the beach after lunch, the tide was so low. I was walking in the water and there were all these little crabs runnning around and trying to hide and they kind of freaked me out so I didn't want to walk in the water anymore. But then I stopped seeing them so I stayed in. After awhile I saw a little blue thing floating really close to me so I bent down to get a closer look and realized it was a Jellyfish. I hurried away from it as fast as I could, I do not want to get stung by one of those. I think it was dead but I know they can still sting you, so at that point I just walked along the sand and stayed out of the water. It was kind of cool to see a Jellyfish in real life, I've only ever seen them in aquariums and stuff but it's kind of freaky too. I don't think Trina will ever go swimming in the ocean now because of that, I thought she would be used to seeing stuff like that since she's from Trinidad but I guess not.
I think that's about all I've got for now, have a great week everyone!

First Week

Tonight is the final night of our first week. I will have to admit it did go by quite quickly, and I'm hoping the rest of the time flies like that too. It's nice and relaxing here but after five months of that I will be ready for a change for sure.
All week the shows were pretty good, I'm sick again so my voice is being kind of crazy but I'm getting through it. The crowd here is very different, most of the time there are very few women and everyone just sits and watches. But at the same time they have three big screen TVs playing sports channels all night so some of their attention is on that. Sometimes they clap after the songs and sometimes they don't, everyone is so laid back I think they just don't want to use the effort to clap their hands. As I said before the weeks are different here, their weekend is Wednesday and Thursday so those are the biggest nights. Last night was the best night by far, the club was pretty packed and we had at least half of the people dancing! That felt like quite an accomplishment since everyone told us that the people here hardly ever dance. Tonight will be quieter because it's more like a Sunday night, so we'll see how that goes.
I went and walked on the beach today, I had my Ipod playing some music while I walked along the water, it was so nice! I think I will be spending a lot of time out there, it's so relaxing and just clears your mind, and the water is so warm! Once it starts getting really hot I'll probably wish the water was colder but for now it is just perfect.
So anyway only one more night and then we have tomorrow off. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do on the day off, but definitely going to rest a little to get rid of this sickness or whatever I have. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

First Omani Pics

So today was pretty good. We went to this huge store kind of like walmart, it's called Lulu Hypermarket. They have literally everything, and lots of American brands so that was cool. I had to buy a new electric razor because when I was staying in the hotel one of the guys unplugged mine from the wall and plugged it back into the wrong socket
so it blew up. And when I asked them about it of course neither of them knew what I was talking about. But oh well, so I bought a new one of those and a bunch of snacks and stuff.
Oh I forgot to mention that last night the shows went great, people seemed to really like our music and the Entertainment Manager said the place was the most crowded on a Sunday that
he has ever seen! So we're already bringing in the crowds!
Anyway that's about it for now, I posted the pics from the first few days that we've been here.

Last Few Days

I finally got settled in and now have internet!!! Woohooo!!! It feels like I have a piece of my soul back, I know that sounds dramatic but seriously. I don't think I could have handled staying one more night on my little tiny cot/bed with the other two guys. We get along just fine but staying in such a small space for that many days was not the most fun thing ever.
The place here is beautiful, the beach is amazing and it's right outside so we can go chill out there anytime we want. The food is great, a big buffet like we've had before but they change the food in this one every meal so it's always something different, and there's lots of veggies and fresh stuff, mmmmm! The pool is great and the gym is really nice too, but we're only allowed to use both of those until 2pm. I don't know why we have a time limit but whatever. We'll probably spend most of our time at the beach anyway. The apartments we are living in are right across the street from the hotel. We have a nice kitchen, living room and then three bedrooms and two baths. In my apartment it's me, Trina, and Frank. Should be a pretty good situation. I'm especially excited because Trina has a Wii so we can play that all the time!!
Around town there's pretty much nothing, they have like one grocery store that we can walk to which takes about 20 minutes. And then everything else we pretty much have to take a taxi. It's a very expensive place so I don't think we'll be going very far. 1 Riyal = 2.80 US and a taxi is usually a base of 4 Riyals. So there's an example for ya.
Tonight is our opening night, it should be pretty good. Their weeks here are different than everywhere else in the world, their weekend is Wednesday and Thursday and so our day off here is Saturday, so weird right?
Sorry this post is kind of all over the place, I just had a lot to write and I couldn't organize my thoughts too well. We're just about to head to dinner so I have to stop here. I'll write again soon and post some pictures!