I’ve spent  almost my entire life in Oman, and I never see so much change in a short period of time except during this holy month.  There’s  a noticeable change of mood on the locals, the people become more spiritual, lazier (during the day)  and festive as they are either given holidays or their work hours are shortened.

My experiences of the holy month have always been interesting, our family rarely gathers up or has such a chance to spend long periods of time together, The food tastes better than ever because of my anticipation and food deprivation  and I am given a reason to actually be able to sleep all day without being bothered by my mother who forces me to do chores.

The best experience of the holy month I had was back when Ramadan used to occur during school days, kids used to prank their friends by tricking them into saying a bad word or by waiting for someone to forget about the fast and then remind him as he is drinking water out of the tap and then watching him panic, the class also had an excuse to be tired during lessons and not pay attention and therefore the tests had to be easier.

It seems like the country of Oman goes quiet in Ramadan, I experienced very few traffic jams during the month and noticed that leisure spots  such as bowling centers and cinemas find very few customers, you’d  usually find out that everyone is spending their time with the family and/or performing their religious  duties.

The generous spirit of the people here is also most obvious during this holy month, It brings a smile to my face when I increasingly see people donate to the poor and to the charities, and prepare and deliver meals to the poor at the local mosques.

These are some of the many changes that you can notice in Ramadan, and you can say that i find change exciting. I hope you all have a great month. Ramadan kareem! Also, a word of advice to those who may not know but the roads can get more dangerous a few hours before the fast is broken as people rush to get home or wherever their food is!

‘Join the crowd’

Seeing construction workers working under the terrible heat where temperatures could reach round about 50 degrees Celsius gave the young student at the Modern College of Business and Science the idea of distributing cold water to them, I-Care was born.

So what is I-Care one may think? Well, it’s an initiative that aims to raise awareness to the local community about construction workers, ground crew, maintenance staff and street cleaners on their hard working conditions outside in the unbearable heat as the temperatures in the summer could reach over 50 degrees Celsius, therefore distributing cold water to them would show them that the community cares about them and appreciates their hard work and efforts.

Five years since the launch of I-Care, it has over 200 volunteers, and over 600 Facebook and Twitter followers. So far, since the launch they have distributed over 600 chilled water bottles, however this year they aim to distribute 2000 cold water bottles before lunch-time. They aim to provide cold water to not only construction workers but also maintenance staff, ground crew and street cleaners.

How can YOU help?

Well, first of all follow them on Twitter and like their Facebook page to get updates on the agenda, and the plan..second of all, volunteer to distribute cold water bottles on Thursday the 19th of July 2012 at Al-Fateh Square in Wattaya ( Near Khawla Hospital) at 10am. Tell family and friends  and I hope to see you all there!

 

“We have launched caps, t-shirts with the I-Care logo to be sold for 3 R.O and 4 R.O respectively in which sales will go directly towards the initiative. We also accept donations from different people and companies”

“Our method for accepting donations is by contacting us through our email icareoman@gmail.com”

My dad always told me that doing good deed is not just donating money, it’s about being a part of it, volunteering and putting a smile on ones face is the most important.

Twitter: @ICareOman

Facebook: I-Care initiative

Trendy!

Business is booming for some around the Sultanate. New businesses are popping up all over but some separate themselves from others. I’m talking about all these new ventures that are run by young entrepreneurs, the ones that you’ve probably seen on Facebook or Twitter. It appears to be a new trend for new teens with time on their hands but it’s a pretty cool trend if I may say so myself. Creative ideas can bring in a stream of revenue for these young adults and for coming up with the ideas, why not? There are multi-product Facebook pages that sell a bunch of things but nothing that special. One of the more well know business models is the t-shirt business, a lot of people complain about the lack of choice when it comes to clothing in Oman and these businesses are welcome to sell funny or trendy t-shirts that have proven to be a hit among teenagers. Let us not forget the Cup-cake trend the has really blown-up, it’s like there’s a new business everyday! Now I’m not going to complain because if these cakes are selling then they’ve got to be good or some people have terrible taste , no that can’t be it! There are a lot more business models that I may have missed, let us know in the comments below!

So!

I think it’s a good thing that there’s always something new going on, a new shop that’s opened, whatever it may be. You can’t miss these little startups because they will take up your Facebook feed! If you do get a chance, take a look. Setting up isn’t as easy as you may think, just ask any of these young entrepreneurs! They can take away time from school or social events but remember that time is money.

If you are a teen entrepreneur who has a local business and would like to share it with us, please tell us about your business in the comment box below.

As I begin writing this I can’t help but wonder if anybody else was very excited for the 2012 summer vacation. I mean, after an exhausting school year I would assume that most people were counting down the days! It’s a totally normal thing to be excited for free time, not to mention 3 MONTHS of free it. But does that really apply to us? You know what I’m speaking about (IB students). You know how miserable a 3 month break could be with 10 or more deadlines due the day you come back.

I’m sure it’s not just me going through the same routine everyday:

- Wake up at 1 PM

- Surf the web/BBM/Do nothing productive until 4 AM

- Find something pointless to do until 5 AM then sleep

- Wake up at 1 PM

The fact that everybody is out of town and there’s barely anything entertaining to do here is not very helpful either. At moments like these, I wish the legal driving age here was 16 but then I remember how many accidents happen on these roads with the legal age being 18 (Suureeeee, eighteeennnn). This reminds me, congratulations on having the first 2012 day with zero road deaths last week Oman!

In most cases, people set too high standards for their summer vacations, sometimes leading to disappointments. I am guilty of setting high standards for this summer holiday myself. As horrible and catchy this song might be, I felt exactly the same way a month ago. But here I am, buried in a workload almost an entire month into my vacation and I’ve barely done anything productive or super crazy and fun. All I can do is hope this holiday gets more exciting when I travel soon. I guess what I’m trying to say through this random blog entry is that summer is not always that beautiful time period we all yearn for all year long.

That being said, we should try to enjoy it as much as we can before we regret not doing so in September and to those who enjoy it: Congrats! You’re doing the right thing.