Things are still going fine, and most of the things I worry about when traveling have been resolved. For instance, my success rate for being able to use my card at ATMs is about 50%, which is up from 0%. That was because the bank put a fraud hold on my card even though I specifically told them my travel dates and destination in person and the bank guy typed it in while I sat and watched him.

Here are some small things of interest from Oman:

The bathrooms have different fixtures. Because Oman is a “water” culture and not a “paper” culture, toilets have an attached sprayer and you are often not supposed to flush TP (can lead to clogs). The sprayer is exactly like the one you would find on a kitchen sink. Actually, I think many places may use the squat toilet, but so far I’ve only seen Western toilets in the places I’ve been.

The shower is also different; it has no curtain or door, is split level, and has a movable head. I’m not sure how the locals use it, but I regularly flood the whole bathroom floor.

Of course, outlets are also different and so are light switches. There are so many different switches in my room; I can’t remember what does what.

Also, while you can find almost any product and many of the same brands from America, it is funny to see the translations on the packaging.

In other news, I bought some kind of Turkish kabab plate for dinner and saw a new bird today.