Tag: sook

My little Omanis

Omani traditional dress for men is the dishdasha (the white robe) and the kuma (the hat). If you’re an Omani man, that’s what you wear. Everywhere. To dress it up (suit and tie equivalent) there is a scarf that is wrapped around the head and worn over the kuma. To dress it up even further (tuxedo equivalent) there is an overcoat type layer that is worn over the robe. They are sharp looking and perfect for the climate here.

Well, my little dudes wanted dishdashas of their own, so we had them measured for them on our most recent trip to the sook. They put them on right away and had people smiling at them right and left on our way out.

We even had someone stop us and ask to take a picture of the blonde boys in dishdashas. 

They find them so comfortable that they even wore them to play handball outside and then didn’t want to take them off before going to bed. Now they want to know when I’m going to get an abaya . . .

sook shopping

Another old post that I “found” today. This is from summer when we went to the sook and bought our chess table from the Syrian wood guy. You can see Carter was eyeing the knives months ago in anticipation of his birthday . . . the kids that don’t belong to us are our next door neighbors. 

Recently we went to the sook because we wanted to get something interesting for our house. We keep going to this shop that carries items imported from Syria because it’s fun to browse and look at all the beautiful boxes, trays, and chess sets while Josh speaks Arabic to the shop owner.

This most recent time the boys had friends come along to keep them occupied while mom and dad shopped. These two were fascinated by these curved knives.

The boys have been wanting a chess board and I thought that instead of buying a chess board that I would have to find a place to store, that we should get a small chess table that would be useful/decorative when not being used to play chess. This is the one we decided on.

Thank God for the knives. They kept the boys completely occupied while we came up with a price for the table that was agreeable to both of us. It took a little while, but in the end, we were all happy. The best part about this table is that it folds in half and swivels on the base to become a narrow side table that we can eventually put in a hallway or entryway. 

backgammon, chess, checkers, and cards — both beautiful and functional

close up of the inlay detail. Amazing, isn’t it?


A few seconds of Josh chatting in Arabic

sook shopping

For Carter’s birthday we promised him a knife. It sounds a little strange, but there’s a traditional Omani knife with a curved blade called a khanjar that he has been wanting since we arrived and we told him when he turned 10 we would take him shopping for one.

This is an example of an antique one. They have leather sheaths that are covered by silver that has been handwoven. The more intricate the design, the more expensive they are. 

So we headed to the sook which is right on the harbor. It’s so beautiful there. A hot sunny day, a breeze blowing off the water . . . the kids didn’t complain too much about our hike in the heat.

We went to a bunch of different shops in the sook and Carter checked out all the different knives. A lot of them are really expensive, as in 100s of dollars, but we found some that he liked in our price range.

A happy kid with a knife. Isn’t that what birthdays are all about? 

After completing the purchase (and sharing a drink with the shop owner) we stopped by my favorite silver shop to order something special for my sisters. The shop is the size of a closet so the kids played outside while I told Mohammed what I wanted him to make for me. 

By this time everyone was hot and sweaty and it was time to head home. We left the jewelry section . . .

made our way through the clothing district 

and found our way out through the maze of shops. Tomorrow Mohammed should be finished with my special order so I get to make another trip to the sook to pick it up.