DONADONI

Roberto Donadoni was born September 9, 1963 in Cisano Bergamasco, a small town outside of Bergamo. He was a cornerstone of the powerhouse AC Milan teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s and one of the pioneers of Major League Soccer, where he played two seasons for the MetroStars. http://footballplayersinformation.blogspot.com/

HISTORY OF SPORT

There are artifacts and structures that suggest that the Chinese engaged in sporting activities as early as 4000 BC.[1] Gymnastics appears to have been a popular sport in China's ancient past. Monuments to the Pharaohs indicate that a number of sports, including swimming and fishing, were well-developed and regulated several thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt http://waleed88-sport.blogspot.com/

GONU

Oman was hit by Cyclone Gonu on June 6 2007. Large areas in the capital area region in the Governorate of Muscat Amerat and Quriyat were severely affected. Gonuhttp://tlio.blogspot.com

Woman In Oman

:These days the high status Omani women enjoy is reflected in the priority accorded to them in the country’s development plans. Women account for half the Sultanate’s population and are encouraged to play their part in the country’s social and economic development alongside their male counterparts. In this situation working women require training to enable them to improve their effectiveness in the workplace. The development of rural and bedu women is of particular importance and they need support to enable them to improve their economic, social and cultural standards, as well as incentives to participate in the development process. Omani women have played a vital role in the Sultanate for as long as that society has existed. However, while they may once have been ******* to be good housewives and mothers, perhaps supplementing the family income with a little local trading or through weaving and handicrafts, they are now at the forefront of political and economic life.His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has repeatedly called upon female citizens to lend their full support to the continuing development of their country, frequently describing them as representing “half of Oman’s potential”. They have responded by seeking and securing jobs from government minister to supermarket check-out assistant, all of them striving to play a part in shaping the Sultanate of the 21st century. Oman is rightly proud to have been the first Arab country to appoint a woman as its overseas ambassador and currently three women hold positions on the Council of Ministers (with a 4th holding an *****alent role as the President of the Public Authority for Crafts Industries); another two are undersecretaries in the government. Women are playing an increasingly role with their presence in the Consultation Council (Majlis A’ Shura) and the State Council (Majlis A’ Dawla), while five female lawyers were recently appointed as attorney generals to the legislative. The Middle East region is often accused of suppressing the freedoms and the potential of its female populations. In Oman it is immediately evident to any visitor that while women often pursue the freedom to dress as they wish by choosing to wear modest attire, their potential and ambitions are far from suppressed.

Traditional Omani Food

Traditional Omani Food:
The Omani people are well known for their hospitality and offers of *******ment. To be invited into someone's home will mean coffee (kahwa), a strong, bitter drink flavoured with cardamom, and dates or halwa, a sticky sweet gelatinous substance which is made from brown sugar, eggs, honey and spices. It can be flavoured with many different ingredients, such as nuts, rosewater or even chocolate. Lokhemat is another accompaniment to coffee, which are balls of flour and yeast flavoured with cardamom and deep fried until golden then served with a sweet lime and cardamom syrup. The sweetness of this dish often counteracts the bitterness of the kahwa.More substantial meals often have rice as the main ingredient, together with cooked meats. The main daily meal is usually eaten at midday, while the evening meal is lighter. Maqbous is a rice dish, tinged yellow with saffron and cooked over a spicy red or white meat. Aursia is a festival meal, served during celebrations, which consists of mashed rice flavoured with spices. Another popular festival meal is shuwa, which is meat cooked very slowly (sometimes for up to two days) in an underground clay oven. The meat becomes extremely tender and it is impregnated with spices and herbs before cooking to give it a very distinct taste. Fish is often used in main dishes too, and the kingfish is a popular ingredient. Mashuai is a meal comprising whole spit-roasted kingfish served with lemon rice. The rukhal bread is a thin, round bread originally baked over a fire made from palm leaves. It is eaten at any meal, typically served with Omani honey for breakfast or crumbled over curry for dinner.Traditional Crafts: HALWAOmani halwa (sweet) is famous at home and abroad as a symbol of traditional Omani hospitality. It .is usually served in Omani homes before dr,inking Arabic coffee.The main ingredients which go into the making of halwa are: starch, eggs, sugar, water, ghee, saffron, cardamom, nuts and rose water from the Jebel al Akdhar. The ingredients are mixed, in proportions and quantities known only to the skilled halwamaker, and cooked in a mirjnl (large cooking pot used especially for halwa) for a time of not less than 2 hours.The cooking can be done over a gas or electric stove, but the preferred method is over a wood fire made up of snmr wood, known for its durability, smoke and odourfree properties.After cooking, the halwa can be preserved for more than four months without losing its quality, and without the need for refrigeration or preserving agents.Halwa is usually served in a dist, a large earthenware bowl, which can vary in size and composition according to demand or type of occasion. The list can also be made of metal or plastic. Halwa is invariably served at times of joy or sorrow and, on religious occasions and festivals. It graces the tables of every Omani home.

Bahla pottery

To be Bahla born means to enter a world where the ancient art of vessel making is the way of life. Oman Today is beguiled by the spin of the potter's wheel
Any day of the week – except Friday – it is easy to find a metal worker tooling next to his red-hot furnace, or a weaver assembling a goat hair cloak. But the king of craft in Bahla is pottery.
This exceptional art is famous throughout the Sultanate and beyond. It is said that the potters of Bahla – apart from being born of land containing very special clay – are born with magic in their fingers. The fruits of this magic can be seen in modest homes through to top hotels from Mutrah to Mikonos.
The clay used in these vessels comes from the wadi floor, and to make it pliable enough to be worked on the wheel, men trample upon it. Any workshop in Bahla worth its salt has at least one dining-table-sized slab of clay covered in footprints fresh from its latest stamping. It is a time-honoured way to soften the clay before it is worked and reworked into a thing of beauty.
Making magicA potter working at his wheel is oddly like creation itself. As long strokes are performed time and time again on the damp clay, shapes and sizes start to emerge. Patterns being seemingly woven into the air transpose themselves onto the object. Slowly and patiently rims develop and spouts appear as the magic fingers mould and curve the softened earth. While the electric potter's wheel is in wide use, it is possible to find a traditionalist or two who continue to cling to their much loved kick wheel.
It's a mesmerising vision so don't be surprised to suddenly realise an hour has passed just watching the potters' hypnotic performance. After this ritual of creation, the objects are packed carefully into a huge kiln to be fired.
Cool kilnsOver the years kilns have changed significantly in Bahla from the original small dome-shaped oven that was a little more than a metre wide to huge multi-level structures that, while still very traditional, are stacked and only sealed and fired up when they have dozens of pieces inside.
Bahla has literally hundreds of potters and the region has always been considered a market leader when it comes to cottage industry. However, as fine workmanship became more widely known, demand increased and many industries have gone from simple backyard businesses to thriving industries.
In fact, the elaborate kilns that dot the lovely landscape flatly show that the pottery pursuit for many has surpassed the 'cottage' cliché. The most contemporary type of kiln is large and square with four posts at each corner acting as chimneys. It is easy to not realise what these edifices are until to you get too close to one in action. The heat can be felt from several metres away and a mirage radiates around them. While most of these ovens are still fed traditional palm fronds, the voracious appetites of more recent arrivals require fronds and a rich supply of firewood.
In Bahla a small bowl will cost as little as 100 baisa while a large decorative pot has a price tag of RO12.
Cottage industry clichéOne business – the Alladawi Clay Pots Factory – typifies the growing nature of traditional pot making. Four industrial size kilns are in constant use and each oven produces about 100 large pieces a month. The grounds of the factory are connected to current and defunct pits from where the clay was drawn. It also has its own industrial mixer that saves time and money on the immense task of creating the clay by hand.
The end result is a seemingly endless source of bukure burners, bowls, water holders and storage urns. The current factory has been operating since 1993 but its earlier life as a backyard business is evident when you observe the different styles of architecture as buildings have been added on.
At the entrance to Bahla is a small pottery works that was developed by the government with some help from Chinese experts. In fact, Beijing has donated a lot of equipment and provided some technology to help further establish Bahla as a pottery capital. Shards of brightly coloured Chinese pottery have recently been excavated on Omani sites.
While Bahla is historically known for its genies and alchemy, it seems the best magic is in the beautiful care taken when establishing the souk, which is in the town square and shaded by a huge tree. In this souk, arguably like every souk in the Sultanate, the magic of the potters' paw is for sale in solid clay.