Cool bird!

On the 2nd excursion, I saw a weird bird scuttle across the roadway. It was grey and almost quailish, but bigger than any quail I'd ever seen. Well, I think I finally found out what it was: Arabian Partridge! I've been looking and looking through photos, and this is really close. Although I thought it had a dohickey on top of its head. Oh well.

Photo updates!!!

I've updated my photos! There are now 3 sections: Muscat, Salalah, and Excursions. More photos will follow soon, I hope. Also - one of the new photo albums is in the Muscat section (be sure to check out the salad bar at Haffa House Hotel!). If you don't remember the link, e-mail me.

New Omani Qur'an

Check out the article about the new Qur'an for Oman. (If the page asks for a password, just hit cancel and that will vanish.)

Omanization

A friend sent me this Washington Post article about Gulf States trying to employ their younger citizens. It's pretty interesting.

If it's Monday, this must be America?

I feel like complete shit. I am completely jet-lagged out. My day started on Sunday. I take my medicine at 6 am, but I didn't get up until 7:00. Then it was the trip to Nizwa. It's about 1.5 hours or so, and I “napped” most of the way. By which, I mean that I had my eyes closed and I listened to music. After the trip, at 8 pm we met downstairs at the hotel with our luggage, and our flight left a little after midnight on Monday. On the way to Heathrow I slept about an hour. I slept another hour, hour and a half from Heathrow to Dulles. At which point I realized I had been traveling for about 21 hours, after being up for about 18, and still had 10 more hours to go. I started to wonder how long it took to drive from DC to Arkansas.

I was still doing okay at Dulles. Customs was fine, I made it through security again. I was one of the first so I skipped out on most of my group - I didn't feel up to a big hug-cry fest. I saw a few of them later on which was nice. So I left Dulles and flew to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport? I slept another hour on this flight, which was most of the flight. And this was when the jet-lag hit. I got off the plane and felt completely confused and somewhat nauseous. While I was buying water I asked what time zone I was in. I mean, I know Kentucky is easterly, but I thought Ohio was a bit more central? How the hell did I end up here? This is where I am writing this post. There's free wifi at Dulles and here, but I can't seem to get online, so you probably won't see this post until I get home.

So, only a few more hours until I'm home. Frank is cooking red beans and rice. I think I need to sleep for a week.

---------

Well, I made it home last night, but my luggage didn't. I know it was in Dulles, because I went through customs. But then it vanished. And you'll love this: Delta only scans baggage tags on arrival. So I won't know anything about my luggage until it gets to Arkansas. It wasn't on this morning's flight, but maybe it will show up tonight. If not, we're heading out to the airport tomorrow to find something out in person.

Nizwa Rocks!

What can I say, it does. Here's a link to get you started. We only had about 1.5 hours at the fort, and that is not nearly enough. I mean, this isn't one of those forts where you can rush through it in 15 minutes - this is a FORT. It's been restored and you can wander all over and there's an exhibit hall and a bunch of exhibit rooms too. I rushed through it and only saw about 60% of what was there. I could easily have spent half a day there, maybe even all day to do a thorough examination. Also, a lot of the tourists at the fort were Omani.

The souq is nice too. I was worried the town might be too touristy, but it wasn't. I did see more white people than I have this entire trip, though. And when I bought a mango juice box the Indian clerk told me "merci beaucoup." Of course, how many people are stupid enough to go to Nizwa in the middle of August?!? It was hot. Nizwa and the Rub al-Khali are the only two places I have been where I sweated into my eyes and the salt from my sweat actually burned them. But the souq - it was nice. Not one of those mazes, but a big open place with air-conditioned stores. Nice silver and copper. I didn't spot the vegetable souq or the meat souq until we were leaving, so I don't have photos of the inside of them. I took a peek and the meat souq looked as big as the Harps on Wedington.

Anyway, that's the Nizwa update. I had to shower after that trip and I'm preparing for my 31 hour trip home. Argh! See y'all soon!

Passport Problems

Well, one of our number may not be leaving Oman any time soon. I'm not sure of the entire story, but here's what I have gleaned so far. Amy was walking along or crossing the street, which is pretty busy. A car came really close to her and almost hit her, so she kicked it. The driver was an Omani woman, and she had a passenger. This woman and the passenger both say that Amy cussed at the woman. They followed her to the hotel and called the police, and the police took her passport. Apparently cussing someone out is an insult to their honor, and it normally takes 2-3 months to clear this up. So Amy is currently in limbo. Our director is trying to fast-track the process.

Third Excursion Part 33-1/3

And then we returned home via Thumrait. We got in about 2:30 pm and I cannot tell you how wonderful that shower was. I had to use extra Q-tips to get the sand out of my ears. So Wednesday night is okay, but Thursday evening I'm not feeling so hot. So I go to bed, and I wake up about 2 am Friday morning: cramps, bloating, gas, bubbling stomach, diarrhea, really nasty. That lasted till almost noon. I crashed for most of the rest of Friday. Saturday is the first day of the week so I got up and decided to go to the clinic. Except that I had no money. If I had gone to school, I would have gotten paid that afternoon, but I was sick and missed school. And all the banks are closed on Saturday. And the clinic by the new hotel doesn't take Visa, and I couldn't find a phone number for the clinic at the old hotel. Argh!

So I survive, and on Sunday I decide to try again. The program sent my stipend home with a suite-mate, so I had money. I decided to go to the same clinic as last time, in Haffa House hotel. Well, the cabbie only heard Haffa, so he took me to Souk Haffa. Once we got that straightened out, I made it to the hotel. He also insisted on quizzing me in Arabic the whole way. “What is that, in Arabic?” It was kind of fun. I got to the clinic about 8:50, but they didn't open until 9:10 so I sat in the waiting room waiting for the doctors. When I was talking to the receptionist and nurse in Arabic (or trying to – they spoke Iraqi amia and I didn't understand much) the nurse asked if I was Palestinian. I'm very pale, so I think that's the first time I've ever been mistaken for anything other than some crazy white woman. Or maybe she was just being polite? This time I got the new female doctor who spoke English. And the same lab lady. When she saw me, she was like “Again? You went out and ate something didn't you?”

So, are you ready for my diagnosis? Hmm? Well, I have a bacterial infection and parasites. Yes – I have worms. Feel free to laugh if you wish. Once I got some antibiotics and some food into me I found it remarkably funny. I have roundworms, just like my dog did when we first got her. So I'm now high on some serious antibiotics and anti-nausea meds and more antibiotics and Immodium. The big antibiotics cost 12 Rials, which is kind of a lot over here, but still fairly cheap back in the States. And I have a final exam on Tuesday, so wish me luck. Pictures won't go up until I return to the US next week. Ciao!

Third Excursion Part Deux

The next day I woke up and my stomach was sick. I'll spare you the details, but it was diarrhea. I borrowed some Immodium from Adam because I'd left mine at the hotel. Then it was off to the desert!!! Since it was hot I wore my Omani housedress over shorts and a t-shirt. The drivers went crazy! They kept telling me how wonderful and beautiful I looked in thobe Dhofari. They got even more effusive when the sand kicked up and I put the headscarf across my face. I felt a bit odd. Several guys were wearing wazars, but that didn't solicit comments.

There was a long ride along dirt/rock roads, and a stop to pick up geodes! That was fun. And there was a cold front or something because it only got up to 45C. Then we tried to get to our campsite. The site was actually inside the desert, so we had to take the 4WD vehicles over real sand dunes. No roads, no little tiny dunes, real dunes. Well, we had 7 vehicles, and all of us managed to get stuck at one point or another. I was lucky – I got to ride in the vehicle while the best driver took it over the big dune. It was freaking awesome! We were bouncing around all over and stuff was falling out of the back into the back seat area. It was great! Then I had a view from halfway up the dune of the other vehicles. Anyway, it took us a few hours to get everyone unstuck and over the first big dune. It was hilarious to watch too.

So we get to our camp site an hour or two before dark and start setting up tents. The program bought 4 special tents just for us girls – we referred to them as the “bint tents.” There were 4 bint tents and 12 girls, so it worked out well. All the bint tents were on one side of camp, the boys' tents on the other, and the drivers slept over by the boys. We were supposed to have a cook-out meal, but it was late by this time so 2 drivers went back to town and brought food back. It's very easy to accommodate vegetarians in Oman, and we had 4-5 on our trip. The food was vegetarian something-or-other, chicken something-or-other, and diced up camel meat. The camel wasn't bad. It was a bit gamey and tough. And fatty. But the taste/flavor was good. It's darker than chicken, but not as dark as something like beef. Maybe like a really dark piece of chicken thigh.

Anyway, we had fun and climbed dunes and sang songs (Sam brought his guitar) and chatted. It was still pretty hot, but Kristen and I slept in our tent because we wanted to sleep in very little clothing. We did keep the flap open, but it was dark so we wouldn't offend the drivers. Most of the girls and half the guys slept outside - we had little mattresses and pillows. And it was very sandy. You are out in the middle of lots of sand, with wind, and sand gets everywhere. It was even stuck in my teeth. Let me just leave it at that.

The next day, I got up early and my stomach was a bit upset. Still okay though. By the time we left, though, one of the peer facilitators was puking. Next we went to Ubar. It's the old trade city (village) that was found by satellites a few years back. Got pics.

Third Excursion – Part One

Our third and final excursion was to the north. We spent the first day driving to four springs in the mountains. Ayn Garziz, Ayn Salanhut, etc. etc. Frankly, we were all a bit ayned out by the end of the day. The second was really beautiful and the 3rd was huge and full of people. But how long does it really take to see a spring? At the last one we didn't even look at the ayn, we stopped and had lunch. Unfortunately, we did not realize at the time that there was an orchard and accompanying bees nearby. I ordered some tea from the little tea stand and as soon as I set it down there were bees on it. Anyone who knows me knows that I get a little freaked out around wasps and bees. And if you've ever been to Louisiana you will understand why. Fortunately, these bees were nosy but passive. I lost my tea to them, but when our lunch arrived I was smart enough not to open my soda. A few girls lost their soda, but we all survived the bees.

We stopped for the night at Thumrait and stayed at the Thumrait Tourist Hotel. When we walked into the lobby, I could hardly see because of the frankincense. The girls were put into 3 rooms: a room of 6, a room of 4, and a room of 2. I was in the room of 4 girls. It was a bit interesting, You walk in the door and there was my bed with a chair and wardrobe. Then another door to a small hall with a bathroom. The hall opened onto a bigger room with one bed and a TV, and there was a doorway outside and a door to another room with two beds (and a glowing lizard). I actually liked my room. I had the bed to myself, I could lock the front door, and I could close the door to the hall, and I had my own AC. Everything went well until Naseem decided she wanted to take a shower. As soon as she turned on the hot water heater, the breaker flipped. We lost power, as did the room with 6 girls and a room with 3 guys. This was when the glowing lizard made its appearance in Naseem & Kaavya's room and freaked them out. I searched, but I couldn't find it. After about 20 minutes management figured things out and turned on the breaker. The hotel is interesting. It's a warren of hallways and rooms strung together. All the windows have metal lacings over them – even the ones on the inside. And, they like to serve tap water. At dinner that night, a guy at my table opened the bottled water only to discover that it was already open. He tried the bottle on the table next to us and discovered the same thing. We all took a sip and it tasted like tap water, so we had sodas instead.

Skypocity

I've been having Skype problems since we moved to our new hotel, and today I heard a rumor that Omantel had blocked Skype, so if you can't reach me, that may be why.

Sorry no updates

Last week I was completely exhausted after our excursion. We just had a 3-day weekend and I averaged about 17 hours of sleep a day. Luckily, I'm not just getting old - a good chunk of our group is pretty wiped out. I'm doing okay now, but tomorrow is lecture day, with a bonus speech from the foreign ministry, and then Monday morning I leave on the 3rd Excursion. Assuming I survive this trip to the base of the Rub al-Khali, I will try to post next weekend (Thurs/Fri for me). Once we return, there's about 1 week of school left, then a party, then we de-orientate in Muscat for a few days, then it's back to Fayetteville!

Pictures are coming

I have some around Salalah and our new hotel, and a bunch from the Second Excursion, and I hope to work on all those tomorrow.

Just as an aside, how come I can get Chinese food delivered here, but not in Fayetteville?!?

Hotel Fiasco

First, we weren't sure when we were moving. We found out Sunday night that we would be moving during next week's excursion (the one I just got back from). So we had to pack up for the trip and pack all our other stuff so that on Wednesday morning (the day we return) it could get moved to the hotel. So we found that out on Sunday-week before our trip that left on Monday. Well, the day after we found that out, we got a text message saying that since we had made friends, we could choose our roommates for the next hotel, and to come by in the next hour and a half and write them down. All the girls freaked! I even freaked! We had to choose roommates ASAP, for our next hotel, where we would be 4 girls in a 2 bed, 2 bath suite. My big problem was that I was sick for so long I didn't really go out and socialize, so I couldn't find anyone to room with. I like most people on the trip but there are 1 or 2 I'd prefer not to room with. Luckily, when I went by to drop something off, there was a room with only 3 girls, and I liked all of them, so I signed on with them. My roommate will be by same roommate from DC.

Second Excursion

I know you're asking What about the first excursion? Well, I missed that one because I was sick. The second excursion was to the West, through the mountains and all the way to the Yemeni border. Cool! Our first night we saw the blowholes at the mountains by the beach, then spent the night under mosquito netting in “huts” on the beach. It was fabulous! We had little mats and pillows and a blanket, and our hut had a table and 5 chairs. We played cards till 1 am: hearts, rummy, and euchre. The next day we travelled through the mountains towards Yemen. The scenery is beautiful – I love mountains and harsh landscapes. There were camels and donkeys and miscellaneous cows around too. The hardest part of the trip is the bathrooms. I'm really starting to get used to the “Turkish toilets” as people in our group refer to them. I prefer them now to the semi-Western toilets with no lid.

We spent all day meandering through the mountains, stopping at border checkpoints. When we got to the Yemeni border, we had to turn around and head back. What's really neat though is that the mountains meet the sea in this area, so we stopped at several “scenic overlooks” and even at the beach. We nearly gave Ali a heart attack. He's something like secretary to the dean, at Dhofar University, and he's in charge of our trip (and I'm riding in the car with him and getting Arabic practice). Well, imagine young Americans on a pretty beach with waves. What do you think would happen??? Several people went into the water, and Ali kept having to remind them to stay close to shore so they didn't get swept away. Then more went in. I took pictures and Ali took video. The guys started rough-housing and throwing each other in the water. Our drivers thought it was hysterical! I hope to get a copy of the video.

There were several villages that we passed through, and they all had several things in common. They all have a mosque of course. But they also all have a Food Stuff or Food Stuff & Luxuries, and most of them have a Hair Dressing too. Sometimes they're all combined into a Commercial Market (strip mall). Also, there are a lot of animals in the mountains. Mainly cows and camels, but also goats and the occasional donkey. I saw some weird bird run across the road too – it was about 1.5 – 2 feet tall, and mostly gray, with a little doohickey on it's head. And I'm pretty sure quail don't get that big ;) Anyway, there were tons of cows and camels, and they seem to have the right-of-way. Not necessarily because it's a law, but because they are really stupid animals and won't move off the road. It was like Camel Slalom, dodging animals through the mountains. They also had animals in the towns. At several Scenic Overlooks we had to watch out for poop, because the animals just wander wherever the hell they want.

We spent our second night in a hotel in a tiny village on the coast. It's Ali's hometown. Our room was actually a villa, and 6 of us slept there. [There was a cow outside the guys' villa last night.] And, our villa had 2 toilets – Western and Turkish. The only problem with the Western toilet was that it had a “handle” that you pull up out of the tank, to flush it, and it may take 30 minutes for the tank to refill. The next morning there was a walking tour, which I didn't go on because it was raining. Not because I'm a wimp, but because it's really hard to see when your glasses are completely soaked, and if I take them off I can't see anyway. So I stayed at the villa and typed this up! Next we're going through the mountains on our way back to Salalah.

Frank, we are going to at least visit Oman soon and come back through the mountains. They're gorgeous!!!

When we get back to Salalah, we'll be at our new hotel. That was a fiasco in itself! [See next post.]

On Abayas

I remember when I first saw the university here, I wondered about the ramps everywhere. Some are a bit steep for a wheel-chair or not really level at all. Well, I finally figured out what they're for – they're for women in abayas. Some women wear short abayas that only fall to their shoes, but most women here wear floor length flowing abayas. I wore mine to the hafla at the university, and let me tell you it is not easy to walk in one of those. When you go up or down stairs you have to lift it up, which shows too much leg, so you can take the ramps instead. You also have to walk slowly in them. I normally walk fast, but when I tried I kept stepping on the abaya. You have to walk slowly and kind of kick out when you walk, so that you don't step on the abaya. It's a skill I had not anticipated needing.

Going on Trip

I'll be away for a few days on a trip. There are new photos up - I hope I got the HTML correct, otherwise you'll have to wait till I get back.

Pretty Prolific

If you're wondering why I'm so chatty today, it's because we had our mid-term today. Because of that, I don't have any homework tonight!!! Jessica and I will probably go to Browniz and I'll try to get some more pictures uploaded. I hope y'all are enjoying the blog. It's pretty random and mundane, but I enjoy doing it.

Bus Drivers Everywhere...

Every day we get up and go downstairs and get on a bus to school. These “buses” are basically vans with bench seats in them, and a folding seat in the aisle. [I'll try to remember to take a picture.] Some of our bus drivers are pretty amusing. One guy always tries to make a wrong turn on the way home, on purpose, and asks “which way is the hotel” when we're right next to it. One guy never speaks at all. Another guy blasts music and has some kind of perfume in his van. We have 3 main drivers, but sometimes there's a 4th who alternates with them. And they all take completely different routes to the university. Sometimes even the same driver will take a different route from day to day. It's completely random, but it does mean that I get to see a little bit more of the area around the university.

Steppin' Out Again

Last week our PF (peer facilitator) took us out. I can't remember if I've described PF's before, so here it goes again: in the afternoon we divide up into small groups of about 4 people with 1 student from the university. They're our PF and we go over grammar, vocabulary, homework, or just talk. Basically, whatever we feel like we need to be doing. My PF is a girl from Muscat named Kawthar, and she's working on a degree in English translation. [It was the female PFs who put on the hafla for us.] Well the 3 girls in Kawthar's 2 groups all got together and went out one night last week. Kawthar's friend Ruba went with us (she has the car ;). We went to a place called Cafe Italiano in the Istiqrar Hypermarket. Let me tell you, this cafe has the best mango juice ever! We all love aseer mango (mango juice) tremendously. In fact, when we were thinking up class names, our class wanted to be called Aseer Mango [our teacher didn't like that though, she said mango juice gives you gas]. Anyway, their mango juice is thick and creamy like a mango milkshake, and full of tiny mango pieces – like they actually blended an entire mango just for you. Mumtaz!!!!

What the hey!?!

So last night, my roommate Jessica and I were having these massive chocolate cravings. Neither one of us had tried the desserts at our hotel, so we went to the restaurant and looked over the menu. And of course, we each ordered the Nut Fudge Sundae. It took a long while for it to come out - I mean, we were making jokes about finding the cow, it took that long. So they finally come out. They were in tall slender glasses. There was jam in the bottom of the glass, and the glass was filled with chopped fruit (pineapple, apple, kiwi, peaches) with melted ice cream throughout the fruit, and on top was a small scoop of chocolate ice cream with a nut dusting. And we were given ice tea spoons. It was all rather bizarre. Especially since there was an item on the menu called Fruit Salad with Ice Cream. But we tasted it and it was good. We figured it was probably healthier anyway, what with all the fruit. But it didn't kill the cravings, so we may go to Browniz tonight and have their excellent brownies.

Interesting Cabbies

This is not my story, but I thought it was so hilarious that I had to share it. There's a guy in my class named Jordan. One night he was leaving the Internet cafe (Browniz) at one in the morning, looking for a taxi back to the hotel. This taxi pulled up. It was a young driver, with a cigarette in his left hand, blasting Slim Shady by Eminem. Jordan got it the front seat and buckled up, but right as Eminem says "will the real Slim Shady please stand up" he stood up a bit in his seat to adjust his seat belt and book bag. The driver thought he was doing it to the music, so he made him do it again before he would leave the cafe. After that, every time Eminem said "please stand up" he would slap Jordan's knee with his right hand (and there's a LOT of "please stand up's" in that song). So the whole way back to the hotel the cabbie has his left hand out the window with a cigarette and his right hand is slapping Jordan's knee, and Jordan is thinking he's either going to die in a car crash or end up with a boyfriend!

Grease Galore

Breakfast is interesting at our hotel. It's a buffet, and it's basically the same thing everyday, with slight variations. My main breakfast is omelets, chicken sausages, and a starch ("saulted potatoes," "mush potatoes," potato patties etc.). The omelets are basically a crepe-thin omelet: plain, cheese, spinach, or marsala (bell peppers, onion). The chicken sausages are my favorite thing to discuss though - they're hot dogs. So yes, everyday for breakfast I have fried eggs and a hot dog. And some kind of potato. But the egg and hot dog are my main source of protein. They also have corn flakes and cocoa puffs, either small pancakes or french toast (but not syrup, only honey), some kind of bean (baked, ful, ful with corn), and some croissants, some stuffed with chocolate. And of course, tea. One day they had camel's milk - it was really good! It was milder than cow's milk, and smoother. So most of our food here is pretty greasy. Which I think is why we feel kind of greasy all the time. But the good news is I'm no longer that picky about hot dogs.

Hafla Rocks!

We had the Omani Women's Party yesterday. It was fabulous! They did some traditional dances for us, and showed us some different Omani fashions. We had lunch on the floor and it was delicious. There was a henna lady there and I got my hands done! And some of the girls got their makeup done. Everybody really let go and we were all dancing around. It was great! I don't have many pictures of the event, because we couldn't take pictures of the Omani women, because they were out of their abayas. But I did get pictures of some of our group in Omani clothing. Check out my photo site in a bit and the pictures should be up.

More Posts Soon!

There's been a lot going on, so I haven't had much chance to post. I went out with my Peer Facilitator and her friend, I've had tons of homework, and I went abaya shopping! And yes, I will post a picture of me in the abaya. All the Omani women wear them, some even wear the niqab (mask) as well. So we thought we'd try wearing them. Sometimes when we're out and about we get stared at. And if I'm by myself I always make sure my hair is covered, so men don't get the wrong idea.

As a side note, I was introduced to something called a Break candybar. At first I thought it was just a KitKat knock-off, except that it's made with sugar and it's better than a KitKat. There are some crazy parts of the world where they don't believe in high fructose corn syrup.

And - the Khareef festival officially kicked off last night! I recorded some dancing, but I can't process the camera file on my computer. I may try to get Frank to do that for me (if I can get the darn thing uploaded). Otherwise you'll have to wait until I get home. We're almost at the half-way point, so it won't be long now.

Censors?

I've noticed something interesting. When I post on my blog, it doesn't go through immediately. I mean, I've talked to Frank, and it seems like he sees my blog posts as soon as I post them. But I don't see them for a day or two. They show up in my Edit box, so that I can edit them. But they don't actually post on blogger here in Oman. I wonder if there are censors reading all the blog posts to see what people are writing?

Also, since most of my posts show up all at once, you may have realized that I am not writing it all at once. I write blog posts in OpenOffice, and whenever I find Internet access I post what I have.

Photo Update

I did get the rest of my Muscat photos uploaded and linked up. I'll try to do the rest this weekend, but it's a busy weekend. On Thursday we girls have a big shindig at the school: food, traditional dancing, henna, etc. I can't wait to get my hands and feet hennaed! Friday we have something else happening too (yes, the weekend is Thursday and Friday). Weekends are amusing. We get a stipend, and we were supposed to get paid on Saturday, which is the first day of the week. Apparently nobody told the Omani Bank that. The bank decided that Friday and Saturday were the weekend.

More Random Thoughts

The Omanis are really really friendly. And they're very varied as well. They work in all sorts of jobs – one of the hotel maids is an Omani. You don't really see that in UAE, Kuwait, etc. Their skin tone varies a lot too. Oman used to have an empire in eastern Africa, so a lot of Omanis are very dark. And one of the languages spoken here is Swahili. They also have a language called Jabalia, which I thought I heard is vaguely Hebrewish.

I got a phone call on the hotel phone on Wednesday night (the last day of the week). It was some Omani guy, and he asked if I was one of the Americans studying Arabic at the University of Dhofar. I said yes, and he asked if he could practice English with me. He said he wanted to visit relatives in the West, and he could practice English and help me with my Arabic. I told him I would give his name and number to our program director (which I did). He was polite, but it was a bit weird. He said he was downstairs in the hotel if I would like to meet him, and he would be like a brother to me, and I would be a sister to him. I said I couldn't make it. In the States, that would have been really creepy. But I think he was legit. They're really friendly here, and there's not a lot of crime. People leave their cars unlocked and idling while they grab something from the coffee stand.

Speaking of coffee stands, there's a little food stand at the university. I just ordered my first tea from them. At first I was a little concerned because it was a teabag in what looked like hot milk. Then I realized, it's actually milk AND sugar! It was really really good. You gotta love the Gulf for sweet tea.

Do Not Be Alarmed!

I woke up one day while I was sick, and opened the door to put the Do Not Disturb sign out for the maid. And there was huge black smoke billowing past my door. I was a bit alarmed, so I went out and took a better look. It was incense. When you burn frankincense, you actually burn it. I mean, you literally set hunks of frankincense on fire, and then get it going like coals. It's a bit disturbing the first few times you see it. My roommate lit some in our room one day, and we were worried it would set off the fire detectors. But it didn't. Which almost worries us more!

Random Thoughts

At our first hotel in Muscat, the Naseem, the elevator didn't work so we had to use the stairs. I was on the 3rd floor, which translates to 3 flights, since the bottom floor is not the 1st floor but the ground floor. That I was expecting. But I didn't realize that in larger hotels, the bottom floor is the ground floor, and the one above that is the mezzanine floor. Then above that is the 1st floor. My room in Haffa House in Salalah is on the 1st floor, so when we arrived I took the stairs to the first floor, and started looking for my room. The rooms had similar numbers, for example, I'm in 1xx, and the rooms were labelled 11xx, so I thought I was on the correct floor – nope, it was the mezzanine floor where they have flats and offices.

The hotels we've stayed at only had one key. It wasn't a big deal at the Naseem, because there was a push button lock on the door. But at the Haffa House, you need a key to lock/unlock the door. So if you want to lock the room, from the inside or outside, you need a key to do that. There is a chain, but that doesn't help if your roommate is out late. You have to leave the door unlocked so that she can get in without waking you up. Unless you want to be locked in the room all evening until she comes back with the key – which is kind of a fire hazard.

Just as a side note, on the first Sunday in Salalah, I sprained my ankle. I didn't mention it before because the diarrhea made me forget it ;) This one wasn't a serious sprain, I could still walk on it. But it's been about 2 semesters since it last happened, so I guess I was due. Oh well.

Photos Photos Photos

Here is the link to my photo page: [deleted] - e-mail me if your need it.
I probably won't leave that up permanently, so bookmark it.

Steppin' Out!

I finally went out last night! A group of us (8) had supper at a Lebanese restaurant called Baalbeck. It was really good. We just got several dishes and shared them all. I hadn't realized there's a 2nd eggplant dish – not just baba ganoush but another one with a smoky taste (mutabada?). Personally, I prefer hommus. This Lebanese place also had the first actual napkins that I've seen in Oman. I have seen cloth napkins at a really fancy place, but other than that everyone uses tissues. This place had those little bitty napkins in a dispenser. I also have yet to see a menu that has the English spelled correctly. It's rather amusing. Even lecturers using PowerPoint don't always have things spelled correctly! This Lebanese place had the best so far though, a juice called pommel grenade (we assumed that meant pomegranate). I really liked the Kebab Halabi. This one wasn't as tomatoey as the other I tried, and had whole meat instead of minced. Mumtaz!!!

Banking Business

I had to go to the bank yesterday to get some money, because the ATM won't talk to my bank in the US. It was an interesting experience. There were about 4 tellers, and there were those rope-things, separating the lines for each teller. But apparently, the lines are just a suggestion. I got in a short line behind 2 guys, standing at the counter together. A few minutes later an old man came by me and stood right next to them. I looked at him, and he saw me and gestured me forward to stand closer, so I moved up. When one of the 2 guys finished, the teller looked up and the old man gestured to me, as being the next person in line. So I did my business – got some money out. Other customers pressed up closer behind and beside me, but no one touched me or anything. And then I finished and said khalas and left. It was a little weird to have everyone listening to my business, but no one else seemed to care either way.

Illness update

Well, I'm feeling better now. Sitting at Browniz, the Internet Cafe. We had an excursion for the last 3 days of the school week, which I missed because the antibiotics made me really nauseous and tired. But I have finished those, and I think I'm alright now. I'll be posting some more updates soon.

Muhammadzuma Got Me

Yes – I've been sick. And this post may contain too much information for some of y'all. You have been warned!

So, I had diarrhea for several days. It happens occasionally in the US, some kind of stomach bug, so I didn't think anything of it. Except it didn't stop, and it was kinda orange-colored. On Wednesday (the last day of the school week) I went home early, feeling poorly and slept the rest of the day. And the next day I decided I really ought to go to the doctor.

The Omani Medical Clinic is on the 2nd floor of our hotel, so I went there. Most Omani women wear abayas, but the receptionist also wore a black mask, just showing her eyes. [Update: a guy at the hotel said they're Iraqis.] And she didn't speak English, so she called in an Indian guy who works there to translate for her. My Arabic didn't cover much medically beyond: ana mareeda fi batani (I'm sick in my stomach) which she thought meant I was pregnant.

Anyway, I take a seat and wait for the doctor. About 5 minutes later, I'm in his office – literally, his office. He sat at his desk and asked questions: So you have diarrhea, how long, are you nauseous, are you vomiting, do you think you have a fever? He gave me a sheet of paper for an ultrasound and stool sample analysis. (I turned down the ultrasound.) He only wrote my first name on the sheet “because you are the only one.”

The lab lady, also Indian, gave me a sample bottle, but unfortunately I had taken European Immodium, and had trouble producing a sample for her. Let's just cut things short by saying that eventually it worked out. I sat down in the lab office, and she opened the sample bottle and put some on a slide, diluted with water. No gloves or anything. Then she stuck the slide under a microscope on the desk next to the chair I was sitting in. Then she got out a big journal and wrote my first name it, and wrote down what she saw. Then she filled out the same on a lab report and I sat for another 5 minutes waiting for the doctor. He checked it out, said I had a bacterial infection (which I was pretty sure of myself) and prescribed antibiotics, which I got at the pharmacy on the ground floor.

Total Cost: doctor – 5 Rials, lab work - 2 Rials, antibiotics – 4.3 rials, European Immodium – 0.5 rials. Basically, I just went over the $25 deductible.

Buying an abaya

I'm going to Lulu's today to check out the clothes. I'm thinking of getting an abaya. We need to cover ourselves from knees to elbows, and an abaya is easier and often cooler (weather wise). (At some point I'll get the pictures up - had technical difficulties.) Speaking of which - the Khareef started today (al-hamdulillah!) The weather is cloudy and rainy - not big rain but little tiny rain. But it doesn't really feel humid, it feels cooler.

We had our first lecture last night - completely in Arabic. I didn't understand most of what he said. But he brought us a gift - we all got some frankincense to take home, or eat. Apparently you can eat it? I think it's just tree sap, so that sort of makes sense. I didn't try any though.

Express Yourself (but not with botox!)

We have expressed our discontent, and the program has listened! Our new schedule is: lunch ends at 2:10, then we split into 2 groups. One group meets with peer facilitator from 2:10-3:30, the other from 3:40-5:00. And school ends at 5pm. We are MOST happy with this. Now we actually have time for homework, or wireless, or whatever, so that we don't spend the ENTIRE day till bedtime doing Arabic (I love Arabic, but after a while I need a break).

My conversational Arabic is starting to pick up. I get a little nervous when I have to talk - basically stage fright. It's weird. If the teacher is asking someone else a question, I can answer it, but when they ask me, I get freaked out and forget what I was thinking. I've never had that problem in a class before, only in Arabic. It's getting better now, slowly. I'm hoping it will be completely gone by the time we're done here.

Lecture Day

Today is going to be a you-know-what. Our normal school day is
8:00 bus to school
8:30 class with teacher
15 minute break
12:30 lunch
2:30 class with "peer facilitators" (students at the university)
5:30 bus to hotel

On Sundays, we have a lecture from 7:00-9:00 pm on something Arabic or Islamic. So today, I'll be at school until 9:00 pm. And every few weeks, we take a couple of days off school and go on a field trip to a nearby region.

First Day of School

It was very very long. School was from 8:30-11:00, then a meeting till 12:00, then our 30 minute tour took over an hour, then lunch, then class till 5:30. We got home about 6:00 and had 8 homework exercises to do, plus vocabulary. Ack! Luckily, there's a cheap coffee shop right next to the hotel. I got a chicken sandwich - chicken, parsley, tomato, hot sauce (I asked for no ketchup) on a piece of Arab bread. It's small, but it was 250 baisa - about 65 cents. A soda was 100 baisa. I bought a 24 pack of water (12 oz I think) at Lulu's for 1.2 baisa. That's good, because apparently we have to feed ourselves, except for breakfast. They said we'd have lunch at the university, but they meant that we would be buying our own. Luckily, their cafeteria is just as cheap as the coffee shop. It's also segregated, as is the computer lab I'm in. There's even 2 entrances to each complex. Each building is a walled villa, with lawn, etc. and has a big front gate, with an entrance on each side of the gate. And male and female guards at their respective entrance. That's one thing I will give the Omanis. The women do cover up, but they do everything the men do - just not always together. But the women do work regular jobs too. As cashiers, waitresses, teachers, etc. You don't really see that in places like the UAE. There, it's the Southeast Asians who do all the work. They're here too, but the Omanis still work.

Free Day!

It's our first totally free day. And of course, it was a Friday. Friday is the Muslim holy day, and the 2nd day of the weekend over here. I got up early and had breakfast, but by the time we all got going it was almost noon. And everything starts closing at 11:30-1:00 and doesn't open up again until 4:30-5:00 pm. A group of us decided to go to the beach, which is somewhat forbidden. You can't swim at this time of the year, because the monsoon weather is affiliated with a big undertow. Last year 7 Europeans drowned. The program people kept telling us not to go near the beach, you'll get sucked in, it's foggy and you might not see where you are going, yadda yadda yadda. So we went to the beach and the waves were nice. I love to listen to them. They were probably 3-4 feet high. We wandered the beach awhile, but I needed lunch (1 pm then) and a few people hadn't had breakfast, so we caught a taxi to the Hilton. (Yes, I know, but they have wireless and AC.) The Hilton is just what you'd expect, so I'm glad we're at an Omani hotel. But I did get to check e-mail!

Later we caught a taxi back to town and did some looking around and shopped at Lulu's (the Indian Wal-Mart). Salalah is somewhat small. The airport in Musqat is probably a little bigger than the Fayetteville airport. Well, Salalah is the Monroe airport. There's a lot less traffic too. We had fun in the taxis. We spoke Arabic to the drivers, and they were pretty excited and taught us new words. One of them got a little exasperated with us, but in a humorous way.

Oman Air Rocks!!!

Okay, so our plane leaves at 3:30 pm and arrives in Salalah at 4:45 pm. What would normally happen on an airplane? I'm pretty sure they would not feed you dinner! Yes, dinner! I had lamb and potatoes in some kind of tomato-ish sauce over pasta. The meal included a salad (cucumber, bell pepper, tomato, feta), half a slice of pita bread (I guess I should go back to calling it Arab bread), and some kind of dessert. It was pudding-ish (tapioca-ish) with coconut shavings on top. I didn't really like it. The water was pre-packaged courtesy of tanufwater.com of Oman.

Also, the soda cans over here still have pop-tops, and I think they're made with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. Frank: I regret to inform you that I have eaten lamb almost every day. In fact, I think I have eaten it every day. Ummmm.....lamb......

Leaving for Salalah

This morning was fun. We checked out at noon, and the buses were supposed to get us at 12:30. Well, it took a long time to get all our luggage loaded, so we didn't leave till after 1:00. We got to the airport about 1:30, and the greyhound-style bus was even later. Then we had to collect our luggage and go inside. You go through a big security thing, passengers only, where they scan your luggage and carry-ons. They did let me bring my water through though. Then you go to the check-in desk and they give you your boarding pass and take your ticket. Then you go through another passengers only check, and another security scan. And then you're finally there! I'm at the gate now, and it's almost 2:30. Our plane leaves at 3:30 – Oman Air.

Souking Again

The souk is bigger than I thought. I managed to find a side branch that took me almost all the way back to the hotel. It was smaller, and the hawkers were more insistent. I also had something weird happen. I've been going around by myself, wearing loose pants and a headscarf. No problem. This morning I did the same. About half-way to the souk, I ran into Chris, a guy from the program. He stopped and said hi and I told him where I was going. Well, this Indian-looking guy had been walking along and when he saw me talk to Chris he stopped and turned and stared at me. Then he started to follow me. At first I thought maybe he was just going to the souk, like me. I went into a money changer's office, and I was there for 5-10 minutes. When I came out, I saw him again, and he started following me. My first thought was “purse snatcher” but since he kept staring at me, I started to think maybe he thought I was a prostitute? We did have a guy follow our group to the souk yesterday, telling us he had great pashminas, but this guy never did that. It kinda creeped me out. As soon as I got to the souk, I found a shop and ducked inside to look at pashminas. He stayed for a few minutes, then finally left. It worked out great though, because I found a beautiful pashmina!

Third Day Orientation

Just got back from our bus tour – it's really really really really hot! Took lots of photos (of course!). This is our last night in Musqat. Tomorrow we fly to Salalah – and Internet access, inshallah.

Also today, the Omanis' true driving colors came out. They're just as crazy as everyone else. And while it does take skill to weave a mini-bus in and out of traffic, it takes true talent to do that with a Greyhound! Apparently, if you're trying to change lanes, you honk at the person in your way and then start moving over. At least we were in the big vehicle!

An interesting side note: there is supposed to be a synagogue in town. And when I was at the souk, the store where I shopped also sold Star of David pendants.

More First Day1

When we ate at midnight, it was 37C. At breakfast it was 39C. Mid-afternoon was 41C. That sucks. The shops here do close from 1-4pm for the heat. I'm not sure if that's year-round or just a summer thing. People are up really late in this area, eating and shopping. The tailor by our hotel was still open at 1:30 am last night (this morning?).

We found a great place to eat. It's a restaurant on the 2nd floor, by the entrance to the souk. It's called Nice View Restaurant, and it's run by some Syrians. Most of the other restaurants we've seen are run by Indians, and they don't always speak Arabic, so we may frequent this place for a while so we can practice Arabic. Also, the view is nice, there's a little fan/AC unit (this is all open-air terrace), and the food's okay too. It's a good price, and the mango and lime-mint juices were really good! I'm starting to get into mango juice.

The souk was fabulous!!!! The souk I went to in Dubai was mainly the Gold Souk, and it was pretty neat, but I haven't really been to a regular souk in a long long time. I'll try to take pictures tomorrow. It's very long and narrow, but some of the shops are quite big on the inside. There's one main artery, which forks, and there are some smaller passages all along the big arteries. Everyone wants to sell you a pashmina and frankincense. They also have Iranian saffron. I found some cool stuff for myself and bought some gifts. I won't giveaway the gifts, but as for me, I got a heavy silver necklace, a turquoise and silver ring (cheaper than Albuquerque), and a camel incense holder with fake jewels in it. I really will try to upload some pictures soon. So far I haven't had much Internet access.

(Apparently the souk is not nearly as big as Cairo or Damascus, but I love it!)

Delays

Well, I had planned to put up pictures, but I've run into a problem. I can't resize my photos. I have a 10 Megapixel camera, so the pictures are large. And none of my damn graphics programs seem to have a resize feature. I really miss Irfan!!! So stay tuned until I can figure this out.

First Day Orientation

They gave us breakfast at the hotel. Orange drink with real orange pieces in it, omelet (more like an egg crepe, folded over), toast, jam, tea, and instant coffee crystals. It was fine. The lunch at the Haffa Hotel, though, was excellent. A huge buffet of everything! Mutton and rice, fried hammur (which is supposed to be grouper, but tasted better than any I've had in the states), a huge bank of salads (excellent tabouli, cucumber salad), hummus, huge fruit spread, etc. It was really really good. Since this is the hotel brand we're staying at in Salalah, I'm pretty excited.

A few things to note:
We had several guests today at our orientation. The Embassy security officer said that Oman is probably the safest place in the Middle East. I'm thinking there must be something in the water. Everyone is really nice and polite. Apparently they maintain that calm, even after traffic accidents. It's very soothing. I think that's it for now. Got to go back to orientation. At least now I have Internet access though!

Oman Hotel

We're staying at the Naseem hotel on the Corniche (photos to follow). I'm on the 3rd floor, and the elevator doesn't work. And 3rd floor means Ground floor plus 3 more flights of stairs. The room is small and I'm sharing it with 2 other grad students. There are 2 twin beds, and a mattress on the floor between them. The bathroom has a shower, with hand-held attachment, and no shower curtain. The toilet also has a hand-held attachment ;)

After we got in, we had to wait for our luggage to get to the hotel, so most of us went out to eat. We wandered down the Corniche to the neon lights. At this point, I want to explain how money works in Oman. In the Gulf, local money is usually tied to a fixed exchange rate with the American dollar. In many countries, $1 is about 3.67 dirhams (or whatever). In Oman, it's backwards. One Omani rial is approximately $2.60. My dinner cost 1.3 rials. It was 1 rial for the Pepsi, which I thought was expensive – but it did come in a fluted glass. And it was 0.3 rials for my small chicken shwarma. (It was late, so I ordered a small one.) It was about 6 inches long, and 1 inch in diameter. And at 0.3 rials, that's like 85 cents. It was also pretty good. The 0.3 rials is not in coin form, it's in bills. They have regular bills, and then some smaller-sized bills that are 100 biasa each (10 of those is 1 rial).

After eating, showering, we didn't get to bed till 1:45 am, local time. I called Frank to say I was alive and well, then crashed. Breakfast this morning is at 7:00 am, then at 8 am we go to orientation at a different hotel (we're staying here so we can get the experience).

Another interesting thing is that they don't have napkins here. They use Kleenex – pardon me, facial tissue. There are boxes on every restaurant table, and that's what you use.

Oman!

First impressions – Woohoo!!!!
We arrived and walked down some stairs to a bus, that drove us to the terminal building. There we stood in line at the currency changer, because that's where you paid for your visas. Then we got stamped and headed out. The airport is pretty small. I mean, Muscat is the capital city, so I was expecting something bigger. Maybe like Dubai in the old days. Nope – I think they had 3 luggage carousels, and then you put your luggage through an x-ray machine and walked out the door to where everyone was waiting. In some ways it reminded me of the Monroe airport (Monroe, La.) except prettier. It was also very calm and relaxed. The Omanis were very matter of fact, and competent. And there were women working at the currency changer – in covered clothing.

After that, we got out, met our director-type person (former Peace Corp couple), and headed off to the hotel. It was a great ride! We saw a lot of the city. Including a number of Shell-McDonald's and LuLu the Indian Hypermarket. The roads were large and the people seemed to know how to drive – which is somewhat unusual in the Arab world.

More Travel

At Heathrow I decided I needed a real breakfast, with protein in it. Apparently if you want that you need to go to the pub, so I did. I had the traditional breakfast – and no, I couldn't finish it all. It consists of an egg, 1 sausage link, 1 big slice of bacon (more like Canadian bacon), baked beans, toast (butter on the side), and a tomato.

They had some good shops I'd like to hit on the way back- cigar store, World of Whiskey, etc. I wanted to take a photo of the Whiskey shop, but I figured I'd better ask first. They said Heathrow did not allow photography.

I'm here!

I will try to get this posted before my computer runs out of juice. I'm at the orientation hotel (the only place with wireless, or anything) so far. Also, Blogger is in Arabic, so hopefully this is correct.

We left Dulles at 7 pm and got in to Heathrow about 7 am. It was rather amusing. We didn't go to a gate, but more like a parking lot. We walked down these tube stairs and got on buses to get to the terminal. Then we had to change terminals. I didn't realize that meant going through another level of security – I ended up having to ditch my unopened bottle of water from DC. I also set off the metal detector. Not sure why – I always go fine through the US ones. After I set it off, a security woman, youngish, asked if she could search me. Then she gently patted me down, talking to me the entire time: how are you today, having a good trip, yada yada yada. That's seems a bit different from US security.

I was fairly impressed with British Airways. They are constantly trying to feed you! I mean, we took off from DC at 7 pm. Seven pm! They gave us a snack and a drink (the snack was salsa flavored pretzel bits and I actually liked them! I hate pretzels). After they picked up trash, they started serving dinner! I got the chicken, which was cut up bits of chicken with mashed potatoes, carrots, a few pea-like things, and gravy. It came with spring water, but when they gave us our snack we had the option of getting a small bottle of wine then. I also found that amusing since many of our group are undergrads, some pretty young.

Frank – a special announcement for you and my parents. I think I ate cheesecake! The desert smelled like cheese, but tasted like lemon, and it had a graham cracker crust. And it was delicious! (Frank has spent the last 10 years trying to acclimatize me to cheese – I'm not very fond of it.)

So we had a snack, then supper. After supper they bring tea and coffee around. Real tea in a teapot, not a little bag and hot water. Then, a few hours later we get breakfast. A box with croissant, jam, juice, etc. in it. And then another hour and it's time to land.

The same thing happened on our trip from Heathrow to Muscat. Snack (salsa-flavored pretzel bits), then supper – this time I had the option of Lamb Machbous, which I took! It was sort of Indian, I think. And very very yummy!

Not Yahoo!

Fuginay, blogger works. I couldn't use my pop e-mail, or Yahoo, or even UArk! They just sit and do nothing.

We're at the gate! We had a lovely 45 minute ride to Dulles, on a bus with almost no air. Then a 30-40 minutes line at security. There were actually 2 lines, but the other one moved 3-4 times faster than my line. I am not joking. When I finally got to the front, a TSA dude was saying to get more people there because our line wasn't moving. Then I had a long walk and bus and walk to another terminal. The "bus" is one of those big platforms that you walk into and they drive you to the other side of the airport. Cool! I kept thinking it would be good transportation in case of a zombie attack (yes, I'm a geek).

Anyhoo, I may be dehydrated and rambling a bit. It is almost impossible to get ice tea here! I found a place down from the gate with a Lipton ice tea machine. I stood in line, while the slow-ass dude conversed with the customer in front of me, and finally made it up to the front.

ME: I'd like a large ice tea.
IDIOT: [gets funny look on face] It's in the bottle. (He had a slow, almost surfer accent.)
ME: But there's a machine for ice tea right there.
IDIOT: Oh, that doesn't work. It hasn't worked for a while.
ME: You've got to be kidding me. [a bit testy]
IDIOT: You're like the first person to ask for ice tea in 3 weeks. [smiles]
ME: [shakes head, walks away muttering to myself about being in the middle of nowhere]

Anyway, I finally got my tea at a To Go part of a restaurant. They didn't even have ice tea at the orientation! At the catered lunch I had to ask someone for an iced tea. The girl from North Carolina saw me and asked me where I'd gotten it and we commiserated over the lack of civilization in this part of the country.

Testing

I got logged on to AT&T at the airport, but can't send or receive e-mail. I can't even send webmail!!! This is a test.

Must..blog..before..lose...wifi...

The hotel wifi sucks. Really, it sucks. I couldn't even get it on the 2nd floor earlier today. We had orientation all day, till now. Learned a few things, learned some old things, wondered if it would ever end, the usual stuff. Did get some interesting info though. One of our speakers said she'd been checking the weather this morning. In Nizwa (northern interior) it was 109 degrees. In Muscat (northeast coast) it was 99 degrees. In Salalah, it was 84 degrees. I may be cooler than Fayetteville! Not much else to report right now. I'm tired, so I'm going to take a break. And I'm not sure if I want to pay for another night of wifi, so you may not hear from me for a while. We leave tomorrow evening, and it will take pretty much a day to get there. If I go out tomorrow and find a hotspot I'll update, otherwise, I'll see you in Oman!

Hotel

We're staying at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel. It's not bad. It's one of those hotels that's more upscale, but we're in the cheaper rooms. (Kind of like the student rooms for MESA at the Hyatt in Boston.) The floor I'm on does have a swimming pool, which seemed to excite people.

I had to pay $10.95 for 24 hours of wifi, but I seem to be in the middle of a hotel wasteland. Maybe tomorrow I can find a coffee shop somewhere, but right now I'm jonesing for my Internet.

I met a girl in the program at the airport, and she had met another one, so we shared a mini-van cab to the hotel. Grand total: $16.80. Not bad at all!

We have a "meet and greet" soon, and that's it for tonight. Tomorrow is full up though: breakfast, meetings, luncheon, meetings, dinner reception. Then I have Saturday free until about 3 pm. So I may actually get to explore DC a bit. Cool!

Atlanta to Washington, DC

12:45 pm (Eastern time)
The flight from Fayetteville to Atlanta wasn't bad at all. I haven't flown Delta in probably decades, and they were actually good. The flight attendant was nice. She offered me a choice of peanuts/cookies/crackers, and since I flew in the middle of the week, the seat next to me was empty. Even the Atlanta airport wasn't bad. We arrived early, and I grabbed lunch at Chick-fil-a. And you gotta love a town that only offers one type of tea – sweet! (So much for staying off of sugar.) Currently I'm on the flight to DC. Still Delta, still not bad. Same snack choice, but they also have alcohol. The seats are different but they aren't any larger. Maybe a bit longer, where your legs hit. And I got my window seat on both legs of the trip. I'm also growing fond of my neck pillow. I've never used one before, but I do like to relax and it's good for leaning against the bulkhead too. They also have real tea on the plane. I asked them what kind of tea they had, figuring it was Nestea in a can, and they came up with hot water and a tea bag. It takes so little to make me happy....and tea will do it. Luckily, I'm going to a tea-drinking part of the world!

Fayetteville to Atlanta

8:30 in the morning and I'm already mad. The State Department sent us an e-mail asking us to keep our luggage down to 1 suitcase and 1 carry-on for logistical purposes. Silly me, I tried to comply. I ended up with 1 large suitcase (large!), but my Arabic books wouldn't fit in it, so I put them in my intended carry-on. That alone was 27 pounds! So I ended up with 1 large suitcase, a carry-on of books that I checked, and my regular carry-on and, of course, my purse. Now, if you're traveling overseas you are allowed 2 pieces of checked luggage. But my ticket only goes to DC, and I had to check in electronically, so I only got 1 piece – there went $25 for my checked carry-on. The attendant weighed my large suitcase, and it was 65 pounds – there went $80. Eighty-freaking-dollars!!! Well, let's see: I have some regular clothes (not even a lot), some business clothes that I was told to bring, and formal wear that I was told to bring, and shoes for those items, and a travel iron to press the nice clothes, and the 2 months of vitamins/supplements which I need for my asthma, and my toiletries. So yeah, all that weighs a lot. I kept the receipts and I'm going to ask the State Department for a refund. And another thing – I'm flying in to Reagan Airport in DC, via Atlanta, and it will take me most of the day to get there. As I'm waiting for my plane to leave Fayetteville, I see a flight posted that leaves 30 minutes before mine – a direct connection to Washington-Reagan.

Stayin' in Style!

No stinkin' dorms for us! We'll be roughing it at the Haffa House and the Hamdan Plaza (1 month at each). Oh the humanity.......

[Edit: updated URL for Haffa House.]

Yet Another Update

It's getting close now! I can't believe how much crap I've had to take care of - and not just for the trip. For the trip I had to turn in a ton of paperwork and write an essay and fill out surveys. I completely bombed my telephone Arabic pre-test. I just blanked. I knew what the guy was asking me, but I couldn't even think of what I wanted to say in English! Oh well, no where to go but up. Since I'll be gone for 2 months I also had to get everything done that will become due while I'm gone. Like cleaning out my office, re-registering my dog (we're a therapy team!), signing up for student insurance, moving stuff into storage and donating clothes, etc. And then there's the buying: travel alarm clock, carry-on bag, adapters, converters, enough vitamins for the whole shebang. I even got a skirt - I haven't worn a skirt/dress since 2000! I'm trying to cram everything into one large suitcase, so I got some of those space-saver travel bags. Now I'm down to the last-minute minutiae that pops up.

Got My Plane Ticket

Got my e-ticket for my flight to DC. We'll spend 2 days there doing orientation and get our paper tickets for the trip to Oman. Then it's more orientation and testing in Muscat. I got some new clothes for the trip, and borrowed a big suitcase from my mom. I promise to take lots of pictures while I'm there (I'm a bit obsessive about that ;) so I may set up a Flickr page.

Shots Suck!

Yes, I had to get a few shots for the trip. I opted for Tetanus (because I haven't had one in a long time) and Hepatitis A (because it's transmitted via fecal matter). I turned down Typhoid (because it's not really necessary where I am going) and Hepatitis B (transmitted via blood, sex). They gave me the Tetanus shot in my non-dominant arm (left) because it hurts for a while. So of course, the next day I drove down to visit my parents, and I drive with my left arm. That sucker hurt for about 4 days!

Olympic Oman

Apparently the Olympic torch is in Oman. Read about it here (BBC).

Coming Soon!

This is the blog for my Oman trip, starting mid to late June.