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.