Getting in the swing of things

September 17, 2008

Hi y'all. Welcome to the next chapter of my journal into my experiences in Oman.


I have been keeping extrememly busy with various tasks and events, so I'll give you the scoop on some of the more exciting of them:


The Start to Ramadan:
Ramadan is a holy pillar for muslims. Every year it shifts to be a different month according to the lunar calendar. This year it started on September 2 and will end sometime at the beginning of October (October 1st or 2nd). It keeps arriving earlier each year. The celebration of Ramadan represents a lot of changes and adjustments on everyone's part in an Islamic community. Muslims, during the month of Ramadan, fast from sunrise to sunset, celebrate Iftar (sundown) with a feast and celebrate into the night with close friends and family, and are not allowed to drink any alcohol or smoke tobacco. The idea behind Ramadan is that people allow themselves to feel what it's like to live with less, like people who are less fortunate than themselves. During Ramadan (and all the time), muslims are encouraged to give to charities and to help the needy. Muslim/public schools and most businesses get let out at noon or 1pm to allow for peoples' inability to concentrate with no food, and to rest during the hottest hours of the day.


Ramadan, for me, means that no banks, restaurants, or businesses are open when I would have access to them, and that I need to stay off the roads right before sunset, when the Omanis are frantically, and hungrily, trying to make their ways to their meals. It also means that I cannot eat or drink in public - not even water. A police officer could pull me over and fine me if I were to do so (though most would just politely ask me to put my food/water away and remind me of the rules). And finally, it means that many of my students (but not the majority) are unable to concentrate during the day, because at 11 and 12 years of age, fasting all day is like torture to the bodies and minds. Plus, my school, being an American school, does not get let out early for Ramadan, so the students have to suffer through a full school day of information being thrown at their unfed minds. It has been very interesting, really. I admire people's ability to control their needs and I envy their nightly celebrations with loved ones. This evening I'm going to celebrate Iftar with some of my friends here, so I look forward to seeing deeper into this holy tradition.


Ramadan ends with a week of vacations - Eid. I have a week of vacation from October 1 to 6. During that week I plan to drive to the southern part of Oman, called Salalah, where I've heard that during the summer months it is green and lush! I'm pretty excited! It's a ~12 hour drive along the coast on the way there. I will stop along some beach the first night to swim and hang out for half a day, campout, then make my way to Salalah on day 2. Then the drive back we are going to head through the interior of Oman - through the desert.


Buying a Car:
Before coming here I thought to myself, and stated outloud several times, that I would not buy a car in Oman, that instead I would purchase a bicycle for commuting purposes, and hitch a ride with friends to go anywhere farther out (for adventures). Well, my parents can officially tell me, "I told you so." It is way harder than expected to commute by bike here in Muscat (I would fear for my life trying to make my way along the sides of roads - especially during Ramadan). I have yet to even buy a bike (though I'm still going to do it). They do sell bikes here, but most are either for children or are way out of my price range. I've been told that when I go to Dubai that I'll find better deals, so that's my plan. And I'm hoping to make it to Dubai in the next month or so.


So, I don't have a bike - no big deal, right? I can still just ask to tag along with others who have cars, right? That is what I've been doing, for the most part, and will continue to do, but I decided that in order to go on the types of adventures that I enjoy, I will need access to my own, appropriate transportation. So I did it; I bought an SUV to take off-roading and through the Arabian desert. Luckily, my friend Jeff thinks like me and also didn't want a car, so we went in on the car together. We bought a Mitsubishi Pajero (see attached photo) and we already took it on a thrilling adventure!


Sea turtles & Camping:

Jeff and I bought the car last Wednesday. On Thursday morning we went and switched the insurance to be our own, and packed the trunk for our first adventure in our new vehicle. We picked up Zach and followed 2 other vehicles east of Sur to a section of beach where green sea turtles come all throughout the summer to lay eggs. The journey there was exciting - we drove along the ocean for the majority of it, the detours led us along steep dirt roads through tiny towns, and once we arrived to the beach area, we drove along the sand and up and over lava rocks to a secluded section where we set up camp. To get up the rocks, we even had to put the vehicle in 4-wheel drive.


Upon arriving, no one was going to keep me out of the water. We all put on our suits and swam all evening. While we were swimming we saw 2 couples of sea turtles mating offshore, and we saw several Omani fishermen making their ways back to their rickety shacks made of driftwood and fish netting. We were supposed to meet my friend, Courtney, and her boyfriend at the beach - they had left Muscat earlier than we did - and she had our food for dinner. So by 5:30pm, when she hadn't yet arrived to the beach and the sun was setting before our eyes, Jeff, Zach and I jumped into the Pajero and headed back down the lava rocks where we hoped some restaurant would serve us some fish and rice before Iftar so that we could make it back up the rocks and to the camp without losing the tire marks that lead the way. We were lucky. We made it back JUST as the light disappeared. Luckily, Courtney and Josh also made it to camp at that time. Turns out they had gone over a lava rock that had punctured their tire and had to change the tire on their way back toward our beach (they had gone further than we had). So we all ate, drank some wine, and watched the moon rise while we waited for the sea turtles to come to shore.


That night I sat and must have seen at least 30 mother turtles come ashore, dig a hole, lay their eggs, bury them, then dig a second hole to fake-out predators. It takes about one month for the eggs to incubate and for the babies to break out of the eggs and make their ways to the ocean. So I also got to see several babies head to the ocean. Flash cameras scare the turtles so I couldn't take pictures that night, but I woke up at sunrise so that I could take a couple pictures of the turtles that were just finishing (see attached pics). I hardly slept at all, but it was worth it.



The next morning, I walked along the beach and saw 2 turtles who finished late. We ate some yogurt and granola for breakfast, hiked along the cliffs and shores, came back, swam in the cool ocean water, then headed home. I drove the whole 4 hours home while Zach and Jeff slept, so when I got to my air-conditioned apartment I crashed for 2 hours. I got up, ate dinner, went to register the Pajero, then was asleep again by 9:30pm. :) It was a great weekend!!


Back to School Parent Night:
Saturday morning I came to school early to try to be ready for my day - this past week was going to be a long one. Last night was the Middle School Back to School Night, where parents are invited to come and meet their teachers. The entire week I was getting more-and-more nervous. I prepared PowerPoint presentations for each of my classes, made a handout, hung student work, organized my classroom (finally), and got behind on a lot of grading. I had to give 4 presentations (1 for language arts, 2 for science, and 1 for health) about the classes I'm teaching. Each presentation was 12 minutes long. The BTSN was nothing like what I experienced in Madison - mostly because in Madison very few of my parents came. Here, my classroom was full. It was so intimidating!! Especially because parents are nothing like their kids! - they don't talk, get distracted, ask questions, or tell stories. They just stared at me, with straight faces, while I stood in front of them and explained my teaching strategies. I hope none of them noticed my knee shaking uncontrollably out of nerves. Ha!


Once I was done presenting, some parents approached me to introduce themselves personally, which was much more pleasant. I was excited when my Spanish-speaking parents came up and immediately started speaking Spanish after I had told them that I used to teach in a bilingual program. They were very welcoming, supportive, and eager to help in any way they could. All-in-all, I'm just glad it's over. Now I can spend my weekend grading papers and catching up on planning my curriculum and my upcoming weekend adventures.



Tomorrow morning I'm going with some colleagues to a beach that is good for shell-collecting, and we're going to kayak to some islands off the coast during high-tide. Then we'll come back early enough that I can rest for a while, have a nice fish-dinner with my friends, and Friday get some things done around my apartment.


So, on top of Arabic & yoga classes and volleyball on Saturdays, Ultimate Frisbee on Mondays, and soccer on Fridays, that's been my life for the last week or so. It got long - sorry. But I've enjoyed writing about it, so I hope that means you'll enjoy reading, too.


Thank you to everyone who keeps writing. I can't wait to hear from you some more! Just so you all know - I do not have internet at my house yet, so I haven't been able to update Facebook often (it is blocked on the school network). But I'll post more pictures from my turtle weekend as soon as I can poach a network for long enough that they can be uploaded.


Feel free to pass this on to anyone you think would enjoy it. :)

Take care!:)Sara