2009 is here already?!

Greetings from Oman!!

I keep asking myself when I'll settle into Oman and stop having such a long list of things to write home about. It hasn't happened yet - I keep learning something every day or having some sort of experience that is completely new to me. This month's chapter includes more visitors, riding camels, dune bashing, the red tide, being objectified at a soccer game, and having a rain-day.

Brian's Arrival & the Desert
Karen and I spent a lovely Christmas, talking, visiting friends and eating well. We were both excited (and I was a little sad since Christmas marked the near-end to Karen's visit) that Brian would be arriving the next day. To celebrate, we made a delicious lunch with Nimmi - my friend from school who is teaching me to cook Indian meals - and went to get henna done with Lydia and her sister, Noelle.

The henna experience was interesting: we drove around for about 45 minutes looking for a beauty salon that would do henna, stopping at several different places to find that their signs were misleading and they didn't actually do henna, or to find that they were closed (it was Friday afternoon, afterall). Once we happened upon a place, it was, of course, packed. The shop was little and the walls lined with mirrors. Indian women were working hard to cut hair, straighten hair, pluck eyebrows & other facial hair using thread (called "threading"), and there was a special room in the back for women to get their legs, etc. waxed. The windows in the front of the store were lined with drapes so that nobody could see in, and the lack of circulating air meant that the place was alive with fumes and sprays. There were two young women that started decorating our arms/feet with henna; they moved quickly and creatively, obviously having practiced many times in the past. Neither of them spoke English very well, so our communication was very basic. But in the end, we had fun guessing at what words meant and laughing at our assumptions. I drove home carefully, trying not to smudge the henna on the palms of my hand as I shifted gears through traffic. The henna turned out great - Karen and I had orange hands and wrists for the next couple of weeks.

Brian arrived around 10pm that night, exhausted from a long journey. We exchanged Christmas presents, went to bed and awoke early the next day, packed our bags and headed toward the desert dunes of Wahiba Sands. It took us less time than I had predicted to get to the desert camp where we'd be staying for the night, so we made a quick decision to go see Wadi Bani Khalid that day instead of the next. We drove a few kilometers further than the turn-off to the camp, and followed the signs to the wadi.

We arrived to the start of our hike through the wadi after passing various construction vehicles that were building a road to the village throughout the the wadi. We were greeted by kids that offered to guide us to the pools in the wadi (for a price, I'm sure). We politely refused their offer and headed into the wadi ourselves. We soon found the pools that had been described in my book - but the water didn't stop at the pools; that was where it started. We kept hiking - Karen and I waded through the shallow parts of the pools (we were wearing sandals) and Brian strategically hopped boulders to keep up. The water was clear and the fish were healthy. Had we had more time, we would've swam, but the hike was gorgeous enough. We headed back toward the desert camp and arrived about an hour before sundown.

Our arrival to the camp was fun! We had to drive through the desert in between sand dunes, on loose sand. I kept the car moving quickly, as I was instructed by my colleagues, and we did not get stuck. We were greeted by a steep sand dune at the entrance into the camp, and that's where I let the professionals do the work. We got out of the car, walked up the hill and checked in. The men in the camp took my keys, backed my car about 100 meters from the bottom of the hill, then gunned the engine, pushing my Pajero hard up the hill and swerving at the top until the wheels were firmly on the sand again. When they asked if I wanted to take my own car dune-bashing, I laughed. Nope. I wanted to pay for the driver to take us in his car.

We checked out our tent for the night, had a bathroom break, and headed out for our dune-bashing excursion. An Omani man allowed us to pile into his Land Rover and the adventure began. We sped over and around sand dunes, stopping twice to get out and run around, barefoot, in the sand. The handles above the windows were either loose or completely disconnected, and the seats no longer locked into place. The seatbelts didn't work either (except for the driver's and front passenger's seat), so the ride was extra-thrilling. I was thoroughly impressed with our driver's ability to maneuver his car in such deep and loose sand. He dropped us off at the top of a dune, just above the camp, so that we could watch the sunset over the desert. What a great way to spend the holidays!! After a brilliant sunset, Brian sand-boarded down the dune to the camp, I gleefully ran down the dune, and Karen followed with the camera. We had about an hour to wait before dinner would be served.

Dinner was delicious: hummus, fresh veggies, pita bread, dal, grilled chicken and lamb, and a vegetable dish that included egg plant, potatoes, cloves and coriander. It was a traditional Omani meal, and all three of us had seconds. After dinner, we hung out in the communal "family room" tent until the bedouins came to play and sing some music. The music was upbeat, the crowd was happy, and eventually there was a large group up and dancing on the carpeted ground. I eventually left the crowd and headed off to bed, not forgetting to spend a moment staring at the star-filled sky before slipping into my thatched tent. It was a cold, winter night in the desert, and luckily I had two large blankets to keep me cozy.

The next morning we had a simple breakfast and were off to find the bedouins that offered camel rides. Brian, Karen and I found the camels (it wasn't hard - they were at the entrance of the camp, waiting for eager riders), and lucky for us, there were three of them, so we got to all ride at the same time. The ride itself was smooth and comfortable (and only lasted about 10 minutes - sufficient time to be on a camel :), but the mount and dismount were a little more awkward than, say, a horse ride. The camel starts in a "seated" position - with both front and back legs under its body - then, on the command of the bedouin, raises first its back legs, then front legs to standing. My camel was a little slow to raise its front legs, so I got to sit, balancing, with the camel kneeling to the sand gods, for what seemed like a long time. The dismount was similar - luckily, Brian got video footage of it all. :) I'll try to figure out how to post my video to my blog so that you can all be as amused as I was.

After the camel ride, we were satisfied with our desert-stay and decided to continue our journey. We took an alternate route home, that led us to the coast and to Wadi Shab (again) so that we could hike in and swim through the pools into the glowing cave. Karen wasn't feeling well, so she didn't swim. Brian and I had excellent timing - there were no Omanis or tourists in the pools while we were there. Upon entering the cave, we decided to climb up the waterfall, explore the wadi beyond the cave, then return to jump into the pool from the edge of the waterfall. It was way less intimidating when there weren't Omani boys hanging around every corner like there were when Karen and I went earlier in the month. Brian and I both enjoyed the swim and hike immensely.

We headed back into Muscat after our hike, and after showering and helping Karen pack her bags, went to dinner at the Turkish House (the restaurant with the amazingly fresh fish), made one last stop for Karen at Lulu's Hypermarket, then brought her to the Muscat International Airport. I didn't want to say goodbye...

Brian and I came home, and after realizing we were too tired to plan the rest of his stay, decided to go to bed and figure out the rest in the morning. After much deliberation, we decided to go to Massirah Island until New Year's Eve.

Massirah Island & New Year's
We packed that day - the 29th - and headed out before 1pm. The drive was not as interesting as the first time I went, perhaps because I had slept half the drive when I rode with Jenelle and this time I drove the whole way. But it was certainly easy to speed; the road was flat and straight once we were out of the mountains. (*Note: Most cars sold here have a built-in bell or signal that provides an annoying, non-stop reminder when the driver is going over 120km/hr. Ding, ding, ding, ding... Brian and I learned that if we turned the radio up, we could drown out the bell.) Massirah is located on the east coast of Oman, about a five hour drive from Muscat. We arrived to the coast around 5:30pm, but the sun had already set and we were not going to be able to catch a ferry over to the island. So instead, we took a right turn off the road and drove on the sand/salt road over the salt flats of the peninsula Barr al Hikman until we could see the ocean. The drive was crazy! I followed a set of tire tracks, in the dark (I couldn't see past the headlights), for an hour to reach the ocean. Once we got to the ocean, we felt weird intruding on the fishermen at their huts, so we drove about a kilometer back on the tracks, pulled off, and set up camp. We made a delicious dinner of avocado and fish tacos, and then attempted to pass my new LED Frisbee back and forth, but couldn't see each other well enough to aim. So instead, we distracted ourselves with trying to take pictures of the stars by manipulating our cameras' shutter speeds, etc. Eventually we pulled out our sleeping bags on the wadi mat, layed down, but realized that it was still too early to sleep. We debated reading for a while, but I had left my headlamp at the desert camp, so I would've had to read by LED Frisbee light. Instead, we took out Brian's new Ipod Touch, and watched a few episodes of TedTalks. I couldn't believe we were watching TV while camping on the middle of a salt flat, next to the ocean, with no other amenities for miles around. I couldn't help but laugh.

We awoke early the next morning (before the sun) and found ourselves in a cloud of fog. We wanted to catch the earliest ferry to Massirah, so we packed up camp (it's easy when all you have to do is fold up a mat and stuff the sleeping bags to dry in the back seat), and drove the hour off the peninsula. Unfortunately, we still couldn't see anything because the fog around us was so thick, so the drive was actually more difficult than the night before. But we made it back to the highway and continued on to board the ferry. Luckily, we did not have to wait in line, and we were one of the last vehicles on the boat, so we didn't have to wait on the boat for it to leave the dock. Brian and I ate some granola for breakfast while we waited for the ferry to leave, then stayed comfortable and cozy in the Pajero, reading, while the ferry made its hour-long journey to Massirah.

Massirah Island was much less crowded than the first time I went. We drove along the coast, around much of the island, hardly seeing anyone else the entire morning. Unfortunately, though, we soon discovered that the red tide had followed us all the way to the island. We found some beautiful white-sand beaches that even had shade-shelters, but we couldn't stand the smell of rotting fish in the ocean. The red tide, I had learned before we left, is an algal bloom that blocks the sunlight from reaching deep into the water and therefore suffocates the life below it, and it has been happening for centuries. Apparently it used to be known as "the menstruation of the sea." But this year, due most likely to pollution and misuse of the ocean, the bloom is lasting much longer than its normal week. Around lunch time we found a little cove on the south end of the island that was red-tide-free, we had a simple lunch then hung out at the ocean for a couple of hours. We explored the tidal pools and found a variety of creatures: starfish, sea cucumbers, anenomes, cephalapods and hermit crabs. We threw a frisbee and swam in the clear water. It was exquisite. As the sun got lower in the sky we decided we should find a place to set-up camp. We packed up our cooler and drove along the southern edge of the island until we found a dune we could drive and hide behind. We went shell-collecting as the sun set over the ocean; another phenomenal day.

The next morning, Brian and I decided over breakfast that we were going to find the highest point on the mountain range on the island and hike up it. We followed the description as best we could in the guidebook, which took us off-roading for quite a while. There was a point where my Pajero could go no farther, and that's where our hike began. We started our hike around 10am, so by the time we got to the top of the mountain, the sun was beating down on us hard. And, to no one's surprise, there were no trees or even bushes, to block the heat. The view from the top, though, made the hike worth it. The way down was challenging - as much of the terrain was loose rock and gravel, but we made it. We drove, again, to the ocean, waded in to cool down, then headed back to the ferry to make our way home. Brian got to see camels, flamingos and starfish, all in their element.

We got back in time to clean up, then head to my friends', Ryan's and Eleanor's, home. We ate a lovely taco dinner with them and their friends who work in an international school in Turkey. Afterward, we headed up to their roof to watch a movie that Eleanor projected onto the wall, while we waited for the clock to tell us that it was 2009. Given all the hiking and driving we had done, Brian and I didn't stay long after the clock ticked midnight.

The Grand Mosque & Veronica's Arrival
The next morning was a Thursday, the 1st, when Veronica (a friend of mine from Madison) and her friend, Erin, would be arriving. Brian and I spent the day seeing the Grand Mosque, eating lunch at a delicious cafe (D'Arcy's), grocery shopping, and swimming in the pool at my school. We picked up Veronica and Erin that night, again at 10pm, brought them home and were in bed a little after midnight.

Our goal was to wake the next morning by 5:30 and be heading to the goat market in Nizwa by 6:30... That didn't happen. Instead, we left Muscat by 8am, and got into Nizwa by 10am to catch the end of the market. We explored Nizwa, seeing the cattle being sold at the market, trying dates, pricing the crafts, and finally, touring the Nizwa Fort Museum. For lunch we pulled off a small highway and had a picnic under a tree, then headed off to find the Tanuf hike. Unfortunately, we followed a gravel road a long way up a mountain side, and saw no end to it, which threw us off and caused us to turn around. We never found the wadi hike, but we did stop at the ruins before heading back to Muscat.

Once back to the city, we headed directly to the Muttrah Souq, where we opted to do the Riyam hike instead of shop at the souq. The hike took about an hour; at the end (where Karen and I had seen the wadi puppies) we walked through a part of town where a group of about 8 young kids started chanting to us, "How are you? How are you? How are you? How are you?" The repetition continued and faded behind us as we walked away from them, toward the souq. Right outside the souq, we sat outside at a restaurant and splurged on some fresh lime and mint juice (a typical Omani drink-of-choice), then walked back along the bay to our car.

We hurried back to my house and changed our clothes, only to depart again toward a popular restaurant here called Kargeen's, where they serve a couple of Arabic dishes and have wonderful atmosphere. We were meeting Lydia, her parents, and another of my colleagues, Tommy. We had a lovely dinner, then had no problem sleeping through the night. I hoped that the busy day allowed Veronica and Erin to get over jetlag quickly.

Unfortunately, the next morning - Saturday the 3rd - I had to go back to work, so Veronica and Erin were going to be on their own.

School Again
I awoke early so that I could go to school and frantically prepare for the next two days, while I would still have guests. Brian got up an hour after I did and met me at the front gate of my school at 8am; he was going to be joining me and finding out just what I do at work every day. Class started at 8:30 - language arts with my homeroom class. We started with introductions and a few stories about what everyone had done over winter break. It didn't take long for Brian to join the sixth graders in cracking jokes and raising his hand to answer questions. The class went smoothly. :) At 9:50am (we use a rotating block schedule at my school so classes are 80-90 minutes each) we hurried downstairs for the weekly middle school assembly where we heard a presentation about why we should reduce the number of plastic bags we are using, and other announcements. Then Brian and I headed directly back to the classroom for class number two of the day: science. This was Brian's big debut - I was going to be introducing our next unit in science (earth science) and I had offered him the opportunity to do a demonstration for the class. He tackled the challenge successfully, even using the SmartBoard, not missing a beat. He'll make a great science teacher some day.

While Brian and I were at school, Veronica and Erin were finding out the hard way that it is nearly impossible to travel around Muscat (or any parts of Oman) without a car. I had given them a number to a taxi, and number to a rental car service, and a map of Muscat. They had plans of going to the Grand Mosque and perhaps to some museums, but their plans did not work out as smoothly as predicted. They did not make it to the mosque because they had slept in too late, then didn't know where to meet the taxi that they had called. They tried walking to a gas station about a kilometer from my neighborhood, but turned back when they realized that they didn't know where they were going, only to get turned around in my neighborhood, unable to find my apartment building. When they finally made it back, they called a different taxi service, met the taxi in front of my school, and rode to the airport. At the airport they opted to rent a car so that they could go anywhere they wanted for the next day and a half before heading to Dubai. The rental car turned out to be a cheaper option, too, than taking a taxi. Once they were out and about, they got turned around due to the lack of street signs... or any signs. I guess I hadn't explained that the only way to find anything around here is to use landmarks - but landmarks that are constantly changing because of all of the development that is happening so quickly in Oman. They did make it to Lulu's Hypermarket, where they bought some food for a late lunch, then made it back to my place by 4pm when I was done with work. They met me at school, took a quick tour of my school and classroom, and told me about their day of adventures. I am completely impressed with their perserverance and problem solving. I'm not sure I would have been laughing so soon after such a hectic and confusing day.

That evening we drove back to the old part of Muscat and spent some time in the Muttrah Souq. Brian was on a quest for some traditional Omani treasures, and I think we were all successful at finding something special. We drove and saw the state palace, then headed home where I prepared dinner while Brian packed his bags. I brought Brian to the airport around midnight and he continued his journey toward India, where he was taking a two week class on outsourcing. When I got back home, I stayed up until about 1:30am talking with Veronica and Erin, then we all crashed for the night. I got up and went to work the next morning, saying goodbye to Veronica and Erin as they were going to be catching a bus that afternoon to Dubai. They did make it to the Grand Mosque that morning, and to a museum before returning their rental car and taking a taxi to the bus station. They were also moving on to take a two week class in Dubai for their business school degrees.

As much as I enjoyed having guests, I was relieved to spend Sunday night all by myself in my apartment. I went to bed by 8pm, but still managed to get sick with a head cold the next day. I went to bed early every night that week.

Oman vs. Iraq in the Gulf Cup
Come Wednesday afternoon, I had rested plenty and was excited to see my friends who had been gone over break. So I planned, with a couple of my girlfriends here, to go see the Oman versus Iraq soccer game.

Oman has been hosting the Gulf Cup this year, and the stadium is a mere 20 minute walk from my apartment. Sensing the high demand that the Omanis would present to see the games, the government attempted, for the first time ever, selling tickets (for 200 baizas/person = 50 cents/person) in order to control crowds. The ticket-plan failed miserably; too many people were trying to scalp their tickets outside the stadium on game day. Therefore, come the Wednesday game (which was game number 2 in the series), we would have to wait in line to get to the first-come, first-served seats. Lucky for us, we are female. There is a section of the stadium reserved for men, one for families, and one for women. So the five of us figured we'd have no problem getting in, even if we got there just an hour before game time.

As we began our hike to the stadium, Shawna, one of the five of us, got a call from her husband. He was with his friends, already at the gate, and they couldn't get in because the men's section was at capacity. He asked how many of us were in our group - five. "Perfect, there are five of us! Will you five pretend to be our spouses for the night so we can all get into the family section?!" We debated amongst the five women, but then agreed to meet them.

Upon arrival to the stadium we had no trouble finding our 5 husbands-for-the-evening. They hurried us toward the front of the crowds of men that were all trying to get in the gates. Brady (who is actually Shawna's husband) was partnered with me for the entrance. He helped me push through the men, only to get stopped in the smelly crowd when they were too tight together in front of us to continue. That's when I noticed it; the hand on my butt. I tried moving over, but the culprit only held on. I turned around, fuming. The drunk-looking man behind me pulled his hand away, but was not discreet about it. Brady was aware of what happened, but didn't know what to do, and neither did I. I stopped myself from slapping the man, and instead angrily told him to not touch me. The guy turned around and snickered with his friends. Luckily, another man, an Omani sitting on a fence, saw what happened and was also upset. So he quickly forced other people to move out of my way and helped me to push closer to the front of the gate.

Brady and I barely made it through the crowd into the stadium. The guards saw that I was a woman and reluctantly let the two of us through - we met up with the rest of our group. When the guards opened the gates, they had to hold back the men that resentfully muttered angry words about how us Westerners were allowed in but the Omanis were not. It was the first time that I have felt so objectified and resented since I have been here. It was not an ideal way to start the evening. Luckily, though, the game was exciting and Oman beat Iraq 4 to 0. It was exciting to be in a completely-packed stadium where the spirit was high. We must have done the wave 10 times by the time Sarah and I left early. On the walk home, Sarah and I received plenty of whistles, inappropriate comments and, of course, blatant stares. I guess football/soccer brings out the best and worst in men...

Oman has continued winning all of their games and will play in the finals on Saturday. Unfortunately, though, I will be unable to attend the game since we have an inservice all afternoon. But that's okay - I don't mind going to a friend's house or to a restaurant where all the TVs will be tuned to the game and the crowds will be less obnoxious. Go Oman!

School Cancelled Due to Severe Weather
Well, I will conclude this chapter with a quick story about how I managed to enjoy a 3-day weekend this week. On Monday last week, all of the staff were warned of potential rain storms this weekend, but I honestly did not expect anything too severe; I live in the desert afterall, and last time it "rained," it was only a few sprinkles. But on Tuesday night I found out what storms can do to an ill-prepared city. Tuesday night, around 10:30pm, I finally convinced myself that I should stop reading the book that I was into and go to bed since the next morning I would have to wake up by 5am to go to the strength training class that I've been attending. But I was quickly distracted from sleep by the light from the lightning bolts that was filling my windows. I heard lots of noise outside and went to the window to figure out what was going on. I opened the window and was immediately engulfed with a clowd of sand in my face. I closed the window and walked around the house, making sure all of my windows were closed. Soon after, the rain started. It rained and the wind blew fiercly, for hours. My windows banged and my fans spun out of control. I decided that since I wasn't going to sleep anyway, I should just keep reading. :) Around 11:30pm, I got a text from my trainer and she said that her house had flooded so she was canceling class for the next morning. About 10 minutes later I got another text, this time from the school's director: school had been canceled for the next day. I couldn't believe it! School canceled because of rain?! I turned off my alarm clocks and eventually slept.

The next day (Wednesday) I hung out indoors most of the morning, watching the rain continuously fall and create mud puddles around the neighborhood. It turned out my windows had leaked, too, and I had puddles to mop up in the two bedrooms in my apartment. Come afternoon, I got a call from Lydia and we decided to go for a drive with her (new!) Omani boyfriend, Hilal, so that I could meet him. We drove around, seeing the waterfalls that had formed overnight in the mountains and driving through deep puddles where water collected on the roads. He told me all about the Sultan (he is a lieutenant in the Oman military and has met the Sultan on various occasions), and was proud to show us hidden hot springs just a few kilometers from my neighborhood. I also drove, later that day, on a road where I saw workers pumping water from one side of the road to the other. I couldn't help but laugh - apparently not a lot of thought goes into preparing for rain when constructing anything in Oman. It turns out the two gyms at my school also flood when it rains, so workers get to spend all day and night pushing water out of the back door of the school as the rain continues falling. It rained some more yesterday afternoon and evening, so the city is still wet. I guess rain in this quantity only happens, at most, once a year, so it is quite a hectic phenomenon when it does.


Well, I hope you have all enjoyed reading yet another excerpt from my life in Oman. I have just another 10 weeks straight of teaching before spring break, when I will be heading to Bali, Indonesia for a week. Then just a few more weeks before I get to finally head home to the States and see friends and family. I've heard that it is extremely cold in the Midwest - I hope you are all keeping warm with your loved ones close. I love hearing from you! Keep happy and keep smiling!!