December! KAREN is here!

Greetings from Oman!

It's hard for me to get into the holiday spirit given the weather that I'm experiencing here, but I'm not complaining! ;) Especially since the best part of the holidays is being with family, and I currently have the pleasure of showing my sister around my new home. AND, we're spending lots of time outdoors, in the beautiful sunshine. Time and time again, people told me that winter is the best time to be in Oman, and now I see what they're talking about: I can be outside at noon, now, without soaking my clothes with sweat, and at night, it's actually cool enough to need a sweatshirt or jacket!


KAREN'S ARRIVAL 12/7/08 - 12/9/08
Karen arrived on December 7, at 10pm. That day marked the last day of teaching before almost a month of winter-break - her timing was perfect! I spent the day avoiding any work that did not have to be done. After work, I hung out with my students until Ultimate Frisbee started at 5:30pm. I played hard, knowing I wouldn't be playing again for a month, and to burn off some of the energy that had been accumulating in my countdown to my sister's arrival. The game was a blast! We were all happy to be on break. After frisbee, I joined my fellow colleagues at one of their homes for a few drinks (don't worry, I didn't drink any alcohol before going to the airport). The entire time I was there I kept checking the time, eager for 9:30 to come around so that I could leave and go to the airport. When I did leave, I could not keep from grinning! I was SO excited to see my sister!!

Karen's plane arrived on time, so I did not have to wait too long to see her walk out of the sliding doors! She had made it! And I was excited for our adventures to begin...

Most of my friends here had plans of their own for the holidays, traveling to one destination or another, so Karen's first days here consisted of meeting as many of my friends as she could before they were off. We went to the Muttrah Souq (the traditional market) with Sarah - where Sarah bought some last-minute gifts to bring back to the States, then to the Turkish House for dinner with Sarah and Miguel. The Turkish house has exquisite fresh fish, and homemade hummus served with delectible Arabic bread. We went to Seifa beach with Zach, in hopes of snorkeling along the coast, but with no luck since the red tide left the water unpleasantly smelly and cloudy with the stench of dead fish. On the way back from Seefa, we stopped at the Sultan's palace. That night we went to dinner at Khana Khazana with Jeff, Zach and Courtney - our favorite Indian restaurant in Muscat. And Karen, of course, had to take a tour of my school, so that she could see where I spend the majority of my time. At school Karen got to meet Tommy.

Karen and I also spent some time the first two days planning out everything that we wanted to do while she's here - which included, besides the obvious sites to see, such things as seeing the Ecuador vs. Oman football/soccer game, seeing a movie at the Bollywood movie theater in town, and searching out a camel race. Unfortunately, it seems it will be a difficult task to find a camel race, given the fact that every person we have asked about them seems to know nothing about where they happen or when; not only that, but it seems that no one we know, Omanis and Ex-pats alike, has ever seen a camel race.


EXCURSION 1: JABAL SHAMS & WADI DAMM 12/10/08 - 12/11/08
Our sight-seeing adventures began on December 10, when Karen, Zach and I drove southwest into the mountains to see Jabal Shams, "the Grand Canyon of Arabia". (The canyon, though impressive, was nothing compared to the actual Grand Canyon.) It was thrilling to hike along the top of the canyon and have no guard rails or trails to keep us from falling off the edge, especially with the wind blowing strong in unpredictable directions. We hiked along the top of the canyon for a couple of hours, then drove to find a place to set up camp. We found a cozy place amongst some trees and put up our tent before setting out for another hike through a wadi as the setting-sun's rays made our surroundings glow. We made a delicious dinner over the camp stove, huddled close to the campfire, cleaned up and went to bed. We may have been more comfortable sleeping had the wind not been beating-up the tent all night. Fortunately for me, I sleep through most everything; unfortunately for Karen, she doesn't.

Despite Karen's lack of sleep, she was quite cheerful the next day (Thursday). We drove down from Jabal Shams and headed to Wadi Damm. Along the way we stopped at the Beehive Tombs, which are ruins said to have been built in 3000BC. They are tombs that supposedly held 200 bodies in each one, though they seemed rather small for that. The bodies must have been miniature.

We reached Wadi Damm in the early-afternoon, ate some hummus, pita and veggies for lunch, then started our hike. The wadi, once we passed the beginning that was covered with garbage, was gorgeous! We crossed back and forth across the pools, scurrying over and around boulders. At one point we were no longer hiking along water, but we had read in a book that there was a pool hidden in the wadi that had green plants and stems hiding the source of the stream, and where the water dripped down over the rocks into a clear-blue pool. We were on a mission to find that pool. But the further we hiked down the wadi, the drier our surroundings became and the bigger the boulders got that we had to climb over. After about one and a half hours of hiking, we decided to turn around and head back to the water. It was upon reaching the water again that we found the pool we had been looking for: "Paradise". It only took us a moment to change into our bathing suits and submerse ourselves in the fresh, clean water. Though chilling, the swim was refreshing and energizing. Finding that pool made our day worth while. We could go home happy. Thursday night we slept at home.


EXCURSION 2: RAS AL HADD & WADI SHAB 12/12/08 - 12/13/08
Friday morning, Karen and I packed and left for our next adventure: Ras al Hadd ("Turtle Beach"). We left right after lunch, hoping to arrive at the beach just before the sun began setting so that we had enough time to set up camp before the full moon lit up the beach and the sea turtles began coming to shore to lay their eggs. All went according to plan (we didn't get too lost on our way!) until we arrived at the beach I had gone to twice before. There, awaiting any visitors that may have been trying to go over the rocky path to the hidden beach, was an Omani man from the village telling everyone to turn around. Unfortunately, my Arabic is not even close to fluent (in fact, I know only a handful of words), and the man's English was about as strong as my Arabic, so needless to say, communication was reserved to hand and body gestures and one-word explanations. "No sleep" was the part that frustrated me the most. If we didn't sleep on that beach, where the heck were Karen and I going to sleep?! The sun was already setting and I was tired from driving for 5 1/2 hours straight. At some point an SUV full of Omanis was leaving the village and stopped for the man who was talking to me from the middle of the road. They exchanged a few words and the tinted-window behind the driver rolled down. A young Omani woman politely told Karen and me that visiting hours to the beach are from 5am to 5pm and that since it was now 5:30pm, we could not go to the beach. I told her we had been planning to camp there, and she said we couldn't; that we'd have to find somewhere else to camp. I asked if she knew of any other place to camp and she pointed past the village and said that we could set up our tent on the other side of the tourist hotel. So, Karen and I followed orders and drove toward the hotel.

If you have seen Karen's photos on Facebook, you may have noticed a theme that we have been observing throughout our time together: Where are the WOMEN?! Well, that's what we kept asking ourselves as we drove up and down the beach near the hotel. The beach was lined with SUVs, tall canvas tents, and men; lots and lots of Arab men. Needless to say, Karen and I did not feel any desire to set up our tent there. So we didn't. We stopped the car for a moment, weighed our options, called Jenelle to see if she had any other advice on where to camp, then hit the highway back toward Muscat. We decided that we would look for a place off the highway somewhere, that would be discreet and hidden, and try to see the turtles early in the morning before the sun rose. This sounded like a splendid plan, but it was not as easy as it seemed: we began our search when the sun was completely down and we were surrounded by desert. I could not see further than my headlights so I was nervous that I would drive myself into a sand pit. After about 45 minutes of pulling off the road, scoping out the space behind some hills, and scouring the sides of the road for signs of tire tracks leading to some safe haven, we decided it would probably be more worth our while to give up, save our energy, and drive back home. Fifteen minutes after we decided that, we found the perfect place to camp.

We camped on a cliff above the ocean. I slept under the stars on my wadi mat (and extremely bright, full moon), and Karen slept in the car to avoid sleep-deprivation from any highway or boat noise. I didn't sleep well that night - I was still stressed about our inability to camp where we could see the turtles, and I was nervous that someone would approach our car given our proximity to the highway. Around 5:45am, I packed up my sleeping bag, threw it in the back of the Pajero, hopped in the driver's seat and drove back toward the beach. We arrived just after sunrise, but unfortunately saw no turtles; only their tracks and holes. We stayed there long enough to eat breakfast and relax for a few hours under the sun. The sand and rock crabs (known as "Sandy" and "Rocky") kept us entertained, but we couldn't swim in the water, again, because of the red tide. We left the beach around 10:30am and headed to find Wadi Shab - "The Keyhole Wadi" - that I had been so eagerly wanting to hike (the one where you swim through a hole to enter a cave).

Despite the lack of signs on the new highway that we were driving, we found Wadi Shab with no difficulty (due, of course, to my expert guessing skills). We parked under the highway, ate a quick bite of food for lunch, then hurried away from the smelly parking lot that was being loitered by random boys. As with every other wadi hike that I've experienced so far, I got distracted at the beginning of the hike by all of the trash and litter that was left everywhere by various visitors, but as we got further in, the hike became more exceptional. Wadi Shab turned out to be as beautiful as I imagined. The hike was easier than other wadi hikes, since it is the most visited wadi in Oman, so the trails were more visible. Once we got to the pools where we would have to swim, Karen and I became somewhat discouraged; the pools were lined with young Omani men who thought it was their duty to stare and make sure we knew they were there. We debated turning back and trying again some other day, but neither of us believed that we'd actually make the 2 hour journey again, after already being so close. So we decided to just swim anyway - despite the stares and calling-out - in our clothes. We got in the water and immediately were grateful for the refreshing, clean feel after a stressful night of camping. We swam past the boys, trying to stay low in the perfectly clear water (as though they couldn't see us... :). One of the guys called out "hello" to us, and we greeted him in reply. He asked where we were from and we told him, "The U.S., but I live here in Oman, now." He asked where in the U.S., then asked where I work here in Oman. We were all surprised to find out that we know mutual people. The guy we met is one of the tour guides for my school's outdoor, experiential education program. So having made that connection, I felt much better about swimming on through to the hole and the cave.

The cave was outstanding!! The end of the route led us to swim through a deep section of a pool, under a low rock ceiling, into a glowing-green cave. A small waterfall fed the pool in the cave, and had we wanted, we could have climbed up the waterfall to then cliff-jump into the pool. But we didn't. :) Instead we made our way back through the pools, said goodbye to our new friends, and dried out our clothes on the hike back. Despite the lack of turtles and the presence of men and no other women, our trip turned out to be a success.


REST, WORK & MINI-ADVENTURES FROM HOME 12/14/08 - 12/21/08
That night, we slept at home and decided the next morning that we should take a day-long break from the adventures. Plus, I needed to bring my car in for its 100,000km service, so we headed to the Mitsubishi service station. The service took two days, and they wouldn't be able to start it until the next day (there is an entire saga about the car that I won't go into), so Karen and I went to the grocery store, stocked up on food and Christmas decor, and made a delicious enchilada dinner for Jenelle and Ryan (her boyfriend who is visiting from Australia). We took the car in the next day and walked over to Ryan and Eleanor's home to have breakfast with them. After breakfast, I walked over to school for a couple hours of productivity, then Karen and I made a homemade pizza dinner (with fresh-made bread rolls and crust! :p mmmmm...) and partook in a leisurely night of reading, watching educational videos, and watching a downloaded movie. The next day, since we still didn't have a car, Karen accompanied me to school and helped me post student work and grade tests - her help saved me at least 3 hours of work! Then we headed home for another relaxing evening.

The next morning - Wednesday the 17th - we headed back to the Muttrah Souq, did some holiday shopping and hiked the Riyam trail. The trail heads into the mountains behind the harbor and has some beautiful lookout points onto the city and ocean. At the end of the hike we saw a litter of stray puppies that were living under a car on a side-street. Karen wanted to take at least one home with us, but I explained that I am in no position to have a pet right now. Here in Oman, though, if you adopt a stray "wadi dog" and bring it to the vet, the vet will give it all of its vaccinations for free. It is part of their attempts to help keep the dogs off the streets.

On the 18th, Karen and I made our way into Seeb to go to the fish and vegetable markets. The only other time I had gone to this was with Sarah and Miguel - so I had a male with me. Now, with Karen and I both being western females, the experience was a little different. Again, there were only Omani and Pakistani men around, and the stares were intrusive. Needless to say, we didn't spend too much time there. Maybe when my brother comes to visit I'll go back and actually buy a small amount of fish.

[On a personal note: Although it makes me feel uncomfortable to be stared at every place I go, and it is difficult to often be the only female in a crowd of males that look, act and speak differently than I do, I am not offended or appauled by the stares. My feelings, though, do make me more aware of the drastic need to make the power structure in the U.S. more accessible, comfortable and welcoming to people of color so that they do not feel similar feelings when they enter rooms full of white people. It is awfully uncomfortable being the only "other" in a crowd of people.]

We headed straight from the market to the Grand Mosque, where Karen and I tied scarves around our heads, covered our wrists and ankles, and made our way past the front gates. The guards there laughed at how we had tied our scarves and asked the woman who was with them to help us out. She did - and I tried to take mental notes as I watched her wrap Karen's. The Grand Mosque was no-less beautiful than the first time I walked through it. Karen was in charge of the camera since she was seeing it with fresh eyes. 8) After the mosque and a few hours of rest and errands, Karen and I went to my friend, Nimi's, home for dinner. There, we prepared a delicious Indian meal and ate our food in the cool breeze on the balcony.

The next morning my alarm rang at 4:30am. I rolled out of bed and onto the floor before I could put my legs under me and go to wake Karen. We were heading to Nizwa - bright and early - so that we could see the goat market. We arrived just before 7am, and with perfect timing. The farmers and herders were tying their goats to posts so that buyers could walk around and scope out the best picks of the morning. Karen and I walked around the ring two times, taking pictures as we went. Around 7:30am, the bidding began. The sellers began yelling out numbers and offers as they strutted the goats and sheep around the ring. The buyers all gathered around the inside and outside of the ring, showing their interest in the goats and sheep they had picked out before, by calling out bids as the sellers walked past. Karen and I were no longer the center of attention so we could people-watch comfortably. Karen tried to convince me that I needed to buy a baby goat, but I held my ground. :)

Nizwa is also home to a date market (no, not social dates - the fruits!), vegetable and fruit market, and craft market. Karen and I explored them all, buying only a small package of dates from an old Omani that insisted we could not leave without buying from him. We then went to the museum inside the Nizwa Fort. Karen was especially intrigued by the "murder holes" that were used to help defend the fort against marauding invaders. As you walk up the stairs to the main tower in the fort, and look up, you'll see holes where the soldiers would dump boiling date syrup onto the unexpecting bodies of the intruders. And if you look below, there were trap doors that, in the past did not have doors, so around every corner, the intruders could unexpectedly fall into a pit.

After the fort, Karen and I headed to see Al Jabal Al Akhdar (the green mountain). On the way up the mountain, there is a police check-point, where they make sure that the only vehicles that head to the higher elevations are 4-wheel-drive. The drive offered gorgeous views of rolling mountains, green trees and shrubs, and far-off mountain ranges and villages. We stopped for a picnic lunch at around 2050km elevation, at a place called "Diana's Viewpoint" (I guess Princess Diana had stopped there once, so became the namesake). We climbed and jumped over rocks for awhile, then headed back to the car. We were both exhausted from the early morning and late night, and I still had to drive 2 hours back to Muscat.

Yesterday (Sunday the 21st), we drove to Al Sawadi beach and asked a fisherman there to give us a ride to an island. The snorkeling around those islands is said to be some of the best in Oman, and the water looked perfect. We got to the island around 1pm and asked the fisherman (Edan Humad) to pick us up at 4pm. We were quick to put on our snorkeling equipment and wade into the water, but apparently not quick enough. I stuck my head in the water, expecting to be able to see my feet under me (and the rocks and fish), but saw only red cloudy water; the red tide was back to haunt us. Luckily, it was just washing into shore, so we were able to snorkel for a 1/2 hour, or so, further down the beach before it caught up to us there. Afterward, we spent a few hours collecting shells and exploring the island, before feeling chilled and heading back to the mainland.


On the 26th, Brian (my brother) arrives and we'll head on the 27th to a bedouin camp to sleep in the desert, ride camels and go dune bashing. Karen leaves on the 29th and I'll be sad to see her go. I've thoroughly enjoyed having someone to partake in adventures with me for all this time; especially someone so flexible and free-spirited.

Well, my novel continues and I hope you've enjoyed the next chapter. I wish you all wonderful holiday times with friends and family. I can't help but feel a tinge of jealousy when I hear about all of the snow, cross country skiing, sledding, and snowman/snowangel building that I'm missing. It will definitely not the same celebrating the holidays with a lack of seasons. But I am sure you are all taking advantage of the beautiful outdoors for me and I feel lucky to be where I am. Keep sending your emails and updates! I look forward to every one!!

Giving Thanks on National Day

Greetings again from Oman!

I have so much to be thankful for this year! So I wanted to be sure to thank all of you for your emails and support, and I wanted to tell you about my latest adventures here in Oman(November was FULL with them!!).... AND, these emails and my blog are my journal while I'm here, so I have to be sure to include all of the funny stories so I remember them in the future. :)

11/12 - 11/13 : Snake Gorge
Early in the year, the staff at my school were sent an email inviting us to teach courses for the other staff; they were called "Teachers Teaching Teachers" or TTT's. I didn't volunteer to teach anything, but I did sign up for a course that another teacher organized: "Get Out and Know Oman." We met 2 times in October to talk about camping in Oman; where to go and what to bring along. But I wasn't really in the course for the first two classes, instead, I joined so that I could partake in the camping trip we would take at the end of the class. :)

5 families from school, Lydia, and I spent the day on November 12 driving up Snake Gorge in the mountains near Nizwa, with a stop on the way up to hike into a small village. The trip was exciting! I drove my Pajero (yes... I still own an SUV) first down, then up the canyon on dirt and rocky roads for around 5 hours. For the majority of the trip, the other 4 cars were in front of me and I brought up the rear, behind my friends', Miguel and Sarah's, car. There were a few switchbacks on the way down into the canyon that were so tight that I had to drive to the edge, then quickly switch into reverse without letting the car roll off the edge, so that I could make it around the curve. !!! My adrenaline was pumping through my body and I couldn't stop smiling! The scenery was gorgeous, the company was pleasant; who could ask for more?!

The excitement heightened on the way up the other side of the canyon. Miguel's 4 wheel drive was not working properly so he was struggling to make it up the rocky, slippery, steep roads. His passengers dispersed into other cars, trying to lighten the load to make the car's job easier, so Sarah (his wife) was in my car. We no longer were following him and instead were in front of him, but we were trying to go slow enough that we could see if he was making it up the switchbacks successfully. There was another family that was behind him in the event that he needed some help getting his car up any section of the road. Sarah, Lydia and I stopped our car along the edge of one of the switchbacks because we hadn't seen Miguel in a while. When we finally saw him speeding up the hill behind us, we decided to stay parked so that he could pass us and we wouldn't be slowing him down. Unfortunately, he was unable to make the turn and had to slow down too much and was unable to get up that section of the road. He began backing up, in search of a flatter section of road where he would be able to build enough speed to make it around the corner and continue up the road, but because he was on a curve there was nothing behind him but the edge of the cliff. He backed up slowly until his phone rang. He had no idea who would have been calling him at that time of day, so he stopped the car, put on the emergency break, and answered. At that point he had no patience to talk to whoever was on the other side of the call, and when he didn't recognize the accent or the voice he quickly said he couldn't talk at the moment and hung up on the person. He then opened his car door to see how much space he still had to back up. That's when he saw that his back wheel was only centimeters from the edge of the cliff. He was stuck. If he took off his emergency brake, he would surely back off the several-hundred-meter cliff. Whoever called him had probably saved his life! Luckily, the Irishs (the family who had been behind him in the event that he would need help) drove up. They attached a tow rope to Miguel's car and pulled him to safety. Miguel, the next day, called the number back of the person who had called and stopped him just in time, and found out that it was his tailor - he had ordered a suit to be made for the Ghala Ball that he would be attending the next weekend and it was ready for him to try on.

After all of that excitment, the rest of the campout seemed perfect. We arrived to our camping location just as the sun was setting behind the mountains. We set up our tents (it was cold being so high in the mountains - I even got to wear my sweatshirt!!), built a campfire and made dinner. We then sat around the campfire and I happily entertained the kids with camp songs.

The next morning we awoke in a cloud. After a leisurely breakfast spent watching the sun rise into the sky and clear the haze around us, we packed up camp and went for a hike. At the edge of the mountain, we had a stunning view of the canyon that we had driven up the day before. We continued on until we ran into an Omani man with his family. Miguel talked to him, practicing his Arabic - I was exploring another area of the mountain. Miguel soon called me to him and the Omanis, telling me that we had been invited to have coffee and dates with the Omani man and his boys. So we sat for about 20 minutes on the top of the mountain and shared each others' company. The Omanis offered us fresh oranges, apples and, of course, fresh dates bought that morning at a nearby village market. They served us each some coffee in shot-sized coffee cups. I managed to swallow a small cup of coffee (for those of you who don't know, I'm not a coffee drinker because the caffeine makes me sick) and politely refused a refill. The Omani man spoke English well and asked us where we were from, where we worked and then he and the boys began talking about soccer. It was just as I imagined it would have been; the friendly conversation, the tendency to give away anything they had to be as hospitable to their guests as possible. We said goodbye to each other (the men shook hands, but in Muslim culture it is rude for men to touch women in public, so I waved goodbye), and walked back to camp with a bag full of fresh oranges and dates. We then ate a quick snack before heading down the other side of the mountain, down a paved road, back through Nizwa, and along the highway back to Muscat.

11/19 - 11/20 : Turtle Beach (again!) & Wadi Tiwi
The next weekend, Jenelle, Jeff, Zach, Corinne (one of Jenelle's co-workers at a British school in Muscat), and I headed out on another adventure. We went back to Ras al Had - the beach with the sea turtles. Despite the cooler temperatures, we were lucky to still see a couple sea turtles at night. But we had no moon to light our path, and flashlights scare the turtles, so we went to bed early and awoke before the sun to see any turtles that we could with some daylight. We saw several baby turtles making their way to the ocean, and one mother turtle finishing her hole before heading back to sea.


That morning I started feeling ill; my body was achey and I had no desire to move around. So we spent the morning and early afternoon hanging out on the beach, jumping some waves and throwing a frisbee. I sat and watched more than I would have liked, but that also allowed me to finish a novel that I had started the day before, so I was content.


On our way back from being lazy on the beach, we took a turn up a wadi called Wadi Tiwi. We thought it was Wadi Shab, but alas, we were mistaken. Wadi Shab is a place where you hike to a water hole, then swim through the water until you reach the other side and find yourself a wee-hole that your head fits through. You swim under the hole and come out the other side to find a beautiful blue-green pool and greenery. I can't WAIT to actually see it myself! Wadi Tiwi, though was another adventure. We drove on a one lane road up the side of a cliff, down the cliff, up the other side of the gorge and into a small village that was constructed all over rocks. We parked the cars and started our stroll through the village, only to soon be followed by a group of young boys. We were like Pied Pipers! We went up crumbling stairways, were meowed at by cats, had to move aside for loaded donkeys, and wove through the maze of homes, until we decided our following was long enough. We then meandered back down, careful to duck under rubber water tubes and over random wires that crossed the path. We greeted and were greeted by everyone we saw - though none of those people were women. "A salaam u:alaikum!" Older men asked where we were from and where we were going (all in Arabic). Too bad we didn't know how to reply very well. The ride out of the wadi was quicker than the ride in; 4-wheel-drive comes in handy to get to the outskirts. What a pleasant mistake. We made it out just as the sun was setting. I slept the rest of the ride in the back seat while Zach and Jeff kept themselves amused in the front.




The next day I took my first sick day of the school year. It was just what I needed to feel better: to sleep all day and not stress about work. It made the 3-day week go even faster (it was only 2 days for me) - I was happy to be at work with my students on Sunday and Monday.




11/24 - 11/26 : Massirah Island
November 18 is Sultan Qaboos' birthday. To celebrate, the Omanis decorate the streets with his pictures, light up highways and bridges, and raise hundreds (if not thousands) of Omani flags around the country. There is also a national holiday for this occassion, called National Day. National Day itself is always the 18th, but the dates of the 4-day weekend of celebration is determined by the Sultan a few days before his birthday, and this year was on Tuesday and Wednesday the 24th and 25th.

I decided to take advantage of this 4-day weekend with another roadtrip, and luckily, Jenelle, Zach, and Jeff were willing to come along. We drove the 5 hour drive to the eastern coast of Oman, to a point where a ferry takes you and your vehicle across the ~20 kilometer stretch of the ocean to Masirrah Island.

The first highlight of the trip was our arrival to the ferry. We arrived just as the ferry did - it unloaded its passengers, then we became part of a frantic race to get onto the ferry before anyone else. There is no organization to the loading of the ferry, whatsoever. So Zach and Jeff managed to cut into the ferry toward the beginning of the battle, but Jenelle and I got stuck behind a large truck that was bringing a shipment of carpets to the island and several other smaller cars kept cutting the truck off. Luckily (probably because of the fact that Jenelle and I are western women), an Omani man saved the last spot for our car. So we continued our way to the island, carefully exiting our vehicle with only about 20 centimeters on either side of our car to open our doors. The ferry ride lasted about one hour.

The island itself is pristine. It has a mountain range located along the center part, and a paved road around the entire island. There is a decent-sized town at the northern end of the island and the rest of the island consists of rocks, sand, probably about 100 palm trees (total) and the bedouins' huts along the coast.



I was told a story by one of my colleagues before going to Masirrah that I thought was interesting:

Several decades ago, a British navy ship arrived to Masirrah and was stationed at the island for awhile. While they were there, the British soldiers went into the villages on the island and raped the women. The Omani men, to retaliate, killed the British soldiers. The sultan at the time (not Sultan Qaboos, but his father), in order to keep peace with Britain, punished the Omanis by destroying their homes and not allowing supplies to be shipped to the island so that they could re-build. When Sultan Qaboos came into power about 35 years ago, he wanted to give something back to the Omanis on the island since they had been living uncomfortably for so long. So, Sultan Qaboos gave every Omani family on the island a brand new Toyota Range Rover truck. They were all the same make and model.

Now, when you go to Masirrah Island, you can see those trucks everywhere! The families have since painted them different colors and decorated them in whatever way they could to make them unique. But they are still there.

Back to the camping trip:
We camped for 2 nights. During the day we hung out at the beach, Zach and Jenelle tried kite boarding the one day we had enough wind, and I read and swam a lot. The second day, while I was trying to help Jenelle and Zach with their kites, a group of Omani women piled out of their truck and came to meet me. I talked with them for about 20 minutes and they invited me to dinner at their home. I accepted and we exchanged telephone numbers. They tried to leave the beach, but got stuck in the sand, so Jenelle and I had to pull them out with her Land Rover and the tow ropes we had brought. Unfortunately, I waited for a call from them for several hours, then I tried calling, but communication fell apart and we didn't end up joining them for coffee or for dinner. But it was fun to talk to them for the short amount of time that I did.

The ferry ride home was less hectic because we came a day before the holiday was over; Thanksgiving day. The ferry got stuck on a sand bar since we were riding at low tide. The drivers had all of us move our vehicles as close to the front of the boat as possible so as to shift the weight. We made it off the sandbar and to the docks. My Thanksgiving dinner consisted of some veggie pizza in a town on the drive home. :) It was a great way to spend the weekend; I felt thoroughly rested once I got home.


This past week a rare phenomenon happened here in Oman. On Wednesday while I was outside playing Capture the Flag with some middle schoolers, the sky opened on us and several rain drops came down. Not enough to make me wet, but enough that the students were impressed. So it rained in Oman (according to everyone else I talked to... I'm not sure I'd call it "rain")!! Apparently there is nowhere for the water to go when it does rain, so streets and buildings get flooded quite easily. Ha! How funny. It rained in Oman.

This weekend I'm anxiously waiting for my sister to arrive - she gets here on Sunday night! I am trying to get into the holiday spirit despite the beautiful weather and lack of snow. My brother is coming, too, on Christmas day, so with both of them here, I will have plenty more adventures to share in the coming month.

I trust everyone is doing well! This is finally the conclusion to yet another novel-like email. I wish you a warm holiday season. Keep in touch and keep smiling!!

Grand Mosque & Ocean Climbing

Well, it's been about a month since my last big email, so I suppose it's about time to update you all again.

I've been keeping myself busy with work, mostly, but also have been trying to enjoy myself now and then. I've been spending evenings hanging out with friends, going out to eat or cooking, and playing Ultimate and soccer (just once a week for each unfortunately). Weekends, though, I've had better success at seeing other parts besides the school grounds.

Last weekend was the highlight that I'll write about in this email: I was supposed to go camping with some friends, but we decided last-minute to postpone our adventure and instead stay around home. This worked out in my favor, because I was then able to do some exciting things around Muscat. On Thursday I went with Zach and Jeff to the Grand Mosque. It was perhaps the most beautifully intricate yet simple architecture I've seen. The Mosque is home to the world's largest rug, and housed some pretty stunning chandeliers as well. The walls are stone/concrete and have Arabic writing or art covering them - inside and out. The entire building is stone, which keeps it cool, yet inside the men's and women's sections air conditioned coolness fills the rooms. To enter the prayer rooms, everyone must remove their shoes. As non-muslim tourists, we are only able to visit the mosque on Thursdays between 8 and 11am. During the tourist hours, the prayer room floors have a cloth sheet/fabric isle that designates where we are allowed to walk. Typically, men and women must enter the mosque from different doorways, so as to avoid interacting with each other, then enter designated prayer rooms. As a tourist, though, the three of us got to see both areas. The men's prayer room is quite huge, decorated with chandeliers and mosaics, and comes complete with an intense-looking sound system. The women's room, on the other hand, was about 1/6 the size, with low-ceilings, minimal artwork, more basic lighting and two flat-screen TVs where the women could (I assume) watch the prayers being said in the other room. Everything was, of course, designed so that the people would be praying toward Mecca. I thought it was all stunning and gorgeous. I had to cover my entire body - minus my face, feet and hands - to be able to enter. The boys, too, had to wear long sleeves and long pants. There were a couple of times we had to remind ourselves that we couldn't touch each other while taking pictures. The trip was great, but (again) made me conscious of the fact that I am female in a male-dominated culture.

After the mosque, we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts where the boys got donuts and I found a restroom, and then we made our way back home. At home, Zach and I hung out until it was time to head upstairs to Courtney's apartment (another teacher here) where we made pancakes and ate them with chocolate syrup and strawberry jelly. :) It was the first time I've had pancakes since I've been here, and the first time I've had pancakes with chocolate syrup on them. Mmmm! We were joined by Courtney's friend, Greg, who had been completing his Fulbright Scholarship program in Yemen and then in Oman. He has amazing stories to tell about Yemen and the adventures he had there!! He does a lot of adventure leading, which happened to be what he would be doing with the three of us that day.

We packed our climbing shoes (well, I'm actually waiting for my sister to bring mine in LESS THAN A MONTH!!!, so I borrowed Greg's) and our snorkel equipment and headed to a beach right near Muscat. From there, we hired a fisherman for 2 hours to take us to a nearby island that has some climbing routes on the rocks leaning over the ocean. The tide was low enough that the fisherman had to help Courtney, Zach and I onto the initial ledge from his boat whereas Greg could just climb up from the water. Once on the ledge, we traversed the rock wall several times (for about one hour) until our arms were too weak to even get ourselves back into the boat without help. The climbing was great! There were a variety of decent handholds, but it was challenging for me to reach them all (yes, I'm short). Luckily, when I got tired (or even when I was getting-close-to-tired) I could just let go of the wall and fall into the ocean for a refreshing swim!! :) What a great morning!!

When we could no longer use our arms productively on the rocks, we asked the fisherman to bring us back to shore. We paid him, said goodbye, and got in the car. On our route back to Muscat, we decided going in to work on the weekend was overrated and instead we made the spontaneous decision to turn back around and head toward the town of Seefa. Seefa is the town that Zach, Lydia and I attempted to visit the weekend before, but failed to find. Luckily, Greg knew exactly where we were going. It turns out Seefa consists of about 5 fishermen's huts in a little cove in the ocean. The drive to get there was great! There were islands all along the coast and the drive went up and down the mountain slopes. We got to Seefa and took turns snorkeling and swimming along the coast. While I was snorkeling I saw a sting ray!

After snorkeling we threw a Frisbee around for another 20 or 30 minutes, then packed up and headed back into Muscat. We made it just in time to catch the end of the sunset from Zach's rooftop, and then headed to Jeff's house, picking up shwarmas and falafel sandwiches along the way for dinner, to watch 5 episodes of Lost. :) What a great day!!!

Then, Friday morning I spent the day being somewhat productive: I went grocery shopping (it's great, at one of the supermarkets, there are men that wash your car in the parking lot while you're in shopping), straightened my house a bit, then headed to school to grade papers. It's a little too convenient that work is a 7 minute walk from my apartment. At 2pm I attended the high school musical: Back to the 80's. The show was great! And the finale was "Time of my Life" - you know? the finale of Dirty Dancing. Ha! All the talk of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and hearing songs like Video Killed the Radio Star brought back memories.

My school will be starting construction this winter on a new section of the school. Next year, we are supposed to have a completely new middle school building, a new regulation-size soccer field, a track, a weight room, a performance hall and who knows what else. I'm excited to see the musical next year in the new performance hall!

Anyway, I'm up way past my bedtime finishing this email. I hope you're all wonderful and cozy as the temperatures start dropping. I always love hearing from everyone, so please do write a little note letting me know how things are going! And in the meantime, have a wonderful Thanksgiving (we have a lot to be thankful this year, now that we have a new PRESIDENT!!!!!), and don't forget to have more fun!

:)sara