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!!