Is this a good enough Ramadan post?

I don't exactly know how to start this blogpost. So here goes to nothing!

So I moved in with my host family a little less than a week ago, and since then, things have changed a bit. I share a room with Ola and Sausan, two of my three host sisters. I get up at 6.50 every morning, and proceed to get dressed and wait for the bus. We get to school around 8am, and classes start at 9, so I sleep from 8 to 9. Then classes.
I feel like now I am able to communicate better in Arabic. At first, I had such a hard time formulating sentences, but now it's alot easier. Maybe it has something to do with hearing Arabic from my host mom and host dad every day, because they barely speak any english.
Then we have FGLL, we've been studying for our midterm (tomorrow!). Today we took a practice test, and I did alot better that I expected. I got 18/20 and I got marked off alot for spelling...aiya. So I'm going to work on that tonight and the "changing countries to nationalities" because that was the other thing I did wrong.
Then we go home or have an acitivity in the afternoon. We leave the center at around 5:30pm and I get home around 6:15. By then, Ola, Sausan, my host mom and Joud (the youngest sister) are all in the kitchen, but they tell me to go study or wash up or sleep. Then Iftar, around 7.
For Iftar, the whole family gets together to break fast. There is very little talking that goes on, because they have been fasting all day, so eating is the next best thing.

Yesterday, we went to visit a very old uncle, my host dads brother. Hes 70 years old, and seemed like a very sweet man. Unfortunately, I had forgotten everything that they had taught us at PDO..not a good sign. You're not supposed to let an old man kiss you on the cheek...and guess what I did!!!! I did exactly that, because I didn't really want to be like "Um excuse me sir, but due to the fact that I am not your relative and we come from different cultures and the small fact that I am trying to be culturally appropriate, you cannot proceed to kiss my cheek (the European way). Thank you"

That would be very b'nefsegi (awkward..but this word in Arabic means purple. Because there is no word in Arabic for "awkward", we decided that the word "purple" is an awkward enough word to mean awkward).

I'm currently sitting in my bed watching my host sister (Sausan) beating up/kicking her older sister (Ola). and their younger sister who is ten (Joud) acting like a five year old. I must go join in on the fun.

Ramadan Kareem everyone!

WAIT WAIT WAIT I FORGOT (in case Headquarters in DC reads my blog). Today, we emailed Jerry, the head of the Amideast/American Councils program (he's the head of something) if we could stay for Eid...still waiting for a response. This is scary. I really really really hope we get to, it would be truly amazing and I know that everyone would be really happy. Ok that is my last attempt.
Ma salama!

I have been so lazy in regards to posting

And I'm not that sorry...because anyway nothing exciting has been happening.

Just a whole bunch of studying. Living with my host family is fun, but so tiring. I'm always asleep during the breaks (aka lunch) at school. I should get more sleep.

Ok that's all that's been going on in this oh so exciting life. Goodnight (because I'm getting up in 5 hours to watch the diving Olympics because Tom Daley. That is all. He is wonderful)!

Thank goodness for a family

From the minute I met Ola and Sausan, I felt at home. They both have the kindest of hearts and are very sweet girls. I didn’t feel awkward around them at all, in fact, I feel very much like a part of their family. Their family consist of five children. Ola the oldest, 18; Sausan my official host sister, 17; Hussain and Adnan, the younger shy brothers that thought that all Americans had blonde hair and blue eyes, and finally, Joud (Joudy, as the sisters like to call her), a sweet, adorable and smart little girl. She speaks English very well for her age.

I haven’t officially met Adnan because he is very shy. Apparently he came into my room (that I share with Ola and Sausan) while I was getting ready for bed, and looked at my suitcase and asked what it was, but as soon as he heard the lock turn, he ran out of my room. He is very very shy…

Their mother speaks only Arabic, and is in the process of learning English and German. I haven’t met the father yet, but I think I will meet him today. The other thing about Omani families that they had warned us about was that they never sleep during Ramadan. I didn’t fully believe them until now. We didn’t get to sleep last night until 4:30, and I didn’t even take part in the Suhour!

The mother, Samiya, told me that she will not let me leave the house without eating breakfast, despite the fact that it is Ramadan and they won’t be eating, and that we have breakfast provided for us at the center.  See what I mean about family?

Right now I’m sitting in bet (it’s noon) and I think the rest of the house is asleep, but I also think that I found the perfect time to study, write on my blog, and read for summer reading. When I told Ola that I had summer homework, she was puzzled.

“Aren’t you on summer break?”

“Yea..”

 “Well then you shouldn’t have homework!”

You hear that American school system? Even in Oman they think that summer homework is ridiculous!

Another funny point. When I was unpacking, Ola was telling me that I needed pants, because it would be weird to have the American wearing long (hippie) skirts while the Omani girls are more fashionable than that. I think I have a lot to learn about fashion...fun stuff :P

Oh and I think I will be getting a haircut sometime soon because I mentioned to Sausan that I needed to cut my hair…so to the hair dressers we go!

Overall, my sisters are very sweet and very fashion aware. These three weeks will be good, I’m excited to see what else there is…

Today I’m going to meet Ola’s best friend..(I forget her name). We talked to her yesterday on the phone, she seemed VERY excited to meet the “American girl”…woot woot

Off to study for my FGLL test while this house sleeps..

It's funny how you can confuse nervousness for excitement and a bad stomach ache

Yup.

I did confuse nervousness for excitement and a bad stomach ache. I am excited, don't get me wrong, but I'm also terrified that I will not be able to communicate with my host family. that would be the worst of the worst. Can you imagine that? I don't want to. 


Ok off to some last minute snuggling (LILY YOU BEST BE AWAKE) and then....host families!


SO. SCARED. ALKJGLKSJDSF

I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Memories

First of all, before the memories, I would like to talk about the fact that I have a FREAKING MIDTERM NEXT WEEK.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Ok. I HAVE A MIDTERM. I can't decide whether that is exciting or not...
I am pretty happy about the fact that I've been able to learn how to read (pretty well) and write (okish) in Arabic in only three weeks. I'm really proud, because the alphabet is completely different as well..

Ok enough about that.
Tomorrow I move in with my host family. I'm also done packing. Which makes me happy.

AND. Finally, the point of this post
Memories.
Wonderful memories.
This post is a list of memories and instances I want to remember forever. Here goes

1. Sarah walking around in a childrens sized Dhofari dress eating baby food.
2. Ameera Steef
3. Wafa and her antics
4. Salalah...........
5. Nizwa
6. The driver in Nizwa giving chocolate and water to a Bedouin family on the side of the road.
7. The first week in Oman. Wearing the same clothes. Everyone getting sick. Hospital trips
8. Learning the alphabet fluently and realizing it
9. Finding about who was in my host family
10. Bribing Fatin to tell us about host families
11. Meeting Hannah
12. Learning the love Hannah
13. FGLL!!!!
14. Jerry saying FGLL.
15. Shino. Just Shino.
16. Falling asleep during breaks inbetween classes....




I'm going to add more, but this is what I want to remember because I think I might forget them if I don't write them down.

That's about it.
Ma salama!

Last day

It was our last day at Access with the girls today...I am beyond sad. I actually teared up when I was saying bye to the girls (Naieeda and Safiya). I wrote them letters and gave them my email, so hopefully we'll stay in touch. I had no idea how much they meant to me and how much we mean to them until tonight. We broke the fast with them tonight, I didn't fast because today I lunch I legitimately felt like passing out..so I had to eat. I did fast for one day though. Fasting while learning and going to school is tough, I think I will fast on weekends. I might try again tomorrow. Depending on how I feel in the morning.
But breaking the fast with them was really fun, and we played a bunch of games, including "take the bucket and fill it with freezing cold water and dump it on whoever is closest to you"....it got dumped on me twice, although I admit, one of the times I was asking for it... :P
It was alot of fun and alot of bonding...but this end of Access also brings the second fact of the matter...moving in with host families!!

I have been talking to my host sisters a little bit and they both seem so genuinely sweet and excited and nice...I'm very happy that I got placed with them.

I am so excited. So excited. I'm moving in on Thursday, which is the equivalent of a Saturday here in Oman. I was talking to my mom and said "Oh yea I'm moving in on Saturday...wait, Thursday". It screws with your brain. I swear.

Well I'm going to go bond with my roommates tonight and watch hidden tiger crouching dragon..
Sleep...you're a funny notion


Also. I miss saying hella. Hella. Hella missed saying that word. This will be a sentence dedicated to "hella"
Hella, I hella miss saying you're hella crazy sounding face turning self. Hella, I love you.  

Muttrah Souq

Take me away.
Don't let me go there anymore. It's seriously detrimental to my health and your health and the people around me's health. It's not detrimental to the shopkeepers health though.

I got ali baba shoes...I'm currently wearing them...it makes me so happy, I don't think you can comprehend. I also got alot of jewelry. Alot. It's hard, because I want to get things for my mom (I did), and for my brother (I did, but in Nizwa) and for my dad (still can't figure out what to get him :( ) and for me, so I end up getting alot, also because everything is so pretty.
And then we went into a scarf/rug/pretty fabric stuff. I got a bed cover which is gorgeous, and a pillow case which is also super pretty, and and and I got one of those embroidered things you hang on the wall...so gorgeous. I use that word alot because its the only one that even begins to do justice to the things I bought.

And then my second favorite...a FULL BELLY DANCING OUTFIT. Now I seriously have no excuse to not learn how to belly dance. Its so pretty, and I feel like Princess Jasmine with this outfit and the ali baba shoes. The outfit contains the top, pants (that I personally think are better than the skirt) and a mask( well it only covers your mouth), and sleeves. I don't know why there are sleeve, but whatever floats their boat works for me.

So I'm very happy right now. Also, today was a holiday!!! So I slept in until 1 pm. Twas great. I had a sleepover with Lily. And now we're gonna have a sleepover in my room!!

Move in with host family in less than 4 days!!!
I'm really excited :D

Off to bed and studying, sorry about not posting, my life isn't that exciting right now.
Ma salama and leila saida!

Nizwa and bruises

We just got back from the AMAZING Nizwa. It was really fun and alot cooler and nicer than Muscat. Also, our wonderful tour guides/drivers turn out to be attractive...it's just a fact of life here, I guess :P

So we went in 4 different jeeps with about 4 people in each jeep. I honestly loved my car, it was Maya, Lily, Sarah and I. Oh and Tim, our driver (he says his friends call him Tim). As soon as we got to Nizwa, we got to the Nizwa Souq. Nizwa is famous for silver, so i got some silver stuff and some pottery.

Nizwa is very beautiful, and we learned alot about the history as well at the fort. Unfortunately, we only got to spend 30 minutes at the souq...so I got pretty good at power shopping. 

After that, we went to visit these really little villages, they were so pretty. STORYTIME!!!! 

So we got to this super adorably small village in the middle of the Nizwa mountains, it was gorgeous by the way. 

So some of us got separated from the tour, and we went off on our own. We found this pool so some people decided to go in...little did we know, that the sign (without and arrow) saying that men could not go that way was actually pointing the other way...oh well. It was fun, and no one was complaining. 

So by this time, we still haven't had lunch, but we're very hungry. So we keep going deeper and deeper into the Nizwa mountains (I can't remember what we had or when we had or if we had lunch...). We're not actually close to Nizwa, but those mountains are near Nizwa. 

After lunch, we stopped to see the view..it was amazing. The mountains are legitly straight down. It was scary, but really breathtaking. Across the road, there were theses girls that were selling homemade bracelets and shoes. They didn't want pictures taken, so I didn't, but they were the cutest things ever. They were from the ages of about 4-10. They were wearing colorful dresses with matching headscarves. Their eyes are indescribable. They had very brown eyes with extremely long eyelashes, but they had semi lighter skin..they were so cute. 

We finally got to our wonderful campsite, and IT WAS RAINING!!! I was so happy, because in Oman, rain is something that doesn't usually happen. Our tents were really really amazing.

It wasn't even camping. It was luxurious camping. The next day (aka today, friday) we went on a "hike" to a lake/water place. It was so beautiful. It was in the middle of a gorge, and the water felt so good, because it was burning hot outside. 

 Isn't it beautiful?! 

That's about all we did. Oh, I got so many bruises because the rocks in the water are super slippery and I fell alot. Hence the name of this post. Also, we danced in the car when we were driving back to muscat because the driver, Tim, had some really good music. Everywhere we go, we dance. NSLI-Y Dancer Troupe. We should call it that now. 

Ok byee! Im gonna go shower and sleep. So tired. Ramadan starts tomorrow and I want to fast. We'll see how that goes. 

Ma salama, habibtis!

T.I.O

Off to Nizwa tomorrow morning, bright and early!!!

Today we cooked food for the first time, meaning pasta for the first time in two weeks, thankfully. I was so happy. Also, we saw Juice man at Lulu's today. Ok you probably won't understand, but Lulu's is this GIANT supermarket, and it's AMAZING. We have been wanting to go in forever, and we finally did, I was SO freaking happy. It's like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory...but better. So yea, Juice man seems to be everywhere. We also had a cooking lesson with the Access girls, it was fun :)

My ipod won't hole any battery so working out has been made ten time more difficult. It's actually extremely annoying, and its a reletively old ipod...so maybe I need to change that some time soon. 

Also, in Nizwa, we're going to be "Arabic camping". Very different from American camping, less rustic, and in tents that are like those in Aladdin. Im excited. 

Thats about it!
Ma salama!

Juice Man

There's this place near our hotel that makes fresh juice, an Omani delicacy. We have nicknamed the Egyptian man who owns it the "Juice Man". He is nice and friendly, and makes very good juice.

It's almost 11.30pm and I get some craving for juice. I'm in my room with three other girls, and we decide to legitimately go out and get juice. One problem: we aren't allowed out of the hotel past 9.30. So instead of making a master plan to sneak out of the hotel by tying bed sheets together and hanging them outside of our window, we decide not to go. We really are an exciting bunch.

On the other hand, the wasps here in Muscat are bright orange. It looks like they've been bathing in Cheetos cheese powder. That is how orange they are. It's slightly ridiculous, I'm genuinely worried about these wasps because this is no where near normal.

Our driver (the guy who drives us to school and back) will not stop texting and driving. So today, as we were driving back home, we politely ask him to stop. (La la la la la!!!) He doesn't. So we ask him again. He laughs at us. Sidenote: Oman is the second (or first) in the world in terms of car accident deaths per capita. Reassuring thought, no? And this bus thing already doesn't have seat belts, so its very unsafe. In the end, the girl sitting up front takes the drivers phone away from him (the whole time he's complaining and telling us that he is texting his wife) and doesn't give it back until we get to the hotel. He has been putting up resistance every time we ask him to stop texting. And already the driving here in Oman is scary enough (people running across the highway and taxis swerving from the most inside lane to the most outside lane to pick up passengers) that texting does not need to be added to the list of crazy things Omanis do while driving. I value my life thank you very much, and do not want to die in a car accident. Imagine that. "Oh how did she die?" "Well, she was in Oman studying Arabic and died in a car crash." That's very unexciting. At
least have me blow up or something, then it would be a story worth telling (this is a very morbid post, I apologize. I'm also super tired, it's past midnight here...oops).

Ok that's about all that happened today. I'm way too tired to function, goodnight!

Take that Morocco, we go clubbin instead of drinking tea

Just kidding...but not really.
I just got back from karaokeing. It was my first time, and SO much fun. Also, I think we annoyed the whole restaurant to no end. We weren't intoxicated, but I think the whole place thought we were...ahh, oh well. It was ALOT of fun.

So tomorrow Access..YAY! I actually love access so much. Not that much to blog about. Oh I also got henna...again :)
This is why I cannot get permanent tattoos. Because if I get one, I will want another, and another...and another. Which would be bad!

Anywho, leila saida!

Oh boy

This post will be kind of an explanation of what I'm feeling/been feeling. I'll try to make as least-ranty as possible, but I have many emotions running through me, with the language pledge and everything. Also, I'm listening to "Pantomime" by Imagine Dragons, seemed fitting.

Ok so with the whole language pledge...I feel kind of overwhelmed. I've never learned a language this intensely before or this quickly. It kinda seems like a avalanche of language is following me and I'm running way from it. I remember that during PDO, we did an activity which was intended to show us that if we are in our comfort zone, we would not be grasping the whole experience. It's been a week-ish in this new country, and I feel like I'm not entirely in my learning zone, and I want to be, but it's hard when everything around you, including the language, is so foreign, so I tend to be half in panic zone (like today at the henna salon, the women didn't speak any English, so we communicated in Arabic, but my friend and I speak little Arabic, so it was slightly overwhelming) and half in the learning zone. I want to be completely in the learning zone, yet I do not know how to be there fully. Also, Arabic is such a beautiful and complex language. We are learning MSA (modern standard Arabic) for the writing, and Omani Arabic for the speaking, but sometimes our teachers teach us multiple ways of saying the same thing in different Arabics, so one will be Omani, and another will be Arabic understood by everyone (MSA). It gets confusing at times. Moreover, I feel like I'm being bombarded (in a good way) with Arabic. It's a bit intense at times though.

Point two: Sleep. I am getting around nine hours a night, yet I still manage to fall asleep during our 15 minute break in between classes. Today I legitimately fell asleep (deep sleep) during the 15 minute break, I don't even understand this. I go to bed at around 11pm and wake up at around 8 am, so that's about 9 hours, no? Why am I still so exhausted?

Wow this post is ranty. I'm sorry. But with no way of expressing this to my roommates, I turn to my blog :)

I just finished making a list of a bunch of Arabic words we've been learning in the past few days of class, makes me alot more sure of myself and my Arabic skills :D

Today we went to Access and started with the girls group. We'll be with them more often so we'll get to know them better than with the boys group :)

Well off to bed!
Leila saida!

Vlog for anon!

Helloooooooo.
This is my first vlog in Oman (made for the anon). Sorry about the badish quality, hope you enjoy!
Also, we laugh alot, so if that's not your thing, don't watch it :)

Random

I don't understand why people just don't wear abayas and dhofari dresses all the time. They're so comfortable. Seriously though. I'm wearing a dhofari dress right now and it's so comfortable. 

On a separate note, I signed the language pledge today. So no speaking in English anymore. My room has been eerily silent, we're all using hand gestures and sounds and facial expressions to communicate. It's funny. 

That's all. Tomorrow Grand Mosque and then Access. 

SIDENOTE: I got an email from my host sister...SUPER EXCITING. 

Ok sorry for the boring days guys, but we seriously are just studying Arabic on days like these. We have 5 hours of class a day, so it's pretty intense. 

Off to dinner!

!!! مع السلامة

Chillin like a villain, dancing in the desert, and state farm, like a good neighbor, we're never there (in Salalah)!

Holy shit. That's all I can say about this weekend. It was crazy. All the possible things that could happen to us, happened. Everything. Not even lying here guys. So this blog post will be divided into threes, one for each day we were in Salalah.
For those of you who don't know, Salalah is in the Dhofar region of Oman. It is in the south, bordering Yemen.

It's about 1000 km from Muscat, the capital. The weather is cooler, more foggy. Salalah is also where Sultan Qaboos's mother is from. People in Salalah are called Dhofari people, and most speak a different language, instead of Omani Arabic.

Wednesday:
We went to Amideast for class...SO MUCH FUN (sarcasm there, children). And then at 4 pm, we boarded a plane to Salalah. We got off the plane and all of a sudden, the cold air hit us. Ok, that's an exageration, it wasnt cold. It was like 86, which is FREEZING for Oman. MUscat is over around 100 everyday, so 86 was AMAZING. We then went to a Frankincense Museum. For those of you who don't know, Frankincense is sap from a tree that is only grown in Oman, Yemen and Somalia. You burn it or eat it (which I've done, that's a different story) and it smells really good and the Omani Frankincense is very good. So we went to that museum.
On our way back from the museum, we stopped for coconut. It was really good. 

 And then, we went to the Khareef Festival. In Salalah right now, it is khareef (monsoon) season. And so they have this wonderful festival that runs for a month, I believe. There's food, and dancing and shopping at the festival. We went, and at first we had a guide, which made us stick out (a group of 15 non-Omani girls) even more. That was slightly annoying, because we stick out so much already. Despite that, it was fun. Finally we got off on our own, and by then, we were starving. So we FINALLY found food. I was with Cara and Maya, and we were walking around. We got some kebab, it was good. But we had seen this stand where there were pots and people making fresh bread, which looked SUPER appetizing. So we went to the counter, and looked around at how people were doing things. We stood there for about 10 minutes because the guy on the other side would not make eye contact with us. He was purposefully trying to avoid eye contact. Also, we didn't know how to say "excuse me" in Arabic, which proved to be a slight problem. Finally finally finally we got our food. It was SO GOOD. We sat at the "food area" (as in, where everyone was eating) and people watched for a while. I really wanted to get an abaya, so we went into this giant tent where there were alot of little stands. We FINALLY (I've been saying that alot) found some nice abayas and I got one for 10 riyals. I don't know if I got ripped off or not...I feel like I did, but that's ok. It went down from 15 so it's all good :D



Also...CAMELS. OHMYGOODNESS SO MANY CAMELS.

New favorite animal? I think yes!

Thursday:
We got up at some time, I can't remember when. So first we went to Khori Rori ( I think) for the archealogical sites. It was fun...learned alot about archeology. But the best part was our tour guide/Steve's friend (HI STEEF!). His name is Ya'rob. He is amazing. I'll talk about that later. So then we proceeded to go to lunch, on a SUPER windy beach. OH and that's when I found out that Oman's national drink (Mountain Dew) has caffeine!!! Apparently that's a thing. I did not know this. Also, I was super tired, and I drank one...apparently it has more caffiene than a coffee, but that didn't keep me from falling asleep on the bus again. After lunch, we went to the moutains that Salalah is so famous for. We get there, and there is this giant tent with "Clean up Oman" written on it. So we walk down to the water, and we hear "American students!!!!" That's something common, so we keep walking. Then, out of the blue, this girl comes running to us and starts asking us if we're american. The usual formalities are gone through, and it turns out that she is in Oman with CLS (Critical Language Study) which is like NSLI-Y but for college students. So we bond with them for about 1 minute, and then some of us (the ones not in the bathroom) get called up to the tent, and they ask us to stand there with the rest of Clean up Oman and be on TV. So Ya'rob tells us to move to the front so the camera can see us. We do that, and the camera slowly pans over us..and as it finishes, the Clean up Oman people start handing out bags. At this point, Ya'rob tells us to run because (apparently) we don't want to clean up Oman :(. It's ok, they had plenty of people. Also, there was this grown man in a deshdasha (traditional Oman clothing) paddling with his hands in his green/pink/orange plastic boat. It was so funny...as Sammy says, I almost peed my pants laughing (if you don't know her, you don't get this....sorryy).

We then went back to the hotel, and chilled there for a while. Then around 8, we went to get dinner with Ya'rob and Ahmed (the driver) and the rest of us. We're driving along the side of the highway, and all of a sudden, we turn off the road.
(Sidenote: Salalah is in the southern part of Oman, sort of close to Yemen, so throughout the trip, we were talking about how we would get kidnapped by Yemenites. Alhamdulillah,  that didn't happen)
Back to the topic at hand. We didn't exactly understand what was going on...but it was fun. We get out of the bus, and lay out the mats. We're waiting...and waiting...and waiting for Ya'rob. So what do we do? Take many pictures.......until FOOD!!!
The food was delicious, and we also ate ALOT.

So good. After that, Ya'rob taught us traditional Omani dances, that was alot of fun. We ended up having a dance party in the middle of the Omani desert at night...it was amazing and fun and refreshing and just...I can't describe it. It's a "you had to be there" type of situation.

Friday:
Friday friday friday...our last day. All of the girls wanted Ya'rob to bring us around on Friday as well, but alas, he didn't. Instead we had a different person. He was very nice as well. We went first to Job's tomb in the jabal (mountains). It was very peaceful and beautiful. There were many people there, and there was this old Omani mad who looked very Omani. He apparently takes care of the tomb.

He looked to be the sweetest man ever. 

After the tomb, we were heading towards the beach....until all of a sudden our tire pops. Say WHATTTT. In the middle of Oman, with no town/city nearby, our tire decides to go "pop!". Well I'll be damned. 

So everyone gets out of the bus, and we wait on the side of the road. 17 non-omani girls standing on the side of the road...attracting wayyy too much attention. Every car that drove by slowed down and watched us. Finally some guys from the UAE stopped by...only to take pictures. 

They didn't know how to change tires. Finalllyyy (for real now guys) some other men stopped by and helped us change the tire. took a good half an hour. 

This is how they changed the tire. Very entertaining. 

Finally it gets changed, and we go to this amazing beach that kind of looks like the cliff house back home. 

As we were wandering off to the beach part, there were random guys that asked me "picture picture?" as in "take a picture of me with your camera?". Then they also took pictures with us. It was very funny. Here is the wonderful blue sea that makes Salalah seem like a tropical place, not Oman. 

Where the mountains meet the water, Salalah. 

People watching is great. 

Min and I!!

After the beach, we went to see a frankincense tree, it was...nice. And then...THE SOUQ!!!!!! So I got a bunch of stuff at the souq. Dhofari dresses (which are awesome and I'm wearing one right now), scarves, nikab (the thing that covers your face but not eyes...the shopkeeper just kind of put it on me and said "oh so pretty!" and then...I bought it(don't ask)), Frankincense and the burner...oh and a masar (questo e' per te Aaron!). That was very fun. 

Also, at the souq, I heard some people speaking Italian...I couldn't help myself..I started talking with them. They are part of the Italian Marines, and they are travelling around Africa and the Middle East. I helped them bargain and get scarves for their sisters and moms. It was alot of fun. 

Finally, back to the plane to go back home. To Muscat. It's nice how I consider Muscat home now. Off to do homework (joy) and take a shower. It's currently 1 am right now...so tired. It's been a crazy weekend and that wasn't even all of it. But I cannot write all of it onto this blog...it's too much. Mostly emotions that I cannot convey into writing and thoughts I can't even begin to process. My mom told me that I would be different once I came back, but I didn't believe her. Now I know for a fact that I will be different. Already I feel different, and it seems strange talking to people back home...almost foreign. 

Tomorrow the language pledge begins. That will be sooo much fun. 

I will blog again tomorrow, inshallah. 

Goodnight!

Whirlwind

Today has been....a whirlwind. So let's start with yesterday. Yesterday, I finally finished learning the alphabet! This is great, because now I can recognize letters and start attempting to read them (probably all wrong, but it's a start)! It makes me really happy. That's about all that happened yesterday. Oh and we went to the supermarket, Carrefour. When one of the organizers of the trip told us that Carrefour exists in Oman, it made me SO SO SO happy. Because Carrefour exists in Italy and it's like my comfort supermarket. So that was fun.

Ok so today. Today was crazy. I woke up and we made our way over to the Access school for our last session with the boys. It was fun, we made posters and games for their open day tomorrow. It was sad leaving them though. I really like those kids, and they have so much promise. I know that sounds super corny, but they really do.






So after that the hell started. We got to the Amideast center, and I was feeling...strange. But I went to class because falling behind in Arabic is NOT an option. So I went to class, the first one (which is grammar) and learned about some last letters in Arabic. Then Wafa's class, more conversational Arabic. I left half way through and a couple hours later I was shipped off to the hospital. We went, and I got a medical insurance card, (I'm telling you this for a reason, it's slightly funny) so I look at it. My last name isn't on it (?) and my birthday says the 14th of January. No...that's not my birthday. So I tell them, and they shrugged. It didn't really matter. This is so different from the US medical system and I found it slightly amusing. Anywho, I'm sitting in the apartment, and I'm not too sick at all.


Hopefully tomorrow I can go to Salalah for the Khareef Festival. I really want to go so badly, but since I'm sick I might not be able to go. I just downed a cup of water with alot of electrolytes...IT WAS SO GROSS. But I'm feeling better :D

It's 20 degrees cooler than it is here, and OHMYGOODNESS THERE IS FOG. I LOVE FOG. FOG IS AMAZING. So yea, I really want to go. So I shall go and attempt to sleep.
My day wasn't the most exciting, but that's whats been going on :D

OH OH OH so we were in the taxi (which is actually an oversized bus thing) and some American songs came on the radio, and we all started singing. The driver was laughing and adjusted his mirror to see what we were doing. So yea. Apparently a group of 15 girls singing a semi rap song is funny.

That is all, my readers. (Hi to everyone I know (Ciao Tony, Mamma, Papa', Aaron) Gena...Ema, I miss you children :))

Goodnight!


P.S: I will not be blogging because I am most likely (insh'allah) going to Salalah tomorrow and I'm not bringing a computer, but there will be an extra long post after the weekend! 

First Impressions

I feel like it's important to have a first impressions post. So here goes. These are my first impressions of Oman from when I stepped off the plane to the Access classes and general Omani etiquette. I will be adding to this list, when we go to Salalah and Nizwa and the host families and Ramadan :D

(09-07-12)Plane Impressions

• HOT HOT HOT HOT HUMID WHYYY
• Ohmygosh it smells like home, all salty.
• Why is it SO HOT. IT'S 11 PM
• Why is everyone staring?
• SO MANY MEN
• Oh wait, the womens line is over there.
• BUT THERE ARE ONLY 2 WOMEN. WHERE DID THEY ALL GO?
• Is everyone ok? How's Julie? I hope she's not too sick.

(09-07-12)Of the people

• So friendly
• Aww, they want to know all about us!
• They must not see foreign girls that often.
• WHY ARE THEY ALL STARING
• Well, they're nice so I guess I can deal with them.
• The girls are reserved, but funny!
• So cute, the Access kids, at least. 

(09-07-12)Of the place

• Wow
• Wow
• Wow
• Wait, the borders on the streets have patterns as well? Say what???!!!?
• So white. And stuccoish. And Middle Eastern looking. 
• WAIT I'M IN OMAN. 
• WAIT
• WAIT
• WAIT
• THIS IS SO COOL
• Ok so everything is in Arabic. And English? 
• The licence plates...they look funny
• So many school buses
• Wait, so it's 2 am, and people are walking around....without being afraid?
• So lit. As in, there are many many lights. 
• The moon....it's sideways!?

Access is key

Today there was one other girl who got sick...3 people now, I believe. Which is why tonight we have a "lights out" time at 11pm. It;s a combination of exhaustion, adapting to a new schedule and some food poisoning. Maybe.
Anywho, today we went to a government school here in Muscat (government schools=public schools in the US) and there is a summer program to learn English going on there. There were two classes, one 15/16 year old boys, one slightly younger. We went in and introduced ourselves, and helped them with their conversation in English.

It was really fun, and we also played charades. They are quick minded...I couldn't guess any of the movies  they acted out, but they guessed all the movies we acted out. T'was really fun. We're going back on Tuesday to have our last "session" with the boys camp, and then the girls camp starts and we'll be working with them. It's our version of community service here in Muscat, I love it so much :D

Then we went to the Amideast center to have our first lesson of Arabic!!!!! BUT BUT BUT WAIT. BEFORE THAT WE GOT OUR WONDERFUL HOST FAMILIES!

So we finally convinced Fatin to tell us (and show us pictures) about our host families. AHHHHHH!!! Ok so basically my host family has a mother and father. Then there are three sisters, and the two older ones (close to my age) and they apparently go out alot to coffee shops and what not. Then there's a younger sister who apparently will come by and ask to play with my hair (according to Fatin). And there are two younger brothers who are nice, and not very pesky. Oh and the mother is half Emirate, so there might be family coming from UAE. I'm so excited!!! The family goes out to visit family during Ramadan. I'm excited.

Then the Arabic lessons. They were INTENSE, breh. Super intense. But I learned ALOT. Which was nice.
Now I'm just so tired...off to homework and sleep. Ciao!

Oman heat. And pictures.

Today was jam packed with fun!
We woke up at around 9, and I had a slight dilemma. I couldn't find my shoes anywhere. This is a problem, because unlike at home, I only have 2 pairs of shoes here. Oh well. I still can't find them...hopefully they're in the room somewhere :/
Anywho, we first headed to the American embassy. We went with a taxi, and he initially brought us to the English Embassy...which was slightly funny. Oh and on the way to the embassy, the song "Down" came on the radio and EVERYONE was singing along. It was great.
We got to the embassy, and that proved to be slightly exciting. We got briefed by some foreign service officials about security, Ramadan and the American Embassy in Muscat. They were all very helpful and nice, but I felt that the take home message was "If you get arrested, you're on your own", not that any of us would ever be arrested, inshallah.

After that, we finally got to Amideast! For those of you who do not know, Amideast is NSLI-Y's partner in Oman and in Morocco. (Hi Katy!!! I know you're reading this) The coordinators are awesome people. We got there, and had lunch. I apparently cannot tolerate even the slightest amount of spicy food, as I have found out here. Everything is SO spicy. In reality, it's really not, I just cannot tolerate it...oops. We also finally met our wonderful teachers. They are honestly some of the awesomest people I have met here....I also haven't met that many people :P

We proceeded to take our placement tests. Here is how mine went: 
Do you speak any Arabic?
Nope.
None at all?
None.
Ok. Why did you decide to do this program?
Because I absolutely love learning new languages...
What other languages do you speak?
Italian, English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
So you wanna learn them all?
YES. I want to learn all the languages.
Why Arabic?
Because I've wanted to learn it since middle school, kinda always seemed mysterious to me.
So are you better at memorization or understanding?
Memorization for sure, but I can also understand...most of the time

And that was that. We then broke up into our FGLLS. (Hi Jerry, we all know you love this word). It is the Facilitated Group Language Learning. We are separated into 3 different groups and each group is "moderated" by an Omani college student. Our FGLL person is SUPER sweet, she taught us so much Arabic today (only the pronunciation since we don't know the alphabet yet). My favorite word is "goodluck" We laughed for about a good 5 minutes when she pronounced it. I don't think the State Department would approve of me transliterating it on my blog...(I know you're watching), so I won't. But it's quite funny.

After the super duper amazingly fun lesson, we went on a city tour. It was pretty fun, and we went to SO many places..that were still in Muscat. It's so spread out along the coast, I had no idea.
We went to a beach, and I took some pictures of Omani guys playing soccer, and some other ones..

 This little coffee shop was on the beach, and Omanis LOVE mountain dew so much...it's quite funny

This is my favorite picture, these men standing at the beach just talking. I love it...and I can't explain why.

I LOVE KIWI JUICE!!! It tastes like Guava, but it's SOOO GOOD!

Then we went to the Souk, and it was nice..but not many people were there. Oh wait, before that we went to the Sultan's Palace, where this awesome photo was taken :P

Story behind this picture: My friend was taking a picture of me in front of the Sultan's palace, and this little Omani boy stands next to me. His father proceeds to take a few pictures of the both of us, and then tells the little boy to move, and tells me that now I can take a picture alone in front of the palace. 

It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen. On top of that, the Omani culture is the most friendly culture I've ever come in contact with.

After that..we went to the Souk. Finally. It was not as crowded as I thought it would be, and I finally mastered the art of taking pictures with my DSLR without having to look through it, so I kinda hold it at my waist and just take pictures. It's really fun :D

The shops are pretty awesome and there are SO MANY COLORS. It's amazing. 

I wish I could post them all on here...but there are so many. So I'll post a few

I've also noticed that since there aren't many women in public, I end up having loads of pictures of men....

(these are all taken with my super-sly method)

This picutre makes me really happy. In Oman, alot of the men hold hands, but only the pinkies, and if you look really close, the two men with the colorful clothing are holding pinkies.

I love family shoots.

One of the shops in the Souq..it's so pretty

This was a wall in one of the shops. So colorful and pictureful. 

Yesterday we had day two of our orientation, and then we went for lunch in a traditional Omani place, and then...WE GOT OUR LUGGAGE!!! And it became pool day at the City Seasons hotel, which was SO REFRESHING. It averages about 100-ish everyday, but it's sooo humid, which makes it seem way hotter. Yesterday was not that exciting. :D

The last picture of the night, Muscat bay. It's so pretty. With this I will leave you, wonderful readers. Until tomorrow, if I'm not too tired!

Day 1

Today was day 1 in Oman. We didn't go outside, due to the fact that we needed to be "oriented". We woke up around 11am, and went down to eat breakfast. The rest of the day was followed by an in hotel in country orientation. We talked about the Omani culture, dress, Ramadan, and so on. We also got some necessary everyday things because our baggage was lost on the way from Frankfurt to Muscat. It seems like every trip I've been on in this past week has resulted in baggage loss. When I transferred from Houston to get to DC, my bags were lost (sigh) and also, they were lost here.
We got our phones (they're pink blackberries...that awkward moment when your phone in a foreign country is better than your phone at home....).

The numbers are different from how they are in the US and in Italy. In the US, its a three digit area code, followed by a three then four number combo. In Italy, it's a three three four number combination. Here it's a four four number combination. I think that's really interesting as well. We went outside for about 5 minutes today...it's extremely humid, more than hot.

 Oh and we can see the sea from our hotel room, it's pretty awesome. 

I'm going to go on an adventure to the roof (given we can go) and then off to dinner! 


Ohei I'm back! The roof was amazing, and we saw the mountains behind Muscat...they are seriously amazing. Ok now to dinner for real.
Ciaoo!!!

Finally in oman!

We finally arrived!!!

 Here's a wonderful run down of our flight to get to Oman

Also, blogger is now configured in Arabic, so I'm typing backwards and it's very confusing and there will be no periods in this post because I do not know how to work this...its so confusing! So here is how our flight went down. 

We got to DC, but the plane was delayed for three hours, first due to mechanical failures, and then due to weather mishaps. So instead of leaving at 7:05 pm, we left at like...11 pm. Wasn't very fun. But our connection in Frankfurt was only one hour and forty minutes long, so we missed that. I apparently crashed during the flight. I didn't eat at all because I was so tired, which is why I am able to write this post at 3 in the morning. 

Second point of business, we got to Frankfurt at around 2 pm (this is European time) and we had been re-scheduled for a flight during the next day for Muscat. But there was a flight leaving at 2::15 for Muscat, and by some magical means, we got on that flight. Ok so the food was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. It was way better than any airplane food I had ever had. I was shocked, and super happy because I hadn't eaten anything on the previous flight. 

So we get to Muscat at around 11 pm Muscat time, but this one girl, Julie, gets really sick :( (I think she's ok now) but it was semi frightening. We go to baggage claims...and our bag weren't checked into Muscat...fun! So hopefully we'll get them soon enough, hoping that the bags get in with the flight we were supposed to be on tomorrow night, inshallah. Also, it's currently 37 degrees Celsius...and it's 3 am. Yesterday was about 53 degrees Celsius during the day. Not excited. 

(Here's a wonderful picture of the food on Oman Air)

Also, when we got out of customs at Muscat International, there was this line of men just standing outside waiting for people. And they all stared. Each of them stared at us. I tried to not look at them, it was slightly awkward, but it was entertaining to see how they reacted to a group of non Omani girls walking out of the airport. 

I have definitely made eye contact with many men here, and it's extremely difficult for me because I'm so used to always making eye contact with people in the US, but in Oman, eye contact with the opposite gender is often frowned upon, so I need to work on that. 

I'm worried that we won't get our luggage in time, and if that is the case...I'll just wear the same thing over and over again. How sanitary :P

Being on those flights was interesting. The people on the flight from DC to Frankfurt were not Omanis (that I knew of) so the customs were similar. But on Oman air, none of the men looked at women and all the flight attendents were very nterested in why there was such a laarge group of girls travelling to Oman. We must have explained about 20 times that we're a group of high school students who are travelling there to study Arabic. 

From the little driving around we did (to get to the hotel), we saw a very tiny portion on Muscat. Despite the face that it was 2 am when we were driving around, there were still a large amount of people out and about. I saw a lot of Omani men walking around, and almost all the lights were on in the various houses. I guess people weren't exagerating when they said Omanis stay out late. 

Well I'm off to bed (for real now)..well maybe I'll eat first. I'm so hungry for some reason...

Ciao!

           

Stranded at the airport

Our flight is delayed. Well, we will receive the update at 8.30 EST (meaning in 17 minutes). It's not looking good. There's also a storm coming into DC right now.
This allows us to bond....but we definitely missed our connection in Frankfurt.
Oh well. Hopefully  we'll get a flight to Dubai and then just bus to Muscat. Who knows.. :(
Bonding time!

Oman, ready or not, here we come

We are leaving in less than 12 hours. I’m both terrified and exhilarated. I’m nervous and happy. I’m confused and strangely ready. My PDO has been a success. We visited both the Omani Embassy in DC and the Omani Cultural Center. The people there were extremely nice. They are possibly the nicest humans I’ve met in my lifetime. They were so excited to have American students who are going to be living in Oman visit them. At the embassy, they gave us a book about Oman and a map of Muscat, which will be coming in handy VERY soon. At the cultural center, they gave us a story book of traditional Omani stories and an information brochure. The woman who gave the presentation there is an Omani young woman who is studying in the University in Muscat. She gave us a bunch of advice, that I’m sure will be coming in handy soon enough.

This morning, we went to the American Councils center in DC (the Amideast part of it) and got a very long debriefing about the safety and health concerns. We also went over the program rules. One in particular stuck out-do not make any life changing decisions. For some reason, it seemed slightly funny. This program in and of itself will change our lives and our outlook on life (hopefully for the better), so it seems to be a misleading statement (although I do understand what they are trying to communicate—don’t get married, don’t get piercings, don’t get tattoos and so on). Also, we aren’t allowed to hang glide…not that I would ever want to.

We received our Arabic textbooks as well…the most exciting part is that we get to keep them! This way we can—ideally—continue our study of Arabic even when we’re done with NSLI-Y.

So tomorrow at 4pm we are getting to the airport. Our flight is at 7pm. I am beyond excited, although I am slightly hesitant about the flying…I may or may not have an irrational fear of flying. (Ohei it’s 11.11 make a wish!) We’re getting to Muscat on Wednesday night at 9 pm ish, and we are going straight to the hotel, where we can sleep in the apparently unbearable heat..yay!

We are also going to Salalah during our first weekend in Oman (weekends are Thursday Friday in Oman rather than the typical western Saturday and Sunday deal). That should be really exciting, also because there is a festival going on in Salalah during the time in which we’ll be there.

Oh I’m just so excited for everything…..the clothes, the people, the language, the experience, the friendships we’ll form…

Also, Morocco kids, this is for you: all of you guys are absolutely wonderful, and I want to hear all about your trip! It’s annoying that we were placed together, because it’s basically Amideast saying “Oh here, meet all these amazingly wonderful teens that are super accomplished and smart…BUT WAIT, we’re taking them away from you in less than 72 hours” L Have fun in Morocco!

So tomorrow. The big day. Flight at 7pm, getting to Muscat at 9 pm on Wednesday.

Oman, ready or not, here we come!

No bag, no problem!

So I made it safely to DC. It's so hot here..about 100 degrees. And I'm melting. And my bag was lost. Oh well. At least I'm here.
I got here, and we started the orientation right away. We went over program rules (do not make any life changing decisions) and introduced ourselves. The Oman kids are staying with the Morocco kids in a hotel in DC. Tomorrow we will be going to the American Councils in DC and the various embassies, as well as the cultural centers. This is so real now!
I sincerely cannot believe it :D
Aside from losing my bag and waking up at 4 am this morning, today was a good day. All the exchange students are extremely talented and special and amazing (one lived for 14 years in China, another goes to an international school in New Mexico, they all know about a million languages and all have high standards for themselves) and I just want to take them all with me to Oman.
This will be the trip of a lifetime, expect more updates!

Also, I'm rooming with Lily. She's so sweet :D Since my bag has been lsot, she's letting me borrow clothing and such. I feel so loved (cue corny music)

It's been a long day and we need to wake up early tomorrow, so I will leave you fellow readers. Goodnight (or good morning)!