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!