Speed Bumps and Other Setbacks

I need to preface this post with the fact that I am in no way a valid authority on anything I'm about to say. I'm also a privileged, spoiled, American girl who is picky and relatively high maintenance. Some of these differences are about the silliest things, but they still stick out to me. Anyway...

There are seriously so many strange things about the Middle East. This is not really an experience most will understand, because it is genuinely so unfathomable when you are not actually experiencing it. That being said there have been so many times here where I've embraced this strange new culture. However, there have been a few times where I just can't get used to something... Perhaps this is due to being raised in the "western world" and not the "eastern world", or perhaps I'm more high maintenance than I thought. The cultural differences I see here are vast, but not unwelcoming. It just takes a bit of getting used to. I'm not going to lie, I love a lot of things about the Middle East, but after spending two months in the Middle East, here are a few things that don't sit well with me:


1. Meat
We eat rice and meat for every meal. Every. Day. And that's typically okay.  But my privileged little self has been so blessed to have boneless, fatless, clean meat in my life everyday. When you see little teeny ribs and tough skin on the little teeny chicken they give you, you just can't help but to feel bad for the poor hen. Also... your options are chicken or meat. The "meat" option could be mutton, lamb, beef, goat... you're never quite sure, even sometimes after you eat it. I also feel really bad when I go to the market and see these poor cows and goats getting ready for slaughter... that's still a common thing here.

2. Non-availability of healthy food
My mom was always pretty cool about fast food growing up. It was seen as a treat of convenience, especially when traveling, or sometimes a reward for being good while running errands with her. It was neither forbidden nor to prevalent in my young life. I can honestly say I've eaten more American fast food here than I ever have in America. "Dzajaj Kentucky" (KFC), "Makduunaldz" (McDonalds), and "Hardiz" (Hardee's) are all super popular here. Out of convenience, it's almost necessary to eat this food... one's body can only take so much Pakistani/Indian/Turkish without consequence. Fresh, healthy food is so expensive here!! On a college budget I can't even afford certain fruits and vegetables.

3. Cabs
There is no such thing as a metered cab in the Sultanate of Oman. You must barter for each cab you take, and though they are much less expensive than cabs in the states, it is nearly impossible to get a fair price as a foreigner. Also, you have to find a cab driver who knows exactly where you want to go, or you have to know exactly how to get there, because you can't give him an address. The issue is mostly overpaying. If you are Omani, you can get a 100 km ride for about $1.00. If you are a foreigner, you can get a 100 km ride for about $13. It's ridiculous.

4. Lack of western toilets and/or toilet paper
Squat toilets are the worst. My high maintenance lifestyle does not prefer to squat in the bathroom and subsequently wash my pee down the toilet with a bucket of water. Nor do I prefer a lifestyle where a "shitaf", also known as a high powered hose, is what I use to clean myself after going to the bathroom (the trick is that you have to wipe with your hand). I just don't think you'll ever convince me that western toilets aren't better. I also don't like the smell that lingers in an eastern squat toilet.

5. No street names
The only streets that have known names here are the highways and major roads, so if you're looking around in a neighborhood or if you're trying to explain to someone where to take you, it's nearly impossible. If you want to get anywhere, you have to know landmarks, like "the mosque on the left by the house with the green door, past the chicken coops, two roundabouts after the KFC". The. Worst.

6. Only dads have the final say in things
Omani girls cannot do anything without the permission of their father or, if they're married, husband. Oh the Kate inside me has so much trouble keeping her mouth shut, but Kate on the outside just smiles and nods. (To be honest, it works pretty much the opposite way in our house... sorry Dad!)

7. Being Blonde
Just trust me. Blondes don't have more fun here.

8. Speed bumps
There are speed bumps everywhere here. And I mean everywhere. You will find speed bumps on every single road except the highway. Why? Good question. But they aren't even just normal speedbumps. They're these mega steep death traps and you'll scrape against them 80% of the time unless you slow to about 1 k/hr. They're the worst. Oh, and when the cab drivers don't see them and go over them at 100 k/hr, they scream a stream of English profanities...? (I'll never understand it)

I appreciate this experience very much, but I've never been one to sugar coat. Assimilating to this culture has been very difficult at times, and there are times when it's impossible not to get frustrated. There are times when I want to give a one finger salute to the people who stare too long, or tell off a cab driver who overcharges us. There were times in Ramadan where I wanted to yell and scream that it wasn't fair that a non-Muslim is bound by law not to drink water in public. And there have been WAY too many times I've almost died in a taxi. 

New places are hard to adjust to... but boy wouldn't it be a shame if we never got to experience that at all?

Arabic for Beginners

I do not go one day without questioning why I chose to learn Arabic... I began with the noble journey of wanting a "critical language" under my belt, also known as a language the government deems of utmost importance to learn if you are interested in foreign affairs. I chose the region that pertained closest to my interests, which happened to be the Middle East and Arab World. I initially wanted to learn Farsi (because it's much easier than Arabic), but it's not a well known program at my school, so I opted for Arabic.

I would say that it was simultaneously the best and worst decision of my life. There is a statistic one of my American professors told me about learning foreign languages, where it takes about 600 hours of classroom time to learn Spanish proficiency, but it takes about 2200 hours of classroom time to learn Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) proficiently. The dedication is tremendous. And that's just MSA. MSA is not spoken Arabic. It is the Arabic that's written in the Quran and in the newspaper, and what's heard on the news like Al-Jazeera. You can speak MSA to people and they will most likely understand you, but they will mostly likely respond to you in spoken Arabic... which you don't learn in an MSA class. Spoken Arabic has a wide range of dialects... Egyptian is different from Levantine Arabic and Palestinian Arabic is different from Gulf Arabic. The differences are so vast that sometimes Arabs speaking Arabic can't understand each other. It's majnuun (crazy).


Even after two years, my homework is still full of red marks. I think I was 1 for 14 on this one.

The difference between MSA and spoken Arabic is comparable to the difference between Shakespearean English and today's English. You can imagine how awkward it is for me to speak. Luckily, since I've been in Oman, I've picked up a LOT of spoken Arabic, and am able to converse much better now. We practice with memory games, and my team is called Team Harry Potter, which my teacher endearingly calls "Harrr-ie Booter".

One of the biggest issues with Arabic Language Education in the US is that it is standardized in just about ever school. We all use the same book "Al-Kitaab" (literally translates to "the book"), and the vocabulary is directed towards those intending to work in the military. I could say "My father works for the United Nations" before I knew how to say "Where's the bathroom?"

This is why it's almost necessary to study abroad to actually learn how to speak Arabic.

It is in Oman where I learned body parts, as shown by this beautiful drawing done with my conversation partner. I learned fruits and household items and clothes and so many USEFUL things to speak to people in Arabic with.

 I love this photo. In green is Ahmed's attempt to spell body parts in English... he says spelling is too hard because there are no rules. I whole heartedly agreed. Spelling in Arabic is not too difficult, but pronunciation, reading, grammar, distinguishing between words, etc, is WAY harder than English.

I have picked up a lot of slang here, in Arabic and in hand gesture, and am finding that my language barrier broke first with this 'slang'. English phrases slip in to Arabic sentences and Arabic too often slips in to my English (which I suppose is a good thing when you go to school to learn Arabic). Here are a few words to help you fit in in Oman. Note: if you said this to someone in a different Arabic speaking country, they'd probably only understand 'The Allahs".

The Allahs: Words with the basis of Allah, from the Qur'an, used in everyday language

In-sha-allah- literally translates to "God Willing", Inshallah is used when describing ALL events in the future to mean "hopefully".  In some contexts it could me "I would literally rather do anything else but if I'm forced to do it I will because God probably willed it". When said by mothers to children, it usually means "Hahahaha, yeah right."

Ma-sha-allah- is used when you're giving someone a compliment but you don't want it to sound like you're envious of them, you say it AFTER the compliment to indicate that it was a blessing from God that made something so lovely, and it is NOT you wishing it had happened to you.

Bis-millah- "In the name of God", this is said before things that require luck, like before a test, or if you get in a taxi.

Al-ham-duhli-lah- translates to "Praise be to God", pretty much used for any time you're thanking God; like if the humidity is only 40%, alhamdulillah. If you pass your grammar test, alhamdulillah. When you trip but don't fall into the garbage that lines the street, alhamdulillah. You get the picture.


Other important things to know:

"Salaam Allaykum"- hello! Should be responded to with "Wa allaykum assalaam".

"Mafi Mushkila"- means "not a problem". Nothing is a problem in Oman. They are all so darn nice, nothing is ever a problem. "Can you drive me two hours away to my friend's house?" "Mafi Mushkila".

"Ay-wah"- means yes in Omani Arabic. I spent about two weeks wondering what this meant before i realized it was slang for "naam".

"Ya-nee"- means "like". Used as a filler word. When you don't know what this word means you spend the entire conversation wondering what it could possibly mean.

"Ana taliba faqiira"- "I am a poor student" *used with pouting eyes*, especially used when bargaining at the market or bargaining with a taxi driver.

"Khalas"- means "finished". Used when you are finished with something. Can be used to signal that you're finished with your homework or finished shopping, but is typically used when saying "I am so done with you". When people are staring at you, glare and say "Khalas". When a taxi follows you as you're walking down the street, you shoo them with your hands and yell "Khalas". It's my favorite word.

See, now you know Arabic. But think twice before you pick a language to learn. Arabic is not for the faint-hearted.

Ahmed Hamid Ahmed Al Hamid Al Said

I knew going into this trip that Middle Eastern perception of Americans wasn't great. I have been proved mostly correct just from day-to-day conversation, taxi rides, and the occasional cat call from the street. It is sometimes difficult for me to keep my mouth shut; I consider myself a Patriot in the sense that I see the flaws in the American system but I still believe it is a great place to live.

I have an Omani friend here who does not see this as true, even in the slightest sense. His name is Ahmed Hamid Ahmed Al Hamda Al Sa'id. He hails from a northern part of Oman... I can't tell you exactly where because he doesn't speak English and I barely speak Arabic. Three out of five days of school, we have what we call "PF" session, which stands for peer facilitator. It's two hours of Arabic conversation after our FOUR hours of class. It's the most exhausting part of the day because we are both limitedly conversational in each other's languages. We spend a lot of time trying to translate each other and it is not uncommon for one of us to get lost in translation. But we make it work. To give you a better representation of who Ahmed is, and how is opinions came to be, I will start with a bit of his history.

First, his name. His full name, Ahmed Hamid Ahmed Al Hamda Al Sa'id, is so darn long because of the way Arabic names work. He takes his name, his father's name, his paternal grand father's name, and his tribal name. He is the same age as me, 20, and he attends Sultan Qaboos University, majoring in Economics and Business. In the future, he wants to work for a "big company" in Oman, I assume in the oil industry. His parents' marriage was arranged. His will be too. His mother and father were married when they were 14, Ahmed was born when they were 15. This is not the norm now, Ahmed will most likely get married after he graduates from university. He does not believe in marrying for love. He has five siblings, which is very unusual for an Omani family. Most of my teachers are one of ten/fifteen.

He doesn't have many positive things to say about America. He believes there is a "war with guns" against Islam on the streets in America, and that all Americans steal. He asked me if he would get shot if he left the house after sunset. He asked me if it was okay to go outside of my city without fearing for my life. I was more shocked than offended when I heard this, and I wondered where he got these ideas from. So began the long conversational trek of trying to understand how he came to be this way.

Spoiler alert: The moral ends up being that he knows only what the media and movies say about America much like we (as Americans) only know about the Middle East through media and movies. Needless to say, neither portrayal is particularly flattering.

I am his first female friend that is not a relative. Gender segregation is SO real here and I could tell from the very first day that he was unsure of how to act around me for an isolated two hour conversation. Max is the other student in my PF session, and he attends the US Naval Academy. It is easy to see how Ahmed's views of women and men differ by the way he interacts with Max and me. First, he will not shake my hand. Even if I were to hold it out, he would just nod at me instead. He shakes Max's hand every day. He will take pictures with me and Max but only post photos of Max on social media... a photo of a western woman would be really inappropriate for him to post. He asks Max if he watches the news, and asks me if I watch soap operas... I am not equal to Max in his eyes. So it goes.

When we talk about American culture, I've asked where he learns it from. He says that he only knows about American culture from what he sees in movies, and what people tell him. Keep in mind, the movies he watches are: Fast and Furious, Need for Speed, anything with Tom Cruise, and anything with explosives and guns. He assumed I knew people in the Mafia. He asked if everyone carried guns with them, and asked if he'd get shot for being Muslim. I told him that what he watches in the movies is imagination, which he so endearingly calls "ehm-agg-ingtion". He did not know how the US came to be, or that we weren't all white.

It was a staggering realization for a young, poorly traveled Katie. Ahmed is no different than my American friends who have no positive things to say about the Middle East. It is not that Ahmed is a bad person for thinking this- I mean, there is truth in what he thinks about Americans. Of course he is going to think this when all he sees and reads are negative things about America.  It is the same issue with my friends at home, who asked: "Will you have to wear a burka?" or "Do you think you'll get kidnapped?" while in the Middle East. Maybe in some areas, but not in Oman. They know nothing more than what the media says. I am safe and happy in both places.

While there are problems with America, with Oman, with the media, we must learn to live in peace. Ahmed is my friend. I am grateful for our friendship, even if it is conditional.

I Like Turtles

I finally feel settled into life in Oman and am adjusting to the heat, strange smells, and endless Arabic. School is still fun (and mentally exhausting) and my friends here are the best. The weekdays can be stressful and, just like in America, we all look forward to the weekends. It's a sincere struggle, the weekends, because we must decide between laying in bed all day and adventuring. Fortunately, the Institute plans a lot of adventures for us. Just about every weekend we have something fun to do. This past weekend was Rais Al-Jinz.

We left our flat at 9:00 AM which is still just a bit to early for me to not be grumpy. Luckily, I slept on the bus about two hours, until we got to the Bimmah Sink Hole to swim. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it surely wasn't this. Typically when I hear the word sink hole I think of some witty Grey's Anatomy plot where the road falls in and disaster ensues. Clearly I lack sink hole education because what I saw was a beautiful oasis. We trudged our way to the park and I descended into this beautiful... well, sinkhole.

We swam and explored and climbed up the rocks to jump off cliffs and had little fishies bite our toes. The water, like everything else here, was very warm. You could see straight to the bottom to at least 20 or 30 feet and under the sink hole was a cave that connected to the ocean, about 2000 yards away. It's astounding that something as simple as a hole in the ground could be so beautiful. Sometimes I spend so much time in the city that I forget that not all of Oman is Muscat.

After we swam for a while, it was time to venture to Rais Al-Jinz, the turtle reserve on the coast of the Indian Ocean. I have one word to describe the experience: GLAMPING. To those unfamiliar with the word, it means glamour-camping. Our tents were settled in the mountain right over the coast and were fully equipped with luxurious beds, air conditioning, a full bathroom, and a mini fridge. (Caz could take a hint or two for the counselors) 

This picture below is quite "haram", or forbidden, by Omani standards because men and women are intermingling in the same tent! Us "gariibun", which means both Westerners and strangers, got some rest before we went out that night to watch the sea turtles at Rais Al-Jinz.

Rais Al-Jinz is a 45 kilometer long coastal reserve in the southern half of Oman, along the Indian Ocean. About three times a year, in the span of about three months, a sea turtle lays her eggs on the beach, buries them, and goes back to sea. Three weeks later these babies hatch and try to make it to the shore and into the wild. It just so happens that Oman hosts these beautiful creatures at Rais Al-Jinz. At this reserve you are able to go on a tour to see the turtles on the beach at 9:00PM (long after sunset here), and at 4:15AM. 

I was excited, but didn't know what to expect. I had no knowledge of the size of the turtles, what it looked like to lay eggs, or how they got to and from shore. 9:00 PM is very dark here, so my first trip to see the turtles was guided solely by the light of our host. We walked in a group and spoke in hushed voices. Photography was forbidden at night as not to disturb the turtles. We walked by the first turtle hole and before my eyes adjusted it looked like a big pit, about 2 meters x 2 meters, with an extra dark spot in the middle. As I finally saw that the dark spot was actually a turtle, I gasped with wide eyes. I barely had time to process it as we swiftly moved on to follow our guide to turtles closer to the beach. 

At this point in time my "sadiiqa", or friend, Melissa, began to hyperventilate. Okay, so she didn't hyperventilate... but she did get really worked up and so excited she could barely form words or even move. She pointed at it in amazement and yell-whispered, "IT'S A DINOSAUR". She expected the turtles to be the size of those that fit in tanks in a home aquarium. So you can imagine her surprise when she saw this:

This is a mama turtle who has laid her eggs and was covering them in about two meters of sand to keep them safe for the few weeks while they get ready to hatch. Of course the father is no where to be found... it seems that men are the same among all the species. Typical. (Only joking, the mom doesn't even check up on her little babies and only like 3 out of 1,000 survive to adulthood).

This is the type of track a turtle leaves behind after it's inched its way back to the ocean. She usually stops to take a few breaks. So the whole process is between 5-10 minutes. And next to that is the sad reality that the eggs aren't always safe from nature's intrusions. These little guys were uncovered and won't make it :(

This is how I initially felt to be out of bed at the inhumane hour of 4:45AM. Luckily everyone has to be pretty quiet around the turtles. Clearly Elise having a good time. But once I witnessed the mama turtles doing what turtles do I was a much happier camper. I couldn't believe my eyes for most of the trip, every single moment I felt like I was witnessing a nature-y miracle of some sort.

This was my favorite trip we've taken so far. Everything about it was outstanding. I spend so much of my life passing through nature as though it's nothing special; it's sad to think that it takes something like this to make me appreciate how beautiful the world can be. It's funny to me because we, as humans, are nature. When did we come to the point where we started believing we were something more? 

                                       

Watching the sunrise and the turtles scuttle back to sea at dawn made me think of a favorite quote from Thoreau: 

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And see if I could not learn what it had to teach and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived"

(Turtle photos courtesy of my dear friend Adrian Castillo)

The Beginning of Ramadan

Ramadan began on the 29th of June and even though it's only July 3rd I feel as though it's been going on forever. For those of you who don't know, Ramadan is the holy month in Islam, when it is believed that God revealed the Qu'ran to the people. Muslims fast from sun-up to sun-down during Ramadan, following one of the five pillars of Islam that says to do so. Prayer time is increased during this month and it is a time people reflect on their religion and become closer to God and hope to become better people. It is extremely sacred to Muslims and is very important in their religion.

Since Muslims cannot eat or drink after sunrise, they wake up around 2:30AM to prepare "Suhoor", their morning meal. It is then that they eat and drink all that they can for the day until "Iftar", or the breaking of the fast, around 7:00PM. Typically Muslims alter their days because of this, working less and resting more because they are tired and dehydrated and hungry throughout the day. 

It feels as though absolutely everyone is fasting, because it is mostly true. Oman is 99.999999999% Muslim, which is an absolute lie. I have no idea of the real percentage but it's definitely lower than that. Just pretend with me for drama's sake. But really, everyone is fasting, and even if they're not fasting, they've changed their schedules to fit with Ramadan anyway. You can't do anything without Ramadan interfering. (This is beside the point, but the little economist in me cannot stop thinking about the impact of Ramadan on profits for the month).

My experience as a non-Muslim in this country lead by an Islamic Monarch has been quite interesting during Ramadan. But before I delve into that, I must mention this: everything changes during Ramadan. First, all the restaurants are closed during the day until Iftar, and then open up and stay open until late into the night, often until Suhoor. The shops may or may not be closed all day but if they are open it is typically only in the morning hours, between 9-1. The streets are dead in the middle of the day, everyone is home and resting and trying to conserve energy, especially in the heat. 

Our school schedule has changed a bit too, we start class a bit earlier and end a bit earlier. Of course I only complain about getting up earlier, as many know (Mom), I am not very pleasant early in the morning. Another difficult part is that we can't drink or snack in our classrooms at all. I only see this as a problem because I'm always drinking water or tea to stay awake and hydrated during the day. Obviously, my complaints aren't worth much, because I'm not actually fasting. I still get to eat breakfast before schoo, lunch at the institute (it's in a separate building), and I can still sneak into the kitchen to grab a sip of water between classes. Other than that, and trying not to bring up food topics in class, my daily school schedule hasn't changed much. 

Outside of school, life as a non-faster is a bit inconvenient, but not unbearable. Basically, if we want to go out to dinner, we have to wait until after Iftar and go around 8PM, which means it's always a late night when we go out. If you need to go somewhere by taxi around 7PM, good luck. The roads are almost literally empty because everyone is with their families; even at 7:45PM today it took about 15 minutes to catch a cab. We can still go to the gym we belong to, but we can only drink water in the locker room if no one is watching. Essentially what we've done is changed our schedule so that we "siesta" after school, go to the gym, do a bunch of homework, and then it is almost time for Iftar, so we can go eat, or get some shopping done if necessary. It's not so bad, but we do go to bed later. 

We must also dress more conservatively during Ramadan. We cover from ankle to wrist typically, and occasionally, around Omani men, we wear hijabs. This is me and Brooke going to the grocery store before Iftar (making silly faces mostly because Aunt Suz will appreciate them). If we go out at night, we like to wear hijabs, too, because we don't like to stick out so much, especially if we aren't with one of the guys.  

I forgot to mention eating and drinking in public is illegal during the hours of fasting during Ramadan and is punishable with jail time! 

My personal take on Ramadan is that it is a very beautiful dedication to a very beautiful faith. Am I cut out for fasting? Absolutely not, I get cranky if I don't eat every few hours and everyday in class I am convinced I am dying of thirst. I especially respect the thought of Ramadan as the great equalizer, where the rich understand what it's like to feel the pain of hunger like the poor. I must mention that there are tents (like small festival tents) set up around neighborhoods and people donate food to the poor so they too can have Suhoor and Iftar. Often, restaurants offer a free meal to all those who visit it at Iftar. It is also a beautiful time of gathering, where friends and family meet up and share sacred time together. Muslims try to rid themselves of sin during this time and also try to become themselves in their purest form. 

I really admire those who fast, and their dedication to their religion and their own personal faith. It's not for me, but I will try it a few times this Ramadan.... because, you know what they say, "When in Muscat!"

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

On Thursday, or as we like to call it, "Arabic Friday" (because Friday and Saturday are the weekend here), we had the opportunity to visit the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat. It is a gorgeous and new mosque that Sultan Qaboos had built in 1996.

I am actually having a lot of trouble starting this post because the experience was so unique I find it difficult to describe. We arrived at the mosque at 9:00, when visiting hours begin. It was unbearably hot and humid and we were completely covered, hijabs and all. We began the walk from the visitors entrance to the entrance of the mosque. There, a guard checks to make sure everyone is dressed appropriately, and if so, you can enter.

The scenery outside the mosque is beautiful and is all very symbolic of Oman. I'll let the photos do the talking:

Shoes are not worn in the mosque so there are racks to put them on outside. You can tell we are Westerners because not all of us were wearing sandals… Majnuun (crazy)!

Men and women do not pray together in the mosque. Our beautiful and absolutely lovely guide at the mosque explained it this way, I paraphrase: "when you pray together in a mosque, you touch shoulders with the person next to you. You are all equal in the eyes of God. If the Sultan were to come pray here, he would touch shoulders with the baker, or with a beggar, they are no different. Women pray separately because a hot dude and a pretty lady cannot touch shoulders while completely focusing on God. We want to clear our hearts and focus only on God .Women also pray in a more simple area without all the frill. I know I am entranced by this beautiful carpet, by the stunning mosaics, and by the gorgeous Swarovski in the chandelier. I need to pray in a simple place where I can devote my thoughts to God. Luckily, I can admire the beauty of the men's prayer hall after prayer. They are so oblivious to everything and can pray without distraction from this beauty."

Though I do not wholeheartedly agree to all of these religious concepts, I respect her beliefs and respect this beautiful mosque. This is the men's prayer hall, which is entirely handmade and crafted. It can hold 6,000 people.

Our sweet, adorable tour guide befriended Katheryn immediately (as does everyone in the world), because they both have such kind spirits. I snapped the picture below as our guide put her arm around Katheryn while saying "You bunch are a good bunch. Some people come here and are close minded and prejudiced. You can tell when a group comes with open minds and good hearts like you". As do most Omani's, she was so happy that Americans and Europeans, and even an Australian, wanted to learn Arabic. She invited us to share some dates and coffee with her after we toured the men's prayer hall.

At coffee and dates, we asked questions about everything. She began the discussion with: "nothing is off the table, ask what you want, no matter how blunt it may be". We talked about Islam and religions of the book, about science its compatibility with religion, and the Islamic tax. The Omani man working there actually lived in America, went to University of Washington, and has family in Cleveland… go figure. They were so blunt about what they believe and what they believe is Islam is. You can see them standing together in the last photo.

I'd say my first visit to a mosque was quite successful. It was an enlightening experience and not something you do everyday in America. Everyday it's experiences like this that remind me of the misperceptions people have about religion. If only we could step back and admire the true followers of peaceful religion and realize that those waging war do not believe the same things… But I digress (and also live in a fantasy world where everyone got along). Until next time, inshallah.

Makoulat (Food) in Oman

I hate to say it but I am a picky eater. Initially I was worried to come to Oman because I thought I would starve. Fortunately, that's not the case. Unfortunately, Shahr Ramadan begins soon and this experience will change food wise. There is a lot of American food in Oman like "Baba Jun's" (Papa John's, Baskin Robbins, McDonald's, and "Beetza Huut" (Pizza Hut), so if I'm ever really desperate, I can eat there. We have American food served at school once a week. This week was pizza from Domino's and it was actually pretty good. I can't eat the cheese but the veggies and sauce were good. Their version of "barbecue" is shish-kebab chicken and onion with spices. It was okay but I'll stick with veggies from now on. Also, pepperoni pizza is pretty popular here, but it is served with beef pepperoni because pork is haram, or forbidden, in Islam.

It turns out that I like most of the food here that's actually foreign. Oman has traditional food, but there is a lot of food from other countries here too. The top few I can think of are Turkish, Indian, Pakistani, Yemeni, and Lebanese. On the first night here we had Yemeni food. It is very similar to Omani food. I didn't like it very much to be honest, and I feel the same way about the traditional Omani food I have tried. Luckily I can eat other foods just about anywhere.

This is the "hypermarket" I've mentioned before. They sell a myriad of items and have everything my little American heart desires. The only problem is that the ingredients list is in Arabic and my vocabulary is not refined enough to detect most ingredients.

As'siir (juice) is very popular here and it is so good in everyday imaginable because it is fresh squeezed. Typically you can choose watermelon, mango, papaya, strawberry, pomegranate, avocado, banana, pineapple, lemon, and many others… I have not tried one I don't like, but I will say that watermelon juice doesn't taste much different than watermelon. My favorite is mango or banana as of now. Today we went to the best juice place in our neighborhood and got these special juice milkshakes. I could not eat them because they have ice-cream in them but this is mango, strawberry, and avocado "milkshake" with ice-cream, nuts, and a pistachio crisp on top. Results were both positive and enthusiastic so I can only assume this was a tasty treat. The owner of the shop was so amazed to see so many Americans here and he asked to take a picture with us. We obliged and he was very excited, and after we drank our juices he came back out and offered us little cups of other juices to take for the walk back to our shaqa (apartment).

It is unfortunate that I can't rotate this photo because it is hilarious. "Americana Quality" is a brand here and it is all the processed food you can wish for, like these "Happy Nuggets". If you notice, the little boys have very fat faces, which is my favorite part of the whole concept. 

We've been back to our favorite Turkish restaurant and the people working there are very kind and friendly, and love to help us practice our Arabic. Today we saw a man come in with four wives and children, which was quite a sight to us. There were also some Moroccan women there, and they were talking really loudly, which you could tell bothered the Omani's, who are quite natured and constantly staring at them. They eventually got the hint and moved outside, even though it was about 108 F today. Women and mixed groups of men and women must sit in the "family room" because you cannot have a group of women sitting among all men. That's where our group sits too. The front room and outside are typically where the men sit, but I have seen some women sit outside during the day too. I guess it depends on the place and the people on how strict they are with that rule. 

 I am getting better at ordering in Arabic, which is exciting, but today I meant to order a pastry filled with chicken (it's kind of like chicken wrapped in baked bread… like a Stromboli), but instead got a PIZZA with chicken. My friend Brooke wanted the same meal but with vegetables, but she got a vegetable pizza too. Regardless, it was tasty. We'll have to work on our food vocabulary, Inshallah. 

Tomorrow we are going to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the biggest mosque in Oman. I can't wait. We will have to be covered completely from wrist to ankle to collarbone and also wear a hijab. I'm excited! Bismillah, friends. Until next time!