Saturday evening, grabbed lebanese take out with friends, and had a picnic on the beach before delving into our studies. Sunday evening- weekly Lulu’s run. Monday evening- cooking party with amigos, just relaxing.
Tuesday evening was a lot more interesting. After classes, I went with a group of girls to an all women’s souq. The souq is put on by the Omani Women’s Association, and consists of hand crafted and donated goods, and the proceeds go to charity. It was an ideal opportunity to chat with Omani women and girls and practice our Arabic. After that, we went to sheesha cafe and restaurant in Sultan Qaboos city. One friend was wearing her newly acquired abaya, and the other two of us were dressed conservatively with hijabs. We had trouble acquiring a taxi (possibly because there were only women in our group), however we eventually did. The taxi driver was super friendly and thought we were Muslim! He was even more impressed when we told him we were American, and we were covering because it was “munasib” (appropriate) to do so in Oman. After chatting along the drive, he offered us his number and told us just to call him and he would pick us up afterwards. After delicious arabic food and rose sheesha, he picked us up, and gave us a free ride back to the hotel, and told us to call him any time!
Wednesday night, we went to a Moroccan restaurant, (and called our good friend Sayeed the taxi driver!), however the kitchen was closed for the week, so we simply sipped sweet Moroccan tea. We chatted at length with a Moroccan employee, who picked up our bill for us, but then tried to ask for a number so he could meet up with us again. After that we enjoyed delicious Indian food near our hotel (one of the benefits of having a large population of Indian expats in Oman) and sat on the patio of our hotel to watch a lunar eclipse.
We had a new teacher in our fosha (Modern Standard Arabic) class this week, as our teacher, Nasser, had had duties at one of the ministries the week before. Nasser speaks fast, but has an understanding of the Al-Kitaab textbooks, and thus tends to use primarily words that we know. He is an excellent teacher, even in Arabic, his grammar explanations are clear and comprehensive. Not to mention, he is engaging and is good at evaluating our understanding of a concept.
Media class can be frustrating- as we understand such a small portion of the vocabulary used in the news. However, the vocab we are learning will be super useful, and our skills for interpreting the news will benefit greatly. Already, listening to Al Jazeera today in the suite, my friend and I were able to pick out a number of the new words we had learned this week (delegation, crisis, etc).
Omani dialect class is a blast. It sometimes has a slumber party feel to it (although, don’t worry, we learn a ton). As the class is five girls, and the teacher is a young and excited woman, we are constantly playing games in order to learn new vocab, or improving skits and dialogues. She also is letting us borrow her Arabic scrabble game so we can practice and play in the hotel. She brought dates and Omani coffee (small doses, super strong) to class one day, and the sweet hellwa dessert another.
On Thursday, we took a day trip, as a group, to the village of Nakhl. First stop- an ancient fort. The fort was massive- with guest rooms, a jail, a number of posts and towers, courtyards, shops, a winter sitting room, etc. I kept on thinking I had been transported into a National Geographic magazine and was exploring the remains of an ancient fort abroad. And then I would remember I was. Everything is still so surreal. I mean, yes I have my routine, classes five days a week, staying in a hotel suite, etc., but every now and then I’ll step back and realize where I am. Like- this is not the Pacific I’m in, its the Gulf of Oman, Iran is on the other side of the horizon. This restaurant isn’t “ethnic” food, its local. I mean, it is of course apparent, but at the same time, at times it doesn’t seem real.
After exploring the fort, we visited a hellwa factory. The fresh hellwa was absolutely delicious, although seeing the men producing the hellwa was a different side of Oman. Next, we traveled through the lush date palm trees (a nakhl is a date palm tree) and arrived at a natural hot spring. It resembled a shallow river, and along the banks, were groups of young men and families burning fires, cooking food, and playing drums. The water was steamy and refreshing, especially as we endured temperatures likely in the 110s.
We enjoyed a traditional lunch of rice and chicken, served in communal bowls, and eaten with our hands. There is oddly enough a deeper sense of connection to what you are eating when its with your hands (only your right hand actually, the left hand is considered dirty), although don’t worry mom, I will certainly eat my rice off of silverware back in the states. Also, interesting cultural comparison- while in Modern Standard, the words for rice and bread are distinct, in Egyptian dialect, the word for bread is eyeesh, and in Omani, the word for rice is eyeesh, meaning “life.” This is of course indicative of the staple crops that sustained the local populations for centuries.
After a long Friday of studying and recuperation, I am refreshed and ready for another week of explorations!
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