Gorgeous Salalah

After living in the rocky desert for a year, arriving in Salalah's green-wonderland is almost a zen experience. The mountains turn from tan to vibrant green as you go around a bend in the road.

The drive was long, however, from Rustaq to Salalah. The beaches were stunning though and made up for the long drives between our stops. Our favorites were Ras Sidrah and Ras Madrakah. If you take the trek down, don't stop at Duqm, which is advertised in the books as being amazing, but instead it's the new location of a large industrial mill.

The Hanging Gardens of Wadi As-Shwaymiyah took you by surprise. Nothing like desert and rocks for miles around makes you appreciate the wonder of a lagoon. Fresh and green and out of no where.

Salalah itself was like nothing I had seen. The tree-covered mountains looked more like Vietnam or Costa Rica than the Oman I know.

Here's a picture of what I mean. If you have a chance to go to Salalah, go. But time it correctly. Go during Khareef (the rainy season) and check the weather before you go. If it hasn't rained in 3-4 days before you get there (if you go at the tail end of Khareef) it could be all dried up again. The plants respond immediately and amazingly to one rain fall.

Eid Break

We will be leaving tomorrow for Salalah for a week, so I'll be taking a blog break! Wish me luck camping out for 6 nights....shower?

Cuttlefish and 6 Fish

Our boat driver where we go snorkeling has promoted us to friends, which means now we get free fresh fish whenever there's a catch. Yesterday he handed us 6 small fish, which we took home cooked. Cleaning fish is still pretty gross. I don't like doing it inside so we use the ablution outside sink. It's really to wash your feet in before you pray, but it's good for cleaning fish too.....

He also sold us on the cheap a huge cuttefish, which is a relative of the squid and octopus. Our boat driver has incredible skill. He puts on a flimsy old snorkeling mask and tube, jumps in the water, and goes swimming with a stick. With the hook end of the stick he sweeps them in. He does it while we snorkel, so next time maybe I'll catch one too!

While he was driving us back to shore, the bottom of the boat was filled with cuttlefish swimming in their own ink. Next time perhaps I'll get one with the ink sack still in tact so I can make black rice or a Venetian cuttlefish dish.

While I was trying to cut it up for the marinade, it's wet and squishy flesh kept pulling back from it's massive bug eyes. This is really a new experience for me in terms of connection with my food. I think a lot of people would not eat what they regularly eat at home or in a restaurant if they had to deal with it from step one. It's a good lesson though.

That is one thing that I do really enjoy about Oman: the easy access to fresh fruit, vegetables and fish. If all the oil runs out (which is will) at least Oman will be able to sustain itself, which is more than can be said for most Gulf countries.

You Are Looking So Beautiful!

Why is it that the first day I go to the store in my own car by myself (ie without George) everyone feels the need to tell me that I am (looking) so beautiful? Oh wait, I know the answer. Because no man protecting you = available for hitting on. This doesn't make them dangerous. Just annoying. Any serious sexual predator wouldn't care if I had a man by my side or not. They have other ways of manipulating and intimidating that goes way beyond benign yet annoying comments on my appearance...

One Indian worker at the technology part of the store even went so far as to pretend to be "examining his camera" while he snapped my picture as walked up to his counter. Not the first time this has happened either.

Sad that a picture of my face looking sweaty and frazzled after a day a work and trudging through 120 degree heat is the best they've got when they go home to their dank little rooms at night.

I just feeling bad for them in all honesty.

Salalah Plans

Next week over vacation for Eid al Fitr, we will be be driving to Salalah, the beautiful tropical city in the southern tip of Oman.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Perhaps a reader from Salalah or someone who has taken the trip before? We will be camping out along the eastern coast on our way down and camping in the desert on our way back.

Any hints are welcome as to where to stay, interesting sites, beautiful beaches, etc.

Thanks!

Two Weeks Off

Just like last year, the students have unanimously decided to take an extra week's holiday for Eid al Fitr. They need a week to prepare, the girls told me. To do henna, to buy new clothes, to go shopping, to buy a cow to slaughter (although I think the men probably do that...)

I thought that was sort of ridiculous, but then I thought back my high school and college Christmas breaks. Did we get a week or almost a week off before Christmas day? I can't remember, but I seem to think we did. When I was at college, isolated and without a car, I used to have to do speed Christmas shopping after I got home in the few days before we would go to my Grandma's house. Gifts to be wrapped, cookies to be made, cranberry relish to be ground. Maybe I did need a week too.

Perhaps there are more similarities between me and them than sometimes I make there out to be.

This year far more than last year I have realized that the problems with attendence and being serious with their studies does not stem primarily from the students themselves, but rather from the gross disorganization and lack of professionalism of the Ministry of Education and of the college itself.

As one male student rightfully said to me last week when I was asking why they missed the first week of school, came the second, and then left again for the third: "Miss, it was not our fault the first week. The teachers weren't there." And while I didn't want to admit it, he was 100% right. The students were there the first day of class, and even the second, but after going to their rooms and seeing that 1) the rooms were not completed or ready to be used and 2) that there was often no teacher to be found, they decided to go home and spend their time enjoying Ramadan with their families.
I would have done the same were I a student.

Instead of being annoyed at the kids this year, I'm more frustrated at the system. Even when the students try to do well, they are showed an example by the school of lack of care, preparation and professional behavior.

No wonder they don't come to class.

Banana Republic

While Banana Republic is (somewhat embarrassingly from a cheap labor point of view) my favorite clothing store, I am now speaking about my house. I never new that my man was such a plant aficionado, but much to my surprise he came home yesterday with a banana tree, a pomegranate tree, a desert flower bush, an aloe plant and several pots of herbs.

He's not done yet either, I think.

It's amazing what making the right friends does to you. Our town is home to one of the best plant nurseries in Oman. Yusef's place is like a desert oasis and can brighten your day through its colors and refreshingly clean air. The smell of wet dirt is so strong in a place where it rarely rains. When you live in an (albeit beautiful) sand-pit, flowers take on a certain importance, an almost therapeutic quality. I'm looking forward to creating my own roof-top "banana republic" with a little help from Yusef.

The owner also happens to be a violinist in the Omani orchestra.

It's just proof you can find little gems of culture everywhere.