Home actually more like leaving home

     I'm the last one in the airport. I have a nice 6 hour lay over for my flight to San Antonio. I can't believe that all of the girls have left for their flight, and I'm already realizing how much I'll miss them. I still haven't really been able to fully accept that I've left Oman. These last six weeks were absolutely amazing, and I feel so lucky to have ended up with such an incredible host family, teachers, and program managers. I am going to miss everything about Oman.

     In the airports I realized that I missed the hose so much. I'm seriously considering having a hose installed in my bathroom. A hose is just so much better than just using toilet paper. The analogy I like to make about the hose is to just consider what happens when you spill pasta on the counter. You get a wet wipe to clean it first and then a dry wipe, and that cleans a whole lot better than just the plain old dry wipe.

    I just Oman in its entirety, especially my host family they were so incredible, and I honestly tear up just thinking about the fact that I had to leave them. I'm nowhere near being ready to go home, and I have no idea how the whole readjustment process will end up going. I'm so glad I will have the rest of the girls that went on the trip to keep in touch with and remember our memories together. My host family got me a program to study Arabic with, and I also found out that one of the perks of being a state alumni is a free Rosetta Stone of your choice! I am looking forward to continuing my language studies!

   Thank you so much to everyone that made this trip so amazing for me!

Spreading the Joy of Pancakes to Oman and Talking Politics

       After an incident at a cafe in which my host dad received crepes that were "pancakes just not the American ones" I decided to make my host family pancakes at some point in time during the trip. I got to make them on Friday for a small iftar my family was hosting and I also made them on Sunday for another iftar we had at the house. Fortunately the pancakes turned out well, and I was successfully able to bring pancakes to Oman.

            

    On Sunday a man that I think had been secretary of state for Oman, he had previously held some important secretarial position in Oman. He managed to just slip in his previous job title without making a big deal about it at all. Either way he did work in a job that had him thoroughly involved in Omani and Middle Eastern Politics, and we were fortunate enough to have him come to the Amideast center and discuss politics in Oman and a little more specifically the causes and effects of the Arab spring in Oman.  The presentation was very detailed, and we did have the opportunity to ask questions, and of course it was extremely interesting. It was dissappointing to find out that in Oman not much is being done to stop the human rights violations in the country, especially considering the house workers. All they can really depend on is that people will follow the immigration rules set by their countries. Right now the idea of human rights isn't a wide spread idea in Oman, but hopefully with time things will improve.

    Unfortunately my time in Oman is nearing it's end, yesterday the one week mark was passed. I am really not looking forward to going home, I have really come to love Oman and the idea of leaving it at this moment is something I'm not quite ready to accept. For now, I am making the most out of my time here. Today an abaya photo shoot has been going on in my house, and I have really been enjoying watching it. I love photography and seeing all its workings, and the clothes that is being modeled is absolutely amazing. Talk about an afternoon full of art!

                              





Juju decided to try modeling herself!

      





My host dad busy working!

I think I'll stay for a few extra days...

      Seriously. I think my passport might get "lost" or maybe the cat will "eat it," or if all else fails I'll accidentally end up on the plane to Salalah instead of to the U.S. Everytime I meet someone new they ask me how long I'm saying and they never fail to tell me that I have to stay for eid and why can't I just stay for a few extra days.   Anyways chances are that I will definitely go back at the set time, but one can only dream.
   Host family life is great! I am with a pretty recently married couple (almost two years) and they are both some of the nicest people you will ever meet. I truly feel so lucky to be able to spend my time in Oman with them. Ramadan could be considered only to a certain extent like what Christmas is for people in the U.S it is super busy all the time. This past week I have gone out every single night, most of the time being for iftar (the breaking of the fast). We only spent two iftars in the house, but we ended up going out afterwards and eating more. There really never is just one dinner, leading to the gaining of some weight, but I don't really mind because the food is so good. In Oman family is the most important thing. My host parents live about ten to fifteen minutes away from their parents, and I was able to meet both sides of the family this week for iftar. My host dad's family is half Pakistani so the dinner at his house included some food that was different than the really traditional Omani food. Pakistani food is generally spicier that Omani food, but it tastes so good! When we visit my host mom's family they always have a thick soup called shorba. It's a thick soup made with flour and has some meat, usually you add lime and hard boiled egg to it. It's extremely rich and it's a typical Ramadan food because it holds you for such a long time. Also, I'm pretty sure a day hasn't gone by where I haven't had a samosa.

My host family's pet cat Juju!

  

During Ramadan you will find these candles everywhere! They hang candles in trees and all sorts of places. These candles are specially used for decoration during Ramadan.

This week we got to go to the museum Bait al Zubair it was previous This week we got to go to the museum Bait al Zubair it was previously a house that they turned into a museum that shows the typical Omani clothes and household items. My favorite part was this tiny Omani village they had outside.

   In Oman the Olympics aren't all that big, from what I can tell most people don't watch them, but today I got the chance to watch some of them. Tonight I will make some pancakes for my host family and inshallah they'll turn out well. School is going great and I'm fairly sure that I did well on my mid-term. Also, this week I got to go help my host mom at this program that takes care of girls while the mothers go to lessons at the mosque. The program's intent is to educate the girls while watching them so that the time is spent productively. Each week they have different stations cooking, math, science, and English. This week my host mom's class was on cooking so I got to help them make little nutella granola cup cakes type of thing. Fortunately I will be here for the English lesson day, and I am so glad to have the opportunity for teaching while I am here. The girls that my host mom teaches are in kindergarten to first grade and they actually helped in teaching me more Arabic.