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.
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.
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.
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| My host family's pet cat Juju! |
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| 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.
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