Halfway through already?

     It feels like I'm embarking on a whole new program, and in reality it's just the middle of the program, and since it is the middle of the program we will of course be having a MID-TERM! Yes, a mid-term in the summer that's right. I have learned so much these last three weeks and it's amazing what good teachers can do. I'm actually really glad to have a check-up because I want to make sure and get practice with the Arabic tests before our final end of the program exam.
    The other most important thing that happens in the middle of the program is that we finally get to move in with host families! Tonight we will be going to some sort of activity(they haven't told us what it is yet) and meeting our host families and going home with them. I'm really looking forward to leaving the hotel and being able to immerse myself even more in the Omani culture, especially to learn more about Ramadan.
    On Tuesday I went to my first iftar with Omani's. It was an end of the program party for the access girls, and I'm so glad that we were able to go. The party started by the breaking of the fast, and that went well excluding one minor mishap. I had loaded my plate with veggies and curry, a fresh green salad is pretty hard to come by and I was feeling great about being to have some salad until I realized that the whole green bean I had just put in my mouth had a really really different texture. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, oh wait, my mouth was burning, and so were my lips. I got slightly choked up and desperatly got some water, and the girls also gave me a yogurt drink. That green bean definitely wasn't a green bean, it turned out to be a green chili instead. Excluding the green chili's the food was pretty good. The games afterward were really fun. In the morning when we had gone to access I had helped with making a treasure hunt, and watching everyone look for the treasure was just too exciting. I can't believe that the access program is already over, in just a few weeks I felt like I was able to get to know the girls, and I really will miss them.
    I'm loving Oman, and looking forward to the experiences that will continue coming.
  
     
   

Ramadam Kareem!

   We decided to go out and try a restaurant other than the Lebanese restaurant that we have been eating at for quite some time(I ate there about five times), and we found a place that said it was an Iraqi restaurant so we decided to go in. It ended up being an Indonesian restaurant, it's relatively new so they haven't had the chance to change the sign yet. It's a really homey place, and the food was great. Some of the food was really spicy, but most of it had a really nice kick. On the plus side there was fresh fruit that really helped cool down everything, and just tasted really good.

They had colorful rice crisp chips, and amazing vegetables. We had some sauteed broccoli with squid and that was great as well.
     Of course we have been going to get juice after dinner each night even though we are completely stuffed. I've really been hoping for some pomegranate juice, but juice man doesn't have pomegranate and he has to make everything fresh. I'm really hoping that I will be able to have some before I leave the hotel. Today was pretty interesting because juice man and his friend that helps with the shop insisted that we take a picture all together, and once that picture was taken he insisted on everyone taking individual pictures.

Juice man is on the left and his friend is on the right

    Also, there is now a game named after me. Today we got to go to access in the morning and we helped the girls come up with game ideas for their iftar party. They decided to name the game I came up with "Stephanie's game" which I thought was pretty funny, but I guess it's a good way to be remembered. I also got to talk to the girls about Ramadan, and I found out that many of the girls had grown up looking forward to fasting when they were younger. My favorite explanation for the reasoning behind fasting is that it's a time for people to humble themselves and live in the simplest way possible. They take the time to focus on growing spiritually and be grateful for everything. During ramadan most Muslims try to read through the Koran. Another very important part about Ramadan is simply achieving equality among everybody by living in the same manner, and focusing on the same thing.

   Tomorrow I will get to sleep in and take a break from school because there's a vacation day! In Oman July 23rd is Renaissance day. It celebrates the day Sultan Qaboos Bin Said became Sultan of Oman. I will definitely be enjoying tomorrow, and in the evening we get to go to the souq!

    Laila Saida!

   

Arabian Nights

   This weekend we got to go "camping". Now, if camping were like this in the United States I would love to go camping all the time. The campsite we went to defined luxurious camping.



 Our tent

   

      In the main part of Nizwa we went to Fort Nizwa and the souq. We only had half an hour in the souq, but it was still enough time to find the good hand made silver that Nizwa is known for.

   On the way up we got to stop in a small town. The structure was very interesting because all the houses were built on rocks, they also had a stream of mountain water going through the whole town. I got to talk to a few girls their that asked our names and said hello, they seemed to be sisters.



    For lunch we stopped at a campsite/ bungalow type of resort and had lunch at the restaurant there. There were small hills and we walked around after eating and I met a goat. We gave him the original name of Billy. He was the only goat that would come to  me, and he ended up following me up the mountain. I really wanted to take him home with me, but I suppose it just wouldnt've worked out that well.

 We stopped by the Nizwa gourge, and it was absolutely astonishing. This picture doesn't come close to doing it any justice. The Nizwa gourge is larger than the grand canyon, and when you looked down you would see goats wandering around. Across from where we stopped there were a few girls selling bracelets and key chains they had made from goat and sheep hair. The girls were so precious, and very friendly as most Omani's are.

     When we arrived at the campsite it was raining! I was really excited because I can't even remember when the last time I saw rain(I think maybe April or May). It helped the temperature drop down to the perfect temperature for camping. When we had stopped at Fort Nizwa and the souq the temperature had been 44 degrees celcius(111.2 degrees farenheit). The weather was so enjoyable that we spent the whole time outside, and in the evening it got even better. I ended up staying up really late playing card games with a few of the girls in the group and one of the driver, but the weather was so amazing that I wanted to stay out as long as possible.

    Today we went on a short walk through some of the mountains and went swimming in the wadi's which felt absolutely incredible. Most of the time there were fish that were pretty small, but not small enough to be minnows that continually body slammed themselves into my feet. I was fortunate enough to not come in contact with a leech, but one girl did get bitten by a leech. Fortunately it was a small leech for her to get off.

    Today I finally got to meet the juice man. There is a juice shop near the hotel that just about all the NSLI-Y kids have been to, and they call the owner the juice man (in Arabic rajid asir). In order to get a juice from him he asks you questions in Arabic and makes sure to teach us several different things in Arabic. The juices are pretty good, and during Ramadan new juice flavors are offered so for the next week I'm considering getting a juice everday; I will be forced to practice Arabic more, and I will get a tasty juice. Ramadan is starting tomorrow and I am really curious to see the changes in routine and behaviors.

"Move Your Body Lose Your Fatty"

      There is no way for me to describe how much I love access! The girls in the access program are incredible, and the teachers are so sweet as well. I am really excited because tomorrow we will get to take cooking classes with them, and then have Arabic classes later in the day. Today during access we played a game were you gave three hints about a famous person and then the other people would have to guess who it was. Everybody told me that British singers, especially Adele and One Direction were popular in Oman, so I used Adele as the person for everyone else to guess and they didn't know who she was at all. I guess all the information I'd heard was somewhat misleading.
     Instead of staying at the Amideast center for our FGLL (facilitated group language learning) we walked to the park and saw that our FGLL teachers were there, I assumed that we were just going to have classes in the park. Wrong. It was a surprise birthday party for everyone with summer birthdays! Ramadan is starting on Saturday so celebrating birthdays with our teachers wouldn't really work out, so they surprised the four of us that have birthdays while in Oman.

This park was huge, and there's huge festival held at it each year. The park included horse back riding, a bowling place, an amusement park, an ice skating place, and several playgrounds. We went into the amusement park and I went on a log ride(and got completely wet) and the ferris wheel. The ferris wheel had a great view of Muscat especially since the sun was setting.

They had this sign at the park, they should definitely consider putting these around town in the U.S

On language improvement: From only being here for almost two weeks I feel as though I've learned so much, and I can kind of catch on. I've also been reflecting on the fact that being at least trilingual has been one of the main goals in my life, and I'm actually able to get alot done towards crossing that off the bucket list all thanks to NSLI-Y and everyone else involved with exchange programs. Inshallah I'll be able to keep learning as much as I am now, if not more.

عيد ميلاد سعيد

   Today was all just one big mufaja (surprise). I had thought about my birthday a little bit, and I honestly had no idea what to expect, for the most part I wasn't really expecting much of anything, but it ended up being quite the opposite.
   I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but my host mom works at the Amideast center, so I get to see her almost every day. Anyways, today at the end of lunch she surprised me, along with the other group coordinators, with the most adorable cake I had ever seen. I actually didn't want to cut it because it was such a nice cake, but it tasted as amazing as it looked!

Walida habibi!

Icing figures of my host mom and I, Salalah ticket, Arabic class stuff, and of course happy birthday in Arabic!

For dinner we had traditional Omani food, rice and meat, eaten by hand of course! I seriously don't know if I'll be able to eat normally when I get home, I love the whole use silverware sometimes, other times don't. Then, a second cake! Sarah made it with the help of Sammy, Celine, and Bekah an incredible chocolate cake with coconut cookies(they kind of looked like croutons). The cake was quickly devoured amongst sixteen girls.

The cherry on top: going to one of the two Mexican restaurants in Oman and spending the whole night singing on their karaoke machine. The NSLI-Y group monopolized the machine, and I'm sure we drove everyone crazy, but it was worth it.

 I am very fortunate to be in Oman and I am so grateful to all the people that made it such an incredible day!



From Blown tires to Camels

    Ridiculously absurd and incredibly amazing doesn't even cover half of what this weekend felt like. This weekend ranged from seeing thousands of camels to busted tires, and the thought "wait I'm in Oman" steadily remained in my head.  Just to clear a few things up if the weekend thing doesn't make sense, in Oman the weekend is Thursday and Friday and the week begins on Saturday and ends on Wednesday. 
    We arrived in Salalah on Wednesday after going to our Arabic classes. The change in weather after stepping off the plane was incomparable, it was weather that you never get in Texas because it's either scorching hot or "winter" cold. Salalah in it's entirety was an amazing place.
   On Wednesday we started off by going to the Frankincense museum, which despite its name had alot about general Omani history. It included things about what Sultan Qaboos has done, and it's absolutely incredible how much progress Sultan Qaboos has been able to achieve in forty years. When Sultan Qaboos became Sultan he visited each city and made sure that health centers and schools were built in each city. The health care system in Oman is great, everybody receives health care and if the Omani doctors are unable to perform certain procedures then the government pays for the patient to receive their surgery outside the country. The museum also included a gallery on all the different ships from the history of Oman as well as different prints of the Qoran.
    The summer months are called Khareef in Salalah. These are the months during which they have tropical weather and everything turns green. From June to July they hold the Khareef festival in Salalah and we got to go. The festival had a wide range of activites the most...interesting one being a hamester ball type of thing. Basically there was a pool filled with water and these huge plastic balls and children would be put in them to roll around the pool. I also watched traditional Omani dances, got to go shopping in a huge festival tent, and I finally got to try avocado juice! The avocado juice was pretty good, but soooooo overloaded with honey, when I get home I will try to make some myself.

 Look at the little girl in the back!

 Stopping at a coconut stand for some fresh coconut milk!

Thursday and Friday were packed to the brim with events so I will divide up the rest of this post by the day.

Thursday:  We started the day in the best was possible, going to the beach. From the beach we went to the Taqah castle which previously had been a type of fort protecting Salalah. We got to visit the Rhori ruins.

 From there we went to the Jabal(mountain) My favorite moment on the way up to the Jabal is when I turned to look back and saw the driver behind us talking on his cellphone and then taking the other hand off the wheel to wave to us. Everyone in the car began to wave so I decided to take a photo and of course they all posed, but what surprised me the most was when the person in the passenger seat took out his camera to take a picture of us.

A huge recycling event was happening at the Jabal and we got to meet the CLS students, CLS is pretty much the NSLI-Y program for college kids. The Jabal had a nice misty thing going on and the mountains were beautiful, and green! I love green!

When we were driving to dinner things seemed normal, but then got pretty shady when the driver just turned off the road and stopped in the desert. Random trip to Yemen? No, sitting on the side of the road and having dinner is normal in Salalah, it's a thing.

    Afterwards we got to learn about traditional Omani dances. Shout out to Steve for doing a great job planning the trip and getting the best tour guide ever! I have never seen a man so able to dance, he showed us the traditional wedding dances, female, male, freestyle, and even belly dancing. All in all it was just an immense amount of fun. Desert dance parties are the best.

     Friday: We started the morning off by going to Job's tomb which was pretty high up in the mountains, but was really fun to see after studying the Old testament this year. I've never had any issues on Friday the 13th, but it's Oman. What hasn't happened in Oman? A tire getting blown out hadn't happened yet, so of course it happened on Friday. I was half asleep on the bus and I just heard a huge mixture of thump, screech, and seventeen screaming girls. The tire had blown out. Luckily we had a great driver and a few Pakistani's stopped to help. It only took about thirty to forty minutes, and who wouldn't want to have the "blowing a tire out and being stuck in the desert" story?

From the desert we got to go to the most beautiful beach ever, Mukhsayl beach. Pictures don't even capture half of the beauty. The water was so blue and mountains are a perfect back drop anytime. Plus we saw camels on the beach!

I'm in love with camels and Oman

Nobody wanted to leave the beach, but from the beach we got to spend time at the Souq in salalah, and I am finally beginning to get the hang of the whole bartering thing, it helped that Bekah and I went together because it was twice the persuasiveness and still one shop keeper. We managed to find some of the best type of frankincense that is made. It is a green crystal kind, and managed to get scarves that feel absolutely incredible.
Unfortunately the Salalah trip had to come to an end, but I definitely could not have asked for a better experience.

      Today we signed a language pledge meaning that I can no longer speak anything but Arabic, and the same applies to everyone in the group, so now we're all saying the five words and phrases we know, and figuring out different gestures and intonations to somehow get our point across. Right now it's pretty ridiculous, but it's the only way that we'll manage some fluency in the short time we're here.

   

Mono-poly

      On Sunday we went to a school to help teach English at an English summer camp program, and today we also got to come back. Unfortunately this day was our last day with the group of boys we were helping out, but next week the English camp for girls starts so we will get to help with that! On Saturday they are having their graduation, and for it they will be playing English games and presenting about the program, it's called the Access program. Today I got to help make an English game that they called "Monopoly"(they actually pronounced it as mono-poly instead of monopoly), but wasn't really similar to it all, basically each player rolls and moves the amount they roll, but instead of having a Monopoly they just answer questions in English in order to keep moving on. The questions widely varied from how to greet people in English to what the meaning of Y.O.L.O is. The boys are extremely friendly, and I was able to learn some Arabic from them. I will miss being part of their classes. I was able to learn alot about them, and it was amazing to see that people are all somewhat similar in different cultures.

    I also found out about official host family information recently. There are still a few weeks until we get to move in with our host families. I already knew quite a bit about my host family because our group coordinators know quite a bit about my family, and I found out why, my host mom works at the AMIDEAST office. Since she works there I have been seeing her everyday, and been able to talk to her. I am really looking forward to the time we will get to spend with host families.

   We also got to go to the grocerey store Carrefour at the mall. We bought different snacks for our room. The juices here are amazing, they have a kiwi juice which apparently is basically just straight syrub, but it's still really good. I pretty much finished a whole bottle yesterday. The mango juice is really good, and apparently they make fresh avocado honey juice. The fresh avocado honey juice sounds like an extremely strange mix, but I've heard quite a few good things about it and I'm interesting in trying it.

    I have officially memorized the Arabic alphabet, and I am trying very hard to read things now, and I can to a certain extent. It takes me a VERY long time to sound out words and figure out quite what it is. Our classes have been fun, and just in two full day I already feel as though I have learned alot. I am glad that I studied a little bit on my own before coming here because that has made the memorization easier for me.

    Mashallah is a word that prevents the evil eye, so whenever you give anyone a compliment you must make sure to say mashallah either before or after you give the compliment. This is necessary because if you don't say mashallah that means that the evil eye is upon the person that was complimented. If you don't say mashallah the person gives whatever item they were complimented on to the person that complimented them. At first I wasn't all that aware of the idea, but yesterday when we were going home one of the girls in our group told the driver that he had a nice hat, he automatically reached to his head and offered it to her, she didn't understand and instead of mashallah began to say inshallah, which means god willing. She finally realized, and said mashallah, but this was honestly one of the funniest moments yet. It also makes me wonder if people just don't say mashallah in order to receive something the want...

    Tomorrow we will be heading to Salalah for the Dhofari festival, and in Salalah they temperature drops by about 20 degrees, so that will definitely be a nice change. Salalah is completely different from Muscat, it's more conservative, the language is quite different, and at this time of the year it has tropical weather.

   Also, our chaperone from D.C to Muscat, and basically the first person that told the kids going to Oman anything about Oman is leaving tomorrow because he got a job outside of Oman . This will definitely be strange, but not only that it means that the girls in the Oman group won't have much contact with the male gender for awhile. Anyways, today we had a fun little good bye celebration, and new adventure is always good even when it means leaving.

   

  

The Jewel of the Area

Refreshingly welcoming, I have never felt more at home. Finally taking a full dive into the culture today was the most incredible day I've had in awhile. Today while we were at the Sultan's palace I was standing in front of it to get a picture taken and an Omani boy was standing nearby, his father told him to stand next to me, and proceeded by taking several pictures of us together.

This moment embodies Omani's perception towards others.  Being Muslim they're extremely respectful, and their attitude towards strangers is that if a person hasn't given you a reason to hate then you treat them with utter respect.

   This morning we got to go to the American Embassy and we discussed which department we should turn to in case of emergency. It covered the steps we should take to protect ourselves and what we should do in the situation of a lost passport, hopefully that won't happen to anybody, inshallah. Dangers were discussed, but overall the statement was that Oman is extremely safe overall, and what the presenter called "the jewel of the area"

    Today we had our first day of school, and it was amazing. I learned so many things, and the FGLL(pronounced figgle, standing for facilitated group language learning) class we have is great. We learned many survival phrases and the most interesting thing I learned today was how to say good luck in Arabic. When our class heard what good luck was in Arabic we spent a good five minutes giggling and practicing saying it, basically when transliterated good luck is slightly profane, and for the sake of being appropriate and the fact that some important NSLI-Y people are reading this *cough* Jerry and Katy, I will leave the transliterated meaning of good luck out.  The teachers for the classes are incredible and I already see the great times that are ahead this six weeks. The teachers are extremely nice, and have great personalities. The main director of classes said he usually wasn't funny, but he ended up being hilarious.

My full name in Arabic!

     Ok, this is really off topic, but I pretty much just had the most frightening experience of my life. I was just sitting at the table blogging away and out of nowhere the fire alarm started going off. Everyone in the room stood up for a few seconds trying to process the horror happening to us, grabbed our laptops and the valuables that were around us, and ran outside of the room, once we stepped out of the room the alarm stopped. It just stopped. False alarm? We sat back down relieved that not another horror was going to happen to us, my heart still pounding. Then another ringing, it was just the hotel management calling to say that the sizzler had been cooking in the restaurant and had caused the alarm to go off...fantastic.

    After Arabic classes we got to tour the area of old Muscat. We got to go to the beach and the Souq. The Souq consisted of typical Omani items, it's pretty much like the mercados you find in Latin America. The Souq is really interesting, but being a tourist you get ripped off, and I feel really out of place. In Paraguay it was really easy to barter because I had an understanding of the value of the money as well as the language. In Oman I struggle speaking to them, I can do it, it's just difficult, and I have no grasp on the value of their money. Leaving me feeling like a fish out of water, but hopefully by the time I get to go with my host family I will suceed in getting good prices, inshallah. The beach was truly beautiful.

 amazing hotel we stopped at



this is what the humidity does to my lens



Shop keeper at the Souq

 

   

Silverware?

     Swimming in the pool and eating amazing food, today was basically a vacation day. We did have some orientation in the morning that reiterated different cultural customs and we got to learn more about what is expected of us with our host families.
      A custom that you commonly find in truly traditional Omanis' is eating without silverware. During lunch we got to go to a typical Omani restaurant. We sat on the floor and ate with our hands.

At the restaurant I also saw a liscence plate with a Texas Longhorns decoration next to it!

 

After the restaurant we got to go to a pool on the roof of a hotel, and it had the most amazing view. There are enormous mountains in Oman, and I hadn't seen them until today.

Near the hotel was a beautiful mosque that we got to stop by, we didn't get to go in because prayer time was in a few minutes, but it was nice to stop by for a few minutes. I know that later on I will be able to go into several other mosques.

For dinner we went to the restaurant the Golden Spoon and ate Indian food, and it was spicier than usual.

 Chicken Tikka Masala and Tandoori. The Tandoori was so spicy that it completely cleared up all my congestion, and it burned a little bit.

 A ministry.

Tomorrow I get to take a language placement test and have my first Arabic class! I'm excited to finally become more involved in the Omani culture.