Before Christmas: October and November

I know what you're thinking, "Zach, do you still... (insert verb here)". And the answer, barring the insertion "communicate with people outside of Oman" is: yes, of course! I still live in Oman, I still travel nearly every weekend, and I am still creating excuses for not doing this despite my desire to keep it up.

Yes, Desi, I am still alive, and you are right Kate, I need to update my blog. So, here we go.

Since my trip to Salalah, I've taken it easy, still going on adventures, but you know, no more driving 9 hours without stopping.

OCTOBER

Party like its 6:30 pm (try to stay awake til 7)!

Taking a look at my calendar, I am going to start with my birthday and progress from there to now. First of all, thank all of you for the birthday wishes and phone calls. For my birthday, I received very nice Scotch and Vodka from Carla, and went to play kickball with a lot of the faculty at a local baseball complex. Later on I went to my first bar in Oman and stayed for only 15 minutes. Carla invited all of us to her place for more drinks and we all went and had a great time. I forced myself to stay up until about 10:30. I know its lame, but after teaching for a full week, well, most of you are teachers, you know what its like. so, 10:30 was pretty good!

As a gift to myself, I bought a traditional coffee-table for my apartment. Like most things in Oman, it is a Omani idea but is made of a Yemenese door design and Indian wood.

Towards the end of the month, I took my first kite-boarding lesson and had some fun doing that. But, other than that, not much was happening (unless I am forgetting about something, which is another great reason to update more frequently!)

NOVEMBER

The big things in November were finishing the swim season (finally), psicobloc, Mosque visit, and going back to see the turtle's again along with continuing my struggle with kiteboarding.

Oh, Allah, please heal these hands! (Mosque and DWS)

One weekend we decided to take it easy again. So, Thursday morning Jeff, Sara and I went to the Grand Mosque for a tour. Despite the heat we all had to cover everything except our heads and hands. Sara did have to cover her hair as well, but she made it stylish. The Mosque is open to non-muslims on Thursdays and you must take your shoes off before entering any of the buildings. But we just decided to park our shoes in one of the holders and just walk around in just our socks since the entire floor, outside and in, was perfectly clean. They must wash it a couple dozen times a day, and with the cheap Pakistani and Indian labor, why not!

After the mosque, Sara and I went with Courtney and Greg to one of the public beaches to find a fisherman and go psicobloc, or deep water soloing, or DWS, or rock climbing over the ocean! It was a pretty incredibly experience! Greg speaks Arabic, so he was able to get a fisherman and his boat to take us out the the cliffs on an island, hang out and laugh at us for just 8 rials! The most challenging and tiring part of the DWS was getting from the water to the base area. We had to pull ourselves out of the water while the waves are helping for only a split second then leave you to be pulled once again by gravity. I didn't get to see Greg go up the route he had so many times before, and with my awesome abilities that Hinkson and Bernie IV helped build up last year, I was confident that I would be able to figure out how to get up without any help. Well, the first thing I grabbed was a rock with seashells sticking out of it like pieces of glass. I immediatly let go and yelped.

But, I was determined to get up, so I placed my hands once again on the rocks and pulled as hard as I could, almost making it before I had to throw myself away from the rocks and back into the forgiving water. I felt my hands stinging from the salt and when I looked at them as I treaded water, they were literally being torn up. But, I knew I could do it, so I ignored the pain like a manly-man and swam over again and place my hands up on the rocks once more wincing as I felt the sharp shells once again under my hands. By this time, there were some curious Omani women in another fishing boat who came over to watch the spectacle. So, now I really had to step up my game to impress the ladies! For a third time I felt the shells insert into my skin and I pulled and grabbed desperatly at any rocks above. But once again, I failed. So, I looked up at Greg and how it was possible that he could stand all the pain. He looked at me confused and pointed out the shell free route that he took, I tried once more on his route, but had no strength left to rise out of the water. So I jumped back on the boat and the fisherman temporarily docked so Sara, Courtney and I could join Greg on the small rock platform. The Omani ladies were entertained by my pathetic showing and I began traversing our first route embarrassed. The first route was fairly easy with lots of options to give up if we wanted. Greg led, but tried something a bit too hard and ended up jumping back in the water. Courtney was now in the lead, with me second and Sara following closely. At one point, Sara asked me if it was my blood on the rocks. I looked back at her and saw spots of blood marking my holds. When I looked at my hands, all the rips in my skin were leaking blood. I decided to not let it ruin my experience unless sharks started smelling the blood in the water, and kept climbing. Our second route was the main attraction, though after all we had already been through and being out of climbing shape, we only tried the route a few times. But, it was great adventure!

Oh, the places baby turtles and Taj will go!

Our second turtle adventure was much like the first, however, there were fewer turtles. August and September are the best times to go for those of you who might be planning a trip. Another huge difference for this trip was that around 9:45 at night, as we were putting our innocent little heads to rest, an Omani ranger found us! We had heard stories that the previous weekends they tried to kick our friends off the beach because they didn't want people to terrorize the turtles. The Omani rangers were responding to a German couple picking up some of the turtles. So, it was valid, and I am all for fighting terrorism on any front! However, despite my excitement for the rangers doing a great job, it was scary to have silouettes roaming around the campsite and seeing if we would respond to their greetings. But, we all pretended to be sleeping, although I wasn't pretending, and they left. Jeff woke me up after they left and said there were people at the campsite. Of course, I was still half asleep and this just scared me, as I saw their tail lights pulling away, I became very concerned and it took me a full couple minutes to fall asleep again! I did end up having a lot of nightmares about people raiding the campsite though.

The great thing about about turtle beach, aside from the turtles, is the fact that you have to get up before sunrise to watch the turtles and the sunrise is absolutely incredible here! And that

mornings rosy sky did not disappoint. In fact it did not disappoint so much that I ended up taking about 50 pictures of it.

After taking the classic pictures of the last turtle going into the sea at sunrise, we went swimming in the waves and Sara and I went on a little hike to a lovely spot where we were on a cliff 15 meters above the water and with nothing below us. We watched the fish and snakes playing below, or fighting, we weren't sure, but let's just say they were playing. We headed back to camp and packed up, and were off to Wadi Tiwi.

Wadi Tiwi.

We drove up to Wadi Tiwi, which is a beautiful wadi just off the highway. We stopped at the first set of pools to take a quick dip and wash the salt of the ocean away. We knew of a small village way up in the canyon which required 4WD. We soon discovered why we would need 4WD and a to be somewhat fearless. This was a one lane, steep dirt road with sharp turns and few places to pull off in case of oncoming traffic. With the steep road, Taj was struggling, and at one point simply couldn't go on. Jeff was in my car, so we developed a new method for tackling the rough road. We decided to wait at the bottom of the hill and wait until Janelle was at the top, then we got a running start and flew up the hill as fast as 2nd gear would take us ignoring the potholes, rocks and taking the turns way to fast. The method worked and we made it up to the village with Taj smelling a bit burnt out.

We parked outside of the mountain village and walked in; this wasn't really a choice, there is only the road leading to it, and then walking paths, but the village is built on the side of a mountain, so there was no room for roads. The village seemed to have such a simple life which was reflected in the architecture. No one seemed to put any thought into where or how they wanted to build their houses. There were houses that were built partly on top of abandoned houses and every structure looked like it was going to crumble and tumble down the adjacent valley.

As we walked through the village, we unknowingly became leaders of some sort of parade. All the kids began to follow us in a single file line and were very excited to have us around. We continued to walk past the goats and donkeys and waved good-bye to the kids and some of the adults. It was a bit surreal how welcoming and excited they were.

So, that is basically October and November.

Eid Trip to Salalah! part deux

Oct. 3 - "That's no mirage...", "Maybe we should ask... the waiter?"

Sleeping in the desert is incredible, the stars are clear and bright and there are more than I can remember seeing except in a planetarium. Waking up is easy and nice also. The temperature is pleasant and the sky is a light blue and the sun still isn't blinding until about 7:30. We woke up to the sound of footprints which belonged to Ahmed carrying some sweet bread and a pan of jelly-like brown stuff called haloye, or something like that. It was 6 in the am and we were getting ready for our hike. After a quick breakfast and hearing stories from Ahmed about the leopard that lives in the canyon and how there used to be more but people shot most of them in the 60s to the 80s, we set off on our hike which was very short but very steep. We went down a few cliffs then climbed a small hill, then down another few cliffs to the wadi which looked refreshing and deep. The guide book describes the pool as 'difficult to reach and one must have a comfort with height and cliffs to swim" They were right on. We had to scale down a cliff to get to a flat spot. On the way down, Lydia didn't want her backpack on because it was somewhat heavy, so she threw it down to me, but we didn't communicate very well and it hit a part of the cliff which jetted out and flew right over my hands and into the water! I yelled, "Oh no!", we started laughing and I ran to a cave to get changed so I could jump in after it, however as I turned my back Lydia basically jumped down two steep cliffs and jumped into the pond to rescue her soaking bag, towel, book, and a few other items! Luckily, there was nothing incredibly important in there.

I decided to only wear my drag suit to try to make the girls feel more comfortable being in their bathing suits around an omani man, but as it turned out, they all had their suits on under some special fabric clothing to swim in, so I just looked like a jack-ass! I can't help but think that Ahmed thought I was swimming in my white Wabash Wally underwear and that I was an idiot! But, we swam around, jumped off the cliffs and helped each other out of the water. Aside from being a fun experience, it was a great bath for all of us!

We hiked back up to our campsite and Ahmed and I exchanged numbers and promised to call each other if we were in the same region again. I was again elated that the talks from the night before were more than just mere words and we were actually interested in establishing a connection and friendship across religions, cultures, languages, and perceptions.

We left Wadi Uyun, Ahmed, and his lost baby camel around 9:00 am and headed to a garden on the east side of Salalah.

Although this was a short route, it took a while because every few kilometers there was a camel crossing. It was still so funny to see how they just keep walking out into the road even if a car is coming. They are so non-chalant in their gate and their head movements that they seem to have an air of arrogance about them. And the way they are treated and protected by the Omanis, they deserve to have that attitude. Coming around a corner I almost hit one, it didn't even seem to flinch, a car coming at it at 80 kms/hour was just an annoyance if even that. The rest of the herd crossed the road seperating our two cars. After a few camel crossings there was a cattle crossing. And of course, because everything happens in threes, there was eventually a donkey crossing also! Later in the day when we arrived at our next campsite we would get a goat crossing as well, we were excited about every single stupid crossing too.

The gardens were nice, but not much to write home about. The best thing was that it was green, we had some time to just relax and not be in the car and there were a lot of people on holiday. Next, we drove through the actually city of Salalah, but it was Friday so everything was closed and we just got some ice cream at a gas station, then moved on to the west side of Salalah to see the blow holes. This was a beautiful spot, but we didn't actually get to see any action until the next morning.

So, we went on to the drive the "steps" carved into a mountain. This road was constructed to make it "easier" for motorists to get from Yemen to Salalah and the rest of Oman. It was very exciting, we climbed 1,000 meters in just 8 turns. The road was steep and the turns were nearly 180 degrees. Once we were to the top, we looked down the carved out mountain and the road we just drove up and thank goodness we didn't have vertigo! I wasn't exactly sure why the mountain just just collapse because of how steep it was.

We drove on, now feeling pressure to get to our next destination before night fell. Once again, we weren't exactly sure where we were going to stay, but the guide book gave us a few suggestions on a nice beach or mountain top. We got to an army checkpoint, then continued on towards Yemen, then took a sharp turn southeast and headed to the ocean once again. We snaked with the road along the ridges of green mountains and through little towns with vacant hair-stylists shops, coffee-shops, and other buildings. With each town we couldn't tell if it was abondoned or still in use. We figured they were all still occasionally in use.

We passed a lot of cattle and camels on the roads, but eventually arrived to a small town on the beach surrounded by steep cliffs. It was a beautiful spot to camp and once we decided on the most private part of the small beach we went for a swim and body surfed then headed into town to get dinner. We had read in the guide book that we needed to get permission from the town leader to camp on the beach. It was already dark and we were starving, so we just decided that maybe we could ask our waiter if we would be allowed to sleep on the beach. He and the locals at the restaurant all agreed that that would be fine. We weren't sure if that counted as permission, but we thought it was at least in our favor if there was any trouble. The restuarant was cheap and the meat shawarma had a mystery meat. All we decided was that it was not beef, chicken, lamb, and obviously not pork. We figured it was goat, but didn't ask, and eventually didn't care. After dinner, we crashed on the beach. I should note here that we never used a tent on this trip, we just set down our Wadi mat and sleeping bags and that was our mini home for the night! I absolutely loved the simplicity of the camping. However, the last night we probably should have set up the tent... I'll explain later.

Oct. 4 - Holding on to that green grass and a desert storm

We woke up Saturday and the tide was pretty high, so we packed up and had a small breakfast and headed out of town back to Salalah. We we determined to see the blowholes at high tide. We drove back throught the green mountains, passed the army checkpoint and back down the steps to the blowholes. We arrived thinking they still weren't happening, but as we got closer, we heard the air being forced through the holes and then one of the holes spouted up a steady stream of water and mist, as well as a crab! The pressure of the air through the holes was powerful, and the sound shook our core. We watched a few spouts, then once mroe people started arriving, we left to visit the Salalah souk.


At the souk we bought some frankincense and some burners, then went to a juice shop and decided what we wanted to do the rest of the day and the final leg of our trip. This was where we had too many people with too many different ideas. But, we finally decided on a nice plan. Get pita bread, and find a nice tree on top of a mountain overlooking the green hills and have a picnic and rest for a few hours before starting our 1,000 km drive through the interior. We looked all over for pita bread and hommos, and finally got some after visiting about 5 different stores, then we headed out of town and found a beautiful tree which provided us with shade and friendly ants. We had our picnic and afterward, without saying a word, we all just put our heads on the wadi mat and rested, takin in all the browning green for the last hour.

At last, we decided to pack up and start our adventure in the desert. Again, we weren't sure where we were going to sleep at night, but our plan was to drive about 250-300 kms then pull off and camp in the desert. After about 3 hours of driving we pulled off and drove about 1km into the desert until we found a random spot. The sun was setting and was amazing in the desert. As soon as we stopped, we all went to use the bathroom (an odd thing in the desert because everything is absolutly open to prying eyes, but there isn't anyone around to pry). I decided to take a mini hike behind a hill close by and when I could no longer see the cars or my companions I took in the surrounding landscape. I was absolutely alone and there was absoulety nothing around me. It was a strange feeling to think that if I kept walking I could possibly never see anyone for days and never cross any roads or living plant life. I wondered what my mind would do if I was in this place, this natural, inescapable maze for days without seeing anyone. Would I go crazy, would I find inner peace? I thought of the aborigenes in Australia and I wondered what a walk-about in Oman would be like. The thought of that extremem exploration of this land, my mind, and of my soul was tempting. I felt that I could leave everything behind and walk into the desert with nothing and be completely content.

But, alas, I took another step toward that adventure and then thought that I was just high on the novelty of being in an immense desert for the first time and it might get boring after a while... Alright, I just chickened out because of my responsibilities and my curiosity of where my life is going, so I headed back to camp. But, it would have been fun, right?

As it turned out, camping in the desert requires a tent; which we had but didn't use because it was great weather when we put our heads to rest. As it turned out we had a great adventure that night just laying there. It was hot, so we all slept on top of our sleeping bags and due to our exhaustion, we went to bed around 7:30 or 8. Around 8:45, our young sleep was rudely interrupted by a constant pecking all over our bodies by something I couldn't figure out. We all woke up and realized we were in a sand storm. The wind was blowing dust and sand and forced us into our sleeping bags. As soon as I put my body in my sleeping bag and covered my head to protect myself from the penetrating sands, I began sweating all over! So, now and for the second time on this trip, I was sandy and soaked with sweat in my sleeping bag! I'm not sure when, but eventually the storm stopped, and I was able to breath a bit, then another came in the night and I woke up to slink back into my sleeping bag like a turtle into its shell.

Oct. 5 Dune running? Why not! We already are covered in a layer of sand!

The next time we woke up it was a peaceful, calm, foggy morning. We were surprised by the fog, but accepted it as weather from ocean. As we drove the rest of the day (another 7-8 hours) we shedded dust and sand from all parts of our bodies. Our heads were especially, well, let's face it, disgusting! Salt and sand in our hair, and every centimeter of skin!

We didn't let that get us down and as we made our way back at 130 to 140 km/hour we stopped at a massive sand dune to hike around and then for lunch shortly after that, and finally we got back to Muscat sandy, tired, but accomplished. The total driving time to cross the interior desert was only about 11 hours.

So, it was a great trip, one that I would do again in August when there is more green. Anyone want to come!?

Eid Al Fitr to Salalah Part 1

Salaam,

Well, Ramadan officially ended last week on Oct. 1 which meant that it was Eid al Fitr- the celebration of ramadan ending . Although we didn't fast, unless I forgot my lunch, Sara, Lydia, Jenelle and I decided to celebrate by taking a road trip and eating and drinking as much in public as possible; driving 3,000 km in 5 days (don't worry, it only cost about 40 rials- 100 dollars, for the whole trip in gas for Taj, my car).

Oct. 1 - 'That has to be water.' The mirage tricked me as I was trying to save face.

We met around 8 in the morning last Wednesday to leave on our adventure. The plan was to drive down the coast and return through the interior of Oman which is pure desert (but let's face it, the entire country is desert except Salalah). In a typical Manker and road trip fashion we didn't actually get on our way until 9 o'clock. But, we had to make sure we were prepared for everything. Sara was amazing, she packed the food and enough cooking supplies with gas and all to feed us in case we got stuck in the desert for a couple of months. I got 5 containers of water which usually will last me a couple of weeks in my apartment, and we packed up my Sportage and Jenelle's Prado. With our maps, guides, sleeping bags and Wadi mats we headed Southwest, then Southeast, then just straight South to the beaches.

Although it may sound boring to drive from 9 to 4 through desert, it was actually exciting. The mirages were the most impressive thing to me. The looked exactly like ponds or lakes. I can't imagine how horrible they would be to someone in need of water! They were so convincing I actually told myself they had to actually be water so I wouldn't feel so foolish when I found out that they weren't really mirages. But, they were, everytime!

The desert was also incredibly diverse. We gazed at classic light tan dunes intertwined with dark cliffs; strange palm tree forests; rocky terrain with small shrubs and bushes, only one green wadi which was overflowing with grass and trees and donkeys. The gazed at all these novel wonders at 120 km/hour and only taking pictures from the car; we were pressed for time to find a campsite hours away and we didn't know what we were looking for.

Jenelle and Sara were in the lead car and around 4 in the afternoon after the ocean came and vanished a few times from the horizon, we decided we needed to set up camp before it got too dark, so Jenelle took a left on the highway onto... more desert. We put the cars in 4WD and headed South to where we knew the ocean had to be. After 10-15 minutes of bouncing around on sandy paths, we finally came face to face with the ocean and parked and got out to meander around the beach. We looked around campsite and were pleasantly surprised that we were the only ones in sight. We couldn't see any people, roads, buildings, or sign of human existence aside from the trash on the beach. The waves were the largest I've seen in Oman, but after exploring the dead turtle and some small whale bones, we needed to set up camp and have dinner before dark, which happens at 6:30. So, that is how we found our campsite, by taking a left off the road. Oman is basically one big campsite which makes it pretty spectacular. The stars were incredible and I saw 4 of them shoot.

Oct. 2 - A message of peace and an offer of friendship from the middle east to the 25 year old American in shorts and a Cubs hat.

-Or, adventures with Ahmed in Wadi Uyun - ("Did you see a baby camel?")

We awoke in a thick fog and a cold we've never felt in Oman, it got down to 70 F. We were wet and sandy, but happy to be on our adventure. After a walk on the beach and a quick breakfast, we hit the desert, and eventually the road again to our next destination which was Wadi Uyun, a small wadi we found in our guide book. On our way there we crossed a few oil fields, had some camels cross our path, had lunch bought for us at a gas station (we still aren't 100% why) and Sara and I picked up a hitchhiker! I think his name was Mahmud. He was in Oman looking for work in construction to send money home to his family in Pishwar, Pakistan. He was very kind and we got to talking. Eventually the conversation led us to the Taliban. He was very quick to denounce the Taliban saying, "We think they are horrible. They have done horrible things to us. I don't know where they get their ideas, Islam is a peaceful religion". We've found this to be a very common sentiment in this part of the world so far. It was pretty neat to have my first hitchhiker be a Pakistani in Oman!

We left Mahmud in Thumrait, a small town north of Salalah, and continued on to see the frankinsence trees and a few kms later, the world around us suddenly transformed to a fading green. Grass appeared everywhere in the Dhofar mountains and we were amazed! Althought the green season is ending for Salalah, it was the greenest plantlife in abundance we've seen in a long while. We headed back north and out of the mountains to get to Wadi Uyun, and as soon as the grass appeared, it left us. And finally, after another long day of driving, we stumbled on a huge herd of camel and took our fair share of pictures, then found the town of Ayoon, which was a couple hundred meters about the Wadi.

As we entered the village, we were malled by little kids who were opening our doors and grabbing at everything in the cars. We left the town as fast as possible and found a gorge to go down, and after taking a wrong turn and putting Taj to the test, Jenelle took over the lead and found a great campsite! To my defense, nothing is labeled in Oman and I wasn't navigating, only doing a superb job driving! We decided to take a look around and cook in the dark to make better use of our daylight. So, Sara, Lydia, and I walked down into another gorge and discovered the mineral rich dry river bed where all the boulders were a chalk-white. I felt like we were in a fairy tale and we were in the land of giant eggs. I started envisioning giant creatures that were waiting to be born from the eggs. But, alas, no monsters of any kind. However, there were some giant bees!

After crawling around a while, we headed back to camp and set up dinner and our camp at dark. We played some cards and had wine before getting to bed around 9 (a late night for us on this trip). As we were settling down to rest our heads on our pillows and our hips on cushioned rocks we were surprised to find a young man walking around. He called to us from the dark, "Did you see a baby camel?" He didn't seem to speak much more english, but we said no and he walked away. About 15 minutes later as sleep was about to overtake me he returned and asked if he could have a ride home since it was 5 km away. I excitedly agreed knowing he would most likely invite me in for tea and I could get a peek into Omani life. Just that happened. His name was Ahmed, he was 20 and studied in Dubai for a couple of years at a university but decided he liked the simple life more than the city and is now herding camels and goats on his father's land, which is where we were camping. He invited a couple of friends into the entertaining room where I was eating a juicy pear, having a dark rosey tea, and enjoying the dense frankincense air. One friend spoke a lot of English. I stayed until 10:45 pm when the conversation began to extinguish and I no longer found it a novelty to have women trying to look in through the cracked door to see what I was like. Ahmed agreed to meet us at 6 in the morning to show us a pool for swimming. As they walked me out the one who spoke English said, "British, American, Australian, Omani, Saudi, or Afgan; it doesn't matter, we are all friends". I jumped inTaj looking forward to meeting up with Ahmed the following morning.

The rest of the continueing saga of our trip to Salalah will continue in my next post, tomorrow! Here is a post of the upcoming adventures: "That's no mirage...", "Maybe we should ask the... waiter?" and a so far untitled adventure of sleeping in the desert in a sand storm! Wow!

A weekend to relax

This past weekend was pretty low-key. An easy weekend was needed since I have been working in and stressing about school so much lately. Things at school are great, but I am still trying to establish some routine with the kids and myself.

Wednesday night after school I went to an official Iftar to break my non-existant fast. My friend, my colleague, and the teacher I always run to when I need help or an activity, Carla, was putting on a benefit dinner for the Lebanese American University of Beirut. All the money was going toward scholarships, so I felt like I was doing good; all that --Carla and I after the dinner at the amassador's

was missing was my blue tuxedo and an orange counterpart to hit swords (canes) with. The dinner was very fancy and delicious! It was obviously Lebanese food. Then, since we can't go out for drinks during Ramadan, after the dinner we went to Courtney's to have a "Bombs over Yemen" party to make one of our friends feel better about not being able to return to Yemen for his studies because of the recent attacks. Don't worry, Oman is fine.

--Lydia, Sara, and I at our first Omani Iftar!

Thursday morning, I awoke bright and early to meet at the school to go on a kayaking trip with Tommy, Lydia, and Sara! We only had one two-person kayak so after we loaded it up on Tommy's car (Taj needs the cross beams before I put anything on top) we drove about 1 hour to Al Sawadi beach. We unpacked what we needed and set off for an island about 1000 meters away. Lydia and Tommy led us in the kayak while Sara and I swam. It was my first "snorkling" experience, but I didn't have a snorkel and I just used my regular goggles. But, it was great. I saw tons of fish, coral, and the ocean bottom which was only about 10 feet down.

--Our fearless leaders Tommy and Lydia on the island!

We walked around and hung out on the island for a bit. There was a European group of older people who were upset that we were on the same island and the women had to put their tops on, but we didn't feel bad considering it is Ramadan and that is just very disrespectful and culturally irresponsible (They must've been French!) Haha, jaykay. After searching all the nooks and crannies of of the island, we packed up and headed back to the mainland. The ocean was nicer to us on the way back and kept giving us some nice pushes. On the mainland we put the kayak up and Tommy showed us a great spot to get seashells. The best shells were on a beach about a mile away from where we were so Taj and I had our first 4WD experience! Driving on the beach was basically like driving in really deep snow, so nothing I couldn't handle!

-- A nice picture of some of the cliffs on the island and Taj and I on the beach! We were actually going about 15 mph, but you can't tell.

Thursday night we had a nice dinner at Sarah and Miguel's place and Sara and I watched the Red Violin and kicked back a few Bacardi and cokes (it was strange not being on the deck in GR with mom while drinking these). Friday I did some shopping and went for a swim in the pool at school with Jeff and Miguel.

Mass exodus... and entrance. PS - Hide the food!

What a weekend! Wednesday night I had dinner with Sara and Lydia at Sara's. We had home-made corn tortillas with the makings of a taco-like meal. Delicious!


Thursday morning I awoke to my maid knocking on the door. She was there on time (although, I can't recall setting a time), I just kept hitting the snooze because I thought it was unfair that I was woken up twice in the night. So, as she cleaned, I was hurridly packing for our first camping trip while frantically cleaning so she didn't think I was such a slob. After about an hour my apartment was amazingly clean!


Around 10 Sarah, Miguel and I went to Tommy's to meet with Greg and Ellen and their kids and, of course, Jeff and Sara. We were caravaning down to Sur to see the turtles! I rode with Jeff and Sara in their new used Pajero (a mini-tank). The drive was a short 3.5 hours of lightly dusted rock and the ocean on our left with mountains on our right ranging from dark gray to red, to white. We also past a few wadis which we will be returning to one of these days. The highway down to Sur was a two lane road of a four-lane highway. Confusing? We were to and our fearless leader almost had a head-on collision because we all thought we were on a one way highway, but the other half wasn't finished so they only used one side of the road. Without any indication of this, we didn't realize traffice would be coming straight at us! But, we figured it out quick. The reason for all the confusion and construction was because the Greg guides Miguel up the rocky road.


entire highway had to be rebuilt after it was destroyed by the cyclone of two years ago. Crazy.



During Ramadan it is illegal to eat and drink in public. But, we were driving at lunch time, so we had to play a game called "hide the food!" Whenever a car came we had to hide the food and drink we had for a few seconds until the car passed. Whoever hid the food fastest without spilling won the grand prize of not going to jail! We were all big winners! We did this mostly out of consideration, but we also didn't feel like being pulled over. When we got off the highway I found my reason for needing a 4wd SUV. We had two kilometers through the desert of rocks and a small, steep hill. Jeff did a great job driving up it, we didn't tip over. When we got to our "campsite" we found the beach below us and it looked like it has just been bombed. There were so many turtle nests we couldn't walk anywhere without feeling like we were going to crush some eggs. But, the little guys are durable, eventually we just ran around the beach. The turtles don't come til night so we swam in the sea, did a little body surfing, and drank some wine and had

dinner. Our beach: We were the only ones here! Sara was pretending was was a turtle...






Around 6ish we started seeing some turtles playing and mating just off the coast, but they don't come in until night. After some delightful chicken and rice (a traditional Omani meal, the only other two are meat and rice, and dates) and terrific conversation we saw our first turtle coming in from the ocean and tossing sand. We first watched with binaculars to give a chance for the rest to come in. About an hour later the beach hosted about 10 turtles coming in, tossing sand, making decoy nests, and laying their eggs.



On the way down we were looking for other members of our group. Out of the corner of my eye I saw two tall silohettes, but I had to do a double take when I realized the shadows weren't at all human. Walking towards us without any slowing in their step were two camels. Jeff and I jumped up on the rocks. When they came to us, they looked at us and slowly turned around and walked back to where they came from. We both took a breath. We felt perfectly safe, but it was a little frightening, they are enormous animals! We were later told that we also need to hide food from camels all year round, not just during the holy month.



After our camel encounter we walked along the cliff (we were camping on top of this 3 meter cliff) and I saw what I thought was a little crab. Turns out it was my first baby turtle! It was so adorable! I swear, it would melt anyone's heart. They are so small and waddle up and down and up and down the craters to get to the sea. It seems like such a long journey for their size. Longer for some than others as they are sometimes snatched up by birds, foxes, or stepped on by humans or camels. Also, some are born with defects; one was born with one broken hind-leg and he just went in circles the whole night until he died. Very sad.










We walked onto the shore where we saw trail after trail leading from the sea to the beach! We watched a few dig their decoy nests and their real nests. We spent a couple of hourse walking up and down the beach watching the turtles. The little ones started really coming out of the sands and charged to the sea. At one point we saw about 5 or 6 within 5 meters of each other. The moon was half-full so we were able to see a lot, but they hate light, so we couldn't use flash.


--Late one digging and laying eggs












We eventually went to bed under the stars while the turtles continued all night laying eggs and returning to the sea; or for the hundreds of little ones, going home for the first time.

Greg and I watch as one of the last turtles makes its way back to the ocean.

At 5:30 we jumped up to watch the rest of the turtles and to see them in the daylight. The beach was full of evidence of war, birth, and death. We say thousands of little tracks by the babies, larger tracks by the adults, and a few fox and bird prints. We came across about a dozen baby turtle shells on the cliffs which the foxes left behind and there was one dead full grown turtle, we couldn't tell why it was dead.
--A little guy coming out of a nest!














But, there was still life! We were able to catch the tail-end of the exodus! We saw some little guys flopping around trying to get to the ocean. And some bigger guys struggling to get back after a long night. I can't imagine what it would be like to be born a turtle. Such a small animal at birth, having to make my way over mountains of sand and when I finally reach my new world, my new home, it greets me not with open arms, but with giant waves slamming down on me! The little ones would make their way down the shore and suddenly be flipping down with the water and disappear to fight their next battle with all the fish! We were told only 1 in 1,000 turtles make it to adulthood.


--Awww!

After taking some pictures in the daytime, we took a small hike to another beach, then a dip and headed home, exhausted, but very satisfied.















Ciao!

Nizwa, Triathalon, Mutrah, Chillin' with the Ambassador, New car!

Salaam,

I have a lot I need to catch up on, so here is a long one!

On August 21st Sara, Jeff, and I took our first road trip! We went to Nizwa with an unexpected and glorious side trip to Wadi Tanuf! We arrived in Nizwa after an hour and 45 minutes and checked out the souqs there. There were craft, vegetable, and spice souqs which is pretty standard. Then we checked out the goat souq! Apparently the Omani goats are very particular and will not deviate from their schedule, so they refused to show up on a Thursday morning; only Fridays. But, we did see the fish souq as they were closing up. Hey dude, WHAT A FISH! It obviously smelled very fishy, and the floor was spotted with blood, fins, and dead fish. We roamed around a bit and discovered a small shark, a huge head which was larger than my torso and looked like it was a sword fish or something, and they were chopping up another large on which was too big for the table. The "craft" souq in Nizwa.

After the souqs we went to the Nizwa fort. We learned a bit about the history of the fort, and how they used to live in the region. Dates were an essential part of life. Everything about the tree and the fruit was used in so many ways; from boiling syrup to pour on invaders, to food, baskets, and other daily products.

After the fort we were hungry, and since I am not the only one who become 'Senor grumpy pants' when i am hungry, we quickly found a small shwarma place. The place was crowded with flies and there were a few patrons buzzing, but we decided it would be fine. And the food was pretty good, and the banana smoothie was incredible! Sorry BB, but I think I have a new favorite drink!

After our delicious "lunche" we went in search of a cave we had read about. We were flying down the road in the wide valley and suddenly Jeff yelled, "Camels!" So, we pulled a U-ie, got honked at, and pulled off on a side road to have a close encounter with our first camels!

-My first camel! -The bombed village at Wadi Tanuf

After taking too many pictures of the camels we jumped back into the car and went down the road to the cave... which we found out was closed! So, on our way back we saw a sign for Wadi Tanuf, and in the staff lounge, I heard that it was a cool place. Off we went down a two lane road in the desert like any other road we had been on that day, but suddenly it took a 90 degree turn and soon after became only slightly big enough for our car, and the scenary went from desert to a small but beautiful and refreshing date palm tree forest. It was like being in a forest in colorado, but with palms. As suddenly as we came upon it, we were out of it and the road widened and at a fork there was an old town we had heard of, it was bombed in the 60's when the Sultan's father was trying to unite Oman (he must have had some American history courses! Only kidding!) We toured the village a while. The bombed houses are now mostly washed out.
-Cars crossing the Wadi Tanuf

At the village, we kept hearing people's voices and water running. We couldn't figure out if they were the spirits of the village trying to communicate with us, or if it was just the Wadi Tanuf we had heard about. Turns out, just 100 meters down the road and directly off the cliff of the village was the beautiful Wadi Tanuf. So, we left the spirits and joined the living. There were dozens of cars and hundreds of people enjoying picnics and swimming in the water. We walked along the rocky banks and said hello to the people. I have known only the slightest discomfort when it comes to discrimination or stares. And, at the Wadi, people seemed excited to see us, but outside of the cities, it is strange to see white women, and people were very curious about Sara. It was not at all negative, but I could feel the stares and see the curiosity in their faces about Sara. I only bring this up to share the fact that, yes, there is a strangeness about white women in Arabia; but, it exists on a next-to-nothing level in Muscat, and at the Wadi, it was just as if they had never seen someone like that, who dressed like that before.

-Another picture of the old village. -Sara and Jeff at the Wadi.

We left the Wadi and made our way back to Muscat feeling tired, happy, and accomplished that we had completed our first road trip.

The next day, on that Friday, I woke up early to go do the swimming part of a Triatholon sponsored in part by Red Bull! A woman from the American British Academy invited us during Ultimate one night, so, I volunteered for the swimming portion. She, Janelle, was doing the bike, and Lydia did the run. I ended up placing second, and am excited to do some more (they happen once a month)! Plus, I got free red bull!

Last weekend we took it easy. Sara and I did a hike down by Mutrah, which was nice. It was through a canyon and was only about 5 k roundtrip. We started around 8 and we finished at 10, but it already was about 95 degrees! We are going to have to start the future hikes earlier. The shade is actually pretty nice; nice enough to stop sweating for a little bit, and always a great place for water breaks. After the hike we did some major shopping and the Mutrah Souq. I bought pillows for my classroom and some Christmas gifts! We had a great conversation with the guy selling us all of our stuff and since I ran out of cash, he came with us to the bank and on our way back he got us some tea and water. I will make it a point to visit his shop everytime I go down there, hopefully I can get some more tea from him!

-Pictures: Top - a huge monument of a frankencense burner. This was the start of our hike.

-Bottom: A greener part of our hike.

-Sara in a pineapple slide after our hike.

-Sara and I having lunch outside the souq after the hike.

School is going well, but very stressful. Well, I should say busy. But, I feel like I am always behind, which is normal, because as teachers, we always want to be better prepared, which means we always could spend days preparing for one class. But, I am very happy with it and I think Carla (the ES French teacher) and I are putting in a lot of work so next year will be much easier. Also, Sara and I did an impromptu "Who's line is it anyway" type skit in front of the middle school which was a lot of fun and the kids loved it. To sum up, I was the princess and Sara the knight who carried me off stage. Pictures to come!

This past weekend was a blast, we had a pre-party at Lucas' and then went to the U.S. Ambassador's house for a welcoming party. the food and wine was fantastic and bottomless until 10 pm. We had a great time meeting some of the people who worked there and just hanging out outside of school. Afterword, Carla, a few other Lebanese teachers, and I went to smoke Hasheesh (sp?). However, only two of us smoked. It was a delicious berry flavor. After we went back to Lucas til 2ish. My first crazy night in Oman.

Right - Jeff and I went golfing before the ambassador's party. Can you "sand trap" and "putting browns"?

Thursday morning I met with Eden, my soon-to-be maid who I share with a family and my neighbors Miguel and Sarah. I know what it sounds like, but she only comes for 3 hours, one day a week. I just got sick of sweeping and mopping faster than I thought, and I don't even have time to write on this, so how am I supposed to clean the floor of my entire apartment?

After setting that up, Lydia and I went down to the Kia dealorship. On the way down I was practicing my bargaining skills with Lydia. "I want the 2008 for OR 5,800" "I want free insurance" "I'm not going to buy it unless I get free service!". I ended up buying the 2009 Kia, getting a cheap insurance, but not free, and they just don't give free service! But, it was still cheap enough and they have a great warranty for 6 years, unlimited mileage which can be transferred to another buyer. So, I am very happy with it! I have already named her Taj, steming from the stupid pronunciation we have given the 'Kia Sportage'. Sara actually came up with the name after I said I wasn't going to give it a name since I loved the "Sportage" as a name. I can't wait to show picture of why I need an SUV (sorry mother earth!) I picked it up from the dealorship last night at 10! I was so exhausted though, I could barely show my excitement in the pictures. This morning I drove Taj to the ODC (Omani dive centre) to hang out at the beach with Sara, Jeff, and Courtney.

So, that is basically it. I will try to update more frequently. Oh, it is now Ramadan, which means swimming is shorter (I have started coaching swimming already) and the traffic isn't as bad until 9 pm. I'll explain more when I have more energy or when I see you! Alright! Adeu, peace be with you.

Much love,

Zachis