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

AHHHHH!!!!!

First of all,

Happy birthday B.O.! Booyah! (I meant to write you yesterday, but it is impossible to get internet at home and I have limited means at work).

Also, Congratulations Bernie IV and Hinkston! wow, if ever I felt like I was missing out, it is now. You guys have a sweet blog, I miss both of you and colorado so much!

Kate, how is archie? Miss you too of course.

And, Everyone else, I have a great family, thanks for all the love, support and e-mails, it actually isn't always so easy and fun here, but when I receive e-mails from you guys, it makes everything absolutely wonderful.

Secondly, Sorry I haven't been posting much, I will have to spend some time this weekend, work is so great, but busy! 10-12 hour days so far, but I expect that it will be a bit less soon!

Bueno, pues, os echo de menos! Besos y abrazos!

Zach