Ketchup

Nizwa was a fun, hot day. It was easily the longest any of us had spent outside and while it was drier than Muscat the temperature was, somehow, higher. We arose for a 6:30 busride which made the week a 6-dayer. Somebody commented to me recently that the last time these quantities of hours were required of us was in high school!

The first stop in Nizwa was an old fort / souq. One of the nicest things about Oman is that it’s not so touristy, so we enjoyed local prices and real goods. Had some testosteronal fun playing with real swords, rifles, and khanajir. We (a handful of friends I was wandering with)  spent a little too long in the silver shops and didn’t make it to the fort itself. That was ok because the next stop on the trip was another old fort, in perfect condition. We had a fosha-ed tour which was interesting enough to keep me from actively bemoaning my exhaustion and heat stroke. Drama queen. At the conclusion of the tour we had a nice lunch of chicken and beef on rice. At this point we were all ready to return to the hotel and wallow in our air-conditioned refrigerators. But the final stop remained, a trip to a Wadi (canyon) allegedly green and full of water. It wasn’t.
All in all it was really great to get out of Muscat and see a rural side of Oman. The rural populations of Egypt live in the Nile valley, except for pockets of oasis communities. Rural Omanis are in the mountains and the DESERT. I couldn’t believe how barren this place can be, and it somehow felt more like a desert than the deepest depths of the Siwan expanse (where I left part of my heart). Nizwa and the experience of the day weren’t particularly memorable for better or for worse.

The second day of that “weekend” (Thursday-Friday) I studied in the suite all day. I’m doing a lot of independent stuff – the book we’re reading in Fosha class is very difficult and so I literally circle all the words and experiences I don’t know and write them onto flash cards and study them, in repeated stages. Fortunately I don’t have a lot of homework, mostly reading or very simple and redundant verb charts for Amiyyah. No more useless Al Kitaab drills. It means as long as I’m disciplined my vocabulary will explode this summer inshallah. Also watching lots of Aljazeera, so hopefully I’ll get a little better at listening.

Today a bunch of the male students and PFs will play football on the beach after we get out of the center around 4. Sgonna be ridiculously hot. Tonight I’m going to the Intercontinental Hotel for salsa dancing and to watch the Spain-Portugal game. Watched the US disappointment outside and it was the sweatiest I’ve been not moving in my whole life.

This Thursday my suite is throwing an Independence Day celebration: acquiring booze through suspect means and grilling up some burgers and dogs. With some ketchup. AMERICA.

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