Living like an Expat.

It looks like it’ll be a weekly posting here, because I simply don’t have any time outside the weekends! On the fourth of July just about all of us went to a party the US embassy was throwing: cheap drinks, not cheap but endless buffet, volley ball, and a pool. It was reasonably fun. The rest of the week was my typical 6:30 wake up, 7:30-4:30 at school, and 10:30 bedtime. I went to a few restaurants, and we watched a lot of world cup. Last night Spain beat Germany to proceed to the finals, and although it was an overall uneventful game we had a great time at a favorite cafe of ours. It’s called “Candles,” located right on the beach by the Hyatt, with shisha and food between 1-2 rials which is remarkably cheap considering the location. Last night for the first time they passed out coca cola-shaped plastic bottles that are actually loud honking noisemakers. The previous game we had watched there, Germany-Argentina, we had a great time exchanging cheers with the rest of the clientele who all seemed to support Germany. It was raucous and good spirited. The waiters at Candles are all Arab and not Omani, including many Egyptians, so it’s fun to rattle off with them indulgently.

Tuesday we went back to Salsa dancing, so it’s officially a weekly ritual for me. I’m getting some basics down and having a grand old time. It’s also fun to pontificate with my dancing buddies between the boogying – some great booze and discussion.

The rental car chapter closed yesterday afternoon when we paid up the 120 rial. Khalas. It means this 2-week period it looks like I’ll reach my stipend limit…

Tomorrow I’m likely to go with a small group renting a car to get out of the city and explore to the north. The group comprises, should I say, the wisest of the program, so I’m looking forward to hanging out with the big kids.

Today I’m planning on not leaving my suite as I study up on the week’s Arabic I haven’t had a chance to absorb and hopefully work some on my thesis research. It’s a three-day weekend because Saturday is the celebration of Mohammad’s ascension. Next weekend is our program trip into the country to do some hiking in the mountains, camping in the desert, and inshallah seeing some sea turtles!!! So it’s also a three-day weekend. The following weekend may or may not be a three-day weekend depending on the moon because the national (Muslim) holidays here are announced correlating to the stages of the moon and therefore inconsistently. This surprised me because my impression was that the stages of the moon are consistent. Wrong again, I suppose.

As we approach the half-way point, I notice somethings to comment on. This experience is the expat experience. We go to bars, we talk in English, we network with other Westerners here. It’s a stark contrast to my Alexandria life, and obviously I preferred that. However it’s nice to have my mind less under the linguistic and cultural grind 24/7 considering that technically I’m on summer vacation. I’m getting my feet wet in Oman. Were I in Alex four weeks in I would feel much more comfortable with the geography of the city, at least, and knowing where to get cheap good food, etc. I’m enjoying myself but a recent revelation is also worth mentioning – I’m ready to be done wayfaring for a little while and am exceedingly relieved that a year settled in the Green Mountains by Otter Creek is on the horizon.

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