Finally another update....I have just spent my last week in the Middle East. On the 13th of April I arrived in Dubai where Ms. Jones (my old soccer and track coach from Malaysia) and Kelsey (my brother) met me at the airport. We spent the next two days walking and bussing around Dubai and seeing the sights. Kelsey and I checked out the 'Souks' - markets, as well as a stamp museum, the nicest hotel in the world (the sail hotel), and the public beach. Dubai is a huge, extremely rich city with a very interesting Arab, Indian, Pakistani and Western melting pot of a culture. Only about 20% of the population are actually Arab, and you are hard pressed to see any around. The majority of the population are Indians, who leave their families behind in India to work in the labor and import/export trades in both UAE and Oman. Many of them will be away from their families for years at a time. Ms. Jones spent the weekend (which is Thursday and Friday) playing in a softball tournament, so Thursday evening Kelsey and I went to meet her for an amazing buffet dinner at the Metropolitan hotel (where the tournament was being held) and to watch a game. Because Dubai is just another big city, Kelsey and I just spent the second day at the public beach and had lunch at an Azerbaijanian restaurant before heading to the bus depot. At 4pm on Friday we left Dubai for Muscat (the big city in Oman) by bus. It is a 5-6 hour bus ride, and when we arrived in Muscat we immediately caught a taxi for Ibra. Ibra is 1.5 hours from Muscat, so we arrived at Kelsey's apartment in Ibra at around 11:30 that night. The rest of my week was filled with cultural adventure. Every morning I woke up at 6 and went to school with Kelsey (he is an English teacher at an Omani technical college). He usually works from about 7:30 until 3, but since I was there he was off at 1 everyday (as that is when he is finished teaching his last class). For the most part I would sit in on a few classes, hang out at the teacher's club (which has tons of comfortable couches, computers, a ping pong and pool table, a cafeteria and a swimming pool), and spend lots of time talking to the students. It is amazing how friendly everyone is. The girls and boys are segregated in all aspects of life there as their culture is very striclty Muslim. In the classroom the girls sit at the back, and the boys sit at the front. The girls must cover up completely in a black 'Abaya' and many cover their faces outside the classroom, as no men outside their family are allowed to see their faces. It was somewhat of a relief for Kelsey that I was there, as he has the most poorly behaved class in the English department. The girls are good, but have little chance to learn much because of the rowdiness of the boys so...I took his girls out of class and had a speaking class with them. We went to the library and talked about Omani culture and Canadian culture, and all the other girls in the library (the library is separated into a girl's side and a boy's side) were so excited to meet me. The hospitality of the locals is unreal! My last day in Ibra I was invited to 3 different girls' houses. All of them made me a meal consisting of rice with chili and yogurt, fish or chicken, chipati, meat curry, and lentil dahl. Needless to say I ate 3 full meals within about 5 hours! Giving gifts is also a huge part of the culture, as every girl insisted on giving me a piece of jewelry. I had lunch with Raja, had my hands henna'd by my friend Salma, and got dreesed up in traditional Omani dress, went for a tour of the old ruins and for a family dinner with my friend Zwaina. It was all a huge cultural experience.
In between the culutral experiences Kelsey and I had a good time hanging around Ibra, meeting his friends and eating lots of Indian food...my favorite. One afternoon after school we went to play squash with two of the other English teacher's from the school. The squash court was a stand alone, roofless court in the middle of the abandoned old hospital. We played a round robin of about 6-7 games each, and I was done. Squash in 40 degrees is insane! Kelsey and I also took a trip to Wani Badi Khalid, which is about an hour's drive from Ibra. It is a small oasis town over the mountains. We went on a hike through a giant canyon to find the water pools and cave. A bunch of little boys from the town led the way. The landscape in Oman is amazing...desert, mountains, palm trees and camels!
I know this is a lot, but In a short week I have had such an amazing time. It was nice to see Kelsey again, and to get a taste for what he has been doing over there.
I am now happily in Cape Town with my awesome friend (who I've missed dearly) Anna. I will post some amazing pictures shortly.
Now I must go eat cake (it's 10:10 am!!)
