Salalah and a lot of other words

It’s been a pretty busy last week or so. We went to Salalah last weekend and we’re about to leave tomorrow for a week long trip to the UAE and Qatar—first stop, Dubai. The next week will be pretty different than it has been in Oman.

So first off, some abstract things before I describe a bit about Salalah. When we first got here, we were given a little talk about the “culture shock w-curve”—a basic talk about the swings of being in a new culture. Since then the students in my group have made lots of references to “the hammock” or low point of adapting to a different culture. I usually think that people’s moods are just cyclical no matter what culture you’re in. Regardless though, it’s true that the last week or two has included some of my low points in terms of cultural immersion. There have definitely been high points as well—Salalah being one of them, but I’ve noticed that instead of constantly being surprised by appreciating the call to prayer or the goats on the road, I’ve also thought things like “if I hear one more time about how dirty dogs are and how crazy it is that Americans let them in their houses with their children…” What can I say? God gives grace, so praise be to Him. There are usually many things that are true at the same time. Right now, I feel overwhelmed with Arabic and research for my independent study project (I've talked to half the country about Islam, but I really have no idea what it is I'm actually studying yet and have tons of reading I want to do...), I feel intellectually excited because there's stuff to analyze absolutely everywhere, I feel more emotionally volatile than normal, and I've been swinging between highs and lows spiritually.

So there's the context:

Salalah was an incredibly interesting city. The Sultan of Oman, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said grew up in Salalah since his mother is from there. Like I said, it's a bit different from the rest of the country and there was a rebellion there back in the 60's and 70's. It's more conservative socially (90% of women wore the burqa, or face veil in public), and richer agriculturally (we saw flocks of goats, cows, and camels absolutely everywhere). The southern corner of Oman and the northen bit of Yemen are the only part of the peninsula to get anything from the monsoons in the Indian Ocean, but a little bit of rain once a year can make such a huge difference in climate. The plus side was that meat is everywhere. I could seriously eat mashkach (Omani bbq), pita, amazing humus, chips, and Coke for dinner probably every night for a year and not be frustrated at the end of it. Omani men in Salalah just go out into the mountains every weekend with the guys, sleep under the stars, eat a whole goat, and practice jumping. That's pretty much one of the best things I can imagine doing on a weekend.

Religion: The south of Oman is almost entirely Sunni, whereas the north is primarily Ibadhi--the only place in the world where Ibadhi Muslims are the majority--their numbers worldwide are probably less than 2 million. Salalah is also a supposed center of black magic. We were there on a day when people repeatedly told us witches from around the world would congregate outside the town that night. (a Thursday night on a full moon). Jinn, or spirits, were a big deal and I talked with some guys from Dhofar University who were showing us around about it. (they were great guys by the way, excellent examples of Omani hospitality and friendliness). ALSO, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints recently decided that southern Oman is the place referred to as the Land of Bountiful in the Book of Mormon (where Nehigh, a Jew, took off in a boat for America). Also, people believe that the Virgin Mary's father is buried in Salalah (how he got over there I don't know). We ALSO visited the tomb of the prophet Job. Again, don't know how people know it's him, but it prompted some reflection on the story of Job during the visit. Both Jesus and Job are prophets in Islam so both places were decently big deals. (Nehigh isn't a prophet in Islam, but apparently there has been at least one plane full of Mormans that's come to see the place)

So that's probably more than enough for a blog posting. I've definitely felt quite busy, but (in sha allah) the trip to Emirates and Qatar will be relaxing. A potential high point will be visiting Al-Jazeera headquarters in Doha, Qatar. The crazy thing is that after we get back from the Emirates and Qatar we're only here a couple days before heading to live in Nizwa for a week (an important city in the interior that used to be the head of the government during the Ibadhi imamate).

By the way, Ibadhis: After the fourth caliph, or successor to Mohammed, there was a political split among Muslims. Some said the caliph had to come from the prophet's family, others said he had to come from the prophet's tribe, a small minority ended up saying that the caliph could be anyone as long as he was righteous and the community agreed that he was righteous. In the roughest possible terms that's the history of the split between Shii'a (prophet's family), Sunni (prophet's tribe), and Ibadhi (anyone righteous). The Ibadhis in Oman used to decide on an Imam by sending delegates of the different tribes every time they needed a new Imam---the imam had to be picked by consensus rather than a mere majority of support. Crazy history here. Awesome.

Hope all is well with everyone. Allah maak (God be with you)

So I thought I'd devote one blog entry to describe a normal day for me now. There have been a fair amount of such days recently, so hopefully this will provide a more detailed explanation of the state of my life recently than my first impulse to declare that "not much has been going on".

I usually wake up to the alarm on my cell phone, turn it off, lie in bed for another 10-20 minutes, and then shower (cold, there's hot water, but it's not hooked up to come out of the shower yet), get ready for the day, and eat breakfast--tea that my host mom left out for me and toast that I "cook" all by myself.

I then wait for the car that takes me to school every day. As per the usual pattern of my life, I'm the only guy who was fated to go to school in the "women's" car. School is only 4 minutes or so away by car, which is close compared to most of the students at SIT right now. I then study Arabic from 9-noon with a half hour break in the middle. In the afternoon, we usually either study "field methods" of research, have a guest lecturer come and talk about various subjects having to do with development, etc. in Oman, or we go over readings or discuss development and such on our own. Some days we just get out at noon, which is great. There are 10 of us in the thematic seminar on development and 8 in the thematic seminar on economics and diversification. for Arabic, the 18 of us are split into three groups of beginning, intermediate, and advanced.

We're usually on our own for lunch, but food is pretty cheap at most places. (Again, the only problem being that so many places only carry Pepsi products--my mental map of my area is based on different stores that I know carry Coke). Taxis and buses (which don't run on a schedule at all but just go up and down the main highways and roads) are pretty cheap so getting around isn't hard.

When I do get back to the house I usually try to get what homework I have done pretty early (if I decide to do homework that day...), since my host dad likes to take me out doing stuff with him in the afternoon and evenings a lot. Shopping is definitely man's work here so I've spent a fair amount of time in grocery stores, sooqs, and tiny shopes of every variety. My host dad is definitely into home improvement so we're always looking for another flower pot, electrical wire, or pipe at one of the hundreds of tiny shops owned by primarily South Asian expatriates in the area. These little errands can actually already begin to seem "humdrum" sometimes, but I'm still often struck by things, like ridiculous music on the radio (people saying "life is sweet" in Arabic againd and again), the beauty of the ocean, mosques and the call to prayer, and the sheer joy of seeing young guys fiddling with cell phones, middle aged men bargaining, and old men doing absolutely nothing but greeting each other again and again (by far the best of the three) -- all in public and all in traditional dress.

It's not unusual for us to stay out until perhaps 9 or 10, which is about when we usually have dinner. My host dad and I eat in the "sitting room" --which is actually a separate building, while my host mom and the children eat in the house. I enjoy dinner a lot because that's when I have the most conversations with my host dad. We've discussed all sorts of things (obviously religion being one of the main topics of conversation). I think I'm beginning to get a "feel" for his life, values, and ideas about all sorts of things, which is a main part of studying abroad I think--that "feel" for a place and the people there. Sometimes we have coffe and dates after I've done a bit more homework or right after we've finished dinner. And then usually I would go to bed not long after that. I'm beginning to develop a habit of going up to the roof to look at the area before I go to sleep.

That's the bare bones of a pretty typical day. Obviously other things happen--sometimes we go and visit friends or relatives in the evening as well. (and sit in their "sitting room/area" -- majlis and eat some coffee and dates and talk). Sometimes I go to use internet in the afternoon (like today).

There are plans in the works to go to both a camel race and a wedding in two different places in the "interior" (usually meaning anything but the coast, where most people who live in the Muscat area are originally from) this weekend, so I'm pretty pumped about that. (remember the weekend is Thursday and Friday, so today it's Munday--which is functionally Wednesday because it's the middle of the week.) The weekend after this one we're going down to Salalah, way in the south of the country, so that should be a good experience to understand what it's like in the south. It's apparrently pretty different because the "empty quarter"--a huge desert covering a good part of eastern Saudi Arabia as well, kind of splits the country in half.

May peace be with all of you.