A Week of Boredom

So as I've mentioned, we've had the past week off work due to the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Adha. While a week off work would normally entail me traveling somewhere exotic, I was pretty exhausted after all of my recent traveling and felt bad leaving my cat yet again. And since there wasn't anywhere I was dying to go and had no one to travel with, I opted to stay home and relax for the week.

I underestimated exactly how boring Oman can be without a single person around to do anything. While there are still lots of hikes and excursions in the country I want to do, none of them are really appropriate for a female going alone. So I read a lot. Watched a ton of TV. Explored my neighborhood, played with my cat, went on a lot of walks…and by Tuesday I was ready to hop on a plane and go somewhere, anywhere. So I did the next best thing and checked myself into a fancy resort here on Wednesday night.

The Shangri-La Bar Al Jissah Resort is about 45 minutes away from my house and on an outcropping of rock out over the ocean. While I'd never stayed there before, the drive out to Shangri-La from Muscat is pretty spectacular and something that's well worth a trip out.

So it was gorgeous and I booked myself in for a massage and then a day at the beach on Wednesday. And it was certainly better than sitting on my couch at home and watching tv, but a resort is not exactly the best place to be alone since everyone else is there with someone (as opposed to a hotel that caters to businesspeople, where at least there's a decent chance that some people are there alone for work, as opposed to a resort). 

I also planned on having a fabulous seafood dinner at their restaurant Bait Al Bahr, which is indoor/outdoor. While it has cooled off slightly here, I didn't want to get all dressed up and then sweat profusely, so I opted to eat indoors. What I didn't realize is that outside there are fans and an ocean breeze, whereas the inside is completely open and has no A/C or fans. While the people on the outside deck looked perfectly comfortable, I was so hot and so sweaty it was hard to enjoy my fabulous grilled seafood dinner. In fact, I was so hot I practically rushed through my meal just so I could get out of the restaurant and back into the fresh air, where there also happened to be a beautiful full moon.

My original plan was to head to the bar after dinner and maybe attempt to meet people (or at least just not sit in my room), but I was so hot and uncomfortable after dinner that I needed to escape to my room and get out of my dress for a little while. I had every intention of going back out, but I should have known that once I got undressed that would be it for the evening. So by 8:30 at night I was back in my room, flipping channels on the tv trying to find something to watch and wishing I was back home with my DVR and my cat. Sad, I know. 

But at least I redeemed myself slightly the next day by going snorkeling. I just wanted to get out and do something, but once I arrived at the snorkeling location the guide said that we were going to Turtle Bay and would see lots of turtles. I was suddenly so much more excited about snorkeling since I've never really swam with sea turtles before (and I'm clearly a sucker for non-fish wildlife).

The marina for snorkeling.

When we arrived at Turtle Bay I didn't see any turtles, though I did see lots and lots of slug-like things on the bottom of the ocean. At first I thought they were dead fish, then I thought they were debris in the water, then I realized they were alive and feeding off the bottom of the ocean. As long as none of them raised up off the bottom I'd be fine, since one of the biggest things I'm scared of while snorkeling is eels. And these slugs (I think they're actually sea cucumbers) looked way too snake/eel-like for me to be comfortable.

Just as I was getting comfortable swimming over the slugs, assured that they wouldn't rise up and bite me, I saw the single coolest and scariest thing I've seen while snorkeling - a giant moray eel.

Terrifying moray eel. I actually kept calling it a leopard eel because of it's distinctive markings until someone told me it's real name.

I'm very impressed with myself that I managed to swim over the eel a few times without freaking out. But he seemed pretty happy lodged in his coral and fat from all the fish, so I don't think biting me was high on his list of things to do.

Just as we were getting ready to head back I did finally see a single sea turtle. He swam right past me and an older Italian man and I took off after him (we were the only two of our group to even see the sea turtle, much less be strong enough swimmers to follow him). The little booger swam so fast it was all I could do to keep up with him, much less try to take a picture. We eventually lost him, but I would have been pretty disappointed to go to Turtle Bay and not see a single turtle.

The highlight of my day was probably going to see "Dracula Untold" on opening night to get me in the mood for my trip to Transylvania in two weeks. All in all, while the resort was a nice break from reality, it was not the best place to go when you're already feeling lonely. In fact, I'm pretty mad at myself that I missed an opportunity to travel this week (which it seems like every other person in this part of the world did this week), so in the future I need to find a way to balance needing some days to relax and unwind versus spending 10 full days doing absolutely nothing. And now I can't believe I'm back to work on Sunday...

Eid Al Adha

Yesterday started the week-long Muslim holiday of Eid Al Adha, so the Sultanate of Oman declared that we all had another 10 day vacation since all work stopped Thursday evening and we're off until next Sunday. Pretty much all the expats left already, but with my hectic travel schedule lately I just decided to stay here and rest and relax for a week. 

Last week when I was in the field I wound up talking to a couple of Omani coworkers and they were shocked to hear that I was here alone and had no plans for Eid. They also couldn't believe that I hadn't been to an Omani home yet, so they insisted that I join one of their families for Eid. I smiled, said I'd love to, and then secretly hoped that no one would call and I could spend my week quietly relaxing and sunbathing.

This morning one of the coworkers texted me and invited me to his sister's house for Eid. Though my initial thought was to come up with an excuse not to go, I accepted since I figured this was something I should experience. Plus I felt like I owed all you faithful readers with a true Omani experience. So it's clearly all your fault that I had an incredibly uncomfortable day.

When I arrived my coworker immediately handed me off to his sister, since the men and women congregate separately at gatherings and parties. His sister had a houseful of people (about 60-70), so having to babysit me was probably the last thing she needed. She asked me to sit on the couch in the front room, which happened to be the kids' room. She spent a few minutes with me, but then needed to run off and attend to the food. So after a few minutes of awkwardly sitting with the kids, I wandered out and tried to figure out where the rest of the women were. My hostess caught me awkwardly standing in the hallway and insisted I sit with the old ladies who couldn't speak English. A slight improvement over the kids. 

Finally a woman about my age came over to me and said that my coworker asked her to keep me company. Her English was excellent and she was really friendly, so I was incredibly grateful that she got volunteered to hang out with me. Shortly after she came over to me it was time to eat and all the men went through the buffet first. After the men they insisted I go next, since guests in Arab households have a sort of "guest of honor" status. 

Lunch was a giant vat of rice and lamb, a type of coleslaw salad and then some pickled vegetables that I couldn't determine. My usual approach is to try a little of everything, though before I did that I should have remembered that Arab hospitality is double-edged - you're expected to eat a lot and clean your plate, otherwise people will fret that you will go hungry! Also, in Omani households everyone eats with their hands, so everyone fussed over me washing my hands. Then the women went into a bedroom to eat - a plastic tablecloth was laid in the middle of the floor and everyone sat on the floor around it and dug in with their hands. They only eat with the right hands and somehow managed to scoop up rice and pick lamb off the bone with only one hand and without making a complete mess. I had planned on trying to eat with my hands, but I must have looked panicked, so someone brought me a fork. I was incredibly thankful for that since I would have made an absolute mess trying to eat rice with my fingers.

So one of the pickled "vegetables" was a small ball that was cut into quarters. I actually thought it might be a small tomato or something, so I popped a quarter into my mouth fully. A few miserable seconds later I realized it was a pickled lemon, complete with seeds and rind! It was so awful I actually would have tried to spit it out…if only we'd had napkins. Instead I managed to swallow it and then took a mouthful of the spiciest thing ever. At this point I decided to stick to rice, even if it made me look rude.

While the hostess fussed over me and why I wasn't eating enough, all the other women in the room completely ignored me. It could have been that they didn't speak English, but I suspect at least most of the younger ones did, so they probably just didn't want to bother having to make small talk with a stranger. The few minutes where no one fussed over me or spoke to me were actually okay. At some point during the lunch, as I was listening to everyone speaking a language I didn't understand, I realized that they weren't speaking Arabic. Turns out everyone at this party primarily spoke Swahili! The Omani empire used to encompass Eastern Africa and many Omanis emigrated there during the reign of the Sultan's father and only returned to Oman after the Sultan took over. As a result, many of them still speak Swahili as a first language. 

As soon as everyone finished eating, most people left immediately without even eating dessert. I tried to sneak out, but the hostess wouldn't have it. Actually, as more people left I spent a while talking to the hostess alone and that was pretty nice. A lot of questions (and shock) as to how I'm here alone, why I'm not married, why no children, etc. I even got invited to another lunch tomorrow, but I think I successfully managed to beg my way out of it. After a while I finally said I needed to leave to make a movie showing, otherwise I'm not sure how long I would have needed to stay.

Though the entire experience was awkward, Arab hospitality is still so impressive and the hostess really went out of her way to make sure I was fed, comfortable and enjoyed myself. It was also nice of them to invite me into their big family gathering (think of it as the equivalent of inviting someone home for Christmas dinner with your entire extended family). But now that I've experienced an Omani gathering once, I don't think I need to rush off to do that again anytime soon!

Trip to the Desert

One of my favorite things about working in the oil industry is getting to go to the oilfield. I like seeing what it is we actually do and I love meeting the people who work in the field (and being seen as an approachable lawyer). This week I finally go to go the field here, partially because it had been too hot all summer and partially because it's a 5 hour drive each way, so I needed to make sure I had sufficient time to spend a few days there.

On the drive there we passed some spectacular scenery...namely tons of small villages, ancient forts and craggy mountain ranges (of course having to stop at a gas station and use one of their horrible squatter toilets left a lot to be desired).

After about three and a half hours of driving we pulled off onto an unpaved desert road where the main hazards are dust clouds and camels. We hit a "traffic jam" as we waited for a herd of camels to cross the road in front of us - a couple even got so close to the car that I could have reached out and pet them (or at least reached out and angered them into spitting at me).

The field we were going to has some pretty spectacular orange sand dunes, so at the end of a bumpy 5-hour drive we were met with some awesome scenery of the orange dunes.

We hiked up to the top of a dune and though I didn't quite catch the sunset, it was well worth the sweating.

 

 

After three days of being in the field I felt a bit rejuvenated again. It was a good reminder of how beautiful Oman can be, how great some of the people in the field are and how many wonderful connections with people I've made at this company over the years. And on the way back we passed through a pretty large herd of camels (though none attempted to cross the road):