First Weekend

So much has happened since arriving in Oman last Wednesday night that it is hard to know where to begin! To make my life easier this post will span from meeting my host family through the first weekend with them. 

We arrived in Oman late Wednesday night. For most of Thursday we had more orientations in our hotel, as well as a survival arabic class with our teacher, Mona. Even though we were all wiped out and jet- lagged, we all kept looking out the conference room window and thinking 'Wow, we're in OMAN' (that feeling still surfaces several times a day). 

At 5:00, we went into the banquet room of the hotel to meet our families. I was super nervous, as I had never communicated with them before and had  no idea what to expect in terms of their English skills, expectations of me, personalities etc. 

However, I need not have worried! My host sister and dad (only two family members could come to the hotel dinner) were immediatly so incredibly kind and welcoming. Luckily they warned me that we were going out to dinner with the family, so I was able to pace my food intake (something difficult in Oman). 

When we got home, I opened the door to be showered by confetti by my younger host brothers and found the front room and my bedroom covered with balloons. My 2 1/2 year old brother burst into tears when he first saw me, but apparently this happens whenever someone new comes to the house (he now smiles and grabs my hand when I arrive home, so all good). 

After a bit we all left to have dinner at my families amazing club. The food was delicious and after I walked along the beach with my host sister and some of the brothers. 

The next day I had to be woken up so we could go to lunch at the house of a Jordanian couple. While there I tried kahweh, a traditional Omani coffee that is basically a delicious expresso flavored with cardamon, fresh and dried dates, and traditional tea and Omani and Jordanian food. I felt a bit on edge while there, as I was unsure of the correct etiquette for eating and behaving at someone elses house and how to interact with the males there. But in the end I think it went well (aka didn't offend anyone). 

After that my family gave me a driving city tour of Muscat, which was very nice. 

On Saturday we relaxed, and then went to see the Royal Opera house. I'll post pictures soon (still figuring out how to get pictures from my camera to my iPod). 

And Sunday we started classes! The weekend here is Friday-Saturday, which has completely thrown off my sense of time. Classes are very intense but we're all learning tons, and having only seven of us is great. 

Tonight I'm going to a wedding! And then tomorrow all the NSLI-Y girls are going on an overnight trip to some towns in the interior of Oman, so I have a great weekend ahead!

Last hours in the US!

I missed all of the Sunday activites as my flight was canceled and I had to hang out in the Newark airport for six hours, but am all caught up now. The orientation was really fun, the other girls are great, hotel was nice, all the Amideast people are fantastic...and now we're all sitting at our gate, ready to board our plane to Dubai in a few hours! 

   We've had a super busy few days, chock full of information about Oman and the upcoming seven weeks. We went to the Omani Embassy this morning, and yesterday we went to the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center and had about eight different seminars, including one on 'Intercultural Learning', Language Learning, a visit from people at the State Department, and many more. We got to talk to alumni, which was great. Today we had an 'Intro to Islam' seminar which was incredibly interesting and made me even more excited to experience life in a country whose culture revolves so much on Islam. 

T- 1 Day

Quick recap of the past three months:

• I've found out way more about the program, including what our classes will be like, trips, community service, safety, etc.
• I've learned the entire Arabic alphabet and some vocab!
• Almost all of us  heading to Oman connected over Facebook, and spent three months chatting about Oman.
• Last week we found out that half the original Oman-bound girls, all the graduating seniors, are now going to Morocco because of visa issues. So there will only be seven of us in Oman! While I'm disappointed I won't get to meet the other seven girls, with only seven of us there we'll get even more personal and focused  Arabic lessons, and I'm sure we'll all get to know each other supersuper well.
• We got all our flight info. I'm flying to DC tomorrow afternoon, then Tuesday we all get on a 13.5 hour flight to Dubai, where after a longish layover we have a one hour flight to Muscat. We arrive in Oman late Wednesday evening (Omani time). On the way back, we fly to Frankfurt, and I separate from the group there to go to England to visit family.
• In DC we'll have about 10 different activities ranging from talking with alumni to a talk on Islam to a visit to the Omani embassy! Sometime in DC I'll post again about all of this.
• Two days ago we found out our host families! I'll have five host siblings: brothers that are 21, 14, 12, and 2 1/2, and a sister who is about to turn 18. From the little information I have the family seems great! (And their house is gorgeous)

I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow--I just finished my last finals yesterday, and have been so busy that I haven't had much time to prepare. I leave home in 20 hours and haven't really started packing yet....better get to that!

-Izzy