Super Fun Weekend 2011!

This past weekend was a blast.

Since Friday is the Holy Day in Islam, weekends here start on Thursday. This past Wednesday night there was an urs (wedding) at the house next to mine. I wasn’t invited but my 11 year old host brother told me to just walk on in. The father was very welcoming – he gave me tea and stuff. I guess weddings in Oman are like those in the Godfather (“Accept this gesture as a gift on my daughter’s wedding day“). I helped set up the bands equipment and after a few minutes of hanging out I left.

I’ve been meeting a lot of my host dad’s friends. On Saturday we visited one of his work friends who came to Oman from Zanzibar (The two were once part of the same country). I also met a couple of his friends who are cultural pariahs. Homosexuality in Oman is a very secretive thing. Their apartment was almost hidden in the back alleyways of the city. In fact, this society in general seems to have a great deal of secrets. Girlfriends, drinking, homosexuality, etc.

On Friday we went to a small city about an hour north of Muscat. It was snugly located in the middle of a crescent of rocky mountains. After visiting my host-moms extended family, we went to a massive Omani fort. I guess the thing was only built about 60-70 years ago, but that didn’t stop it from being impressive. I definitely know what I’d do in case of a zombie apocalypse – nothing could get into that thing.

We finished by going to a small creekbed inhabited by a bunch of doctor fish. If you don’t know, doctor fish are used in the Middle East (as well as Asia) to eat the dead skin off of the body. Imagine your feet being encased in a school of bottomfeeders, all scraping at your feet. It was new to me, and on several occasions I either burst into laughter or frantically jumped out of the water – I highly recommend it.

This morning I found out that I have a huge problem. One of the kids in my host family went into my bag five days ago and took my emergency global cell phone. The phone I have for emergencies ONLY because it is so expensive. In the three days he had it he ran up a $350 cell phone bill!!! I’ve contacted the cell phone company so hopefully I’ll be able to find someway to fix it, because I certainly can’t afford it. Stay tuned.