7 am – I guess I should make a new day in this blog. Trevor and I said goodbye – which was sad… but I was very excited for him to be able to travel alone, and experience London for himself, on his own terms – very excited indeed. I’m pleased to say he made it there and made it home safely, even though it sounds like there was some complications with the travel situation.
I gathered my bags and at 7:30, went outside to wait for Kumait. I might add here, that Kumait is never on time – so I expected him to be late – but he was very late, and unfortunately missed his class. While I was waiting outside, however, I think I met every cab driver in Oman, and a few other men who offered to give me a ride anyhow. Don’t feel alarm at that sentence, ps… at the airport, there are only men, but I never ever felt threatened or unsafe or that they were creepy or dangerous. There was only one guy who was drunk who was persistent in his communication to me, but even that hardly lasted 5 minutes. I was the only westerner for the most part, and certainly the only western woman I saw. I could have covered my head – the blonde gathers attention like you wouldn’t believe – but I was wearing pants, so I was obviously foreign anyhow. After Kumait came, we went to get breakfast, and then went to his class.
In class, I was doing everything I could to stay awake. I started taking notes on my iphone but I was so freaking exhausted that my notes were gibberish and I wasn’t really paying attention. Kumait told me to take his keys and go to his car to sleep, so I did so. I found out later that I was supposed to take my leave and ask permission from the teacher before I left. The teacher was angry, it seems, that I just rose and left… oops. My bad, prof… my bad. Soon after class was done – Kumait came a knocking on the window – drove to a covered parking lot and dropped me off with some of his friends.
He had meetings and school and I didn’t really want to stay, so it worked out well that his friends were kind enough to take me around. Mohammed and AlHassan were the people I met, and Mohammed was the one who was my primary care taker. He was awesome. He drove me everywhere and told me stories of Oman, legends, and tales and histories. He answered some of the questions I had about Islam and we talked about the differences between Sunni, Shiite and the other types of practicing religious groups. We met with Zaid, picked up Said and dropped him off at the airport, then Mohammed, Zaid and I went to a restaurant called Maida’. It was amazing – traditional Omani food, and so very good. It was weird to eat it with a fork and knife, I have to say – it’s so much better with your hands… The Traditional Omani meal called Shuwa is amazing – lamb slow cooked in the earth with (red pepper, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cardamom, garlic, and vinegar in banana leaves….) It’s so tender, and so good indeed. The sweets they ordered were good too, but it had gluten in it… I tried some, but it made me sick… they gave me other gluten food later that made me sick again to the point that it came back up, and I no longer felt sick at all… yay body kicking out food that we don’t like…. I think…
We then went to Kergeen Shisha Café and then Mohammed and I drove some more. Ghaibe are ghosts in Oman, and there are a lot of stories of haunted houses and roads that some people avoid travelling to at night. There were apparently magicians that lived in Oman 50 years or so ago that could travel to Salala (10 hour drive) in an instant. Abodyah is the official religion of Oman but my friends were mostly Shiite. There are Sunni that live in Oman soon and as I understand it, there are mild differences in what they believe about who Mohammed said should follow him as leader and other details of the faith. Wahabe is another type found in KSA (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and it seems to be the most disliked, they are the ones in power currently, it seems. In Oman, the Sultan has worked hard to make peace between the different sects… they all speak the same language, worship the same God and so thus should not be reduced to violence. It is intolerable, and so, the groups are pretty peaceful in Oman. Apparently, (and keep in mind the cultural biases) he said that the Sunni accuse the Shiites of loyalty to Iran… but as my friend put it well, “My allegiance is to my God, my sultan and my country.” And said that so much of it is fear mongering and gossip… anyhow. Interesting stuff.
Later we went to Ziara – another very western shisha café where I met MJ, and Zaid and Kumait came to play cards with us. They described women as “Sucar al Haya” or the sugar of life. Lol. Funny.
I taught them the game I call “Egyptian Rat Screw.” I really can’t tell you why it’s called that, but they enjoyed the game – even as they cheated recklessly. It’s funny because I really don’t cheat, and feel guilt even if I mildly cheat so, I’m playing a very, very clean game whilst Kumait and Zaid were over the top in their cheating. Thankfully, I was still winning, so I can’t say I really cared too much. It was hilarious and I had so much fun laughing with them. I told them I play football (soccer) and Mohammed and I started to compare battle scars and tell gruesome stories – it was wonderful. I hope I present another type of woman, who is still fully feminine, to them… perhaps open up a box of perception or two… we’ll see though.
Sadly I had to return to the airport and say goodbye again. I met a wonderful Sudanese girl who was able to talk to me about her life growing up in Sudan and then coming to Oman. She was Muslim and so had the traditional long dress and head covering. But she talked about how she felt gender oppression here in Oman more than in Sudan and other places. It was interesting to hear her perspective of it, as an Islamic woman, because I was beginning to wonder if it was my American ego that that just getting bruised. It makes me wonder if the people in Oman really know anything different and so are simply acting out cultural habits, or if there is also a deliberate mantra or passed on beliefs, that aren’t habitual acts, but verbally taught to their children. We talked a little about gender at the shisha bar and one of the boys said that he wouldn’t mind sitting in public with a girl, but her brother might – just as if his sister was sitting in public with a girl, he himself would be annoyed. And we brought up again that if a guy and girl get engaged and it doesn’t work, they break it off, it is perceived by the culture that there was something wrong with HER. Not him. And it hurt her chances of ever being married again… oi. I appreciate very much that my friends see some of this a very unfair.
No comments:
Post a Comment