Weekend Update

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately…. a decent internet connection is hard to come by in our new residence for the time being.

So here we are, 3 or so weeks into this expatriate thing, and we are starting to learn a thing or two about a thing or two. We are learning, for example, that things are a little different when you’re not in your home country. For example, here is a picture of Bree, sitting next to me as we (or I, as it were) speak:

Notice that we are in a mall not unlike one in the US, and there is, in fact, a Forever 21 store right behind Bree. Also notice the Omani behind her sporting the dishdasha. Like I said, things are a little different. Overall, we’re not suffering too badly.

Two weekends ago we went diving for the first time, which was really impressive, and yesterday we went exploring into the interior of Oman, while today we went to the beach prior to our current excursion to the mall.

Yesterday’s excursion led us to Nizwa, Oman’s second largest tourist town (so we’re told). We went to a famous old fort there:

which we had to ourselves. Even in Oman’s second biggest tourist destination (so we’re told), you can have the place to yourself if you go when its really, I mean ridiculously, hot outside.

We were hoping to make it to the town’s famous souq (market) to buy a rug or perhaps some souvenirs, but it was deserted due to the aforementioned weather conditions. Instead, we cruised around town. Here is a picture of one of the old narrow streets:

Nizwa is a crazy mixture of old and new. There are remnants of the old city mixed with modern buildings everywhere. The wall we were so delicately squeezing our vehicle through is probably at least 400-500 years old (if not much older). All of Oman is kindof like that. You’ll be cruising down a highway and on the top of the hills you’ll see watch towers that date back to the middle ages. Its wild.

We had so much fun we decided to end the day by having our first run in with the local law enforcement. I (stupidly) took a wrong turn down a one-way street, and of course there was none other than a police car driving up the street at the time. Luckily it turned out to be no big deal. The policeman asked about how we were enjoying our stay in Oman, and after explaining the importance of obeying local traffic laws and carrying the right documentation (like a passport, which we didn’t have), let us go. Next time I’ll try to remember to drive the correct way down the street…

More random pics of Oman:

Today’s Beach Destination

They have this tourism thing down here, someone KNEW I was going to have to take a picture of this before deciding to use it.