I Love Visitors

Hey all!
I just had an awesome week with a fabulous visitor: Daniel came to visit for ten days and I simply can't believe how quickly the time passed! When he arrived we headed straight off to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for an ultimate frisbee tournament and to do a little sight-seeing in the UAE. Unfortunately, not a lot of sight-seeing was done due to some unforeseen time constraints. The drive to the border between Oman and the UAE is only about 3 hours (and then another hour and a half to Dubai from the border), but as soon as we got the the border, Zach deadpanned, "I forgot my passport." We all thought he was kidding; then I saw the look on his face and realized he was serious. Honestly, I thought is was hysterical that on the very first day of meeting someone in my family (yes, I consider Daniel family) Zach screwed up, causing us to have to drive an extra 6 hours. The poor guy was beating himself up so much that we didn't even get to experience the pleasure of making fun of him for it!

So we trucked it back to Muscat, and then BACK to the border and into Dubai. What is usually a 4-5 hour drive ended up being a 12 hour journey. It was midnight by the time we got into the city--not much to see. Then we spent the following day playing ultimate frisbee in Abu Dhabi, which was a great way for Danny to get to know a bunch of my friends here in Muscat and see what ex-pat life is all about. Plus, he kicked ass on the ultimate pitch. :-)

Throughout the week Danny took the car and explored the forts, wadis, and souks of Oman. He came to school with me on Wednesday and experienced both my middle school and high school classes. The middle schoolers LOVED asking him questions about becoming a doctor. (They have no shame in telling me that everyone in my family is WAY cooler than me...) We had a fun-run at school that day to raise money for cancer research, so Danny participated in that and then went home to get ready for our weekend exploring the country. Zach and I were THRILLED to come home to appetizers, wine, and scrumptious spaghetti cooking on the stove. Note to potential future visitors: Danny has set the bar VERY high.

We relaxed at home Wednesday night and then headed off early Thursday morning to the sink hole, wadi shab, and then the desert for the night. We've had a fair amount of rain this year (totally weird), so the wadis have been very full. Neither Zach nor I have ever seen wadi shab so full of water. I'm pretty sure Danny got sick of hearing us constantly exclaim, "Oh my god! There's just SO much water! I've never seen it like this before!" The falaj was overflowing in many parts of the hike and gushing waterfalls popped up out of nowhere. It was absolutely stunning. When we got to the cave at the end of the hike, the waterfall was more powerful than I ever imagined it could be. Swimming in the cave pool was actually difficult because of the strong current. It was SO cool.

At wadi shab, we ran into my Omani friend, Juma. He invited us to his friend's restaurant in Tiwi (the small town next to wadi shab) for some lunch and juice. Juma is the epitome of arab hospitality and I'm so happy Danny got the chance to meet him.

From Tiwi we headed to the interior so that Danny could experience the real arabian desert. We stayed at a bedouin camp, frolicking in the sands and relaxing to the live bedouin music. The only downside of the experience was our guide, Abdullah. I've known Abdullah since I first went to this bedouin camp two years ago when my sister visited. We've always had a friendly relationship, but he was very rude this time. He was constantly taking jabs at Zach and hitting on me. I can usually expect and handle a little bit of that, but this was incessant. As annoying and disrespectful as it was, in the end it made Zach and Danny join forces against a common enemy, and I was loving the bond that it helped form between two of my favorite guys in the world. Danny and I both agreed that Zach was a really good sport throughout the whole thing and handled himself very well.

Other than Abdullah's behavior, the trip to the desert was wonderful. In the morning we got to watch some camel racing, which is always an interesting affair, as well as ride camels ourselves. More than anything though, watching the sunset over the endless dunes is one of the most magical experiences I've ever had. I've done it numerous times now, and it takes my breath away and makes me fall more in love with Oman every single time.

Having Daniel visit was phenomenal. It was so nice for me to have the comfort of someone from home seeing my life here. My family visited the first year I was in Oman, and I'm very happy they got to see the country. But things have changed in the past three years, and it means a lot to me that Daniel got to see my life here now that I've settled into teaching at TAISM and life in the gulf. Of course, I'm also THRILLED that someone from home finally met Zach, and can't think of anyone better than Daniel for the job of vetting him before I bring him home to the whole family this summer.

That's all for now!