Eid al-Adha: THE BIG EID

     This is going to be a short entry because the progression of events of this Eid were nearly the exact same as the one in September. The only difference was this one did not start at night and the first night did not begin with giving a portion of one’s yearly salary to charity. This Eid is generally referred to as the big Eid because it is seen to be more important then the first one. The first Eid’ s full name is Eid al-Fitr, which means celebration of breaking fast and its pretty self-explanatory as to the purpose of the holiday. It celebrates the end of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. Eid al-Adha translates into Celebration of Sacrifice. It celebrates the prophet Abraham, a prophet in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, willing to carry out God’s will and sacrifice his own son, Ishmael. According to the stories, at the last second God said that he only wanted to see if they were truly devout and said that Abraham could sacrifice a bull rather then his son. This is why every Eid al-Adha a bull is sacrificed on the second day. As far as the ritual goes it is similar. Day one people go from house to house eating and epically large breakfast, day 2 the bull gets slaughtered and family time continues and day 3 there is a big family lunch and, for my home stay family, that was the end of it. This is, however, an interesting time of the year for the Arab world. It is the time of the year where many Arabs go on Haj, which is the holy pilgrimage to Mecca and then, walking in the footsteps of Mohamed, take the journey, by foot, from Mecca to Medina. For, Oman specifically it is even more of a busy time because not only is it Haj and Eid but it is also the Sultan’s birthday which is National Day. This year is the 40^th anniversairy of the country’s “rebirth” and big celebrations are ensuing The actual celebration has been moved to early December so the Queen of England could come, as well as Hillary Clinton, and they will be taking place the final three days I am here. The rest of my time here will be filled with research and then National Day celebrations however, there will still be a couple more entries to come.

     

Nizwa: The University, the City, and Hanging With the Students

     On Friday, October 29^th, the group and I arrived in the city of Nizwa. Nizwa is the formal capital of Oman and its forth-biggest city. After a very nice lunch at the hotel where our academic director was staying we made our way to the University of Nizwa, which is located in the near by village of Burkat Al-Mouz. Shortly after our arrival the girls went to begin their rural home stays and the guys were placed in a hostel. Mostly, it was two of us American students to a room with three other Omani students, squeezing five people in a room made for three. Now while the conditions were not exactly five-star I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank the students, even though there is little to no chance that they will ever read this, for making this place so hospitable. We were greeted with enthusiasm and it was insisted that I sleep on one of the three students’, of whom the room belonged to, beds. There were two other mattresses in the room to sleep on, however, Omani hospitality once again showed up and I was not really given much of a choice. After setting up shop it was suggested to me that I get a shave and a haircut, so I did, and then the entire group, of both American and Omani students, went to get dinner together at a near by Pakistani restaurant.

Villages on Jebel Akdhar

     On Saturday the entire group met at the gates of the university in order to go on a group trip to Jebel Akdhar, which literally translates to Green Mountain (or Vermont, yes we went to Vermont, Oman). This place was high up into the mountains of Nizwa and was actually nearly as high as Denver, in elevation above sea level. It is called Green Mountain, however, by American standards this mountain was not actually green, but you must remember our standards are high and the name really refers to the incredible amount of vegetation and farming that exists on the mountain. We started out our tour with a visit to a luxury hotel that is being built there and we got to see the process of it being built as well as the facilities and the awesome view that will be available to the people staying there. We then made a few more stops where we got to witness more really incredible views as well as climb down into valleys and we climbed to an abandoned village. The weather on the mountain was the best I have experienced in Oman. The people, before I went there, were very enthusiastic about how cold it would be, however, it was very comfortable and in the low to mid 60’s, but I guess that is cold in Oman. Little towns and villages were located all over the mountain and we stopped at one in particular to see how the Falaj system works. Drinkable water is not overly abundant in Oman, especially in the interior, and the Falaj is a water transport system that brings the water, from its source, to the town, for people to use. Some of these things are centuries old and most, if not all, are made from stone. We actually got to walk along the edge of one, and listen to me when I tell you, it was the most terrifying thing I have ever done. This stone water shoot is built on the side of a mountain, and not a mountain that you can climb, but a mountain that is made of large cliffs and if you fell it is hundreds of feet to the ground. Now, the width of this water slide like structure was about two and a half feet from the wall of the mountain but we could not actually walk in the water because people drink from that water so we had to walk along the edge. Remember when you were a kid and you had to walk along the curb of the sidewalk and if you fell into the street, you lost the game. What we had to walk on might have been double the width of one of those curbs. I thought if the wind blew to hard I was going to fall over. But, I made it back alive and after a nice lunch at a park type area on the mountain we all headed back to our respective living situations.

     That night the American guys all headed to the Nizwa souq. This souq was surrounded by what looked like castle walls, giving it a real compound type feel, but it was one of the nicer souqs I have been to. Unfortunately and oddly enough the souq was not open past 9 so we didn’t get much time there but after we left we got some dinner in the city of Nizwa and then went to a hookah bar, where they were showing an important soccer game and met up some of the Omani students hanging out there. There rest of the night consisted of hookah, tea, and what they call football here, but we all know it is soccer.

      That Sunday I went to an English class with some of the students from the hostel. The class consisted of me going around the room trying to teach the students English but basically that just meant that I was giving the people the answers that they didn’t know on the worksheet they were supposed to complete. The teacher looked delighted that I was filling in for him for the day. The class had both boys and girls, but it was segregated, girls on the right and boys on the left. The girls remained mostly quiet for the majority of the class while the boys were loud and often paid little attention to what the teacher was saying. Gender segregation is something that is popular throughout Oman, although it gets more obvious and strict in the more conservative areas.  Nizwa, being one of the more conservative places, almost every where you went boys and girls were separated, and a woman was never seen out of the house too much later then 7 or 8 o’clock. Oman does this because it is a religious and a conservative state and many consider it to be an important religious and cultural aspect of their society to keep men and women separated until they decide on one, or a few more in some cases, to marry. Some people might make the argument that integrating schools causes distractions and can become inappropriate but in my opinion men and women learn a lot from one another and only benefit from having a diverse environment. Nizwa only backed up that theory.

     The rest of the week was filled with various recreations, most of them fun. I wanted to hit an economics class but sadly none of the professors allowed me in. Monday morning a friend and I went on the hike in the many mountains that surround Burkat Al-Mouz and Tuesday evening we went to watch our hostel’s soccer team play a game. The final day in Nizwa we spent visiting various villages around the city, as a group, and then spent a few hours in the evening at The Golden Tulip Hotel, relaxing and sitting by the pool. 

     Nizwa was a really valuable part of my trip. I made a lot of friends with the Omani students as well as got an excellent picture of what college life is like in Oman, or at least in the University of Nizwa. Now it is time to spend the rest of the trip focusing on research and getting this ISP wrapped up. There still, however, may be three or four more blogs to come.

The Sharqiyah Region

Wadi

     After the conclusion of my classes, here in Oman, the completion of my Arabic final, and a long and heavy sigh, the group and I began our final excursion of the semester. The final excursion is actually a combination of two excursions, one to the Sharqiyah Region, the region on the eastern coast of Oman, and the other is to the interior city and formal capital, Nizwa. Wednesday, the 27^th of October, we left the World Learning Center at around midday and had a long drive ahead of us, which I was ok with because the Arabic final was an extremely exhausting activity. After a couple of hours on the bus we reached our first stop, which was a Wadi, of which I cannot remember the name. For all of you who do not know what a Wadi is, which is probably everyone, it is essentially a large canyon or valley with a river in it. Thanks to the lack of rain, and water in general, in this country the first mile or so of the valley was mostly dry and the red, rocky mountains that seems to characterize Oman towered on either side of the group as we walked.  Eventually we came upon deep water which was as blue as the water in the Caribbean and we had to walk along a relatively thin walkway which eventually turned into a cliff 30 feet or so above the water.  A bunch of the group went on to further explore but a couple of us never made it down the whole way because the lure of a bunch of cliffs 30 to 40 feet above the water was just too much to bear. We proceeded to spend the next hour and a half having the time of our lives finding new and creative ledges to jump off of into the sky blue water.

     After the Wadi and another hour and a half on the bus we made it to our first stop in the Sharqiyah Region, Ras al-Had. In this particular place we did not stay in a hotel, but at a camp ground. The grounds were interesting in that they consisted of a tent to eat dinner, a carpeted area with a fire place to relax, shower and toilet huts, and a bunch of other bedroom huts that resided in their own area.  The inside of the huts were filled with three small beds and no room for anything else. There was no air conditioning or things like that either, but it got fairly cool out there in the evening so it wasn’t too big of a deal. After we ate and got settled we headed off to the beaches because on most nights you can see turtles, which heavily populate the surrounding waters of Oman, laying their eggs. We went with a tour guide and we were lucky enough to spot some turtles. They two we saw were pretty huge, being about 3 or 4 feet from head to tail and having an even larger fin span. We even saw some recently hatched baby turtles making their way from the beach to the ocean.

Boat Being Built

     The following day we woke up early ate a quick breakfast and then left Ras al-Had. We spent the day in Sur, the second biggest Omani city. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for my mistake. I have previously stated that Salalah is the second biggest Omani city, however, it is the third and Sur is the second. There are so many mosques in Sur it is actually known as Minaret City and it is right on the water giving the place a beautiful view of the Arabian Gulf. We visited a “factory” where they build what seemed like merchant vessels and a view boats were in the process of being built, which was really great to see. We then took a boat ride around the city, got something to eat, and made our way to our second destination in the Sharqiyah Region, The Wahiba Sands.

Sandboarding on Wahiba Sands

     The Wahiba Sands is a huge tourist destination for other people from the Middle East and Europe visiting Oman on vacation so when we arrived there were not many Omanis there but a lot of British and German people. This place is a camp ground located in the middle of the dessert and by dessert I don’t mean the red, rocky, jagged, semi-sandy mountains that populate most of Oman but I mean rolling sand dunes that go on a long, long way.  The campgrounds here were somewhat similar to Ras al-Had as in there were a bunch of huts where people resided as well as a bathroom and shower hut. The dinner/living area was a good amount larger, however, to accommodate the large amount of tourists. We got there in the mid after noon it was extremely hot. The huts were almost identical to those in Ras al-Had in that all there really was in them was three beds and a little bit of space to leave your bags. The electricity wasn’t even turned on till sun down. We spent our time that day sand boarding, playing American football, in the sand, and dune bugging, which is packing into a four-wheeler and speeding over and around the sand dunes. The night was actually very peaceful. It got pretty chilly there and I hung out by the fire and smoked hookah and relaxed. Eventually, I went to bed and the next day we were up, out and on our way to University of Nizwa. 

Doha: A Liiiiiiitttttle Bit Like Home

Skyline of New Doha

     When we arrived in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, from Dubai, I was immediately thrilled with the contents of my surroundings. There was finally a city with a skyline, something that I have not seen since I left the U.S, made up of skyscrapers that looked pristine and modern. The hotel we stayed at, called The Swiss-Bell Hotel, was extremely nice. The rooms were enormous with free Internet access, unbelievably comfortable beds, and one of the most excellent bathrooms/showers that I have ever experienced.

     Qatar is a unique country, in the Gulf area, in that is trying to present itself to the world as a forum for fair and free international policy. Although the government is autocratic, lead by Hamad bin Khalifa Althani, the founding of Al-Jazeera is arguably the most shining example of free press in this part of the world. Qatar is home to one of the largest U.S military bases, outside The United States itself, and also engages in some interactions with countries like Iran, promoting progress for peaceful foreign policy, through out the region.

     The Doha Debates are a huge statement on the way Qatar wants to present itself to the world. A place where international and controversial topics can be discussed and debated in a fair setting. This year’s Doha Debate was about the French ban on the face veil and I was lucky enough to be sitting in the audience watching. The proposition argued that the veil is not appropriate in a country where there is a separation of church and state and the face veil heightens the risk of terrorism as well as creates a general anti social attitude and separation within a community. The opposition argued that the ban was targeting too small a group to be affective, it was immoral for governments to tell people how to dress, and it was just another example of the increased “Muslim bating” that has been seen around Europe in recent years. The two sides went back and forth and it was all very interesting, but in the end the opposition won.

     After the debate we went to The Souq Waqif, or “The Old Souq”. In some areas it looked like a re-done and re-built version of the older areas, where up and down the street there are fancy restaurants that are significantly more expensive then ones you traditionally see in Souqs. Then you walk down the way a bit and you come upon a labyrinth of all the same type of stores that you would see in Souq Mutrah, and there were portions of it that were in doors that looked a lot like Souq Mutrah. The merchandise being sold in this part of the Souq ranged from a cafeteria of herbs and spices to actual falcon shops.

     Souq Waqif was actually renovated relatively recently and parts of this are easy to see. None, if any of the souqs that I have been to thus far have had the style of restaurant that is common to the new “Old Souq”. The shop owners are a lot more like the one in Oman than the ones in Dubai and just call to you from their stores as opposed to being overly aggressive. This may be due to less poverty and subsequent desperation or it could be due to a more lax attitude. Either way it lead to a much nicer Souq experience.

Al Jazeera Logo 

     The highlight of the second day in Doha was the tour of Al-Jazeera head quarters. Al-Jazeera is the best example of free press in the region and it was really great being able to see the foundation of how it all functions. Al-Jazeera was formed in 1996, when the BBC shut down their Arabic channel, in an effort to bring accurate information to the people of the Arab world, a luxury that many in the region lacked. The news station was able to be created as well as is still sustained by government loans which creates suspicions in some people’s minds where the news station’s loyalties lie, however, it seems that in most cases the information reporting is pretty accurate. In 2006 Al-Jazeera English was formed so that non-Arab audiences could still be able to view the content of their broadcasts without a language barrier. The tour started out with Al-Jazeera English and it was unbelievable to see the way one of the most controversial news organizations in the world functioned. The entire newsroom was beating to the same pulse, it seemed, as we watched broadcasters being filmed and other employees constantly going about doing their business. We got to pay a visit to the original room that Al-Jazeera was built out of and it was really impressive to see how the channel has grown over the past 14 years.

     The final day in Doha we went to visit Education City. The Emir’s wife has been very public in her quest to improve the country’s education and Education City is one of her most triumphant victories. Starting with Virginia Commonwealth and coming to include Northwestern and Georgetown, seven of America’s finest schools have opened campuses in this oasis of western education in the Middle East. All of the campuses are located in the same plot of land and all of them are relatively close to one another allowing students to have the ability to meet people from different schools and share what they have learned. Also, students are not required to be Qatari and many of the students we met were Palestinian or Jordanian as well as one Omani. We started the day at 7:30 with one of the most compelling lectures I have ever listened to from the Dean of Georgetown. Almost all of the campuses only offer one major or specialization and the idea is to choose a campus/major that suits your interests. Georgetown’s major is International Affairs and the Dean lectured us on Qatar’s role in Gulf and World politics as well as other interesting topics. We then headed to the Texas A&M campus for a lecture by “The Qatar Foundation”, which is the organization founded by the Emir’s wife that has allowed all of this to happen. The rest or our morning and early afternoon was filled with tours of campuses which was very interesting and all of them were equipped with gear, just as advanced as you would see in The United States. We ate lunch with students from the Northwestern campus, whose specialization is in Journalism. It was great to meet students from the university and talk with them over lunch as well as watch their student made films. While almost all of their families came from The Middle East many of them were from places like Canada, The U.S, or Europe, because that is where their families’ currently reside. The end of our day consisted of two more very interesting lectures and a nice relaxing final night at our fantastic hotel.