It’s been hard to blog lately because not a lot in Muscat is blog-worthy. It’s not like getting my hair highlighted or driving around in the Jeep or going out to dinner is particularly interesting here. Now if I were doing these things in Egypt I’m sure I would have some story about the hair salon having a two headed cat sitting at the front door, or while driving around in the Jeep we could have been driving behind a moped carrying seven abaya-wearing grandmas, all hanging off the handlebars, and dinner out would be more than “yummy food, too expensive.”
Cause how many times can I say that it’s HOT here (it was 110 in the shade earlier today and so wet it felt like my clothes were going to slide off my body), or talk about how Camille doesn’t sleep, or that it’s HOT here? Don’t get me wrong, Muscat is a beautiful place, we just don’t have any interesting stories to tell. Josh and I were talking over coffee the other night and we decided that if he were here for a job, we’d probably really enjoy it. But because we’re here for 1 year with the task of becoming immersed in the Arabic culture and language, we keep searching for something that doesn’t exist. Or just isn’t accessible the way it was in Egypt.
We haven’t been able to find anything that defines Oman — other than the fact that they all drive nice cars and most of them don’t work. We also haven’t been able to break in and feel connected with Arabic people here. At all. We love it here, but it has been frustrating for Josh to feel like he’s not getting the same quality of experience that he was getting in Cairo. He had people he spoke Arabic with every day there and here? He talks to the Omani guy at the Starbucks near our house, the one at the mall, and there are a couple of people at the embassy who will speak with him when he goes to check the mail.
But we’ll keep looking and trying to worm our way in. Josh started going to the Arabic service at church a few weeks ago and is happy he has at least one good Arabic language exposure per week now. I think once the boys start school they will feel like they have a purpose and goals to work toward. But for now it feels a little bit like we’re on vacation. Boo hoo, right?