Helpful Arabic Phrases

السلام عليكم
As-salaamu Alaykum- Peace be upon you (standard greeting)

كيفك؟
Kayfak/Kayfik? - How are you?

إن شاء الله
Enshallah- If God wills it (used often, like saying "hopefully")

ما شاء الله
Mashallah- What God wills! (used a lot like "congratulations")

...إسمي
Ismii- My name is...

أنا من أمريكا
Ana min amreeka- I am from America

أحبك
Uhubak/ Uhubki- I love you

حبيبي/ حبيبتي
Habibi(boy)/ Habibtii (girl)- sweetheart

شكراً
Shukraan- Thank You

Omani Adventures

This past weekend, a group of us went to Oman! For anyone not familiar with the geography of the Gulf, This is the country just south east of UAE. Please refer to this handy dandy map for further reference! We drove straight to the capital (Muscat) and stayed there for one night. It is about a 5 hour drive, longer, depending on how long it takes you at the border. In some routes, you have to pass through multiple border crossings (which was the case with us) due to small pockets of Oman territory that are in the UAE. 

First, as we arrived in Muscat, we did a drive through the city and went up into the nearby hills to get  a decent view.
Here is the old city of Muscat. The Omani flag is flying in the fort and palace in the background, signifying the Sultan
of Oman is currently in the city. Muscat is the capital yet you will not find skyscrapers. In fact, there is a national law
in Oman that you can not build buildings over 16 stories tall (which is the height of the tallest building in the
country: a Sheraton hotel). I like it this way in that Muscat, and the country as a whole, has maintained it's
Arabian character. While in Dubai you may question from time to time "Am I really in the Middle East right now?"
due to it's extreme westernization. In Oman you get all the benefits of being in a developed country without sacrificing
your Arab cultural experience.

A photo of my at the gates to the Palace in Muscat. On the gold plate is the Omani coat of arms.

The Souq (market) in Muscat. Famous for its Frankincense and perfumes, which were FABULOUSLY expensive. I
didn't buy any frankincense, but I did by the black abaya on the right hand side with the purple and blue trim!

Another view of the Souq.

That night for dinner we went to a traditional gulf restaurant where we got the standard
meal of rice an your choice of lamb or chicken. Of course we also got some hommos
as well as some other Middle Eastern treats!

Layal and I shared a plate and STILL couldn't finish it. They put so much rice and a
complete half a chicken for one meal!

The next day we started off by going to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. I think I found it more stunning than the
Sheikh Zayid Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. This Mosque was smaller, but the artwork was exquisite! Here is a
picture of our group in the gardens of the Mosque, you can see the main dome behind us.

The entrance to the Grand Mosque. While the Grand mosque in Abu Dhabi I think
went for simplicity in it's design and artwork the Grand Mosque in Muscat had more
intricate and minute details (as you can see the beautiful Arabic calligraphy that
lines the walls and archways)

Before one prays in Islam, you must wash yourself (hands, feet, face, mouth). They have
stations like this throughout the mosque for worshippers to wash themselves before
going to pray. Here is a picture of my friend, Redwan, beautifully demonstrating
how to purify yourself. The hat was our guide's hat and adds a nice touch!

Here is me inside the main prayer room in the Mosque. Behind me in the far back
is an archway that is decorated with precious stones and gold. This indicates the
direction of the Ka'bah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. In Islam this place is considered
the most sacred spot on Earth. All muslims pray everyday, five times a day, facing
this direction.

After the Mosque we started a slow trip back to UAE making some stops. The first stop was a place where they make
traditional "Halwa". Halwa is very hard to describe. It is a jello-y, custard-y sweet that tastes similar to caramel.
The easiest way to say it is that I have never tasted anything quite like it. It is very delicious, but two small
spoonfuls and you can already feel your teeth starting to rot, it is that sweet.

After tasting Halwa, we go to an old fort; a remnant of the Portuguese occupation of
Oman. Here is a photo of my friend, Gabe, standing in the entrance to the inside of the fort.
The fort was called Nakhal Fort, with means Palm (as in the tree)

Here is me looking out the window of one of the rooms in the fort. A room like this was covered in carpet and pillows
and was used to entertain guests.

Here is a view of the top of the fort and the city of Nakhal beyond.

A picture of myself expelling the fort!

Here is one of the many cannons in Nakhal Fort. During Ramadan, this cannon is set off
at sunset. Ramadan is the holiest month of the Islamic calendar. During this month
Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, not eating or drinking. At sunset, they break the
fast, often with tea and dates to start, then have a large meal.

After seeing the fort we went to a nearby freshwater spring to have lunch. Here we say this man drive right of the road
and straight into the creek to start washing his car.

Before we left we found a donkey that probably belonged to one of the local villagers grazing on the bank of the
stream. He was too cute not to take pictures of!

After all this we reluctantly went back to the UAE to start another school week! Oman was an amazingly beautiful place and I wish I had more time there! I recommend anyone to keep Oman in their thoughts when they plan their next adventure! You will not be dissapointed!

Coming soon! I have made plans to go visit Jordan during spring break with some friends! Stay tuned! :)

Happy International Women's Day!!!

Ok, so its actually on Thursday, but we had a celebration in the Women's Dorms today in honor of women of the world!

Many girls gave speeches about the history and achievements women in their countries. My friend, Kayla, and I also gave a short speech about the history of women in the United States. We were upstaged momentarily by two toddlers (brother and sister) who walked in front of us hand in hand. Then the little girl  bit her brother on the hand! The ladies laughed and said "in the true spirit of Women's Day!". The poor little boy didn't know what hit him and stared at his hand and yelled for his mom! It was too cute!

After presentations they had some performances including a girl doing some belly dancing and a singer. I took a video of the singer, which is below! Sorry about the format! I forgot I can hold the camera vertically when taking a video!!!

Next came the food! We had delicious Arabian style BBQ. Yummy!

One weird thing is the buffet manners in this country! While in the United States, at a buffet we queue up and wait to go through the line. Here, everyone rushes to the table in no order and just starts grabbing food. Complete chaos. I was tempted to yell out "We are not monkeys here! We are humans! Let's show a little civility!". Instead I just decided to try and get my food as fast as I could and get out of there! After dinner the played music and some ladies danced including what I can only describe as an arabian line dance. Below is a short video!

Thanks for reading! I am going to Oman for the weekend, so I will hopefully have some very interesting blogs coming soon!

An Ornithological post....

Since not much has been going on lately for me, just school and the occasional trip into Dubai for dinner on the weekends, I decided to do a little blog post about my fellow avian countrymen here in the UAE!

I have been amazed since coming here at the variety of birds I see everyday just on campus. I swear, I discover a new one almost every week that I haven't seen before! Three of my favorites that I see around campus are...

Rose-ringed Parakeet. (not my photo) I only ever see these guys high up hanging out on the outside of the Library Building. I could never get a proper picture of them, so I had to steal one from the internet!

This little guy is by far my favorite, the Eurasian Hoopoe (not my picture). I have only seen one twice, but he is absolutely gorgeous! They can put their little crowns either up or down, so precious!!!

There is another bird on campus that I couldn't find on the internet but that I like that looks a little like a Magpie.

Here are some lovely birds that you can see here OFF campus!

ME! With a Falcon! This was a store that sold falcons in the Animal Souq. So precious!

Flamingoes at the end of the Dubai Creek right outside of Dubai. Not as colorful as you would assume flamingoes to be, but still lovely! Right now their number are healthy, but their wetland habitat is in danger of being developed!

All for now! I am going to Oman for the weekend next weekend, so I will have blogs with more substance very soon!