Sand In My Abaya

Kenzie, Braden and I in front of the opera house.

The Royal Omani Opera House is a feat of architectural wonder. Up until a few weeks ago, when we finally got the chance to visit, the inside was a complete mystery to us. But Katy, our amazing coordinator, pulled through and got us tickets to see Don Pasquale as performed by a visiting Italian opera company. I'll attach a photo here and more in my photo album, to give you a sense of the fabulously opulent interior design.

The opera was nice. Not amazing, not fantastic, but definitely enjoyable. One of the possible highlights for me (I can't speak for the other girls, although I assume they enjoyed this too, is the fact that Katy was actually an extra in the opera - the reason we'd been able to get tickets in the first place). It was strange to see so many expats in one place, although it shouldn't really have surprised us.

At any rate, since I've been so horribly remiss in blogging this past month (this is the part where I send deep and sincere apologies out into cyberspace), I'll do a recap of the other happenings here in Oman to give you a sense of the latest news and my mundane goings-about.

Probably the biggest and most exciting event of the last month or so was the return of Sultan Qaboos home to Oman after more than 7 months in Germany. Although he made it clear that large scale celebrations were not necessary, each of our schools held assemblies for the students to share their love for Oman and their ruler with each other. Our assembly included singing, poetry, and stories about the Sultan and the wonderful things he has done for this country.

Other than that, there isn't much to tell. We gave presentations in our Women in the Arab World class at AMIDEAST two weeks ago (mine was on perceptions of privacy), and I am currently on break from school for a week; an opportunity to scramble and work on my capstone*.

April 3 was my 16th birthday, and the second was Linden's, so we went out as a group on Friday to celebrate them both with Thai food and grocery shopping (much more fun than it sounds, I promise).

*The YES Abroad capstone is a project required of all on-program students. It is essentially your opportunity to research and explain - and present on - any topic of interest to you with regard to your exchange. My topic, for example, is Omani architecture and how it has been influenced by culture.

At any rate, that's a pretty good summary of the happenings of the last month. I'll leave you, as usual, with a song.

🎶Last Train to Clarksville - The Monkees🎶

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