Oman

I visited Shatti al-Qurm, or Qurm beach, yesterday. The area is unbelievably beautiful. If more authoritarian governments had places like Shatti al-Qurm, the people wouldn't be so pissed off (why DO I always study in authoritarian countries?). If you walk along the main road, out of your left eye you can see the mountains of Muscat, and out of your right eye, you can watch the waves roll in. There is a Starbucks, which has wireless Internet. For a small fee, you can connect and use the wireless for as long as you want. So, I've found where I'm going to do my ISP research, since the cab ride from where I'll be in Ruwi is half a rial away. Between al-Qurm beach and the Yacht Club, plus all the shopping centers we've been going to (for research believe it or not), it's hard to believe we're actually studying abroad, and not on holiday.

Like I said in an earlier post, the name Muscat actually refers to a whole stretch of cities along the Omani coast. For example, our hotel for the first week was on the Muttrah Corniche, and our school is in al-Hail, which is about 45 km, or 40 minutes by cab or minibus. The cabbies and minibus drivers are crazy, as they have a tendency to be in developing countries. Forget about terrorism, the biggest danger in the Middle East is auto traffic, which kills the most people each year in Oman. We just found out about our homestay placement, which I'm very excited about. I'm going to be living in Ruwi, which is literally in the middle of everything. Ruwi itself is changing quite quickly and is a very cool neighborhood. Also, it's close to al-Qurm, which is the beach, embassy row, Starbucks (thank god), and many of the other really fun places in Muscat. It's also close to Muttrah and the Yacht Club. The homestay coordinator here in Oman is the founding member of the Yacht Club in Muscat, and we can get in for free, so maybe I'll manage to get a tan. All in all, I feel very comfortable navigating the city at this point, and the cabbie bargaining skills I picked up in China are coming along quite well. I've managed to get them down to near-native prices. So, good times all around.

So, upon reflection of my first full week in country, I'd say things are going pretty well. Muscat is a pretty crazy. Muscat proper is really actually only about the size of downtown Chagrin Falls, not large at all. The city Muscat refers a 50 km stretch all along the Omani coast including Muttrah, Ruwi, al-Qurm, and al-Hail (pay attention to the names, you'll need them for later). Our flights went decently well, and we got into Muscat at about 10 PM and went to our hotel, which was right on the Muttrah Corniche, literally overlooking the water. Driving into Muttrah, it really strike me how similar Oman and China felt. The signs look similar, it smells similar (although Oman is much cleaner), it really feels like Qingdao in China, but with Arabesque architecture. Having been here for a week, the energy feels rather similar also. In both countries, you can sense the desire to be moving ahead, to get things and to hurry and catch the developed countries. It's pretty interesting.

Sorry about the delay in posting new content, looks like there isn't as much internet access in Oman as I thought. So instead it looks like I'm going to post in bursts, with a week in between.