Umm, the ocean is on the wrong side

Things you might not have known about Oman that I have learned in the last day and a half:

1. They have these sticks.. which when you put in water, can then use to brush your teeth. Seriously, they are twigs to chew on. Also, this was my mystery item... which did in fact stump everyone in the group.

2. Im glad I didnt eat fish at lunch yesterday, because one guy got food poisoning from his. HA, see why I don't eat it?

3. Wrinkles are a bigggggg no no. You must look sharp. And smell good. At all times. Even after hiking around all day in the heat.

4. The toilets, of the toilets are so stressful. Lets just say it involves a sprayer (or a bucket if in an old place), your left hand, and some toilet paper which must be damn clean when you are done. But lets just say it explains why the left hand is such a big taboo.

5. THe left hand.. don't give anyone anything with it. Do not shake hands with it. Do not eat or drink with it. This is way more hard than you'd think.

6. The people are so very friendly. We went to the Sultan Qaboos University to tour today. We met the Dean of the Arts and Sciences, a few professors, and 3 women English literature majors. The girls were such a delight, so sweet! And the school is very beautiful..

7. Omani time is a relaxed time. Maybe even more so than Spanish time. So dont expect the buses to have schedules or lunch to be under 2 hours.

8. The hypermarts are a drastic change from yesterday's souk. Change smelly good spices and herbs for the US mall (but, in this one, everything has Arabic subtitles) and there was my evening at drop off #2.

9. Buses are hard to catch. And my gruop didn't catch one on our drop off trip. We walked a mile to the market... and then had a taxi driver take us to the wrong place on the way back... only to be noticed by the ocean appearing on the wrong side of the window. Luckily, we somehow figured it out.

10. The University has separate reading areas for men and women. Wonder if more work would get done at good ol SU if this was the case as well!

11. Omani coffee and dates are goooooooooooood

12. I am suddenly an alien. I am scarfless, and I am American, and I am a funny thing to stare at as you walk by. Boy, have I gotten some hilarious looks

annddddd

13. My group is so amazing. Total is at 15, and I think we all mesh pretty well. We all go to smaller, liberal arts type schools- we are all in some form of political science, history, or intl relations- and we are already looking out for each other. And heck, do we laugh a lot