There Are Days

There are days that totally take you by surprise. Not much may happen, but at the end of the day you feel fantastic. Today was similar. It was a busy day here in Muscat; I went to SQU to chip away some interviews, and there the day began. Sitting in the library, I was so nervous to approach the girls, all talking in their groups, why would they take the time to talk to me? I finally gathered enough guts to just sit down randomly at a table, and thank goodness, it worked out. I talked to one girl for an hour about my project. Jessica was talking to 2 other girls and once we were done, the girls took us to meet their friends. It so happens that today was graduation, so classes were cancelled in the afternoon.. and the library was closed. So we mosied down to the Women's Engineering Lab where we met handfuls of amazing women. They were so excited to help us out, they made sure they talked to each Jessica and me. We both received some stellar information! To add, they insisted on buying us lunch, showing us around campus, and taking us to their dorm room. As completely and amazingly generous they were, Jessica and I found it pretty funny since we just had a discussion about their opinions on the US... and it wasn't a shining report.

Afterwards, I met some girls at City Center for dinner. I met them at the Nizwa wedding, but since they live in Muscat, they decided to help me out with an interview... and for some fun time to hang out. The 3 sisters came along with their brother... and I had such a blast. The girls are so interesting- talk about strong women. And the brother is studying English so he can be a translator. Needless to say, he was very talkative. Again, Omani hospitality got the best of me, as they refused to let me pay... but I put up a good "Texan hospitality" fight. Every day I am amazed at the kindness here, and I will really miss hanging out with all my new friends. Oman is so far away- Now that there are only 11 days til my return, I've constantly had the discussion of whether I'll return. In my heart, I wish it to be so. But I know it is so difficult, financially, logistically, for us to visit each other. Its really a downer!

Hostel-ville

Dealing with the ridiculousness of yesterday... Erika, Kas, and I are now safely in a hostel. We've escaped the concentration camp of yesterday (our host mother would not let us use the restroom, go into the kitchen, and she took our keys...which made trips across the street to pee an interesting adventure) and finally got a hostel near the ISA office--- thank god for ISA! Now for the discussions today... why the last week of the trip!?

A plus of being in the hostel.... I finally finished my interview for the project. The owner of the hostel was more than happy to fill me in on his opinions of the monarchy--and almost every other aspect of Spanish government haha. But was really interesting and got a few books recommended to me.

Presentation today and IM DONE WITH WORK. Alls left is to repack my things in a semi orderly way and I get to leave for Trier. Im soooooo happy about it!

Trying to enjoy the last day as best I can!