A Side Trip to Oman

A few months ago, when I heard that UC-Q hadn't spent all its PD money, I submitted a proposal to go to the English Language Conference at the Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat. Funnily enough, the end of the conference coincided with the beginning of an interterm week off, so it all worked out ...
The conference was quite nice. Especially nice that I didn't have to be involved in organizing it and that I wasn't presenting at it either. I just had to show up. Which I did ... I am such a goody two-shoes. There were two or three very interesting sessions and it is always good when presenters remind you to re-examine your teaching and see how you are doing.
Sultan Qaboos University is quite lovely ... established enough to be green and have lots of gardens with birds and flowers. It is also not so modern to be jarring and seem out of place. However, it is new enough to have all the amenities and several nice-sized lecture theatres as well as smaller classrooms. I was impressed by the attendees at this conference. True enough, numbers dropped hugely by the end of the second day (as in almost every conference), but people who attended sessions were mostly attentive and did not interrupt sessions terribly by coming and going constantly (as had been the case in Nepal and Qatar) and actually turned off their cell phones (unlike in Qatar, where it was really disturbing). Also, there did not seem to be feeding frenzies, where people were obsessed by food (Nepal and Qatar) and so people really did seem to be focussed on the presentations. At lunch one day I sat with a table of Indian elementary teachers (teaching in Muscat) and one of them was being very critical of a session I had also attended on teaching (or rather not teaching) grammar in a content-based language curriculum and it was quite a spirited conversation... critical or not, it indicated to me that the participant was at least paying attention and had an opinion. Plus he was really pretty funny.
After the conference, it was off to Shangri-la ... a resort that came highly recommended by colleagues at UC-Q. At first I thought I would travel around Oman and had really wanted to go to Salalah, in the south, but everyoneI talked to said Salalah is too hot by the end of April and that it is best to go after the monsoon rains, when the mountains are green. I quickly adapted and decided to stay near Muscat and just veg. I had a well-appointed room overlooking the Gulf of Oman, several swimming pools to choose from, a lovely beach, several novels, and a few day trips available, so I was happy enough. And the temperatures did soar to 40 on a couple of days.Muscat seems ever so normal in comparison to Doha. I only saw one Land Cruiser the whole time I was there and traffic, although heavy at times, was not oppressive. No reckless driving, no cutting in front of people to avoid queues, no driving across the desert because you can ... no honking ... no accidents (as opposed to three accidents I saw coming home from the airport at midnight last night - one had four ambulances in attendance).
People seemed very friendly in Oman ... I think I saw fewer women in Oman than I do in Qatar. The national dress is different. Men wear a long (usually white) dishdasha which differs from a thobe in that it has no collar or cuffs and has a tassel hanging from from the neckline. All men wear either a muzzar, a turban (often colourful and with an embroidered pattern) made of a finely woven wool or a cap called a kummar, which is made of embossed cloth. Women's clothing varies, with many women wearing abayas (and most of the young women at the conference wore black abayas, similar to Qatar), but some older women were wearing more colourful outfits that included pants, a loose dress over and a large shawl or headdress. Lots of gold and silver in the clothing and generally the women wore more jewellry and there were more pierced noses than I am used to seeing in Doha. I saw a few women wearing masks as well, but overall men were much more evident than women, which was somewhat surprising, because Omani society is thought to be more liberal than Qatari society.
So the hotel was very nice and I had a room with a view ... a luscious breakfast buffet every morning. I went on a few day trips ... to see the Muttrah Souq, to a shopping centre, and to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the palace, and a few museums. Plenty enough to keep me occupied.
A funny thing happened on the bus to the souq. We were all piling on and I was in line behind a couple of men. They started to sit in the first row of seats in order to see out the window, I guess, but the driver told them they couldn't sit there because it was for the old lady. As it was going to be my birthday the next day, I was feeling very sensitive and kind of insulted and thought he could have been much more delicate about the whole thing. So I obediently started to sit in the seat he had turfed the men out of and then he told me, "NO! For the old lady," so I obediently sat elsewhere, feeling much more kindly toward the driver. On our way into Muscat, we stopped at one of the other hotels in the resort and a woman with canes got on and she was allowed to sit in the front row.
The Grand Mosque was a pretty amazing place. Ahmed, my driver, had warned me to cover my arms to the wrists ... usually I make sure I have my elbows covered ... and I was glad I had a scarf and full-length sleeves because they were very strict about the dress code for women. The mosque is one of several buildings on the property and there is a women's prayer hall as well as ablution areas for both men and women. The mosque is open to tourists several days a week between 8 and 11. I can only imagine what it would be like with 10 or 15,000 worshippers. I am grateful I had a chance to visit there. I will post more pics on my flickr website ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chickOne very nice thing happened on my birthday. I was reading or doing sudoku on my balcomy when someone must have come into my room because when I went in from the balcony to get some water, there was a lovely birthday cake and a bouquet of pink roses on the table. So sweet.I guess they had noticed on my passport when my birthday was. The staff really was very nice at that hotel. My favourite observation was when one of the waiters at the restaurant near the pool took orders and delivered food for about half an hour with a 6-month-old baby in his arms so the baby's parents could eat in peace. They all seemed very happy with the arrangement, baby included:-) Lots of the staff came from the Phillipines, Indonesia, and Malaysia ... I guess the chain is mostly in eastern Asia, actually.
So ... back to work next week and I have lots to do to get ready. I am rested and feeling very good about the class I will be working with. Although it is a shortened semester (5 weeks ... very hard for writing. especially), I have great hopes that some of the students will complete the semester successfully. They are a high-functioning group and very ambitious and so if they are prepared to work hard, so am I.