Moon Taser

Being in Oman has helped me realize how little I know of British people.  My closest friends here are British, and they might as well be speaking a foreign language when they all get worked up and start talking about something.  There’s British English…and then there’s American English…two extremely different things.  The frustrating part is that all the middle easterners who know English have learned the extremely proper, old school British English.  They totally don’t understand American English.  They look at me the way I look at them when they speak Arabic. 

Probably the funniest and most awkward thing I’m struggling with right now is having to walk into the lobby and call out names that I absolutely CAN NOT pronounce.  Those of you who are dental hygienists out there reading this, you know what I’m talking about.  You know, that patient you get who has a 10 consonant name and you completely fumble through it and then the patient dares to correct you as if you could attempt to repeat what they just said. LOL!!!  Ok, so the best one I’ve had yet was “Muntazr”.  I walked out to the lobby and said “MOON TASER?!”  The Omani girls, and pretty much everyone I’ve told the story to, has gotten a hoot out of it.  Apparently it’s pronounced “Moontasser”.  What’s worse, is I’ve been living in the South too long and the accent has worn off on me.  People still can’t get used to “y’all”.

Ebony…Ivory…living in perfect harmony…The obsession with skin color here is surreal.  Coming from such a “PC” country, it’s quite the adjustment for me to take part in daily conversations about race and also discussing people’s skin color.  The people here…ALL OF THEM…barring Europeans and Americans…want white, white skin.  It’s an obsession.  So here I am trying to lay out at the beach every weekend to tan up and the rest of them are looking into things like bleaching their skin.  I guess it’s true that we always want what we can’t have.  The grass is always greener on the other side.  Darker skinned people tend to have blackish pigment spots on their gums.  Part of their gums will be light pink and it will be blended in with the darker spots.  Daily patients ask me about these spots and how they can get rid of them.  They’ll point to their friend, who is light skinned, or to me and ask how they can get my gums.  So then I have to explain it all to them and it gets maddening.  I would love one day without discussing skin color or differences in accents.  I would also enjoy a day where I didn’t sweat.

I can’t remember how much I’ve discussed the food here, but it’s delicious.  People are always grilling out prawns, lamp, steak, chicken.  Hummus and pita is a staple and also there are so many delicious vegetables and salads.  I feel like the food I am getting is so much fresher than what I’m used to in the states.  I have no complaints about the food, EXCEPT I want Mexican food so bad I can’t stand it.

Weekends are spent on the beach and grilling out.  Last weekend we were hanging out at a private beach all day and that night this older gentleman came up to us and told us it was his birthday, pointed to his yacht and asked if we’d like to come have a good time.  That was so much fun!  There were roughly 50 people on the boat and he had tons of great food and a DJ and it was an awesome experience.  We ended up jumping off the yacht and doing some night swimming, which is always great fun.

I haven’t found a church here that I’m in love with.  I really miss worshiping at home.  I’ve visited around with different groups.  I just got in contact with a friend of a friend from the US and she has introduced me to a couple new groups that I’m going to try out.  I’ve been doing a lot of LIVE streaming into worship services at Fultondale and then also Eastside in Athens.  Hopefully I’ll be able to land somewhere soon, as I know that’s extremely important.

We are doing a 3 day desert crossing next weekend.  Basically, a group of people take their 4x4s into the dessert and just cross it…it’s great fun because of all the dunes and getting stuck, etc etc…then at night there’s a company that sets up large tents where you sleep and they feed you, etc etc.  I’ll let you all know how that goes.  So, yes, Yolanda, I’m finally going to the dunes. 🙂

Fortunately, I haven’t been very homesick.  But I do miss Cale, Livi, and Touf Dog like crazy!!!  I wish I could get them shipped here.  I’m actually considering looking into getting Touf brought over here.  I miss him soooooooooo much!

Things are very good here.  I really love it.  I’m so glad I decided to make this move.  I would definitely make the same choice over again.  I honestly would encourage any and all of you to come out here to visit.  You’ll have free accommodations, the beaches are some of the prettiest you’ve ever seen, the food is awesome, the people are so friendly, Dubai is close, there’s so much to do, AND OF COURSE I’m here!