Sunday, June 3: Here are Cee’s Life Questions for this week:
What made you smile today?
I smiled, and actually had a good laugh, with my friend Mario today while telling him how a leech sucked the blood out of me on Friday at a swimming hole at Wadi Muaydin. I was there just lounging in a pool with my friend Kathy when a leech got into my bathing suit and latched on to me in a very strange place! Ouch!!
Here are the pools at Wadi Muaydin where Kathy and I floated for about two hours ~ sweet relief from the heat…
Here’s the actual pool where the leech slithered into my bathing suit… YIKES!
Have any hidden talents?
I have a talent for working with numbers. Nothing complicated, mind you, but I used to be a banker for 12 years so it’s no problem for me to use Excel spreadsheets and to reconcile bank statements, prepare forecasts and analyze data. As a matter of fact, in my last job before I started teaching abroad, I worked as part of a team at MSI (Management Systems International) on a huge analysis of USAID trade capacity-building projects all over the world, which involved a lot of statistical analysis with thousands and thousands of numbers.
Are you usually late, early, or right on time?
I’m usually right on time. And I get really annoyed with people who are late, especially habitually so.
What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
Being alive just means waking up in the morning and going about your daily business, without any joy or appreciation for what is all around you. Going through the motions. You have blinders on to the wonders of life that are all around you, ripe for the taking. Truly living is being present to the moment, seeing the wonderful things that are around you, and appreciating them. I’ve had periods in my life where I’ve just been alive, especially from 2002-2007, which was a particularly rough time for me. After 2007, I started to feel more alive, and now most days I feel like I am truly living. Of course, there are other days where I still feel like I’m not truly living, like I’m just making it through the day. But. Overall, I try hard to be joyful and to be grateful for the many blessings in my life.
Wednesday, April 18: This evening a small group of us meet at the fort at Birkat al Mouz to head out for a picnic at Wadi Muaydin. It’s Tom’s idea, and he invites me, Helen, Gail and Anna. When we meet at the 5:00 appointed time, it’s pouring down rain. Tom wants to wait it out. I personally don’t see any end in sight and even if it stops, it’s going to be wet & soggy… (and not very comfortable!).
a wadi running across the road from Birkat al Mouz to Nizwa
I offer my flat in NIzwa, because I have a little gravel backyard where we can have a cookout, but Tom wants to wait till the rain stops and then head into the wadi after it’s all said and done. Anna and I both believe it’s dangerous to go into a wadi even if it’s just threatening rain, as many Omanis have warned us never to do such a foolish thing. Finally, after sitting and waiting for the rain to abate, we give up and head to my house.
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. ~ Norman Maclean
On the back road to Nizwa from the university, we encounter a hailstorm that feels like we’re in the middle of a gun battle. The sky is flinging chunks of ice at my windshield and I keep flinching as I think one of them is certain to come through the glass. We continue to drive along with the ice belting the car when suddenly we come to a huge traffic jam in the middle of the road. A wadi is pouring across the road, and cars have pulled off the road. The occupants are either taking pictures or just trying to determine whether they can make it across the muddy waters. Some intrepid souls decide to cross the raging river in their cars. Anna is ahead of me in her bright yellow jeep and she goes across. I can see that the water is up to the tops of her wheels. Later she admits that she did take in some water and possibly did some damage to her car…. 😦
Since my car sits lower to the ground than hers, I’m not brave enough to chance it. I can see she has pulled off on the other side of the wadi, but I jump out of the car with my camera and join the hordes of Omanis taking pictures. I take pictures and a couple of videos and am all caught up in the excitement.
He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses. ~ Horace
You see, we have not had any rain to speak of in Oman until right before the Eid in early November. It’s so strange how living in a different place can make something you have always seen as a necessary annoyance (rain) as a gift from heaven!! All this week we have had bursts of rain appear out of nowhere. When it rains in Oman, the students can’t concentrate and they beg teachers to cancel class and let them run around in the rain! It’s very difficult to get anything worthwhile done when they’re all fidgeting about in their seats and looking longingly out the windows.
all the men out in droves to take pictures…… “Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.” ~ Billie Holiday
As I’m running around taking pictures of the overflowing wadi, all around me are Omani, Indian and Pakistani men! There are never any women outside in this country!! Finally, a University of Nizwa bus full of girls pulls up and the excited girls are snapping pictures out the bus windows.
Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. ~ Rabindranath Tagore
Suddenly, from one of the cars on the road, I hear a male voice, “Teacher! Teacher!” I’m happily surprised to see one of my favorite students from the fall semester, Badr, in a car with his friend. I take pictures of them before they turn around and head in the other direction, knowing their small car will not make it through the river.
my excellent student, Badr, on the left and his unknown friend driving
The water appears to be in no mood to subside, so Gail, Tom and I turn around in our individual vehicles and head back to Birkat al Mouz to take the main highway, which runs parallel to the back road, to Nizwa. By then the hail and the rain have stopped, but that doesn’t mean more rain isn’t on the way.
having a barbecue in my gravel backyard: Tom, Helen & Gail
As everyone arrives at my flat in Nizwa, where the skies are blue and dry, Tom sets up his barbecue and fires up the coals. I have prepared little aluminum foil vegetable packets, with eggplant, onions, peppers and olive oil, which I put on the grill. Anna has prepared these little salty dried chick pea-looking snacks and some lemony chicken. I put on some sausages and we all sit in the camping chairs I purchased but have only used once for camping. I have a glass of wine or two and we enjoy chatting about the crazy weather, life at the university, our own lives, and anything else you can think of. At one point, Tom asks if I’d like to try a glass of rakı. I cannot resist this Turkish anise-flavored drink because I have such happy memories of this drink while I was in Turkey (cappadocia day 1…cave churches, underground cities, & rakı under the stars).
Helen, Gail, me and Anna on a picnic!!
After a short bit of drinking this rather large and potent drink, my backyard starts to spin around me. Uh-oh! I can feel myself getting sick! I can’t believe this because I haven’t had THAT much to drink. I know it’s bad news, so I tell everyone they are welcome to keep enjoying themselves in my backyard as long as they want because I need to go lie down. Tom says, “You know, it’s not a good idea to lie down if you feel like that!” But I cannot be swayed. I sprawl across my king-size bed, where the room continues to spin until, sweet relief, I fall asleep.
Anna sitting on my back stoop
A little later, I wake up and hear voices so I know the little party is happily going on without me. I promptly fall back to sleep.
At around 11:00 or so, Anna comes in with a big glass of water. I feel like she’s Florence Nightingale, with her headscarf and her caring bedside manner. The party is heading out the door. They all seemed to have a good time at my humble little home without me!! I’m so glad my poor hostessing didn’t spoil their fun….
Tuesday, April 10: This week’s letter for Frizztext’s A-Z archive photo challenge is O. I couldn’t help but think of Oman, since I live here. In Oman, a desert country, there are many wadis. These are basically watercourses, many of which are dried up, but many of which have any amount of water ranging from a small stream to a large river, most noticeable in mountain valleys. Many wadis have clear turquoise pools teeming with life and bordered by lush plantations or gardens along the banks. An oasisrefers to this fertile or green spot in the desert or wasteland, made so by the presence of water. A wadi can be dry and barren, but alternately it can have areas where greenery abounds, creating an oasis in the midst of the desert.
oleander-filled oasis in Oman
oleander, grasses and moss form an oasis in the wadi
pink oleander
bushes and bushes of oleander along the wadi pool
Last weekend I visited Wadi Muaydin, not far from my home in Nizwa, and we happened to find this wadi abloom with pink oleander. This fast-growing sweet-scented evergreen shrub has leathery, long and narrow leaves with single-flowers of pale pink and grows wild in wadis in Oman. It thrives in full sun and is drought resistant; it is also highly poisonous.
Here is my entry: an oleander-filled oasis in Oman…. 🙂
Friday, April 6: This morning my friend Mario and I meet early at Birkat al Mouz to explore Wadi Muaydin. We drive in my car about 5km where we take a left on a dirt road. This turn off is about 1km before the police checkpoint leading up to Jebel Akhdar. We’ve both heard about this dramatic wadi, which is supposedly the start for a steep 6-hour hike up to the top of the plateau of Jebel Akhdar. We don’t intend to hike for 6 hours as, for one, it’s too darn hot, and two, we don’t have a car to take us back down to the bottom of the wadi once we reach the top.
date palms against the mountain in wadi muaydin
This morning it is pretty overcast, very unusual in a country that rarely has a cloud in the sky. I wonder if it might rain and then we might have to cancel our excursion. I’ve been warned by Omanis never to go into a wadi if there is a chance of rain, especially the narrow wadis where flash floods may occur. The guidebooks for Oman reiterate the Omani warnings. Mario and I confer when we meet and we decide the clouds don’t look thick or rain-like so we will venture forward.
moss-covered ponds and oleander at the entrance into the wadi
Mario is the perfect friend to hike with. We both enjoy taking photographs and we’re in no rush to cover a certain amount of ground. So we can companionably meander along, snapping photos to our hearts’ content, and just take it easy and soak up the scenery. I’ve been hiking with plenty of people in my life who want to rush along and get to a certain destination as quickly as possible, but I love just taking my time and enjoying all the small but awesome pleasures that nature has to offer.
moss-covered pools: a study in textures and contrasts
We drive through the 5km long rocky road until we reach what looks like the end of the line. Here we park our car. As we walk along the rock-strewn wadi, we encounter almost immediately a number of moss-covered pools. As we approach the pools, we see frogs jumping off the chartreuse colored carpets into the water in quick succession. They are so whimsical and darling! We are both trying to capture the little frogs on our cameras and we spend quite a long time in this spot chasing the little amphibians.
a chubby little frog camouflaged on the rocks
“I’d kiss a frog even if there was no promise of a Prince Charming popping out of it. I love frogs.” ~ Cameron Diaz
Mario is excited to see bushes of pink oleander abloom everywhere. He says his mother’s favorite flower was oleander and she had it all over her garden in El Salvador, where he is from. He keeps saying he can’t stop thinking of his mother with all this oleander everywhere. Later I read in my Gardening in Oman and the UAE book that oleander is often seen growing wild in wadis. Apparently it thrives in full sun and is highly drought and salt tolerant. It must be such if it lives in Oman where there is rarely any water and temperatures reach such extremes. As beautiful and aromatic as it is, the book warns that “all parts of this plant are highly poisonous. Don’t even use as firewood as the smoke can be irritating. Wash your hands after handling.”
oleander all abloom in wadi muaydin
Besides the oleander everywhere in this wadi, we also see the ever-present Giant Milkweed, native to the region and often considered a weed. It’s a vigorous bush and occasionally grows into a tree. As a matter of fact, I have a fairly robust Milkweed tree next to my kitchen window where birds love to congregate and serenade me on mornings. Its grey-green leaves have a furry feel and the flowers are purple and white. It’s apparently the favorite food for the Plain Tiger butterfly and black bees often come for the nectar. I see both on my tree at home.
Giant Milkweed abundantly growing in the wadi
Milkweed abounds in the wadi
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.” ~ John Keats
And of course the date palms are in full force, as they always are in Oman’s wadis. We see rock walls forming terraces along one side of the wadi; farming was done here in a bygone day but any remnants of date palms here are dead or gone.
a huge square-shaped boulder surrounded by luminous colors and textures
the walled terraces ~ gardens from bygone days, now barren
more cool rock arrangements
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” ~ Confucius
wadi heaven
Mario does his Omani squat amidst the boulders and pools… “But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
As we continue on, we come across an area fluttering with butterflies, little waterfalls and turquoise pools teeming with tadpoles and even larger fish, huge white boulders tossed around on the floor of the wadi. We see gargantuan square-shaped rocks and one area of pools where bright red dragonflies alight on the rocks around us.
waterfall between the boulders
Clouds of insects danced and buzzed in the golden autumn light, and the air was full of the piping of the song-birds. Long, glinting dragonflies shot across the path, or hung tremulous with gauzy wings and gleaming bodies. ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
It’s quite lovely, all in all. We walk into the wadi for about two hours, then we seem to come to a dead-end. The path must continue on, but we don’t plan to go further anyway, so we turn around and head back to the car, walking along an ancient dry falaj and then moving to a modern-day falaj flowing with water.
a boulder-filled pool graced by dragonflies
Back at the car, Mario tells me he thinks he will make some of his famous seafood biriyani for lunch, topped off with some wine. My plan is to go home and read a book that Sandy lent me to read during the time she’s here visiting: Odyssey with the Goddess: A Spiritual Quest in Crete. I’m anxious to finish reading this book because she wants it back by the time she leaves here a week from today. It’s one of the books I’m reading to get in the mindset for my trip to Greece this summer. Suddenly Mario says, “I would invite you to eat lunch with me, but you’d have to be really patient. Because I have to go to Lulu to get the ingredients and make another stop at Muscat Pharmacy.” I am pleased he invited me, but I am covered in grit and sweat and dust from our walk, so I say I’d love to come. I could go home and shower while he’s at Lulu. It works out perfectly, so we plan to meet at Lulu after we both do our stuff.
deep into the wadi
At Mario’s flat, he and I work together to prepare the feast. I volunteer for the job of chopping vegetables: onion, tomato, green beans, green peppers, fresh cilantro and garlic. We put on the food to cook and enjoy a glass of wine. We linger through the long afternoon over our delicious lunch, sharing things about our families and our experiences. It’s lovely to have such a fun and fascinating friend with whom I have a great rapport and share so much in common. It’s a lovely afternoon. I’m really happy to find someone like Mario to count among my good friends…. 🙂
“Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.” ~ William Wordsworth
Sunday, July 15: Jakesprinter’s Sunday Post for this week is solid. He writes: SOLID means : Stable, sturdy, firm, established, durable, rigid, substantial, strong, powerful, loud, heavy, splitting, honest, faithful, straightforward, loyal, conscientious, devoted, honest, faithful, constant, loyal,reliable, dependable, competent, promising, clever, compact, dense, thick, thick-set, concentrated, sterling, neat, pure, stark, constant, steady and united.
a nomad in the land of nizwa 