Nizwa the great

　

The days in Oman are starting to mesh together. They are full of family, food, movies, shopping, food, sightseeing and food. It is so great here but I swear Tyson and I have put on more than fifteen pounds each. Today we tried to wake up as early as possible, so come 09:30 we were almost out of bed. My mother, my Uncle, Tyson and I went to the local market to check out the foods, and handicrafts. As we were walking around, a young Omani man stopped on his motorbike and greeted us. He asked Tyson if he would like to go around with him on the bike and see the old town of Nizwa. Tyson agreed and went along to see lots of the old buildings in the area. One of them being the oldest Mosque in Oman, over fifteen hundred years old. They were gone for more than half an hour so we started to become a little worried, but he eventually showed up and all was ok. The weather began to turn rainy again so we decided to start heading home because flash flooding is very common here. We decided to stop in at a dollar store just around the corner from my uncle's house and did a little more shopping before lunch. Since the Omani Riel is worth three times the Canadian dollar, the deals were not so great for us.

Since we will be travelling through Africa and Europe on the next leg of our trip we decided to go down to one backpack for the two of us and have my mother take some things home for us. We spent the majority of the afternoon going through our things and downsizing. But do not worry, we were still able to catch a movie and nap before dinner. Tyson and my two Uncles went out for a short while to get Barbeque chicken for dinner and I spent some quality time losing backgammon with my mom.

After dinner Tyson spent his time figuring out how to make espressos and cappucinos on the fancy coffee machine while we sat on the couch and encouraged him. All of us then watched a soccer match and eventually went to bed.

The next morning we went to a local area with my cousin's Hummer. We went off roading through water which was only there because it has been raining on and off for a few days. Rain is extremely rare here and only happens a couple of times a year. We were lucky we were here for it because we went to see the dams and some beautiful waterfalls that would not be nice to see if they were dry. We took turns hanging on to the roof of the vehicle while my uncle sped through the water and soaked us. We had a lot of laughs (mainly at my expense but I am used to it). We returned home for lunch of Sheppherd's pie and barbequed chicken. After lunch I lost at backgammon to my mom but beat Tyson. In addition to dealing with work problems at home, we still managed to watch a movie. After lunch we went shopping. The stores close five times a day for prayers so we had to work around that. We ate steaks, ribs and testacles for dinner. I was not a fan of the barbequed testacles but Tyson gobbled them up like there aint no tomorrow. We watched another soccor match and Tyson's team won so it was pleasant.

That night there was a lightning storm that woke up the entire house of people. There was not two seconds between each bolt and it lasted for at least two hours. Tyson and I, however, knew nothing about this happening because everybody else in my family seemed to have forgotten to wake us. Everyone was astounded that we had slept through this extremely loud event. We heard about the events the next morning when we woke up to my Uncle screaming at us to hurry up, we are going to miss it! We were fortunate enough to witness a very rare event in Oman, a WADI. This occurs after several days of rainfall and all the water from the mountains rushes down through the normally dried up riverbed. The result is immense flooding that every person in town comes to the edge of the raging torrent to view. The locals are escpecially happy because the flooding means the wells all fill up and they don't need to worry about water for another year. Despite all the excitement there was a small boy who was swept away by the current and never found. This is common when the wadi comes because in ten seconds the water can be up to six feet high so children are often caught in it. The power of the water is enough to take a tractor trailer away with no problem.

After we watched the river for a while we headed up to a beautiful mountain village called Misfah. This is one of the most unique places we have ever seen. The homes are built on top of massive boulders and are leaning in all directions. It's amazing to think how the people built these homes hundreds if not thousands of years ago. They also built a very interacate series of acuaducts and trenches to channel the spring water to different parts of the village. They use this water for everything including agriculture, drinking, bathing, and leisure. My uncle decided it would be hilarious to splash my mom and I several times throughout the day. We got him back though. Water fights are a regular part of most of our days here. We walked down a set of stairs that took us to a river where there was many children playing and we decided to take a swim ourselves. My Mom and Uncle stayed at the top while My other Uncle, Tyson and I made the hike. We enjoyed the cool water and the beautiful scenery of palm trees, polished rocks and greenery. We hiked back up the stairs to another water fight. We went home for lunch and hung out with family before we headed back into town to visit the Souq. My Uncle needed to get a shave so we sat and waited for him. The barber ended the shave with a "relaxing" face and head massage which consisted of smothering my uncles face with oil and slapping and smacking his head and smushing his face together repeatedly. My mom could not control her laughter. She was practically on the floor and laughing uncontrolably. Women are not normally allowed inside the men's barber shops so she was really pushing it. Her laughter made me laugh too and the owner all but kicked us out. His shave finished with threading of the eyebrows and ears. As my Uncle cried from the pain we laughed more. My mother was craving a facial massage too but since it is illegal for a man to do this for a woman, the owner whispered to us that if we came back after 10:00pm, he would do it for us in the back. We decided to let it go and not take the risk of getting caught. We finished the night off with a trip to the supermarket where my uncle purchased a set of rollerblades for my ten year old cousin who loved them.

The next morning we set off to another market and bought a few more gifts. My uncle took us for a nice drive through around the outskirts of Nizwa. It a very interesting landscape, although there is little to no trees, it is still beautiful in its own way. We stopped by my uncle's restaurant and picked up some fish that they had prepared for our lunch and went home to join the rest of the family. After lunch and a quick nap we were invited to a Baha'i celebration. This is the celebration of the twelve days of Ridvan. It is the first day of Ridvan today when Baha u llah declared his cause. The program was mostly in Arabic and we could not understand the readings but it the entertainment was great with many games and snacks. After two twinkies, an apple, a banana, and an ice cream drumstick, we head home for dinner. We had chips and cheese pita sandwhiches and then lost ruthlessly to my uncles in foozeball. We ended the day off watching my uncles favourite football team Barcelona play Real Madrid. Tyson lost backgammon to me and we slept:)

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"