Arriving in Arabia

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

Our first installment in the Middle East.....

After a 27 – hour, multiple flight day, spent sitting in border line-ups, running through airports (we’re getting old and slow), nearly missing two flights, spending a night attempting to figure out how to best strangle the worst plane snorer of all time, we finally arrived in Muscat at nearly 11pm local time. On the final flight we realized that we had missed out on the latest fashion trend (high school flashback)– I wasn’t wearing a long white robe with a hat and Tina was not wearing her best black robe and head covering. Who knew?

At the gate two young gents in local white robes (‘disdasha’) greeted us and treated us to Arabian coffee as they took care of customs. Our Director, principal and staff member greeted us and took us to our new home – Muscat, Oman.

Oman is a country of just under 3 million people with 500,000 of that being expats from the Indian sub-continent. Up until 1970 there was 2 primary schools, 1 hospital, 7 km of road (only to be used by the Sultan), extreme poverty, and a divided people. Now there are thousands of schools, many hospitals, paved roads all around the capital city, women in all levels of government, fishing as their largest industry (not oil) and signs of modern industry everywhere. In all this growth they have been careful to keep their heritage. It appears that 90% of the people still wear the traditional clothing, attend the mosque, and adhere to traditional practises – all while driving cars and text messaging on cell phones.Very cool.



We awoke in our new ground-level home and couldn’t be happier. It’s an Arabian designed home with huge (12 ft) ceilings, and multiple rooms all spinning off of a giant middle room (perhaps a Camel stable?). I quite enjoy playing “Marco Polo” around the house, although Tina’s rolling eyes would indicate that I may be the only one.


We are mere blocks off the beach so we took an early morning stroll to the water. While waving to the Pakistani workers we walked through the palm trees, stepping on dates and drinking in the thick, humid air that was already pushing 40 degrees at 8 AM. We dipped our feet in the worlds most sought after water straining to see Iran in the distance and watching the fishermen ply their trade beside us. The country has been immensely impressive from a cultural perspective and we are looking forward to starting work and taking trips to the interior regions in the coming months.

As our house gets hooked up we will try to send updates as much as possible.