First Night of Homestay

I met my homestay family today.  My homestay father picked me up from the center and brought m to his home just a short distance from the center.  The entire family was waiting outside for me when we arrived.  I had no idea what to expect while driving to his house.  When we arrived I found that I had my own room which is more than I could ask for.  I do not have a bathroom and the bathroom is outside but that is alright.  While unpacking the children would poke their heads into my room and just stare.  I guess I really am that interesting.  The oldest boy stayed in the room with me and tried to talk to me.  He knows some English and I tried to speak in Arabic with limited success.  One of the girls though is by far the most outgoing.  She does not speak very much but she loves to run into my room and just sit on the couch or play with the books while I busy myself with other things.  An interesting part of unpacking though occurred when most of the kids were congregated in my room and the two oldest boys started pulling the younger children out of the room.  I think that they just wanted to give me some privacy but it amazed me how aggressive they were.  They literally pulled the girls out of the room.  All this while I repeatedly said mishmooshkilah (there's no problem, what's the problem).  I do not know fi it is just the culture or the family but the scene definitely took me off guard.  On another note, I live very near another kid on my program named Jared.  He lives just down the street and we see each other a lot.  Our host fathers are friends.  Tonight my host father took both of us to his friends home to watch him pick out a goat for slaughtering tomorrow.  We arrived at his home where we met his family and were given a small snack of Mandazi (a zanzibari bread).  We then drove to an animal soukh which was really just a bunch of trucks filled with livestock in an open field.  We found a goat truck and haggled over the price.  We ended up paying 40 OMR (about $90).  Jared and me began thinking about how we would transport the goat back to the man's house though once we bought it and could not think of a good answer.  Our questions were answered when my host father opened the trunk  and pushed the goat into the trunk.  As we rode back to the mans home, we could hear the goat whining and moving in the trunk.  The man who is from Zanzibar then took us back to his home where he promptly had his children bring food in for us.  He gave us a type of soup that was very spicy and delicious, more of the Mandazi, and a fried leaf dish (looks like spinach but is the leaves from potato plants that have been fried), and Tea.  Everything was amazing and the tea was great.  It was Nana tea, a very popular type in the Middle East.  Once dinner was finished we said goodbye and left after taking one last look at the goat which was tied up to a swing set in the family's back yard.  Well it is late here and I am going to sleep so that I can wake up early and go back to the man's house tomorrow.  We are going back to watch the goat get slaughtered.  I can honestly say that I would never have guessed that I was going to spend my first night with my host family picking out a goat to slaughter and then slaughtering it the next day. 

Buying Traditional Omani Garb

This week while roaming the Muttra Souk a few of us were able to buy traditional Omani clothing.  The store owner clearly knew that I was a prime target as he went directly for me instead of the two other guys walking with me.  The man came right up to me as I looked at his goods and the next thing I knew, I was in his shop and he had already put a Koomah (traditional Omani head covering) and was wrapping my head in a scarf.  I am not sure how all this happened without me realizing it but this was all in the span of no more than 30 seconds.  By this point I knew that I would be buying something in this store and I think that he did to.  By the time I left I had in my possession one dishdasha (traditional Omani robe which is worn on a daily basis by most of the male population), a Kooma, and a head scarf.  I also left wearing all my new clothing.  The three of us all bought outfits and we were able to get a group discount.  We all wore our outfits out of the souk and felt very Omani as we walked back to rejoin our group.  Every Omani commented on our style and clothing as we left the souk and I am happy to report that much of it was very positive.

Until Next Time, 

Sam