The end of a journey

Home sweet home

I have arrived back to the UK, with its greenery and drizzling weather. There has been a heatwave, but it still feels a little cold in comparison to the mid-forties sweltering heat of Oman, and I have already adopted the fluffy-dressing-gown-over-clothes look, much to my parents' disbelief! It's strange to be back, and to know that I will be here for the next year before I graduate at least. Having lived outside of the UK for almost a year now, among peoples and cultures vastly different to my own, I am experiencing a kind of reverse-culture shock. Things that I was once familiar with, like girls wearing very little clothing in public despite the rain, have become weird. I have had to refrain from shaking my head and thinking how culturally insensitive it is- because it's not. Oh well, on the plus side I no longer have to really think about dressing conservatively despite the scorching sun!

In addition to the minor reverse-culture shock, Oman has left its traces on me linguistically. Random Arabic phrases that had become a normal part of my everyday vocabulary will now be met with confused stares, and I have to stop myself from using them. I think it's a problem every Year Abroader faces on their arrival to the UK, and even if it does make us sound pretentious, at least it's a sign that we did immerse ourselves in the culture and the language... right?!

 Anyway, the last two months of my time in Oman were full of many exciting things which made the end of my time there the most memorable. Here is how it went down:

I last wrote about the make-up photo shoot that I participated in, and after a long wait I got some of the final results. It's safe to say that I will never replicate those khaliji eyebrows again, but it was fun to try!

The next part of my adventures in Oman took the form of a ball for Muscat's 10th annual Africa Day. It is a celebration of Oman's African community and their shared histories. Due to Oman's ruling over Zanzibar starting in 1698 (which included the Sultan moving Oman's capital city from Muscat to Stone Town in Zanzibar city), there is a strong Zanzibari presence in Oman, and you will hear Swahili being spoken regularly. But all I can say is hakuna matada... The ball raised money for various charities and the theme of the ball was 'Africa is rising', focusing on the continuous development and growth within the continent. The venue was filled with people dressed in brightly coloured traditional clothing from many different African countries, and on arrival there was a band of African drummers and some nibbles and drinks.

It's safe to say that the food was delicious and plentiful, something, my Ghanaian friend told me, was typical and would certainly not have been left out of an Africa day ball. I felt stuffed after, but could still make my way to the dance floor where the real party was beginning! There was a well-known band from Nairobi who got everyone off of their seats for hours of dancing. I was with the salsa group and they didn't disappoint, leading group dances and generally adding to the craziness of the night. A highlight of the evening was when the band did their own rendition of 'In the Jungle (the lion sleeps tonight)'! It was incredible to see yet another dimension of this beautiful country and its people.

I then got to experience my first ever (and definitely not last) salsa festival in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. Some of my friends and I travelled up in the car, listening to salsa music (with some Arabic music thrown in for good measure) for 5 hours. I had been told that it was an opportunity not to be missed and I would have never seen anything like it. So I was undoubtedly excited to partake in this festival, where hundreds of Latin dance enthusiasts would be meeting to spend four days learning more moves, watching the professionals and, most importantly, taking part in three nights of dance parties from 10pm-7am. To top it all off, the venue was beautiful and luxurious.

The first night consisted of a pre-party which was relatively small-scale, and ended at the early hour of 3am... But no fear, there was an after party in someone's room to keep the dancing going, even if it was a bit squished. The first full day started early afternoon with registration and workshops until evening. That day I spent 5 hours in workshops learning lots of salsa, bachata, and kizomba moves and felt thoroughly exhausted after! But the 5* all-you-can-eat buffet replenished my energy and we headed to watch the professionals performing in the nightly show. They were fantastic but I still hold my belief that good-old spontaneous social dancing is better. It may not be polished and smooth, but it is more gratifying. Then the real fun began: the all-night social dancing parties. Three rooms dedicated to different styles of dance: salsa, bachata, kizomba, zouk, and tango. I had a go at all minus tango, but maybe I'll have a swing at it in the future! There were people of many different nationalities, from every continent, including many from Arab countries. I didn't last until 7am but I had a real go at it!

 
The next couple of days consisted of much of the same, but there was a pool-side party and a beach party to mix it up a bit. If you don't know already, that area of the world is very hot at that time of year, but diving into the cool water of the huge swimming pool really did help! The festival was truly amazing and unforgettable, and I will definitely be going to more in the future. Although, I doubt pool parties will be on the agenda in England...

Now, my last couple of weeks weren't all parties and dancing because the holy month of Ramadan began and the salsa group opted for more appropriate activities, such as playing volleyball or gathering for food when Muslims break their fast. Ramadan is the holiest month in the Islamic calender in which Muslims fast from food and drink (among a list of other things) from sunrise to sunset. The breaking of the fast is called iftar and is a time for family and friends to gather together and share food. Eating and drinking during the day in public is punishable by law in Oman, which is something I kept forgetting, and ended up practically throwing my water bottle to the ground on one occasion. I attended many iftar meals in various settings: at a mosque, at a friends house, with the salsa group... It was a pleasure to be welcomed by Muslims and non-Muslims alike to share in their traditions and I have learnt an awful lot more about the culture during Ramadan alone. Although it can be frustrating at times for non-Muslims (think no restaurants or shops open during the day), Ramadan is a special time to witness the heart of the culture and its people.

Ready for iftar at a local mosque

Unfortunately, I left Oman just two weeks into the month of Ramadan, which means that I won't be there to celebrate Eid, three days of feasting and celebration at the end of Ramadan. Saying goodbye to all the friends I had made was very difficult, but they made my last few weeks there very special, including lots of cake and chocolate. The Year Abroad has been the best (and most difficult) year of my life so far, and I have learnt so much that I hope to take with me back to Durham for my final year of Uni...

So, thank you to everyone who made my year incredible, and I hope that I will come back soon! Until then, I hope that I don't annoy too many people with the infamous line 'on my Year Abroad...'.

I hope to continue this blog with other adventures soon, insha'alla...

A model for the day

Post-make-over: looking very different!

This weekend I had the opportunity to model for my teacher's sister-in-law who is training to be a make-up artist. I had never done anything of the sort, aside from a couple of 'photo shoots' that my mum took my sister and I to do a few years ago. I am also not a girl that wears a lot of make up and I knew my face was in for a complete transformation, as Omani women are generally not stingy when it comes to special-occasion make up!

Some of the other girls from the Arabic centre came along to get their photos taken too, making it a fun, girly day out, and a much-needed excuse to get out of our apartments and the surrounding area. We all squished into our teacher's car and headed for a town in the mountains, listening to Arabic music (along with a little Zumba music for some reason). When we arrived at the salon we were told to wait in one of the rooms for a little while before everything was set up. But Omanis won't leave you for too long without food, so after a short while we were bombarded with crisps, sandwiches, desserts, and drinks.

Once everything was ready, it was time for the first girl to get her make-up done, and we awaited eagerly to see the transformation. Special-occasion make up in Oman is colourful, daring, and can completely change the way you look (which was the case for me). Kathreen, my housemate, who was the first to undergo the make-over, looked great when she got up from the chair, and I was excited to see what mine would look like. And I didn't have to wait long, as I was up next.

As I said before, I don't wear make-up often, mainly because it's a lot of effort, and I'm not a morning person. When the make-up artist said that she'd like to use pink for my eyes I was a little hesitant, because even when I do wear make-up it's never colourful, let alone pink... But, pink would go with my outfit, so I said yes. There was a lot of different pink and brown eye shadows used, various eye-liners, and pink lip-gloss. In addition to that, in true Khaleeji style, thick, dark eyebrows were painted on top of my own. That was probably the weirdest thing to get used to, as eyebrows change the way you look more than you'd imagine. The next thing that made a big difference was the use of long fake eyelashes, which I've never tried before. When she put them on, my eyelids felt heavy and I could see them in front of me, but I must admit that I liked them! When I looked in the mirror my face looked like that of a different person. But, without my hair done, the make-up was overpowering, so I made sure that I was next for the hairdressing.

The lady who did my hair worked in silence for the first part, unaware that I could speak Arabic (she doesn't know English). But when I finally spoke to her, she started chatting away. She told me about her family and asked me questions about various things, and I was happy to practice some Arabic and also to make the hairdressing experience less of a prolonged awkward silence. She used two yarns of wool at the back of my head in order to create volume that my hair otherwise couldn't achieve, and until the balls of yarn were covered with my own hair, it looked really funny. I also had rollers in the front of my hair to add to the comic effect. However, once she had finished working her magic, it looked very elegant, and when I walked back into the room with all the other girls I was told it should be my wedding day and we were in need of a groom!

Finally, my make up was balanced out by my oh-so-voluminous hairdo! 

It turns out that they had ordered KFC whilst I was getting my hair done, and I was so ready for food! All of us girls ate fried chicken with full faces of make-up, and some with rollers in their hair; it was a funny sight to behold!

After a long wait, it was finally time for the photo shoot, the reason for all the make-up, hair, and fried chicken. The photos were taken by two guys with a great sense of humour, and we all had fun posing and pretending to be qualified models. I don't have the official photos yet but I will post them when I do. To top off a fun-filled day out, one of the models (a nursery teacher of the make-up artist's son) was celebrating her birthday that day, and we all surprised her with cake and sang Happy Birthday during her photo shoot!  

Just another day in Oman...