hodgepodge

>> come visit me!

apparently, oman is one of the top travel destinations of 2008. the link goes to a blip in the english paper, times of oman, but i've seen the same type of advertisements in many other media ... so for those of you who have second guesses about visiting me, you have no excuse! if other people say it's awesome and of course, i'm going to say it's awesome, there is no excuse for you to come and visit me. just rustle up your frequent flyer miles/1000 USD for a plane ticket and i will host you on my cushy futon. we can sip tea on my balcony; it'll be great, trust me.

>> 2008 muscat festival

the 10th annual muscat festival begins in a little over a week and runs to the middle of february. it's a national celebration, and various venues throughout the capital area have been reserved for performances, demonstrations, competitions, etc. despite the name "muscat festival," it's really quite an international affair, showcasing not only oman's rich traditions and cultural heritage, but there is also supposed to be a global village of sorts with crafts and other odds and ends on display/sale from countries all over the world. i've volunteered to help a local NGO take photos of the various performances, but it's been a bit difficult finding a detailed schedule of who's performing at what venue on which day at what time (partly because i think the schedule is often changed at the VERY LAST MINUTE ...). apparently my ministry is the one that deals with such a schedule, but so far, no dice ... i really want to know, partly because of my volunteer photography and also because the william & mary middle eastern music ensemble (W&M MEME) is *supposed* to come and perform a couple of nights at the festival. cross your fingers and say "inshallah" for this one, ladies and gents.

>> the omani rafeq

for those of you W&M folks who have had the pleasure and privilege to have taken a class (or 2 or 3) with the esteemed professor abdul-karim rafeq, you will understand my excitedness of my experience today. the american women's group (here, it's really not restricted to american women and is quite international) hosted an event at the bait adam museum here. it's a rather impressive private collection of one man, mr. latif al-bulushi, showcasing oman's history "all under one roof." being the history buff that i am (i'm seriously considering taking up a master's in some sort of history ... but that's another story), i smiled as mr. al-bulushi explained the various dynasties after the rashidun caliphs up and the history of currency of the region not because i was familiar with the history, but because i could imagine our favorite syrian professor explaining the same thing in the same way he explained it. i was interested to learn that the various names for the currencies of the region (dirham, riyal, dinar) are not really arabic names at all. instead (here comes the rafeq bit ... can you imagine him saying this?), until now, the names have been corrupted from Greek (dirham=drachma), Spanish (riyal=rial, the current currency used in various Hispanic countries, meaning "royal"), and Latin/Roman (dinar=dinarius).

>> a funny photo

president g.w. bush is currently in the region; i think he's in abu dhabi  now. he's visiting every GCC (gulf cooperation council) state except oman and qatar, i think, which is slightly disappointing. oman is one of america's strongest allies in the region, and also friendly to iran. i found it interesting that the omani and gulf papers yesterday ran stories on bush and his call for the gulf and other arab states in support for israel and to help put pressure against iran (at least, that's what it seemed in a nutshell, and that's what i understood of it). a learned man, that bush. why wouldn't the GCC put such pressure on iran when the largest country in the middle east and a key ally of sorts to all-too-important region of the world is right across the Gulf? ay my gulay. but in any case, my point was not a comment on bush's visit to the region, but rather showcasing a funny photo i found on the BBC; i like to call it "peace in the middle east:"