Learning the Omani National Anthem is Almost as fun as Playing MASH in Arabic

...almost. I said almost.

The dhofari all-girls party this weekend was pretty fantastic. mostly because I got to play dress up! The women did a mini fashion show for us of all their dress-up clothes, which were all the same shape, which is the kind of shape you make when you take a large piece of fabric and fold it over so that one end is really long and the other end is slightly less long...most were velvet and blinged out (lots of sparkly!) but the one that I had my eye on was silky and a little more simple in terms of decoration. It had a bottom layer that was maroon and a black layer draped over it and...well, ok, so the there of the dress was a whole lot of drape. But I got this idea in my head that it was a princess dress, so when they gave us the chance to try the dresses on I made a beeline for my princess dress (had to have a friend help me put it on because there was so much fabric, but whatever) and danced around with a few other friends for an embarssingly long period of time. It was like playing dressup! Only better, because there was music and henna.

Apparently, I am five years old.

I opted for the henna session and now have pretty designs on my hands that keep me distracted. There was also a long line for makeup (omani wedding style-those women are NOT joking around. My friends who got done up had all sorts of lovely shades of neon on and around their eyelids. Not to mention the glitter). But I really wanted the henna, and also I could hear a tiny voice in my head that sounded an AWFUL lot like dad ranting about how sharing eye makeup leads to massive and deadly eye infections. So I passed.

Otherwise, I pretty much took it easy this weekend. We had our Arabic midterm this morning so I couldn't really justify spending yesterday by the pool, but I still managed to get out there for a while. Then I spent the afternoon going a little stir crazy (a month in the same hotel? Let me tell you, not as glamorous as it sounds. I was so desperate for normal that I straightened my hair, which is stupid because it just frizzes up on me in the humidity the second I even think of going outside. Seriously, it's not unusual for us to wake up to find the windows fogged up) and managed to find trashy tv on the 12 chanels we had...then took a few hours in the afternoon to go with some of the group to a nearby archaeology site. Granted, when I got on the fan, I wasn't entirely clear on where we were heading. But. I wanted to get out of the hotel, and the 12 blocks around it, and the pizza hut/coffee shop that are on the other side of town but pretty much the only other place where women can legit hang out.

Took last night after dinner to walk by myself (*gasp*) to an internet cafe...anything to be out and on my own, just for a little while. I browsed through LuLus on the way back (for no other reason than it was there) and noticed that with my headscarf, people would speak to me in Arabic first rather than English, which I had also found to be the case last year in Muscat.

Must be because I look so...Egyptian.

Also. I discovered at lunch today that while the Chili Chicken at Dar al Arab and at the green menu place look nothing like they do on the menu, the chili chicken at Burj Dubai does!! and it was delicious. Granted, my fingers are still mysteriously bright orange (from the sauce, not the henna, though it kinda blends) but. whatever. definitely DEFINITELY worth it.