State Fair

Ok, not really a state fair, and actually the khareef festival or whatever we're calling it, but to be walking around in a middle of nowhere field in middle of nowhere oman as it mists down on you, wandering through carnival rides filled with gulfies listening to chris brown buying cotton candy watching men dance with canes and listing to poetry recitations as is a bit of an out of body experience. Such was my life last night.

Had a great walk down to Pizza hut last night (was only about 40 min...the guy at the hotel, when we asked for directions, thought we were crazy. ) it was very lightly misting and there was a wonderful breeze and lots of interesting shops to stare at as we walked. We were going to pizza hut for a friend's birthday and had absolutely no problem finding the large group of westerners once we got there. They had put us in the party room, which basically meant that we were in a room walled off from the rest of the place by glass. And, as we sang happy birthday and the south asian waiters started clapping along for no particular reason, the ENTIRE place was staring at us. It was not unlike being in a cage.

But hey. We added a little authenticity to the place...Americans in their natural habitat.

Plus, I kept staring back...there were a few booths that had omani couples on dates. Granted, they may have been married, but in my head I was watching secret lovers rendez-vous and it was all very romantic.

Then I joined some people going to check out the khareef festival and...I believe surreal is an apporpriate word to describe that experience. I took some pictures, but was scolded for trying to photograph my (crazy american) friends on the 'crazy dance' ride (there were mroe than a few women in abayas on that ride...and taking their pictures was not ok). But I did get a good video of some of the men and their cane dance, so I'll try to post that soon.

I am DETERMINED to ride the bumper cars! Haven't been on any of the rides yet (and plan on avoiding most of them in an effort to avoid firey firey death) but the bumper cars seem reasonable (famous last words). When I saw it, there were just a bunch of omani/gulfi men riding around...want to show them that women can hold their own. Luckily, our next hotel is pretty close to the fairgrounds (unluckily, in the middle of nowhere) so I WILL have my day!

The only scary part about last night was the cab ride back...it was about midnight when we left and there were plenty of taxis around, but of course we managed to track down the crazy man who may or may not have been drunk. At one point, he was threating to turn around and drive us back tot he fair if we didn't give him more money. It was the ONLY time in oman that I have even felt more than a sliver of discomfort in a cab, but it was really scary. But he did stop at the roundabout infront of our hotel (rather than pulling around and into the parking lot, which I think is the real thing he was trying to avoid) and we scurried out.

Am at the university today for a all-women's party. I do believe henna is involved, and possibly being dressed up in dhofari clothes and having our makeup done.

It's been a while since I've been painted with bright green eye shadow...