The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come.” Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being I am always amused when one of my students, with obvious agitation, complains that they still don't know what they want to do with their lives. Well, maybe it's not quite accurate to say amused, because, truth be told, I usually feel exactly the same frustration. There are times when I feel that fifty-two years into this sojourn I've left as lasting a path as my little friend did on the beach in Salalah, Oman. Whenever I'm in a mood such as this I'm always drawn back to Milan Kundera. While reading his extraordinary The Book of Laughter and Forgetting I was introduced to one of my favorite words, litost, a Czech word that translates out as something like "indefinable longing." This mood may just be a result of the passing years, and I've certainly reached the age wherein men go in search of the greater questions; although, to be fair, I've been chasing these answers around since I first read Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio (which deserves a posting of its own) for the first time almost forty years ago. Intellectually, I can dissect my personal and professional lives and make a compelling argument to myself that I've made a difference, but, as the great Canadian philosopher reminds us, "we are only what we feel," and I'm in one of those places where I feel like I haven't accomplished a lot. It's probably just a passing blue mood, which will doubtless fade away as a rain cloud in Abu Dhabi. Maybe I just need an adventure - "Watson, the atlas!" (And before Sarah Cohen scolds me, I do know that the line I'm paraphrasing is not actually from a Doyle story)

Job's Tomb

I'll take a break from blathering on and on about Zanzibar to get caught up with some earlier posts, in this case with another place I love: Oman. It's funny how some memories are so powerful and others, even of places that you really enjoyed, somehow fade away. I was reading Colin Thubron's wonderful Shadow of the Silk Road and he starts his tale, naturally enough, in Xian, and it brought back very pleasant memories, but also memories that for some reason weren't floating very near the surface. I had very few "present" memories of Xian, and absolutely none of Beijing. It's like the month I spent in China has been completely reduced to Kasgar and far western China. Now, this may relate to the fact that I teach a class on the Silk Road, and because of my own fascination with the desert and central Asia, but it's odd how I have to make a concerted effort to dredge up seemingly amazingly memories of the Great Wall or the Forbidden City, whereas I think of Jordan or India practically every day quite naturally.

So what does that have to do with this posting on Oman? I guess it just makes me want to get more serious about posting pictures and reflections on places to help lock in those memories. It also means that you can expect some long delayed posts from China as well.

On my last trip to Oman I loved Salalah, and can't wait to go back. One of the best parts of the trip was a trip up into the foothills of the mountains to visit the tomb of Job (although, much as with the different places you can visit to see where Jesus was baptized, there are multiple claimants to this title). Job, or Ayyub as he is known in the Quran, is one of those characters wherein subtle differences in interpretation can tell us a lot about the differences between the monotheistic faiths. In Judaism Job has served as something akin to a tool that Jews have used to sharpen their faith by struggling with the question of why bad things often happen to good people. As Job struggles with the question and remonstrates with God it represents our own challenge to understand the complexity of monotheism. In Islam Job is rewarded because his faith never wavers, so you have a definite, although seemingly subtle, difference that tells us a lot about the two religions. It's also interesting because Satan in the Old Testament version of the story is so much diffrerent than the later Christian concept of the Devil, but that's another story.

It is an easy, and well-marked, drive up to the tomb and is barely an hour from downtown Salalah. Plus, you get the benefit of seeing dozens and dozens of camels loafing along the road. There is a mosque there, as seen in the first picture with the flowers, but the tomb itself is smaller and around in the back. I was there on a Friday morning, which probably explained why there were so many folks praying there. I didn't see any women inside the tomb, although I don't really know if they are forbidden. Just inside the front door an older religious scholar seemed to be in charge, but didn't say a word to me other than exchanging a polite smile. Outside the tomb, and completely unmarked, is what appears to be the entrance to a cistern, but is really a walled monument that protects the footprints of Job.

Recently I came across another retelling of a trip to the tomb on another blog, which was embarrassingly disrespectful of the Islamic story of Job/Ayyub, and, for that matter, Islam. I guess I just don't understand that level of smug self-importance, although I probably should. Christianity does not have a particularly strong history of tolerance, which is amazing when you consider how much Jesus stressed the concept in the Sermon on the Mount. Even with some well-documented short-comings, which, truthfully, are usually societally/culturally rather than religiously based, Islam has always been a much more tolerant faith. As the Quran stresses, we are all Peoples of the Book. Anyway, if you're in Oman you should definitely make a trip to Salalah and a sojourn out to Job's tomb. It's a moving experience.

Al Kutaini Restaurant

One of my best attributes as a traveller, and the one that always scores me points with folks overseas, is that I will truly eat anything anywhere (and, really, once you've had donkey wine there's not much excuse for turning your nose up at other dishes). Americans have the reputation of being finicky eaters overseas and rushing to the local Hard Rock Cafe. And as I always say - then why in the hell didn't you just stay home? On my recent trip to Salalah I had several great meals, and twice went to a local Pakistani restaurant called Al Kutaini. Since I had rented a car - and why I haven't been renting a car on earlier trip is beyond me - I had much more options for just exploring and bumming around. On my first night in Salalah I drove to the city centre and parked on 23 July Street, which is one of the main thoroughfares in town. After walking around for a couple blocks I decided to try the Pakistani place. When I arrived it was pretty deserted, and they seemed more than a bit surprised that I popped in for a bite. Salalah does get a lot of western tourists - I ran into many Europeans, especially Germans and Russians - but I guess most of them don't come to the Al Kutaini to eat, which is a pity because the food was both really good and very inexpensive. I think my dinner, including chicken handi and chicken dhaal and dessert cost around $4 (after eating a $15 cheeseburger for lunch at the Crowne Plaza). The treat for me was the waiter, who I immediately classified as the saddest waiter in the world, even though I'm sure he wasn't really that sad and seemed pleased that I had come in - he even brought out, with a certain understated flourish, some butter naan, which I had not even ordered. It was all fantastic, and at the end of the meal he gave me a key chain with the restaurant information on it - which I will truthfully always cherish. I came back two days later and it was much more crowded because it was a Friday night. I had a different waiter, but mine came up and came me a very quick and sheepish smile before passing me on to my replacement. If I ever come back to Salalah, and I will very soon, I will definitely be heading back to the Al Kutaini.

Appearing Nightly in Salalah

The band performing at the Crowne Plaza in Salalah. I think the sign says it all.

Camel Bath Time

And one last camel picture. Well, maybe. Here is a shot of a couple of them cooling off in a little tidal pool, and you can see the beach and the ocean in the background. It was across the street from the playset discussed earlier, and they must have gotten overheated from playing tag with the cows..

The Peace of Green Fields

Just another picture from last weekend's trip to Salalah. I think this is the very definition of rugged coastline. What strikes me about the picture now - and what struck me about it when I took it - was how much I wanted to get down to that beach. Like a lot of things in life, I suppose, it may not have been as magnificent as it looked from a distance, but it is an image - and an ideal - that I think I will hold in my heart for a long time. Marcus Aurelius proposed that the peace of green fields is always within us. I think I realized that unofficially long before I realized it officially. When I was growing up and things became unpleasant or even just boring I would always retreat to tramping around London with Sherlock Holmes or hiking through Middle Earth with Frodo. Growing up in the country in Indiana literature was my other world, which in reality was my inner world. When I began to travel I began to expand my green fields: the cliffs overlooking the Wadi Arabia up past the Monastery at Petra in Jordan; the beach at Port Elizabeth in South Africa; Lucca in Italy; the Ajanta caves in India, just to name a few. And now I'll add that beautiful beach at Mugasayl in Oman. Now, since I've never been there it may end up like the beautiful rocking horse from Inherit the Wind, but I guess it doesn't matter what it really is anyway. What matters is what it is in my heart.

Rials and Visa Musings

Here's a somewhat blurry picture of some Omani Rials, which is my pick for prettiest currency (or at least the one that, at the moment, I think is prettiest). It is unusual in that it is one of the few currencies, other than the Euro or the British Pound obviously, that is actually more valuable than the US Dollar. The Dollar, even considering the pounding that it has taken over the last few years, is almost always more valuable than other country's currency, so you're always factoring in so many Rupees or Forints or Lira to one Dollar. In the UAE the Dirham is tied to the value of the Dollar so it never changes - I normally do the quick calculation of three Dirhams to one Dollar (which is not actually exactly correct, but close enough for figuring purposes) when I'm considering a purchase. Other currencies move up and down versus the Dollar (it's usually best to just get cash out of a local ATM, which will have better exchange rates than currency exchange booths, especially in an airport). I've recounted the time I almost spent $200 on a wooden Santa Claus decoration in Budapest because I lost track of the value of the Forint (I thought I had found a great value for $20). It's a lot easier in Europe when almost everyone is on the Euro. In regards to the Rial, the Omani currency, at the moment it's around 2.6 dollars to one Rial - and on my first visit to Muscat it was around 3 to 1. I tend to still do the quick calcuation using the 3 to 1, although in the opposite order than the Dirham/Dollar exchange. While waiting to board the plane in Abu Dhabi I decided to go ahead and trade in some Dirhams for some Rials. Using my brutish math skills I reversed engineered the two exchange rates and figured that it would be around 10 Dirhams to one Rial, and was pleased when it turned out to be fairly close to that rough estimation.

I also had a pleasant experience when I arrived at the airport in Muscat and queued up to pick up my Omani visa. Well, it ended up being a pleasant surprise. Initially I was a little annoyed because the woman at the Oman Air counter in Abu Dhabi didn't give me my ticket to Salalah, which meant that I could not easily transfer through at the Muscat Airport, which required that I pick up the visa and then pass out of the airport and back into it to get my boarding pass on to Salalah - but that's another story. With most countries that require a visa - with obvious exceptions in regards to places like Russia and India - you can just get your visa at the airport, although that can be peculiar as well. I remember on my first visit to Kenya I had gone to the trouble of getting the equivalent of $50 in Kenyan currency because the guidebook stated that the visa fee was $50 - except that they really wanted $50 in American Dollars and were highly indignant that I was actually trying to foist off Kenyan money on them, and the guy behind the counter sulked off to exchange it into US dollars, with, what I am sure, was a healthy carrying charge. Any travel agent can also help arrange for you to get your visa in advance, although it is pricey. My advice would be to definitely take that approach with places like Russia or India, but many other places make it much simpler to just do it at the airport. I took that approach with Zambia one time and the visa "stamp" in my passport when it returned was little more than handwriting on top of print - and the folks at the Lusaka airport seemed amused that I had done it in advance. Anyway, as an American resident it would have cost 20 Rials - or a little less than $60 for a single entry visa - but because I am a GCC resident, or at the very least I have a GCC residency visa (as compared to a GCC national), it only cost 5 Rials.

Ebony and Ivory - Or Something Like That

I was also going to entitle this post: Camels Redux. Here's another odd picture from last weekend's amazing trip to Salalah. This shot features some camels and cows playing happily together on a child's playset. Apparently those rumors of internecine camel-cow turf wars aren't true. They seemed happy enough. I didn't stick around long enough to see which one pushed the other on the swings.

Evidence

Analysis of evidence. I suppose that every discipline claims to have a monopoly on the best approach - or maybe the only true approach - to analyzing evidence. For example, my good friend Mike Lange makes a compelling, although obviously flawed and utterly incorrect, argument that Anthropology is the one field that is truly interdisciplinary and correctly analyzes evidence. The correct answer (and here I am channelling Sanford Zale) is History. Anyway, beyond that, I was thinking about how much you can learn from simple observation. This was probably inspired by rereading Marcus Aurelius or my friend Cinse's blog - or maybe just reflecting on how much I love the Sherlock Holmes stories and hate the recent film versions. When you are travelling the hotel rooms themselves provide a wealth of information about the culture of the place you are visiting. For instance, here are some pictures I took in the room where I stayed in Salalah, Oman. They are pictures of the complimentary prayer rug in the closet and the little sign on the ceiling which provided you with the direction of Mecca where you should face during prayer. I have stayed at lots of rooms in Islamic countries that did not provide this material, which speaks to the fact that Oman is a deeply Islamic country, and also has a lot of Islamic visitors and that there is more co-mingling of folks (that is, the hotel where I was staying, despite having many of the amenities of a classic western hotel was not exclusively a western hotel - and in that way I do think it reflected life in Oman, where the distinctions between different social or religious or economic groups seemed more fluid than in other countries).

It also made me think of opening up a bedside table in a hotel New Delhi and finding a copy of the Bible, the Quran and the Bhagavad-Gita, which perfectly expressed the religious diversity of India. Of course, after making that point, I also have to reflect upon opening a bedside table this last summer in New Orleans and finding the following: a map, a flashlight, a bottle opener and condoms. OK, Sherlock, what do we make of that?

Camels

Yes, another post about camels. Over the years I've posted several times about camels, and here's another one (with another to follow). They are contrary beasts, but I do love them. In the space of a couple days in Salalah I bet I saw over two hundred camels. They were all over the place. Now, when you're driving around the UAE, especially when you're commuting between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, you do see the occasional camel, but that hardly prepared me for the camelfest that is Oman. Sometimes I saw single camels strolling along, and at other times I saw groups of twenty or thirty camels. I suppose part of their prevalence might relate to the fact that it was the dry season and they were being driven further afield in search of food.

On the first day that I was out driving (more on that later) I came across a stretch of road with a camel crossing sign. This made me smile as I reflected back on the moose crossing signs in Vermont, and how they never lead to me seeing more moose (in twelve years in Vermont I've seen exactly four moose, and it's not as if I don't go looking for them). However, not five minutes after seeing the camel crossing sign I came around the corner, thankfully in time, to find six moose holding forth in the middle of the road. Like moose, camels aren't particularly bothered by anything and will just stand there until they decide to move - or their herder whacks them on the butt and makes them move. Right on the outskirts of Salalah I saw a camel stare down a speeding truck, which thankfully swerved at the last minute to avoid a crash. Sometimes I would see an Omani herding them along, but other times they just seemed to be roaming around on their own. As I crossed into the foothills I saw a lot more than I did on the coastline itself, although I also saw some down by the beach. They were often in the company of cows so apparently they must get along fine together.

Salalah

Just returned from an amazing long weekend in Salalah, Oman, and, rest assured, that there will be way too many (but not enough) posts dedicated to it. I had been to Oman several years ago, but that was a visit to Muscat, which is in the far eastern part of the country. This time I visited Salalah, which is in the far western part of the country near the border with Yemen (more on that later). It is less than an hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Muscat (in fact, almost exactly the same flight time as from JFK to Burlington) and then around an hour and a half from Muscat to Salalah. I flew on Oman Air, which was a good experience with the exception of a couple oddities which I'll discuss later. I love Oman and if I stay here I suspect I'd end up heading down there once a month. The Omanis are so wonderfully friendly, or, as my great friend Jyoti elegantly put it, "god's children." The country is amazingly beautiful, with an almost unmatched combination of sea and coastline and mountains and desert. Because of the peculiarities of the monsoon winds the southern half, including Dhofar where Salalah is located, is sub-tropical, and constantly reminded me of India. It is definitely the dry season right now, but it still felt lush on the coast with lots of coconut trees in abundance. Muscat and Salalah are the two biggest cities in Oman but they couldn't be more different. You can drive between them and it is supposed to be about as sparse and desolate as you can imagine with almost nothing in between, which, of course, makes me want to go. The coastline is amazing with miles of sandy beaches and, especially once you get past Mughsail, cliffs that rise up out of the ocean. Just extraordinary.

Merry Christmas - from Oman

Occasionally I'll get subtle reminders of what an odd life I lead. My first Christmas card came today - from Muscat, Oman. This is from my friends Johanna and Francois, who are South African expats (who I first met when Johanna taught at our Champlain campus in Dubai). It is absolutely lovely, and is called Mosque Tops (for that matter, the Omani stamps are very pretty). Now, Johanna and Francois are not Islamic, but it is nevertheless charming to get your first Christmas card from the Middle East. However, it is not that rare, at least in my experience, because last year I received more Christmas cards from my Islamic friends than from my Christian ones. Hamdillah hamdillah!!

Reflections on Oman

This was my first trip to Oman and I really enjoyed it - and wished that I could have stayed for more than just a couple days. I was scheduled to visit Muscat this last summer before the Great Unpleasantness changed everything - although I'm sure I would not have been as enchantened in 135 degree weather.

I found the people to be very friendly and out-going. You actually saw Omani folks working at jobs, which is not something that you are as likely to see in the United Arab Emirates (where the work force is almost entirely legally temporary immigrants, even if they have been there for generations). It was both very exotic, but also very comfortable. The men all wear the traditional white dish dash with very cool hats while the women wear black abayas. I'll use some net-drawn pictures because I haven't been able to download my own pictures yet. There is creeping westernization, to be sure, but the Omanis are very sensitive to it, especially the ecological damage, and clearly don't want to become another Dubai. The funny thing was that the last night Johanna and Francois took me out to eat at a local nice mall as a going away treat, and the mall was alive with young folks in western garb, both men and women. I had not seen any Omanis in western dress all day long until that moment. So, Oman is definitely on the cusp, which is why they're such a natural fit for our Global Module expansion. If we can get in at Sultan Qaboos with this program I think we'll be very well-positioned.

And Sultan Qaboos University. It is only around thirty years old, and is one of the prettiest campuses I have ever seen. It is an odd place because there is absolutely no exchange, unless it is very subtle, between the male and female students - they just pass each other like ghosts. They are not segregated - and there are clubs designed to let them spend time together in regulated activities - but you certainly never saw any guys hitting on girls or vice-versa. Now, what happens at night in the mall, of course, is anybody's guess. Several women, again in their traditional black abayas, went out of their way to come up and talk to me when I was waiting outside a professor's office. They were very friendly and one of the girls actually gave me a poem to read and critique, both the poem and her English (both were quite good). I spent a goodly portion of the day at Sultan Qaboos with George Rishmawi, a great guy. George is a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem, and actually knew some of the folks I've talked to at Bethlehem University and someone I know at the University of Jordan. He invited me back to his house for lunch and I met his wife. I had not picked up on the fact that he was Christian until I entered his house and saw several icons and a cross on the wall. His daughter lives in San Francisco and they are very interested in visiting her more often. I had commented to one of the secretaries that I had, unsuccessfully, tried to buy some of the Omani hats down at the old souq downtown - they wanted more than I wanted to pay - although, typically, I've been regretting I didn't buy about ten. I think the problem is the exchange rate - I've just had too many of them on this trip: it's about $1.30 to one Jordanian Dinar; and around 3 Emirati Dirhams to a dollars; and one Omani Rials equals three US dollars, and one US dollar equals around 200 Hungarian Forints - too much confusion and I was afraid I was being cheated worse than usual so I hesitated - of course, I also almost bought something at the market here in Budapest the other day and thought it was an acceptable bargain at $19, and then redid the math and realized it was actually $190 and quickly bowed out. Anyway, I made this one simple comment to the secretary and it became her life mission to get me some hats - and no amount of argument on my part could change her mind - and she eventually went home and returned with three hats that she had initially bought for her brothers! Again, she wouldn't take no for an answer nor accept any payment. Typical for this amazingly generous part of the world. So, definitely visit Oman - I can't wait to come back.

Dinosaurs

While downtown Joanna and I wandered into a little museum, which combined little snippets of natural history, culture and more recent history. They also had a room dedicated to the ancient past of Oman, including a recreation of the one dinosaur that they have definitively identified as having existed in this area. There was a whole troop of school boys going through, enraptured by the dinosaur, as all boys are - however, these boys were dressed in traditional white gowns and the hats that you see all Omani men wear (and which I'm searching for, but that's for another posting). What struck me about the entire experience is the perception that we have that the Middle East is somehow backward - yet here we are in Muscat, Oman and they have no trouble with an exhibit of dinosaurs. It only seems to be in the US that we are stilling having arguments about creationism vs. evolution - and I'm thinking of my home town of Cincinnati and their creationism museum. A point that my friend Kate made about her Global Module experience really rang true - she said the thing that really marked the exchange between the kids from Champlain and the kids from Zayed was that the Zayed kids were amazed at how the CC kids were not very traditional but more conservative than they thought they would be, and the CC kids were amazed at how the ZU kids were traditional but much less conservative than they thought they would be.

Abu Dhabi and Muscat

It's Saturday night and I'm in Muscat, Oman. It's amazing how quickly this trip is moving along. One week from tonight I will have left Oman, passed back through Dubai, then Paris, then Budapest, then back through Paris, and then JFK and back to Burlington - and that's assuming that everything works as it is scheduled to work. Air France is on strike and beginning tomorrow night I have four flights on Air France - two on Monday (Dubai-Paris; Paris-Budpaest) and two on Saturday (Budapest-Paris; Paris-JFK) - so who knows how it will all play itself out.

After my day of meetings at the Dubai campus of Zayed on Wednesday I caught the shuttle to Abu Dhabi around 3:00. There I met up with Kate O'Neill who teaches at the Abu Dhabi campus of Zayed University - Kate is also from South Burlington. She very graciously volunteered to put me up while I was in town. I had never met her husband Scott, or her three sons - Hobie, Berent and Peyton. I ended up sleeping over at her brother Chris's apartment, which was about a five minute walk. They were all fantastic and I had a great time. Kate felt that I'd never get a moment's peace with her boys so she thought I should stay with Chris. Actually, the boys were great and by the time I left Berent and I were sharing tootsie pops, which has all the hallmarks of a life-long friendship. The meeting at the Abu Dhabi campus of Zayed went very well and, considering the accomplishments of Wednesday's meetings at the Dubai campus, give me a lot of hope for the future.

I made it back to Dubai on Friday night. Kate, Chris and Scott were going to Dubai, and stay in a nice hotel, to see the reformed band Queen as a birthday gift for Chris. So, we said our goodbyes to the boys and took off early afternoon. Before we left we had to feed Kate who, like me, apparently is a blood sugar accident waiting to happen (grin). We went to a nice mall and headed to the food court. Kate went to McDonald's while Chris and I headed to Dairy Queen - where I had a double cheeseburger, chili fries and a chocolate milk shake (hardly what most folks in America would associate with Middle Eastern fare, although these restaurants are very common in some parts of the Middle East - we passed by KFC, Burger King, Chili's and Krispy Kreme). When we made it to Dubai there was a mix-up with the room and Chris, in a demonstration of a great talent he has (hidden under the layers of a very nice guy) pushed the people at the front desk until they received a night's stay at a $2500 a night suite on the top floor. The suite was insanely nice - and I told them that I hoped to live long enough to live in a house as nice as the third bathroom in the suite. My flight out wasn't leaving until 10:20 so they asked me to hang around for a couple hours. As part of their largesse they were invited to a complimentary drink/starter/dessert reception starting at 6:00. We showed up, hunkered down with endless waves of food, and then the band showed up - which is how I found myself next to Brian May in the buffet line. Very odd.

I'll have a lot more to say about Kate and Scott and Chris and the boys - as well as Dubai and Abu Dhabi later. I took my leave around 7:00 and caught a taxi to the airport. My flight on Swiss Air left right on time and by a little after 11:00 I had arrived in Muscat, Oman, which was my first time in the country. After swapping dollars for Rials, which is humbling because it's around $3 to a Rial I queued up to get my visa. It was a long line, but it was very painless. Everyplace I've visited I've either not needed a passport or could just pick it up at the airport, with the exception of India where I had to send it off in advance - another of the advantages of being a US citizen.

Joanna Nel, who teaches online for us at Champlain, met me at the airport. I first met Joanna years ago when she was teaching at our campus in Dubai. I encouraged her to think about teaching online and she contacted Champlain and has been doing so ever since. Then a couple years ago I was chairing a panel at a conference in Amman and asked her to put in a proposal, so I saw her again, and met her husband Francois for the first time, this time in Jordan. So now she was nice enough to ask me to stay at their place in Muscat while I was in town. They are originally from near Cape Town in South Africa. In fact, Francois and I watched the South African national team, the Springboks, play tonight on cable - he was very pleased when I disappeared into the back to change into the Springboks t-shirt that I had picked up in Pretoria a couple months back.

I have a day's worth of meetings tomorrow at Sultan Qaboos University but today was wide open. So, Joanna played tour guide and we went downtown to old Muscat. It was a great day, but more on that later.