How relieved I am that my Thursdays are now free! The money is always nice when one does a bit of extra work, but now that I have stopped and have my entire weekend to myself, I feel like a different person. I also took a long weekend this week and so only have a 4-day working week ahead of me. This will be full-on, but 4 days are oh so do-able.
I want to tell you about my trip down to Jalan, leaving last Thursday. The heat is kicking in very nicely now and I decided to have Ollie's AC checked before which was a very good thing. The sky is white and glaring and a warm wind blows. Why do I feel so happy? I always say that there is a part of me that never relaxes, a part of my belly that never totally unclenches in Europe, because I just love the heat.
I know the road really well, and the 270 km went really quickly. I love driving through the different regions, goats to be seen everywhere, then camels, bedu trucks, stark landscapes and the sands which are so soft and pleasing to the eye.
Jalan is about 100 km further on from my usual desert haunt, and it is the third time that I am on my way to visit the Al Hasani family. The desert is different, the sand is white and there is more vegetation. They have had a bit of rain in the last couple of weeks and I was really surprised by how green the place is. It is an area of Oman very famous for the dates, and they have been concerned this year, because the hot winds have been late in the coming. I came down here just after the storm called Phet hit Oman in June last year. Ahmed, my student, said it was heart breaking to see the old men sitting in their platations, weeping. Many of date palms were destroyed and the family told me with great sorrow yesterday that they had had to buy dates form the market to get themselves through the season.
Yet their mother is always sending me packets of dates, and I eat several every day, in the im-morning. I can't wait for the season of the fresh dates to begin, it will be soon! I learnt last night that the tradition is that one should always eat the dates in odd numbers, preferebly 3 or 5, or 7 if they are particularly yummy.
The main reason I decided to visit, is that Ahmed has been really excited in class these last 2 weeks, because his older brother is building an 'isbah' in the desert. An isbah is a place in the sands where one can relax, it usually has several elevated areas where one can sit or sleep out, a cooking or fire place, a couple of rooms made of palm leaves, sometimes open on one side. This one is going to be rather sophiticated with a simple shower and toilet; the water will be driven in of course. The sitting areas are elevated as scorpions apparantly cannot climb.... mmm, not so sure about that.
We went out just before sunset and did some serious reclining, resting and just chatting. I love the fact that I can be so relaxed with my students. The temperature was sublime and we sat on the dunes to have dinner and watch the moon till past midnight. We also went for a short adventure on 2 quad bikes. This is not usually my scene but I enjoyed it very much.
In that place, I can let go of everything that clutters me, and get back to my very essence, to my core, my inner quiet desert. We all need that from time to time!
I want to tell you about my trip down to Jalan, leaving last Thursday. The heat is kicking in very nicely now and I decided to have Ollie's AC checked before which was a very good thing. The sky is white and glaring and a warm wind blows. Why do I feel so happy? I always say that there is a part of me that never relaxes, a part of my belly that never totally unclenches in Europe, because I just love the heat.
I know the road really well, and the 270 km went really quickly. I love driving through the different regions, goats to be seen everywhere, then camels, bedu trucks, stark landscapes and the sands which are so soft and pleasing to the eye.
Jalan is about 100 km further on from my usual desert haunt, and it is the third time that I am on my way to visit the Al Hasani family. The desert is different, the sand is white and there is more vegetation. They have had a bit of rain in the last couple of weeks and I was really surprised by how green the place is. It is an area of Oman very famous for the dates, and they have been concerned this year, because the hot winds have been late in the coming. I came down here just after the storm called Phet hit Oman in June last year. Ahmed, my student, said it was heart breaking to see the old men sitting in their platations, weeping. Many of date palms were destroyed and the family told me with great sorrow yesterday that they had had to buy dates form the market to get themselves through the season.
Yet their mother is always sending me packets of dates, and I eat several every day, in the im-morning. I can't wait for the season of the fresh dates to begin, it will be soon! I learnt last night that the tradition is that one should always eat the dates in odd numbers, preferebly 3 or 5, or 7 if they are particularly yummy.
The main reason I decided to visit, is that Ahmed has been really excited in class these last 2 weeks, because his older brother is building an 'isbah' in the desert. An isbah is a place in the sands where one can relax, it usually has several elevated areas where one can sit or sleep out, a cooking or fire place, a couple of rooms made of palm leaves, sometimes open on one side. This one is going to be rather sophiticated with a simple shower and toilet; the water will be driven in of course. The sitting areas are elevated as scorpions apparantly cannot climb.... mmm, not so sure about that.
We went out just before sunset and did some serious reclining, resting and just chatting. I love the fact that I can be so relaxed with my students. The temperature was sublime and we sat on the dunes to have dinner and watch the moon till past midnight. We also went for a short adventure on 2 quad bikes. This is not usually my scene but I enjoyed it very much.
In that place, I can let go of everything that clutters me, and get back to my very essence, to my core, my inner quiet desert. We all need that from time to time!
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