Crazy funky fusion and a bottle of wine

The days are flying by and I am not writing. I feel as though I am sliding down a rainbow in slow motion, everything is kind of whooshing past, yet I am very much in the moment. This is a very strange combination of emotions- exhilaration, fear, deep peace, awe, laughter. It all feels right. I am dreaming of skydiving, but I am not alone in the sky. All the particles of the universe hold me. It is the ultimate exercise of trusting the process.

I wonder if I will ever sky dive, I have always wanted to in this lifetime. But I am simply too shit scared. I am afraid of throwing up or passing out or worse! Breaking a leg. I adore watching basejumping clips on youtube. I always joke with my friends and say that I get quite enough adrenaline in my blood by just getting my feet on the ground in the morning. I would really love to paraglide off Table Mountain though, maybe that is more of a soft option. Any companions?

 Let me get onto something more tangible.

I had a blinding visit with Matthew. His timing was perfect and we had a lovely weekend of catching up and spending time with friends here. Joe helped and we cooked up a storm on Thursday night. Very traditionally South African. We ate off the plates my parents Bill and Hester bought before I was born, and used the silver cutlery I inherited from my grandmother. My artist friends came with their baby and a bottle of South African white wine.. They admired my newly decorated living room profusely which made my chest swell with pride. I also invited Joe's German teacher called Sabine. A very interesting woman who recently moved from Canada to Oman, can't think off more opposite countries! They do have excellent people in common though. 

There was an air of perfection to that evening, as though the forces were conspiring for us. I felt as though generations of my family were watching over me and approving of the crazy funky fusion I have going on in my home and in my psyche.

I had another story to tell which has completely slipped my mind. I will tell you tomorrow. In the mean time I will share my favourite 'bottle of wine' story. I'm sure most of you know it but it always makes me laugh.

A saleswoman is driving home through Arizona after a long stint on the road. She sees a Navajo woman hitchhiking and because the trip has been long and quiet, she decides to pick her up. During their small talk, she notices the woman glancing at the brown paper bag on the seat between them.
'If you're wondering what's in the bag', says the driver, 'It's a bottle of wine, I got it for my husband.'
The Navajo woman is silent for a while, nods several times and says, 'Good trade'.

I often wonder why I enjoy that story so much. I love of course any play on words, but maybe it is the fact that I can laugh at myself for not having the foresight to have traded my own husband in for a bottle of wine a long time ago (instead of going through the whole life-altering excrutiating process as it was). It certainly would have been much simpler, as well as a good trade.

Suzi Q, 3 gates and the perfect moment

Oh my goodness, I love being this happy. I was driving to work this morning listening to Suzi Quattro, I mean not really the kind of artist that you would associate with being the catalyst for blinding realisations, but as I parked my car and prepared myself for getting out into the sauna, I felt as if something just came together, slipped into place. I stood in front of the sea and felt as though I was living the past, present and future in one. There was no sense of time; I felt huge and tiny simultaneously. Is this what it is to be truly present in the moment?

Haha, I know there are several of you out there right now who are taking the mickey out of me! What mind-altering substances has the girl been enjoying? Mmmm, for me to know of course, but it could have something to do with several glasses of my favourite bubbly beverage last night... either way, it was a perfect moment, the second this week. The universe is spoiling me! The first was listening to Leonard Cohen sing "Halleluja" at the winding down of a beautiful evening.

So, Matthew has arrived safely in town and I am looking forward to the weekend very much. We are both making breakthroughs at the moment, and it is good to be able to share it with each other in person.

Talking of sharing, I am always honoured to have the students share with me, and this week I have felt particularly close to them. I have been thinking of how we should watch our words and treat our fellow humans with reverance.

I remembered this lovely piece of advice from the Sufis.

They say we should speak only once our words have managed to pass through 3 gates.
At the first gate we ask, "Are these words true?" If so, they pass on.
At the second gate we ask, " Are they necessary?" and if they make it through that, they are ready for the final gate,

"Are they kind?"

My sincere wish and prayer: May our words and thoughts bring kindness to the world.

What a wonderful word- Quench

THE MYSTERY OF YOUR THIRST

Imagine this scene. You're really thirsty -- so dehydrated that you're
feeling faint. Yet here's the weird thing: You're walking along the bank of
a wide river that's so clear you could see the bottom if you looked.

But you're not looking. In fact, you seem oblivious to the surging force of
nature just a few yards away.

Is it invisible to you? Are you so preoccupied with your suffering that
you're blind to the very source that would end your suffering?

Up ahead you see a man. As you approach, you realize he's holding a
bottle of water. You run to him and beg him to let you drink. He readily
agrees. Gratefully, you guzzle the precious liquid, then thank him
profusely.

As you walk away, he calls after you, "By the way, there's a lot more
water over there," and he points to the river.

Do you hear him? If you hear him, do you believe him? Or do you keep
walking, hoping to find another person with another bottle somewhere up
ahead?

Rob Brezsny

wild wonderful windy wanderings

I really like my time with the Al Hasani family, because they are super hospitable, but also have a really good sense about when to leave me alone. I sleep on comfy matresses in the seperate majilis, and feel really at home there. I woke up excited yesterday because I knew I was going to be shown a piece of Oman I hadn't seen before.

Ahmed informed me that he had roped in a friend, Rashid, to drive us in his sturdy but aging Nissan Patrol, and was it OK if the car had no AC? I had no objections and we set off after lunch. The air was scorching and the famous warm wind that ripens the dates so nicely was blowing. I love it when one drives along and sand blows in little rivulets across the road. There are some places where the dunes are creeping onto the road. I do love Mother Nature! She will assert herself in many ways.

We were heading for the coastal road between Al Ashghara and Ras Al Hadd. Ras Al Hadd is the  main beach here in Oman famous for seeing the turtles and Al Ashghara is a small fishing town with a unique and quirky character which I love. As we approached the coast, the air cooled down and the weather became increasingly blustery. We came across a shallow lagoon with flamingoes and a little further on 3 Westerners were kite surfing. It looked like fabulous fun and was a very unexpected sight in this out-of-the-way place.

We drove past long vast beaches, only a few fishing boats and fishing shelters to be seen. The waves were foamy and wild and the sand stung our legs as we walked at the water's edge.
They then took me to an amazing place on a high cliff, where we sat for ages watching the waves break on the rocks, with shoals of silver fish swimming by in the milky green water and birds playing in the winds.
 From there we went to a cove with a beautiful white beach which we had all to ourselves. I lay on the sand listening to the wind, the waves and the boys chatting away to themselves in Arabic. Every now and again I would be nudged by a little crap, the beach was full of them, and they were determined to explore me, especially when I lay still for too long.

I do want to share a funny little moment. We have two main mobile telephone service providers in Oman. The one is called 'Hayyak' which is a a kind of local greeting used for both Hallo and Goodbye. The other is 'Nawras', which means seagull. As we were sitting there, a seagull was edging itself closer to us, and Rashid interrupted his conversation with Ahmed to say, 'Shuf, Nawras Hayyak'. 'Look, the seagull is greeting us'. Even the Arabs enjoy a good pun.

I was also treated to a famous Jalani snack, which is "ghoebs, jibin, patata"- flatbread,  processed cheese, potato chips... with hot sauce. Needless to say I was quite dubious about this idea, but had to take a chance. All of the ingredients are squashed onto the flatbread and enjoyed with relish, and in this case, even by me! I had two in the end, washed down with 7-up.

This reminded me so much of road trips as a child; my mother's drink of choice on the long hot journey to Calvinia was always lemonade.
As the sun set and the moon rose, a strange kind of whimsy overcame me, and I was ready to be back in the arms of my Muscat.

A different desert

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!

Sexy palm trees on the scenic route

I have needed a break from cyberspace and I am happy to be back. Things are always moving and shifting in my life and I needed a little time to regroup. It really feels at the moment as though I have found a different internal scenic route to follow. I am  calmly checking out the views and enjoying the vistas and taking in the details of the landscape, and hopefully soon I will be able to put these things into words. What I love about this new road, is that I am not over-excited, I feel as though I have arrived. Arrived at a space in myself where I really want to be.

In the mean time, I had a really good day. I spent a calm couple of hours with my artist friends and their rose-petal baby. They have a super comfy carpet and I love to lie on there and just be. Great thoughts and deep realisations always arise in that space, and I came home feeling wonderful. Prior to the visit, I had a swim at the Chedi which was sublime as always. I lay on the wooden recliner wrapped in my white towel under the sexy palm trees, listening to the sea and the birds, and must have dozed off, because I woke up in a small puddle of drool, it was so relaxing.

We had our first meeting today to discuss the trip to Germany in September. We have 50+ applicants and only 15 spaces, so it will be an interesting process. I sat there checking all of them out, and already have a fair idea about who my money is on.
 My summer plans are slowly coming together. To the UK in mid-July to sort out the passort thing, and hopefully I'll have a bit of time to wander around before coming back to do 3 weeks of summer school in August. I like to be here in Ramadan and for the Eid at the end of August, then off to Aachen on 6 September. I decided not to cry that I can't go to South Africa, and that if I pace myself , this could work out fine.

 And as I know my life, there are bound to be some groovy surprises. Watch this space.

Sulaiman and the ant

Today I went to class completely unprepared. On Mondays I have a 4-hour session of Intensive English with a small class of students and yesterday was a really huge grammar session. So, as I was driving to work this morning, easing my way into the day, listening to some soothing Mozart Horn Concerts, I was wondering what I could do that they would really enjoy. I remembered the writing exercise about the Zamzam water... which I promised to tell you and haven't yet.. and thought that to choose some topic familiar and close to home is always the best.

So, I asked them all to start by telling me their favourite stories from the Holy Quran. There were not too many suprises in the stories that they told, however, I have never known that the Moslem faith had a holy man akin to Saint Francis of Assisi. The prophet Sulaiman was a man who loved and could talk to the animals. One day he came across a little ant hard at work collecting for the winter.

The prophet and the ant started a conversation and the the prophet asked the ant how much food he needed to survive the cold season. The ant answered that it was about a grain and a half of rice. Sulaiman then suggested to the ant that he put him in a comfortable little box with that amount of food and he would not have to work so hard. The ant declined, answering that he would not rely on a human with the potential to be unreliable, if his experience told him that if he worked hard, he could always rely on Allah to feed him.

I thought that was rather a good story.