Much has passed since our time in Jerusalem. Although Israel and Oman are
definately more similar culturally than the United States and Oman,
differences are still clear. In Israel, although I knew I was in a
different country, I did not feel out of place. In Oman, I, and every
other Westerner, sticks out like a sore thumb. I learned the true meaning
of discomfort a few days ago when we entered a market in a small Omani
village on our way to the desert, dressed in short, T-shirt, sneakers, or
in my case, Mercersburg plaid pants. In a country where men wear white and
women wear black, the pink, white and baby blue patchwork must have been
quite the sight. I could feel head turn towards me, every eye on me, and
never have I wanted more to be invisible (or hide behind a burka). Despite
this, I cannot say that I have found the Omanis to be unfriendly. On the
contrary, I have felt tolerated, if not always welcome, and definately
safe.
After the experience in the market, I was happy to hop back on to our air
conditioned bus and continue our ride to Wahiba Sands. The two days we
spent in the desert were definately a lot of fun. Our bus dropped us off at
a rest stop about away, and we were then driven to the camp in SUVs. We
spent the most of the day generally relaxing until we were brought up to
one of the higher dunes to watch the sunset. When we returned, we sat
around a camp fire singing. Our guide, Ali, shared some traditional
Bedouin songs with us, and we tried to sing along without much success. We
had been warned about how cold nights could get in the desert, but I was
still surprised by the rapid change in temperature. Although the sun is
unforgiving during the day, the evenings are comparatively very cool. The
following morning, we went camel riding; it was fun - actually not much
different from riding a horse. Unfortunately, we had to leave shortly
afterwards. We spent the rest of the evening with our host families in
Muscat.
This morning we visited the Grand Mosque in Muscat, and then we did some
more shopping at the souk. The actual Symposium started this afternoon. So
far so good. I am curious to see how it will all unfold.
We arrived in Oman shortly after midnight because of issues with the plane. The flight was an interesting one; the plane kept making strange noises. I was also told that during my visit to the bathroom, someone's watch began to beep, alarming some. I feel a little bad for keeping our host families up because of our delay. So far, they seem like very nice people. Six hours later, we got up and went to the American British Academy. After meeting with six other fellow Americans from the Winston Thurston School, we headed out to the marketplace. Afterwords, we spent a very relaxing afternoon on a beautiful beach. I thought it was very nice to spend an entire day that was not devoted to political discussion, not that I disliked our meeting in Israel at all.
Today we had the opportunity to visit the city of Jerusalem. Although we
would have liked to visit Bethlehem, we were not able to, as it lies in
Palestinian territory. Therefore, we went to a a hill overlooking the
town instead to take some pictures. This further emphasized the
significance of borders, whether cultural or official, in the region.
Next, we went to the Israel Museum of Jerusalem, where Mr. James Snyder, a
Mercersburg Alum, gave us a tour. Unfortunately, we were could not see all
of the Museum, because much of it is under construction. Then, we
rushed off to the Western Wall. There, our guide Dovev, brought us through
the Western Wall Tunnel, an underground passage running along the Western
Wall and underneath the Muslim quarter. We were also able to see the
Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall, above ground. It was a truly
moving experience seeing the hundreds of people crowding around what is
left of the Temple, offering up their prayers. The sheer variety of
people, from Orthodox Jews with fur hats to tourists with paper yarmulkes,
was amazing. After lunch, we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchure. It
was interesting to see the different styles represented by the different
sects of Christianity that occupy the Church: the Roman Catholics, the
Greek Orthodox, the Armenian Orthodox and the Coptic Christians. We
finished the day shopping in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim quarters.
Unfortunately, I found that by bartering skills left much to be desired...
Looking out at our view from Mount Zion (our hotel), i am in utter amazement that i am here. To get here we took 2 planes; one from D.C. to London and the next one from London to Israel. Ever since we left the airport we have been very busy. Mr. Snyder was very kind in inviting us to dinner on friday and having us meet other students in our 10th and 11th grade we came from a variety of cultures. At the moment i am a little jet-lagged, but we have been to busy to be tired. We were able to visit the american consulate and the head of PEACE NOW, exposing us to a a broad spectrum of views. The city is a lot different than what i expected. I believe that the media is representing Israel. What i have concluded from talking to the locals is that bombings are the norm, and that they have adapted. The things that surprises me the most is the divide between the Israelis and the Palestinian people. They are basically divided by one main street. Looking from side to side, you could see the difference in ethnicity between the people. Well, I'm off to bed and hopefully going to get rid of my jet-lag.
so we've been hear for about a day and a half and we've already met the
U.S. Consolat for the Palestinians, A man man who is fairly right wing,
Peace Now, A random Israeli man in the airport, and I met a Palestinian
teenage girl. its really interesting. for one thing, it seems pretty
evident that the Israelis and Palestinians both want peace and a Palestian
country. but the major problem is the Palestinian Authorities being
highjacked by Islamic Extremism,, or civil strife between Fattah and
Hamas. the psychological borders are also really fascinating, the city is
essentially divided into two sides, East and West Jerusalem. East is for
the Palestinians and west for the Jews. there is no law preventing them
from going to the other side and no real threat, but they al say it
"just awkward." Its all really amazing, and quite frankly hard
to fathom it being a real place. its so much different when your actually
there and meeting the people who actually experience what we always see on
the news. just incredible.
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