I’ve moved into the villa with great flatmates. I’ve been odd-man-out for the last couple weeks because the one other female in the house has been of on a “retreat.” I think that’s some sort of macrobiotic detox in the Philippines, …or maybe it’s rehab. Dunno. Anyhow, she’s been gone. Thankfully, the boys, who are all over the age of 30, are not of the variety I’m used to (most of you probably know, you know, the boys who when outnumber one single girl, gang up on the girl?). They’re all really lovely and fun, so it’s a blast living in this villa.
I think I’m almost to the point where taking yearbook-style photos of them won’t be completely absurd (coming from me) and I’ll be able to “introduce” them to you.
Anyhow, aside from that, let’s see…well, went to Oman a few weekends ago, Muscat to be specific. Really gorgeous place…here are a couple pics. My fantastic new American friends, Nick and Emily, invited the tagalong so how could I say no? Nick lived in Muscat for a year and a half so he knew the place well and had friends to visit. Oddly enough, all his friends in Muscat are American. We stayed with friends of theirs. The husband is from Lebanon….Tennessee. Kind of ironic, given where I live now. We were only there for about 30 hours so didn’t get to do a lot, but I suspect I’ll be returning often. Basically, aside from a lot of shisha smoking (let me introduce you to Salah Hadin, the 6-ft shisha pipe), we hit the beach, and then drove around Muscat – visited the Souk (marketplace), drove by a few scenic places and then went to the surprise party which was the main reason for the trip. The wife of these friends just became an American citizen so the husband threw a surprise party for her to celebrate….with every American in Muscat. Good times. It was basically a 4th of July BBQ, but in Muscat. After which we went to smoke more shisha. I’m imposing a limit ‘cuz it’s really quite addictive, but the way I see it, it’s better than cigarettes and better than getting drunk so really? I see no problem. Nonetheless, I will attempt to cut down. So that was Muscat.
Saturday night after I returned, we went to see Axis of Evil, the comedy show. Here’s the link from YouTube if you don’t know it. It’s HILARIOUS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JMCAsGJPd4 Very irreverent Middle Eastern comedy.
Another highlight, last week, we went to Abu Dhabi for the end of Justin Timberlake’s world tour. I know, I’m almost 30, but it was definitely a highlight. Great concert, followed by an all night after party at Emirates Palace which is this uber-posh resort in Abu Dhabi. It was supposed to be Justin’s entourage’s afterparty but they didn’t ever show. No big surprise. Didn’t know much about Abu Dhabi before I went there besides that it’s the place Garfield always sent Odie to in the old Garfield cartoons! Anyone else remember that? Anyway, Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE and it’s a little older than Dubai so it seems slightly more established. In 3 years time there’s meant to be a Performing Arts Center, a Guggenheim Museum and a satellite of the Louvre. Kinda weird, but the UAE is all about doing everything “bigger and better” so….I’m not surprised.
This past week has been the Dubai International Film Festival. George Clooney’s been in town so we’ve been trying to keep tabs on him! I saw a couple Arab films that were amazing. It’s interesting to see films made by Arab/ Arab-Americans about life in America. The final dedication of one of the films was to “the innocent victims of the ‘war on terror’” – I have a feeling these will never get distributed in the states. Not trying to get political or anything but….if you get a chance, check out ‘American East.’ Tony Shalhoub (aka Monk if you know the show) is one of the stars. Just realized he’s probably the only famous Arab in Hollywood who isn’t typecast as a terrorist. Okay,…enough of that stream-of-consciousness.
1 comment:
Wow! It sounds like you are having a ton of fun out there!
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