Moved into the faculty housing this morning. It is extremely conveniently located seeing as it is on the second floor of the building where meals are on the ground floor and my office is on the first floor. The commute is terrific.
Uncle Rashid has been rather insistent on me practicing my Arabic, which is a good thing, however, today this resulted in the four of us in “my” office having a rather long discussion (in English) on the Arabic language and the difference between the formal Arabic, which I am taught, and the local Arabic, which varies quite a bit from country to country. I have had this discussion many times on my trip with the same general feeling on my part: I need to learn colloquial Arabic. I’m working on it.
This evening, Marwa and her mother took me out for a bit. First, we went to an expo where they sell everything: clothes, jewelry, perfume, snacks, furniture. It reminded me of the wedding expo I went to once in Seattle or the expo hall at the Puyallup Fair, but much, much bigger. Literally, thousands of people were there in this giant hall packed with booths. They kept commenting on how crowded it was but I enjoyed looking at everything and thought it was quite fun!
After the expo we went to dinner and then walked around the main mall a little bit. Marwa and her mom were great company and I really enjoyed the evening. Around 10pm or so they dropped me back off at the university. Setting the alarm clock was another reminder of my non-commute in the morning. :)
This evening, Marwa and her mother took me out for a bit. First, we went to an expo where they sell everything: clothes, jewelry, perfume, snacks, furniture. It reminded me of the wedding expo I went to once in Seattle or the expo hall at the Puyallup Fair, but much, much bigger. Literally, thousands of people were there in this giant hall packed with booths. They kept commenting on how crowded it was but I enjoyed looking at everything and thought it was quite fun! 
After the expo we went to dinner and then walked around the main mall a little bit. Marwa and her mom were great company and I really enjoyed the evening. Around 10pm or so they dropped me back off at the university. Setting the alarm clock was another reminder of my non-commute in the morning. :)
Now that you're in Oman, can you hear the difference in that local dialect compared to the others you've been hearing? Do you think it's easier or harder to learn colloquial there?
ReplyDeleteD