So Ibri...

At a gas station at the edge of Wilaya Ibri, but an hour and a hald from Madina Ibri (Photo: Kiaya Skinner)

According to Wikipedia, Ibri used to be known for it's market and fruit. In 2003 it had a population of slightly under 100,000, and is in a state (wilaya) know for it's castles and forts. That's pretty much all of the information there.

A parking lot near the center, featuring Ibri Castle in the background

Before coming here, I tried to research Ibri. More info about castles, several people had died in car accidents since the advent of the internet, one guy got struck by lighting, it floods sometimes, and a Lulu opened (you'll hear more about Lulu later). Other than that, I read some blogs about life in Oman, and the main things I got from those were that sometimes grocery stores turn off their electricity at night so be careful about meat and ice cream, and also to wear long clothes. In other words, despite CLS's extensive prep handbook, I wasn't going in with that much.

The view from my balcony at dusk.

     
But anyway. Now I've been here for nearly a week and everything Wikipedia says is true. Temperatures in the summer do indeed range from 95 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, though it reaches shockingly low temperatures of around 80 degrees at the coolest point in the night (so far I think our high was 114). However, this isn't super relevant, because we don't go outside that much, because a. it's hot, and b. there's not that much to do, and c. there's a giant highway in front of our apartment building that'd difficult to cross because cars always have the right of way in Oman, and d. we're at the center for at least five hours every day, and then we have at least three hours of homework, and thrice weekly meetings with local language partners, and also fairly regular cultural activities.

The early morning livestock souk, featuring giant goats, bedouins, sheep, sad little cows, and two camels.

So far I've gone to a lot of Arabic class (3 hours of Modern Standard and 1 of the Omani dialect everyday), eaten a lot of food, hung out with my host family for a day, spoken a lot of Arabic, a little English, and a weird amount of Spanish, visited a livestock souk, eaten a lot of fruit, and studied. Inshallah tomorrow we'll visit the farm of our lovely center director Sultan's family, assuming we don't get hit by a cyclone. Also assuming we don't get hit by a cyclone we'll visit a mountain on Saturday, and then school starts again on Sunday. And then I do it all again (minus the goats) (maybe).

My host... relative? Hagar in a box. I don't think it's an Omani thing but you never know.