Birthday Omani-Style

So, yesterday was my birthday.  And I had two quizzes.  How fun.  If I were in America, Sunday would mean the weekend, and I would have spent my birthday celebrating with family and friends over cake and ice cream.  But I am not in America and my life is not normal.  How did I spend my “special” day?  Putting thoughts of class and quizzes aside, I spent it sitting cross-legged on the floor in the students’ activities hall of the University of Nizwa feasting on Omani snacks with my fellow female colleagues.  The language partner women cut up bananas and mangos and apples and oranges, and they opened cartons of cookies and cake for us, too.  Someone had prepared “hilwey” at home, which is a jelly-like substance made out of dates and nuts that has the slightest spicy zing to it.  Personally, I don’t care for it.  But the plain ole dates may be growing on me.  We were also served coffee from tiny teacups and I’ve noticed a trend here: there are only about 2-4 cups a set, so, initially, that number of individuals will take their tea.  As soon as they are done, the server will scoop the cup through an oversized bowl of water and then fill the cup up with coffee to serve to the next person.  Another interesting Omani aspect of taking tea/coffee, which I formally learned in my Omani Arabic course, is that as soon as a person has had enough to drink, they will shake the cup back and forth slightly as they hand it to the server to signal they are satisfied.  Although the feast was by no means prepared in my honor, word got out that it was my birthday, and so I was treated with both the English and Arabic versions of the birthday song (the same tune is international, by the way).  I’d like to say that my friends and I made a cake back at the apartment and celebrated, but I’d be lying.  This program is seriously so draining that all everyone wanted to do (myself included) was do their homework and go to bed.  Maybe we can celebrate this weekend, when two other people are having their birthdays.

It wasn’t until I checked my email this morning and got a note from my sister that I was reminded it was not just my birthday, but my golden birthday (turning 23 on the 23rd)!  So perhaps my friends, family, and I will have to have an extra big welcome home bash when I return.  I miss you all!