Omanilicious!

I traveled to Oman this past weekend, partly because I needed a visa change and partly because I wanted to see the MC members there... two of them were with me in AIESEC in Madison and the third is a fellow @US member.

Oman was great!! It was wonderful to see my friends again and to be with people that "get" me. I could just be myself and enjoy a much-needed relaxing (two day) vacation.




The guys don't have a lot of contact with Omanis, but they're working on it. They're just starting things up, trying to become legal, talking to the universities, understanding the culture and the challenges that it may present. It's so exciting to see things when they're just getting started, and I have no doubt in my mind that these guys are the right people to create something amazing.

My first night, we had a great conversation with some local students that the boys brought together through their small network, most of whom were half Omani. The purpose of the meeting was to talk about the feasibility of bringing AIESEC to Oman and why the students would be interested in an organization like ours. It turned out that most of the students had already done MEPI (Middle East Partnership Initiative - part of the U.S. State Department) exchanges, so they were already sold on the idea. Basically, we had a great three-hour discussion about philosophy, religion, tradition and, of course, AIESEC. It was especially great for me, because I don't really get the chance to have many of those conversations with members in Qatar.

On Friday, we went for a four hour drive in search of the (supposedly) most beautiful beach in Oman. It was supposed to be an hour and a half away, but because of the floods from the hurricane earlier in the year, many of the roads were washed out and it was hard to find our way. When we arrived (finally), after almost running out of gas, gorgeous views and multiple backflips by Brett, we found that we had to hike/rock climb for about 45 minutes along some rocky cliffs to get to the water. So we did! When we arrived at a spot that we decided was far enough in, we all jumped off cliffs into the cool, deep, greenish water. I had never done anything like that before... it was awesome!




Those were the highlights of the weekend... but most of all, it was so good to sit down and have long chats with old friends again. We did take a video camera with us on some of our adventures, and David edited it into this hilarious masterpiece... Enjoy!