The Back Story–How and Why I Am Going to Oman

For the scores of people whom I have told that I am going to Oman, the first question they ask me is “wait–you’re going where?”  And then the second question is, usually, “now how did that happen?”  While hyperlinks can help me show you where Oman is, it will take something along the lines of this post to explain just how I managed to get the chance to go there.

So, many of you already know that I have been taking Arabic for the last two and a half years at the University of Arkansas, as part of my course work in the Ph.D program in Comparative Literature.  Big deal, right?  Lots of people take Arabic at the University of Arkansas as well as at universities all over the world.

Well, one morning in the first week of April 2012, my Arabic professor grabbed my elbow on the way into class, and he asked me if I would be interested in going to Oman for a few weeks over the summer.

I said, “Sure. But what’s the catch?”

He told me if I could drop by his office later, he would explain.

Later that day, I did indeed pay a visit to Professor Haydar’s office, and he showed me the details: a  fully paid, six-week summer scholarship for the study of Arabic language and media, in the Gulf country of Oman, was being offered by the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, in conjunction with the Center for International Learning, to 12 intermediate-level Arabic language students enrolled at universities in the United States.  Officially, the program attached to the scholarship is called the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center (SQCC) Summer Arabic Language and Media (SALAM) program.   After hearing all of this I thought, “why not… I probably won’t get it, but surely it won’t hurt to apply.”  Like my dad, the basketball coach always says, “you will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

That very afternoon I applied for my passport and began to go through the whole application process.  I quickly filled out the scholarship application, completed the 40-question diagnostic Arabic language test, and composed a 200-word hand-written statement of purpose in Arabic (I’m not very smooth at typing with an Arabic font, and my Arabic handwriting is much better than my scrawling in English).  My professor agreed to write a recommendation letter, and so I got the ball rolling.  By the application deadline of April 25,  I already had my materials submitted to the SQCC for over a week!  But still, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be chosen, so I didn’t tell anyone that I had applied except my girlfriend Chantal.  Yet, when my professor informed me that he had sent off the recommendation letter, he  made me promise him that I would tell him first, before anyone else, as soon as I heard something–so in hindsight, I think he knew something even then.

So cue the drum roll.

On May 2, right before heading into Kimpel Hall 205 to teach Act IV of Hamlet, I dipped into the English teaching assistant computer lab to check my email, as I did everyday this semester.  And here is what was waiting for me.

After reading this letter I was filled with a range of emotions: pride, happiness, anxiety, indecision, excitement.  As can be imagined, it was very difficult to go into the classroom literally seconds later and try to talk about the rage of Laertes and Ophelia’s death by drowning after receiving this news.  Somehow I managed to repress my emotions enough to lead a discussion of the tragedy of Hamlet with the appropriate blend of solemnity, reverence, pathos, and snide humor, without giving into the urge to blurt out what I considered to be amazingly great news to the class, most of whom at that point were probably dreading their upcoming final exams.

Since I didn’t tell them then, I am now crowing about it here to you.  And what are the terms of the scholarship? You might recall that the acceptance letter contains the phrase “fully paid”, which means that airfare, a weekly food stipend, housing, weekend excursions, and intensive Arabic language instruction in the classroom and “on the street”  are all paid for. I am particularly excited by the fact that I will have an individual “peer facilitator” conversation partner who will be assigned to work with me one-on-one for a few hours each afternoon.  I expect that this is where the “immersion” into the culture and language will occur.

But you also might be wondering what exactly is the focus of the scholarship.  In the language of  the Center for International Learning’s pre-departure information packet, “[t]he program teaches Modern Standard Arabic and Omani dialect to intermediate level students, building functional usage of the language through the study and analysis of the media: print, broadcast, internet, film, and literature.”  Sounds right up my alley!

Now, even after a month after hearing the news of the award and just hours away from my departure for the Gulf, it’s still hard for me to believe. Considering that five years ago I was pulling 12-hour shifts every day as the sous-chef at Twisted Fork restaurant and staring down the barrel of an unsatisfying career in food service and hospitality, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day I would receive such an opportunity.  Reflecting on the blessings I have received over the last five years, I have an immense amount of gratitude for everything–both the good and the bad–that has happened in my life to get me back into school and moving towards the realization of my long-held dream of living a “life of the mind.” So many people have helped me on my path and they–and you, probably, dear reader–are part of it.  That is one of the main reasons I wanted to keep a blog about my trip: to share, in words and pictures, the details of this exciting summer adventure with all of the people who have helped me get there.

At any rate, that is the story of how and why I am going to Oman.  Now, the question is, what will happen when I get there?  I hope you are as curious as I am.