I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the world

Thank you Socrates for that one.  Although I agree with the sentiment, for at least one week I was able to experience Greece, and let me tell you, if you have to be a citizen from some country, you could do worse.

So, I spent a little over a week in Greece with the Moms.  Two full days in Athens and then four more in beautiful Santorini (see above), an island five hours by fast ferry from Athens.  I wasn't a very good tourist to be honest.  Or I was, depending on your perspective.  While we did a couple of the requisite museums and ruins, we also spent quite a lot of time by the pool and the ocean, just relaxing with one or five bottles of Mythos.  I don't really have a lot to say about the trip, other than it was a wonderful break with my Moms (love you Moms!) and I'd go back in a heartbeat, but I'll leave you with some more images.  Enjoy!

Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time

Just over one month since my last post.  Not too bad.

My latest Oman adventure took me to Snake Canyon (for us furriners) or Wadi Bani Awf for locals.  No snakes to be seen, it gets its name from its narrow and winding trajectory.  Yet again, I had a blast.  There was quite a group of us, maybe twenty in total.  I was really worried about the heat; all that week it had hit 115 everyday (dry heat, but still).  But within about twenty minutes of starting the hike, I cooled down, never to feel hot again for the rest of the day.  Here's why:

No that's not me jumping.  The only person who had a water-proof camera took about 200 pictures...of his girlfriend primarily (Shout out ST.  Much love!), so just photo-shop (or go really old school and IMAGINE) me into this picture.  But you see why the heat wasn't a problem.  We spent the entire four hours of the hike soaking wet.

There were four or five jumps like this one into deep pools of water, and a couple of slides as well.  All naturally-occurring, and there were some very hairy rock formations to navigate.  Nothing requiring any special equipment, but not for the faint of heart either.  Should any amateurs attempt this hike, you really need to take someone who's done it before, because some of the hand/footholds in the rock are tricky or hard to find.  We had several guys along who had hiked the canyon before, and they were super helpful  (Shout out MC, CM, and AaS!).

Several parts required swimming, including about 250 meters through this awesome cave:

So no snakes, but Cynthia (I finally named my car!) pulled a flat on the gravel road into the canyon.  Thank God for the U.S. Marine Corps, who had the spare on in ten minutes flat (Shout out NC and SS!).  But there were some tense minutes driving at a snail's pace back to the paved road, terrified the donut wouldn't hold.  But she did, and everyone made it back to Muscat in one piece.

A couple more pictures, including a group shot of us at the tail end of the hike.  If you squint really hard you can see me in the red bathing suit on the left.

I really love this country!!!  Next, off to Greece with the Moms.  Will post upon my return.

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea

Sifah Beach is about an hour's drive from Muscat on some pretty hairy mountain roads.  But the drive is worth it.  The beach itself is set with the mountains as a backdrop; and it's pretty quiet, there's usually no more than three or four other groups of people around.  A day at Sifah is fun, but it's just a day at the beach.  Sifah's real beauty starts when the sun goes down.  Due to (insert long marine biology explanation here), the water is filled with phosphorescent plankton.  The waves crashing on the beach look like they have electricity running across them, and when you go in the water, moving your arms creates star trails.  I wish I had some actual video from Sifah of this phenomenon, but to get an idea of what this looks like, check out this YouTube video, taken by some guy in Texas.  It's much more intense in person, easily one of the top five experiences of my life.

I do have some daytime video and pics of Sifah.  I've been camping there a couple of times:

And I've been just to spend the day. 

Take a look at this crab digging a hole.  There were easily five or six of these guys just on the stretch of beach in front of us.

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once

8 months =
Beach!

New car
Road trip
Birmingham
Move across 9 time zones
New job

Cairo

New niece :) 

Istanbul

Boyfriend
Turtles laying eggs/hatching on beach
WikiLeaks
Phosphorescent plankton
Bryan Adams
Parents' trip canceled :(
Secretary Clinton visits!

Dubai

Ex-boyfriend
Parents visit :)

Arab Spring (even in a sleepy Sultanate)

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero

I have three just ridiculously-talented brothers:

Brother #1 is a rocket scientist.  Literally.

Brother #2 is a computer genius and polyglot.

Brother #3 is a rock star/guitar god.

Brother #3 came to visit this past weekend with his equally talented wife.  He's currently touring with a country music band called Love & Theft (Top 10 country single "Runaway" last fall, available on iTunes), as one of the opening acts for Tim McGraw's Southern Voice Tour.  #3 got backstage passes for the show in DC for me, his wife, and his best friend from childhood who happens to live in the DC area.  Now I'm not--generally speaking--a country music fan (Johnny Cash always excepted), but I had an amazing time!

We got to watch his band's sound-check, just the three of us out front in an empty arena, and then watch the Love & Theft show from the sound board, absolute best seats in the house.  We caught two glimpses of Tim McGraw backstage, once shirtless (and can I just say, my, oh my!) after a run, and one of Faith Hill, then caught Tim's show from a pretty kick-ass vantage point.

Sound-check:

#3's bandmates were really nice guys, I scored a U.S. Marshals' baseball hat and lapel pin (don't ask), got to eat cookie cake, and spend time with #3, who I haven't seen in over six months.

The rest of the weekend was really fun, too, although there were fewer celebrity sightings.  But pool time, a Spanish victory at the World Cup, and a great dinner at a newly-discovered oyster bar in DuPont Circle rounded out just an amazingly chill couple of days.  May all summer weekends be ever thus.

Six months plus...

I suck.  That's all your getting from me.

More later, but I thought I might let the more curious of you off of the hook.  I'm still in DC, but on my ETD of August 30, 2010, I will be heading off to sunny, plucky, happy-go-lucky

 

Come on you ignorant Americans.  Don't you remember 5th grade geography?

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Many of you may know, or have heard, about my living conditions when I was in the Peace Corps in Niger. See below my house and...ahem...bathroom facilities.

 

Now that I am a big, bad State Department employee, however, my housing will be much swankier. And--as an added bonus--I had a hand in building it myself! Check it out.