Saturday, May 23, 2009

Camel Crossing

What exactly is Salalah supposed to do when the 7:30 a.m rush hour is interrupted by a stubborn camel standing in the middle of the highway? Five police cars, 500 vehicles trying to get to work, and one stubborn camel. I was stuck in traffic for half an hour this morning because of the camel. ONE camel. I wasn't annoyed. I had my coffee and my music to keep me entertained. I thought it was rather amusing.
It's Saturday morning, which means my head it a little blank, trying to recover from the weekend. I spend Thursday in the mountains with a family of nomads (well, not really, they have three farms in the mountains for each of the seasons, and they move their camels between the farms). Anyway, I visit this family regularily and without fail I always come back to town in a state of shock. I live a busy life; cell phone, work, car, email, facebook, travel, etc, and sometimes I forget what it's like to be silent (peace within). When I visit my mountain family, I remember. They live a simple life on a simple farm. Every afternoon they sit out on their hill, drink tea, talk about the old days and recite poetry. Men and women sit together in mountain culture, unlike town people. They chat, laugh, exchange news, and sing in Jebbali (the local mountain dialect). During the day they tend to their animals, grow vegetables, make ghee, and take care of the children. I usually take a gift of fruit; something they consider a treat because of its rarity. They only come into town once a month or so. Our lives are so different, yet they accept me as I am and welcome me into their circle of laughter. They remind me that happiness is simple, and life should not be so complicated. I spend three of four hours with them inhaling life, then I am thrown back into my own life once I drive back into town and my cell phone starts working again (no reception up in the mountains, thank goodness). Sigh. How was your weekend?

7 comments:

  1. hehehe...what a cool camel! =P

    and goodness...the mountain life you explained sounds absolutely beautiful! *peaceful*

    It's like a break from "our" world.

    =)

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  2. I can relate to your normal workdays and some times I just feel the same to escape to somewhere far away and juts feel the peace of life…
    Jumping from one plan to another moving from one car to another and catching different meetings is just TOO MUCH…

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  3. One must always have somewhere to escape to every once in a while. Even a quiet afternoon reading on the beach is enough (without the cellphone, though!)

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  4. LoL @ the stubborn camel!

    I like the mountains life in Salalah, the fogged view from there and the Jabali accent ;)

    Man! I think I'm going to Salalah this Khareef

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  5. ^Me too. Maybe the camel was trying to lead you somewhere :|

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  6. Come to Salalah! We can have a bloggers' reunion in the mountains among the cows, worms, and rain.

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  7. As salam alaikum Nadia

    did the bloggers reunion in the mountains take place or am i on time ? hehe.

    SubhanAllah the mountains are just breath taking..i feel inlove with salalah because of the mountains. No traffic just cattle taking their time.

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