AAAAAAAAAAAAAH, I am really frustrated! We are running out of time!!! The death of an Expedition is getting closer!!!
But, first of all, this has started to happen, I get emails like these:
“Your articles from Yemen where extraordinary exiting! So full of life and joy! What has happened to you, Mikael? If you continue like this you will loose all your readers!”
This is one of quite a few emails I have received since I have arrived to Oman regarding my blog reports. And I agree. I kind of have lost inspiration for the art of writing. There´s a major reason. I kind of have a hang over since Yemen. Yemen had everything. Passion, life, joy, sorrow, drama, war, hate and love. Oman isn´t like that. Or I should say, Muscat. (Don´t get me wrong, Oman is one of the most fascinating places I have been to, outside of Muscat, see this slide show here!) What you see with your eyes whilst moving around the city and not getting in behind the curtains, is this:
It is kind of dead. Nothing much happening. It is a working city. People go to work, early, and they come back from work, late. But always working. One day off in general, Friday, when it is even more dead. The only places which always teems with people, very orderly though, is the shopping malls. Getting there involves lots of traffic and moving at snails speed. It is an extremely orderly city. Very silent, free of smells and totally void of any signs of disorder. It is safe, clean and modern. People are friendly, smiling and helpful. I have met some of the nicest people in my entire life here. Genuinely good, honest and warm human beings. Both amongst locals and the big immigrant groups like Indians, Filipinos and Pakistanis. But it is a place mainly for work. And that is what we are doing here, working from early morning to early night. Most of the time in front of the computer, writing proposals, phoning potential sponsors, requesting meetings or doing research on the Internet. And since we have to stick to the times of work in Europe and America, we also work Thursday and Friday. And since everyone is working, and due to that we are two and seen as a couple, we get invited much less to local people, compared to when I was solo here. So, really, our life here is work and on and off moving around to meet other Western people or buy food in the malls. So it is not as lively, dramatic and inspiring as Yemen! But than again, it is two very different worlds, even though they are neighbors! But what to do? Right now, not much. Because we are running out of personal funds and because this is a very expensive place to be!
Are we getting anywhere with getting the Expedition on its feet? Hard to say, people are very helpful, kind, accommodating and interested, but so far, nothing as we would like it. We would like to get going pretty soon, hit the desert, walk next to the camels, feel the spirit of the desert, but is seems further away each day. Soon we just have to move on and try another place, another country and hopefully get people there to fully understand the vision we have. To change the world, YES!
We are not giving up! Neither the issue of writing interesting stories. I will try to penetrate the wall of the Omani World and let you meet some local people and read about their lives! So, no more stories until this, or the Expedition doesn´t totally collapse or we will meet some interesting local people or as interesting immigrants. Thanks readers for the kick in my butt! Well needed! Back to the old craft! To live to its fullest!
