{"id":397,"date":"2016-02-09T09:35:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T05:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oman.victorreynolds.net\/?p=397"},"modified":"2016-02-09T09:35:41","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T05:35:41","slug":"ending-one-chapter-and-starting-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oman.victorreynolds.net\/?p=397","title":{"rendered":"Ending One Chapter and Starting Another"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, it’s been a while. And I regret not adding a closing post to the other blog sooner. I figured this blog would be for my Oman trip last summer, but I liked Oman so much that I decided to return this year for even longer! So now this blog is going to be about my two different trips to Oman.<\/p>\n

Closing the SALAM Scholarship – I think I still have one more video to add, but I don’t have a good enough internet connection to do that so it will be a little out of order. I had a lot of fun on that program, but because we were only there for a little over a month, because we were in a highly structured program with trips every weekend and events every night, and because I was in a group of Americans never allowed to leave our Guest House and explore Oman on our own, I feel that I didn’t fully experience Oman like I had hoped to. I never got to go have dinner with an Omani family, for example. Plus, because Arabic is such a hard language to grasp, I felt like I was only nearing a breakthrough as I was leaving. It was a great program, those were just the few flaws. But the benefit of that was that it left me wanting more, and gave me a good introduction to Oman.<\/p>\n

If I hadn’t done that SALAM program last summer, I would definitely be too afraid to do what I’m doing now – flying alone to the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

First and foremost, what must be documented: I cut my hair off! I think this is the shortest it’s been since before I was in first grade. I was tired of it being a big frizzy mess, so I decided I wanted to try something different. The timing lined up well with the trip, and it’s easier to deal with while traveling. I did not cut my hair to improve my job opportunities or to make me more approachable, to be more professional, etc. I just wanted to do what I thought would look best.<\/p>\n