Rock Climbing in Oman

The scouts and I went camping in the mountains of Dibba, Oman. We left on a Thursday to drive there, it took a long time. We left at 5:30 pm but didn't get there until 10:20. By the time we were there we were tired, we set up camp and went to sleep. The next morning we ate oatmeal, but we put too much water and it was more oatmeal soup than anything. We all got ready and drove out to the place where we climb.

The instructors taught us the difference between lead rope climbing and top rope climbing. Lead rope is when you "lead" the rope up to the top and top rope is (as you might have guessed) when the rope is already at the top. Top rope is safer so being on a boy scout outing we did the safe one. To get the merit badge we would have to climb three times, belay three times, and rappel (or abseil) three times. We did all of this. I got to rappel 30 feet down the side of a HUGE boulder, climb two different places, and belay (not as much fun).We went over different climbing knots, ideal places to climb, and good climbing rules. We were having tons of fun, but sadly it was getting dark and we had to have dinner, so, we left for camp.

My patrol made silver turtles for dinner. For those who don't know, silver turtles are different foods with sauce and spices mixed in a tin foil wrapping. Put two layers or three (depending on how you want it cooked), of meat, veggies, spices, and a tad bit of water or sauce. Then, throw it on the hot coals of an older fire that is only coals left, 15 minutes on each side, then BAM -majorly tasty dinner. In ours we had chicken, carrots, cashews, and Ritz crackers, mixed with BBQ sauce and Teriyaki sauce. Every patrol made silver turtles, even the adults, but ours won the Golden Ladle for best dinner!

The next morning we went back over climbing safety and stuff, packed up and went home. All in all it was a great campout.

Art in Abu Dhabi

For a while now we have been going to different art classes at Emirates Palace, Sadyiat Island, and a recent one near my house. At each location, we have learned about a couple of different artistic mediums and ways of making art.

The classes at the Palace we did Arabic words in art, clay modeling, and collage. In Arabic Words in Art we painted, used stencils, and put Arabic words that had meaning in with the paint. In the clay modeling class we learned how to make clay mini-sculptures. I learned that they put metal in the clay so it holds its form. I made a clay, um, well it was supposed to be a fox, but, well….. it was this instead. --->
When we did collage, it wasn't as good as the others.
We just made a village out of painted paper pieces.
It was ok at some parts, not great at others, but mostly it was fun.

This is my Arabic Words in Art painting.  The word I used means "ambitious."

On Sadyiat Island we did an acrylic paint picture and found objects. We also did this cool class where we learned that by using acrylics we can copy images on to paper from other places. We can color them according to which color acrylic we use so we made images mixed together to make cool art. In the found objects class we used paper and oil pastels on different paper. I got to use a hot wheels mustang that had been torn up to look like a major accident and I copied the image onto my paper. These set of classes were really epic ,but not as much fun as the comic class because, not all my friends were there.

Most recent was a comic art class, which was near my house. We met a comic illustrator from the UK.  He was extremely hyper, like he had a coffee with several shots of espresso and a chocolate cake. Anyway, he showed us how to make comics. He had us each draw a page of comics, and he pooled all of them together to make one comic that was named DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.  It had a drawing of Mario blowing up a building. On the back it had caricatures of everyone in the class that he drew. This class was my favorite.

These classes were great fun for me and my homeschool friends. I learned there are various ways of creating art. I want to go to another one soon. These were all enjoyable and I hope there are more.

Indonesian Fest

A while back we went to the Indonesian festival fundraiser for the floods in ,well, Indonesia. We got there and went inside to the little shopping place and looked at all the Indonesian crafts. Then went outside and listened to a rockin' band made up of a bunch of Indonesian teens. We got awesome food (two guesses what area of the world it's from) and listened to this guy singing forever in a different language.

I had some cool Indonesian fried food and this (not that great) ginger soup with bread and tastless gummy things at the bottom. We saw clothing that had been batiked. Batiking is where they take wax and draw designs on it then dye it and repeat until they get the design they want. We also got to draw some ourselves.

There were also dancers dancing Indonesian dances. The video below is an Indonesian military dance.

I really enjoyed it. I was glad to have gone. Contributing is how we do our part in this world.

Sad Mountain

We went to Jebel Haffet in Al Ain, it is very beautiful and very large (compared to me at least ). It's elevation is 4,068 feet, and you can drive up to near the top. Sadly though this beautiful mountain is marked with a lot of graffiti. This one wall I saw was all most completly covered with it. There is also tons of garbage littered all over the place (their public toilets could use a good cleaning too.)
Jebel means Mountain and Hafeet is just the name, it sits right next to Oman.

The graffiti was horrible and should be fixed, they should get cleaning crews up there to clean it. It is a beautiful place but is messed up by the trash and graffiti. I wish it were better, people just don't understand that one piece of garbage turns into many and soon the most beautiful places on earth turn horrible and ugly. That is the sad truth.

Picnic at the US Embassy

On March 4th my family and I went to the U.S. Embassy with the scouts (Cub, and Boy Scouts). We had a blast! When we got inside, we went into a "multi-purpose room". We had a long discussion about citizenship in the states, passports, ex pats, etc. After that, we went to different places in 3 groups. First, our group went into a room where a soldier discussed life as a marine. In the next room, we got to try out their $80,000 "Wii". We were put in scenarios on it where we had to go in and shoot the bad dude before he got away, or we died. I used the shot gun and killed him as soon as he came out - in one shot! In the third room, we saw what they put on in an emergency, all the equipment and stuff, it was cool. We went outside and had a BBQ with burgers, hot dogs, and drinks. We saw their living space and it is sweet! They have 2 dart boards, a bar, a pool table, foosball, and a vast kitchen. It was a great trip and I enjoyed it. I had most fun in the second room shooting on the "Wii". I hope there is another trip there in the future.