Fatma and Safiya

It rained today. It's the first time it has rained since January. The city can come to a complete standstill when it rains (there is no drainage system), but it only lasted a few minutes so there were no real problems.

I was walking around the college grounds trying to get a clever reflection shot of the puddles left by the quick downpour when these two girls from my 'D1' (best) class came up to strike a pose. The portraits I've been taking recently are causing a flurry of excitement and as such, everyone's wanting a piece of the action!

It is Safiya's (right) birthday today. When a student celebrates a birthday in college, it involves lots of cake and lots of Mountain Dew (the unofficial national drink). A class is usually taken over for the occasion and it's quite endearing how excited everyone gets. Interestingly, many Omanis (older ones generally) don't actually know their own birthday and have a default date of the 1st of January. Some are even unsure how old they are. Unbelievable, but true!

Under Safiya's arm is a big box of Galaxy Jewels, the most popular chocolate out here. (You can also Cadburys but the Omanis prefer Galaxy, or Jalaxy as they say!). In Safiya's hand is the latest Nokia powerhouse phone, the N96. If it's one thing Omanis love, it's their mobile phones and you'll seldom see a student with a model over a year old. You will also notice a spanking manicure and pair of shades modeled by Safiya. They probably cost more than I make in a month!

On the left is Fatma, one of the cleverest and nicest students we have. She is really hard-working and has a great attitude to learning. She wants to be a professional chef and so is at college for just a few months to brush up on her English (which is already exemplary anyway) until her course starts after the new year. It'll be a shame to see her go.