I will no doubt be back to my light breezy, and perhaps snarky self tomorrow, but today I have something serious to say. I hope you stay with me on this.
Here in Salalah, many young women are married at a fairly young age, and have a growing family by the time they are their late teens. However, we teachers are seeing a growing trend with Dhofari women. They are getting a college education first. Most of my student's mothers were married at twelve or thirteen, with the onset of menarche. It's easy to get a little judgmental about this, but this has been common for millenia all over the world. You know why so many women are now going on to be literate, educated mothers? Sultan Qaboos.
Today is National Day in Oman. I am honoring the Sultan in today's blog with a thank you. Thank you, your highness, for encouraging women to go to college. Thank you for promoting Omani women within your government. Thank you for making the education of women an acceptable, even a desirable choice. In a world that STILL doesn't value the education of women, you have made it a priority. Not only do you make a college education free, but you give students a stipend to attend. Brilliant. My country honestly doesn't care about the education of it's young people. Young Americans are drowning in debt, even with a public university education. Shameful isn't it?
People outside the Middle East, particularly Westerners who don't understand Islamic countries (too much Fox News and not enough NPR), look at our young ladies dressed in black from head to toe and see oppressed people. Rubbish. They are beautiful. Most of my students are sweet, caring individuals who see themselves as totally free. And they are. When you have a free education, with assistance from the government, you are free to choose the life you want. Yes, most of them will choose to be wives and mothers. They will marry at a mature age, and raise smarter children who are better able to serve this country. May God bless every one of them.
I'm proud to be here, and proud to be part of this process. I love my job every day, and I love this country. I wish the Sultan good health, and many more years as the Omani people's beloved ruler.
Here in Salalah, many young women are married at a fairly young age, and have a growing family by the time they are their late teens. However, we teachers are seeing a growing trend with Dhofari women. They are getting a college education first. Most of my student's mothers were married at twelve or thirteen, with the onset of menarche. It's easy to get a little judgmental about this, but this has been common for millenia all over the world. You know why so many women are now going on to be literate, educated mothers? Sultan Qaboos.
Today is National Day in Oman. I am honoring the Sultan in today's blog with a thank you. Thank you, your highness, for encouraging women to go to college. Thank you for promoting Omani women within your government. Thank you for making the education of women an acceptable, even a desirable choice. In a world that STILL doesn't value the education of women, you have made it a priority. Not only do you make a college education free, but you give students a stipend to attend. Brilliant. My country honestly doesn't care about the education of it's young people. Young Americans are drowning in debt, even with a public university education. Shameful isn't it?
People outside the Middle East, particularly Westerners who don't understand Islamic countries (too much Fox News and not enough NPR), look at our young ladies dressed in black from head to toe and see oppressed people. Rubbish. They are beautiful. Most of my students are sweet, caring individuals who see themselves as totally free. And they are. When you have a free education, with assistance from the government, you are free to choose the life you want. Yes, most of them will choose to be wives and mothers. They will marry at a mature age, and raise smarter children who are better able to serve this country. May God bless every one of them.
I'm proud to be here, and proud to be part of this process. I love my job every day, and I love this country. I wish the Sultan good health, and many more years as the Omani people's beloved ruler.
Tonight's cake is a chocolate one. Nothing fancy..just a two layer chocolate cake. I am going to frost it with a chocolate ganache in the middle and on top, like in the picture (only not as thick cause I don't have that much chocolate on hand).
Their cake
2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups
all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened
cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons
baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons
baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
extract
1 cup boiling water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and
flour two nine inch round pans.
In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa,
baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix
for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter
will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake
tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a
wire rack to cool completely.
Chocolate Ganache
My easy peasy chocolate spread.
Take half a bag of decent quality chocolate bits. Bring 1 cup of heavy cream to a near boil. Pour over the bits and let sit for about 20 minutes. You can use as a glaze, or let it thicken more for a thicker "frosting." Delicious.
My cake. Pardon the slobbery spoon.
I was going to make a two layer cake, but we had a guest who wanted to take one home, and another person who wanted a cake. So I just glazed each layer. But guess what? It looked really good, so we dug in. No regrets.
Love,
Felicia El Aid
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