1. Find an occasion that requires an outfit.  When you think of the Middle East, what comes to mind for most Americans are images of either war-ravished waste-lands or wealthy, fossil fuel tycoons. Culture, in the sense of visual and performing arts are usually assumed to not have much of a place in the desert. And yet Oman’s sultan, a fan of classical music himself, ordered the building of an opera house in 2001. Fletch and I knew nothing about this, but when Stefan and Tanja asked us if we wanted to go to the opera, I was all too excited