Peacocks, Antelopes, Ants ... Oh, My!

My week felt like a game of Whac-A-Mole with the ants.  We've been battling this issue since our arrival and despite having everything in either ziploc bags or plastic containers or in the fridge, they still come out on a daily basis.  And, it just seems to be getting worse.   It really bugs me when I find them in the utensil drawer.  They come out of electric sockets, drains, tiny holes in the caulking, gaps in the tiles, and wherever they can squeeze through their tiny bodies.  I could write an entire blog about the ants, but I'll spare you.  It's annoying, but on the scale of problems, miniscule.

Easter Morning

Easter arrived, but in the middle of the Omani work-week.  So, no day off for Dad.  The girls and I enjoyed a church service (and it was almost 100 F when we left at 9:30 AM!), a relaxing day at home and an Easter Egg hunt at the Embassy, with a special guest appearance by the Easter Bunny!  That was fun and Julia particularly enjoyed that.

Got my Easter Basket!

Meanwhile, Damon was busy  preparing for a visit from Senator McCain.  Meetings, evening events, and VIP tours!

On one outing, Damon went on the Sultan's Dhow, not at all like the dhow boat we went on with the girls.  It had private quarters below deck that Damon describe as stepping into a castle -- very luxurious accommodations, apparently.  No pictures allowed down there, not surprisingly.

The Royal Dhow

Next it was off to the residence of  a close friend to the Sultan.  And what a residence it was!  Ocean views, dozens of peacocks on all sides of the walkway, and antelope leaping over hedges.  It made me think of Hearst Castle!

Damon did not have the opportunity to meet the Sultan on any of the visits, although he wasn't expecting that.  While the Ambassador and the the Senator were meeting with the upper ranking officials, Damon and the rest of the entourage we're being entertained elsewhere.  He enjoyed a traditional Omani lunch served underneath a tent (inside an air-conditioned room).  A great experience and delicious, too!

 And to wrap up our week, I have to admit, I watched the Royal Wedding.  During the ceremony, I enjoyed royal treatment from Julia who made sure I had an up-do for the big event!

Anatomy of an Omani House

The pictures I’ve taken just don’t do it any justice, but I will share what I have and do my best to describe.  The houses are made of solid concrete, I’m assuming to keep it insulated during the heat.  And then either painted or covered in marble.  The majority of the floors are marble, with the rest tile.  All the windows and doorways have a pointed arch in the Islamic/Arabic style.  The ceilings are very high with crown molding in every room.  It’s spacious (2600 sq f?), open, and sunny – we’re enjoying it!  However, housing varies greatly from post to post, so we’re appreciating what we have while we’re here. 

Our kitchen ... pizza in the oven, of course!

This housing area is a group of 6 duplex homes and all the families are from the Embassy.  We have a private patio in the front with a little garden and another patio in the back.  The patio is also marble, except for the brick driveway.  The downstairs has a formal sitting room, a guest room (with its own bathroom), a dinning room, the kitchen, and another bathroom.  The sitting room has beautiful WHITE couches and we call that the grown-up room, for obvious reasons. 

The "White Room"

Climbing up the stairs (on more marble) to the second floor takes 27 steps.  The stairwell provides fabulous acoustics, especially for little stomping feet in fancy shoes.  I am thankful that the tap shoes are in the last shipment and haven't arrived yet.  The second floor has the master bedroom, two bedrooms for the girls, a living room, an office nook, and another bathroom.   I should also mention that each bedroom has a ceiling fan.  Yes, the master bedroom has one directly above the bed.  No, I have not jumped on the bed.  I think I learned my lesson ....

View of the living room

The Omani bathrooms are a bit different then their American counterparts.  To begin with, every bathroom has a floor drain with a removable lid.  Makes it easy if there's an unintentional overflow and for mopping up.  You just hose down the floor and the water goes down the drain.  In addition, each toilet has a sprayer -- the kind that you see by the kitchen sink, just longer.  A toilet paper alternative??  Where was this gizmo during toilet training??!!  Oh, how I could have used you daily!  What I find interesting, is that you will see the sprayer EVERYWHERE.  Restaurant bathrooms, public restrooms at the shopping mall, even in the dhow boat we went on had the sprayer in the bathroom.  Apparently it's a must have item.

toilet essentials

Climbing up another 27 steps takes you to the third floor with another room (will be the shared dad's office/mom's project room) with yet another bathroom and the laundry room.  There is also roof access to another patio.  Yes, sometimes I feel like all I'm doing all day is climbing stairs.  The first week here, I have to admit, my legs were sore.  And, that's the long-awaited tour of our house!

Dining Room/Art Studio

 

Girls' Room -- don't have to worry about them hitting the ceiling fan here!

News Flash - Chloe Eats Thai Food!

Oh, I reeeaaaallly hope we're turning a corner with this.  We went to a Thai food restaurant and Chloe ate EVERYTHING.  Those of you who have sat down at dinner with Chloe understand this breakthrough.  And the rest of the week she continued to try new foods -- maybe she was finally tired of butter noodles and breaded chicken.  I sure was!  And, that's the biggest news flash from our family, which may explain why I haven't posted much!

The last two weeks have been your normal day-to-day events:  trying to get everyone out the door at the right time with the right stuff.  Which, as you read earlier, can get tricky.  And, then its the evening routine of trying to get everyone to bed at the right time with the right stuff (book, music, stuffed animal).  Which again, can get kind of tricky.  In between it's errands, organizing, playing, cleaning-up, and making meals.  It's the same-old-same-old, just a different country!

Julia with her buddy at the Souk

I did get out for a bit to visit the Souk (the traditional Arab market).  I tagged along with some other Embassy ladies and was personally introduced to some of the shopkeepers, which was fun.  The Souk was a maze of crowded, narrow alley ways with little shops packed together.  The shopkeepers waved their goods in front of you as you passed, "Pashmina, Madame??"  "Real Omani Silver, Madame."  "Incense, Frankincense, Madame??"  I found this on YouTube, which gives you a taste of what it was like:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl1ZTd19Zyo  (hope jkala doesn't mind...)  At the end, it scans to a giant yacht which belongs to His Royal Highness.  That's the boat the Chloe thought we should go on the day of the dhow cruise.  Yes, Chloe has the best of taste!   Julia went with me on the Souk trip and was a real trooper.   One of the shopkeepers dressed them up in jingly skirts and beaded head-wares that the little girls LOVED, of course.  And, gave mom more time to pick out the right items.  They know what they're doing.... :)

I also substituted at Chloe's school for several days, which I enjoyed a lot.  I was substituting for an instructional assistant and rotated through many different classrooms.  At one point, I ended up in Chloe's classroom when they needed extra coverage there.  I enjoyed that a lot seeing her class "in action".  There's a lot of energy in Kindergarten, especially before a 4-day weekend!  The kids called me "Ms. Sarah" and Chloe called me "Ms. Mama".   I've met quite a few of the Embassy kids already, so there was always a student I knew in each class.  But, perhaps the best part of substituting is that when the bell rang, I got to leave with the students!  Ha!  No prep work, no correcting to take home, no meetings to attend, I was DONE!   During the days I substituted, Julia stayed with her new buddy, one of our neighbors.   They're just 2 months apart and Julia was in HEAVEN, especially since most of our toys are still en route.  So, it was a win-win for everyone!

 

 

Chloe swinging with Rosie (her class "pet") at the Club

Other than that, we've been going to the "American Club" on Wednesday's, which is the American Friday.  The work week is Saturday - Wednesday, with the weekend on Thursday and Friday.  That's taken a bit to get used.  I always know it's the weekend, but I have to calculate in my head what day that actually means ("It feels like our Saturday, so that means it must be ..(brain gears turning).... Thursday").  I'm getting used to it .... sort of.  The Club is fun because its relaxed and you know everyone (It's like Norm walking into the bar in Cheers) and there's a small playground.  So, the kids can play and the adults can actually have a conversation (which for me, is few and far between on some days).  Oh, and I didn't mention, it's one of the places you can actually buy a beer!  Another win-win for everyone!

A day in the life...

I felt like I was living a Seinfeld episode this day and it was worthy of remembering to laugh at later.  

Damon left for work and around 8:30 I realize that he has both sets of keys.  Without the keys, I can't get out of the driveway or out of the compound because I don't have the gate clicker.  Damon is in meetings and can't drive back home to give me the key.  Meanwhile, the air shipment is scheduled to arrive and if it does, I can't open the compound gate.  And if I can't open the gate, I can't drive to my interview!  I call to get the air shipment delivery deferred until the afternoon.  I find a key that operates our driveway gate and can at least get the car out from our own driveway.  But, I'm still stuck behind the main gate.  I happen to see one of the stay-at-home neighbors out and ask her to open the main gate.  I get all the kids in the car (and Damon's dry cleaning) and drive to the Embassy, with a detour to the dry cleaners. And several other detours since it was my first time driving to the Embassy by myself and I took a wrong turn here and there.  Pick up my keys, drop off the kids with one of Chloe's school friends (from the Embassy) and drive to the shopping center because I'm in desperate need of anti-frizz hair stuff before my interview.  While I'm there I get a call that in fact the movers are on their way NOW to deliver our air shipment.  Race back home, start the hair project, make-up and what not to get ready for the interview.  Movers call, but they go to the wrong housing area.  Finally get that straightened out, they deliver the boxes, and then I have a few minutes to finish getting ready before a friend drops by with her housekeeper and kids for the rest of the day.  (It was her packing out day).  So her housekeeper (who is now OUR housekeeper) comes over to watch all the kids while my friend is with the packers and I'm at the interview.  MEANWHILE, because of the movers coming to my house, I don't have time to pick up the girls.   The friend’s mom said she will feed my kids and drop them off by 1:00.  I didn’t get out of the house until 1:30 which is cutting it close, but still, plenty of time in case I made more detours.  Made all the right turns, but on my final leg to the Embassy, the traffic comes to a complete stop!  Apparently there is a girls’ school on the same road and it is dismissal time.  People were stopping, parking all over, driving the wrong way and it was a mess.  Fortunately, I got through in not much time and made it to the Embassy with about 10 minutes to spare, except I didn't know where to go once I was IN the Embassy.  The marine checking people in didn't know, but someone brought me to the HR office, which was where I thought it was.  Nope.  Someone else came in to take me to the right place and within a few minutes I was sitting in a room with a panel of 6 people ready to ask me questions.  After the interview, the current CLO said she hoped I didn't feel too uncomfortable that sometimes people are intimidated by having a large panel of people interviewing you.  In my head I was thinking, "It's an air-conditioned room with nice cool water, I get to sit uninterrupted for 30 minutes and have an adult conversation -- it's the most relaxing part of my day!"

And, yes… I got the job! 

Spring Fling!

Chloe was on Spring Break this week so we had more time to go explore the area.   And, in preparation for substituting and an interview this last week, I rented a car for the month!  Julia took a picture of me holding my new set of keys.  Yeah!  Every other intersection is a round-about, so driving has been interesting, but not too bad.  Just glad to have a little more flexibility in getting places! 

Our first family outing this week was a lunch by the beach.  It reminded me a little of Pismo Beach with looooong flat beaches.  There were many hotels and restaurants by the beaches, so we enjoyed our lunch beachside then went for a little walk.  There was practically no “surf” so it’s perfect for little ones wading in the water and checking out shells and sand crabs without Mom getting so nervous that a big wave will come up and knock them over!  And, it’s pretty shallow until you get far out, so the water felt warm close to shore.  The girls had a great time and wanted to go back right away!

Not  surprisingly, our next outing of the week was to the beach!  We went with friends and they took us to another beach at the Oman Dive Center.  It took us about 30 minutes or so to drive and we had to go up and down the steep mountains (paved of course) and it was a very pretty drive.  The mountains were so interesting to look at and the views were incredible, too!  Each roundabout had some statue or something in the center and we enjoyed seeing some new ones.  One we named “Alladin’s Lamp”.  We spent a good part of the day at the beach counting hermit crabs, swimming in the water, digging in the sand and swimming in the pool, too.  It’s definitely a place we’ll go back to, next time with Daddy!

 Monday was a busy day – we got our air shipment before lunch and I had a job interview in the afternoon.  More about that day in another post, but glad to report I got the job!  So, we’re excited about that!  Wednesday we went to the local Children’s Museum, which was like a mini Exploratorium.  They had some cool experiments and hands-on activities that the kids enjoyed (moms, too!).  Everything was in Arabic and English, so it was easy to understand. 

Thursday we went on a boat excursion organized by the Embassy.  We went along with many other Embassy folks and families on a traditional Arabic boat called a Dhow.  If you look at this site: http://www.omanet.om/english/culture/boats.asp?cat=culthttp://www.omanet.om/english/culture/boats.asp?cat=cultv , the one we went on looked like “Al Boum”.   The trip was relaxing and picturesque.  We sailed for a little over an hour to a protected cove and anchored there for some time to snorkel and swim.  We didn’t have snorkel gear, but we weren’t planning on doing much more than floating near the boat.  So we had ample supplies of floating devices for the kids.  Everyone was having fun until someone got stung by a little jellyfish.  Then, most of the kids were more interested in eating their lunches than going back in the water!   It was a great day and a great weekend.  We’re looking forward to exploring more!