Nizwa and Al Hoota Cave

For a nice day trip this summer, we drove up to Nizwa to explore the fort, the souk, and Al Hoota Caves.  It was a little over 2 hours to drive, with spectacular mountain scenery, herds of goats, and even camel crossing signs (although I have yet to see any in the area)!   

Nizwa dates back to the 16th and 17th centuries and was once the capital of Oman.  As the largest oasis in the interior, it was the center of trade, art,  and religion.  The fort had been renovated and is a wonderful place to learn the history and culture of Oman.  The maze of narrow corridors, trap doors and towers made it a fun place to explore, too!  Although, I'm looking forward to returning when it's a bit cooler.

Nearby was Al Hoota Cave, which was in a rather nondescript area -- even with the tour book, it was a bit hard to find.  The visitor center had a small museum where you can learn about the geology of Oman -- that was one of the highlights for me, and with all the hands-on exhibits, the kids liked it too.   They especially enjoyed learning about the animals that dwell in the cave, including blind fish!

Visitor Center at Al Hoota Cave

You can see the natural entrance in the middle and the tunnel entrance for pedestrians

Once inside the cave, I was hoping for a reprieve of the hot weather, but no such luck.  At first it felt cool, but I think that was just air-conditioning in the visitor entrance.  It was hot and humid inside, just like it was outside.  But, the stalagmites and stalagtites were impressive and the tour was interesting.  One area was known as "the Lion" because it looked like a reclining lion with a big mane.  And, of course, the big hit in the family was the large pool of water with the blind fish.  

The girls were troupers as was our guest, Andrew, who put up with the fabulous repetitive, copy-cat singing from the back seat, the stops for being car-sick, potty-breaks, and the inevitable push on the seat from little feet in the back seat.  Road trips are the same no matter where you are!

Exploring the Nizwa Fort with Andrew, summer intern @ Embassy

Julia's Missing!

 It was one of Damon's diplomatic "all-nighters"... He left early in the morning and didn't return until 1:00'ish.  I'm sound asleep, of course, when he finally comes home only to be woken up very abruptly when Damon bolts in the room exclaiming, "WHERE'S JULIA??!!!!".  Of course, we then both begin a rather frantic search -- where could she be?  Heaven forbid she walked out of the house somehow??

She's clearly not in her bed.  Or under the bed. Or the closet.  Or the "Go-Fort", or the bathroom.  Or the Hello Kitty tent in the living room.


Next, it's downstairs to examine all her hiding places down there.  Not under the table.  Not in the guest room.  Not in the kitchen.


WHERE IS SHE??!!!!??  Now the panic is starting to set in.   We search again in all of her usual spots and again.  Finally we find her.  Camouflaged in blue, she is sort of tucked in between cushions sound asleep on the couch in the living room.  Phew!  However, it took me hours to get back to sleep THAT night!


Ahhh, Julia.....  She's a stealth child and can creep into any room of the house undetected.  Maybe you saw something out of the corner of your eye whiz by, but usually not even that.  And then you'll find her, usually with a coveted item (candy, ipod, toy ...) in some secret spot.  So without further ado, here's Julia to show you all her favorites in pictures:

You can hide a long time under here -- perfect after sneaking a snack from the fridge...

If you're in a hurry, stash your snacks under the couch in the "white room" -- no one goes in there!

The guest room is also a good place -- the shower is the perfect spot for hiding!

I like to hide under the bed, too...  You can store a lot of toys under there!

If you're really feeling sneaky, this closet is the best!

And the best play to hide when you're trying to play on the iPod... under the covers! Two can easily fit under there!

 

Tourist Time -- Off to the Grand Mosque

Finally -- some tourist time!  We've been here for months, yet haven't explored much of the area.  Well,  I haven't explored.  Damon has had more opportunity showing visitors around for work, visiting the mosque, the Sultan's Dhow, "Turtle Beach" and a variety of other places.  I've been holding down the fort with the girls.  Of course, with the scorching heat, exploring is a bit limited at this time of the year.  But, finally, the moon and the stars aligned, and I had some "kid-free" time to go explore.  Off I went to the Grand Mosque to tour with one of our co-workers that is here just for the summer.

 To beat the heat, we left first thing in the morning, but it was already almost 100F.  And sunny, of course.  It's like Groundhog's Day over here...  hot, humid, and "abundant sunshine" day after day after day.  So far, not too tired of it. 

Construction for the Mosque started in 1995 and took six years to complete.  It was built from 300,000 tons of Indian Sandstone, has two prayer halls, four  minarets (45.5 meters tall), an expansive courtyard, a garden, and can accommodate up to 20,000 worshipers. 

The women's worship area can hold 750 worshipers and is modest in comparison to the main hall.  Sparkling chandeliers dangle from one end of the ceiling to the other and there are ornate stained glass windows above every door.  And, I believe the carpet is ONE PIECE, custom made for the room.

There are additional passageways lining the perimeter of the property.  Each of the alcoves has a unique intricate tiled design.  Each "block" of each wing has a particular style dating back to some ancient tradition.  However within that style, each one is unique. 

  
Then you step into the Main Hall.  Wow!  The chandelier is 14 meters tall and hangs from central dome that rises 50m from the floor.  The carpet is one piece, took four years to make, weighs 21 tons, and is the second largest in the world.  (I wonder where the largest one is??)  There is also a large garden, but not much is blooming this time of the year.  I'm looking forward to going back in the Fall when its cooler and the plants are recovered from the heat!

Chloe's Kindergarten Scrapbook

Free photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Remember when....

We had a rough start to the month of May and it just seemed to spiral downward until the very last day.  It was one of the month's we'll look back and say....

Remember when....
I started working every day and you (Julia) looked at me with teary eyes and told me how you didn't want me to EVER work and you didn't want to EVER go to school and you wanted to stay with my forever and ever and do school at home forever and ever.  Words I may remind her of when she's a teenager!  However, it did make for a rough transition to working.

Remember when ...
We got the call that our "household effects" (aka - stuff from storage) had arrived and were ready to be delivered?  And, in my second week of work, I already had to ask for a day off.  And, Daddy was out of town?  But it worked out fine and everything was delivered in one piece, for the most part.

Remember when...
2 days after our shipment arrived Chloe woke up with a high fever, Julia did the next day, and Daddy was still out of town!!  Daddy left his visitors early to help back at home.  Days passed and still fever.  Finally went to a doctor and STREP!

Remember when...
The medicine didn't work for you (Julia) and we had to go back to the doctor?  We took two steps into the office and you got sick all over the floor?  They did see us right away (not surprisingly), but your fever still wasn't going down. Got some new meds and crossed our fingers that we could get some sleep and some relief.

Remember when...
We were up every night for two weeks trying to keep the fever from getting over 103, which it did on several occasions ... all the way to 105.  And remember how you hated those cold washcloths?  But, loved the ice cream!  And you watched Mary Poppins for the first time (in the middle of the night) and laughed and laughed!

Remember when...
Your fever finally broke and we finally slept through the night.  And, we started to get our stuff unpacked and organized.  We found our photo albums of all our friends and family.  And special stuffed animals, toys, and games we haven't seen for 1 1/2 years!

And all was well again...

In the middle of all of this, there were some brighter moments.  The baby birds outside our door kept growing and growing.  They seemed as interested in us as we were of them and would watch us come in and out and in and out. 

At one point, during a fever free moment, Julia decided to take her book out and read to the baby birds.  I think they liked it.  Not sure if Mommy Bird liked it much, though.

Another celebration was the arrival of our car!  Yeah! A dead battery, but other than that, all was well

And finally, we got to attend the Kindergarten Poetry Performance and Mother's Day celebration. All the students had to share a few poems in front of all of the parents -- a big task for young kids!  But, they all did great, especially Chloe, of course.

With summer just around the corner at least we got all this illness out of the way (right?) and will be able to enjoy weeks of vacation!

A day that just wasn't meant to be

So, it started off fine, or relatively fine.  I left for my 2nd day of work, which was a bit traumatic for little Julia, but I was able to leave without too much fuss.

And then my desk phone rang...

It was Sarah, the other Sarah at the Embassy, not me.  My housekeeper had called the Embassy switchboard (which was the only number I knew, because I didn't know my desk phone yet), and the operator transferred her to Omani Sarah and not to me.  Turned out Julia had locked herself in the bathroom. 

From what I can figure out, Julia had to use the potty, Connie helped, they left, but Julia turned around, shut the door, and locked it.  She wanted to wash her hands "BY MYSELF".  If you've lived with a willful 3 year old, you know exactly what I mean.  Unfortunately, small washed and wet hands can't unlock doors. 

Omani doors are SOLID.  There's no pin hole you can stick with a paperclip to unclock the bathroom door.  It does have a grooved segment that you can conceivably use to unlock with the right equipment, however, not with the equipment easily available (coins and Polly Pockets).

Julia started getting upset and even told Connie to call the police and fireman and that's when I got a call.  So, 10 minutes before I was supposed to be in a security clearance meeting, I rushed to my car and drove home.  Meanwhile, my co-worker was on the phone calling facilities people to meet me at the house and help unlock this door.

I ran around looking for the screwdriver, which, of course, was not where it was supposed to be.  Found it, and with a bit of effort, was able to unlock the door.

Julia was on the other side, naked and wet... hmmm.... and upset.  I swaddled her in her towel and talked to her on the couch, and with tears in her eyes, she told me she had felt scared and alone and she won't ever do that again.  And then she stopped.          Tilted her head.          And said.... "But, I washed my hair, Mommy!"

And that's Julia.........

But, it didn't end there.  My co-worker left our office earlier than I did since I had to make up the time for tending to the emergency.  Hmmm... close the door, or shut the door??  I think I should probably shut it.  And I did.  And it locked.  And I didn't have a key.

But, at least I NOW knew who to go to for key issues.  So, with a smile on my face, I returned to that office with another key problem.  No, they did not have the key.  No, the CLO office is not usually closed.  But, he could get the key.  And, since no one was stuck on the other side, he could take his time.

And then I got home.

And I couldn't open the door.

Yes, I had the key, but it just wasn't working.  Perhaps the constant heat had expanded the wood and made the dead bolt just slightly off.  I pulled and pulled and twisted and turned, but it just wouldn't open.  Fortunately, with the ring of the bell, our housekeeper was at the door and let me in.

I didn't want to deal with keys for the rest of the day....

A world of change...

Of course, the big headline during this period was the death of Osama Bin Laden.  We all waited to see what the reaction was going to be in this region of the world, however that was hard to gauge.  While there was much celebrating in the States, there really wasn’t any reaction at all over here.   In the local newspaper, people were interviewed on what the death of Osama did for terrorism and the overwhelming opinion of the “man on the street” was “not much”.  Terrorism will still be around and someone will rise to take his place, they said.   I’m sure this topic will dominate politics for quite some time, be here in Oman, people seem to be happy to go on just as they were.

Meanwhile, back in the world of the Goforth’s, our housekeeper/nanny arrived and we are enjoying the extra help.  However, the girls are not so convinced that the change is good – I think they prefer Mommy help them with EVERYTHING and not really going for the substitute.  We have had frequent discussions about how the arrangement helps mom and gives me more time to play instead of doing chores.  Slowly, but surely I think they are getting it.

Our Housekeeper/Nanny has her own little apartment behind the house and helps us with everything.  She keeps the house tidier than I could ever imagine! (And, keeps the ants at bay)  Dishes, laundry, ironing – everything.   And she watches the girls when I’m out.  She’s very sweet, patient, and nurturing and has worked for many other Embassy families.   We are very happy to have her here!  

And the other big change was Mom started working.  Also, not a popular change with the kids.  In fact when I reminded Chloe that I would not be home when she got off the bus, but I’d be home very soon after, she said: “WHAT?  I’m at school aaaalll day and this is what I get?”  Meanwhile, Julia was hanging on my neck.  And, did I mention it was Mother’s Day?   It was a bit rough.  That was day 1.  Day 2 deserves it’s own little blog… 

My job at the Embassy is the Community Liaison Officer, also known as the CLO.  And because the creative juices are running low, here’s the description directly from the web: “The CLO is among the first points of contact for newly assigned or arriving employees and family members, and provides pre-arrival information, orientation, and assistance with settling in at post.  CLOs identify the needs of their community and respond with effective programming, information, resources, and referrals. They serve as advocates for employees and family members, advise post management on quality of life issues, and recommend solutions and family-friendly post policies.”  http://www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/c1964.htm Despite the rough transition for the girls, I am enjoying the job, learning about the Embassy and having a little change!

Meanwhile, Damon has had non-stop visitors it seems and has been constantly on the go.  He’s a busy guy, but looking pretty sharp in those suits every day!

It's been heating up lately, so inside activities are our main form of entertainment (not hard for our creative ladies!)   So, it was time to finally finish the "Go-Fort", our "clubhouse" made from the air-shipment boxes.  (Thank you Marcy for that name!)  The boxes have our name written all over, but I apparently cut the door just so it perfectly separated the "H" from our name leaving "GOFORT" on one side and the lonely "H" on the door.  So, now it is the GOFORT.  The girls love to play in there, bring ALL the pillows, blankets and stuffed animals, too.  And, Chloe has declared it her reading nook and will frequently read int here, sometimes reading stories to her sister.  (Popular choice with Mom.)   

 Temperatures are now hovering around 110 F with temperatures at 100 F by 8:00 AM.  I haven't paid attention to the evening temperatures (I'm not driving around in my car), but as soon as the sun goes down, everyone starts coming out.  I frequently take the kids to the American Club which has a pool and a small restaurant, too.  Very casual and a perfect place to take kids when they've been cooped up inside too long!