What we don't have...

This title sounds negative, I realize.  I don't intend it that way at all.  Americans are very spoiled and coming here, I see just how much I, we, can live without.  We can live without them, but I admit, some things I do hope to get soon or in the future.

1.  Dishwasher-  I'll admit that this is the hardest one for me.  Doing dishes 3-4 times a day can get old, fast.  It's hot here as well, even with AC (but not in the kitchen itself), so things dry out fast so you can't let dirty dishes sit long unless you want more work chiseling off food.  One side of our sink and the drying rack constantly inhabit some dish despite my best efforts.  But, it does keep me busy and makes me reconsider how many dishes I really need at each meal.

2.  Dryer-  With 80-100 degree weather, and fairly dry air, who needs a dryer to dry clothes?  All our clothes hang on lines inside the laundry room.  We keep the door shut and the windows cracked and our clothes are dry within a few hours, unless it's something like a towel or sheets.  Laundry gets done more often here too, since we sweat and get dusty much easier than back home.

3.  Garage-  Garages aren't very common here, actually.  Car ports are in some homes, but mostly, people park out on the sidewalk (sidewalks are kinda like driveways here).   No garage = no excessive material items stored away.  That is a good thing.

4.  Furnace-  I think that is self explanatory.

5.  Bathtub-  Many homes have bathtubs.  Our apartment, unfortunately, doesn't.  I'm not sure why the school felt that would be a good idea since we have a two year old who gets dirty, and hey, kids like baths, but they didn't consider that, I guess.  Oh well, we are lucky to have a child who likes showering with us and will sit happily at our feet pouring water in and out of cups and having her toy animals "swim" in them.

6.  Storage-  No closets.  None.  We have one spot by the kitchen that is like a coat closet and all our suitcases and such go there, but the rooms have no closets.  Wardrobes are how it's done here.  Our bathrooms also have no built-in cabinets or storage, so all of our toiletries currently reside in the wardrobes.  We hope to find some small, narrow shelf units to put in our bathrooms.

7.  Small appliances-  Not that we can't buy them here, they just weren't provided and so we are slowly getting items as we can afford them.  We were provided with a microwave, but we had to buy a toaster oven, and our list of wants still includes a blender/food processor, mixer, and coffee maker.

8.  Decor-  Our house is pretty sterile right now, as my dear friend Kirstin commented as I gave her a tour of our place via Skype.  Yes it is, and that is because although it's furnished, the school doesn't provide decor.  We didn't bring any of that with us either, so we are starting from scratch.  In reality, it's just stuff to look at and it's not really necessary.  But, we are hoping to find fun, meaningful pieces through out overseas adventures and slowly make our home a place of treasures.

Well, I think that's about it.  Again, I don't share this as a negative, but as an interesting reflection on how much "schtuff" (as Kristina Coulter would say) we tend to have in America, and how many conveniences we have there as well that most of the world lives without.  It's offered us a new perspective and appreciation for our home back in the states and for how we want to have our "home" here abroad.

What the US news might not have shared...

Oman pays bail for hikers

(Click yellow for link to story)

It's exciting to know that the country we are living in aided in the "hikers" release and posted bail for all three.  I know all of them stayed with the American Ambassador in his home here in Oman before returning to the United States.  It will be an honor going to the Ambassador's residence tomorrow for their annual TAISM reception to honor the school and the start of a new school year.

I'm not sure why Sarah said she wasn't sure why they were released now in the video.  Perhaps they hadn't been fully informed until after that press conference.

Overall, we are relieved those hikers have returned home.  I can't imagine their experiences the last two years.  I'm sure they struggled with so much hopelessness.  It is so sad that much of the Middle East still operates the way it does.  I hope places like Iran and Iraq realize there is no future for them with their current standards and ways of acting.  Perhaps someday, other countries will move forward and progress in the ways the UAE and Oman have done.  But as they say here, "Insha'allah" which means, "God willing". 

It's been a week!

This past week has flown by.  I had no idea it had been almost a week since my last post with our new car pictures.  School is in full swing and Colin is still enjoying his job!  I am still enjoying being a stay-at-home mom and full-time wife.  My day-to-day schedule involves playing and chores.  Aberly has started independent playing much more, so it feels great to be able to clean the toilets, sweep, or vacuum without her needing attention.  It also makes her nap time more open for me to relax as well, instead of run around cleaning for two hours.  After Aberly's nap, we play here until about 3:20.  That's when we take a walk to school so she can play on the equipment and then we "find daddy" in his classroom and walk home with him at 4:00. 

Speaking of playing, we are part of a rotating playgroup of five kids.  Maybe I've mentioned this before.  We host playgroup at our house once a week (Saturdays) and then the rest of the days go between the other four houses.  I usually go to it a couple other days besides the one we host.  Playgroup can be draining to do every morning, and it's nice to use one or two mornings to run errands if needed.  It's been a bit strange to adjust to since I'm the only stay-at-home mom.  The rest of the women there are the nannies.  They are all very kind, wonderful women, but they are also all Philipino and go back and forth between speaking in English and their language at times.  They also call me "madam" which is the common name to call your lady boss, but since I'm not their boss, I hate to think they call me that thinking I'm still above them.  I imagine with time it will be easier and more comfortable, and maybe they'll all call me Kelsey eventually. 

 It was a rough week since we had acquired Aberly's cold and were both feeling under the weather.  Colin and I were both feeling grumpy and short-fused from being sick, so Aberly about drove us batty.  By Wednesday, we were generally in the clear and got to enjoy the weekend after losing the one before it to a sick child.  Thursday we got to go over to some friend's home for a BBQ with other TAISM staff.  Aberly played all night with the kids there so we felt the joy of freedom.  Friday was awesome as we joined some of our neighbors/TAISM coworkers at a beach about an hour away.  It was a gorgeous drive there; through the rocky passes, through villages with wandering goats and donkeys, past green farms in the desert.  The beach was awesome and the water even better.  Aberly played all morning in the sand with her toys and splashed in the water.  Colin and I enjoyed swimming out past the waves, watching fish dart around us.  The rocks around the beach were amazing too.  Many of them threaded with crystal.

Here are some pictures from that trip.

To cap off the great day at the beach, one of the pre-school teachers from the school took Aberly for the evening to play so Colin and I could get out for a date night.  We had hoped to go to a recommended Indian restaurant, but when we got there, we discovered it didn't open until 7:00, and being that we told Liz we'd be home by 7:30, that wasn't going to work.  There was another restaurant downstairs called Left Coast, so we had tapas and drinks there instead.  Not the same cuisine by any means, but a great view and cool restaurant.  Aberly did fantastic with Liz and her husband and they encouraged us to do a date night weekly just so they could have Aberly.  Really?  Seriously?  We'll try to work that in.

New car pictures!

 Al Farooq Automotive where we bought our car.

  First "adventure" in our car.  We headed to the beach one evening to dip our toes in the water.

Aberly wanted to drive after we got home.  Shut the door mom!

New car and a sicky

This weekend didn't quite go as planned.  We got our new car which was awesome.  It was another process in itself just to get home with it!

We all went in on Wednesday evening at 6:00 (they are open till 9:00 pm, crazy, I know) and I think Colin finally came home with it at 8:00.  Aberly and I went home in the meantime to get her ready for bed.  Basically, we had to wait for confirmation and check copies via fax from the finance company that the car would be paid for which took awhile.  Colin also had to post date and pre-sign 48 checks for our 4-year loan.  Instead of doing a electronic withdrawal, the finance company holds a check for each monthly payment on your loan and cashes it the month it's due.  Seems cumbersome, but that's how they do it.  And in the middle of being there, their evening prayer time came so they all stopped working, put down their prayer mats and did their ritual prayers.  It was actually pretty neat to see.

Okay, so technically, that part of our weekend went as planned.  After that, it didn't.  We spent the weekend pretty much inside.  Aberly picked up a bug somewhere and woke up sick on Saturday with a very mucousy and barky cough.  We think it may have been croup, but since we didn't go to the doctor, we are going off an internet diagnosis.  Poor thing did not feel good and didn't sleep well due to the coughing.  Neither did we.  We spent a lot of time watching Elmo videos online and reading books.  She really wanted to play but any minor bump or frustration lead to a meltdown.  Luckily, she was on the upswing on Friday evening and we got to do a quick trip down to the beach to run in the water, which she really enjoyed.

Luckily, she is on the upswing now.  She is still coughing but clearly feels good again.  Unluckily, Colin and I have picked up her bug.  Colin started this morning coughing and is feel achy tonight.  I started coughing this afternoon so I imagine I'll wake up feeling sick.  Lovely.

Grocery store adventures

Going to the grocery store here in Oman takes patience, and a good hour or so.  LuLu's is a busy and big place.  Even if it's not busy, it's still big and I have yet to leave the store in less than an hour.  Sometimes, when it's busy, you literally spend 20 minutes of that trip just standing in line to checkout.  Imagine being at Costco when every lane is open but backed up 6 deep with FULL carts.

Luckily today, it was quite and I didn't wait in line that long.  The other benefit of it being quiet was that I could take my time, take pictures, and check out the seafood section better.  I decided to actually buy two whole fish and have them cleaned there while I shopped.  I thought I asked them to fillet them too, but the language barried may have come in because I definitely had to do that at home.  Not a skill I have.  Anyways, the fish were fresh, local, and cheap.  I got two white fish for about $3.  Here is a picture of just half of the fish display. 

While they prepared my fish, I perused the aisles slowly and took pictures of a few things I thought would be fun to share.

You don't realize how many brands you recognize simply by logo until you live abroad.   On the street, in the stores, where ever!  I remember the first week living here, we were driving around and I saw two different ad signs for Subway.  Not one word on the sign, even the name, was in English, but we both new right away it was Subway.  The store is the same way.  I can recognize lots of brands just by the logo.  Many items in the store have one side in Arabic and one side in English so you can confirm the information you want before buying it, any many items have cooking instructions in 5 or more languages.  The couscous I bought the other day had 15, I swear. 

If you are in the mood for beans, you can find more dried beans in Lulu's than you'll ever need.  There are so many beans that I don't even recognize their name.  It's the same with different types of flours.   I wouldn't even know where to start cooking all of them.

 

Lastly, I just have to show a picture of the amazing roasted chickens you can get at the "deli" in LuLu's.  A whole spicy chicken is about $3.50 and a Tandoori quarter is about $2, and oh my goodness, they are so good.  Sorry Costco, you got nothing on these guys.  They also have fried chicken, Indian Food, Arabic food, and Asian food.  I haven't tried anything else yet, but I'm sure it will happen sometime soon. 

A few fun photos and stuff to share

Aberly's first serious "victim" was our lamp.  I went to the bathroom and heard a big crash and glass breaking.  What the heck???  We don't have anything glass she could reach right now.  I ran out and had a poor, scared out of her whits Aberly running towards me (thank God she didn't step on any glass doing that since she was bare foot!).  I'm not sure what she did, but down it came.  Hopefully the school won't ask us to pay for it...

Aberly wanted to put on her hat the other day.  It was a good choice because it matched her dress perfectly.  I was so lucky to catch this shot of her.  So sweet.

 Having a snack after playing at the park and the pool, hence the wet hair.  As you can tell by the box, this is a middle eastern brand of juice.  There are great local brands here that have wonderful food items.  It's not hard getting what you need.  You can also see she has Goldfish in her bowl.  We are lucky that there are many American brands to be found here for some familiar items and treats.  They do cost more, so we limit what we buy.

 My new phone.  Although you can get plans here, most people just buy a phone, a SIM card, and do prepaid cards.  It's so easy!  I literally got all this done in 10 minutes and for so much cheaper.  The phone cost 40 Rials, the SIM card was 2 Rials, and the phone card was 5 Rials.  My total US was $120.  Awesome.

 Aberly playing with some new friends.  We have a rotating playgroup each weekday and I host the first day of the week. 

A few questions to answer:


1.  How much is gas here?  Cheap!  I'm not sure exactly how to price it in gallons since you pay by the liter here, but I was on E the other day short and short on cash, so I paid 3 Rials (almost $8) and got just over half a tank.  At home, our Camry's half tank would be about 8 gallons, so a buck a gallon? 

2.  What is the work schedule here?  It depends.  Many businesses run like America, 8am-5pm, or big stores may run 8am-9pm, but many small and large businesses are open 8am-2pm and then 4pm-8pm.  The break is for rest and prayer.  It's weird to go to a store in the middle of the day and have it closed.  And they aren't super punctual either.  When we went back to buy our car, we got there at 4:15 and they didn't open their doors till 4:40.  The night is very busy as well as it's cooler out and people do their business.  After 7pm, the roads get busy and restaurants are packed.  When we go out for dinner at 5:30, the restaurants are practically empty.

What do you want to know?

I would LOVE to continue this blog with answers to your questions!  I know there are probably lots of things you all are curious about and I would love to know what you'd like me to write about. 

Please email me your questions at kelsey.price23@gmail.com and I'll start compiling a list to respond to in small chunks.

Hope to hear from you!

Car!

Buying a car in Oman takes patience and time.  And more patience and time. 

Our adventure started last week as we checked out a few different used car lots to look for a mid-sized, 4WD, SUV.  No one had anything in our price range (4000-6000 rials so we could afford the down payment and monthly payments) or they were already sold (but still sitting on the lot, frustrating!).   Finally, yesterday, we went to a small lot nearby and found a 2010 Nissan XTrail with 72,000 KM.  They guy gave us to the keys to look inside.  Over here, people don't test drive cars.  Not sure why, you just don't really.  So, we looked at the interior, and said, okay, perfect, what we want, so what do we do now? 

Well, when you buy a car here you have to have a lot of stuff.  Residence card, passport/visa, bank statement, bank checks, letter from your school, 20% down for financing, insurance premium paid up front for the year.... bleah bleah bleah.  The hardest part is that they want you to have three months history from your bank statement.  Well, as new teachers who just got their bank account opened a few days ago (we're all in the same boat), we don't!  And we need a car now because paying three months on a rental is spendy in the long run. 

LUCKILY, the school works with a specific finance agent/business who can bypass some of these things (three month bank history) and get you a loan through them.  He also was kind enough to meet us at the dealership to help buy the car and get the necessary copies of our documents. 

Prior to that meeting, Colin had to race to the bank to open a checking account and order checks that we could give the dealer on Monday when they were ready.  We had already been there that morning to deposit our cash from Colin's first paycheck and shipping reimbursement, and get money wired back home.  Needless to say, it was a stressful and busy day.  Neither of us would like to do that again anytime soon.

No actual picture of our car yet, but here is a picture from online.  Ours will be white.

We are excited to upgrade from our Hyundai Accent rental car for sure :-)

Water and other house utility stuff

Water is precious here.  There is barely any rainfall and the rest of the water is ocean water, so desalination plants work hard to provide water for the region.  The school pays for our housing water bill, and I don't want to see it, I'm sure water isn't cheap here.

When it comes to drinking water, everyone drinks bottled water, and water coolers abound in Oman.  In fact, we have one in our house, everyone does.  Whenever I used to think of water coolers, I thought about business offices having them, and the jokes about people hanging out at the water cooler.  Now, this is my life.

Water jugs are delivered once a week.  Water delivery trucks come around just like a garbage trucks.  You set your empty water jugs outside your door with either exact change (.65 rials or $1.10 US) or water tickets you buy ahead in books tucked in the top of the jug.  You come home to new bottles to tuck away in your supply.  We came to our house with two full jugs and two empties.  After drinking lots of water, I'm sure our water guys were surprised to find four jugs waiting to be exchanged.  Here are our three backup waiting nicely in our closet.  Why is the closet all tiled, you ask?  It's normally the laundry room but our machine was attached in the other space off the kitchen.  Who knows.

Other fun house stuff:

There are floor drains in all kitchen and bathrooms.  If you look under them, water flows freely underneath between pipes.  It's a bit weird because every once in awhile, like if we do a large load of laundry, water will seep out of our kitchen drain a bit.  And sometimes, you'll be in the kitchen and hear water trickling and you'll think, "crap, the water cooler is dripping" or "I left the faucet on", only to realize it's water trickling through under the drain.

 One of our three AC units.  They run off and on all day.  We have lovely remote controls to them (see next picture) that can adjust all kinds of stuff.  I haven't figured much of that out since I don't have a manual, but I do know how to turn them on and off, change the temp, change the fan speed, and change the fan angle.  That's enough.

 The usual set of switches in each room by the door.  They are located higher than in the states, so we sometimes fumble to find them without looking.  Typically, one or two of the switches don't do anything.  Where they are attached to, no clue.  The rest control lights and the fan.  The round knob adjusts the ceiling fan speed, the big switch is the ultimate power switch for the AC (or the hot water in the bathrooms), and the remote is for the AC.

The power outlets look like this.  They also have switches so you can turn off power to the outlet when you aren't using it.  Handy.

Mental notes

I keep having all kinds of things I think about blogging about each day.  They tend to occur to me at inopportune times, like when I am driving, or when I'm at the school watching Aberly play on the jungle gym.  Always at times when I don't have the computer in front of me.  So, here is my best attempt to blog about these things I've tried to keep as mental notes.  We'll see how much I can remember.

There are two "English" radio stations here in Oman.  95.9 High and 104.8 Merge.  They are both DJ'd by random British or Aussie folks trying to be cool and hip.  Not so much.  The music is also way random blends of music.  They'll announce the next song up is by some current singer or band, but then it's rarely one of their popular songs.  You'll be like, "I've never heard this song ever".  When they do play music I know, it's usually older stuff.  It's amusing.  The other weird thing is that the music isn't really censored.  I don't know if it's because they don't know the words or they just don't care, but you hear some language and verbiage that you wouldn't hear in the states.

On the topic of driving, I forgot to mention before how the lights work here.  No worries, red, yellow, and green, but there are some extra quirks which I actually quite like.  When you are waiting at a red light, you know when it will turn green because the yellow light comes on for a few seconds with the red light.  It's the "get ready" indication.  And, when the light is going to change to red, the green lights start flashing as a "slow down" indication.  Super handy at the big intersections.

A sad note, we don't have a dishwasher.  That was a bummer to find out when we moved in but not the end of the world.  We just do dishes all day long and let them air dry, which here, doesn't take long.  Finding the right water temperature can be hard because the water tanks are on the top of the homes here, so they sit in the sun and warm up.  I don't think we've ever had "cold" water here.  It's always tepid or above.  There are times, particularly mid-day, when the cold water is very hot.  And then the hot water is boiling hot.  Literally.

We finally got our wi-fi working which has been awesome.  We had to get our box switched and the right password in.  It's so nice to not have to use the computer at the dining room table anymore.  It's nice to blog from my comfortable couch or bed.

This morning I went to our local Carrefour to look for a few toys and such.  It was low key and a nice outing for Aberly.  She loves adventures.  We were told before coming how much children are loved here.  It's really true.  It always amazes me though, to see it first hand.  The people in line behind us, the checkers, the floor attendants, the random other customers in the store.  They will all stop and smile and wave.  They will ask how she's doing, pinch her cheeks, shake her hand, tell me how precious she is, etc...  And it's not just in the stores.  The construction workers in our neighborhoods will do the same.  No matter the age or the gender.  I love having a 40-something construction worker stop and say hello, ask how she's doing, and shake her hand.  I love having the male 20-something cool, hip clothing store clerk blow kisses to my daughter and turn into a goof.  I love that when my daughter pulls down her pants in the mall by the coffee shop, that the three elderly Omani men all start chuckling and look at her adoringly like she's the cutest thing she's ever seen.  And what I love the most is that it's all good and genuine and that I don't have to worry one bit about them being weirdos or perverts.  I don't worry about her safety at all.

The construction workers.  Construction is a way of life here in Oman right now.  Their economy is doing well right now and lots of people are moving here, so lots of Indian workers come over to build and live here temporarily.  The live on the site they are working on.  Make-shift shanties are built on the site for the men.  I see the same guys across the street every day working on the new building.  I've met Ayub and he says hello each day.  How they work all day in the heat is beyond me, but they do.  And they do a great job.

All the windows are tinted here blue or green.  You can't really tell from the inside, but outside, they are colored to help reduce the sun glare and it also creates privacy.  You can't see in from the outside at all!

Okay, I think I've covered most of what I've been mentally noting the past few days.  Besides that, we are having a great time and enjoying each day.  Colin is back to work this week for the official all-staff inservice.  Aberly and I hang at home together, run errands, and go to play at the school playground.  We've also hit the beach which is about 10 minutes away.  Our house is slowly coming together.  Once we get a few more paychecks and have our finances smoothed out and steady, we look forward to adding more personal touches and decor to make it truly our home away from home.