Dubai!

Colin and Aberly are out getting shwarma for dinner so here I am am cherishing the quiet and sitting in my living room with Christmas candles burning and Manheim Steamroller playing on iTunes.  It's pretty nice.  I'm doing my best to get in the Christmas spirit since sunny days and 80 degree weather makes it hard to believe it's getting to be that time of year. 

Sorry for the blog hiatus.  Not intentional but after Colin's birthday came Aberly's birthday, our anniversary, and Thanksgiving.  And then we were blessed with a long Thanksgiving weekend due to National Day being called in Oman (it's like 4th of July here) and Islamic New Year, so it was a five day weekend.  And I had a hard time finding a time when I wanted to sit down and type.

It was also hard because once we new we had the 5 day weekend, that meant that the girls were headed to Dubai to SHOP!

Okay, initially we were going to go as a family, but then some of my gal pals decided they wanted to do another IKEA run and well, that sounded like more fun for all of us, Colin included.  Being home for 2 days alone with Aberly was way less stressful to him than shopping all day and driving in a new location with lots of traffic.  I agreed.  And hey, a girls trip and shopping with no toddler was a dream for me.

So four of us loaded up in the car at 5:00 AM to head to Dubai.  It's a 4.5 hour drive and with wanting lots of time to shop, we were headed out early.  Sadly, Aberly woke up around 4:30 and went I went to comfort her, I could immediately tell she had a temperature.  Uh oh.  Sicky!  I hesitated leaving knowing how caring for a sick child can be so tiring for one parent.  Colin said go and don't worry.  I love him!  Especially since she threw up later that day (luckily just once). 

The drive was beautiful.  Lots more desert and lots of camels to see.  That was very fun.  We arrived around 10:00 and made our first stop at Mirdif Mall.  Let's just say it's a huge place and there are like, 400 stores.  Did we hit them all?  Goodness, no.  But we did get to go to places like Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, and Borders.  It was GREAT.  Christmas was in the air!!!  All the stores had their decorations out in full force and it was beautiful.  I got some Christmas candle, the ones I smell now, at Bath and Body Works, a beautiful mercury glass piece at Pottery Barn, a gift for Colin, and some wrapping paper and a puzzle at Borders.  After a PF Chang's lunch, we stopped at our hotel to check in and then turned around to attack IKEA. 

Before I hit on IKEA and the evening time, I just have to say the drive through Dubai was crazy.  It's like being in a futuristic city.  The buildings are crazy designs.  It's like all the architects are trying to one up each other with all these new designs.  A few buildings didn't look like they should be able to stay up.  Obviously they do, but they have all these weird angles.  It was pretty amazing.

Anyways, on to IKEA.  And it was packed.  But it was IKEA and I was in heaven being able to find a bunch of decor for our home that didn't cost us the arm and a leg it would've in Oman.  I got a pantry unit that we desperately needed for our kitchen due to minimal cabinet space.  That was the most important thing!  After IKEA, we had dinner at Outback.  I was still full from lunch so while the girls had steak, I settled for a potato, veggies, and salad.  It still tasted great. 

After dinner we hit our final destination at 10:00 PM (yes, things stay open late there).  ACE hardware.  Doesn't sound too exciting but it offers a lot more things you'd like to fine for your home than other hardware stores in Oman.  And they had REAL CHRISTMAS TREES.  Only in Dubai.  Since it was 10:00 and I was exhausted from the long day of travel and shopping, and had not slept great the night before, my emotional level was a titch more unstable.  Okay, maybe more than a titch.  One smell of a fresh noble fur caused a serious lump in my throat.  If I had let my mind go with it I could've had serious tears streaming down my face.  Not because I was homesick but because it was the first time I felt Christmas.  The decorations sort of did that afternoon, but this really nailed it for me.  Christmas was coming. 

We finally made it back to the hotel and crashed.  Sleeping with no child to wake me up was nice.  The next day, we hit the mall again to pick up a few things people decided they wanted to buy.  We had one more lunch and were back on the road with a VERY PACKED car.  Four women can do some shopping damage when on a mission. 

Once home, we unloaded and headed home.  The next day after putting out all I bought, my house now feels and smells like a home.  It's amazing how a few extra pillows, lamps, candles, and decor pieces can quickly change things.  Ahhh....

I do have a few pictures of us from the trip but they are on my friend's camera, so I'll try to add those once I get them from her soon. 

The Big 30

Colin celebrated his 30th birthday here in Oman on the 12th.  He'll tell you it's a toss up of whether it was more exciting turning 30 here or back home. 

Had we been home, his birthday would've fallen on the weekend.   Since January and discovering his birthday fell on a weekend (not just on a weekend, but on a vacation weekend), he was anticipating throwing a big hurrah for his 30th.  He envisioned brewing two kegs of beer, and having friends and family over for games, food, drinks, and fun.  

When he got his job in February, that planned had to go.  But hey, he got to have his birthday abroad!  His dream of teaching and traveling abroad had come to fruition and now he got to celebrate his 30th in far away lands.  So we did.  Our friends were having an 11/11/11 party on Friday, so we used their get together to also celebrate Colin's birthday and I made him cobbler and brownies.  He blew out his candles with friends while drinking beer and having good food.  On his actual birthday, a school day, he was given love and many birthday wishes from smiling students of all backgrounds and nationalities, and he came home to his two favorite gals who gave him some great birthday gifts.

 A hand made card from Aberly

 What did you get me???  (Wrapped in newspaper!  Classy!)

 

 Is this underwear?  Yes, yes it is.

 The big gift.  A night away with mommy on a future weekend at a Bedouin camp.  Sweet!

So what was better, a birthday here in Oman or a birthday in the states?  You decide.

Eid holiday camping

This past week was Eid holiday (annual pilgrimage to Mecca time) which meant that school was out and Colin was home.  We decided to lay low and enjoy some local sights and fun.  One of those days was supposed to be a trip to the Dive Center beach for a day with some friends.  The day before, Sarah told me that they had decided to go beach camping for one night with another group from school and would we want to try it with them?  I started half-hyperventilating since we've never taken Aberly camping overnight and also because I HATE packing for things I haven't done before (with that piece of information you can well imagine how packing for moving overseas was for me).

I have camped before, so packing for camping isn't out of my experience, but packing for Aberly and for a beach trip in another country... I was a bit ruffled.  We could've said no, but I knew we had to go.  Colin really wanted to.  A lot of Aberly's little friends would be there and we would be in good company and support with our friends.  And it was only a couple hours a way so if things went south, we could drive home.  Besides, we had all morning to pack too since we would leave after lunch and drive through the heat of the day and Aberly's nap.



So I started packing away for me and Aberly the next day, and prepping food from our menu we jotted down.  Colin took care of himself, supplies and logistics.  At one point, Colin came in and looked at the clothes I had laid out on the bed.  "Are you going somewhere for three days?", he asked kindly.  I sighed, "No, I just wanted to lay out clothes for possible scenarios and then have you help me downsize."  I wasn't sure, would it cold at night?  What if clothes got wet and dirty?  Would I need an extra pair of clothes?  We got me set and packed.  Colin got himself packed with even half of my downsized amount.  Aberly was also packed.


At 1:30, we met our friends to head to the store to get ice for the coolers and then follow them over the mountains to our destination.  The first three gas stations didn't have ice.  The 4th did.  40 minutes was wasted on ice hunting alone.  On the road, we took this cool switchback highway up and over the hills.  And I am talking switchback.   Like, you go 10-20 mph around the corners and then your poor car works in overtime to get up speed.  Going down on the way home was crazy.  The views were amazing and of course we didn't have our camera ready (next trip!).  We got to the other side and entered much more barren landscape with a small town in the middle.  It was beautiful in it's own way.  We drove about an hour through this rocky and deserted landscape until hitting the coast line and continuing down another 1/2 hour until we reached Fins beach.  Oh, and about 5 minutes before reaching Fins beach is when I realized I forgot to pack Aberly diapers.  Like, NONE besides her two swim diapers.  Good thing three other families with 2 year olds would be there.

 

(Aberly got her own tent to fit the pack-n-play)

While Colin set up camp, I got Aberly stripped down to play with her friends on the beach.  Since it was 4:00, the sun wasn't much of a worry as it starts to set at this time and UV rays are low.  The kids had a blast and it was great to watch four 2-year olds run around in their birthday suits.  This helped reduce the need for diapers as well, thankfully.  I think I only had to borrow four all together.

The trip went well overall.  Aberly loved playing.  The food we packed worked great.  The water was beautiful and we got to see lots of fish action.  Like, did you know manta rays jump out of the water and flip in the air?  Neither did we, but we saw lots of them doing it.  Apparently it's to get rid of some parasite that attaches on to them.  We also saw lots of small fish jumping out of the water in unison, and in the morning, all kinds of fish hang on the surface of the water so the water is constantly moving.


The night wasn't too bad.  Aberly did have trouble getting to sleep but it was a mixed blessing.  To help her relax, Colin took her for a walk up by the cars.  As they were walking, a huge shadow appeared in from on Colin, about 3 feet away.  It was a camel.  Where this camel came from, we'll never know because no one saw it come through and we didn't see any camels around the area when we drove in.  She finally fell asleep around 9:00 and slept straight through till 6:00.  A shorter night but uninterrupted, and that was fantastic!  And the early wake up allowed us to see the beautiful sunrise and active fish in the water.  The worst part of the night was actually me feeling something crawling on me in my sleeping bag in the middle of the night.  I opened it up, expecting to find a small bug.  Oh no, it was some kind of sand crustacean that was like a big pill bug in a way.  It was at least an inch long and moved fast.  When it came in, I don't know.  At least we got it out.  Bleah...

That morning the kids played while we hung out and slowly packed our things.  I took a quick swim in the ocean with some goggles and was "mauled" but a school of small fish that apparently didn't see me floating around and tried to swim through me.  It feels weird to have fish bump into you because they are firm little suckers!  I look my face out of the water to protect it and upon opening my mouth to take a breath, I about had a fish jump into it (I think it hit the side of my lips).  The folks on the beach said it was crazy to see all these fish jumping around me.  That was an experience I'm not sure I want to have again.



Colin and I definitely have to get some more supplies.  We had no table and chairs so we bummed them whenever we could.  You can't just set things down beach camping because if you do, your item will be caked in sand, end of story.  We also need to get a lantern, a stove that will work with local gas tanks (ours does not, unfortunately), and various other small things.  Camping with the group was the way to start since we could make up for missing supplies with them. 


Will we do it again?  For sure, but not right away.  Even one night of beach camping is exhausting and is a mess with all the sand that gets everywhere and in everything.  It took us a couple days to get things cleaned up and washed, and to not find sand in things.

Happy Eid!

God speaks in weird ways sometimes

I found myself humming along with the background music while shopping last week at the supermarket.  It was typical "elevator" style music.  When I realized I was humming along, I stopped to think what song it was since they usually play a guy singing Arabic music that slowly drives you insane or Top 40  music from the 1990's.  Hey, I'm in the middle east. 

I couldn't think of the song title, but as I put words to the music I was hearing I realized what it was.  A Christian hymn.  Seriously.  "Here in the Power of Christ I Stand".  Maybe that's not the official hymn title, but that's the main chorus line I think of.  How crazy!  I smiled to myself knowing they probably had no clue that this lyric-less music they were playing was a Christian hymn.  It was probably a part of a "Best of Store Background Music" CD the store chain purchased.  Still, how a Christian hymn made this CD, I will always be curious.  I figured it was a fluke in a way.  What are the odds?  I guess pretty good because there it was, playing again a few days later when I had to stop by for a couple of things. 

Funny as it is, what a small blessing at the same time.  Besides at church, where else do I hear God speak to me in a Muslim country?  Not that He isn't here, by any means, but it's not like there are Christian Book Stores or Christian literature/CDs/etc... available.  It gave me comfort feeling like God was reaching out to me in a small way and giving me have a piece of church from back home. 

The hymn was also a great song to be reminded by any day.  It is in His power and love that I can stand each day, and battle whatever comes my way, whether it be a life circumstance or my two foot bundle of energy and sass that drives me batty by the end of the day sometimes.  Today was one of those days for sure.  I said damn in front of her today.  Granted she had just knocked pizza out of my hand and caused sauce to splatter on our new carpet and granted it could've been a worse word.  Sigh.  Here in the patience of Christ I stand.

Okay, I looked it up and it's actually called "In Christ Alone".  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExnTlIM5QgE

Rain rain rain

The average rain fall for Muscat each year is 75mm.  Not much, not much at all.  Because they don't get much rain, they have no infrastructure to deal with rain.  Literally.  No ditches, no sewers, no road drains, etc...   In the picture above, the water is running through the dirt under the road down into the parking lot. So when it does rain, it's serious business.  And funny, sorta.  Before I knew how serious rain is in Oman, and since we weren't experiencing the serious side of it, I found a lot of it humorous. 

The view from our house towards the mountains.

The rain came yesterday morning.  Around our house, it sprinkled and had a few bigger fits, but pretty low key.  Puddles formed on the edges of the streets and our patio.  We could tell it was pouring in the mountains nearby, which creates problems described later in this post.  It was also pouring around the coast and an area of Muscat called Ruwi and in Old Muscat.  

Aberly and I stayed inside all day.  I watched as neighbors looked out their windows at the rain, mesmerized.  Kids would come outside and play in the puddles like it was the greatest thing.  It was like the first snow of winter would be back home.  After Colin got home from work, I headed out for a quick run to a store about a mile down the road.  We needed milk a few other things for dinner.  I turned on the radio. 

If you know what the Portland news is like when it snows in the valley, then you can imagine what this radio news was like.  But imagine it times two and about rain.  Here is a list of what I heard about:

-  The DJ's were advising to not drive if you didn't have to. 
-  Local meteorologists were on talking about the expected weather and rainfall for the next 24 hours. 
-  A guest to the studio was warning against the dangers of driving in the rain (slippery roads, water splashing on your windshield making it hard to see, brakes locking up, poor visibility in general)
-  Emails and facebook comments to the radio station by loyal listeners being read by the DJ's to give reports to us about what was happening around the city, questions people had, concerns expressed, rainfall reports from area to area, etc...  One person was asking for advice of whether his friend should drive such a "long distance" to another town in these serious conditions.
- Stories of how locals were handling the rain and keeping a "light heart" about the situation.  We were all being encouraged to stay positive.

I just laughed to myself.  Seriously???  As I drove, I laughed too because everyone around me was driving like it was icy and snowy out.  You would've thought they were going over Santiam Pass when it's white with snow.  SLOWLY and tense, hands gripped to the wheels.  When I got to a roundabout that had some standing water around the inner edges, a man put on his warning flashers as he drove through (only one side of his car was in water, people).  The parking lot at the store had a huge puddle in the middle but knowing it wasn't deep, I drove right through.  A lady behind me stopped her car and turned around, too scared to drive through, even after seeing me go through.  Granted I was in my SUV and she was in a sedan, but she would've been fine.

When I got to the store I did have to walk carefully.  Everything is tile.  Tile is super slippery when covered in water.  The stores don't have floor mats at the doors, so broken down boxes greeted me to collect the water from shoes.  

Okay, so yes, it was funny and I still laugh, but the reality is that the rain is serious business here because low lying areas get flooded, and fast.  The rain from the hills and mountains come running off right away because it doesn't get absorbed into the ground since the mountains are mainly rock. I found out from a friend that evening about the flash floods in Ruwi.  Cars were being swept away and damaged.  Watery roads quickly became small rivers so drivers had no way to get away.  It's common for someone to die when it rains from these flash floods.  The roads do get slippery too.  They are dusty and oily.  All of it comes up when it rains.  Businesses and homes get flooded in the low lying areas.  Apparently the Sultan's palace in Old Muscat was flooded.  If you are my friend on Facebook, I shared a link with lots of pictures of an area that got the flash floods.

So, yes, rain in Muscat is serious business.  But I loved it.  For two reasons.  One, the humor described above.  And two, for two days, I got to feel "fall".  It was gray and cloudy and beautiful.  The air smelled like rain.  I could smell it before it arrived that evening.  It was comforting.  It gave me a piece of home.

 

Fun pictures of Miss Aberly playing inside on a rainy day.  "Silly" hats, as she likes to call them, on her and Colin.

Halloween again!

Monday night was very fun as families gathered at the on campus housing for trick-or-treating and a movie.  Instead of knocking on doors, the candy passers sat on their porches with bowls of treats for kids to come up to.  There are 12 houses on campus, and there were extra adults on hand who sat in chairs in various locations handing out candy as well.  Some people had also taken the time to decorate the street and had ghosts hanging in the trees and glowing ceramic pumpkins scattered around. 

(Cassie, Aberly's babysitter)

Aberly was very excited to see her friends.  Isla was super girl this time.  Her brother, Finn, who Aberly adores as well, was Spiderman.  Ever since seeing him that night, any person in a Spiderman costume is "Finn!!!".   Isla's nanny, YaYa, was also there and we got a picture of her with both of the girls.  YaYa watches Aberly for us when I sub and Aberly loves her, and she IS wonderful.  We are so blessed.

Aberly and Isla started out trick-or-treating together.  They were so excited that they would run by candy stops unless we called them back.  Aberly did a GREAT job of saying "trick-or-treat" in a quiet voice, followed by thank you in a quieter voice.  At least she said it! 

After getting her haul of candy, Aberly sat on the bleachers and zoned into the Pooh Halloween cartoon playing on projector.  Mommy let her have three candies and with the warm air, chocolate quickly coated her hands.

Before going home, we got a great group shot of the kiddos in costume.