End of March?

Once again I am struck by the date and how fast this year has gone.  We work today and tomorrow and then it's Spring Break till the 9th of April.  April!  Sheesh.  We have been actively looking at our summer calendar as well and mapping out how things will go.  Starting to book appointments for dental cleanings and checkups, getting in for eye exams, and doctor exams and vaccinations.  On top of that, packing up our house and moving out around the 20th of July so our wonderful renters can move in, getting family and friend time in, shopping for and packing things we want to bring back overseas with us, a few trips...  We are pretty sure our summer will fly by and we'll be back here in no time.  We will do our best despite the very summer to savor each day as we can.  We are so excited to see our family and friends in person instead of through the computer.

Anyways, the last week has been great.  Aberly has all of a sudden entered the "conversation" ability in language so has lots and lots and lots to tell us.  Her memory is fantastic and she is able to tell us about her day and what she did, ate, etc... when we ask.  Today, she even had a small banter with the school gate man.  He came to her window and said hello, asked her how she was ("good"), and what are you doing ("going to the park").  I loved it!  Her increased communication has also made it possible for her and Isla (her best friend) to have all kinds of little conversations while they play.  They love to play and it's so nice when they are together because it's easier for me to do things!  Same for Isla's nanny, so we often trade a couple times a week watching the girls after playgroup to give each other a break and more time to do things.  It's great.

Colin is breathing easy now that he is done with track and is happy to have his evenings back with no practices.  He had to prepare for grades and conferences right after getting back from his track meet in Chennai (he plans to blog about the track meet soon for you all) which was a bit stressful, but that is also done now and he is excited to relax over Spring Break.  We don't have any big plans, just a few local things.  I hope to get out for a trip to the souk with my friend Sarah, as well as have a pedicure, and then I am going to the Cinderella ballet at the Opera House at the end of the break.  Together, Colin and I are planning to explore one of the beautiful wadis an hour from here together while Aberly stays home with Priscilla, and then as a family, we hope to get out to a local resort for two nights and enjoy a mini getaway.

I think that is about it.  Here is a few fun pictures of Aberly and her best friend Isla, and then all her playgroup buddies.  They are all growing up!

 

 

Sandstorm fizz out...

Well the large sandstorm that closed down school ended up being rather lackluster!  We actually got a bit excited to "batten down the hatches" per se, and then in the end, the dust pretty much came in like a fog, slowly and settled itself over the area.  No blowing and racing winds, no dust cloud enveloping us while we huddled inside.  In the morning, there was just a fine layer of dust over everything, but not much more than what we would get with any windy day. 

The overall effect was that it just looked foggy.  At night, the dusty air glowed around the lights.  I pretended that it was cold and wintry outside, since that is kinda what it looked like. 

Here are a few pictures:

 The mountains near our home totally disappeared in the dust.

 

The view out our back window.  Everything was really hazy and buildings harder to see.

 

The dust layer the next morning on our car.

The paper towels and tape have been removed from our windows.  It's still hazy outside and actually looks pretty similar to the pictures above, so they were right, the dust is hanging around for a few days.  So yeah, in the end, not too exciting.  

But, I don't want to sound like I'm totally complaining.  Getting to be released early from school was fantastic and the totally different experiences we have here are just plain new and fun.  A sandstorm will never get us out of work in Oregon!  

You know you live in the Middle East when...

... when you get this announcement over the school intercom today from the school head:

"May I have your attention please, may I have your attention please.  We will be dismissing school today at 2:00 due to an approaching sandstorm.  The Omani Ministry of Education and US Embassy have advised all schools to close due the storm."

Is this just awesome, or what?  The US may have it's winter school closers and early releases/late starts due to snow and ice and we get a winter sandstorm!  Both cause dangerous driving situations, poor visibility, they coat things (although this will be brown and not so pretty), and you generally stay inside.  And while we might not have to shovel our sidewalks, we will be doing some sweeping.  School tomorrow?  We'll find out in the morning!

To prepare, our windows are closed and we've stuff paper towel pieces in the gaps (windows are not well sealed here) and taped long, thing gaps.  I've brought some of Aberly's outdoor toys in and we are watching and waiting.  Nothing big yet.

The day started out weird.  It was so hazy but didn't feel humid or dusty at the time.  The wind kept coming and going, and at one point, it felt cooler outside than it did initially in the morning when I first went out.  It just felt "off" and like something was coming, but I didn't know what.  I told Colin I feel a bit psychic now, hahahah.  Anyways, it is still pretty hazy outside and slowly becoming more so.  I don't know if we'll get a full on "blowing sandstorm" or more of one that just settles and makes it hard to see.  Here is the official bulletin posted by the Ministry (the translation from Arabic):

---Warning of the dust storm caused by the low visibility to less than 500 m in some of the Sultanate's atmosphere.

Calls upon the General Directorate of Meteorology and Air Navigationn eed to exercise caution and lack of direct exposure to the dust storm coming into the atmosphere of the Sultanate, which is expected to impact during the next two hours directly to the governorates of Muscat, Al Batinah South, North Batinah, Musandam and the South East.

Where he is expected to cause the spread of dust in low visibility to below the (500 meters) or absence in some cases.

It also calls upon the directorate of all attendees of the fishermen and the sea coast of Musandam Governorate in the Sea of Oman and the need to takec aution and make sure the case with visits by the sea due to the raging and low visibility because of the dust-laden winds.

And is expected to stay until the weather tomorrow (Tuesday)with the continued spread of plankton in the dirt all the atmosphere of the Sultanate until next Wednesday---

Next Wednesday?  As in over a week?  What an experience!  I will post pictures and more stories as things develop!

Rocks

I will preface this blog post with the disclaimer that "Yes, I am a bit of a rock nerd".  Well, okay, I don't know a lot about rocks, but I love rocks.  I have always been looking for pretty and neat rocks my whole life.  I remember looking for agates and crystals in the rock pile across the street from our house before it was built up by homes.  I cannot walk a beach without keeping my head down the entire time, unless I'm looking to see which direction to head next, looking for agates.  When we go camping and hang out by the creek, I am looking for beautiful river rocks.  I don't know why it is that way, but it just is. 

I don't have a huge collection.  I actually put many of my river rocks and agates in our yard last year along our back patio so they weren't just sitting in a Tupperware in the garage anymore.  I only bring home the "best" of my finds after going to the beach or camping.  I have practiced walking a beach and keeping my eyes up and forcing myself to enjoy the waves and surrounding landscape instead of looking down.  I've felt "in control" so to speak.

However, moving to Oman re-engaged my rock addition.  There are rocks EVERYWHERE.  Aberly will even exclaim sometimes when we are driving, "Look, so many rocks".  I do not joke. 

Oman is pretty much made out of rocks.  And the rocks here are AMAZINGLY COOL.  If you are into geology, this is a place to see.  I've been simply amazed by the amount of different kinds of rocks I can find here in the 1/2 mile walk to and from the school, the variety of large rocks on the beach, and the amount of crystal formations in the huge rocks and rocks walls lining the coast and hills.  And it's amazing to see the rock patterns in the mountains and earth.  Any of our family who have come to visit can attest to this.  Andrew and Skip can really tell you about it since they have gotten to hike or drive through some of these areas outlying areas.

Anyways, so my rock collecting has started again and I've been using the rocks to help decorate our house.  When we first moved here, we didn't have a lot of decor so the really cool rocks I've found have been tucked into shelves together.  Sadly or neatly, depending on how you look at it, Aberly has picked up my "hobby" and picks up rocks on our walks sometimes to keep.  She has actually found a few cool ones unintentionally. 

Here are some pictures of the rocks I've found (or Colin or Aberly) and some of the pictures of the rock formations in the landscape.  Enjoy, or use it as proof that I am a rock nerd.  :-)  Oh, and if you click on any of the pictures, they should pop up even larger for you in a new tab and let you see some of the images with more detail.

 Crystal formations throughout the rocks.  I am seriously taking a pic and a hammer next time we go to this beach!

 Rocks and rock hills.  Can you see the swirling of the rocks within this third picture?  This is on a large mountain and many of the mountains are like this.

 What it looks like inside many of the rock hills in Oman.  You can see these faces when the hills have been blasted to make way for roads and highways.  The coloring is unbelievable. 

 Aberly found the beautiful green one in the middle.  I think it's jade. 

 My bowl of crystals. 

 Yellow agate found by my brother Andrew, and Colin found the crystal in the middle.

 A large chunk of agate/crystal I recently found walking home.  These are often hard to find because they are so dusty.  I have a trained eye now :-)

 Many of the rocks here are these really dense crystal as you can see on the left.  The one on the right is an example of the mineral rich rocks in Oman.

 Another crystal and an beautiful orange rock found on the walk between our house and the school.

Picture follow up

 Aberly and Isla trying Omani tea

 Isla and Aberly with Marilyn (Isla's nanny who Aberly also loves)

 Aberly's henna.  She did a great job sitting still and then not touching it so it could dry.

Aberly and Liam in traditional Omani dress

A few things

Since I have a quiet moment while Aberly plays, here are a few updates:

1.  Another reason I hate shopping in Oman:  The checkers and courtesy clerks are TERRIBLE baggers.  If you think the clerks at a Safeway are bad, imagine it like, 10 times worse here.  What I can pack in 5 bags would literally be in 10 bags by a clerk here, because they will put between one and five items in each bag.  And they just put whatever in each bag, so your tomatoes may end up on the bottom of a bag with cans.  I have started always packing my own bags and just telling them no thank you with a smile when they try to do it or help.  Next time you have a bag bagger, just take heart that it could be worse, MUCH worse.

2.  Drivers here are just aggressive, but luckily there isn't much road rage.  But they are aggressive and can be dangerous.  I was passed this weekend by a Porsche on the left shoulder.  This guy didn't make it by with much space between my XTrail and the center guard rail.  It's a good thing I didn't jerk the wheel out of surprise because it would've been a wreck.  And Aberly was asleep in the back.  My heart was beating just a bit.  Although there was a lovely Omani lady in the passenger seat of the car being driven by the Omani man clearly trying to impress her, so I'm guessing her heart was probably beating a bit harder as he raced down the highway.

3.  Aberly has started fighting going down for naps and bed, and since she can climb out of her crib, we can't do much to stop her getting out over and over and over and over.  Sigh, last night she finally fell asleep at 9:30 on our bed next to me.  She doesn't really take naps on the weekends any more.  She naps for our nanny of course.  That is good because I'm not sure how Priscilla would get cleaning done otherwise.

4.  Speaking of Priscilla, she can cut hair.  Seriously, she can do anything.  We found this out after telling her how the lady at the salon didn't do a very good job with Abelry's haircut, which I had tried to do some fixing on already.  She smiled shyly and told me how she used to do cosmetology and could cut hair.  I was like, PLEASE fix it!  She did.  And she sews and has beautifully fixed two larger seam tears we've had in our clothes.

5.  I hate to say it, but it's getting warmer.....  "Spring" has arrived and will quickly become summer by May, and that is when it gets really hot.  Sigh.  The winter has been lovely and I will miss it.  Our A/C already has to run more often and we keep the windows shut.  It's only the mid 80's but with some humidity, it feels a bit warmer sometimes.  Sigh again.

6.  We made our first "big" purchase here by buying a dining room table.  We got a great deal from an expat family moving and it's in great shape and perfect for our family.

7.  We also bought our round trip tickets for home and back this summer.  We leave here the 16th of June and arrive on the 18th (1:00 in the morning, so kind like late night on the 17th), and then leave to come back to Oman on August 21st.  We have started mapping out our summer and just know it will be fast and busy, but in a good way.  We look forward to seeing all of our family and friends.  We know it will be here before we know it since it's already March and this school year has flown by!

8.  The school had a fun Omani Day last week and then an International Day celebration on the weekend.  It was a lot of fun getting henna, listening to Omani music, tasting foods from all over, watching some performances from different cultures, and seeing a lot of the school families come together.  Aberly loved it too.

Okay, I would post some pictures before I finish but I need to go get Miss Aberly from her friend's house before I get ready for work.  I will try to get those up tonight or tomorrow.

Much love from the Prices!