Eid Mubarak!

Eid Mubarak means "blessed Eid", so it's like saying "Merry Christmas!" in the US.  This week/weekend is the celebration of Eid al-Adha for the Muslim faith.  In short, Eid al-Adha is the holiday to honor the willingness of the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his young first-born son Ismael as an act of submission to God and his son's acceptance of the sacrifice, before God intervened to provide Abraham with a ram to sacrifice instead.  Christians believe it was Isaac who God asked up for sacrifice.  You can check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha for more info (I know Wikipedia isn't 100% reliable for all facts, but knowing how many Muslims are out there worldwide, I find it hard to believe they would let an entry like this contain false information).

So, each year, Eid al-Adha, along with other Muslim holidays, is called based on the Islamic lunar calendar, which makes holidays occur about 10-12 days earlier than the year previous.  Each year, businesses can estimate what days will be granted off, but the actual holiday is called within the week of it actually occurring based on the lunar cycle and Muslim leader decision. 

In the Christian religion, this would be like Easter and Christmas never occurring at the same time each year, and us all waiting for the exact holiday day to be called about a week before.  Some years, Christmas could occur in June and Easter in December.  Can you just imagine Easter in December?  It would make no sense and finding eggs would be near impossible for snow covered parts of the country.  And Christmas in June?  It would make no sense to bring a tree inside and cover it with lights when it stays so light outside at night.  Christmassy foods and drinks wouldn't be appealing in the summer either.  You realize how much our holidays are based on the seasons in the US.  Anyways, I am digressing the subject at hand and chuckling to myself as I imagine our holidays being in different months.  Focus!

This year, Eid al-Adha was called for this weekend and part of next week, so we ended up getting the entire week off.  It's like Christmas break, in October!  October 25th-Nov. 2nd is no work!  Lots of expats use these bonus breaks to get away and travel.  They have more money than us.  We, on the other hand, are relaxing and being a bit lazy, with a few chores sprinkled in.  So far, we've gone to the school pool, the school park, gotten ice cream and a balloon at the mall, and played with friends.  Tomorrow, we are heading down to Fins beach for an overnight camping trip which is always fun.  Colin and I plan to do a hike later in the week while Aberly stays home with Eunice.  Wednesday is Halloween, so we will join the other school families for trick-or-treating around the on-campus houses.  It has been a good vacation so far and looks like it will stay that way.

Happy Eid! 

Fall Blues followup and other goings-on

I think God read my last blog entry this morning because Fall was blessed upon me this afternoon and evening.

After a bright and sunny start to our day, we all woke up from an afternoon nap to an overcast sky.  Not dark and gray, but at least cloudy.  It was a nice break from the bright sun.  We headed down to the store to get a few things we needed. 

The store is called Sultan Center.  It's a pretty "Western" store and carries a lot of familiar products to the US eye.  Although it's a bit more expensive in general, it's a good place to shop a few times a month because it occasionally offers great and crazy deals.  As one example, a $25 retail garden hat line from the UK priced at about $2.60 US.  Anyways, we went upstairs to get the non-food items and then came downstairs for the food.  I immediately perused the "deal" shelf and got my first Fall gift.  There, in front of me, for only 1 rials ($2.60), was TAZO chai tea concentrate.  Those boxes of liquid concentrate cost more in the States!   And TAZO being from Portland, it was like a double gift from home.  I put four in my cart.  I LOVE chai drinks and they are so "fall" to me.

As we approached the check out line, I noticed it was super hazy outside, indicating a dust storm had blown through.  Sure enough, we stepped outside to strong winds, but luckily, the dust had settled.  As we drove home, we noted the increasing clouds.  We joked it might rain.  Aberly asked if a storm was coming.  "No, just the wind" we told her.  Well, she was right in the end.  As we drove up to our house, rain was starting to come down, but just sprinkles.  Off in the distance, a few flashes of lightening here and there.  Within a half hour, we watched the sky darken, the rain fall even more, the wind picked up again (and this time it was colder), and the lightening raced across the sky, followed by monstrous rumbles.  Hello Fall storm!  Gift number two.

So, God does listen to His people, even the little things.  And even when you don't pray for it.  :-)

Other goings-on:
1.  Scorpion sighting in our driveway:  Our neighbors found it and promptly killed it.  Me = freaked out for the safety of my child.  Aberly has been shown the dead scorpion (she was totally unnerved and scared by it) and knows to never touch them, run away, and come tell us.  I would totally buy an scorpion anti-venom kit for home if I could!

2.  Baby moving!  Baby Price is big enough now (about 15 weeks) that I can feel him/her moving around.  Fun stuff.

3.  The Beavers are having a great football season and we are missing it!  We wish we could be tailgating with our fellow fans!

4.  I am coaching middle school volleyball with another co-worker.  It's hilarious.  If you've ever coached an elementary or middle school sport, you know how awkward some of the kids are.  It's great.

Fall blues again

I thought after experiencing one year in Oman without "seasons" that I would be more used to it and wouldn't be bothered by it as much.  But wouldn't you know it, here it is mid-October again and I'm longing for Fall. 

I will say that the weather has cooled off a bit here in Oman, and by that I mean that the mornings and evenings no longer feel like you are walking into an oven anymore.  They do feel pretty pleasant.  However, this is not quite the same as feeling the 'crispness' in the air that a true Oregon fall brings.  There are no changing leaves in beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows.  No cold days or nights where you want to hunker down with a blanket and some tea.  No cloudy days threatening the chance of rain.  No blustery days.  The one thing Oman does offer like Oregon is the shortening of sunlight during the day, so by 6:45, it is very dark outside.

The best I can do for fall, is to go to Bath and Body Works at the mall and buy holiday candles.  My house and school office currently smell like fall, giving you momentary reminders of home.  And the heat doesn't stop me from making seasonal things.  Minestrone soup graced our table last night and with the darker skies and AC blowing, one can pretend it's a cold fall night outside.  With Halloween approaching, I've been thinking of decor Aberly and I can make to put around the house and put a little spirit in our home.

In the end, I still feel sad for fall.  I find myself insanely jealous of friends' post on Facebook proclaiming the first rain of fall, the onset of cool weather, and the beauty of the changing landscape.  I have moments where I seriously consider buying a plane ticket home for a long weekend just to experience fall.  Come on Kelsey, get a grip!  Well, the thing I've finally been able to put my finger on of why it bothers me so much (besides seasons being a part of my upbringing and "home") is that when you don't have seasons, there is no sense of months besides a literal 30 days.

It's like when you are on Christmas or summer break and lose sense of the days of the week.  Day by day goes by and you find yourself trying to remember which day it is.  Well, that is what it's like here in a way.  Day by day goes by, week by week, month by month, and you find yourself a bit lost for the sense of time.  Months here simply become 30 or 31 days.  There is no meaning behind them.  Here, October is October.  At home, October means cold weather, certain foods, special decor, etc...  If someone asks you what October tastes, smells, and feels like, you can tell them.  Ask me what October feels like here and I'll say the same as any other month, just a bit cooler than the last.  Boring!!!

So, there it is.  There is me figuring out what has really bothered me about seasons.  If I was in therapy, my counselor would congratulate me on my break through.  But sadly for me, there is not much more that I can do than cope.  Okay, I'm not THAT bummed or depressed!  Just sad and jealous at moments of all of you skipping merrily through the falling leaves, drinking your hot Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Chai teas outside without breaking a sweat, wearing sweaters and boots, eating the restaurant specials that involve squash or creamy risottos, going to Fall Festivals, and picking out your perfect pumpkin at the patch.  It all sounds like the best fantasy to me right now....

GeeGee's visit

Sitting down to blog is a nice reprieve after about going cross-eyed looking at IKEA instructions and tiny screws and the lot this weekend.  Five of six furniture items are done.  The last bedside table for our room would be easy to finish if it were not for a small child who wants to sleep in our bed tonight.  I'll admit I've taken the easy stuff.  Colin tackled our dresser and the guest wardrobe over the weekend.  They were two big projects but we are both thankful to have them done.  We can now officially move Colin out of a suitcase with the extra dresser space and all of our linens can go into the wardrobe in the guest room instead of in our bedroom.  The small joys and triumphs of life.

Anyways, on to the actual blog subject at hand.  We were excited to have GeeGee (i.e. Nancy) come visit us for 5 days about a week ago, and none more thrilled than Aberly.  I'm not sure if Aberly quite grasps that Nancy is related to her.  She will say, "that's my friend GeeGee!".  I can understand why, though.  Nancy plays with her all day long, just like a friend would.  I don't know where she gets her stores of energy for Aberly, but they play and play and play.  Aberly is in friend heaven.  Colin and I feel like cruddy parents when Nancy is around cause she makes playing with Aberly a total treat, while we dread the moments Aberly requests to play.  Nancy (and my parents) kindly make the point that it's a lot easier and fun to play with your grandchild than your own child, since you don't see them very often, but I still kinda feel like crud. 

While Nancy was here (besides all the playing time), she and I stepped out for some shopping therapy at the local mall where we both stocked up on some more holiday candles on sale at Bath and Body Works, and enjoy a pedi (Nancy) and massage (me) a few days later.  We all headed to the Shangri-la resort on the weekend to let Aberly play in the indoor park (her favorite) and have some beach time.  We had hoped to get a little more touring in with Nancy, but since it was our work week (she was on a Hindu holiday break in India) we both were gone all day and there isn't as much to do in the evening.  Next visit!

Here are some great photos from the Shangri-la day during Nancy's visit.  :-)

 Okay, Nancy, sorry, I know you'll hate this picture of yourself but it's great cause it shows the exact feeling between adult (first time) and child rider.  Aberly, thrilled and ready to go again.  Adult, "holy crap, that was faster than I thought and I thought we were going to careen off the end!"

 After a few rides, both participants are having a great time!

 Walking the rope bridge

 This ball pit is at the bottom of one of those "big drop" slides which I am still amazed our child will do with no fear.

 Building castles on the beach

Our beautiful castle (which Aberly was thrilled to smash before we left)

Come again soon, GeeGee! 

Baby Price

We had our first "formal" ultrasound this weekend and go to see the first glimpse at Baby #2.  In Oman, they do ultrasounds much more often, so you get to see your baby a lot more than in the states, where usually you just see right at the beginning at then at 18 or 20 weeks. 

We were amazed how much Baby was moving at 13 weeks.  Wiggling and waving limbs, it was quite mesmerizing.  The doctor said for 13 weeks, everything looks normal and baby is growing perfectly.  Early indicators with nose formation and fluid around the spine in the neck show no signs of Downs Syndrome. 

The best part of the ultrasound was when she switched it to 3D.  We never had that experience with Aberly so it was amazing to see the features of our new baby already.  I hope you can see them too.  The picture is square on looking at the whole body, head on top, right arm across the chest.

Friday

It's been the best Friday (like your Sunday in the states) we've had in awhile.  Usually Fridays hit and after a busy Thursday, we are drained, uninspired, and Aberly tends to drive us nuts.  For some reason, today was just the opposite. 

After a breakfast of pancakes and eggs, Aberly and I headed outside again (she had already played outside with daddy before breakfast while I slept in) and found Marin and Ian outside.  The girls took to jumping on the trampoline (a serious perk to living next door to the Rauks) as Ian ran around buck naked to air out his diaper rash.  Since Ian does not get the privilege of being in the trampoline very long with two very bouncy girls, I decided he would enjoy some naked pool time in our kiddie pool.  Turns out that the nights here aren't so warm anymore (well, relative to here) and the pool was actually a bit chilly.  Still, he loved it and started trying to bend over and drink from the pool which was highly amusing seeing he is still a bit wobbly at just over a year.  I suggested the girls join him and in the blink of an eye they were in their birthday suits and all splashing around (well, Ian being splashed and his reactions giving me some good chuckles).  I have a great video of the action.  The girls proceeded to head inside after the almost two hours outdoors and played until lunch time.

Meanwhile, Colin is enjoying rarely experienced alone and quiet time for longer than a half hour.

After lunch, Aberly and mommy fell asleep on the couches.  Izzy woke us up briefly wanting to play, but we assured her Aberly could play later (Aberly actually chose to "rest more" than play).  Upstairs she went with Daddy to lay on our bed with him so I could sleep in peace downstairs.  She konked right back out and we slept for at least an hour and a half. 

Colin is in serious heaven having again, rarely experience alone and quiet time for longer than a half hour, and this is now over three hours of it.

After our naps, Aberly hit the outdoors again and found Izzy for some playtime.  I decided to actually get dressed at this point (like 3:00 PM) and go to Sultan Center to pick up some groceries that can be harder to be found at LuLu's (what you ask?  Tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, black beans...).  I finally remembered to buy two new hotpads in the nick of time since our only one at home was falling a pat.  You know how you'll have something you know you need to buy but you NEVER find it possible to remember when you are at the store and SOMEHOW you can't remember to put it on your shopping list?  That was the hotpads for me.  Part of the problem was that the actual good kind (not just the typical thin, not that great at actually blocking heat kind) are only at Sultan Center for some reason. 

Upon return, I found the girls on the trampoline again, in swimsuits, and playing away.  Colin quietly monitoring and chatting with Kelly and Luther outside.  I made dinner, we ate dinner, we read books, and then Aberly and daddy went upstairs to head to bed.  Well, Colin went up to lay with Aberly which sometimes helps her sleep and he proceeded to fall asleep instantly.  She came down to let me know after five minutes.  Luckily it didn't take much persuading to get her back up there and asleep.  They are still up there sleeping together. 

I have been watching Project Runway and savoring my quiet time, still quite amazed at the relaxing, easy, low-key day we had.  I am not ready to head back to work tomorrow but at least it's an inservice day and won't be too busy.  I'll figure out our menu for the week and prepare my grocery list.  Maybe I'll blog again.  My mother-in-law was just here and we have fun tales and photos from her visit but I need to get them uploaded before I can post about it.  That goes on the to-do list! 


Till then, have a happy rest of your week!