Updates!

I meant to post this a few days ago, but after the bus tragedy (see earlier post if you missed that one), these updates got sidelined for a few days.

1. 

After one year, I finally took advantage of my father-in-law’s Christmas gift to me (plus some extra money from my honey this Christmas) and enjoyed a spa afternoon at the Chedi.  Last year, being pregnant, they were too nervous to do some of the treatments I wanted, like the Reflexology foot massage (honestly, that is what a pregnant woman wants most!), so I decided to wait till after she was born.  Well, the first two months with a all-the-time nursing baby wouldn’t work, and then we were gone all summer, and then well, life got busy. 

Christmas break ended up being the perfect time to slip away and get pampered, and boy, I did!  The spa is super posh and I was taken to a big room with a tub large tub on one side, a glass shower in the middle, and the beds on the other side (clearly a room for a double's massage if desired).  I was given a massage by TWO people at one time; one does your upper half and the other does your lower.  They mirror each others movements so you get this fluid massage all over your body.  I was like a double rainbow massage.  Then, one did my facial while the other did my foot massage.  Last, one of them did my body scrub while the other cleaned up and prepared my bath.  That ended up being the only odd part of my experience.  While I’ve learned that they are more lenient here on nudity at spas  (odd, right, since this is a more strict country on morality) and being in the room when you disrobe (they just look away), I was surprised by the last part of my time.  After the scrub was done, the lady told me I could get up and shower, but she clearly wasn't leaving.  Say what?

So, I quickly realized that it meant that I would have to put on my robe, go into the all glass totally see through shower, un-robe, rinse off, and then go get in the bath, with her in the room cleaning up the bed.  Again, I know she wasn’t watching me (well, I hope not!), but it was awkward to say the least.  And then when I was in the bath, hunched over to cover my front, she wanders over to bring me tea and fruit, pours some fragrance in the water, and tells me I have a ½ hour to bathe.   All I am thinking is “please leave me!”. 

Afterwards, I enjoyed a glass of wine by the pool in the sun before heading home.  It was lovely.  Thank you Skip and Colin!

2.  Emalyn is a rapidly changing and growing girl.  With Aberly, I remember always watching and waiting for the changes, wondering when she would reach the next steps.  With Emalyn, I’ve been there and done that (and distracted with work and a 4 year old), so I’m always surprised when she is hitting milestones.  She is standing, cruising, grabbing, feeding herself, exploring, clapping, and on and on.  I know we’ll have a walker soon.   She is outgrowing clothes and is already in mostly 12 month things.  She loves playing and going outside.  She LOVES being around other kids and watching them, especially her big sister.   We cherish that she is a cuddly baby (something Aberly wasn’t until about age 2) and snuggles into us when tired.   Her only “downside” is that we are still battling the nights with her.  While we have had some good ones (ie. one feeding) we backslide and have 2-3 (like last night!).  Emerging teeth aren’t helping that!  She has her two bottom ones through, one top has just come through, and the other top is on its way.  All and all, she is a super happy, fun, engaged, and loving baby and keeps us smiling.

 

Oh yeah, look at me stand!

Easily fitting into the 12-month cool subway line onsie Uncle Andrew bought me!

 

Hanging out with buddy Benjamin (1 year) 

 

Adorable....

 

3.  Colin and I got out last weekend together to see the Vienna Ballet Company and Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra perform at the Royal Muscat Opera House.  The ballet was beautiful and the orchestra sounded amazing.   It was also fun to dress us up for the formal event and be inside the Opera House.  It’s like, overwhelmingly beautiful!  I sometimes have to stop and think how blessed I am to be living somewhere that offers me such experiences.  While I could go to these things in the US, they would be further away or more expensive.  Here, we can pay about $50 for our two tickets and drive 20 minutes across town.  We have a live-in nanny who cares for our children so we can go.  I always find myself cherishing these experiences, knowing they will be more far and few between when we come home some day.

4.  Aberly has entered the “I know everything and will challenge you” phase of life.  She can also be quite bratty and dramatic, breaking down over EVERYTHING.  While sometimes it makes me laugh to see how pathetic she’s being, it can also be maddening (i.e. when we are trying to get ready in the morning and she falls to pieces that I put on a shirt that she didn’t want, EVEN THOUGH she told me to pick her clothes).  Despite the challenges, she is also a joy.  We love seeing her continue to grow and learn in school.  She comes home singing songs, saying rhymes, and playing games.  She has learned all her letter sounds and is beginning to read; recognizing simple words and names.  She even read to the class last week (a simple book she knew by heart).  Next week, she begins swimming lessons again and will be in Level 3, after completing Level 2 in one session.  Huge improvements since last year, which is exciting to see.  At school this week, they had "EC Sports Day" which was pretty much the three classes of pre-schoolers going from station to station, doing things like parachute, throwing, kicking, etc....  It was fun to watch and Aberly had a lot of fun.

 

All ready for sports day! 

  

Being in school means lots of birthday party invitations!  Aberly was thrilled with her face painting from one party.

 

Best pals (Aberly and Isla)

 

5.  GeeGee (Nancy) came to visit this weekend while attending the a NESA conference held at our school.  As she joked, everyone figured she came to it just to visit us and the girls, but it was a conference that she really did want to attend and many others from her school were there too.  Aberly was super excited to see her and started counting down the days two weeks ago.  We were a little unsure of how Emalyn would react as she can be nervous around "strangers" (not that GeeGee is a stranger, but it's been a few months and that is a long time in baby world), but she was unphased and immediately warmed up to GeeGee.  She laughed and smiled at GeeGee antics and attention!

 

Higher, GeeGee!

 

Ooh, what did you bring me? 

6.  This is one of my new favorite desserts to pick up at the grocery store bakery.  The name is abbreviated and sadly so (should be barfi, why removing the "i" was necessary I don't know).  Totally misleading, cause it's amazing!  Colin and Connor would be happy to agree with the name, but don't believe them.  I have considered telling the bakery what the tag means to English speaking folk, but then the humor would be lost.  I'll let someone else do it.

7.  They said we couldn't.  They said it was too hot here.  But we have succeeded.  Swiss Chard and Kale grows happily in our pots on the upper patio!  The success is due to the cooler nights (60's and morning sun only).  We have lettuce and nasturtiums happily growing as well.

 A thing of beauty! 

The master gardener... :-)  Haha, Aberly snapped this shot of me after Sports Day and it came out pretty well!

School Bus tragedy (don't worry, not our school)

This morning there was a bus from the Pakistani school here in Muscat that crashed on the way to school, killing 4 of the students on board and critically injuring 4 others.  The report says that the bus collided with a truck parked on the side of the road.

The comments to the online news articles from local newspapers have been an interesting mix of responses.  There are the wonderful comments from people expressing their condolences, prayers, and peace for the victims and their families.  There are comments about where to donate blood and people saying they will be there immediately.  But there have also been a mix of comments from expats blaming the local Omani drivers (driving too fast, passing dangerously, being on cell phones, etc...) and how there need to be stricter rules for bus drivers, to even one being thankful it was Pakistani kids (and not another race, I assume.  His comment was a bit hard to understand).  Racism still abounds in tragedies here, just like any other country.  If you want to see the articles, you an find them here.

http://timesofoman.com/News/Article-28582.aspx

http://www.timesofoman.com/News/Article-28600.aspx

The whole thing gives me a mix of responses.  I am grateful to see the outpouring of support and care that you would expect in a terrible situation like this.  However, I have to admit that the news didn't surprise me because I know the drivers here. 

I know how dangerous some of the local and other expat (from the surrounding area) drivers can be.  I almost was sideswiped last night (girls with me) by a driver trying to pass me on the right in an exit lane so that he could get around the slow trucks in front of us.  I see many local drivers on their cell phones even though it's against the law.  Tailgating here is common place. I see how fast the buses and cars take corners or make last minute passes or lane changes.  I have been on a bus driving us to another school for a volleyball game and being nervous the whole time (side note, we did complain to the school and he is no longer allowed to drive for us).  I have talked to other moms here, or seen posts on the Moms FB group here, and they will say they have followed buses to school and seen the fast and unsafe driving happening (our school has strict policies drivers are supposed to follow but not all of them do). 

On a daily basis when I drive, I feel like drivers here are trying to set up situations for accidents.  I want to yell out the window at them.  "Really, are you trying to get into a wreck with someone!?"  The lack of understanding of the danger of how they drive here astounds me at times.  One has to be a very aware and defensive driver here.

Ultimately, the whole situation is sad and unfortunate.  Any time an accident happens and people die, especially innocent children, it breaks your heart.  But it's even sadder here to me because the rate of injuries and deaths here in Oman are very high per capita and so many of them could be prevented.  They don't have to happen.   And as a parent, it makes me more nervous to drive.  While I credit myself as being a very aware and defensive driver, I have to be even more so here.  You have to be constantly watching and aware of everyone around you.

I'm not sure exactly how to close this post.  I don't want it to be a rant against local drivers here, but I want to share the sadness and reality of what it's like here.  I am happy to see the positive response and desire to help by many locals and expats here.  So I guess it's that.  A weird mix of sadness and happiness.  And a reminder to myself to continue to be vigilant as a safe and aware driver for my children.  And to pray that even on the short ride she has, that Aberly is always in the hands on a safe and aware bus driver.

Christmas in Bavaria!

My absence on the blog should be an indicator of how busy December has been!  After Thanksgiving, our big boys international soccer tournament fell at the beginning of the month, so I was crazy at work getting everything finalized and ready.  Then, once that was over, our weeks were filled with pre-Christmas school events, shopping, planning, and packing!  I couldn't believe how fast December 20th came upon us and we were on our way to Germany.

I was a bit of a nervous-anxiety ridden wreck the night before.  While I have packed for big trips before, this was the first time I was packing for a very-active 8-month old on top of everything else.  And she wanted to be a part of the action that night!  I had packed much of the girls' and my own things the few days before, but the final packing about put me over the edge.  Luckily, once Emalyn was in bed and out of our hairs, I could think more clearly (had a glass of wine) and got everything finished.

Our plane left at 3:45 AM (weren't we lucky?) and we got up at 12:30 to leave at 1:00.  Our neighbors, the Rauks and Hoffmans, were on the same flight as us to Munich (headed to a different city than us from there) so we all pitched in and got a small bus to take us and our numerous suitcases to the airport.  Since it was so early in the morning, the airport was relatively quite and we breezed through security, check in, and customs.  Once on the plane, the kids finally got back to sleep (although not for as long as we would've liked) and we were on our way!

We stopped for a flight change in Istanbul and I'll say that the airport there is not worth coming to, nor enjoyable.  We had a terrible restaurant experience, it isn't very clean, and it's very busy.  If you can, avoid it.  Or be there with friends!  Or have this sweet face to look at :-)

 

After a 4 hour ride, we were finally in Munich and got downstairs to find my parents waiting for us.  Bless their hearts, they had already scoped out the train to Garmish-Partenkirchen (called GaPa for short) and were booked it to the train station outside the airport.  Our poor girls (and us) were exhausted, but they rallied and we got there just in the nick of time to make it.  Unfortunately, it was getting dark outside so we didn't get to enjoy the beautiful scenery, but we were just happy to be boarded and on our way to our final destination.

Our rental was the upstairs of a traditional German house run by a wonderful family.  We had a three-bedroom place with a small living room, combined kitchen/dining, two patios, and two baths.  It was still tight, but it was cozy and lovely.  And the view out the window to the Zugspitz and surrounding mountains was phenomenal! 

The rest of our trip was a whirlwind!  We saw some amazing and beautiful sights, and we ate and drank wonderful traditional food and beer/wine.  Aberly loved it too, and had a lot of fun.  She was thrilled to spend time with her Nana, Papa, and Andrew. 

 Emalyn, unfortunately, did not fare so well and had a rough go of the trip.  She and I both caught a small tummy bug the first few days which threw her for a loop, and even after it was gone, she still struggled to settle.  She slept poorly night and day, and became fussy/sensitive most of the time.  I will give her credit, she TRIED to have a good time.  She played, explored, etc..., but being tired and worn out, she crumbled quickly and wanted no one but mom and dad.  And mom and dad were exhausted by her!  We didn't sleep well either and it made things tough for us many days.  I had one major breakdown on Christmas night (of course) when she finally went down for a nap she desperately needed, but it was right before we were supposed to go out for our Christmas dinner.  My dear mom stayed with me and listened as I cried and vented.  Thank God for her!  She was a great listener, empathizer, and encourager.

So besides that, the trip was great and I'll wrap up the blog with some photos from our key moments with brief descriptions.  Enjoy!

Abery loved riding the merry go round at the GaPa Christmas Market.

 At the Christmas Market, we got offered a free sleigh ride!  No snow, but wheels got us around.  Abs was thrilled!

 

Colin enjoys his traditional Brat at the Market.

 

We hiked up the hill behind our rental on the "Philosophers Trail" and went to the lovely church at the top.

 

Happy Girls in the morning.  Nana and Papa's favorite time of the day.

 

Merry Christmas!

   

Waiting to ride the cable car to the top of the Zugspitz on Christmas Day!  

 

Emalyn sporting a smile!  It was super cold at the top but we kept her bundled and warm.

 

We had Christmas lunch at the Zugspitz restaurant.  We enjoyed great food, drinks, and views.

 

Going down!  The ride up and down the mountain was pretty outstanding and scary.  I mean, really, would those cables hold us?  How many times had they been used???  And it was steep....  Thanks to my mom for posing this awesome shot with Aberly (she wasn't actually scared).

 

A visit to Nueschwanstein Castle an hour and a half away from GaPa.  We had to hike up and down, but it was well worth it!  It truly is the "Sleeping Beauty" castle and amazing inside and out.

 

The inside of a monastery chapel in Ettal.  Totally non-assuming on the outside, amazing inside!  We would quickly learn that many churches in Germany would blow us away.

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The rest of our trip was spent in Munich before heading home.

 

The Schwartz/Prices have landed!

 

Viewing the 360 of the city after climbing to the top of St. Peter's church clocktower.  The climb itself was amazing up hundreds of stairs in the tower.

 

Marienplatz New Town Hall

 

This living Gold Statue was more fun than the Mary's Column gold statue.

 

Amazing church...

 

...after amazing church...

 

...after amazing church!   

 

Cheers from Aberly from the original Haufbrohaus!

 

And cheers from Emalyn!

 

Cheers and Merry Christmas from all of us!