Well its been a while since the last entry. The lead up to & celebration of Christmas, New Years, lots of family time, starting back at school, I had lost the blogging groove. It took some amazing rain to get me back. And my dance card is filling up so my entries may continue to be infrequent.
CHRISTMAS was great, all the traditional foods available, even pork for us non-muslims, & lots of European fare, no running out at the last minute. The kids had their best Christmas yet. Just at the perfect age to get into it of course. 3 little ones bouncing with excitement... They have learnt that Santa goes by sleigh & reindeer in some countries, tractor & sheep in NZ, surfboard in Hawaii, & by camel here in Oman. I'm not totally sure they quite believe in him but they were a little impressed that he ate most of the Christmas snack we left out. Mainly they are quite present focused. They seemed to enjoy their school nativity concert though. They still break out with "you will have a baby boy, son of god...etc" out of nowhere at times. Its a change from the super thrashed "twinkle twinkle little star & wheels on the bus, snakes on the bus, camels on the bus etc." I just wished they'd opened their mouths more to sing at the actual concert instead of saving the bellowing for private.
NEW YEARS was great for us, with a babysitter. We got to go out for the first time in a while, since our New Years when living in Tokyo turning 2003. Its a popular night though. All the parties & dinners, at the club & international hotels sell out very quick. We were lucky to squeeze in to a rooftop dinner with some friends at one of the international hotels & squish into their latin music nightclub afterwards. Clubbing here is very much a male past time & couples of course, but men are overly represented. And ocal women would not like the proximity to so many men, especially uncovered. Omani men & women who are not married are not allowed to be alone in rooms or cars or any place together. They have to be very public, & more often than not, in large mixed groups to socialise. Even in private homes when socialising or having family gatherings, apparently the genders are separated into 2 different rooms. In some restaurants, supermarkets & other public places there are sometimes separated queues or seating areas for men or families or women and mixed.
We took a drive to the DESERT & stayed a couple of nights. It was cooler at night but still warmish, like a North Island summers evening. It was quite incredible to see the sand & dunes & watch it disappear forever into the horizon. Awesome vistas, better than I'd anticipated. The sand is incredibly soft, I've never seen anything like it. I was expecting regular old, coarse beach sand but it was velveteen. The kids loved playing in it. It was the biggest sandpit they'd ever experienced. And we came across no nasty creatures. I don't know if I believe there are snakes & scorpions in Oman. Friends of ours did sight loads of sea snakes out on a boat but haven't seen any on land. One mother at school tried to convince me she'd just run over a baby snake until I pointed out it was in fact a shoelace. I did see squashed baby snakes on the padi field roads when biking to the schools in Japan & they didn't look like shoelaces. But apparently they're here & dogs get bitten & die after snooping around in the nooks & crannies in the ground.
CAMELS We saw lots of camels in the desert. The Bedouin walk them in long lines, gallop along the desert or put them in pens. As you drive you see camels in pens in the middle of nowhere. Often no houses or buildings, just camel pens. They were lovely, we didn't get spat at, & riding them is like riding a horse. If we can lose the kids one day, I'd love to go for a long desert trek by camel.
Seth went DUNE BASHING when out in the desert. Luckily the kids & I didn't go, in fact, I'll never, ever do it. He went for a very long time when it was supposed to be a relatively short journey, so they could come back & take us up the dune near camp for a sunset picnic. Turns out they lost a wheel after some silly car acrobatics, 20 odd kilometres further into the interior with no one in sight. Another vehicle also dune bashing did come across them & threw them a spade then took off. They managed to dig the wheel out & replace it. Meanwhile back at camp no one knew anything. I could see the camp people pacing around a bit but they didn't mention a thing to me & the kids as time ticked on & the sun got further down in the sky.
BODY BASHING. The sun had almost completely set when they got back but they took us up for a quick view from the dune before it got too dark. Wished we hadn't bothered. We drove like we were trying to have head on collisions with the dune. No car seats, just seatbelts. The kids were airborne but loving it, & I was just about sick my whole body & insides jelly from the bouncing, impacting vehicle. I couldn't speak nor stop trembling when we got to the top. I said I would walk back down after the car was nosed right to the edge of the dune we had to descend down. It was a vertical cliff, who in their right mind would drive a vehicle down there at a sharp angle!! After whispered assurances by Seth (we were whispering so not to alert the driver to my absolute fear) I did get back in the car. We went straight down over the edge & the driver went so slowly, so peacefully, it was beautiful. Nothing like the body assault climbing up. I completely see how they lost their wheel & slashed their tyres to shreds however.
The WINTER has been interesting, some days including Christmas it was suddenly overcast & cooler, going down to low 20sC. But then other days looking like a holiday destination catalogue - sunny, hot, high 20s with sunburn for the palest ones. I've found I pretty much don't burn here in Oman at all, in fact I'm relatively pale. I lathered sunscreen on during the summer & the heat made me avoid the sun & what I've discovered is it doesn't have that harsh UV bite of NZ. Feels extremely hot but no substance.
The RAIN... I've not seen so many happy, twittering faces excited at rain & mentionings of gumboots, wellies, home countries... It doesn't happen often & when it does within an hour everything is dried up as if it never rained. Not so at the moment. It has been raining over 24 hours, sometimes a little heavy. The environment isn't set up for large amounts of rain so it's a bit exciting. Puddles form, roads flood, wadis fill with water, motorways clog, 40 mins commutes turn to 3+ hour commutes, accidents happen, buildings leak, power cuts out, satellite tv stops, people don't go to work & schools close. Not our PDO school though, only if the electricity & the water is cut, does it close apparently. It was all very dramatic. I even noticed, work halted on the major road working sites. Now that is amazing as that is round the clock 24 hours, 7 days a week, public holidays, hot summer days or not. It never stops.
Someone mentioned it may rain, but we hung up our washing out as usual thinking it'll only be a bit, only to see it through the window the next morning saturated. It was so novel, I almost took a photo. The kids & I went puddle bashing on our way home from school, as it's fun in a 4wheel drive & tomorrow there have been rumours or reports for everyone to stay home, not go far as major flooding may occur as the mountain water makes it way down to our level through the wadis. However I think Seth is keen to go driving around the suburban wadis to look for any mini raging torrents. It's almost as exciting as having heavy snow during our time living near the Japan Alps.
KAIJA is coming out of her shell slowly at school. She finally knows one of her teacher's names. Last term she really took to Coles teacher - was her no.1 fan, knew her name, used to jump up & down to greet her (as she'd see her twice a day at drop offs & pick ups), she'd even fight fiercely with Cole at home over who had the right to use Miss Ellie's name. With the new term, some of her kindy peers moved on to Cole's class & now she has more attention, & the teachers are reaching out to her a bit more. She loves going to kindy, never cried, always wanted to go but just didn't have a repore. Hopefully it is changing. Good thing is next school year, starting September, Miss Ellie will be her teacher.
SWIMMING has started at the pool now it has reopened in winter after repairs. I am helping out each week with some of the other mums as we have to walk the kids up the road to the club pool, undress them, hand them over to a team of instructors & then dry, dress & walk them back afterwards without losing any of their clothes or dressing them in someone elses. I do that a few times a day for 3 little ones, 21 4yr olds is a bit of a handful too. No wonder the teachers wanted help. It's all very cute though. Don't know about doing it come summer time. Blinking will break me out in an exhausted sweat in that heat. Maybe they'll cancel classes for May & June. Its hard for the kids too, all holding hands, walking with bags on their backs, they struggle a bit with slowness, distractions & swimming bags. In the heat of spring/summer it will be a challenge. And for the mums who aren't allowed to show much more skin than a tshirt & long shorts permits. I've heard people say they don't go outside after 9.00am in the morning and the walk will have everyone soaked in sweat.
Its been a month since I entered a blog & the site automatically is coming up in arabic until I negotiate my way through & get my password entered then I get back to English. It's the same with Google. It comes up in Arabic unless I use the NZ suffix. Oh well more fun & games. I'll have to learn arabic script. Seth should be starting classes this week which will be good.
Looks like the blogsite isn't letting me use some of the tools maybe to do with the arabic version so no photos for now. With any luck it'll be workable another time.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Monday, December 17, 2007
11: Gym musings - 18 Dec 2007
SORE LEGS - SILLY-I-KNOW-BEST INDUCED
Well, being a bit too clever for my own good I went like a bat out of hell at the gym.
Its the school holidays this week & it seems that the small group that does Salsa aerobics have kids & so the classes have been cancelled due to low attendance. To not give up on my lets-lose-weight campaign I finally had no choice but to get myself into the gym proper & typically, the result was overdoing it. (Now I can't do any exercise so will lose days.) It wasn't a conscious thing.
There was a woman in the gym, dressed for the winter climes (24-29C), woolly tracksuit & cardigan on, walking around talking to people. Turns out she works there & was the gym advisor. Well judging a book by its cover, I assumed she knew nothing & was just one of those super bossy people who likes telling everyone else how to do everything. When it was my turn to be interrogated, I smugly said I'd been coming for a whole 3 weeks (didn't mention it was only Salsa dancing, not weights) & as I mentioned before, went like a bat out of hell, not listening to Ms Woolly Valley's advice.
Got all excited over some give-you-muscly-calves machine & boy!!! am I paying for that now. I'm walking like a squat old beggar woman & very slow too - Seth can testify for that, as last night when out shopping he walked metres ahead of me because I was so slow apparently. (Nothing to do with my attractive posture & walk of course).
Unfortunately, my legs got worse not better in the 2 days since I overdid things so I've been pretty much stuck at home with the 3 delightful ones, & haven't ventured out as I can't possibly keep my dignity & run around after them in public, & I've lost my speed. Wincing with pain as I shuffle along & constantly stopping to stretch my calves which helps only very slightly doing nothing to straighten my legs or posture. So we've been stuck being tigers in our cave for the last couple of days. And that doesn't get boring!!
I've missed some phone calls too, as I was upstairs only on the 2nd level & on hearing the phone (we only have one of our 7 jacks connected) I then had the thought to get up but by the time I was upright & contemplating the stairs, the phone calls had already stopped.
Wonder if it was the plumber who thought that by taping electrical tape around the pipes under the kitchen sink, that it would actually stop leaking a waterfall. It hasn't. A hint for any like minded do-it-yourselfers out there. The maid has also got in on the swing of things & took our gaffa tape & wrapped that around some more. Goodness me, who needs rubber seals, tool tightened connections, plumbing tape & silicon. Not us, that's for sure.
So I've finally been making the opportunity to utilise the free gym now that I can wrangle some time for myself. The revelation is dawning upon me. During my 3 pregnancies I put on 30+kgs over my pre-pregnancy weight & as the babies popped out only lost about 5 kgs with each baby. I'm now 20kg over which is what I've fluctuated on when not pregnant, but at least some of that is now newly acquired muscle. But the figures actually now mean something to me visibly & if I keep on trying for fitness, maybe some day soon my kids will actually know me as a slim person.
Funny thing is, since I've been in Oman, with the heat, the running around, the stomach bugs I've been feeling like super slim Mrs NZ. Even our maid kindly commented in some detail about how I'd lost weight. However when I went & hooked the video camera up to watch some footage we took the other week of our cherubs in their nativity play, I caught a glimpse of my super svelte self on film & was horrified. After all the compliments I was astounded to see the chubby checker on the screen. I think I have the opposite problem of anorexics, because I feel so slim & fit & energetic & when I look in the mirror I see a slim person. It was only seeing my glorious self blown up on the tv, that reality really hit. A bit of a shock it was & may have been the pre-cursor to the crouching beggar woman stance I now have.
Interesting thing about the gym is that it is nice & new, has lots of great machines, mens & womens gyms, helpful advisors, aerobics classes etc & the most amazing view of a beautiful coast. Talking to a few locals & westies, seems a number of them actually prefer to join the health clubs & pool facilities of the international hotels not too far away. But at substantial cost however. Their excuse is that the facilities aren't great (no jacuzzi & spa - because they're essential for keeeping fit) & they don't want to see company people but if they're all going to the hotel for exercising & recreation they're still going to see each other there. I'm not complaining though because it's never too busy. I had thought about joining a gym at our local shops - its even walking distance & also looks good, but it's not free, parking would sometimes be difficult & fretting about body coverage in the Islamic setting, just doesn't make it worthwhile. Once I do the kids' school drop I just continue along camp for 2 mins, do the gym & can even stop at the beach side bar for something refreshing after as I peer out across the water towards Iran. Couldn't be much easier or pleasant. No excuses then. Except for sore calves.
Deciding to do something more adventurous with the kiddlywinks decided to do some Paper machier. They loved being able to rip up paper & make a huge mess, then stick their hands & everything else in glue & wipe it all over balloons. But then....they got tired & bored & it was left to Mum to finish the balloons. As per usual they were over it in 5 mins & busy igniting tantrums in each other. But I had fun & even Pushpa the maid joined me. Only one of the balloons has survived its shape overnight as they got pummelled a bit. Nice thing was they dry quite quickly outside in the heat. The next part of the activity scheduled for today or tomorrow is painting them. Can't wait for that. My favourite!!!
Think we'll go to the beach instead. Dad's home for EID break & my legs are loosening up. Time to get sand in our hair, eyes, mouth, togs, towels, bags, food, drinks, car, house. PERFECT!
Well, being a bit too clever for my own good I went like a bat out of hell at the gym.
Its the school holidays this week & it seems that the small group that does Salsa aerobics have kids & so the classes have been cancelled due to low attendance. To not give up on my lets-lose-weight campaign I finally had no choice but to get myself into the gym proper & typically, the result was overdoing it. (Now I can't do any exercise so will lose days.) It wasn't a conscious thing.
There was a woman in the gym, dressed for the winter climes (24-29C), woolly tracksuit & cardigan on, walking around talking to people. Turns out she works there & was the gym advisor. Well judging a book by its cover, I assumed she knew nothing & was just one of those super bossy people who likes telling everyone else how to do everything. When it was my turn to be interrogated, I smugly said I'd been coming for a whole 3 weeks (didn't mention it was only Salsa dancing, not weights) & as I mentioned before, went like a bat out of hell, not listening to Ms Woolly Valley's advice.
Got all excited over some give-you-muscly-calves machine & boy!!! am I paying for that now. I'm walking like a squat old beggar woman & very slow too - Seth can testify for that, as last night when out shopping he walked metres ahead of me because I was so slow apparently. (Nothing to do with my attractive posture & walk of course).
Unfortunately, my legs got worse not better in the 2 days since I overdid things so I've been pretty much stuck at home with the 3 delightful ones, & haven't ventured out as I can't possibly keep my dignity & run around after them in public, & I've lost my speed. Wincing with pain as I shuffle along & constantly stopping to stretch my calves which helps only very slightly doing nothing to straighten my legs or posture. So we've been stuck being tigers in our cave for the last couple of days. And that doesn't get boring!!
I've missed some phone calls too, as I was upstairs only on the 2nd level & on hearing the phone (we only have one of our 7 jacks connected) I then had the thought to get up but by the time I was upright & contemplating the stairs, the phone calls had already stopped.
Wonder if it was the plumber who thought that by taping electrical tape around the pipes under the kitchen sink, that it would actually stop leaking a waterfall. It hasn't. A hint for any like minded do-it-yourselfers out there. The maid has also got in on the swing of things & took our gaffa tape & wrapped that around some more. Goodness me, who needs rubber seals, tool tightened connections, plumbing tape & silicon. Not us, that's for sure.
So I've finally been making the opportunity to utilise the free gym now that I can wrangle some time for myself. The revelation is dawning upon me. During my 3 pregnancies I put on 30+kgs over my pre-pregnancy weight & as the babies popped out only lost about 5 kgs with each baby. I'm now 20kg over which is what I've fluctuated on when not pregnant, but at least some of that is now newly acquired muscle. But the figures actually now mean something to me visibly & if I keep on trying for fitness, maybe some day soon my kids will actually know me as a slim person.
Funny thing is, since I've been in Oman, with the heat, the running around, the stomach bugs I've been feeling like super slim Mrs NZ. Even our maid kindly commented in some detail about how I'd lost weight. However when I went & hooked the video camera up to watch some footage we took the other week of our cherubs in their nativity play, I caught a glimpse of my super svelte self on film & was horrified. After all the compliments I was astounded to see the chubby checker on the screen. I think I have the opposite problem of anorexics, because I feel so slim & fit & energetic & when I look in the mirror I see a slim person. It was only seeing my glorious self blown up on the tv, that reality really hit. A bit of a shock it was & may have been the pre-cursor to the crouching beggar woman stance I now have.
Interesting thing about the gym is that it is nice & new, has lots of great machines, mens & womens gyms, helpful advisors, aerobics classes etc & the most amazing view of a beautiful coast. Talking to a few locals & westies, seems a number of them actually prefer to join the health clubs & pool facilities of the international hotels not too far away. But at substantial cost however. Their excuse is that the facilities aren't great (no jacuzzi & spa - because they're essential for keeeping fit) & they don't want to see company people but if they're all going to the hotel for exercising & recreation they're still going to see each other there. I'm not complaining though because it's never too busy. I had thought about joining a gym at our local shops - its even walking distance & also looks good, but it's not free, parking would sometimes be difficult & fretting about body coverage in the Islamic setting, just doesn't make it worthwhile. Once I do the kids' school drop I just continue along camp for 2 mins, do the gym & can even stop at the beach side bar for something refreshing after as I peer out across the water towards Iran. Couldn't be much easier or pleasant. No excuses then. Except for sore calves.
Deciding to do something more adventurous with the kiddlywinks decided to do some Paper machier. They loved being able to rip up paper & make a huge mess, then stick their hands & everything else in glue & wipe it all over balloons. But then....they got tired & bored & it was left to Mum to finish the balloons. As per usual they were over it in 5 mins & busy igniting tantrums in each other. But I had fun & even Pushpa the maid joined me. Only one of the balloons has survived its shape overnight as they got pummelled a bit. Nice thing was they dry quite quickly outside in the heat. The next part of the activity scheduled for today or tomorrow is painting them. Can't wait for that. My favourite!!!
Think we'll go to the beach instead. Dad's home for EID break & my legs are loosening up. Time to get sand in our hair, eyes, mouth, togs, towels, bags, food, drinks, car, house. PERFECT!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
10: New House Rantings etc - 5 Dec 2007
HANDY MEN
It's been a building maintenance couple of weeks. We have moved into our new home which is very nice, new, spacious. But the little niggly things such as the burst pipe flooding our roof into a swimming pool & trying to do the same to our courtyard where the overflow was directed, pipes bouncing & hammering in the dark night, sounding like monsters, drains flooding into our rooms, water leaking from the plumbing, toilets constantly flushing, machine-gun sound washing machine, no gate key, & still no curtains.
Furniture received that wasn't ordered, furniture ordered & never received. Satellite TV half installed & then left in no mans land. The phone connection that was in everyone's too hard basket. Tradespeople who never come. Every day is an interesting adventure.
A neighbour obviously also given the wrong key to get into her house but persistently trying to open our gate to our house on a fairly regular basis in hopes of what...hoping the gate will magically open & we, our 3 noisy children & personal effects will disappear miraculously?
The building issues explanation - perhaps due to being Egyptian built, so suggested a tradesman? Good at enormous pyramids that can stand the test of time, but not plumbing & drainage. I guess pyramids don't have plumbing.
I discovered through word of mouth the housing department is notorious for not being quick, losing requests & paperwork, never getting around to some tasks, & sometimes getting it wrong. I feel so ridiculous constantly calling the something-is-wrong-with-our-house hotline because as soon as they come & sometimes just after we make a call, we discover another thing has gone wrong. Or they come & fix something, only for it to become a different & worse problem. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped answering our calls. We must be very annonying.
If we had access to a good placemakers or mitre 10 mega we could probably fix most stuff ourselves with a bit of professional advice. Haven't seen any hardware or plumbing stores. And it did take 5 weeks of sharp looking about & asking to find sink plugs so baths & basins could be filled. No one could help, we ended up striking plug gold on our own.
I don't think it's a very do-it-yourself country. Although there is the temptation, just not the infrastructure. Some husbands think that they can connect private phone line wiring into the main telephone wiring system just because the phone rep hangs up due to him being on break when a phone call is received. He did give us his personal mobile number though. Or husbands try to nut out pressure pipe problems on their lone cowboy selves 4 stories up on the roof in the dark at 11pm at night. They can be good at fixing dented washing machines however.
In our temp home, a plumber we called out told us that the leaking & flooding from our sink drains were nothing to worry about - just normal for plumbing in Oman. Thankfully we've not been given that explanation for this new house. Still the fix-ups can be just as awkward. The electrical & phone sockets taken apart & put back together only to have no change.
Communication is a little of a problem. A lot of the trades & domestic workers can speak English - but their version. If you listen hard, to the full message, let it sink in & try & decipher it, you think you might know what they are trying to say, but not too exactly on the details. When we speak grammatically correct, pronounced-correctly English they don't hear it. We could just as well have spoken Japanese. If you repeat it enough, with emphasis, slowly & try actions, suddenly they realise that you are in fact talking out loud & to them. But the message is a bit fuzzy. Oh we've had some laughs & some frustrations. But luckily it doesn't really matter if things aren't attended to in a big hurry. Usually we get there in the end. Well I'm hoping so.
We finally got our land line connected. Different men. Gone was our personal mobile buddy & in his place 2 of the wise old men. And wise they were, they came just in time to knock off at 1pm so instead of making all our phone sockets work they hooked up only one. Only 1 of about 8 in a 3 level house. I think we'll persevere with bugging them until we get the others working. It's interesting to see when the phone rings how often we'll get around to answering it before the caller hangs up. Especially if we remember the company rules that we must not run on the tile floors & walk slowly, sensibly down stairwells holding the railings. It's like the OSH rules. One of our visitors caught me doing all of this & more the other day and helped inform me pretty quick. I thought he was joking at first. But no, turns out he was for real. It's like with driving on camp or even on public roads. If I have to answer or use my mobile or "GSM" as its called here. I pretend I am scratching my head a lot to disguise my secret talking. You're not even allowed to use hands-free in cars.
4-WHEEL-DRIVE
Little tip for shoppers. If you are planning on shopping at the Sultan Centre (a supermarket/hypermarket) "the warehouse" kind of place don't try without a 4-wheel drive. I think the road & car park were affected by Cyclone Gonu & it kind of isn't there. Even in a 4-wheel drive it is a very slow, bumpy, concentrated wee drive. Goodness me, who needs off-roading in the desert when you've got the Sultan Centre drive. The kids love it. But it probably won't be long before its a levelled, graded, even tarsealed & curbed road. New roads, motorway on/off ramps & intersections seem to appear magically overnight whilst we sleep. It's like a road construction Santa Claus has been to visit. It's actually the Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan road workers hard at work 24 hrs a day. I hope there are different shifts. They also work right through the night. I hope they make themselves a lot of money and get to do something great with it.
I think Auckland's harbour bridge plans would be chicken feed for these crews. There'd probably be 3 crossings up & running within 6 months. Of course cheap, imported labour & difficult working conditions are involved. I heard that in summer they stop announcing the temperatures because once it hits 50C outside, outdoor work has to stop, so to avoid that happening they keep it quiet. Don't know if that is across the whole country or just for the company. But even over 35C! My goodness! Surely I misheard, maybe it was over 40C and they stop work.
FURNITURE
Yay! NZ freight, furniture & personal effects due to arrive tomorrow. Inshallah! Its better than Christmas for us. To get all our bits n pieces & home comforts, shoes, clothes, toys & life re-organised.
SOUTH AMERICAN FLAVOUR
Seth met a Venezuelan family during our Resident Visa process who are very lovely. They invited us to their 30th birthday celebration. Excellent singing! They didn't start dancing unfortunately. Wow their culture is very festive. There are about 30 families from Venezuela with the company & there were a few at the party. They sang a really great, long version of their birthday song which ends with the tune we know as the birthday song. It was pumping, I thought there was going to be dancing on the tables any moment. It was great, we took our kids & stayed quite late. All the kids were great playing together making their own fun. Ours conked out in a bedroom before long.
I also started a salsa aerobics class this week. I had intended to all along but the festive evening prompted me. Its gentle, slow pace & introduction of moves means I might eventually learn it. I have to work on the hip & shoulder wiggles though. There must be a secret to the techniques. It wasn't overly aerobic a workout so perfect but certainly made me feel my legs & tummy the next day. It was like what wearing high heels does to me.
CHRISTMAS
This month is huge with things going on. Every culture has its own celebrations. This week we had a Sinterklaas who left gingerbread biscuit men in our childrens smelly shoes left out at school in their classrooms. They also left black handprints & completely messed up the classroom like vandals. This carry on was fully embraced by the school. A camping tent was pitched at the front of the school with a loudspeaker of snoring coming out of it all day yesterday. This is the Dutch event & although I've no idea what its about it is really fun! The kids were jumping out of their skin with excitement right from kindy through to the 11/12 yr olds.
Then this morning 2 people dressed almost like jokers or clowns ran around with huge sacks. They had painted their hands, feet & faces completely black. Apparently they are Sinterklass' helpers. One is naughty & one nice. They were a lot of fun & handed out heaps of little ginger button cookies & sweets. The whole school was out in the carpark with a speaker of dutch children singing something at full volume - concert level volume. Suddenly, a little surreally, a fully dressed Santa Claus appeared on a beautiful horse who loved to eat the little ginger biscuits. It really was so amazing that the school went to so much effort. I think the Dutch & their celebrations are also going to be quite fun.
SCHOOL
School is so much fun. It was Cole's teacher, Miss Ellie's 30th birthday today & the kids had a big party & balloons & masks & pizza & cake. A few weeks ago it was the teacher Helpers birthday Also a class party, cards, presents etc... As you can imagine It really helps the kids to love going to school. Every parent of every nationality I speak to say their kids absolutely love school. You can feel the vibe from all the kids, even the older ones.
We had our very first parent-teacher meetings ever. It felt it was all a little overly serious considering we're talking 3 & 4 year olds but good to do all the same. I think there is a focus on having a high academic level especially within the British system which is great. I'm fairly relaxed though as I'm more worried that they love going, & learn confidence, sociability, try all sorts of exciting things. I'll worry about the academic side later, give them a bit extra help out of school if we need & even do a bit of homeschooling to learn about NZ things. Plenty of NZers from all backgrounds do well when they travel abroad or do their OE's so I'm not going to fret about jumping through hoops yet. It's an exciting curriculum here but a vacuum of NZ/Maori awareness of course.
PARENT/TEACHER MEETS
Its always a curiosity to find how your child comes across out of home. Cole has settled in really well. Apparently it's as if he was always there, part of the class. Never instigates the mischief but wholeheartedly embraces it when others get up to no good. Friendly, bright, smiley, tries all the different activities. Can sit down & focus on an activity with a teacher alone & get on with it in a group. He had a few issues with the one difficult child who I've seen in action, and oh my goodness! a bit difficult with everyone. When you meet the parents you can see why. It's like pets & their owners. You can match the children with their parents through personality.
Kaija was another story. Apparently she is mute. Doesn't talk to teachers or other children. Loves doing the arts n crafts & playing cooking in the kitchen. Quite different from at home. They didn't even know if she likes going. At home she's all puzzles & books, talking & tantrums. She absolutely loves going to school. I think she is doing all the stuff she hasn't got at home.
We currently keep away from doing messy stuff as it's all in freight & can get wildly out of control very quickly due to the 3 of them. This brings to mind what we all did with the tomato sauce tonight. We lapsed & left the bottle on the table as we had a kitchen chat & all of a sudden a fully red messy child or messy pete (the sinterklass helper) appeared showing off plate, table, self. All 3 were hooting of course & then the usual chant "CC made a mess, CC made a mess." She does get the majority of the blame, even when it's not her but I can see why. She is easy prey. After I cleaned that one up, she delighted in doing the same with the soap. She snuck back to the bathroom & lathered the hand soap all over her body cackling away, thinking herself hilarious. I now have found why keys for every single door in the house is useful. (They even put locks on the fridge to keep out unwanted hands) Good for dieting I suppose. Now, as the kids have learnt to open them, even if they stand on chairs they can not unlock them. I don't care about keeping domestic help out but will be handy to keep out children.
NATIVITY PLAY
Cole & Kaija are involved in a nativity concert. A few songs around the nativity scene. We've been, or should I say mummy has been singing her heart out like billy-i-o. The kids are ok, depending on their mood. But whenever we get to practice they just stare at all the other kids or start getting up to mischief. IT is sOOO cute though. We are in the right country too because this is the land of gold, frankincense & myrrh - for real. And it is the land of dishdashas that make great angel outfits & perfect shepherd & wise men costumes. I'm getting quite excited. It is so adorable seeing all the kids at practice even though they're all over the place. The mums will have to sit at the front so we can help with the singing. A lot of the kids get very sidetracked. They are only 3-5 years old. SO cute. Hope my video camera arrives, found & sorted out before then.
NZ BIT
Have come across another new NZer, well NZ born from Oamaru way but lived in Oz for 20 years. It has been a breath of fresh air. Sometimes is good to talk to someone who knows what "noggin" is amongst other colloquialisms & doesn't wear her class patch on her shoulder. The English seem somewhat weighed down by their class. It's a bit schizophrenic being around some as they can be very hot & cold. It's all very formal like you're meeting for the very first time, each time you meet. The Australians & NZers usually start yelling out as they approach & pick up in the middle of a conversation from a previous encounter. It's quite a giggle starting to notice the differences. Some of the Easties are a bit focused too on trying to place you in their hierarchy, directly trying to find out what job the husband does & then often that gives them no idea so I get asked if Im on or off camp, & if I'm in transit or permanent housing. It feels a bit like where did you grow up or what school did you go to leading questions. As I'm terribly opposed to such class structures I do my best to subtly break the rules & put people off track. I also talk to various ethnicities & have a giggle if I can. I think you naturally gravitate to your ilk but it can get a little pigeon holed sticking to your group.
Seth met another NZer yesterday. I think the husband of a relieving teacher we met early on. He was very chatty & has done a lot of the big explores into the desert & beyond. Hopefully they can be helpful when we get around to camping trips in the desert etc. I think I bumped into his kiwi wife at the gym. And in typical NZ style she was the one who had befriended a local fully dressed in the garb at the gym, chattin away. If we get a little bit of longing for the NZ accent we just need to turn the TV on to Al Jazeera. Very nice channel, stolen a lot of BBC news readers & also got a couple of kiwi accents on there. It must be the International English speaking version of AL Jazeera. They don't show any horrific footage either....Anyway, enough of my musings. Hope none of it gets us in hot water.
It's been a building maintenance couple of weeks. We have moved into our new home which is very nice, new, spacious. But the little niggly things such as the burst pipe flooding our roof into a swimming pool & trying to do the same to our courtyard where the overflow was directed, pipes bouncing & hammering in the dark night, sounding like monsters, drains flooding into our rooms, water leaking from the plumbing, toilets constantly flushing, machine-gun sound washing machine, no gate key, & still no curtains.
Furniture received that wasn't ordered, furniture ordered & never received. Satellite TV half installed & then left in no mans land. The phone connection that was in everyone's too hard basket. Tradespeople who never come. Every day is an interesting adventure.
A neighbour obviously also given the wrong key to get into her house but persistently trying to open our gate to our house on a fairly regular basis in hopes of what...hoping the gate will magically open & we, our 3 noisy children & personal effects will disappear miraculously?
The building issues explanation - perhaps due to being Egyptian built, so suggested a tradesman? Good at enormous pyramids that can stand the test of time, but not plumbing & drainage. I guess pyramids don't have plumbing.
I discovered through word of mouth the housing department is notorious for not being quick, losing requests & paperwork, never getting around to some tasks, & sometimes getting it wrong. I feel so ridiculous constantly calling the something-is-wrong-with-our-house hotline because as soon as they come & sometimes just after we make a call, we discover another thing has gone wrong. Or they come & fix something, only for it to become a different & worse problem. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped answering our calls. We must be very annonying.
If we had access to a good placemakers or mitre 10 mega we could probably fix most stuff ourselves with a bit of professional advice. Haven't seen any hardware or plumbing stores. And it did take 5 weeks of sharp looking about & asking to find sink plugs so baths & basins could be filled. No one could help, we ended up striking plug gold on our own.
I don't think it's a very do-it-yourself country. Although there is the temptation, just not the infrastructure. Some husbands think that they can connect private phone line wiring into the main telephone wiring system just because the phone rep hangs up due to him being on break when a phone call is received. He did give us his personal mobile number though. Or husbands try to nut out pressure pipe problems on their lone cowboy selves 4 stories up on the roof in the dark at 11pm at night. They can be good at fixing dented washing machines however.
In our temp home, a plumber we called out told us that the leaking & flooding from our sink drains were nothing to worry about - just normal for plumbing in Oman. Thankfully we've not been given that explanation for this new house. Still the fix-ups can be just as awkward. The electrical & phone sockets taken apart & put back together only to have no change.
Communication is a little of a problem. A lot of the trades & domestic workers can speak English - but their version. If you listen hard, to the full message, let it sink in & try & decipher it, you think you might know what they are trying to say, but not too exactly on the details. When we speak grammatically correct, pronounced-correctly English they don't hear it. We could just as well have spoken Japanese. If you repeat it enough, with emphasis, slowly & try actions, suddenly they realise that you are in fact talking out loud & to them. But the message is a bit fuzzy. Oh we've had some laughs & some frustrations. But luckily it doesn't really matter if things aren't attended to in a big hurry. Usually we get there in the end. Well I'm hoping so.
We finally got our land line connected. Different men. Gone was our personal mobile buddy & in his place 2 of the wise old men. And wise they were, they came just in time to knock off at 1pm so instead of making all our phone sockets work they hooked up only one. Only 1 of about 8 in a 3 level house. I think we'll persevere with bugging them until we get the others working. It's interesting to see when the phone rings how often we'll get around to answering it before the caller hangs up. Especially if we remember the company rules that we must not run on the tile floors & walk slowly, sensibly down stairwells holding the railings. It's like the OSH rules. One of our visitors caught me doing all of this & more the other day and helped inform me pretty quick. I thought he was joking at first. But no, turns out he was for real. It's like with driving on camp or even on public roads. If I have to answer or use my mobile or "GSM" as its called here. I pretend I am scratching my head a lot to disguise my secret talking. You're not even allowed to use hands-free in cars.
4-WHEEL-DRIVE
Little tip for shoppers. If you are planning on shopping at the Sultan Centre (a supermarket/hypermarket) "the warehouse" kind of place don't try without a 4-wheel drive. I think the road & car park were affected by Cyclone Gonu & it kind of isn't there. Even in a 4-wheel drive it is a very slow, bumpy, concentrated wee drive. Goodness me, who needs off-roading in the desert when you've got the Sultan Centre drive. The kids love it. But it probably won't be long before its a levelled, graded, even tarsealed & curbed road. New roads, motorway on/off ramps & intersections seem to appear magically overnight whilst we sleep. It's like a road construction Santa Claus has been to visit. It's actually the Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan road workers hard at work 24 hrs a day. I hope there are different shifts. They also work right through the night. I hope they make themselves a lot of money and get to do something great with it.
I think Auckland's harbour bridge plans would be chicken feed for these crews. There'd probably be 3 crossings up & running within 6 months. Of course cheap, imported labour & difficult working conditions are involved. I heard that in summer they stop announcing the temperatures because once it hits 50C outside, outdoor work has to stop, so to avoid that happening they keep it quiet. Don't know if that is across the whole country or just for the company. But even over 35C! My goodness! Surely I misheard, maybe it was over 40C and they stop work.
FURNITURE
Yay! NZ freight, furniture & personal effects due to arrive tomorrow. Inshallah! Its better than Christmas for us. To get all our bits n pieces & home comforts, shoes, clothes, toys & life re-organised.
SOUTH AMERICAN FLAVOUR
Seth met a Venezuelan family during our Resident Visa process who are very lovely. They invited us to their 30th birthday celebration. Excellent singing! They didn't start dancing unfortunately. Wow their culture is very festive. There are about 30 families from Venezuela with the company & there were a few at the party. They sang a really great, long version of their birthday song which ends with the tune we know as the birthday song. It was pumping, I thought there was going to be dancing on the tables any moment. It was great, we took our kids & stayed quite late. All the kids were great playing together making their own fun. Ours conked out in a bedroom before long.
I also started a salsa aerobics class this week. I had intended to all along but the festive evening prompted me. Its gentle, slow pace & introduction of moves means I might eventually learn it. I have to work on the hip & shoulder wiggles though. There must be a secret to the techniques. It wasn't overly aerobic a workout so perfect but certainly made me feel my legs & tummy the next day. It was like what wearing high heels does to me.
CHRISTMAS
This month is huge with things going on. Every culture has its own celebrations. This week we had a Sinterklaas who left gingerbread biscuit men in our childrens smelly shoes left out at school in their classrooms. They also left black handprints & completely messed up the classroom like vandals. This carry on was fully embraced by the school. A camping tent was pitched at the front of the school with a loudspeaker of snoring coming out of it all day yesterday. This is the Dutch event & although I've no idea what its about it is really fun! The kids were jumping out of their skin with excitement right from kindy through to the 11/12 yr olds.
Then this morning 2 people dressed almost like jokers or clowns ran around with huge sacks. They had painted their hands, feet & faces completely black. Apparently they are Sinterklass' helpers. One is naughty & one nice. They were a lot of fun & handed out heaps of little ginger button cookies & sweets. The whole school was out in the carpark with a speaker of dutch children singing something at full volume - concert level volume. Suddenly, a little surreally, a fully dressed Santa Claus appeared on a beautiful horse who loved to eat the little ginger biscuits. It really was so amazing that the school went to so much effort. I think the Dutch & their celebrations are also going to be quite fun.
SCHOOL
School is so much fun. It was Cole's teacher, Miss Ellie's 30th birthday today & the kids had a big party & balloons & masks & pizza & cake. A few weeks ago it was the teacher Helpers birthday Also a class party, cards, presents etc... As you can imagine It really helps the kids to love going to school. Every parent of every nationality I speak to say their kids absolutely love school. You can feel the vibe from all the kids, even the older ones.
We had our very first parent-teacher meetings ever. It felt it was all a little overly serious considering we're talking 3 & 4 year olds but good to do all the same. I think there is a focus on having a high academic level especially within the British system which is great. I'm fairly relaxed though as I'm more worried that they love going, & learn confidence, sociability, try all sorts of exciting things. I'll worry about the academic side later, give them a bit extra help out of school if we need & even do a bit of homeschooling to learn about NZ things. Plenty of NZers from all backgrounds do well when they travel abroad or do their OE's so I'm not going to fret about jumping through hoops yet. It's an exciting curriculum here but a vacuum of NZ/Maori awareness of course.
PARENT/TEACHER MEETS
Its always a curiosity to find how your child comes across out of home. Cole has settled in really well. Apparently it's as if he was always there, part of the class. Never instigates the mischief but wholeheartedly embraces it when others get up to no good. Friendly, bright, smiley, tries all the different activities. Can sit down & focus on an activity with a teacher alone & get on with it in a group. He had a few issues with the one difficult child who I've seen in action, and oh my goodness! a bit difficult with everyone. When you meet the parents you can see why. It's like pets & their owners. You can match the children with their parents through personality.
Kaija was another story. Apparently she is mute. Doesn't talk to teachers or other children. Loves doing the arts n crafts & playing cooking in the kitchen. Quite different from at home. They didn't even know if she likes going. At home she's all puzzles & books, talking & tantrums. She absolutely loves going to school. I think she is doing all the stuff she hasn't got at home.
We currently keep away from doing messy stuff as it's all in freight & can get wildly out of control very quickly due to the 3 of them. This brings to mind what we all did with the tomato sauce tonight. We lapsed & left the bottle on the table as we had a kitchen chat & all of a sudden a fully red messy child or messy pete (the sinterklass helper) appeared showing off plate, table, self. All 3 were hooting of course & then the usual chant "CC made a mess, CC made a mess." She does get the majority of the blame, even when it's not her but I can see why. She is easy prey. After I cleaned that one up, she delighted in doing the same with the soap. She snuck back to the bathroom & lathered the hand soap all over her body cackling away, thinking herself hilarious. I now have found why keys for every single door in the house is useful. (They even put locks on the fridge to keep out unwanted hands) Good for dieting I suppose. Now, as the kids have learnt to open them, even if they stand on chairs they can not unlock them. I don't care about keeping domestic help out but will be handy to keep out children.
NATIVITY PLAY
Cole & Kaija are involved in a nativity concert. A few songs around the nativity scene. We've been, or should I say mummy has been singing her heart out like billy-i-o. The kids are ok, depending on their mood. But whenever we get to practice they just stare at all the other kids or start getting up to mischief. IT is sOOO cute though. We are in the right country too because this is the land of gold, frankincense & myrrh - for real. And it is the land of dishdashas that make great angel outfits & perfect shepherd & wise men costumes. I'm getting quite excited. It is so adorable seeing all the kids at practice even though they're all over the place. The mums will have to sit at the front so we can help with the singing. A lot of the kids get very sidetracked. They are only 3-5 years old. SO cute. Hope my video camera arrives, found & sorted out before then.
NZ BIT
Have come across another new NZer, well NZ born from Oamaru way but lived in Oz for 20 years. It has been a breath of fresh air. Sometimes is good to talk to someone who knows what "noggin" is amongst other colloquialisms & doesn't wear her class patch on her shoulder. The English seem somewhat weighed down by their class. It's a bit schizophrenic being around some as they can be very hot & cold. It's all very formal like you're meeting for the very first time, each time you meet. The Australians & NZers usually start yelling out as they approach & pick up in the middle of a conversation from a previous encounter. It's quite a giggle starting to notice the differences. Some of the Easties are a bit focused too on trying to place you in their hierarchy, directly trying to find out what job the husband does & then often that gives them no idea so I get asked if Im on or off camp, & if I'm in transit or permanent housing. It feels a bit like where did you grow up or what school did you go to leading questions. As I'm terribly opposed to such class structures I do my best to subtly break the rules & put people off track. I also talk to various ethnicities & have a giggle if I can. I think you naturally gravitate to your ilk but it can get a little pigeon holed sticking to your group.
Seth met another NZer yesterday. I think the husband of a relieving teacher we met early on. He was very chatty & has done a lot of the big explores into the desert & beyond. Hopefully they can be helpful when we get around to camping trips in the desert etc. I think I bumped into his kiwi wife at the gym. And in typical NZ style she was the one who had befriended a local fully dressed in the garb at the gym, chattin away. If we get a little bit of longing for the NZ accent we just need to turn the TV on to Al Jazeera. Very nice channel, stolen a lot of BBC news readers & also got a couple of kiwi accents on there. It must be the International English speaking version of AL Jazeera. They don't show any horrific footage either....Anyway, enough of my musings. Hope none of it gets us in hot water.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
9: Three Rolls of Toilet Paper... - 14 Nov 2007
3 ROLLS OF TOILET PAPER...
Three rolls of toilet paper, a lot of it unravelled, shower gel, shampoo & conditioner. All of this is just what I collected out of my bed. Siena has always enjoyed ferreting in bathrooms, taking the contents & relocating & often emptying them elsewhere. We learnt to keep all the bathroom doors closed. However here, with it being so hot we try to leave them open so the air con from other rooms can make it's way around. So instead of hopping into bed with the usual toys, books, clothes, jigsaw pieces, & shoes, now I'm finding bathroom items, some of them open & spilling. Our bedspread, or should I say the company's, gets fresh toothpaste spots daily.
KITTENS
One of my four little hungry cats I thought may be a mummy, is. Today she let us see her four kittens. They're quite old (not newborns) & look healthy. They do stick to her but are walking around & could eat food I suspect. No wonder she has been so hungry. I was getting annoyed with her for being so greedy & taking all the other cats' food. Then she would disappear for ages. She was obviously feeding her little ones with milk.
FIREWORKS
We got to enjoy a great Guy Fawkes night. The company has a party at their beach. It's like a miniature version of those free in-the-park festivities that are held in the domain. The club area was packed with cars - the majority 4 wheel drive monsters. There was a foodie area with shwarmas & Indian & other aromatic delights & the bars & restaurants were open & thriving. Loads of families were all over the beach & it was really hot. As we're generally wrapped up in nightly routine from 5.00pm onwards I never knew how warm it was at night. It's the perfect time to swim. There were loads of locals enjoying the festivities. I can imagine they're very popular with locals - a chance to throw the abayas (black cloaks) & the white ones men wear & go mufti. The fireworks display was pretty amazing. It kind of beat the New Years offering we get in the Auckland harbour. It seemed to go on forever. That could have had something to do with Kaija Meltdown. She came out when the fireworks started up. She was terrified by the noise & at some point sprinted off into the dark following some man who she mistook for Seth. After rescuing her from the crowded bar area & back to the beach she tantrumed right through till the end. When she fell asleep exhausted. It kind of ended our night. We left our new friends from Cole's class partying on the beach.
NOT A SNAKE
It was very fading light as I was perched on the beach, merrily chatting, quite relaxed, wine in hand when a 3 year old suddenly appeared directly in front of me holding a snake by its neck in his hands. Within seconds I'd leaped up on my aching old knees, & lurched myself off the blanket & out of reach, grabbing one of my children as I went. Turns out it was only a toy. To me that's like pointing a toy gun at a bank teller. Not very funny. I did join in the laughter, having a good relief chuckle once I became aware of the fake. But it blew my cover. I'd remained fairly chilled at other times when the kids were near greenery & gardens when others had been wary. Trying not pass on my snake phobia. But that 3 yr old & his fake snake busted me.
DOCTORS VISITS
Kaija has been in & out of kindy, with her bad cold, chesty thing. Finally we made it to the clinic today & third time lucky we have got antibiotics. Hopefully she'll clear up now. Meanwhile the other two are starting. Cole vomited in my car on the way to school yesterday although was great for the rest of the day & went to school today. Siena however starting vomitting today. It's all go. I suppose the weather is cooling (at least in the evenings) & new country, climate & exposure to new types of viruses etc. Decided to use the free clinic with pharmacy in it, if we are going to be visiting this often. Today we got an Arab doctor who was really great, good explainer. The man dispensing at the pharmacy had just begun talking about Nz with me, seems he went to Christchurch or something. Of all the cold places! We were quite rudely interrupted by a large & dramatic British woman. I do believe he rolled his eyes about her.
HOSTILE GLANCES
I braved going to a furniture shop by myself the other day. We are looking for a great big majestic arabic style bed. I think they call them "western style" versus our "arabic style". They are quite gaudy but I think fitting here. First time I went alone shopping. I had a lot of hostile stares from the men working there. I wasn't dressed in abaya but I wasn't showing my knees or shoulders, just my elbows & calves. Still seemed they were enough to cause distress. I took Seth back for a look at the furniture. Actually I really just wanted to see the reaction this time. I was completely ignored as if invisible & they made eye contact with & acknowledged Seth. Appeared friendly but very cool. The one guy stalked through every department on all 3 storeys of the building. We've decided we won't be buying anything there. Luckily we've seen similar elsewhere.
Three rolls of toilet paper, a lot of it unravelled, shower gel, shampoo & conditioner. All of this is just what I collected out of my bed. Siena has always enjoyed ferreting in bathrooms, taking the contents & relocating & often emptying them elsewhere. We learnt to keep all the bathroom doors closed. However here, with it being so hot we try to leave them open so the air con from other rooms can make it's way around. So instead of hopping into bed with the usual toys, books, clothes, jigsaw pieces, & shoes, now I'm finding bathroom items, some of them open & spilling. Our bedspread, or should I say the company's, gets fresh toothpaste spots daily.
KITTENS
One of my four little hungry cats I thought may be a mummy, is. Today she let us see her four kittens. They're quite old (not newborns) & look healthy. They do stick to her but are walking around & could eat food I suspect. No wonder she has been so hungry. I was getting annoyed with her for being so greedy & taking all the other cats' food. Then she would disappear for ages. She was obviously feeding her little ones with milk.
FIREWORKS
We got to enjoy a great Guy Fawkes night. The company has a party at their beach. It's like a miniature version of those free in-the-park festivities that are held in the domain. The club area was packed with cars - the majority 4 wheel drive monsters. There was a foodie area with shwarmas & Indian & other aromatic delights & the bars & restaurants were open & thriving. Loads of families were all over the beach & it was really hot. As we're generally wrapped up in nightly routine from 5.00pm onwards I never knew how warm it was at night. It's the perfect time to swim. There were loads of locals enjoying the festivities. I can imagine they're very popular with locals - a chance to throw the abayas (black cloaks) & the white ones men wear & go mufti. The fireworks display was pretty amazing. It kind of beat the New Years offering we get in the Auckland harbour. It seemed to go on forever. That could have had something to do with Kaija Meltdown. She came out when the fireworks started up. She was terrified by the noise & at some point sprinted off into the dark following some man who she mistook for Seth. After rescuing her from the crowded bar area & back to the beach she tantrumed right through till the end. When she fell asleep exhausted. It kind of ended our night. We left our new friends from Cole's class partying on the beach.
NOT A SNAKE
It was very fading light as I was perched on the beach, merrily chatting, quite relaxed, wine in hand when a 3 year old suddenly appeared directly in front of me holding a snake by its neck in his hands. Within seconds I'd leaped up on my aching old knees, & lurched myself off the blanket & out of reach, grabbing one of my children as I went. Turns out it was only a toy. To me that's like pointing a toy gun at a bank teller. Not very funny. I did join in the laughter, having a good relief chuckle once I became aware of the fake. But it blew my cover. I'd remained fairly chilled at other times when the kids were near greenery & gardens when others had been wary. Trying not pass on my snake phobia. But that 3 yr old & his fake snake busted me.
DOCTORS VISITS
Kaija has been in & out of kindy, with her bad cold, chesty thing. Finally we made it to the clinic today & third time lucky we have got antibiotics. Hopefully she'll clear up now. Meanwhile the other two are starting. Cole vomited in my car on the way to school yesterday although was great for the rest of the day & went to school today. Siena however starting vomitting today. It's all go. I suppose the weather is cooling (at least in the evenings) & new country, climate & exposure to new types of viruses etc. Decided to use the free clinic with pharmacy in it, if we are going to be visiting this often. Today we got an Arab doctor who was really great, good explainer. The man dispensing at the pharmacy had just begun talking about Nz with me, seems he went to Christchurch or something. Of all the cold places! We were quite rudely interrupted by a large & dramatic British woman. I do believe he rolled his eyes about her.
HOSTILE GLANCES
I braved going to a furniture shop by myself the other day. We are looking for a great big majestic arabic style bed. I think they call them "western style" versus our "arabic style". They are quite gaudy but I think fitting here. First time I went alone shopping. I had a lot of hostile stares from the men working there. I wasn't dressed in abaya but I wasn't showing my knees or shoulders, just my elbows & calves. Still seemed they were enough to cause distress. I took Seth back for a look at the furniture. Actually I really just wanted to see the reaction this time. I was completely ignored as if invisible & they made eye contact with & acknowledged Seth. Appeared friendly but very cool. The one guy stalked through every department on all 3 storeys of the building. We've decided we won't be buying anything there. Luckily we've seen similar elsewhere.
(This is a picture of our home to be. Inshallah) It's one of 6 built. This shows 2, ours is the left. Luckily 3 other company families will be with us. Our children are very noisy inside & outside & I notice the sound reverberates around the house.
STILL NO NEW HOUSE
New house soon inshallah - god willing. We thought god might be willing this week. Turns out not. We have the keys & keep going to check. Still no gas connected, furniture put in or cleaning done. The curtain rails are up though. We chose fabric for them a week or so ago. We're getting more keen to move as all basins in our current bathrooms manage to leak the contents on to our floors for some reason, as does our washing machine. No plugs for washing dishes or the bath although we have made our own substitutes. We've searched all shops, told the plumber, but not heard or seen anything since. The water pressure is incredibly low in the showers, it takes me a long time to go through the process of washing my massive head of hair. So I don't do it as often as I'd like. All very good in 30C+ temperatures. Still inshallah - maybe by end of next week.
GIRLS NIGHT
I've been writing this blog entry all week. It is now Wednesday evening the "Friday night" in Oman. I have kindly been invited to a girl's night at one of the mums from Cole's class. We also went to the fireworks with them last weekend. They seem like they enjoy a bit of a drink & a chat. It appears that the husbands fairly often have to go away "interior" or other parts of Oman or even other countries for work, courses & what not. Seth also tells me excitedly about times he may have to go abroad. Now that we've got Pushpa, I won't mind.
DOMESTIC HELPER
We ended up finding a domestic helper from the supermarket ad board. After talking to a few on the phone & meeting another one in person, we next met her. She speaks English well although there are a few crossed wires. She seems nice though, good with the kids & works well. Unlike the domestic helpers I noticed in South Africa. She only comes for 3 hours a day at the moment however. When we one day move into the new house she will live in & we will hire her permanently and sponsor her through the company. It will help with the school routine especially when someone is sick. Currently the sick one gets dragged everywhere to all the drop offs & pick ups - no chance to sleep, rest & recover. Of course at 30C at 8.00am in the morning you can't even leave them in the car for 5 mins. It'll work much better once we're in the magic new house. Not long now. Inshallah.
EMAILS
Thank you for all the emails sent in response to the blog goings on. My own email replies are a bit slow you may have noticed. I'll try to do a blog entry maybe weekly so I don't have to repeat in many emails. One thing driving me crazy is my internet access is r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w. I'm on some wireless connection. We will in time get on to ADSL which we are hoping will be a bit faster. At least we've got access. So I can only get a tenth of my internet/emailing done. Maybe a faster ADSL at the new house will sort that out. Inshallah again.
Monday, November 5, 2007
8: Settling In - 5 Nov 2007
HOME SWEET HOME
We are settling in even more. Kids just starting to sleep better. The first 12 days of sleep has been dreadful for all of us, but is now improving.
POST
A box of things we sent by post so they wouldn't have to be dragged in our suitcases has finally arrived 18 days after we posted it from NZ. If I thought that took a long time, it was nothing compared to Seth's adventures opening the correct type of bank account & also collecting the box from the post office. I won't go into details except to say that the 3 or 4 bank visits involved numerouse waits, queues, & documents over a few days & unfortunately still requires more visits, queues, waiting & documentation.
As for the post office visit, along with the usual carry on, it also involved driving the post office clerk home to his house for lunch, which just happened to be in the opposite direction from anywhere Seth was going or had ever been. Other than that, things have been surprisingly quick & happening.
An extra postal surprise was some birthday books from Grandad & Jill that didn't take as long to get to Oman - taking only 7 days, rather than 18. Must be a difference between boxes & document sized mail.
NEW HOME
Now that we're settling in, we've received confirmation that we have a permanent house in about 2 weeks. Even went to pick curtains for it today. I will miss our comfortable temporary home somewhat, especially the pool area, but I won't miss the lack of bath & sink plugs & the water pressure!!! We got keys today, & had a look - its a fabulous home. Brand new. I can't fathom how we were lucky enough to get it. A combination of Seth's timing, charm & having 3 children. For once having 3 children instead of 1 or 2 has benefited us. Precious wee things that they are.
THE CATS
I'm going to feel guilty for the cats I'm leaving behind. I have a wee club of 3-4 cats that I sort of feed, although they don't get on well. Mr anorexic cat is super fussy about what he'll eat, is often last cuz he's so tiny and my little black friend with the big attitude Iooks as if she has, had or is going to have kittens. No wonder she is so ravenous. There are cats everywhere. I've given up having one for a pet & am just going to share leftovers with whoever is out there. Unfortunately the new neighbourhood is also overrun with cats, so I'm not even going to try taking any of these ones with us. Besides they're a bit wild.
DRIVING
Driving is getting easier. I hardly notice driving on the right side of the road. It is only when I just get in the car & start up in auto mode, especially in carparks that I have to focus. I'm less intimidated by all the sudden lane crossings too. I'm not so worried about getting it wrong with lanes now I realise everyone else weaves in & out of lanes randomly. I do drive the speed of a granny however - around 60km/hr as opposed to the 80km/hr many seem to enjoy.
VEGEMITE
Found Australian Vegemite at the local supermarket, it just turned up out of the blue. Yay! Kaija likes it & is now eating bread again. I've been told foreign food like that sells out quick so must go back & stock up on jars of it.
CASH SOCIETY
A lot of places are cash only. There appears to be the use of debit cards. You still sign for them like with a lot of credit cards but you must have money deposited onto them. Almost like eftpos except you can only sign & there is the slight inconvenience that many places don't accept them. For example McDonalds.
I finally gained enough confidence to veer from my school run to go to McDs. Seeing it & getting to the place in a vehicle via roads are different things. Getting the 3 little ones out, as it's too hot to eat in the car, waiting at the only counter open which had a queue of about 12, one of the orders being for a bus of school kids waiting outside, all getting happy meals.
When my crew made it to first in line, they finally opened another till. Timing. The guy I ordered off was not Omani & we had a wee bit of trouble understanding each other's version of English. The order took a bit of communicating & then when I went to pay, sorry no cards, cash only. Well that was it, my kiddos had been pretty amazing for the entire queue process but at the sign of no food, the tantrums were let out of the bag. Big time! The ATM machine in the same set of shops just happened to be out of order too.
A trip up the road to discover the bank, its ATM, & back again, calmed the storm. By then I was way over the healthy tuna salad they were offering & instead went for the heavy duty big mac combo for comfort. My wallet now carries a good sum of cash & I vow never to let it go low. McDonalds seemed a tad expensive, but probably similar to back home. It did cost about 4 times the amount it cost to put half a tank of gas into my car however.
We are settling in even more. Kids just starting to sleep better. The first 12 days of sleep has been dreadful for all of us, but is now improving.
POST
A box of things we sent by post so they wouldn't have to be dragged in our suitcases has finally arrived 18 days after we posted it from NZ. If I thought that took a long time, it was nothing compared to Seth's adventures opening the correct type of bank account & also collecting the box from the post office. I won't go into details except to say that the 3 or 4 bank visits involved numerouse waits, queues, & documents over a few days & unfortunately still requires more visits, queues, waiting & documentation.
As for the post office visit, along with the usual carry on, it also involved driving the post office clerk home to his house for lunch, which just happened to be in the opposite direction from anywhere Seth was going or had ever been. Other than that, things have been surprisingly quick & happening.
An extra postal surprise was some birthday books from Grandad & Jill that didn't take as long to get to Oman - taking only 7 days, rather than 18. Must be a difference between boxes & document sized mail.
NEW HOME
Now that we're settling in, we've received confirmation that we have a permanent house in about 2 weeks. Even went to pick curtains for it today. I will miss our comfortable temporary home somewhat, especially the pool area, but I won't miss the lack of bath & sink plugs & the water pressure!!! We got keys today, & had a look - its a fabulous home. Brand new. I can't fathom how we were lucky enough to get it. A combination of Seth's timing, charm & having 3 children. For once having 3 children instead of 1 or 2 has benefited us. Precious wee things that they are.
THE CATS
I'm going to feel guilty for the cats I'm leaving behind. I have a wee club of 3-4 cats that I sort of feed, although they don't get on well. Mr anorexic cat is super fussy about what he'll eat, is often last cuz he's so tiny and my little black friend with the big attitude Iooks as if she has, had or is going to have kittens. No wonder she is so ravenous. There are cats everywhere. I've given up having one for a pet & am just going to share leftovers with whoever is out there. Unfortunately the new neighbourhood is also overrun with cats, so I'm not even going to try taking any of these ones with us. Besides they're a bit wild.
DRIVING
Driving is getting easier. I hardly notice driving on the right side of the road. It is only when I just get in the car & start up in auto mode, especially in carparks that I have to focus. I'm less intimidated by all the sudden lane crossings too. I'm not so worried about getting it wrong with lanes now I realise everyone else weaves in & out of lanes randomly. I do drive the speed of a granny however - around 60km/hr as opposed to the 80km/hr many seem to enjoy.
VEGEMITE
Found Australian Vegemite at the local supermarket, it just turned up out of the blue. Yay! Kaija likes it & is now eating bread again. I've been told foreign food like that sells out quick so must go back & stock up on jars of it.
CASH SOCIETY
A lot of places are cash only. There appears to be the use of debit cards. You still sign for them like with a lot of credit cards but you must have money deposited onto them. Almost like eftpos except you can only sign & there is the slight inconvenience that many places don't accept them. For example McDonalds.
I finally gained enough confidence to veer from my school run to go to McDs. Seeing it & getting to the place in a vehicle via roads are different things. Getting the 3 little ones out, as it's too hot to eat in the car, waiting at the only counter open which had a queue of about 12, one of the orders being for a bus of school kids waiting outside, all getting happy meals.
When my crew made it to first in line, they finally opened another till. Timing. The guy I ordered off was not Omani & we had a wee bit of trouble understanding each other's version of English. The order took a bit of communicating & then when I went to pay, sorry no cards, cash only. Well that was it, my kiddos had been pretty amazing for the entire queue process but at the sign of no food, the tantrums were let out of the bag. Big time! The ATM machine in the same set of shops just happened to be out of order too.
A trip up the road to discover the bank, its ATM, & back again, calmed the storm. By then I was way over the healthy tuna salad they were offering & instead went for the heavy duty big mac combo for comfort. My wallet now carries a good sum of cash & I vow never to let it go low. McDonalds seemed a tad expensive, but probably similar to back home. It did cost about 4 times the amount it cost to put half a tank of gas into my car however.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
7: The First Week Over - 31 Oct 2007
HALLOWEEN
Today is Halloween. On-camp there is trick & treating, & a party for the adults. We however will be retiring, exhausted from our first week. Funnily enough, Cole is suddenly scared of all our cat visitors. Having gone from stalking all the cats himself last week he has started screaming & crying in fear when we open the back door & they're waiting for us. He doesn't want us going outside at all, hates us touching them & won't quit until the door is closed with us safely inside. The hungry strays are quite persistent but I think it may be his introduction to Halloween through school & kids. As most of all he is very scared of the poor little black cat that stalks us most of all.
DOCTOR TIME
I've had no voice all week & Kaija & now Siena have had a bit of a cold & it was suggested quite a few times by her kindy that we take her to the doctor. The NZ$2 medicine we got from the chemist was excellent at relieving symptoms & putting her to sleep at night but hasn't cleared up the cold. There is a PDO clinic over on the camp that provides free healthcare but the hours are so inconvenient for us, with 3 to run around after & it has been suggested that it is better to use an international doctors clinic. Seth the master researcher has managed to find us one at our local shops. Even better, so we'll try the paediatrician there.
Today is Halloween. On-camp there is trick & treating, & a party for the adults. We however will be retiring, exhausted from our first week. Funnily enough, Cole is suddenly scared of all our cat visitors. Having gone from stalking all the cats himself last week he has started screaming & crying in fear when we open the back door & they're waiting for us. He doesn't want us going outside at all, hates us touching them & won't quit until the door is closed with us safely inside. The hungry strays are quite persistent but I think it may be his introduction to Halloween through school & kids. As most of all he is very scared of the poor little black cat that stalks us most of all.
DOCTOR TIME
I've had no voice all week & Kaija & now Siena have had a bit of a cold & it was suggested quite a few times by her kindy that we take her to the doctor. The NZ$2 medicine we got from the chemist was excellent at relieving symptoms & putting her to sleep at night but hasn't cleared up the cold. There is a PDO clinic over on the camp that provides free healthcare but the hours are so inconvenient for us, with 3 to run around after & it has been suggested that it is better to use an international doctors clinic. Seth the master researcher has managed to find us one at our local shops. Even better, so we'll try the paediatrician there.
BUSY KIDSWhat a week. It has been exhausting. I've never been so razzled. The heat, the car trips. Can be as many as 6 - 8 a day depending what is on. One way to get accoustommed to the traffic. Last week was so quiet, this week so busy. Poor wriggly Siena has been dragged all over the place, with no regard for sleeps, routine etc in the incredible heat. She's doing pretty well though.
Cole & Kaija are in PDO school. Cole in Nursery (a sort of advanced kindergarten) & Kaija in Pre-Nursery (kindergarten). They both love it. Cole did think he'd had enough after 2 days but having it explained to him that this is an everyday thing, he was happy to accept his fate. It's fun, keeps them busy, but more formalised than back home. The main thing for Cole is that there is only 10 in his class, so he's not struggling with shyness so much. Next term more will come over from the nursery to make 19, but hopefully he'll have found his feet by then. Kaija loves her kindy too, which is also a small group. She was her shy, mute self too, but she has been joining in all activities very content. Next Wed there will be a coffee morning with the Kindy mums so I can meet them all.
This morning I went with my "meet & greet rep" (person whose job it is to walk newies through all the infrastructure, groups & going-ons) from the Spouses association to a monthly coffee meeting for all the new spouses on camp. A delightful Scottish woman who has 2 young children in the British School, one of whom was born here. We went for morning tea at the Director's home hosted by his wife. It was the quintessential lavish ex-pat lifestyle. A beautiful older home on the camp, right on the cliff overlooking beaches & sea. A large, cool home with pool and magnificent view. It comes with domestic staff including butler & cook. Very nice. I hadn't driven around that area of camp & didn't even know it existed.
Having such a pro-active husband all the many support groups etc don't seem so necessary Seth has tapped into most things we need anyway. They were surprised we already had internet access, although very slow, we do have it. I don't think we'd have wanted to wait over a month to get access to that, especially just using someone elses. Being in an office job & reasonably computer savvy means Seth has can access things quickly. Many of the roles here will be technical experts out in the field, & won't perhaps be focused on family setup.
PARTIES ALREADY
It seems I'll be busy meeting people through the kids. We went to a birthday party yesterday for 2 kids from Cole's class. They had a lovely home just off camp with a great outdoor area for kids. It was just like at home. People are just more clever here with putting up sun shades, but even then you can only go outside when it's cooled in the late afternoon. Siena was very grown up, jumping on the tramp with the 15+ other kids & played pass the parcel just like a big kid & even won. They had all the great kiddie party food, home made nemo cake & colourful cup cakes.
That was Siena's 2nd party for the day. We had a Halloween party for the under 3s in the morning at the little Toddler Hut Club. I think we'll be back. The party effort was fabulous, & the venue was a wee disneyland. All the great toys, inside & outside & even its own manicured lawn. After everything in life being about driving, dropping off, & picking up Cole & Kaija at their exciting places, several times a day, finally there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for Siena. We will start visits there for her this next week.
HELPER SOON
I despretely need to get one of the domestic helpers though because it's diabolical getting all 3 monsters feed, watered, washed, brushed, teeth cleaned, lunches made, bags packed in the car, through the morning traffic & dropped off before school starts. We get up at 6.00am or just before & should leave by 7.30am for 8.00am start. We've been late every day except today when Seth took only Cole but had to hang around & wait for school to open so he was late for work. The kids are really on a go-slow picket line in the morning with tantrums & tears to boot & when I turn my busy back it is incredulous what creative sabotage they've done within seconds. Seth doesn't think any domestic worker is going to what to live with our family because it'll be too full on. I hope he is wrong.
LUNCHING
Seth has been hounding me all week about how the mothers collect the kids from youngsters school & meet their husbands for a relaxing, leisurely lunch at the club overlooking the beach. We decided to try it today. Seth initially wanted to do it the 3 days a week Cole finishes early at 11.30am the same time as Kaija. Envisioning a happy family affair. After today's experiment we'll be lucky if we try it once a week. The food is very good & very well priced, I'm assuming subsidised by the company. But the children took the leisurely & relaxed out of the lunch. We came out of it, with indigestion, hot, tired & dripping in sweat from trying to manage the monsters. Looks like Seth will have to make buddies at work to enjoy that one.
ODD ONE OUTIt feels very much like I've landed in the middle of a secret club I know nothing about but have managed to somehow get into. Seth was a direct hire by the Oman side of the company, which is less common, & it seems the majority of westies & families here are in the actual Shell group, there are a few direct hires though. The Shell group families seem to have entered the Shell world early on in their careers & have travelled the globe placement by placement eventually having families along the way. Every country Shell has operations, although quite different, appears to operate by way of a Shell community model. Knowing nothing about this, I'm a little lost at the moment. But it's all very set-up & standardised I guess, & comforting for those families who spend their careers & lives travelling the globe in this manner. It does feel very insular, & a bit like living in a bubble within a country. Quite self-sufficient & not hugely interated into the local Oman community.
The other thing is being kiwi. I have met only 2 other kiwi ladies, & 1 aussie. Everyone else is Dutch, English or Scottish. One NZer was relieving as Cole's teacher, the other was one of the organisers for people new to Oman. They are both from New Plymouth, where the small Shell presence in Nz is based. Most westie employees here seem to either come direct from the oil & gas industry or backgrounds where they've travelled the globe on placements for other companies, working on various projects. Seth being plucked out of Auckland from the recruitment industry is a bit out of the square.
Our time in living in Japan also seems to influence our expectations. As Japan itself was quite insular & foreigners had to really make networks of a sort with local Japanese, which was really enriching, we naturally expected the same here. I think both of us are keen to get to know the local situation, people, culture, practices etc & hopefully befriend some locals. It doesn't appear to be the norm however. Although Seth at work is surrounded by mainly Omanis & occasional interaction with one westie. I, on the other hand am surrounded by westies or easties (ex-pat eastern hires) and absolutely no Omanis thus far. Sometimes it's a little surreal.
6: First Weekend - 27 Oct 2007
THE WEEKEND
Our first weekend in Oman. The weekend falls on Thursday & Friday, with Friday being the holy day, and many businesses shut, or open for half a day only. The first weekday is Saturday & last day of the week Wednesday. Quite an easy concept to understand but still seems to be confusing my poor brain & scheduling.
COLES BIRTHDAY
Cole finally turned 4. It feels like it's been forever in coming. People all thinking he was already 4 or even 5 or 6! It's a relief to now be able to say he's 4. He had a great day & really played out his privileged status of being the birthday boy. He loves his big boy bike and won't let it stay outside at the moment, only inside. Thankfully it is one favourite new thing that he can't take to bed with him. Something he's always liked to do since baby age. All the books, toys & odd items that have been found in his bed over the last 4 years... He also got some more Thomas train set to add to their other parts when they arrive by ship. Cole was most upset to discover Kaija's kindy had a train set but that his nursery school didn't have one. Having one at home, that doesn't need to be shared amongst many has finally put that whine to rest.
We had NZ$18 bacon for his breakfast. A real treat, & surprising it could be purchased since Islam doesn't permit the eating of pork. We bought each of the kids a little dress-up outfit, to wear on his birthday, since they were so gorgeous & so reasonably priced compared to back home. They enjoyed prancing around home in those, but we didn't let them wear them out of the house as it feels quite conservative dress-wise in that regard, even for children.
Our traditional birthday cake breakfast didn't go down too well this time. We had to make do with a birthday cake from the local supermarket that funnily enough, the kids didn't like. It looked great but wasn't to their taste. Cole still managed to eat it even though it wasn't mummy's usual secret chocolate cake & icing. We had to use matches for candles, which worked very well. The kids didn't even notice. And had to each have a turn to blow out "the candles".
OLIVE PARADISE
We will be on an olive diet by the looks of things. There has been a lot of delicious olives to buy but yesterday at one supermarket we had a huge selection & the bags cost us NZ$1.50 and NZ$2.00, coming from Egypt I think. No more fighting over the last olive.
OLD MUSCAT
Cole finally turned 4. It feels like it's been forever in coming. People all thinking he was already 4 or even 5 or 6! It's a relief to now be able to say he's 4. He had a great day & really played out his privileged status of being the birthday boy. He loves his big boy bike and won't let it stay outside at the moment, only inside. Thankfully it is one favourite new thing that he can't take to bed with him. Something he's always liked to do since baby age. All the books, toys & odd items that have been found in his bed over the last 4 years... He also got some more Thomas train set to add to their other parts when they arrive by ship. Cole was most upset to discover Kaija's kindy had a train set but that his nursery school didn't have one. Having one at home, that doesn't need to be shared amongst many has finally put that whine to rest.
We had NZ$18 bacon for his breakfast. A real treat, & surprising it could be purchased since Islam doesn't permit the eating of pork. We bought each of the kids a little dress-up outfit, to wear on his birthday, since they were so gorgeous & so reasonably priced compared to back home. They enjoyed prancing around home in those, but we didn't let them wear them out of the house as it feels quite conservative dress-wise in that regard, even for children.
Our traditional birthday cake breakfast didn't go down too well this time. We had to make do with a birthday cake from the local supermarket that funnily enough, the kids didn't like. It looked great but wasn't to their taste. Cole still managed to eat it even though it wasn't mummy's usual secret chocolate cake & icing. We had to use matches for candles, which worked very well. The kids didn't even notice. And had to each have a turn to blow out "the candles".
OLIVE PARADISE
We will be on an olive diet by the looks of things. There has been a lot of delicious olives to buy but yesterday at one supermarket we had a huge selection & the bags cost us NZ$1.50 and NZ$2.00, coming from Egypt I think. No more fighting over the last olive.
OLD MUSCAT
We decided to take a break from roaming the commercial & shopping areas of Muscat and take a drive to find old Muscat. It was a really interesting drive, and feels quite different from the suburban/commercial areas around which we, live, work & shop. Old Muscat has very old forts, gateways, buildings, etc. The Sultan's palace is there also. Some parts have a feeling of the Portugese settlement Macau Island which is now part of China. (Old Muscat icon - roadway arch)
But then the environment & terrain here is so foreign to me at times. The old part of Muscat is situated amongst some of the ragged rocky peaks and is quite picturesque but feels a little forboding. It really is quite different from what I'm used to.
But then the environment & terrain here is so foreign to me at times. The old part of Muscat is situated amongst some of the ragged rocky peaks and is quite picturesque but feels a little forboding. It really is quite different from what I'm used to.
In NZ I love the huge expansive horizon you feel with access to a large skyscape. Other countries & cities have the cityscapes overwhelmed with skyscrapers that fill up any sky space, but also looks incredible. Around old Muscat it seems to be situated in valleys surrounded by peaks of jagged rocks & hills formed by arid piles of stones, & dust. They tower around, & it feels almost claustrophobic. Some of the homes are built right up to the rock faces. But it is really, very impressive.
(Old Muscat area houses)
THE WEATHER
Some habits are hard to break. As I go about my day I still constantly find myself looking out to the sky to to see if it's overcast, rainy or cloudy when about to do washing, get dressed, pack a bag preparing to go out etc. And each time, I then remember that there is no rain, no overcast moments, no cloud, just sun. Hot, hot sun, everyday from when it rises to when it goes down. Everyday can be a washing day.
SWIMMING POOL
The complex's pool is wonderful to have, but it isn't overly used. Seems people find it cooler just to stay inside in the air-conditioning. Which is true. It's still refreshing though, as it is so hot outside the water still feels cool, especially when you first get in. The kids are slowly overcoming their fears in the water & now prefer to stay in for long periods of time. We went and stocked up on floatation devices so we can all get in at once. It requires a bit of effort to coordinate when doing it solo however, as the kids are in & out, & still demand to be held. They also have one volume level - super loud so I feel sorry for our neighbours. Our kids in the pool seem to bring out the other kids in the complex like the pied piper with a flute.
FEEDING CATS
I've mentioned before that there are quite a few stray cats around, & lots of ads looking for homes for cats as ex-pats return to their home countries. It's been ages since I was into cats - preferring dogs since I gave up my semi-tamed, little wild cat ET, after he'd been dragged through a few flats with me. However I think we might end up taking on 1 or more kitty cats when we get a home as the kids have been loving them. In the meantime, still missing my dog & having no one to give meat leftovers to I decided to try the stray cats that hang out around the pool area.
Well that was a bit of a mission! I forgot how unsociable & stubborn cats can be. The skinniest little black cat, that I first offered food to, was such a slow eater & never going to get through all the food. I then divided it between the 3 cats all waiting, but old skinny black decided that as I befriended him he was the only one allowed to eat from any of the plates. In fact they all started eating but then greed got to them & they wanted each other's food. They're so skinny & hungry & there was plenty to eat but could they share? No way. I could see a bit of a fight was starting up so had to scare them away from each other by throwing precious water & take the food & putting it in the bin. That was after spending 45 minutes guarding them & trying to organise them to be sharing cats. It takes far less time to make my kids share.
NZ FOOD
NZ butter & cheese. After having a stand-off between the kids & the plastic-looking cheese, coloured orange, just like US cheese, that they wouldn't touch, we tracked down some NZ products. NZ yellow cheese & butter made by Anchor in the UK but sourced from NZ it appears. Much more popular with the kiddos.
We also have an excellent selection of NZ beef & lamb at all the supermarkets we've been. The best cuts. Amazing! It was the same in Japan, at the international supermarket in Tokyo we could get beautiful cuts of NZ meat. Cuts that back in NZ are only carefully hunted down in specialist butcheries usually in the more expensive Auckland suburbs.
Marmite. My girls are marmite kids & nothing else. It has been hard to get bread down them without NZ marmite. I was planning to buy jars of it & bring it in my suitcase but the freight guy thought it wouldn't be allowed. I'm not so sure now. I saw nothing about not bringing in food items, especially processed ones. I was hoping to track down some good old kiwi marmite somewhere but could only find bovril & English marmite. There wasn't even the Australian vegemite. I finally caved in and bought the English marmite. Surprisingly it's going down a treat with my palette, even though I usually can't stand it. Siena is buying it but Kaija is not too convinced.
MOST ILLUSIVE THING
Still haven't found one sink plug. Have looked in many shops, yet none found. There are no plugs in our home. Maybe they weren't lost from the house after all, but never existed. If we ever find anything, it's going to be like finding gold or should I say striking a fresh water well.
(The back view of our townhouse - yard from the communal outdoor area.)
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