A little perspective

I was reading The Airing of Grievances on Stephanie Says yesterday (stefanie-says.blogspot.com), which was a list of moans, followed swiftly by reasons to be grateful. I realised that I'd spent half the day moaning about small stuff, when I should be grateful for so much. Obviously, my attempts to follows Oprah's daily thankful lists has failed, but I shall start again with things I am thankful for this morning.

1. Dad is on the mend and still here.
2. I will see both mum & dad in a month when I am fortunate enough to fly home for a week.
3. I have a job, which pays my mortgage, rent, living & enough to pay for modernising the apartment.
4. I have great friends both here in Oman & in Europe that I can rely on.
5. The sun is shining & it is going to be a beautiful day.

What more can I ask for?

Thank you Stephanie for adding some perspective.
Sx

Missing moments

It's been a strange year so far, and I've realised I posted about the flat without mentioning the month preceding it... Of course I've also got to add the last couple of weeks too.

To start at the end, I went to UK for a couple of days stopover with my parents. Arriving late it was not until the next morning that I found out that my dad had suffered not one but two mini-strokes in the last few weeks. That signalled the start of the longest week I have had in a long time. The following evening he had another mini-stroke and so Saturday saw dad and I at the walkin clinic, then it was upto Colchester General for the afternoon. There was talk of him being admitted, which he didn't want, but after a long day I took him home. big mistake. Just 10mins into the footie the next day I had to call 999 I followed the ambulance in the car and it was only after I couldn't get parked and then locate dad that I got scared and the emotions escaped. Naturally dad was admitted and later that eve I left, reluctantly, to go and try and calm mum. He seemed ok when mum & I went to visit him the next day, complaining of missing his tea as he was taken for a scan, but then the following day... Had to keep optimistic for mum, but was very worried as dad had seemed confused, ill, & so old. However that was the low point and by Thurs we were waiting for the ok for him to be released. I flew back to Oman, with doubts & guilt, on Saturday and a few days later he returned home. Still feel I should have stayed longer: what a horrible feeling guilt is!

Anyway onto happier things! December started with mum's visit here in Oman. She arrived on Thursday morning off a night flight and by the eve was at the St Andrew's Ball, hosted by the Caledonian Society Oman. She had a few turns on the dance floor, as did J & I. my dress was a casualty of a fast dance as the shoestring strap snapped oops. As it was Eid, I didn't work most of her visit and got to do several day trips out, although not to the beach due to the nasty red tide, which was lingering on Muscat's shoreline. One day was spent up near Sohar at an Omani colleague's house participating in traditional Eid feast. I hadn't realised just how important our host was until he took us to his village and the whole village turned out to shake his hand and greet him. From this very Omani traditional festival later in the week we celebrated Christmas by going to a Christmas Carol concert by the Muscat Singers. It was lovely to have mum out here.

Just 5 days later I was on a plane myself heading to Durban with J, picking his daughters up on route in Abu Dhabi, for 3 1/2 weeks. It was a different holiday as I very much felt an outsider at this family gathering, not because they were not welcoming, far from it, but because many of them hadn't seen each other for such a long time. J made an effort for us to have sometime alone especially on my birthday when we went out looking at art galleries, craft shops etc & then out for a nice dinner in the evening. The holiday highlight for me was the Hluhluwi-imfolozi game park where we spent 2 nights and got to see elephants just 20 metres away. AWESOME! This is what I wrote at the time:

5 Jan. Arrived game reserve & saw giraffe, zebra, and warthog next to road & buffalo & various antelope further away on the way to our lodge! The eve game drive added white rhino to the list. The 5am game drive next day resulted in baby white rhino pics & a rhino in mud SO close you couldn't use a zoom lens. As eating breakie, J spotted elephant across the valley and we jumped in the car, abandoning breakie, in search of them. There were 2 in a bush giving tantalising glimpses of ears, tails, and lots of dust as they bathed. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they moved & we got great views of these magnificient creatures.

The rhinos were also amazing, but slightly worrying when we were on a bush walk and ended up down-wind of a white rhino & her young, especially when our guide, Samora, headed us into the bush to circle around and get away from her.

Other great African moments: seeing hippos in St Lucia, a helicopter 'flip' along the coast, seeing Zulu dancers & drummers, and hiking in the Drakensberg mountains. Only traveled in Kwazulu-Natal region so got a great excuse to return to South Africa one day. Cape Town high on to-go-list.

I'm now back in Oman, start a new job Saturday & also on Saturday have to move out of J's when my flat is vacated by my lodger. Going to be a tough week ahead.
Sx

OMG what have I done?

Arriving in Orsomarso in bitterly cold winter sun in mid-January with the newly collected keys for the apartment was scary. Opening the door to "my" new house there, after stopping to take a couple of cheesy photos was not something I thought would even happen after the long drawn out process started back in May. The purchase had finally gone through on the 19^th December, but despite several attempt to call Italy for news before our flight to South Africa I could not get through. It was not until Saturday evening that I finally got a call through to find out I was now the owner of a little bit of Italy.

After walking around and several exclamations I was left with the feeling of "what have I done?". This feeling has come and gone over the 3 weeks especially after days & days of torrential rain. I was seriously concerned I would get cut off as the level of Fiume Argentina (the local river) overflowed in places across the road, and water poured down the hillsides. Following swiftly after the rain, SNOW, albeit on the hilltops around and causing the temperature to fall a bit more. Luckily, the flat has an ancient wood-burning stove, which after straightening the chimney meant the lounge wasn't filled with smoke on the 2^nd night. It's lit now as I desperately attempt to dry the woodwork I painted in order to do the 2^nd coat tomorrow. Normally, the paint is touch dry in 3 hrs, and repaintable after 24, so says the tin, however it also says at 20°C. As the temperature in the village is hovering around 9 in the daytime, 2½ days later it's still tacky. With the lounge door being a lockable main door, it needs to be dry so I can lockup when I leave on Wednesday, hence the panic.

Going back a bit... I had a heart attack on getting the quote to remove the excess furniture. The flat was sold furnished, but contained enough for a troupe of circus performers to stay a month in summer on furniture last renewed sometime in the 60s. The argument was that the municipal dump cost an arm-&-a-leg to deposit waste – no wonder there is so much dumped at the sides of the roads, unsightly as it seems – combined with the fact that a truck cannot be parked outside the house. It's about 5 minutes down to the square. The men would have to lug units, chairs, wardrobes etc down to their van. To be fair they slaved up & down the hill in pouring rain (who said Italians don't work in the rain???) finishing 3 hours after they arrived. The flat looked vast devoid of most of its furniture. The previous day had seen Lesley & I on a mammoth day out to Naples and after crawling through traffic we eventually arrived at Ikea. It was scary driving my hire car as I'd been upgraded from a little Ka type to a Ford Focus Estate and for some reason the Napolese seem to think there has to be a minimum of 3 lanes of cars in every stretch of duel-carriageway. Another heart attack occurred as I blithely signed the slip of my visa card, and going blind, squinted at the total and I was a whopping... well at least 200€ more than I expected. The drive back was horrendous through driving rain, although luckily not much traffic, and my Ikea haul spent the night in the car rather than get ruined in the rain.

The miniscule narrow bathroom has not been as horrendous to use as thought. As a wet room it functions if you squeeze next to the bidet in order to shower, but is a nightmare if you go to the toilet shortly after as you have to walk pass the bidet and shower head, on the wet floor, to reach the, sensibly placed, toilet. My first quote to reorder and extend slightly this miniscule room brought tears to my eyes and thoughts of 'maybe later'. The second was from a Rumanian builder, whose work I've seen and is ok, but was such a chauvinist towards me I was on the idea of never employing him. He marched around my place, with a nice Italian man, not listening to what I want, but reading a sheet from the estate agent about things. Well, nice as the agent is: 1 he is so busy I'm surprised he knows what I want: and 2 I have only had the terrace quoted for work in the distant future and my priority is the bathroom, kitchen and electrics, as well as anything else the crops up seeming important. Furthermore, 3 my ideas for the place have changed since I last viewed it in September.

To end for now on positives: Egidio & Michela, www.cirellicase.it/index_eng.htm have been very supportive, especially Michela with her great English & Egidio with his ready smile, not only in setting up my bill payments saving lots of hassle, but also doing additional things over and beyond such as talking to my neighbour by phone due to a problem with my roof. oops. Michela has also had the trouble of giving me some Italian lessons & getting rid os my Spanish pronunciation on everything lol. Lesly & Brian have been fantastic too - providing company, food, heat when it all gets too much and overall great support and friendship. It will be a pleasure to be here with people like them here. Finally, my neighbour Lucia, who I cannot understand a word she says - apparently very broad dialect provided a first... She gave me some fresh brocoli & oranges. Later that day, I went to cook the brocoli, on taking it out of the fridge discovered snails crawling up the salad compartment. How fresh is that???

Sx

PS The pic is the view from the lounge.

Camping adventure

Turtle sunrise 2, originally uploaded by travelingsuep.

Last weekend was the holiday to celebrate National day for us here in Oman. After having run into an old Nizwa friend, Annette, the previous weekend J & I then joined her and 10 others on a camping trip. Having left Muscat early on Wednesday we met at Mintarib on the edge of the Wahiba Sands aka Sharqiya. Small world, not knowing who was going apart from Annette we saw a friend of J's at the meeting point who was also camping with us. After a briefing from guides, fuelling up, deflating tyres, and toilet stops, six 4x4s, including our guides in the lead vehicle, drove 2 ks down a graded track, pass a camel convoy, and straight into the desert. We very quickly left civilisation behind and had our first cars stuck in the sand soon afterwards.

Having bought a new camera in the summer ready for SA at Christmas I had the perfect excuse to snap away at the dunes, sand, dunes, and more sand... by the end of the weekend the total was 257 photos taken of which I've posted 36 people pics on Facebook and another 20 on my flickr site. The turtle pic above is one of the flickr pics.

We spent all day in the desert driving across to the coast, with everyone, the guides included, being stuck at least once. We set up camp at the end of the sand dunes, overlooking the sea, with a steep slide down to the beach. Very beautiful!!! J & I slid down at daybreak and were lucky enough to watch dolphins very close to shore as the sun rose and we strolled along the beach. Back up at the campsite we had a traditional English breakfast and packed up ready for the second day of the adventure.

Soon after breaking camp we turned down on to the beach: J was not happy about this for HSE reasons, something about getting stuck in soft sand, tides and no exit points; whilst I wasn't happy as I try to act in an environmentally sensitive manner, which driving on beaches certainly is not. That said we had great fun, especially as the guides were like puppies chasing the gulls up into the air - great photos. Along that coast you certainly see the poverty that some Omanis live in. The fishing villages were little more than tin shacks a few meters away from the sea. Young boys ran along shouting to the cars asking for food, which was sad. Also, due to the red tide that has affected Oman the last few weeks, there were dead turtles, dead fish, along with more rubbish than normal, which had been washed ashore.

Back on the hardtop (tarmac road), some of the group played Frisbee on the new road as the guides reinflated tyres, and then it was along the road towards Ras-al-Jinz. One car left us to head back to Muscat, followed soon after by the guides having finished their job. After a few wrong turns and a tea stop, we reached the cliff top overlooking our intended destination. Unfortunately, it was at this point Emily had a tyre blow out on the gravel and when the tyre was changed, and following a text from her boyfriend saying the spare wasn't good, she decided to head back. Almost immediately, another car left on seeing the steep path down to the beach. So then, we were five of us in 2 vehicles.

We set up camp and J laid a huge bonfire; later we sat, chatted, drank, and ate dinner beside it. At the first camp the starlit sky had been amazing as there was no light pollution, but despite nearby towns, at this camp the sky was still beautiful. Jose, as a visitor to Oman got up in the middle of the night to patrol the beach and look for turtles laying their eggs on the beach. The rest of us waited until daybreak and then spent an hour watching the turtle (pic above) finish covering her nest and then return to the sea. Seeing one of these huge majestic creatures in daybreak was magical and so much more rewarding than when we had seen turtles by torchlight, which is not the way you should watch them, as they get disturbed. Then, sadly after breakfast and a quick dip, it was time to head back to Muscat and the adventure was over. Sx

The end of the road?

I began November in Nizwa for another Shell graduate team building week, and then headed off to visit Barbara in the back-of-beyond, UAE. (see pic). It was a long, long drive, and if I visit again I shall fly to Abu Dhabi and hire a car from there. From Nizwa it took me 7.5hrs, but just over 8 back to Muscat as I barely stopped or got held up at the border. It was a very short visit, but good to catch up and also go somewhere new. I especially liked going to the fish market and a trip to Barbara's school.


Last week was very tiring. Saturday night Jim had his birthday party – a party on the equivalent of a Monday yuck. I had an early start the next morning as training so left at a sensible 11pm after not drinking, but 6am came around far too soon. 2 nights later J was hosting a company manager’s dinner at Rock Bottom. Nice food but horrendously slow service, again I was sensible, leaving J there to head home for bed. When did I get so old, sensible, and boring???? Unfortunately, I left the door key in the lock and was woken with J ringing the doorbell to get in. oops. Finally, Wednesday was Valia’s birthday do and it was very pleasant to stand outside chatting until nearly midnight. I got a bit cool, so I had to put a cardi on about 11ish. Don’t we get soft??? It was about 19/20°C.


Whatelse... Oh been in The Week again, twice! The first event with J was an opening of an Austrian art exhibition. The majority of the art was a bit strange, home-made Japanese style paper hangings for example, but there were a couple of paintings we liked. The following day a Lebanese friend invited me to the opening of a handbag exhibition, not really my thing but… This is the background: “Sarah’s bag. Sarah decided to set up her company as part of a rehabilitation program, whereby women at risk from economic depravation or the stigma of having served time in prison would learn valuable skills in return for a reliable income and a stable source of pride, dignity, and empowerment. In the process, these women would be helping to revamp the centuries’ old traditions of artisans and textile makers in the Middle East for the purpose of invigorating contemporary fashion.” http://www.sarahsbag.com/ After the exhibition, Ale & I went to a store, it like TKMax however among the bargains we saw some of the funniest garments and despite my not liking shopping had a really good giggle as we teased each other into buying horrendous nylon garrish outfits. We both resisted, but I did manage to buy a pair of casual trousers and a couple of Ts. I went to another opening this week in a new private art gallery. It was an exhibition of Omani artists, some very interesting, with VERY nice prices. I shall take mum when she is over as the exhibition will still be on. I didn’t have my photo taken, so no photo in next week’s edition. Yes I know, I complain about the lack of cultural things to do and obviously I'm doing ok at the moment.


Finally, my flat purchase still hasn't gone through & I'm getting really fedup. As is my estate agent, & mortgage broker. The new completion date is December 6th, and if that doesn't go through then my mortgage offer expires and will have to start again. AAAAARRGGG! If that isn't enough I am very confused. My job contract expires whilst I'm on holiday at Christmas, and I was contacted by a company in Toledo Spain with a job which sounded perfect, and paid ok for Europe (with current eco-situation less than half my current salary). Thought I could do that for one semester, giving me some breathing space from Oman, J etc but they want me to start when I'm supposed to be still in SA. I told them I couldn't accept and to bare me in mind should the position remain unfilled... but I am sooooo tempted. Guess that says a lot about my state of mind here.


A positive note to end on is that mum will be here in 10 days, which I am really looking forward to her visit, and spending some time with her. As Eid falls during that time I thing I will only have to work a few days whilst she is here. Even if I'm working I'm sure she'll be ok by the pool - It may seem cool to us who live here, but coming from Colchester at 7°C to our cool 28°C will be great for her.
Sx

You know you've lived too long in the Middle East when...

You're not surprised to see a goat in the passenger seat

You think the uncut version of 'Little House on the Prairie' is provocative

You think every one's surname is Al

You need a sweater when it's 27 degrees Celsius (80 F)

You expect everyone to own a mobile phone

Your idea of housework is leaving a list for the houseboy
/babysitter/maid/helper

You believe that speed limits are only advisory

You expect all police to drive BMWs or Merc's

You know whether you are within missile range of Iraq

You believe that the definition of a nanosecond is the time interval between the time the light turns green and the time that the guy behind you begins to blow his horn

You can't buy anything without asking for a discount

You expect all stores to stay open till midnight

You understand that 'wadi bashing' isn't a criminal act

You make left turns from the far right lane

You send friends a map instead of your address

You understand why huge 4x4s must slow down to a snail's pace whilst

crossing a speed bump yet hurtle through a wadi at 100kph

You think that 'Howareyoufine' is one word. So is 'Mamsir'

You think it perfectly normal to have a picnic in the middle of a roundabout at 11pm

You know exactly how much alcohol allowance you have left for the month

You have a moon phase predictor on your computer

You never say Saturday instead of Friday or Sunday instead of Saturday any more

You accept that there is no point in asking why you are not allowed to do something

You expect queues to be 1 person deep and 40 people wide

You realise that the black and white stripes in the road are not a zebra crossing, just bait to get tourists into the firing line

Seeing guys welcome each other with a kiss and hold hands while walking no longer distracts you

You carry 12 passport size photos around with you just in case

You can tell the time by listening to the local mosque

You think it's a good night if there are fewer than 10 men for every woman in a bar

Phrases like 'potato peeler', 'dish washer', 'coffee maker' and 'fly swatter' are no longer household items but are actually job titles

Habibi isn't just the ex-president of Indonesia

Problem with your car AC or horn is more serious to you than a problem with the brakes!

------

Scarily most of these are true for me. Time to leave? Sx

Party central

There goes another month. It's been a very mixed time ending with a fab night on Thursday when I hosted J's birthday bash.
The pic above was taken in our lounge where the band Sporca Gush played 3 awesome sets and got guests dancing. The first guests walked in as the caterers were setting up at 8pm, followed swiftly by many more, and the last left around 3am. In between vast amounts of alcohol were drunk, curry was eaten, people chatted on the terrace or at the bar, some danced, and generally all had a good time. There were surprisingly few casualties - one glass, a pot on the terrace, my aloe lost a few fronds, missing keys for the outside bar fridge, and Mark who collapsed in the lounge oops. I would have liked shares in Panadol yesterday morning!

A highlight of Ramadan was a camel race night at a local golf club - not real camels as you can see from the pic below. The race was run after the camels were auctioned off and bets placed. The camels were then moved depending on the throw of 2 dice (1st determined camel to move and 2nd for number of moves). It was a really fun evening and not too much money was lost. Finally, I took a short afternoon boat trip with a friend and her visitor. Considering it should be getting cooler, the clock in Mutrah was showing 40c at 2pm. The sea did feel cooler than the other month, but it didn't stop Ale, Guilo & I still spending over 30 mins in the sea bobbing around on noodles.What a hard life we lead here.

Hopefully, by next time I post I can write that the purchase of my flat in Italy has completed, but I'm not holding my breath. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Sx