Muscat Life Continues
Hey everyone!
Can’t believe its 8 weeks since we arrived back in Muscat and I haven’t posted in all that time, what a slacker I am! I’ve no good excuse either, more a case of waiting for something interesting to write about.
As predicted departing New Zealand was fairly emotional for all, although it was Brannan who jollied me along onto the plane, when I expected to be dragging him kicking and screaming back to Muscat. We landed in Dubai 21 hours later stepping into 32 degrees at 5.30am compared to the -4 frost we left behind in Tokoroa.
Mark’s big plans to take the kids skiing at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai upon our arrival were hampered when Petra and I crashed and slept 15 hours straight, not quite the homecoming he was expecting :-)
The children were sad to arrive home and learn that the cat died, I’ve been teasing Mark that Sid committed suicide having just had him for company for 8 weeks. Zubie, our maid, had spring cleaned the house from top to bottom in our absence, every single door knob, light switch, and surface sparkled. She had also completely re-arranged the kitchen cupboards, I was amused to learn later that she uses the same setup in all the houses she cleans, at least I know I can happily walk into a neighbour’s house and find a glass or the saucepans without even asking :-)
Can’t believe its 8 weeks since we arrived back in Muscat and I haven’t posted in all that time, what a slacker I am! I’ve no good excuse either, more a case of waiting for something interesting to write about.
As predicted departing New Zealand was fairly emotional for all, although it was Brannan who jollied me along onto the plane, when I expected to be dragging him kicking and screaming back to Muscat. We landed in Dubai 21 hours later stepping into 32 degrees at 5.30am compared to the -4 frost we left behind in Tokoroa.
Mark’s big plans to take the kids skiing at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai upon our arrival were hampered when Petra and I crashed and slept 15 hours straight, not quite the homecoming he was expecting :-)
The children were sad to arrive home and learn that the cat died, I’ve been teasing Mark that Sid committed suicide having just had him for company for 8 weeks. Zubie, our maid, had spring cleaned the house from top to bottom in our absence, every single door knob, light switch, and surface sparkled. She had also completely re-arranged the kitchen cupboards, I was amused to learn later that she uses the same setup in all the houses she cleans, at least I know I can happily walk into a neighbour’s house and find a glass or the saucepans without even asking :-)
Zubie hard at work
Temperatures have definitely improved since July, on average its 10 degrees cooler during the day, and the early mornings and evenings are perfect. My only complaint would be now that we are heading into winter it’s dark by 6pm, such a shame!
Fort ruins overlooking a village - a recent Friday jaunt
Recent weeks have seen us just settling back into life here, lots of focus on school and related activities. At school it was great meeting up with the other mums and hearing about trips back to everyone’s home countries. The children in Petra’s class drew ‘postcards’ of their holidays and between the 20 students they had been around the world several times over.
Crazy Hair Day at British School Muscat (BSM)
Petra and friend Laura after a football practice
Brannan has moved up to the senior school at BSM, and although he is only NZ Form 1 equivalent, it just is like high school, with 8 different subject teachers and a home class. The amount of homework he receives is phenomenal, a shock to both our systems. He has also had to pick up two languages, he’s loving the French and struggling with the German (and a fat lot of help I am!!)
Mark is as busy as ever, we hardly ever see him, he generally puts in 60 hour weeks at the office. And proud that he’s had a few successes recently with two projects reaching important milestones, but I plan to cover these in a future post.
We’re now into the third week of the Islamic holy month of Ramadhan. We had heard various stories about how life changes in Muscat during Ramadhan and were looking forward to the experience. In Ramadhan muslims fast during daylight hours, so there is a complete ban on food and drink in public. All restaurants (excepting those in hotels) cafes and coffee shops are closed until dusk. You must also take care not to be seen eating or drinking out and about, I have friends who have been pulled over and warned by police for drinking water in their cars. Fasting children at BSM are taken to the library at break times so that non-muslim children can eat as usual. As we also have a few muslim families in our garden court it is quite the topic of conversation with Brannan and Petra about who is and isn’t fasting. We hope to join an Omani ‘Iftar’ (fast breaking) meal before the end of Ramadhan.
It is also recommended that you wear modest clothing during Ramadhan. I have always covered my shoulders and knees outside the house anyway, but wore long sleeves and trousers for the first week, but I quickly got tired of melting outdoors and the novelty wore off!
The other most noticeable change during Ramadhan is to business hours. Most shops and government offices open later in the morning. This is because the muslims have their pre-fasting meal and prayers before sunrise at 5am and then return to bed. The radio broadcasts don’t start until 7am and the cinemas only operate from 9pm – 1am.
Eid, which signals the end of Ramadhan, is coming up next week so we are looking forward to seeing how this is celebrated too.
Mark is as busy as ever, we hardly ever see him, he generally puts in 60 hour weeks at the office. And proud that he’s had a few successes recently with two projects reaching important milestones, but I plan to cover these in a future post.
We’re now into the third week of the Islamic holy month of Ramadhan. We had heard various stories about how life changes in Muscat during Ramadhan and were looking forward to the experience. In Ramadhan muslims fast during daylight hours, so there is a complete ban on food and drink in public. All restaurants (excepting those in hotels) cafes and coffee shops are closed until dusk. You must also take care not to be seen eating or drinking out and about, I have friends who have been pulled over and warned by police for drinking water in their cars. Fasting children at BSM are taken to the library at break times so that non-muslim children can eat as usual. As we also have a few muslim families in our garden court it is quite the topic of conversation with Brannan and Petra about who is and isn’t fasting. We hope to join an Omani ‘Iftar’ (fast breaking) meal before the end of Ramadhan.
It is also recommended that you wear modest clothing during Ramadhan. I have always covered my shoulders and knees outside the house anyway, but wore long sleeves and trousers for the first week, but I quickly got tired of melting outdoors and the novelty wore off!
The other most noticeable change during Ramadhan is to business hours. Most shops and government offices open later in the morning. This is because the muslims have their pre-fasting meal and prayers before sunrise at 5am and then return to bed. The radio broadcasts don’t start until 7am and the cinemas only operate from 9pm – 1am.
Eid, which signals the end of Ramadhan, is coming up next week so we are looking forward to seeing how this is celebrated too.
We have finally bought ourselves a 4WD, after test driving numerous vehicles and negotiating (between Mark and I) how much we expected to pay for our own wadi basher, Mark decided on one that a colleague was selling. All I can tell you is that its gold and BIG and we took ownership earlier this week.
Now that we have decent wheels we have the freedom to do some real exploring around Oman, perfect timing because school half term break starts this weekend and we have planned a road trip to Salalah. 1,000kms from Muscat near the Yemen border, Salalah will be quite a journey. We expect to take 2 days to get there with a spot of camping each way so of course a shopping trip was called on the weekend to kit ourselves with camping gear.
Camping kit out at Carrefour - local hypermarket
If I can put it up here, I can put it up anywhere!
Well that brings us up to date, hope to be back shortly with tales of exciting adventures from down south. Until then take care all.
Hayls
x
Hayls
x
Comments