Throwback Thursday: Hiking

I've spent down time today looking up hiking trails in Oman.  I've found a few good websites.  This site is a wiki site of many hiking trails.  It's so many, I'm a little intimidated.  This site is a blogger's first hand experience and tips that a friend sent to me.  And this site is put out by Oman's tourism ministry, and it shows trails and details difficulty, whether they're marked, highlights, picture spots, etc.  I plan on printing the 3 maps they provide so I can mark off on my own which ones we've visited.

All this research has me super excited about hiking here.  Our family loves to hike.  Yes, sometimes the boys get cranky near the end of the hike.  We usually try to plan something fun and cooling like ice cream or sno cones for the end of a hike as a reward, especially if they were good and didn't complain (or at least not too much or unreasonably).

I'm also reminiscing about our past hikes as a family.

While in Duncan, we tried to hit every trail that the kids could handle in the Wichita Mountains.  Stephen's parents joined us for many of these hikes whenever they would come to visit.  Some would be surprisingly cold, some would be warmer than expected, some involved large wildlife (longhorn cattle and bison).

Choose the Bigger Life

"Choose the bigger life."

I love Gretchen Rubin.  She is an author, blogger, and podcaster that I read and listen to often.  She wrote The Four Tendencies and TheHappiness Project as well as other books.  The two I listed are the two I've gotten my hands on to read.  I also have her coloring book (though I'm currently trying to remember where I put it in unpacking).  She co-hosts a podcast called Happier with Gretchen Rubin with her sister, Liz.  She has been a source of knowledge, ideas, and insights for me over the past two years since my mom’s best friend, Kelly, introduced me to her podcasts.

Qurum Park

We spend many weekends being tourists in our own town.  It might be weird if we had always lived here, but we haven’t.  It’s a great way to slowly expand the area that we know.

Today I took the boys to Qurum Park while Stephen was gone.  I don’t do much driving yet, but this park is about 5 minutes away.  It took us longer to get there because Waze sent me to a non entrance to the park thinking I could get there.  Luckily I knew of a restaurant next door to the main entrance of the park, so I routed there instead.

The boys walking into Qurum Park.

House Tour

Front door from the inside

I thought it was about time I showed you around our house for the next 3 years.  This is our front door.  It is a beautiful, heavy wood that feels welcoming to me.  The big oddity here is that it is designed to close very slowly.  I mean painfully slowly.  You can try to pull it, but that only does so much good.  Also, the handle on the other side is too close to the other door to be able to grip when you push open.

Boxes, Boxes, Everywhere!

Our crate finally arrived!  Now there are comfortable chairs and couches to sit in.  Now I have my bed with a much more comfortable mattress (Sorry to our guests when they come to visit.  The mattresses that you can buy here are what they are.)  Now I have more than just a few shirts and pants.

The crate. We did get a 40 foot one, but it was not full.  The Budget rental truck that left our house was significantly smaller.

They didn't use a single ramp to unload.  Pretty sure that might break work codes in the US.

Church in Oman Part 2

A week has past since my last Friday church post.  Many things have changed.  I have met ladies.  We’ve been invited to many outings by these ladies.  I’m appreciating where we are living in town.  (It is very centrally located in Muscat.)

A glimpse inside PCO.

This week we went to Protestant Church Oman (PCO) at the Ghala church campus Friday morning.  They have many different services of different types at both their Ruwi and Ghala campus.  We went to the 9am Friday service which is their contemporary service.

It was indeed a more contemporary service.  The songs were probably 10 years old, but one of them was a favorite of mine, “Revelation Song.”  They did a great job with the song.  I inwardly giggled when one of the poor singers looked in panic every time they didn’t have the words up yet.  I also giggled when I saw the words on the back screen.  The projector is so close to the screen that the display was incredibly small.  I know of a few singers that would NOT be okay with that setup.  The song they sang for the offertory was an updated hymn.  I wish I could remember which one.  What I do remember was the very country notes that were hit after the first verse.  It tickled me so!  I had a hard time stopping my outward giggles then.

British School Muscat

As my kids finish up their first full week at school, I thought I would take this time to outline how we picked this school, our insights so far, and how things are going.  Since this is our first expat experience, I will freely admit that my frame of reference is narrow.  My only comparisons to other schools come from stories I have heard.

Foundation stone plaque at BSM.

I have had many people ask how we ended up at BSM.  The short answer is that they were the only school back in March (when I inquired) that could guarantee spots for both boys.  The long answer begins with being told that I should start applying to schools before spring break (it was the Wednesday before).  I had already done some research, and I knew that it would require lots of paperwork.  I got to work, broke down into tears of stress, took a break, prayed, and finished inquiring at the top 3 schools by that evening.  My plan was to hopefully get responses overnight and apply to others the next day if needed.  Here’s the thing:  schools here end on Thursday.  If they didn’t respond that night, I wouldn’t get a response until Sunday.  That evening, I printed off ALL the forms that either I or our old school would need to complete.

Throwback Thursday: Labor Day 2017

Labor Day weekend was this past weekend in the US.  It was nothing to be noted here.  In fact, our kids started school the day before.  So while friends at home took trips to lakes, we spent two days in school.  Honestly, the kids loved it.  To each his own.

But since it was Labor Day weekend, I’ve seen pop-ups and reminders on my devices of how I spent last Labor Day weekend.  Nearly my entire family met in Wewoka, Oklahoma to celebrate the 60^th wedding anniversary of my grandparents.  Not everyone stayed the whole weekend, but we did get to see many people.  There were cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts, and great uncles.  We took the kids on a hike to find fossils, we had a spades tournament, we held a reception at their church, we talked, and we played many impromptu games of Rook.

Grandma and Pa opening their photo book.

Finding Friends

I’ve been looking forward to the kids go to school so I could settle into a routine for myself.  I could possibly reach out to some people for coffee.  I could watch a show for myself rather than listening to Ninjago.  I could workout without worrying the kids will interrupt my rhythm.

Well, I haven’t settled into a routine.  I have met people for coffee.  I finally watched a new show on Netflix today (while folding laundry, so I was still “working” ha!).  I’ve worked out twice (admittedly, I took today as a rest day).

Two mornings I have met local American moms for coffee.  It has been great getting to know ladies, picking their brains, and learning some ins and outs of the area.  We have a WhatsApp group called BSM moms (not mums).  I love the name.  We have one lady from Alaska, one lady from Honduras who has spent a good part of her life in the US, a couple of ladies from Houston, one lady from Louisiana, and a couple that I’m realizing now I have no idea what their background is.  I’m learning how everyone likes to work out.  I’ve learned my area is called MQ not MSQ.  I’m learning (and have forgotten) where to go to buy certain items and which stores are best for which items.  I’m learning about churches in the area as well as Bible studies and Awanas.  I’m hearing about places to go locally for family or kid fun.  I’m learning how to order things and get them delivered because there is no local delivery here.  I’m learning more about some of the other local schools.

Coffee and Classes

Today was the first day of school for my boys here in Oman.  They were very excited to start school.  Without many of their toys or TV shows, these last two weeks of summer have been very long.  Not to mention, they have been on summer break since May 24.  This has been a crazy long summer!

We started the day with pictures like I’ve always done.  I had to Photoshop in the chalk words thanks to not finding any chalk here.  It doesn’t feel authentic to me, but we like our tradition.  Note to everyone in America:  they are in 3^rd and 5^th year which is equivalent to 2^nd and 4^th grade. 

E's first day of 5th year.

J's first day of 3rd year.