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
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| "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.
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| The boys walking into Qurum Park. |
House Tour
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| 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.
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| 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. |
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| 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.)
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| 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.
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| 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 60th 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.
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| 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 3rd and 5th
year which is equivalent to 2nd and 4th grade.
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| E's first day of 5th year. |
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| J's first day of 3rd year. |
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