Beach Days

When we told the kids about moving to Muscat, we told them about things like going on new adventures, new friends, and how close we would live to the beach.  We do, in fact, live a 5 minute drive from the beach.

About any Saturday morning that has no other plans; we take the boys to the Shatti beach.  It is pretty empty in the morning.  There are usually some men that have waded into the water to fish.  There are also boats going to and fro out in the water.  There may be a family or two enjoying the beach, but that is about it.  I like going when not many people are there because parking is easy and I don’t have to worry about offending too many people by being in a bathing suit.  The local ladies aren’t in bathing suits at the beach.

View of one side of Muscat from the beach

Dubai Wrap Up

Let's finish up our Dubai posts because I'm ready to move on...

Our second day in Dubai, we actually left the emirate of Dubai for the emirate of Sharjah.  We had found a Groupon for tickets with lunch included at Pearl’s Kingdom Waterpark.

Sharjah, to me, seemed much more like your typical big city.  It has regular looking skyscrapers and some traffic.  The waterpark is in a park area of town next to a theme park that wasn’t open and across a main road from Flag Island.  I wanted to go to Flag Island, but we were hot and tired by the time we left.

Pearl's Kingdom entrance

Dubai Dhow Cruise

Our first night in Dubai, we took a dhow canal dinner cruise (another Groupon find).  A dhow is a traditional ship used in this region.  You can find all sorts of dhow trips both here in Oman and in the UAE.  In fact, when looking on Groupon at our options, we had many to choose from.  We originally chose a different one just to find out that they were currently not operating.  We were able to cancel that Groupon the same night to go with a different option.

Family picture at our dinner table.

Family picture with the waterfall bridge.

Dubai Aquarium

Oh wow, this aquarium was amazing!  Okay, it would be topped by the Georgia Aquarium, but this one is also very cool.  I would definitely pay to do the tunnel again.

We found a Groupon which saved us 30-40% says Stephen.  With it, we had access to the tunnel, the underwater zoo, and the behind the scenes tour.

Picture of us from the aquarium.

Dubai Overview

Dubai is the largest city in the United Arab Emirates.  It is in the emirate of Dubai.  On our trip, we went to Dubai and Sharjah.

Americans can visit the UAE without a visa.  This is great and saves you some money.  You will all need visas to visit us in Oman, sorry.  An Oman tourist visa costs $50 for a 30 day or around $13 for a 10 day if we can learn how to get one of those.  The 30 day option, at least, is easy online.  You can get them on arrival as US citizens, but I don’t encourage that because “I had a bad experience.” (Name that random movie quote)

Back to Dubai, it is 4-5 hours to drive there for us or a short hour long flight where you get in the air, they serve you a drink and snack then start collecting to head back down before you’ve possibly had time to finish your snack.  Yes, we walked off the plane carrying our trash because we weren’t done when they collected trash.  The flight is that short.

Culture Shock Potpourri

Occasionally I will share a random assortment of cultural differences that I have noticed.  These are in no specific order or theme.  Think stream of consciousness here.

An obvious cultural difference would be clothes.  Omani men wear a dishdasha and a specific Omani hat.  There are two versions of the hat.  The more turban style is the older style, the kuma is the one more frequently seen.  Side note:  I'd love to get Stephen and the boys kumas.  They are very pretty! (is it okay to call a man's hat pretty?)  What I didn't expect was that there were hats specific to Omanis.  I also didn't realize that there are slight style differences in the dishdashas.  An Omani dishdasha has a side tassel.  They are typically white, but they can be in other colors or with colored embroidery and tassel.  The women wear black with their head covered.  Some women have their faces covered.  I expected the Omani women's style.  What I didn't expect was the feeling that we are going to stand out because of our skin color, but we can also blend in with the many expats by being us and dressing conservatively.

Omani Kuma

Let's Go to the Mall

I need to download and edit all of my Dubai pictures.  I also need to work on my college football spreadsheet and calculations because I've been woefully behind.  I just put in scores for week 1 today (did they just finish week 7?).  So until I get pictures to go along with my Dubai post(s), I thought I would share some life in Oman.

But first, enjoy this ear worm:

Riyam Hike (C38)

“There is no shade in Oman.” – Stephen

Map of the C38 hike.

This past weekend, we went on our first hike here in Oman.  I had it planned all week.  The weather had been slightly cooler and definitely less humid.  Saturday morning, however, was quite warm.  Too warm as we soon found out on the hike.  Oh, and when people said there was no shade on this trail, they weren’t lying.  See Stephen’s above quote.

Arabic Lesson

I haven’t learned much Arabic yet.  I’m finding it rather difficult.  It’s bad enough that the letters are different, but I also find some of the sounds difficult to pronounce correctly.  And following the lessons here or there may not be useful because Arabic can change country to country.  I thought I would introduce everyone not in Oman to some of my findings.

I have learned how to say goodbye, “maasalema.”  And I’ve learned how to say thank you, “shukran.”  Also, the spelling appears to be completely up to the writer and how they would pronounce the word.  In the case of the area of Mutrah, I have also seen it spelled Matrah, Mattrah, Muttrah, and Muterah.  In the case of the area of Azaiba, I have also seen it spelled Athaiba.  And it will be spelled various ways along a single road.

Close up of the word "Oman" on license plates.

Church Timings

As I've mentioned before, most church services here are on Fridays.  There are some on Saturday, even a Thursday or Sunday service, but most have their service on Fridays.  So after making it through the school week, instead of sleeping in the next day, we get up just a little later at 7:30 (okay, that's quite a bit later than my normal 5:45).  Or, as today happened (thanks sun), I still woke up at 5:45.  The good news:  church day still translates to nap day in my head.  So here I am at 1:00, and I've gone to church, come home, had lunch, and napped.

Another timing note is that church services are shorter.  We are not going to a Sunday school class and a service.  All we have on Friday mornings is the service.  So the service starts at 9:00 and is done by 10:30.  In fact, last week's service went long, and they asked the parents to head out to get our kids from their classes during the last song.  This is why I can already have finished my nap at 1:00 in the afternoon.  I have so much day ahead of me!  The kids have already gotten bored and been taken to the pool.

As I've mentioned before, timing is everything.  The services need to run smoothly and on time.  Today they had two special announcements.  One was about the women's conference next weekend.  The other was about the new building they are planning on building.  It's already been approved, but they brought an update about where we are in obtaining the permits and having the required money.  So Pastor Chris, who was the one delivering the sermon today, probably had a little less time than normal.  Stephen mentioned afterward that he was surprised at how quickly he was getting to this final point.  As a former pastor of ours, Jackie, used to say, "There's no such thing as a bad, short sermon."

Movies in Oman

On Monday night, we took the boys to see our first movie in Oman.  We saw Small Foot.  It was a pretty cute movie with some funny moments that got the boys really laughing.  I enjoyed the musical numbers, but I do think they all sounded a little too similar (A similar feeling I felt when watching The Greatest Showman.  Please don’t hate me.)

At a weekday matinee, we paid 3.3 OR per person for the tickets.  This would work out to approximately $8 per ticket.  Not a great price, but pretty average.  We had a deal for a free large popcorn for it being our first movie at the theater.  We also bought a single combo which gave us a regular size drink, regular popcorn, and a candy bar for 1.5 OR.  That would be $3.75.  Can you imagine only paying $3.75 for a soda alone at a theater in the states?  I was shocked at how low the concession prices were! 

Vox Cinema Shatti

Seasonal Decorations: Halloween

It is hot.  It will remain hot.  I'm not complaining, I much prefer heat to cold.  But it certainly doesn't feel like fall as I've known fall.  But that doesn't mean that I can't decorate my house to feel like fall.

We didn't bring many decorations with us.  We weren't sure how much storage we would have here considering attics didn't seem like a thing and garages were also not a guarantee.  I'm glad we made that decision because we don't have an attic and our parking area is more a covered front entry to our house.  We have a single storage closet.  A single closet for luggage, cleaning equipment that doesn't fit under the kitchen sink, and decorations.  I have a small tree in there, 2 boxes of fall decorations, 1 box of Easter decorations, 1 box of spring and summer decorations, 4 boxes of Christmas decorations, and, um, too many boxes of crafts I would like to get to.

That purple pumpkin I made last year with my parents.  I didn't get to enjoy it too much because of when it was done cooling and then got to me, so of course I wasn't leaving it behind when we moved.