Monday, December 14th - we are almost home!

Not much to report at this time of year. School is winding down with the mid year break coming up soon (we can't really call it a Christmas break around here!). Last week was quiet, keeping busy with a lot of school work that has to be done before we leave - like entering marks and making up report card comments. I think the school like to have everything done early just in case teachers do not come back after the holiday.
We had a bit of an adventure last Sunday when we tried to go out for dinner. We have a restaurant, the Left Bank, that offers a real nice Sunday roast dinner for pretty cheap, so we tried to go there but the place was booked for a private function. We then drove to the Irish pub nearby, but they were out of beer!?!??? So we decided to try a different hotel . Getting there was obviously a challenge as we drove right by but couldn't get there as there was no exit of the ramp, so we ended up way out somewhere and had to retrace our steps for a while to get there, When we did, we went in and looked at the menu. A burger was OMR12. Twelve dollars for a burger at home might be average to high side (or have I been gone to long), but in Rials, where you multiply by about 3.5, it makes a $42 burger. I don't think so. So after driving around for over an hour, we ended up at the mexican restaurant - great food, great margaritas, and decent prices.
Our weekend was spend doing school work. Didn't even go for a walk on the beach, or at the Crowne on Thursday - had to take the car in for service.
And now, we are counting the days; not many left. We'll be back in Canada on Friday, Dec 18th, around 15:30 in Toronto. From there, it gets really busy, but it will be fun. Pick up our rental car on Saturday morning, drive to Chatham to celebrate Christmas #1 with all of our kids (and Dave) and Jacqui's family, then back to KW to have dinner with friends on Sunday, go to Acton to move into Harry and Lucy's house for the holidays on Monday, then back to Cambridge for dinner at Mike's and Lorraine's. Tuesday is our own family Christmas dinner in Acton before Jul and Dave head back to Huntsville on the 23rd. Throw in some medical, dental and eye appointments in there, plus a 9 hour jet lag, and we'll be in fine shape! We are so looking forward to it.
For those of you who kept reading, have a very Merry Christmas, and all the best for 2016. We hope to see you soon! Signing off for 2015. Beeeeeeep........

Friday, December 4th - A four day weekend!!

We had a 3 day workweek, or a 4 day weekend, this week because of the national holiday. We didn't travel anywhere but did a few things around Muscat. We walked around the Matrah souq on Wednesday then had lunch at the marina. The souq was very, very busy since everyone in Oman is on holiday (so are people from the UAE). When they ran out of parking spaces, people made their own parking spots, using the sidewalks to park their cars.













We also went to the Exhibition Centre on Wednesday night; we saw some pretty cool things, including these cars.

We signed up for a dolphin watching boat tour for Thursday, which turned out to be a boat tour, as they forgot to tell the dolphins we'd be coming around to see them. The boat tour along the coast was however quite enjoyable.

fishing boats

part of Carlton Ritz Hotel

You know your boat is big when we can see it from the open sea side of the marina

Friday was a quiet day; we did some Christmas shopping online (we won't have time once we get back to Canada) and a bit of school work.We went for our usual walk on the beach on Friday morning: temperature at 28 degrees, water at about 82-85F; it is still very nice to walk and go in the water to cool off after a while. 

And now, the excitement is building; we'll be home in two weeks. We are so looking forward to seeing everyone again, or as many of you as we can (but we still like the 28 degrees outside!). Our two weeks at home will be hectic, but so be it; it will be a lot of fun!

Sunday, November 29th - A short week!!

Our past week was busy with work: we had parents meeting on Monday and I`m still busy getting exams ready. Our weekend was nice; Thursday afternoon by the pool at the Crowne Plaza and a nice walk by the water on Friday, followed by dinner outside at CP. I did some tutoring for one of my former student on Saturday morning; Jacqui went shopping. We spent the rest of Saturday at home, listening to Christmas music and doing school work.

We are having a real short week as we finally get the holiday associated with the National Holiday - 2 days off plus the weekend, so we will be done work on Tuesday. We do not plan to travel this year (we went to India last year); we'll just stick around and visit the sites in the area. It will be nice to just sit back and relax. And after that, we'll be home in 2 weeks. We both can't wait for that!

Saturday, November 21st - National Day, and we are counting down!

November 18th was the 45th National Day of Oman. It's a day where people celebrate all that has been done in the last 45 years, thanks to Sultan Qaboos and a lot of other omanis. It is amazing to think that 45 years ago, in 1970 when Sultan Qaboos overtook the power from his father, this country only had 3 schools, with a total of 900 students, only had 2 hospitals, only had 15 km of paved roads (that is not a typo; the number is 15, no zeros missing - they now have over 35000 km), life expentancy was about 20 years less than what it is now, childbirth death has decreased drastically, and everyone has had a prosperous life in that time. No wonder they love him so much.

We had a day of celebration at school, and we are getting our 2 day holiday on Dec 2nd and 3rd for National Day. It will make for a short December! And that is fine by us, as we are really looking forward to the 17th when we fly to Dubai for the evening, then board a plane on the 18th towards Toronto. It will be so nice to see everyone again; we are really looking forward to it.

In the meantime, our adventure continues. We have parent meetings on Monday and booked a desert camping outing for Dec 2nd. It should be neat. Many pictures to follow on that one!

Google.com, on Nov 18th - Oman's National Day - so neat to see!!

Jacqui's students, in their traditional dress for National Day

The stage at school, honouring Sultan Qaboos and the 45th National Day of Oman

Jacqui got "decorated" at National Day; the left side (right hand)  represents what we see on the flag - the khanjar

This is where we finished our week: having dinner at the Edge bar at Crowne Plaza,
enjoying the sunset and fireworks that came later from the stadium for National Day! 

Is this what they mean by "being on ice"?

Birds during our walk on the beach on Friday

Alfred Hitchcock in the neighbourhood??

Saturday, November 14th - Christmas shopping and going to the gym

Our week at school was fine; we had an Inset day on Sunday (equivalent to our PD days at home). It actually wasn't all that bad. We got a new timetable on Tuesday (our 4th or 5th? not sure) but there are still problems with it so rumor has it that we will get a new one again next week. Welcome to the Middle East, or is it just our school? Our school might be the problem!

We have started going to the gym - 3 times this past week - otherwise we'll have to tell our kids to buy clothing for our Christmas gifts one size (or two) up!! Now that the weather has cooled off a bit, we really enjoy our walks on the beach. Temperature is at about 30-32 and the water is still warm enough to go in for a quick dip.

 We drove to Nizwa Saturday (about 160 km) because they have a really nice souq with stuff that we don't find in Muscat; every region is different in what they have to offer, in what they produce, in what they wear. It's really neat. Nizwa has nice pottery, and a nice fort to visit!

Top of the mountains covered by clouds

Nizwa souq

Lunch time!

Spices for sale

The fort is preparing for the 45th National Holiday (Wednesday)

Saturday, November 7th - We've been to a ballet

The last two weeks have been good. We had dinner with some friends from Kuwait at the end of October. One couple is now here working in Muscat while the other one is still in Kuwait; it was very nice to see them. The next day, we went to the Royal Opera House of Muscat to see a ballet - Don Quixote. It was my first ballet and Jacqui had seen one or two before. It was pretty neat. The costumes were fantastic, the music was really good and the dancing was, ... well, ballet dancing - I couldn't do what they do! (however, give them skates and it would be very much like figure skating). We went back to the Opera House on Wednesday for a presentation of the preparation and what goes on behind the scenes during a show. It was quite interesting.

This past weekend was quiet. We started our Christmas shopping by going to the Mutrah souq on Saturday. It is a really cool place, especially if you don't get lost in it! As you enter from the street, there is one main artery which after a while branches off into three smaller arteries, But everywhere in those arteries, you have "side streets", with a bunch of small shops, and once you get in those side streets, God knows where you will end up! It is however pretty neat to walk around and see all the beautiful things that the various shops have to offer. We then went for lunch at the marina, as we hadn't been there all year - it was just too hot to sit outside for lunch (or even dinner for that matter). Temperatures have cooled down a bit. We now have highs in the 32-33 range and lows in the 23-25 range. It is actually very nice and we enjoy it a lot. We are not counting, but we'll be home in 6 weeks for Christmas holidays! Can't wait to see everyone!

Dinner with friends from Kuwait - so much better in Oman!

Jacqui at the Royal Opera House of Muscat

The upper part of ROHM

Parking lot at the Opera House; we have the white car (actually 3rd one from the left)

Sunrise over Qurum, around 6am on a weekday

Saturday, October 24th - One night stay at Alila Jabal Akhdar

Our week at work was pretty typical: teach, meetings, cover for missing teachers, ... We ended this week at the pool of the Crowne Plaza (again). The sunset was pretty amazing.

On Friday, we drove to Berkat Al Mouz (about 150 km from Muscat), then had a driver take us up the Jabal Akhdar mountain, aka Green Mountain (you can only travel on the mountain in a 4X4) to Alila Resort, which is located on the edge of a canyon, at over 2000 meters above sea level. We spent one night and came back home on Saturday. Our stay was amazing. It is a high end resort and we were treated really well. The scenery was very impressive, the decor stunning and the buildings blended so well with the mountain. The place is great for relaxation as it is very quiet since there is nothing else around on that part of the mountain.

Part of the road, getting there

The room:

The hotel:

At the indoor hottub

Outdoor and the scenery:

Things are much cooler at the top of the mountain. Actually felt very nice (instead of 36 in Muscat) 

Infinity pool

One of the three hottubs

The building has four units