Jacqui and Richard Abroad: December 2016

Sunday, December 18, 2016

December 18th - Two more sleeps and we're off to Canada

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go; except in most of the Middle East! But there are some places that do have Christmas decorations and Christmas music. We had dinner on a patio on Thursday, sitting by a Christmas tree (no, it's not a natural tree!) and had lunch on Saturday at another place, again by the Christmas tree. We even hear a few (a few) Christmas tunes on the radio once in a while.

The last two weeks have been pretty quiet: I was marking exams while Jacqui was still teaching her grade 4 students. Exams were done on the 13th - we had a day off on the 12th for the prophet's Birthday - and have been keeping busy with marking and department stuff since. Jacqui's lost a few kids as of today; since the big kids don't come to school, the young ones are wondering why they should! Parents as well.

We went to the souq on Saturday to finish (I think) our Christmas shopping, There was a Royal Carribbean Cruise ship in the harbour, and many people at the souq! Seeing that, Jacqui's got the bug for another cruise! Eh, we'll see (sea?).

We are flying out on Tuesday night, Dec 20th, going to Dubai, with a sleepover and then flying home on Wednesday (10 am local time) to get to Toronto at 3:30 pm (again local time - 12:30 on Thursday morning in Muscat). We are so looking forward to it. Our two weeks will be crazy busy and super hectic, but so much fun to see as many people as we can. We are heading back here on Jan 2nd, to get "home" at about midnight on the 3rd and be at work at 7:30 am on the 4th, with a 9 hour time difference; we should be in fine shape! We'll deal with that next year!!

We hope to see as many of you as possible over the next few weeks. If our paths don't cross, have a very Merry Christmas, and all the best in the New Year! Stay in touch! And if our paths do cross, we still wish you a very Merry Christmas, and all the best in the New Year! We hope to see you soon!

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Friday, December 2nd - I'm done teaching for 2016!

We had a 4 day weekend last week (or a 3 day work week) because of the National holiday; it was very nice. We didn't travel out of the country but did stuff around Muscat. We went shopping to the souq and then lunch at the marina on Wednesday, and went for a hike on Thursday (the same hike I did with Nic when he was here). It was very nice, not too hot (high 20's) and a lot easier than with Nic as the walking pace was not exactly the same! On the way back to our car, we saw two cruise ships anchored in the port. It is cool to see that you can now cruise to Muscat (the Norwegian Cruise Line ship came from Dubai going thru the Suez canal to Europe and the other one, don't know!). They are really doing a lot to boost their tourism industry.

On Friday, we were hosting some colleagues from school for dinner. What started out as just a gathering turned into a Christmas party. We decorated in the morning and had a gift exchange before dinner. It was very nice as Christmas is not a big thing around here.

This past week was my last teaching week for the semester. We start exams on Sunday Dec 4th for 7 days then have the rest of the time to mark and get ready for next term. Jacqui still has her students until the 12th, 13th, 20th?? It has never been said yet. I would think that kids will stop coming to school when we finish exams, scheduled to be the 12th, but it might be the 13th as we might have a holiday in there somewhere!

And then we come home on the 20th, get back here to be at work on Jan 4th and 5th, then leave for Bangkok for a week to attend a job fair. I will be back teaching in a classroom on Jan 15th, six weeks from now! Love it!!