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!