April at-a-glance

 

Easter Bunny Cake (inspired by you, Jill!)

 

Playground time.  Doesn't Ethan look tall?  And isn't Claire cute with a ponytail?

 

David and Ethan usually go to the cheap Pakistani barber shops and pay less than $5 for a haircut and a head massage (or head beating, to be more accurate).  Then we found these great Lebanese stylists who let Ethan sit on a motorcycle and gave him a choice of colored hairspray (which he declined).

  

For a few weeks after Easter, Ethan played "Easter Bunny" by leaving us stashes of toys, shoes, and other misc items by our bed.  If we dared to open our eyes before the gifts were laid, we got into BIG trouble.

  

This was one of the last times we went to the beach!  By May it was just too hot.

 

Date night at the Turkish Palace.  We shared zater salad and a hummus plate before heading to the American School to watch our favorite (Argentinian) 16-year-old in his highschool play.

 

Claire likes Argentinian 16-year-olds, too.  One day after church she blocked him from leaving, saying, "Lock a door."

 

David took this picture on the fancy new phone he won in a raffle at SQU.  The phone also has GPS, which would have come in really handy 8 months ago when we began this Omani adventure!

Jebel Akdar

In April we went on a day trip to Jebel Akdar, one of the highest mountains in Oman (thanks to our friends who lent us their 4WD!)  This was our last big day trip adventure before the weather got too hot for touristing.

 Of course, it's hard to appreciate just how far up we are.

Believe it or not, there is more vegetation here than in most parts of Oman.

Picnicking under the only shade tree around. 

I just love this girl.

 

And this little girl just really loves her bunny-bear.  We found that if we tuck Bunny in her shirt, then it frees up one of Claire's hands.  Good for hiking.

Jebel Akdar is famous for its rose water.  These are rose bushes I'm walking past. 

Green gardens planted on terraces in the mountain side.  

Pretty spectacular in this desert climate!

  

We met this Omani tour guide along the way.  He was guiding a Russian tourist, but let us tag along.  He found out that David taught at the university, and from that point "Doctor David" was treated as a VIP.

We walked into this mountain village...

through some tunnels...

and thanks to our new Omani friend, we were allowed to view the "secret" rose water facilities.  This is where rose petals and equipment are stored.

This is where the rose petals are distilled.  Our friend bought us glass coke bottle full of rose water for about $8 and invited us to wash our hands in it.  It doesn't smell like roses, but it smelled like Omani Halwa.  Rose water is used mostly in cooking and to flavor deserts and drinks.   

Before we headed home, our Omani friend invited us to his house for coffee and dates.  As usual, we politely turned down the coffee, explaining to him that our religion does not allow us to drink coffee in the same way that Islam does not permit alcohol or pork.  Instead we had sliced pears and dates, and watched Ethan and Claire play with our friend's grandchildren. 

Omani Boy (Ethan at 3 1/2)

Ethan never had stranger anxiety as a baby or toddler.  Shortly after we moved to Muscat, our friend said of 3-year-old Ethan, "He treats me like a peer" (meaning that Ethan thinks he's an adult, too).  When we've had Indian workers come over to do repairs, Ethan follows them around, asks what they are doing, and gives suggestions.  At the barbershop, Ethan attempts to speak Urdu with the Pakistani men.  At the souq, Ethan speaks "Arabic" with Omani men wearing white dishdashas.  He is intimidated by no one.

Here is a video of Ethan, singing a song he made up.  He claims to be singing in English, but it sounds a lot like Ethan's "Arabic" to me.  (Be sure to scroll down and see the pics after the video!)

I bought Ethan two types of pajamas at a recent shopping exhibition:  One was a typical two-piece set (like most of his pjs) with an Arab cartoon character on the front.  The other was a traditional Omani-style gown.  He totally rejected the cartoon pjs, but he LOVES wearing his Omani gown.  How cute is this!!!

And here is Claire saying "cheese!"

 And just for fun, here are some pillow cases I saw at the shopping exhibition.  I couldn't decide which picture of Sheik Hamdan Bin Mohammed I liked best (he is the crown prince of Dubai, you know!).

Camel races!

Like a kid on the way to Disneyland, I was soooooo excited as we drove 30 minutes north to attend a real, live camel race!  This was the ultimate cultural event.  It began with music and singing (lipsync) by traditionally-dressed Oman women.  The scent (and smoke) of frankincense wafted up through the stands from huge incense burners. Between the races, there were parades of men and women riding on camels, as well as traditional Omani music, dancing, and drumming shows.  Omanis are known for their friendliness and hospitality-- there was no admission charge to attend the races, and all spectators were offered bottled water, snacks, and traditional Omani halwa for free.   

 Preparing for the opening singing/lipsync show

Camels racing with owners/trainers driving alongside in SUVs

 

Camel jockeys (young and lightweight Oman boys) have recently been replaced by robots.

 

VIP seating

 

Our friends sat in the two rows in front of us (thanks S & S for letting me borrow some of your pics for this post!).  Notice the freshly-painted stands... we came home with blue paint all over our shoes and pants.

 

Notice the fancy outfits the ladies next to us were wearing.  It turns out they were dressed for one of the many between-race shows:

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David and Ethan scooping up some Omani halwa, a traditional Oman sweet made with starch, eggs, sugar, water, ghee, saffron, cardamom, nuts and rose water.   

Trivia!

Did you know... 

* David's favorite animal is the camel? 

* David was bitten by a camel while serving his mission in Virginia, and can proudly show you the scar? 

* David wrote a paper titled, "Camels, Ships of the Desert" while studying the middle east at BYU? 

* I gave David a stuffed camel ("Camilla") for his birthday shortly after we were married?

* David's favorite movie is Lawrence of Arabia?

Physiotherapy and Flesh-eating fish

Here are some fun/random moments from February and March:

1.  Physical Therapy.  

My ankle started hurting in January.  When there was no improvement 4 weeks later, I went to a local clinic and paid about $10 for a visit with an Indian orthopedic surgeon.  When weeks of taking it easy and "contrast therapy" did not work, I was referred for "physiotherapy."  Basically, I came in for five 15-minute sessions of "shortwave diathermy" (no one could really explain to me what this was about, but I took a picture of the machine and Googled it when I got home).  Eventually I was referred to a specialist at another hospital, and diagnosed with tendinosis.  It's supposed to heal in another month or so. 

 

2.  Party at the Embassy

As a Fulbrighter, David was invited to a U.S. National Day Celebration at the U.S. embassy.  I guess they celebrate Independence Day early, since many expats are vacationing in cooler parts of the world during the 4th of July!  We didn't think our camera would make it past security so we only took a pic at home, but it was a fun event.  Picture important-looking people in fancy clothes, hanging out on the Embassy lawn at night, drinking cocktails while a jazz band plays.  I felt like I was in a spy movie-- there was even an exotic-looking girl in a red dress who was floating between groups of men like something from a James Bond film.  Now that you have this image in your head, imagine that American fast-food vendors are surrounding the party, supplying all the free hamburgers, onion rings, pizza, soda and Dunkin' Donuts you can eat.  Hilarious!

3.  Tour of Oman. 
A 6-day international bike race that was a sort of pre-Tour de France was held in Oman.  They rode right in front of our house!  It reminded us of watching the Olympic torch pass by our Provo apartment 4 years ago before the winter games in SLC.

 


4.  Japanese Doll Festival.
This event was organized by an expat women's group, and was held in the Japanese Ambassador's home in Muscat.  We learned about Japanese dolls, ate super-yummy Japanese finger foods, and watched as the Ambassador's wife demonstrated the traditional process of preparing and serving tea.  This was a really neat event, and renewed my interest in learning more about my Japanese family history (my mom is 1/2 Japanese). 

5.  Date night / Flesh-eating fish.
After eating at Automatic, our favorite Lebanese restaurant, David and I wandered around a trendy mall and came across this spa.  For about $15 per 1/2 hour, you can soak your legs in a tank and have small, Turkish fish nibble the dead skin off your feet!  We didn't actually stay for a session, but they let us dip our hands in just to see what it's like.  This is not an activity for the ticklish!  WAY too funny!  I could not stop laughing.

"It's sucking my will to live!"-Garth

    "It's automatic, y'all" -Weaver D