Salalah Part 2 - In Town

We stayed 5 nights in Salalah's Arabian Sea Villas.  

Breakfast consisted of eggs, toast, dates, local papaya or bananas and mango juice. 

Mosque surrounded by fruit tree plantations.

 

Fruit stands selling bananas, papayas, and coconuts.

Old house and doorway.  Many Omanis still live in small village houses.

 

Modern meets traditional - love the goats!

The Dhofar region of Oman borders Yemen.  Here we are eating chicken, fish and lamb with rice at a traditional-style Yemeni restaurant.  There is an open seating area for men, and then there are curtained rooms like these where families can eat in privacy (helpful if you are a woman who wears a veil).

David ate with his hands.  I was glad I'd packed some plastic spoons in the diaper bag.

 

Shopping for frankincense at the souq.  Frankincense is placed on a piece of hot charcoal and the smoke fills the air with its scent. 

 

Frankincense (back row and front left) is typically burned, but can also be used in perfumes or as medicine.  

The larger, more opaque pieces are more highly valued.  

 

Traditional incense burner

Leather shops selling shoes and... bandoliers?

I've never seen an Omani wearing one of these, but we are quite close to Yemen...

 

Ethan snacking on corn, surrounded by Omani kids.  

Vendors often sell cups of hot corn, seasoned with lemon or chili powder. 

 

We had to stop for camels at this roundabout more than once.  

There must have been 60 of them with a young camel herder leading them across the street.

 

Nice park and playground -- more green grass than we'd seen in awhile.

Ethan and Claire played with these kids while David chatted with their dad on a nearby park bench (just what his father would have been doing, I'm sure).

 

TYPICAL RESTAURANT SCENE

Indian cooks and waiters are luring 1-yr-old Claire with ketchup packets.  

She was pretty much adored wherever we went.

Salalah Part 1 - Crossing the desert

I've put off writing this post for nearly a year, because the task of sorting through 260 fascinating photos was a bit overwhelming!  Last September, Oman delayed the start of the school year nationwide due to swine flu concerns.  David had an extra week of summer vacation, and we used our extra time to make a trip to Salalah in the southern Dhofar region of Oman.

The Dhofar region is a tropical paradise, completely unlike the desert that comprises most of the Arabian Peninsula.  Historically, this area was known as the "Land of Frankincense" and even today the world's best frankincense comes from Dhofar.  LDS scholars have identified Dhofar as the land of Bountiful (600BC) that Nephi describes in the Book of Mormon.  Dhofar is also a very popular vacation spot among Arabians seeking relief from the oppressive summer heat.

As we planned this trip, our Western friends warned us that the desert highway was a perilous one, with frequent fatalities and poor access to emergency services (There are daily flights from Muscat to Salalah, and that is how most prefer to travel).  Our Omani acquaintances insisted that the road was fine, and that "a good driver could do it in 11 hours."  We wanted to experience the real deal, including the vast expanses of "nothing" and "gravel" that we'd heard about, and so we packed our Mazda 3 with food and water and said a prayer before we departed on what turned out to be a 13 hour drive.  (We have to drive slower than most, because our car made an annoying beeping sound when we went over 120km/hr.)

  The kids had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into!  

Luckily, we bought a portable DVD player just before this trip. 

 After 3 hours of interesting mountain landscape and small towns, we filled the gas tank 

and  prepared for the 8 hours of "nothing" we'd heard so much about. 

Completely surrounded by desert.

Occasionally there were signs of civilization.

 

The town of Haimra marks the 1/2 way point.  This is one of those bathroom stops when you're glad there's no toilet to sit on, just a hole in the floor.  BYOTP.

 

I'd feel really sorry for anyone who turned the wrong way out of the gas station.

We did come across one accident, but fortunately no one was hurt.  David helped to clear debris off the road.  Our friends who made the trip last year came across a fatal accident involving a tour bus, and spent 4 hours diverting traffic in the fog.  We felt very blessed to make this trip safely. 

 Ever seen this sign before?

 

We were excited to see mountains again after 8 hours of gravel...

And then suddenly we came over a hill into this amazingly green valley!  

(we arrived at night, but took this photo on the way back out)

 

Happy Anniversary

David and I celebrate 9 years of marriage today.  We watched our wedding video with the kids yesterday, and realized that we aren't as young as we used to be!  I can't believe they let kids like us get married.  :)

July 5th, 2001 - Mount Timpanogos Temple 

We counted 10 different places that we've lived: 

1.  Provo, UT apt #1

2.  Provo, UT apt #2

3.  Richland, WA

4.  Cambridge, England

5.  Olympia, WA

6.  Kent, WA

7.  Alpine, UT

8.  Salt Lake City, UT

9.  Winterville, GA

10.  Muscat, Oman

Considering that we met in Jerusalem, it's no surprise that we've continued to be travelers.

August 1998 - Mount of Olives, Jerusalem - The day we met!

 

For our anniversary this year, we went to The Grit, a hip vegetarian restaurant in Athens.  I gave David a gold ring, one exactly like the one I put on his finger 9 years ago!  (Hopefully a poor worker will find David's original wedding ring at the beach in Muscat).

July 2010 - Athens, Georgia

Preschool

From January-May, two of my friends and I took turns doing in-home preschool classes with our kids ages 3-5. Sarah taught the kids weekly and focused mostly on letters.  Carolyn and I took turns having the kids every other week so that the kids had school twice weekly.  Here are a few fun things we did:

Here I am exhausted after my first class, wondering what I'd gotten my self into.  

Our long/short wiener dogs turned out pretty cute, though.

Making #3 out of pasta. Claire was only 1 1/2 but she participated when school was at our house.

Emotions.  The kids had fun making faces and guessing how story characters would feel.

 

We made trains and learned about beginning, middle and end.  The idea was to work on identifying sounds in words, but mostly we just had fun with paints and crayons. 

One of the benefits of living in the church house!  The primary children's room was perfect for preschool.  Initially we tried circle time sitting on the floor, but it was way too chaotic (especially with Claire wandering around the room).

s

Snack time!

 

David helped out on the last day of class.  We made #7 snakes out of clay. 

 

 

 

Kids watching an old Sesame Street clip about the Alligator King and his 7 sons. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVDUYJo3CjU 

 

David reading "Gerald McBoing-Boing"

 

Some of the preschoolers at Carolyn's house

Play dough at Sarah's house.

Preschool creations proudly displayed on Ethan's wardrobe.

 

Ethan and Claire really love preschool.  Sometimes the three of us play school at home.

Claire likes to hold the weather puzzle during circle time.

Claire can't be trusted with the dry erase markers, hence no shirt.

Puppy and Bunny are never far behind.

Ethan loves to write letters and numbers.

I love how Claire holds a pen.