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).

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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.

May in a million pictures

Sorry if you're bored of reading old news, but since this blog serves a journaling purpose, the posts must go on!  May was our last month in Oman, and we kept pretty busy:  We celebrated Ethan's birthday, David went to Morocco for a week, and finished up our co-op preschool.  Here are some pics of the things we did in between.  

It got really hot in May-- hotter than I've ever been in Georgia or anywhere else.  Too hot to go to the beach.  While I made dinner in the detached kitchen, the kids would play in the water outside.  Claire liked to "swim" on the wet tile.  I never though I'd let my kids be naked outside...

 

Speech therapy with my friend's boys.  I also worked with another friend's child on a weekly basis.  As far as I could tell, I was the only American speech language pathologist in Oman.  I spoke with a few Australian ones, though.

 

  Happy Mother's Day!  David made a fancy Sicilian dinner called Pasta alla Norma--

penne with eggplant and ricotta cheese.

 

David spent a week in Morocco with other Fulbrighers in the Middle East.  He brought home leather shoes for everyone, and got himself a nice leather jacket for cheap.

 

What a handsome guy!

 

Claire getting a haircut in the princess room of a salon near our house.  The stylist was British.  Ethan was chillin' on the pink couch at the back of the room which had a TV for waiting siblings.

 

My cute little girl!

 

Ethan decided to take up spelling this month: "TRE" (tree).  I can't remember why he wrote tree on Claire's new pencil case, but that's what he told me it said.

  

Poor Claire, not quite 2 years old and we took her on the roller coaster at the mall!  It's pretty tame, but during the entire ride she clung to me and said, "All finished."  Oh, and yes, there is a roller coaster in the mall.  It's super cheap and as you can see we're among the few people riding.

 

The Armed Forces Museum.  We were the only visitors today and had a personal tour guide.

 

 

It was super hot, so after the museum we went to our favorite icecream shop in the Indian part of town and got cones for about 75cents (same little shop we went to our first week in Oman).

Fun with cereal boxes! (The kids get creative in the kitchen when I'm washing up the dishes)

  

Our last visit to the souq!  We met this shopkeeper 10 months ago with our friends on our first visit to the souq.  We finally came back and bought some Kashmiri textiles for ourselves.

 

"Date day" with Ethan and Claire.  They were patient during my hunt for a curtain shop this morning, so I took them to Automatic for smoothies, hummus and fatoush salad.  They thought it was fun to see what sort of places David and I go to on date night. 

 

We watched Arabic music videos while we ate.

  

David and this male students, just before the final exam (the girls declined to be in the photo)

  

With a such a small congregation, church activities frequently turn into parties.

1.  Activity Days (youth 8-11) turns into a branch BBQ and swim party: 

(Claire with some of her favorite friends)

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2.  Women's cooking demonstration becomes multi-family swim/movie/lunch party 

(Filipina friend teaches us to make spring rolls)

 

Our very good friends from church hosted an open house for us before we left, and we were given this beautiful print and a vase made by one of our friends.  We were so blessed to know so many wonderful people in Oman!