Rain in the Desert?

Don and I decided to do a little local exploring over the weekend. We got into the car and headed down the highway. There is a road that is cut into the side of one of the tall mountains not far from our house. You can actually see the zig-zag of the road up the side of the mountain as it makes its way to cross over it. It has always intrigued us, so we decided to see where the road went. 

If you look closely, you can see the zig-zag on the front of the center mountain.

As we climbed higher, we could see all the way to the ocean and in the valley below the city of Muscat.

It is usually hazy in Muscat, obscuring clear views of the ocean. But today, a different kind of haze is in the air: rain clouds with actual rain. This is an uncommon occurrence in the area. It was preceded by a fierce wind that swept up the sand. The sand is very fine; it reminded me of how snow blows across the road to make drifts in a snow storm.

We drove on, into the rain. We had no choice--there was no place to turn around on the road as it crossed over the mountains! We had to drive to the next town at the end of the road before there was an actual place (a roundabout!) in which to turn around in.

Do you see a similarity in the building styles from both sides of the mountain? Buildings are
built virtually in the same style with few changes. I guess it's a case of "if it works, don't fix it!"

I just HAD to take a picture of the sidewalk with raindrops on it. You are
thinking I've lost my mind, but since this doesn't happen too often
in this part of the world, I wanted documented proof!

It continued to rain and thunder all afternoon and into the evening. There were a few sand "puddles" around town the next day, and our car looked like it had been sprayed with miniature muddy sand balls!

The last shots of our day trip are from scenes I've shown you before on a sunny day. We got  stuck in a bad traffic jam, and detoured back on Romance Road by the sea to get back home. Only this time, it was raining, lightening and thundering. People were still on the beach, wading, swimming in the water, and walking on the seawall, even as massive lightening bolts were striking from cloud to ground!

Indians playing game of cricket in an empty lot; rain or no rain, it's their day off!

I guess nobody's mother told them not to play outside when it's lightening........

My next few blogs will be from sights around Turkey, where we are headed tomorrow during the Muslim holiday of Eid. Be watching for it!

Church Fellowship--the same the world over?

We attend the Protestant Church in Oman (PCO). As new members, we were invited to attend the Newcomer's Fellowship last night (Wednesday). [See my first blog!] The country of Oman is a monarchy, and ruler is referred to as a Sultan. The current sultan, Sultan Qaboos (pronounced as caboose), has very generously donated land on which the buildings that house the church have been built. This is truly a gift to the Christians in this country.

In true Debi fashion, we arrived an hour early--I entered the wrong time on my calendar. I don't know why, but since we were an hour early, they looked at both Don and I and thought we would be good helpers to set up. Do we wear signs on our backs? Anyway, we had a fun time helping to set up the dinner. Countries and nationalities and locales may change, but Christian dinners across the world are set up just the same! I asked for permission to take their pictures to put on my blog. Of course, they agreed with a smile! After the pictures, I helped them blow up balloons!

Ladies and gentlemen of the Fellowship Committee
preparing for the Newcomer  Dinner.

Laughter and fellowship while working for a common goal!

The room that the dinner was held in is also used as the worship center on Friday (Sunday) mornings. We also learned at the dinner that 8,000 people from different churches use this facility on a weekly basis. Talk about your multi-purpose room! The front of the worship area is under the cross at the far end of the room.

It was a great Newcomer's dinner! They made sure to invite people from the home countries of every newcomer so we would have at least one person with a common background. We met a very nice young lady from California, Lydia. She is a high school math teacher here at the American School. Don and I were the only American newcomers, so does God plan things out or what?!! The existing members made a point of mingling around the room, introducing themselves to all the newcomers and making us all feel quite welcome.

Don received a sound board lesson from Carlo, one of the worship band leaders.
I think they are hoping he will volunteer to rotate on
the audio/visual team for Friday mornings.

We met Huw (pronounced Hugh) and Wendy, originally from Wales, Blair from Canada/South Africa, Sylvie from the UK via Qatar, Eddie--a young tax lawyer--from Indonesia via Amsterdam,  and more. We also spent time talking to "oldcomer" Mele from Fiji. Mele has lived here for eight years. I asked her permission to share a story. We were talking about the soccer traffic (see my "Omani's love their soccer" blog), and she shared her first driving experiences when first moving to Oman. We see the roads and traffic as a nightmare, but compared to Fiji, she saw the roads and traffic as a blessing! Due to the climate in Fiji, the roads are constantly full of potholes and, as I gathered from her description, somewhat primitive. The roads here have no potholes, and there were roundabouts to help traffic move through intersections. Now that there are more traffic lights, it is even better to her way of thinking! Life is truly a matter of perspective!

You can see in the picture below how quickly the room filled up. There are at least three more tables that were cut out of the left side of the picture. It was a good evening, with good fellowship, and new friends! Oh, by the way, my balloon-blowing-up expertise earned me a request to help out on the Fellowship Committee for their next big fellowship!

I hope you can see all the nations represented in this room. All continents were represented except Antarctica! One of my favorite parts of the dinner: singing The Doxology in unison, demonstrating God's unity across all cultural barriers!

Omani's love their soccer!

Don and I met a fellow expat couple at a hotel restaurant on the ocean front Tuesday evening. The traffic was horrendous for Don getting home from work that day. Police presence was everywhere; roads were closed. We figured that either the royal family was in town or royalty from another country was in town--or heaven forbid something bad was happening. We were wrong. We live not far from the Sultanate Soccer Complex--as we left to go to the restaurant we knew that a big game was in progress.

Soccer is taken very seriously in this part of the world! So, we skirted the traffic and went the back way to arrive at the restaurant. We missed most of the traffic and arrived to the restaurant in time. I think we thought that by the time we left to go home, there wouldn't be that much traffic. We would use the back way again and have little trouble going home. Wrong again, for the second time that evening!

We pulled out of the parking lot onto a street that was little more than a parking lot itself. I always hate sitting in traffic, but when inhabitants of the car next to us started yelling and gesturing to me, it was somewhat disconcerting. That is, disconcerting until I figured out what they were trying to communicate to me. They wanted me to take their picture! So, I hurriedly dug through my purse to grab my phone and got ready to snap. You can see that they posed for me below:

 In case you haven't guessed by now, the Omani team won the match. They were very excited. However, it was disconcerting to see so many young people hanging out of their cars while driving down the street. Sorry that some of the pictures are blurry, but we were in a moving vehicle!

Notice how this young man is perched on the car! In addition to him and the driver, there is a third young Omani perched on the roof of the car. He is in his traditional garb--truly a mix/clash of culture!

We are approaching a major intersection. Can you see all the pedestrians in the background? 

We have crawled one step closer to the intersection.

 These last three images are taken as we are waiting for a green light at the intersection. Do you see the two young gentlemen out in the middle of the road? They were haphazardly "directing" traffic. One had on a clown hat, the other a white mask (ghost?). I was scared to death they were going to get run over! Driving injuries and fatalities are actually a huge problem in this country. The police do not give out tickets for traffic violations (see my blog on driving!), and every time Don and I have been caught in a traffic jam, you see young people, even children, popping up through the sunroof of their cars. Traffic lanes for right and left turns are virtually ignored, as are yielding-to-right-of-way guidelines.

To end our story, we finally made it through the intersection, and as you can see in the picture above, the highway ahead was pretty clear, and we made it to the ramp for our highway home easily. It did put a smile on our faces to know that the young men in the first picture were thrilled that I took their picture to commemorate their team's victory! However, I think from now on we will pay attention to the soccer schedule and plan dinners in on those nights.......

A Bigger Day than Christmas!

Have you heard? We have a GRANDDAUGHTER arriving in February! The 'think pink' mentality is kicking into high gear. Caitlyn and I are already conspiring on having many fun hours ahead planning, shopping, and playing with new little missy Brown! Taylor is still in shock--we all thought it was going to be a boy--but we are thrilled with a healthy girl!

That was the best news we learned from yesterday, but second best news was the delivery of our air shipment. We had a lot of fun unpacking the boxes. I can't wait to get started on some of my new projects--but first we have to find a place for everything! Finding some of the items we packed was like manna from heaven. Other items we packed, well, let's just say we didn't need everything we thought we needed. Items we didn't bring--those are on my American list for when we come back after Christmas. And, unfortunately, I think my coffee maker is busted--major bummer. I really enjoyed finding the pictures of our kids and the digital picture frame on which I can load lots of lovely images to view when I am lonely for a familiar face.

Really doesn't look like that much, does it?

Another great piece of news--my dad is home from the hospital, and he's doing very well. It turned out that the infection he had combined with the initial doses of the prescribed antibiotic sent his body into a tailspin--the equivalent of a medical perfect storm. Thanks for your many prayers on his behalf!

That's all for today--I have a lot more putting away and organizing to do!

Tidbits of daily life

Today is just a mishmash of topics and pictures. Don and I were walking around in the nearest mall just to get some exercise last week (sans sand, mosquitos and humidity!) and saw this bed? in a store window. Don took a picture because he thought it would be interesting. We got a lot of looks as we walked through the mall. They aren't used to seeing people use the mall for just walking. None of the malls here that we have visited are as big as the ones back home, so we kept seeing a lot of the same people as we made multiple trips around the mall circumference.





Now, on to the lovely picture at the right. We have to have residence cards in order to live here. Don needed his residence card in order to get a driver's license. This is a picture of the "DMV" here in Oman that he took while waiting the requisite 3 hours to get it. Do you think it's a world-wide conspiracy for all DMV's to have blue plastic chairs, lots of windows to help citizens, but only a small fraction of those same windows have actual bodies there to wait on the many customers? And the body language--I've seen this same scene many times in the states. The clothing may change, but the people don't! In case you can't tell, the sign in red at he upper right corner is displaying the number of the current patron. Bureaucratic minds across the world are the same!


Today, while Sunday, is our second day of the work week. Thursday and Friday is our weekend. I finally got to drive this weekend. I drove home from a mall and then to church on Friday. I was either too slow or too fast for Don (no pleasing him!), but I didn't want to hit or be hit by any other drivers. Don was very nervous as I navigated the roundabouts as well, but I made it through just fine! Below is a picture, posted on the wall at the DMV, of all the different road signs used here in Oman. Again, bureaucrats of the world are united!

Living the Omani Lifestyle

Living in Oman is much different than living in the U.S. Of course, we all expect that living in a foreign country to be different from home. However, there are things that I find amusing, frustrating, and downright aggravating.

Here is picture of one end of my kitchen. Notice the lamp up on to of the built-in pantry. There is no light on this side of the kitchen. The only lights in the kitchen are a small one in the middle of the room's ceiling and a drop lamp over the bar--just a mere 2 feet from the countertop surface. (Don has to stoop to reach under it!) If you try to wash dishes at night, you can't even see if you are getting them clean because it is so dark on that side of the kitchen. The lamp helps, and it's definitely better than not having it, but seriously? Who builds a kitchen without enough light to see your work at the sink? We had a fellow OXY employee over for dinner this past weekend, and we had a good laugh over the "outstanding lighting fixtures" that have been touted by construction folk here.

See the lamp cord running down the wall to a plug-in? It works because
ALL plug-ins in our apartment are turned off and on AT the plug-in.
We leave the lamp turned on and just toggle the outlet's power button.

Moving on through my kitchen, please meet my new dryer. Oh, it's not really mine. They sent the measurements for the dryer and asked if it would fit into my utility room (the door that you see on the far side of the dryer). Don and I performed due diligence and measured out everything--the new dryer would fit. However, do you notice that large 4" aluminum panel sticking out on the back of the dryer? They didn't include it in the measurements of the dryer, so when it showed up, it wouldn't fit through the door. Don tried removing the door to the room and removing the back panel. The part he could NOT remove was the dryer vent. It is not removable and kept the dryer from going into the room. I have now waited longer for them to remove the dryer from our kitchen than I waited for it to arrive once it was approved for installation. It's a tight squeeze, but we enjoy walking around it to get in and out of the pantry and utility room--not!

Now, I will show you my real dryer. Or should I say my dryer office...........there are just no words. And to think I wasted space in my crates for my drying rack from The Container Store--you know, for those "lay flat to dry" items.


Life is definitely different here. Wait till you see my latest finds in another blog: a bidet shelf and real tension curtain rods!

Joking aside, this is not to mean that life here is bad. It's just different. It is so different from what I am used to in the U.S. Sometimes I think we forget how blessed we are to have access to so many goods and services. Oman's leader realizes the value of opening its culture to the world and providing a better lifestyle for its citizens. One of the good things about living here is the slower pace of life. I think that sometimes in America we live too fast a pace and we forget to make time to slow down and smell the roses.

Take some time to slow down yourself today--and enjoy the blessings God has bestowed on you.

Only qualified cooks need apply....

Well, I was going to post this yesterday, but I had a few things come up. First of all, pray for my dad who was taken by ambulance to the hospital yesterday because he couldn't breathe. He's okay now, they just need to figure out what's causing it. With that said, I will now educate you on food/food prep in Oman.

Below is a picture of my gas stove. I'm lucky in that I have an electric starter so that I don't have to use a match to light the burner or oven. However, there is a down side. The gas alarm keeps going off on my gas stove. I don't even have to be using it for it to go off. It has gone off morning, noon, and night. One night I thought it would beep the entire night until Don figured out how to turn off the alarm. They've been out at least 4 or 5 times to see why alarm is going off. Mostly, they thought it was the dingy American housewife who just didn't know how to operate it--until Don got his office involved and they communicated that it was a real problem and safety issue! Finally, this morning, after it went off yet again (while I was mopping, not even using the silly thing!), they have decided to replace the entire unit since there are no other parts left to replace! It has been a huge ordeal so far, as is everything in this country. Here is a pic of my infamous stove--please note the platform on which it sits.....

There is one shelf in the oven and a weird little attachment for a
rotisserie--which is only big enough for a small roasting hen.

Due to the extreme safety issues we have been dealing with as regards cooking, Don and I decided to purchase a small grill for the balcony patio. When I say small, I mean small. Here's Don holding it while putting it together. It is big enough for 2 burgers and a sausage link!

Now, on to my next topic for the day: food. I have a few choice photographs of food available in the local grocery stores.

Can you tell what a "Tit-Bit" is? The best I could figure is some kind of soy rind or
something like that--since pork is forbidden. Spot the Arabic writing on the label?

Yum, yum. Tomato Ketchup potato chips--everyone's favorite flavor.

These are just a couple of examples of different food products here. Of course, we have to be very careful about where our food comes from. Fortunately for us, they label almost every item in the grocery stores as to their origin. We will buy beef and frozen vegetables from New Zealand. We will buy dairy from Switzerland or Germany. Eggs--we have to watch out there. First time we bought eggs, they turned out to be orange. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that (orange is actually a good color for an egg, or so I read on the Internet--and we all know if it's on the Internet, it's got to be true!), but after a few bites neither Don nor I had no desire for  more.

Deli meat is somewhat hard to come by to use in making sandwiches. Needless to say, I'm eating a lot of peanut butter these days. I did cook some wonderful ground beef last night, paired with a can of Old El Paso refried beans and stale taco shells. It was one of the best meals we've had at home so far. I'm guessing the shells were stale because they don't move off the shelf that fast here! However, chips are a little better, so we'll probably be doing more nachos and less tacos from now on! But they have to replace my oven first.......darn, no cooking till then!

That's all today--have a good one!

Anyone need a lift?

Well, as much as I dread it, I have come to the realization that I must get a car so that I can get out and around in this city. You cannot walk hardly anywhere. If I want to attend Bible study, American Women's Club, have lunch with the girls, or just do basic grocery shopping, I must be able to drive myself. I don't know who should dread that more: me, for being scared to death of the other drivers and not understanding the true maze of roads in this city; Don, for having to potentially pay damages for an accident or worrying about me being injured and/or sent to jail; or the local Omani's who will have to contend with me on the road!

Just to set the scene: 

1. Many of the streets do not have names. If they do, it's like Way 2488 or Way 1670. I have only seen street signs on two of the major roads. That's it--no others.
2. None of the major highways are marked by name or number. For instance, when entering the Muscat Expressway, you just have to know it's the Muscat Expressway. The sign on the entrance ramp will list something like Ghala, which is an area of town. 
3. They don't use any north, east, south, or west designations.
4. We live off a street called Boshar, or Bousher, or Boshwair, depending on who manufactured and translated the street sign from Arabic into English.
5. Boshar (my preferred spelling!) is listed as an exit all along the major highways--how the heck do I know which one I want, especially if I don't know which highway I'm on?
6. All the highways and streets run in circles. I'm dizzy and thoroughly disoriented within 5 minutes of leaving the house.
7. Roundabouts. Do I need to explain this one? For those of you who have never used a roundabout, it's kind of okay if there isn't much traffic. It's faster than a 4-way stop. However, if there is a lot of traffic, it becomes a major log jam on all four roads feeding into the roundabout. And, the inside lane has the right of way, so if you think you're safe on the right lane of a roundabout and turning right onto your chosen street, think again. That guy on the left has first dibs on your side of the road!
8. Traffic rules and road signs aren't really laws--they are just suggestions. 
9. It is okay to back up in the lane of traffic if you missed your turn. 
10. It's okay to just stop in your lane of traffic if you want to and then pull out again just as randomly. 
11. If you are tired of waiting for that opportunity of a clear spot to turn onto the street you want, no problem--just nose your car out and everybody else will automatically know it's your turn to go.
12. You can make a left turn from the right or straight-only lane. The cars in the left turn lanes expect this (not!)
13. Taxis stop in the shoulder or lane of traffic to pick up or let out passengers, who think nothing of stepping into lanes of traffic. This can be on a highway or major street.
14. The police do not ticket for traffic violations or speeding. Speeding tickets are issued via radar. The police only drive on the roads to be available when there are wrecks. (And there are LOTS of wrecks and high fatality rates!)
15. Left turn lanes are very uncommon. You usually have to drive way past the spot where you want to turn left and make a U-turn that is governed by the light. This is to protect the other drivers and themselves from making poor decisions on when they can turn left. It also contributes to you not always being able to reach your desired destination......

Stay tuned--my driving lessons start tomorrow and I will keep you updated on my progress. Pictures will follow, I'm sure. We'll see next week what kind of car I'll end up with--that is, if I don't get lost on my way back from somewhere, never to be seen again!

Friday (Sunday) brunch

I'm a little behind in posting--we've had a busy last few days. We have been getting acquainted with other expat Americans, which has been very enjoyable. It is nice to talk to people you have something in common with! I am also making new friends here in the apartment complex--non-American expats. I am learning a lot and hope to share some of those stories soon!

While it is still hot here, it is beginning to cool down. The weather in the evening is finally beginning to lend itself to sitting/dining outside---BUT only if you have some kind of fan blowing! I learned that in addition to heaters in the pool during the Omani winter, they run a refrigerant cooler of some kind in the summer, else the water would be too hot to swim in. A fellow swimmer told me they had trouble adjusting the cool temp at times, and it felt like the Arctic when in the water. I think that's the coldest I'll be while we are here.

As many of you know, I've had trouble adjusting the to food/diet/smells/aromas here. There are many, and they are pungent. However, I am becoming a little more acclimated and Don thought he would try me on a restaurant serving local cuisine. I thought we were walking into abandoned buildings that were overgrown with jungle plants. I am not ashamed to admit I thought Don had lost his marbles!

As we walked into the restaurant--it was just a hallway of sorts that we passed through and went back outside again. We finally meandered down the path (think Babe's, only more paths, lots of plant life, and a stone trail) and arrived at the real restaurant's indoor eating area. It was beautifully decorated. Cushioned benches with pillows ran the entire length of one wall, the wood tables were darkly stained and there were cushioned love-seat-type benches for individual chairs around some of the tables.







The food was definitely local. I had carrot soup--it was very good; Don had the chicken soup and said it was good, but I wasn't going for it. The salad was the best I've had since arriving. Of course, Don did the whole hummus and other dishes that were offered. I tried the fish, some rice and had a bite of Don's chicken. For me, all in all I thought I did pretty well.

Then the dessert buffet was interesting. You can see it in the background. The bread pudding was good, but I am still trying to adjust to the new taste of dairy products. I also tried a piece of pastry very similar to apple pie and some kind of fried dough. They were both relatively good. Our waiter was a little surprised that we asked to take his picture, but he finally complied. You can see the buffet in the background. The decor was absolutely authentic and charming. I'm sure we'll be going back.


We met with fellow Americans last night at a voter registration party. They served good old American hamburgers and hot dogs. While I would love to taste a hot dog again, I was wary of what they might have tasted like and went for the burger instead! I was invited to have lunch with a few American wives tomorrow, so it seems that my social calendar is beginning to be filled up.

With that, I will leave you with my final thought. Don is posing outside a steak restaurant in the picture below. Would that ad be appealing enough to you to make you want to eat there?