Dhow Cruise in Dibba, Oman

During the work week it seems that time is crawling by; time moves so slowly sometimes that I feel like I'm in some kind of time warp where the weekend will never get here.  But I blink and it is indeed the end of another week and another month is over and we're that much closer to the next break...Spring Break!

A few weeks ago we went on a lovely Dhow cruise (basically a double decker boat) out of Oman with 4 other families that are good friends/neighbors.  There were 22 of us in all- 11 adults and 11 kids.  We left Al Ain early and drove caravan-style the two and a half hours or so through Sharjah and Fujairah (two other Emirates.)  The scenery was absolutely gorgeous and we enjoyed seeing more of the country.  We were even delayed briefly by a herd of goats on the road. Lol!

    

Stunning mountains on the way

This picture doesn't do it justice but this mosque in Dibba was beautiful

Before crossing the border to Oman we had to wait for the border crossing agent to decide he was ready to check our passports and information.  We've been in the country long enough to understand what "Inshallah" means.  Nothing happens quickly here and patience has a whole new meaning... especially when you've had 2 cups of coffee and no bathroom break!  An hour or two of waiting around (luckily we were right by a park where the kids could play) and we were finally checked and ready to cross the border and board the boat.

Waiting...

This is what our boat looked like.  Oman is known for its Dhow style ships, which throughout history have been used for trade, fishing, and pearl diving.

In the harbor we had to walk across several boats to get to ours.  Quite an adventure.

The trip included snorkeling, banana boat rides, a beach visit, deep sea fishing, and an Arabic lunch.  The sights were gorgeous with mountains plunging right into the clear, blue sea.

The beach we visited.  It was very rocky and hard on the feet.  

Sweet picture

Silly picture

Our Texas friends on the banana boat

The water was chilly but we got in to snorkel and swim around.

The kids had a great time playing with their friends

Deep sea fishing.  

Helping Daddy catch some fish

Our friend, Karsten, caught a barracuda!

And before we knew it the trip was over and it was time to head back to the harbor.

Amazing sunset on the drive back home to Al Ain.

You know you're an ex-pat when...

We're coming up on the 6 month mark of living abroad and man has it been an adventure.  Mark and I are constantly pointing things out that we do and say that make us feel like official ex-pats.  If you're unfamiliar with the term, Wikipedia says, "An ex-pat, short for expatriate, is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country or culture other than that of the person's upbringing."  So, we finally made a list.  

You know you're officially an ex-pat when:

1.  You don't even hesitate when referring to soccer as 'football' and football as 'American football.'

2.   Stop signs and turn signals mean nothing.  Roundabouts rule and if you run a stop light you go to jail.

3.  The parking lot is now called the 'car-park.'

4.  The labor camp outside your bedroom window is no longer an eyesore, but instead a conversation piece.

5.  You've started a sentence with, "Back in The States, we..."

6.  You've almost totally lost your accent.  People (even Americans) ask you where you are from and you can't believe they don't automatically know you're from the South, North, Midwest, etc.  Someone actually asked if I was from California (come on, y'all!)

7.  You actually understand the metric system and military time.

8.  You are so used to speaking broken English at work, government offices, and restaurants, that you find yourself speaking to your friends and family that way.  Then, you feel like an idiot.

9.  You can exchange the local currency automatically and not even have to think about it.

10.  You are now an expert at getting your American shows and movies on the Internet.

11.  You are totally spoiled because you haven't pumped your own gas or bagged/loaded your purchases in far too long.

12.  You can tell time by the call to prayer, "...hmm, must be about 3:30..."  

13.  You refer to gasoline as petrol.

14.  You no longer fear taxi rides.

15.  Going to Dubai for the day is no big deal.

16.  Your favorite foods are now 'local' foods (which also happen to be the cheapest.)

17.  You have trips planned to places you never dreamed you'd visit when you lived in the Western Hemisphere.

18.  You have friends literally from all over the world.

19.   Cold is 55 degrees Fahrenheit.  Hot is 110. 

20.  You are so happy in your new country that you can't imagine going back to the American (aka stressful) way of life!

We live for weekends!

January is almost over and we are back in the swing of things.  We've made it three weeks into term two of the school year with only nine more weeks until spring break! (But who's counting, right?)

We enjoy our weekends and days off so much.  Here are some ways we've spent our free time lately...

Ice skating at Al Ain Mall.  They have walker/assistance things for the kids, which I think are ingenious;  They help minimize broken bones.  I might even be brave enough to try.  Lol!

This was their first time ice skating and they loved it!

The view looking up from the ice rink.  It's so pretty!

Global Village is a huge world fair in Dubai where they have many different countries selling goods and food as well as shows, rides, and other entertainment.  We got some really cool stuff there and enjoyed learning more about different parts of the world.  It's so huge that it's hard to see it all in one day but here are a few pictures of the places we went there.

From this picture you can see lots of different types of shops inside each country...pottery, textiles, perfumes, rugs, toys, etc...  

Africa had tons of cool wood carving stuff.  

We bought some local honey from this guy in Yemen.  He was very knowledgeable about his products.

Nice canal that runs around so you can take a boat ride to the cut down on the massive amount of walking.

They had an amusement park full of rides.  We had to ride the ferris wheel, of course.

The view from the top.

Olivia and I got matching female kandoras from Egypt.  

Can't wait for the next adventure!

Christmas

 We had a really wonderful, relaxing, stress-free Christmas this year.  Here are a few thoughts I've had about this holiday season in the UAE:

They do have decorations here!
I was really very impressed by the presence of Christmas decorations here, especially since this is a predominately Muslim county.  The malls and hotels all have 'holiday' trees up.  The country has been decorated for National Day for several weeks...the country's colors are red, green, black and white so the lights on the streets, roundabouts and buildings are a good excuse now for us to pretend it's for Christmas.  But it's not the same...

I MISS CHRISTMAS MUSIC!
I can't believe I'm even saying that...but I only heard it a couple of times out and about.  It made me sad.  We tried to compensate by playing our old favorites in the car (and sometimes having impromptu sing alongs, lol)  but it's really much different than hearing it everywhere you go all the time (as annoying as it gets, I know.)

Not having family around is hard!
I miss our family Christmas get-togethers...even though we were so blessed back home that we were invited to attend 4-5 per year, which always stressed me out.  I miss buying presents for people rather than sending gift cards via facebook or email.  I miss my mom's decorations; she works so hard to decorate the whole house.

It's next to impossible to find comfort holiday food here.
Finding ingredients for Thanksgiving was difficult enough for us that we didn't even attempt making a big meal this year.  Christmas Eve we searched 4 different grocery stores for egg nog. ready bake cookie dough, and easy mix hot chocolate.  We figured it all out finally but as you can see it's inconvenient to say the least.

Holiday events are different.
I miss our church's live nativity scene that I used to play in when I was in youth.  I miss my school Christmas party and our goodies that everyone brings in the week before the break.  I miss going to friends' parties and celebrating.  Luckily we have made wonderful friends to get together with here and for that I am thankful!

The weather just baffles me!
As unpredictable as South Carolina weather is, we always knew there would be some cold(ish) weather around Christmas.  Two years ago it even snowed.  But here it was 88 degrees and sunny on Christmas day.  Very confusing.


Here are fun things we did and new traditions we started, as well as pics from the big day!


We went to Dubai so the kids could see Santa and participate in some festivities.  It was nice and the British Santa even commented that the gifts our kids wanted were 'very posh!'  Lol!  Here are some pictures from the day...

Christmas tree craft

We went to a fancy Christmas brunch at the Rotana Hotel.  They had Christmas Carolers, Santa, and even Mickey Mouse.

Here is the 'Nativity Scene' outside the hotel.  I had to take a picture...

Yes, those are camels.  Maybe Baby Jesus is in the treasure box?

We made chocolate chip cookies for Santa and drank hot chocolate.

Santa found us all the way over in the desert!

He and the reindeer enjoyed their treats!

Thank you Me-maw and Pops!

Thank you Mimi and Papa!

Both kids got tablets from Santa!

Enjoying their new toys!

Thank you everyone who contributed to make this Christmas wonderful for all of us.  I love my new camera, Mark is enjoying his GPS (and didn't get lost today in Dubai!) and the kids have new toys and clothes that they love!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying your families, friends, and the reason for the season, our Savior.