a night at the falaj daris with a fellow blogger :-)

Saturday, December 22:  On December 7, I got an email from someone who actually reads my blog.  She wrote:

I’m an expat in Abu Dhabi, stumbled onto your blog a year ago when researching Oman and have been following you ever since. We have a lot in common, but key words are generalist, teacher, writer, photographer, art, and hiking. And wine. I am lucky enough to have my husband sharing this experience with me. We love Oman and are spending Christmas week there, including the Western Hajar and Nizwa area, then Muscat and As Sifa. I want to find the best hikes to do, and I think you might be able to help. If there is one must-do hike, what is it? And … I would love to meet you if you are around. We will be at Hotel Jibreen for a couple nights before Christmas and have a couple of unplanned nights at the end of the trip that we are thinking we may also spend in the mountains. ~ Anne

Of course I am always happy to meet anyone who reads my blog!  After all, that person needs a lot of patience and perseverance, and so must be a very special person!  Haha! So, we arranged to meet in Nizwa at the Falaj Daris Hotel on Saturday night.

meeting Anne was a nice Christmas present. 🙂

I was so thrilled to meet Anne and her husband Mark.  They remind me of my people back home.  Though they’re not Virginians, they’re from Nevada, and I spent 4 years of my life living out west in the USA, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.  It’s just enough that they’re fellow Americans.  In addition, Anne reminds me a little of one of my 4 best high school friends, Louise, especially in her mannerisms and her character.  I felt immediately at home in her company.

me and Anne being goofy at the Falaj Daris Hotel

And that’s not all.  Anne is a fellow blogger!  I didn’t know she had a blog as she never mentioned it, but once I found it, I subscribed right away.  I love her sharp colorful photos and her fresh take on her experiences as an expat living in Abu Dhabi.  Although she is a BLOGSPOT blogger, and not a WORDPRESS blogger, I had to step over the line and join her on her journey.

Wildcard Travels ~ Anne’s blog

She writes about herself on Wildcard travels: Mark and I are, more than anything, sailors and racers. Leaving our northern Nevada and California stomping grounds and moving to the Middle East is something we never dreamed would happen, yet here we are. I’m spending the time being a writer, photographer, teacher, and painter. I’m a former 5th grade teacher, conservation project manager, sailmaker, and stained glass artist with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geography. Also a mom, grandma, and Mark’s wife. I believe life is best lived by stepping outside the comfort zone, taking on challenges and enjoying adventures while maintaining a sense of humor. I’m not a thrill seeker, but thrive on change. I hope you enjoy the stories.

us with guns 🙂

Anne is a warm, easy-going and fun-loving person and I invite you to check out her blog.  I was honored that she contacted me and made the time to meet me.

We talked for a long while over dinner and a bottle of wine poolside.  They insisted on treating me.  I felt incredibly at ease in their company.  Anne used to be a 5th-grade teacher and has worked in conservation.  She’s also a painter, photographer and writer.  She and Mark are avid sailors; they met in a sailing regatta.  They sail in Abu Dhabi with an Italian crew.  And they have their own sailboat in California.

I feel she and I could be kindred spirits.  🙂  I hoped when we parted that we would meet again.  And surprisingly, we did.  That story will follow in another post…. 🙂

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no comfort zone challenge: myfitnesspal.com

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No Comfort Zone Challenge

Tuesday, June 26:  I just discovered a new challenge from Marge Katherine at Inside Out Cafe.  Her blog is called Inside Out Cafe because her “inside thoughts show up in [her] outer world and [her] outside activities influence [her] inner thoughts.”

She set a challenge called The No Comfort Zone Weekly Challenge. I really like the idea of this. She writes:

• Once a week in 2012 plan to do something out of the ordinary and blog about it each week.
• These things don’t have to be earth shattering but they have to be different from your ordinary course of action.
  

  the gym at the Falaj Daris

“Whether you decide to take a different route home, listen to country music instead of rock and roll,  read a book by a new author, drink a new type of wine or work on a crossword puzzle, visit a new website, increases your daily steps, try a different workout routine, listen to new singer, try a new food, attend a poetry reading or WHATEVER …. do it and share it on your blog!”

This idea reminds me of a book I read a while back: Do One Thing Different: Ten Simple Ways to Change Your Life by Bill O’Hanlon.  The review on Amazon.com says: “The theory behind the title of this book is solution-oriented therapy. Rather than probing the past and analyzing causes and effects of psychological problems and troubles, therapist O’Hanlon advises making changes in behavior in the present in order to feel better sooner rather than later. Using 10 “solution keys,” he challenges readers to focus on the here and now and adjust behavior to change the situation. The author uses plenty of examples to show solution-oriented therapy in action. There is something to be said for taking action in times of trouble rather than wallowing in the many negative feelings that arise.”

Well, it’s not exactly the same, but anyway, it’s just my cup of tea.  I read another book by writer Julia Cameron: The Artist’s Way, that encouraged me to take artist’s “dates,” to plan an outing each week to nurture my artistic and creative self.  I love this idea and try to do this anyway in my daily life, ever since I read this fabulous book in 2000!

So, my No Comfort Zone action for this week was to sign up for fitness on a website I heard about on Facebook: My Fitness Pal.  On this website, you can write down everything you eat, and the calories are calculated. You also keep track of your daily exercise. The only weight loss plans that have worked successfully for me in the past have been ones where I’ve written down everything I eat.  So today, I signed up for this, in hopes of slowly changing my bad eating habits to good ones.

run, lift, walk, ride, sit-up!!

On Thursday I paid 30 rials for a membership at the Falaj Daris Hotel in Firq, which has the only exercise room in the vicinity of my house.  Now I can go every day if I want, and then relax poolside afterwards.

the falaj daris hotel pool

So, wish me luck!  Hopefully between being aware of everything I put in my mouth, exercising more regularly, and being held accountable to myself, I will be able to get in better shape and fit into my clothes more comfortably.  Here’s to trying new small things.

refreshing relief after exercise

a morning walk through the dusty town of firq

Friday, March 23:  This morning I start my walk at 8:00 a.m., a little late here in Oman because it is now baking hot outside as soon as the sun comes up.  I usually walk along my little 4km walking trail, but this morning I decide to walk up the main road through Firq, the town adjoining Nizwa, where all the businesses are lined up on either side of the road.  I don’t normally think this an interesting walk, but I think my readers might like to see the kinds of businesses that operate in this town.

the al diyar hotel

It has been very dusty weather here in the last 4 days.  There’s a constant haze in the air, causing many of my colleagues to suffer with respiratory problems. Luckily I’ve been spared.  I wonder if this dusty haze is because we haven’t had any rain in a good long while.  The last time I experienced rain in Oman was in early November, right before the Eid.  When I went to Salalah in late January with my sons, I heard there was some rain in Muscat, but where I was driving through the Empty Quarter, there was not a drop in sight.

White pick-up trucks or SUVs are the order of the day in Oman, because of the heat and they don't show the dust so much.

Can you imagine this?  In a place where there is little vegetation and an abundance of rocks and dirt, it’s no wonder there isn’t a constant dust haze in the air.  I don’t know how long this will last, but it isn’t pleasant, I’ll tell you that.

the Shell station where most of us stop for petrol and Nawras (phone or internet) cards

I’m not sure you can see the haze in the air in these pictures.  The one with the Nissan truck above shows it.  Usually Oman has clear blue skies and not a single cloud.

a typical Omani restaurant where mostly men eat, so I haven't gone here

I park my car at the Al Diyar hotel, the first place I stayed upon my arrival in Nizwa.  I start my walk, past the Nissan dealership, then past the Majan car wash and the Shell station where most of us stop for petrol or Nawras (phone or internet) cards.  Then I pass a colorful little restaurant where I’ve never eaten.

Majan FURNITURES

Majan FurnitureS is the furniture store used by the university to furnish our flats.  This is where I bought my purple futon.  I love how sometimes non-English speakers make plurals out of non-count nouns.

Bank Muscat

Bank Muscat is the bank of choice for the university. Our salary is paid into our accounts here.  This particular branch houses the ATM machine that double-charged me for a 100 rial withdrawal ($270 twice, or $540, when I only got $270!!).  What a hassle that was, but I finally got reimbursed!!

the Falaj Daris Hotel

The Falaj Daris Hotel is the nicest hotel in town, with two pools, a poolside restaurant, a bar that caters to Westerners, and a gym.  Attached to one side of the hotel is an Arab bar and a Hindi bar.  I’ve spent many nights here meeting friends or colleagues for a drink or two.  I know I can come here to escape the loneliness that is part and parcel of the expat life.

flowers along the way

the mountains along the road in the haze

the Turkish restaurant, one of the few decent restaurants in Nizwa

Many nights we sit outside at the Turkish restaurant at plastic chairs and tables set up in the parking lot, with a football game on the big screen.  Now that it’s getting hot, we probably won’t be doing this much.

it's a Friday morning, like Sunday morning in the USA, and most businesses are closed, with metal gates across the doors

I discover a little park and playground I've never seen before

Oman United Insurance

used furniture for sale

pretty trucks all lined up in a row

one of the University of Nizwa buses

the Toyota dealer where I bought my 2008 GMC Terrain

I finish my walk about 9:30, drenched in sweat.  After a shower, I put on my pajamas and stay inside my flat the rest of the day, where I nap and dream of flowers and trees and rain….. 🙂

happy new year: with a little help from my friends

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Nizwa, Oman

Saturday, December 31:  On the eve of the new year, two thousand twelve, otherwise known as twenty twelve or 2012, I go out with some of my dearest friends from the university. I won’t mention names here, but let’s just say that, although New Year’s Eve is almost always, without fail, a disappointment for me, this celebration is an exception.  I feel that strange comfort that comes when I’m with people who accept me for I am, people who, surprisingly, may even LIKE me a little bit.  I feel at ease, my guard is down, my heart is open.  I like these kinds of gatherings, unforced, simple, but crazy fun and even a little wild.

the Hindi bar at the Falaj Daris hotel in Nizwa

I will tell it in a nutshell, and I will post some pictures, which will speak for themselves.  A night of happiness.  A rare thing, this, so I cherish it, and I must write it in my blog so I’ll remember it when I’m old and my memory is frail.

Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right. ~ Oprah Winfrey

We gather at the Falaj Daris Hotel, the nicest hotel in Nizwa.  Now, there is at the Falaj, as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, the easy-going Western bar, which is really just a simple bar.  It has chairs and couches, a TV set hanging in a corner, and pool tables in a back room.  No music of any sort, live or DJ.  And the worst service imaginable.

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~ Bill Vaughan

In addition, actually attached to the Falaj Daris, but with a different entrance, is an Arab bar. Another entrance yet leads to a Hindi bar.  We meet this night at the Arab bar, so we can watch the “dancers” stand idly on stage in their skin-tight, shimmery floor-length dresses and twirl their hair.

Bored quickly with this, and having sampled one beverage each, we move on to the Hindi bar, which has a different kind of energy all together.  Think Bollywood movies and the ending scene of Slumdog Millionaire, with lively dancers and Bombay beats and beautifully costumed girls.

Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits. ~ Anonymous

Of course the entire time there is that easy banter that comes among friends who don’t have to prove anything to each other.  Friends who just enjoy each others’ company and play gently off each others’ comments and jokes.

Later, because of the loudness at the Hindi bar, and the fact that we can’t huddle and talk because the customers are actually set up like an audience at a theater, in straight lines, we go to M’s house, where his wife S has set up an excellent little party with some kind of British crisps and salty butter spread and other snacks and beverages appropriate to the occasion.

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.” ~ T.S. Eliot

Happy New Year!  We have great fun, even though, somehow, we have to force ourselves up at the crack of dawn to teach school at the university, since New Year’s Day is not a holiday in Oman.

Best wishes for a wonderful 2012… 🙂

nice hat for the new year… 🙂

happy birthday to malcolm!

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Life, Nizwa, Oman

Sunday, December 18:   Malcolm was one of the first new teachers I met when I arrived at the University of Nizwa in mid-September.  He’s a British chap with a great sense of humor and a fun-loving nature.  I’m always poking my head into his office, which he shares with James and Steven, to give them grief about one thing or another, and they do the same to me.  I consider these guys some of my dearest friends at the university.

“Mal” and his wife Sandy, a couple of cool Brits

Malcolm is married and his wife Sandy works in Great Britain teaching performing arts.  She just arrived this week to spend Christmas with him.  She’s got the same fun-loving spirit as Malcolm does.  On Sunday, they invited me, along with a few other people, to meet them at the Falaj Daris for a drink to celebrate Malcolm’s birthday.

James, Lazina and Steven at the Falaj Daris

Sandy calls Malcolm “Mal;”   I’m a little baffled about this “Mal” business, because he introduced himself as Malcolm when I first met him. It’s so difficult to start calling someone a different name once you’ve been calling them by another name.

me with my Scottish friend James….

We all go to the Falaj Daris to have a few beers and celebrate Mal’s birthday and Sandy’s arrival in Oman.  James and Steven come and we run into Lazina, who bought me a cake for my birthday in October.  She joins us and we have a lovely time shooting the breeze and enjoying each other’s company.

How I love a birthday celebration with great friends… 🙂

Happy birthday, dear Malcolm.  And welcome to Oman, Sandy!!

guido comes to nizwa

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Nizwa, Oman, Travel

Saturday, December 3:  I drive to work from Muscat early on Saturday morning and leave Guido behind to explore Muscat on his own.  I give him instructions on how to take a shared taxi to Nizwa from the clock tower roundabout, and he shows up near my house at around 4:30, soon after I get off work.

guido at the nizwa souq

Tonight I’m exhausted from getting up so early, so we simply go to visit the Nizwa Souq, where we wander companionably among the shops.

sitting outdoors at the Turkish restaurant

We have a fun time just browsing.  I’m looking for some jewelry for my daughter Sarah for Christmas, and he’s looking for a little Omani flag pin to put on a hat where he pins all his travel flags.  I come across a little bookstore where I find several books I want on Oman, but one in particular is Oman Off-Road.  I know I want this book, but I say I’ll wait until payday.  I’ve been traveling so much in November that I don’t want to spend one cent unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Guido at the Turkish restaurant

I point out the Nizwa Fort so Guido will know how to get here tomorrow, while I’m at work. I also speak by phone to one of the many taxi drivers I have in my telephone contact list about taking Guido tomorrow to Al Hoota Cave, Bahla and Jabrin Castle, all of which I’ve already been to see. They want to charge him an outrageous 20 rials (>$50) for this trip, which is no more than 100 km of driving and no more than 3 hours.  I think this is highway robbery but he’s willing to pay because it’s his vacation.

After our walk around the souq, we have dinner at Al-Masharef Turkish Foods, a little Turkish dive restaurant in Nizwa where I eat quite frequently.  There we sit at the white plastic tables on a wide expanse of asphalt parking lot.  He orders some Fish Tikka and I order a variety plate of hummus, baba ghanoush, and tabouleh with pita bread.  It’s delicious as always, despite the restaurant’s decidedly unglamorous setting.

my delicious meal at the Turkish restaurant

Sunday, December 4:  Sadly, I have to work all day today, but while I’m at work, Guido visits Nizwa Fort, Al Hoota Cave, Bahla Fort (which he can only see from the outside because it’s closed for renovation), and Jabrin Castle.  While at the Nizwa souq complex near the Fort, he says a Pakistani man tells him he has beautiful blue eyes!

In the evening when I get off work, we go across the street to the Falaj Daris Hotel, the favorite watering hole for all the expats in Nizwa.  We drink wine and chat, or rather Guido chats and I nod as if I understand.  We eat a nice dinner there and as we’re leaving I run into my friend Lazina from the College of Applied Sciences.  She is sitting with an Omani man named Mohammed who she often hires to do tours throughout Oman.  He tells me to call him Moo.  I think, Voila!  Here is the man who can take Guido to see some of Oman while I’m at work the next couple of days.  I ask him about Jebel Akhdar, where I am planning to take Guido tomorrow, Monday, after my class ends at 1:00.  Moo says we could come up the mountain and spend the night at his flat and he can take Guido hiking on Tuesday. I take his phone number and resolve to call him tomorrow.

We come back to my flat where we sit and watch my favorite Italian movie, Bread and Tulips.  I figure this will keep him quiet for a while plus make him feel at home.  I’ve seen the movie so many times, I fall asleep on the couch halfway through.

a little birthday party (or two) in oman… :-)

Tags

Nizwa, Oman

Tuesday, October 25, 2011: Beginning on Saturday morning the week of my birthday, I set the stage for my own celebration by walking through the halls of the university and inviting my colleagues to join me for a drink Tuesday night.  The planned gathering is to take place at the Falaj Daris, one of the few hotels in Nizwa that serves alcoholic beverages.  I tell everyone to be there at 7:00, since Tuesday is a work night and we have to get up early for work the next morning.

Ian serenading us on the left, me and James from Scotland on the right

I find out a lot of interesting things about cultural expectations during my invitation.  The American way is that you invite people to join you in a public place and it is expected that everyone will pay their own way.  Possibly in the case of a birthday, the attendees will buy the birthday girl a drink or two, or maybe three.  But I have no expectations for anyone to buy me drinks; I just want some company and figure that people will be happy for an excuse for a party.  There is not a lot of excitement in the sleepy town of Nizwa, so I think people may jump for a chance to get out and socialize.

me, James and Mario at the Falaj Daris

I also know that if I don’t make plans for my own birthday, I will likely sit at home alone in my little villa feeling depressed and sorry for myself.

Gretchen and Marcia in the Falaj

Right away, the Brits in particular start asking about who will be paying.  They seem a little put out that I am not offering to buy drinks for everyone. At the very least I could be having the party at my own house and providing all the food and drinks!  Finally, after much light-hearted joshing and joking (“What?  Me pay??  On my measly little salary??  I can’t afford that… 🙂 ) people say they will try to make it and I leave it at that.  If they want to come they will come.

Ian serenades us all

On the appointed evening, I show up as I always do promptly at 7:00 to find the place empty except for a black lady from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago who teaches at another college in Nizwa.  Her name is Lazina.  I’ve never met her before, but we strike up a conversation, being the only expats in the place.  She moves over and joins me for a drink and we chat about her experiences in Oman.

Lazina and Malcolm

After about 40 minutes, people start drifting in: Martin and his wife Angela and their two boys.  James from Scotland and Malcolm from Britain.  Maurio from Brazil and David from Britain.  Out in the pool area, I run into Gretchen, who teaches at yet another college in Nizwa, and invite her to join.  My henna-haired Australian friend Marcia also appears despite the fact that she finished her last class at 8 p.m.  Another guy named Ian pops in with his guitar in hand.  I’m a little surprised to see him here as I met him only once and I know I never crossed paths with him to invite him along.  I say, how did you hear about the party?  He says, Oh, this is a birthday party? Whose is it?  I say, Mine!  He asks my name.  Then he pulls out his guitar and starts singing.

Martin, James & Mario

For all the people I invited, I’m only a little disappointed that more of them don’t show up. This is because the people who have shown up are some of my favorite people at the university and so it’s a lovely gathering.  While all of us chat and drink away, Ian sings along on his guitar, mellow songs that provide a nice ambiance.  It’s a little odd, I must admit, because he doesn’t really join in any conversations but seems to be in his own little musical world.

Lazina disappears for a while and when she comes back she presents a chocolate cake with 3 candles.  I am surprised by her kindness as I only just met her this night!  I manage to blow out the three candles which is highly unusual because I usually get so nervous blowing out my birthday candles that I can’t extinguish them, no matter what the number!

The evening is lovely and though it is just one in a long line of 29th birthdays, I have a great time.  The greatest gift of all is the friendship of a lot of new interesting people in this strange expat life of mine.  A life where I am thrust into a bright and shiny new world with a whole new cast of characters.  I really do love my life and am thrilled to have another year in this beautiful world.

A Happy Birthday cake from my students

Wednesday, October 26:  The next morning I am not feeling so great, but I have to get up at my normal 5:30 a.m. to shower and dress and get to school for my 8 a.m. class. As I am walking to this class, burdened down as I usually am with a CD player, books, papers, pens, whiteboard markers, erasers and my purse, Habiba, one of my darling students, stops me.  “Teacher, teacher, wait a minute.  Let’s sit down and rest because the other students are cleaning the classroom for you.”  Hmm, I think.  The classrooms at the University of Nizwa, at least in this particular building, are brand spanking new. They have nothing in them at all except student desks and a teacher desk and chair.  I know the university has cleaning staff to clean the rooms and there is nothing in there to get dirty.  I know something is up, but I play along as if I believe her and I sit and chat with her at a plastic table outside.

gifts and a cake from my students

When finally we go into the class 5 minutes late, all the students yell, “Surprise!!” They have gone all out.  On the board is written “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  We love you Cathy!  ❤ ❤ <3”  Balloons are strewn about the room.  A cake spells out in icing: “Happy Birthday Miss Cathy.”  Two cheerily wrapped gifts and paper plates and plastic forks decorate my desk.  All of my lovely students are so pleased with themselves, smiling their beautiful smiles, snapping pictures of me with their mobile cameras. I’m astounded by the effort they have made on my behalf.

my Miss Romantic gift set

I unwrap my gifts and I find, much to my happiness, two beautiful scarves, one hot pink chiffon number with little jewel beads on it and one black and gray striped ruffled one.  Also, they’ve given me a box gift set of Miss Romantic perfumed shower gel, body lotion and perfume and a little flashy what-not that you hang on your mobile, much like what my students in Korea gave me when I was there.  I immediately wrap the hot pink scarf around my neck as it happens to match (sort of) with the purple print shirt I’m wearing.

I love my students!! ❤

I spend 16 hours a week with these students, 23 girls and one boy.  Sure, we’ve had time to get to know each other a little, but we’re only two weeks into classes.  They don’t know me that well.  Yet, they have put their hearts on display for me, showing me they care for me in a very exuberant way. They are so excited and pleased that I am happy, and their obvious pleasure makes me feel really loved.

One of my best students

It’s funny too, the day before, on my actual birthday, I didn’t tell them until I got to class that it was my birthday. I have heard that the girls don’t usually let anyone take pictures of them, but I had my camera with me and I asked them if any of them would be in a picture with me on my birthday.  I was so surprised that almost all of them were thrilled to be photographed with me and in addition, they were all crowding around asking their fellow students to take individual pictures of themselves with me.  I have never been in the midst of such enthusiastic energy.

Happiest of happy birthdays to me 🙂

What a blast!! I love teaching in Oman and I love my students.  Almost all girls, they are smart, hard-working, and dedicated.  They come to class every day eager to learn. When I ask a question 15-20 hands shoot up into the air.  “Teacher, teacher! Me, me!”  It’s so overwhelming sometime, and heartbreaking, that I can’t call on all of them at once.  What greater pleasure can there be for a teacher than to have students who are passionate about learning?  Really, how could life be better??

The day of my birthday when the students just find out it’s my birthday and let me take their pictures