First Month - Year Two

August 30, 2006

The first week of school has just ended. It was only 3 days, but in some ways it seems like I have been with these kids for months. It is hard to explain our two lives. Over the summer we had such a great time visiting our friends and family. We think about our times together often and are constantly reminiscing about the good times we had. However, we also have this life here that is such a big part of us and so hard to explain. Being back here feels real and I guess almost normal.

The first week back was rough. Ellen was working full time and Taj was getting up at 2 a.m. and not going back to sleep until 11:00 a.m. It was the first time that Jet Lag effected him and I am not sure why. I have been watching as some families seem to adjust with ease and while others struggle for longer than we did. The families that seem to have it easy, have horror stories of their own from other travel transitions. Nobody knows how to deal with this on a consistent basis.

We also have moved into a new house. Overall, it is great. We are now on campus. The houses here have a very open floor plan which is unique in Oman. We even have a patch of grass that I mowed last weekend. It was strange to feel a sense of accomplishment simply by trimming this little plot of greenery. I guess you can take me out of America, but you can’t take America out of me.

The only thing that our new abode is missing is the carpet we ordered last May. Ellen is harassing the manager of Alisfor Home Furnishings daily, but too little avail. Customer service here is a little different. It seems that the workers are trained to simply tell their customers what ever they need to hear to keep them hooked. They will swear on their work visas that they will have the carpet in your house by a certain date only to then admit their shortcomings 10 days after said date. However, at this time you don’t want to deal with the same thing through a different company, so you just throw a few empty threats and hope.

I have the same teaching assignment as last year (7^th and 8^th grade science and high school health) and Ellen is still working as the elementary school counselor. That said there are a lot of changes going on. Last year at this time there were 360 students (K-12), now there are 515! There has been a whole new wing added to the school and this growth seems to be dictating everything at the school. I think the schedule has been redone 5 times since I have been typing this blog.

The development around town is absolutely phenomenal. The price of oil has pushed many construction initiatives ahead by months, if not years. The entire coastal area is a minefield of construction cranes and detours. It is sad to see the fisherman being kicked out of their beach side shacks to make room for a new road, but this is happening everywhere (it seems). Not only are the fishermen moving, but the old deserted wooden boats that were commonplace 15 years ago are being bulldozed out of the way as well. The change a middle–aged fisherman has seen must be mind-boggling.

Talking about mind-boggling, Taj’s vocabulary is growing like crazy. Plus, he is not just learning new words, but also retrieving old words he could not say before. For example, when we arrived in Oman Taj greeted the men at the Visa Desk by saying: ”Sa-laam Al-ay kum”, a word he had not heard for 2+ months. Mia is also growing like crazy. She is also very entertained by her brother and if he is the room, her eyes are on nothing else. Both children have adjusted well to life with Marilyn (Ya Ya). Mia is even starting to take a bottle a day. Life is good for these two and their parents are healthy and happy as well.

September 5^th, 2006

When we arrived in Oman, it was not really hot. I had heard that sometimes, the cool season starts as early as September and I was very excited that this might be the case this year. It had also rained twice over the summer which is very unusual.

No such luck, well maybe it will cool earlier then last year, but so far the decrease in temperature has been minimized by an amazing amount of humidity. When it is 93 degrees out and also 90% humidity it is pretty annoying. However, you have to get outside, so we do our best to exercise in the morning and suck it up the rest of the time. Taj does not seem to care how hot it is….in fact we need to be pretty careful with how much he exerts himself.

Last weekend we escaped the heat by driving up into the Jebels. The area we visited was called the Saiq Plateau. It is easy to get to, but still, not too many people go. It is hard to believe how refreshing a visit to this spot can be when you are cuddling up to the AC in Muscat.

We arrived at about 2:00 pm on Thursday and found a wonderful camping spot under some olive trees. The sky was cloudy and it had rained the night before. The surrounding landscape is arid, but since it receives over 35 cm of rain a year it is actually classified as woodland and not a desert. As we were unpacking I realized I had forgotten to pack Taj any diapers. In these situations, at first I panic by thinking of the worst case scenario…poop all over the tent at 3:00 am. However, in reality all this meant that was that Taj would walk around pantless…something he likes anyway. The unforeseen benefit was that he actually knew when he was going to pee and poop. He even had a pee pee tree.

The cool humidity free air (the temperatures ranged from about 78 to 50 degrees), enabled us to do some hiking with our friends and, no, Taj did not poop all over the tent. In fact, at night, he fit into Mia’s diaper quite well.

On the road back down, you decend about 2000 meters (6000 ft) in 15 kilometers. Your car needs to be in four wheel drive and in low gear to make sure you do not burnout your brakes. We have a thermometer on our dash and with each kilometer the temperature would go up several degrees. So, up went the windows, on went the AC, and now we are back to reality.

September 14, 2006

So, today was one of those weird days that make life interesting. I woke up by myself and had my usual cup of coffee, but this time, during the second cup, I packed for my trip to Bahrain. It took about 10 minutes as my stay in the Kingdom is only for two nights. Soon, Taj, Mia, and Ellen awoke.

Taj helped me make pancakes and Ellen made smoothies. After our wonderful breakfast, Taj and I went to the beach to swim and dig holes. We saw a bunch of fish and also many ghost crabs that ran into their sandy borrows every time Taj approached. It was the perfect morning to set up my afternoon departure.

I can’t begin to explain the myriad of emotions that accompany me with this trip. I am excited to travel and grateful to have the chance to sleep without a small person waking me up at night. However, I am also sad to leave the kids, empty without Ellen, and feeling guilty for leaving my wonderful wife as a single parent for 2.5 days.

But, life is life and this is what it is right now. Arriving in Bahrain was interesting. First of all, on the flight there were a total of 10 women boarding the plane. They were outnumbered by about 250 men. The disproportionate ratio was astounding, but a sign of the times. Many people from Asia (India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nepal, Malaysia, and the Philippines) travel to Bahrain to work. My taxi driver wore a white gown with the traditional head piece, but spoke with the frankness of someone from New York. He warned me of the dangers of the diseases I could get if I had relations with the women of Bahrain (imported prostitutes from SE Asia). I assured him that was not my intention, although for many single men coming to this small island country it is. A guy on the plane described Bahrain as the boardwalk at the end of the pier (Saudi Arabia is the pier). I then rested, beat the treadmill into submission for 30 minutes and took a walk down the corniche. The country is interesting, but I can never imagine living here. The main island is 15 km by 30 km and beside the other small islands that make up this kingdom; the only place to go is Saudi Arabia (which nobody seems to care for).

After my walk, I met up with some other people that I knew in the hotel bar. The scene was hilarious. There was a band called The Red Hot Chilies. The band consisted of a drummer, a bass player, and a guitar player. There were also 5 singers. 2 of the singers were male. The other three were women in scantily clad outfits. As they sang Shania Twain and other top 40 stuff, the entirely male audience gawked and smoked cigarettes in between swallows of beer. My favorite part was when the female singers (with wireless microphones), coerced people from the audience to dance in a specially designed dance corner. The people they picked looked rich and ranged between the ages of 60 and 85. I could not get over it. It is hard to believe that these cheesy establishments are so popular in a 5 star hotel. However, I just need to remember that I am currently about 10 km from Saudi and its strict regulations.