Last night, I did something fabulous

As I walked into the Opera house last night.

My mom and I set up a Skype date and I forgot about it before we were supposed to talk only twenty-four hours later.  This is because I failed to put it in my diary (I am sticking with the British version of this word as the one of my one-and-a-half friends here is Scottish and she says diary -- along with plenty of other words which I don't understand, I can barely have a telephone conversation with her -- and Eli obviously knows what I'm talking about).

I knew -- because it was in my diary -- that I was going to a concert last night with the AWG ladies at the Opera House.  If I had checked my diary, I would not have made the Skype date with my mom.  Anyway, she was worried about me and when I returned home, she wrote that she was glad I was "off doing something fabulous."  And you guys, I totally was.

It's the A Capella festival at the Royal Opera House, and last night I went to hear Sweet Honey in the Rock and Ladysmith Black Mambazo (they sang on Graceland).  It was amazing.  Neither group sang for too long and so the concert felt like it was over as I arrived, almost, the time moved so quickly.  (The only blip in the evening was when I tried to enter through the men's door.)  The concert attendees seemed to me to be largely expats -- there were not many abayas and while most of the people working in the theatre were men in dishdashas, I didn't notice too many others.  Also interesting is that the parking lot has pay machines but you don't have to pay.  Muscat feels like a small city -- it is -- in a lot of ways and friends, free parking is a nice perk.  One of the AWG ladies told me that Omanis get really mad if they have to pay to park.  So they don't.  I would love to see San Franciscans adopt that strategy.

Lib is in the hospital having her baby and I'm going to buy the baby a couple of CDs as I pretty much thought of them the whole time.  (Watch this blog for a little picture soon!)

Anyway, in addition to the concert, it was a day of VICTORIES for me in Muscat.  I placed an order a month ago on amazon.co.uk for Tommy's birthday presents.  There's a bookshop here that has a UK address, so you buy on amazon and put in the UK shipping address, and somehow they get the order here.  You pay 1 OR (so $2.60) per item for delivery, which is nothing compared to the price of books and Lego here.  I called them on Monday and they confirmed that my order had arrived, and so all the was left was for me to find the bookshop and pick up the items.  Sounds simple, but given my track record, I was anxious.  I asked Eli for some help, then I asked the woman who told me about the service for some help and then I set off.  And of course at the first turn I needed to make there was a detour.  But you know what? I totally figured it out.  I drove and drove and, then I happened to look up and notice the sign on a building that had -- as I told my husband last night -- about ONE HUNDRED other signs.  As I am not observant this was nothing short of a miracle.  Then, I wandered around the building for a solid fifteen minutes looking for this place.  But I found it.  PHEW.  I wish I'd taken a picture to post here.

THEN, I paid my utility bills!  You have to drive out to an office with your old bills (I have no idea what I would have done if I hadn't known the previous tenants of this house), stand in one line to get your current bill, then stand in another to pay them.  Except that there aren't really any lines, you just push your way to the front (taking extreme care not to touch any men*).  Exciting times!

I had a bit of a fail in that we baked cupcakes for Lizzie's end of term party and I used a box mix and frosting that comes in those tubs.  Then, I used some of the Easter m&ms that mom sent back with Eli to decorate them.  So, they look pretty much adorable but are full of crap that I really don't want my children to eat and probably shouldn't feed to other people's children.  It's pure laziness as I am a capable baker.  I hereby publicly vow not to buy any more cake or brownie mixes, since we have our kitchen set up now and I think I can buy everything I need except vanilla extract (because it contains alcohol).

I ran into the lady who owns the camels twice yesterday (once at the grocery store and once at the concert) and she assured me that I am welcome to bring the kids to meet the camels.  I am somewhat reluctant but I can't put my finger on why.  They would absolutely love it.  Are all kids nuts for animals?  Last night we barely made it to the park because a 'sausage dog' was out on the sidewalk and I couldn't tear the kids away from him.  Anyway.  It was sort of fun to bump into someone I knew -- I think it won't take long for it to happen a lot.

I have about a million other things to say but I need to get going.  The kids are on Spring Break for the next week and a half and so the next three hours are pretty much all I have to get non-kid jobs done.  (No, no movement on the babysitter front.)  Please all send good thoughts Lib's way. xoxo

*Did I tell you about how Eli walked into a meeting at work with two Omani women and stuck his hand out and they just looked at him uncomfortably?  

The Lulabell

So Lizzie is in one of those phases of saying adorable things all the time.  Don't get me wrong; her personality hasn't changed, so she can still be a huge pain, but it's worth it for all the sweetness.  Here is a list of my current favorites:

- "When I grow up, I'm going to buy you a red car with TVs."  (The day before we saw a red range rover on our walk and since I am often carrying her on these 'walks', she noticed the televisions built into the headrests.)  "Oh, how nice!" I said, "How will you get the money?"  "At the office."

- "When I grow up, Tommy is going to give me an ice cream  maker.  Mommy, what kind do you want?"

- "When I grow up, I will drive you to school every day, Mommy!"  (She is still dying to drive and loves playing in the car.  She still sits back there and tells me I'm going to wrong way, though, which can be a bit irritating.)

- To anyone we meet:  "We got a cat.  It is Miss Katherine's cat but it lives in our house and it is ours.  She bites us."  (All true.)

- She likes to call me 'Mother' right now.

And we're in!

So we live in our house now.  Ta-da!  The kids and I have slept here for two whole nights and for the most part, it feels GREAT.  There are lots of things that need to be done, but yesterday our new cleaning lady came for seven hours and the amount of work she did was breathtaking.  We sorted out the kids' room, the kitchen, our room and closet and bathroom (I wish I'd taken a photo of the boxes of toiletries all over the floor), and she even organized the little storage area off of the garage.  And that was after cleaning all of the outdoor areas.

Anyway, it feels great and I am so happy to live here now.  The kids and I really like this house and they are just in love with having all of their things available to them again.  They are also in love with the quantity of television they have been permitted to watch since we moved in and I figured out how to connect the television to the DVD player.  ANYTHING to have them not calling for me every minute.  My favorite is when they say things like, "Mommy, can you go get my [insert name of object]?" and I say, "No, I've gone up and down the stairs forty five times today."  And they say, "Mommy, PLEASE can you go get my [insert name of object]?"

The wrinkle has been those bunkbeds.  I'm confident that they understand how they need to behave in order to be safe on them, but Lizzie is convinced that she should be sleeping on the top bunk with Tommy which obviously will never happen.  And, Tommy is scared (as usual).  So first thing after stories, Lizzie has a fit, and then Tommy whines for a while.  And then, sometime in the middle of the night he comes into bed with me.  Last night I told him he'd better enjoy it because Daddy wouldn't let him sleep with us when he came back, and he said, "Oh, Mommy, I know.  Don't worry."  And I didn't really answer him, but why would I be worried?

This morning we were invited to a pool party playdate by two of Lizzie's classmates and I set off without knowing where I was going. So we wandered around for 45 minutes before I called the whole thing off and sent a text apologizing for not showing up to one of the moms.  I realized as I drove home, still swearing, that I have NEVER driven directly to a private residence here.  I always end up lost.  Once the woman I was going to visit had to retrieve me.  So that's a little bit irritating.  This is a personal challenge for next time.  Because I will go crazy if this happens another time, and also, my kids will know a lot of curse words that they really shouldn't. 

Last night in the hotel...

So yesterday (Monday) at 1:30, I was just about to start yoga when my phone rang.  I answered it and the pleasant man on the end of the line said that our shipment had been released from customs and could they come at 5:30.  "Five thirty today?" I asked.  "Yes."

I asked a few more questions and then came to understand that due to Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall's presence in Muscat this week, the road would be closed to big load trucks such as those transporting forty-foot containers.  So, if I wanted the shipment before next week, I should let them bring it ASAP.

So I did.  Because honestly, you can't complain as much as I have about not having our shipment and then just casually put it off for a week, even if your husband is in LA and you don't have very many friends to help you, and you're a tiny bit scared to manage it all on your own.

I asked my friend Leigh to take the kids for the evening and she oh-so-sweetly let them play at the pool and then fed them dinner.  When the movers had put everything in the house, I went over to pick up the kids in time to witness Tommy run up onto their white sofa (like, with his feet), and to help clean up the accident Lizzie had when she was having too much fun playing to go to the bathroom.  I am guessing Leigh won't be signing up too soon to take my children again, but I suppose that this was when it really counted.

It seems fitting that our shipment would be delivered during a week that Tommy does not have school for two days due to parent-teacher conferences and Eli is out of town.  Lulu went to school this morning - but she was mad about it -- and then Tommy and I returned home to meet the unpackers.  We asked them to open the box labeled 'plastic tubs toys' and were lucky enough to discover Lego!  Our first box!  Kudos to the London movers!  I made him go into the bathroom with his Lego as it was the only place I could think of that he wouldn't be in the way.  Then, I started on the kitchen.  Groan, groan, double groan.

The movers were taking all the wrapping off the living room and dining furniture and assembling beds and chests of drawers.  We bought a few new things in London and they were mad about having to put together new furniture; told me it was against their company policy.  I said, fine, leave it and I'll do it.  But they didn't. Finally, it was four o'clock (they arrived at nine) and they said they were leaving.  I offered them beer and each of those guys downed two beers in the time it took me to load the (small) dishwasher.

This post is so boring.  But now you know:  tomorrow night we're sleeping in our new house. (The bunkbeds deserve a post of their own -- but I'm worried about them.  Very high, very hard floor, the top bunk mattress is very thick.  Lulu is great on the ladder though, thank goodness.)

Lucky 37

Eli turned 37 on Thursday, so "now he's older than you, Mommy!"  (I'm pretty sure I explained that he's always older than me last year when Tommy made the same comment.)  We 'baked' brownies, if you consider using a box of brownie mix baking.  We did it over at the new house, without any measuring cups or spoons, and almost without a mixing bowl.  I had thought in advance to borrow a pan.  Then, we went to the local Subway, got some sandwiches and took them to him at his office.  The kids went nuts there -- all those highlighters and a big whiteboard and lots of PPE (so hardhats and glasses and bright yellow vests).  To most people, Eli's office, which is built of portable structures and really couldn't have less character, would be one of the most boring places ever.  Ah, to see it through the eyes of a child.  It's also neat to drive there because it's on the jobsite so one shares the road with all kinds of construction machinery.  Tommy made some very-qualified exclamation, like, "this is the first JCB I've seen moving with a load along side the road in Oman!  And look how close we are!"  

Last night my very nice friend Kathy took the kids for a couple of hours and Eli and I went to a fancy hotel and had a drink (we had to be home -- for bedtime -- too early to have dinner).

Anyway, enough about the birthday.  Eli doesn't really care about his birthday.  BUT, do you want to see something pretty neat which involves my sweet husband? Watch this.

I'm so on trend

Mom forwarded this link; I offer it in the event you are at all curious about camel milk.  My friend Kathy took these pictures of me.  They make me laugh.

Update

Hi friends,

It has been a much better week this week.  In fact, I would call it a nice week.  The boat is here but of course we have not heard anything about when our container will clear customs.  Let's all cross our fingers that it can be delivered on Saturday, okay? Because Eli is going to LA on Saturday night for a business trip.  If I am still in the hotel, this trip could be really horrible for me; if I am in our house, this trip could be great because I can spend all my time getting our house organized.

The resolution to the big school question is that we are going to leave Tommy in TAISM.  This is for many reasons but first because he has had some adjustment difficulty (e.g. punching a kid) and it seems unfair to ask him to do it all over again in September, and second, because it's better for our family schedule which has to count for something.  There are also lots of kids from TAISM who live in our little community and I like that he bumps into friends at the playground when we go.  (He's really funny now that I've gotten his football blown up.  We go, run into one of three little Spanish-speaking boys who are really, really good at football, and then Tommy bosses them around even though they are one million times better at football than he is.  One thing I love about Tommy is that when he says his friends names, it is in perfectly accented Spanish.)

The car is working fine now.  It's a long story but some water got somewhere there shouldn't have been any and it had to work its way out of the system which it has now done.

Did you guys like that Dubai post with the sideways pictures? I thought so.  I promise to get my act together some day, I really do.  All I know is that nobody is reading this blog because it's visually pleasing.  It's totally not.  I have no excuse.

Today Lizzie and I met Eli in the mall for lunch. (I also had to go to the Carrefour to fuel Eli's lemon almond addiction.  I have no idea how they make them, but these almonds are so delicious and they have a lemon juice coating on the outside.)  Now what's odd about it is that it feels so normal to be one of a handful of westerners in a food court full of men in dishdashas and women in abayas.

It's getting hotter here.  My friend Kathy described the heat as escalating a bit each week, "like boiling a frog."  However, it is nice to know we will be out of here for the worst of it.

Guess what?  Such exciting news:  Sarah Reed had her baby and he is GORGEOUS.

And that's all I've got for you today.  xoxo

A Day In Dubai

Yesterday, we flew to Dubai.  We knew that we would need a trip out of the country to restart our tourist visas, but for some reason, we left it until the last minute to plan it.  So, Eli looked around and figured out that we could go for the day and spend the entire day inside the mall.

It sounds awful (not to me as most of you know that I happen to like malls quite a bit, but for our kids).  But, in Dubai they have thought of everything and this mall has an aquarium inside.  On a whim, I emailed Hamish to see if he might be in Dubai and he was, so I left Eli and the kids in the aquarium for two hours and had a coffee with Hamish to discuss whether I will work for him and in what capacity.  The hard part about this is that our cellphones didn't work and so Eli had no idea when I would return from my coffee and where I would be, so he spent a bit more time in the aquarium than he would've liked...

An impressive mall.  See Tommy's shark book under his arm?

Today in the car.  We got home late last night.

Eli and I also went to Dubai.

This is what our kids were most excited about.

In the thick of it.

Hello faithful readers,

I am sorry to leave so many days between posts.  But we are having some hiccups over here in Muscat.  Nothing major (I hope) but it's just been a bit harder than it was.

The primary issue is that Tommy has been offered a place at the British School for the Autumn term.  Eli and I arranged to see it on Monday, and both of us liked it a lot.  It felt really good, and the facilities were just fine (we had been led to believe it was horrible) and all the teachers we met were impressive, and while Lulu doesn't have a place in the nursery class, it is likely she would be accepted from the waiting list.  And we liked it.  But there are a lot of uncertainties and it's a difficult leap to make at this point.

Yesterday, we got an email from Tommy's teacher that he hit a kid pretty hard at school and she also mentioned that he's having other adjustments socially.  She assures us that they are mostly minor issues (not the hitting) but it's still really upsetting for both of us.  It would be impossible for me to have birthed children who are a-okay with transition because, well, I am so horrible with it, but for the most part, it seems like Tommy's been okay and that any issues he's had are due to the new classroom environment (and frankly having a less warm teacher than he is used to).  Blah, blah, blah, but rather than accept Tommy's violence as some sort of sign that we ought to move him, it makes me wonder if another switch is what will really serve him best.  And what if he gets an awesome teacher at TAISM next year?  

You guys, some days, parenting is pure torture.  I want to make the best choices for my children but how can we ever be certain that we are?  (Maybe Tommy would've slugged some kid at Eridge House, too.)

So we also had an issue with the car that luckily has resolved itself.  Then my debit card was eaten by an ATM after I had entered my PIN I just stood in front of the ATM for 15 minutes - it was impossible to get someone to answer the phone number that it said to call in the event of any problems with the ATM - and suddenly the computer reset itself).  Two of Lulu's classmates have been hospitalized with croup so she is home all day yesterday and today (and probably Saturday).  And we have to go to Dubai in the next couple of days because the kids and I have to restart our tourist visas.  And our boat is three days late.

On the plus side, our patio furniture will be delivered tomorrow, so we will be able to sit down in our house.  It's the little things, you know?