Missing: Sense of Humor

When you're an expat, a sense of humor is essential to making it through the day without losing your business.  In situations which are ridiculous, or infuriating, or baffling (or all three), you must always remind yourself that you're living a story that you can one day tell to others (much of this happens for me on this blog).

Friends, I have now had a few too many frustrating experiences in the span of too few days and my sense of humor is EXTINGUISHED and now, I just snap at people, including my own children (one of whom peed all over the floor this morning, mid-fit because her daddy wouldn't let her play on the iPad).

She peed all over an already filthy floor, because yesterday we had three guys come and paint over places in our house which had bubbled, or molded, or chipped off.  These guys that came - one of whom the landlord hires to maintain the property - had no tape, plastic, drop cloths or cleaning supplies.  They did a terrible job (see photos below) and left a huge mess.  I am furious, especially because we pay high rent for a nice house.  We have emailed our landlord and received a wholly unsatisfactory response as it's one month after we renewed our lease so why would he care?

They left my house trashed, and the ultimate insult is that I GAVE THEM THAT ICED TEA.

This is not the only door that was painted on. 

Yep, that'd be the stool my dad made for the kids which they used.  They also got paint on Lizzie's stroller while working in the garage.  (Yes, still need a stroller for Lizzie occasionally; I know she's too big.)

This morning, still smarting from yesterday's painting experience, I arrived at the Hyundai service center to have work done on my car - and despite the fact that I made an appointment when he told me I needed the work done two days ago, the guy trotted off to see if the part was in stock.  On Thursday he said he could finish the work in one to two hours, but today he evidently did not have the part, and did not want to tell me that, so left me languishing in the waiting area for more than three hours.  I had to cancel a haircut and have someone else pick up Lizzie.  I dealt with these things after screaming at the clueless Omani man helping me.  Don't worry, I apologized before I left because that's not how I want to behave, and I see this guy every 5,000 kilometres.  (Yes, I know you don't need an oil change that often, but I want to get as much money as I can for my car when I sell it.)

And last week, Lizzie was sick yet agin, and I went to the nearby hospital yet again, and was yet again given three prescriptions (one for antibiotics) and charged as much money as they could possibly charge.  Also, this hospital used to accept our insurance cards but now only does for a select list of companies.  After making them bring all the Aetna directives to me and confirming that they were indeed correct (miracle!), I had to go home and file all the paperwork for reimbursement for an appointment that was absolutely useless.  I was tempted to draft an email for Eli to send to his HR department, asking for Eli's company to be added to the list, but as I won't return there unless someone is in danger of death in the ten minutes it takes to get to the other private hospital, I've decided to skip it.

In better news, we had a party on Thursday night and it was fun.  Phew.

Another tooth, another pillow (and other random items)

Guess who lost a second tooth?  And guess who had a second "fairy pillow" as Lulu calls them?  Lucky kid.  I'm hoping he loses two teeth on the same day, at some point.

Do you also like seeing Lulu up on the counter? She is perched up there a lot - I have no idea why I allow it.  Also, see where the real organization of my life occurs?  Inside that cupboard door...

I had an epiphany about blogging the other day.  I think that my life feels so normal to me that I don't think to snap photos and put them on the blog.  But I had coffee near this ice skating rink on Monday and all the girls in their uniforms complete with hijab made me stop and smile.

And on a much sadder note, I read about the mudslide north of Seattle in many other places, but it was in our paper this morning, which just made the world feel very small.

The Weekend

The kids had Wednesday and Thursday off last week, for parent teacher conferences, which meant we had a four day weekend with lots of fun. Here is a random assortment of things from the weekend.

First, let me show you an article from our paper (not from the weekend - it's been in my 'to do' pile since February sometime):

 Next, let's look at some work samples, want to??

We live in a complex called the Wave, and Oman Sail is here too.  They hosted sailing races this weekend, and we went yesterday.  It looked SO FUN that I told Lulu we're going to try to sign up for sailing lessons in the afternoons.  I'll keep you posted.

 A rainbow!

There were camels at the sailing races.  I have no idea why, but there was also a bouncy castle which would have been very fun except that it was black and too hot to jump on.

We had a birthday over the weekend

Friday (March 14th) was Eli's birthday.  He is now 38 years of age and as he correctly pointed out, I make a big deal about that because it freaks me out that in six weeks, it will be my turn to reach 38.  Yikes.

Sid and Ollie are coming to visit, and with them are coming Eli's birthday gifts (we thought that their trip would be a bit earlier, so I wasn't intentionally mean).  We DID, however, bake him a flourless chocolate cake that was quite good if I do say so myself, and we also went out to dinner at the restaurant I most like in Muscat (yes, I know it was Eli's birthday but he didn't pick a place) and then we went to the beach for the day with the kids on the actual day.  This was fun except for the part where our feet all got cut up by sharp rocks.  Remember aqua socks? We're buying some of those this summer.

In a truly classy move, I took no pictures of Eli, or the cake, or the beach, or ANYTHING.  Here is one from Seattle; he still looks like this except that he never wears a coat here.  In case it is unclear from this blog normally, I will state on the record that I am awfully fond of this guy.

Our Second International Day

Do you remember my post from International day last year?  We went yesterday, and this year, Lizzie's class (and the other two early childhood classes) sang two songs.  I have a strong feeling that if one of my children ends up on stage at some point, it will be this one.  I will try to post a movie on youtube (as I am unable to post movies on the blog for some reason).  She really gets into it.

International day was better in some ways than last year (for example, I didn't feel like I might cry the whole time) but worse in some ways (I spent an hour and a half working at the American booth and it was exhausting; Eli was very stressed out to have left work just after 2:30 and not return for the remainder of the day).  The kids had lots of fun though!

This is the tricky part of camel riding - getting up and getting down.  

 ***
Finally, look what is for sale at Carrefour.  It costs about $5, and apparently comes with a free travel guide and brochures?

Another post about my hilarious children

Lizzie came out of preschool one day last week in a very grumpy mood.  She was grumpy, she said, because her friend Michael didn't believe her that monarch butterflies are poisonous.

"Oh," I said.  "Are monarch butterflies poisonous?"

"YES!  I learned it on Diego!"

I let it go at that point, but made a mental note to investigate the poisonous properties of monarch butterflies.

The next morning, I remembered to do my research, and asked Tommy if he had ever heard that monarch butterflies are poisonous.

"Yep!" he said, emphatically.  And then, as though it were an after thought, he said, "but only to crows."

Clears it all up, doesn't it?

***

On Thursday night as he got out of the bath, Tommy said, "Do you think I look like a jerk with my new big tooth coming in?"

After some follow up questions, I am convinced that this is an opinion he holds himself -- and not that anyone else suggested he looks "like a jerk."

But it's still making me laugh.

***

Today as we worked on math, Tommy explained that "most of the eights I do are snake eights.  Snowman eights are cheating."

***

And finally, one that isn't even from my own children.  As I walked through the girls' locker room at swimming lessons this morning, I heard a small voice emphatically saying that "California IS part of America!"  Only in an international school...

Some goats in the road on our way to Sifha beach yesterday. 

Of neighbors and soccer

So we have a bit of a tortured relationship with our neighbors.  I want to like them, but they take the parking spot that we are meant to share and it irritates me.

Anyway, so I already found them a teensy bit irritating and then one day, I saw the woman directing her friend to park her huge Land Rover on the sidewalk (perpendicular to the sidewalk, so that there was no hope of passing by it).  Eli claims that the area we live is poorly designed and results in people parking on the sidewalks, and that it's not exactly the fault of the bad parkers, but it is extremely frustrating for me because I have two kids on bicycles and we constantly have to go out into the road to get around parked cars.

So, when I saw her directing her friend's car onto the sidewalk, I rolled down my window and said, "it's really hard for kids who are walking or on bikes to pass cars that are parked like that" and she said, "well, she is only staying one hour and if she parks on the street, she will have a sticker put on her car."  So I said, "okay" and then drove into the garage.  But she knew I was irritated (it is a short walk from her front door to an official parking place).

Fast forward to last week and Tommy got in trouble at school for play fighting on the playground.  (This story is much longer but I'm not sure it's fair to share here as he feels tenderly about it.)  In my complete dedication to making his life happy and easy, I have decided that he needs an alternative playground strategy and it seems obvious to me that it should be soccer as there are always games during lunch recess.  (As an aside, it turns out Tommy could not play in these games because the shade was ripped down during a storm before Christmas and consequently children are required to wear hats and he has not had one at school until TODAY when I remembered to send one.)

The one flaw in my strategy (well, apart from the hat) is that Tommy is not great at soccer.  He tries, but I heard him telling a kid at the park that he didn't want to be the goal keeper anymore, that instead, "I'll be the athlete!"  Anyway, he's cute and I think he has plenty of potential to be a decent soccer player, but at the moment he is not.

So I was at the park with him and a cute little guy started passing the soccer ball with Tommy and I realized the kid was AMAZING.  The kid told me that his big brother is 15 and taught him how to play.  So I started thinking that maybe what I should do is find someone like that to play with Tommy a few times and see if we could get him a bit more comfortable with soccer.  But of course, if I find some high schooler to play soccer with Tommy, I'll have to clear it with the kid's mom.  I asked the kid if his big brother might want to teach Tommy?  The kid didn't really answer and so I let it go.

And would you believe that yesterday, that awesome little kid came out of our neighbor's house (that's right, the one I've been borderline rude to) with his nanny?  UGH.

The Tooth Fairy finally comes to our house

Tommy hopped off the bus yesterday with a huge smile on his face and a huge gap in his teeth!  We are  all getting used to how his little face looks as we really notice the missing tooth.  (I can't even imagine how he will look without the top front teeth.)  The story goes that the tooth was bothering him, so a classmate suggested he pull it out, so he did.  Then she said, "see, I told you?"  Tommy's teacher is prepared with little plastic boxes to hold the fallen teeth, but somehow Tommy's tooth was still sandy, "I don't know how it got sandy; it was just in my pocket all day."

 At bedtime, Tommy decided to write a note to accompany his tooth, and of course his sister had to write one too.  Luckily, all these post-its fit into the pillow Grandma Nancy made.

Lizzie's says:
"If I have a loose tooth come and get it and don't forget to leave a coin or a toy.  Love, Lizzie."

Tommy's says:
"Dear Tooth Fairy, this is my very first time losing a tooth!  Just so you [k]now.  If you see a pillow red with a yellow po[c]ket my tooth will be in there.  PS What do you do with the teeth?"

 You won't believe this but the Tooth Fairy didn't leave a response.  Too busy with all the other first graders' teeth, if you ask me.

Lately

My photos are out of order, but our life lately has involved a lot of Harry Potter reading (we are on book number four and after this will have to push the pause button as they are getting quite scary) and Lulu is focused almost exclusively on climbing as high as she can and jumping.  

This praying mantis was in our house but he happily moved outdoors when we insisted.

Tommy's karate teacher held a class on the beach over the weekend and we took him.  He really loves karate.

Muscat life

Since we came back from Christmas, we have walked on the beach every Friday morning.  It is just starting to warm up, so yesterday was our first day swimming, and I use the word "our" loosely as I barely waded.  It was cold.  However, swimming with her daddy was the best part of Lulu's day, so I apparently missed out.

Living abroad is hard in many ways, but there are so many upsides that I think on balance it's worth it.  Of course, we'll never really know as there are no do-overs in life are there (this is something I just realized last summer, so forgive me if I mention it often, I think I'm trying to make sure it really sinks in).

Anyway, these beachy mornings are definitely one point for the "pro-living in Muscat" list.  (The quantity of sand that returns to our house with us is not, however.)

Two things

While proper bloggers would probably separate two completely separate thoughts into two completely separate posts, that's not really how I do it, so please excuse the complete lack of transition coming your way in a couple of minutes.  (Most of you are my friends and know that this is how I talk and think so, really, you can't complain too much.)

I would first like to talk about my fiesty second-born child.  She is nearly two months beyond her fourth birthday and is full of spontaneous thoughts and questions.  The truth is that I absolutely adore being around her.

Except for the times that she makes me so angry, I have to take deep breaths and walk away from her so that I do not hit her.

On Thursday afternoon, and then again yesterday, my darling daughter took off on her bike while riding in the street and ignored me as I screamed her name and screamed for her to STOP.  Both times, as I observed to Eli, I was so furious with her by the time I caught her (which I can do, but barely, as she is just so damn fast on that thing), I could have hit her.  But instead, I calmly picked her up off her bike, deposited her on the sidewalk, picked up her bike and stalked off until I could talk to her without losing my business completely.  I haven't let her back on the bike either day and yesterday she walked what has to be close to a mile home (for Tommy this is no big deal, for Lizzie, it's a long way).

Note that I also had to carry a heavy bike all the way home both days.  But, this is what parenting is all about isn't it.

I told her that if she does it again, she's losing the bike for a week, which of course means nothing to her, as she still confuses 'tomorrow' and 'yesterday'.  I also explained that my number one task as her mother is to keep her safe and that it is decidedly not safe for a four-year old to ride alone as fast as she can in a street.  But I have a hunch that she is already planning to do it again.  I really do.

"I'm sorry, Mama!  I tried to listen!" and "You don't forgive me?" were moving the strangers walking past us on the way home, but they did not move me.  And here's why.  That girl thinks that if her brother can do something, then so can she.   In many ways, this serves her well - but when there are different rules because of differing levels of skill (due almost completely to age), her theory is wrong.  Because I'm her mom, and I said so.  Tommy is allowed to ride on streets, when I tell him he may, when we have identified where he will stop and wait for me, when we have discussed what he will do in the unlikely event that he sees a car move.  (That's the beauty of Tommy.  He could see a car two blocks away, and he would hop off his bike and go to the side of the road and wait for it to pass.)  Lizzie is just peddling as fast as she can, unless she sees a dog or a cat in which case she will stop no matter where she is and what's going on around her.

Luckily, she is full of gems such as this one, which make it all worthwhile:
Me:  "what's your very favorite thing to do?"
Lizzie:  "hey, you know what? Butterflies can fly so fast that the wind can't catch them.  I learned that on Diego."

***
Last night was our school's Festival of Choirs and the crazy thing is that Anton Armstrong from St. Olaf was the guest conductor.  So we went to the performing arts center, and heard two hundred high schoolers from international schools around the middle east and Africa sing a few pieces of music they had worked on for just two days.  It was an impressive performance, and really fun to see a little piece of St. Olaf here in Muscat.  Actually, it was sort of crazy, and made me miss college a little bit.  In not very many more years at all, it will be 20 years since I graduated from that crazy place.  I'm going to that reunion.  No matter what.

I told this to Eli and I proclaim it loudly now to the internet, I hope hope hope that when my kids are in high school they are doing things like spending the weekend at a choir festival.  (Even if they spend some of the time making out with other choir geeks. )

Her expression says it all.

We got a new sporting goods store and Lulu wanted to try out boxing.  She fell over with her first swing, but was ready for it on her second.