The return of Poopy

Meow:

So. When we moved into our new place a couple of months ago we noticed this one cat who seemed to already be inhabiting one of our two front porches (the smaller one). We had no problems with this; we are the visitors here.

After a few days we realized the cat was pregnant. She disappeared for a few days, and then we discovered her feeding her kitty on the porch. We tried feeding her and giving some water, but the mother did not want anything to do with us; hissing and the like.

So. A week or two passed and they stayed in the porch without bothering us, or we them. Then, one day, the mother did not come home. The kitty cried often and we started trying to feed it as well. After a few days of thi, the kitty disappeared too.

Now, our house is walled in and in is very hard for tiny (read - malnourished and very VERY small) cat to jump the walls and there are no points of access anywhere that it could jump over. We were confused and sad.

So. Several days later s/he shows up again. This time a little more warm to the idea of us helping it.

To make a short story long, s/he now is comfortable with us (kind of) and counts on us for food. We are a bit torn because we have to leave for vacations and the like, but have decided to keep kitty until we see what happens. If s/he totally warms up to us, we will adopt full on. If not and it wants the wild life, we'll go that way.

Sundi nicknamed the cat "Poopy" because of the condition of the porch.

Will keep you updated. Here is a picture I took a while back of all the neighbourhood cats hanging near dawn in the local canteen (garbage dump). It's pretty cool cause the cats seem less territorial than in other places we've been. could be because they know there's enough stuff to go around, and more than enough space.



D

Reaching Backwards again

Hello all:

So...not much has happened since our last post. No exciting trips anywhere, no promotions, none of whatnot.

I decided to reach back for this post to the Muscat Festival, which happened in January, just before we went to Prague.

It was a cool festival, with booths representing countries from all over the world (actually there were only about 8 countries). In these booths you could buy discounted arts and crafts. I negotiated for about two hours to get a decent priced Syrian made backgammon board, which we use every couple days here. Sundi usually wins. Somehow.

Also at the festival, of course, were a bunch of Omani cultural events. Riding camels and donkeys, dancing, drumming, and other historically focused events. It was a great night. We went with our friend Don, who you can see in some of our earlier posts.

Anyways. For your viewing pleasure, and an omanamo first, here is a short video of the event. We will probably start posting videos once and a while if this one proves popular. The main problem is our internet connection here.

So. Here it is. Enjoy.

(Please watch full size ... otherwise you won't see much ... )



D

We're Back

Sorry we've been gone so long. Unlike bad habits, good habits are incredibly easy to break. Where do we start. Well, I'm going to go with less words and more pics, but I'll give you a preview of what's to come. Today I'm posting our extravagant 4th year anniversary, since the pictures are chosen and ready. Next we will post "The great visit", where you will see Czechs enjoying Oman. Lastly, we'll show off our new villa. By the time we are done with those, new adventures are sure to have happened, and hopefully we'll be back into good habits. 

So, after the Prague trip and all the heaviness that ensued, Daniel and I decided to splurge a big one on our anniversary in March. We opted for a 5 star in Muscat called "The Chedi". Yeah, I can see why rich people are always so smug and relaxed. Although I wouldn't want to live the life, a few days of it every now and then I would definitely go for. Peace, serenity, everything was designed for that purpose. Here is the photographic documentation of our worries melting away for a day.

Do we have to leave?

v
Oh the pool beds. They also gave us endless mint water in chilled cups.

A cheers to our four years.

The details of extravagance.

Let's just stop for a moment.

Dan swimming. Can you see him in the lipless pool?

Find our way.

Oman Madness

We attended a true event here this past week. Maybe unbeknownst to you, the Gulf Cup is in full swing at the moment and Oman is hosting. To set the stage, for the past couple weeks about one in five cars on the road have taken on decal, flags and pictures to support the Omani soccer team. It is anything from green and red stripes, to stars and messages all over the vehicle. I am not exaggerating when I say one in five cars. To top that off, whenever there is a game, many of our students wear scarves, armbands and jerseys to class and many businesses have put up large flags and pictures of the team on the sides of their buildings.

So this past Wednesday (which is like our Friday) was the Oman vs. Iraq game. Our friend Gus ‘gently’ convinced us it was imperative to attend the game. This meant Gus and Daniel hightailing it out of work Wednesday at noon, first to a gas station to get the correct apparel for all of us, then to Muscat. The game, which started at 6, was free. As I mentioned, there are more than enough fans to fill the stadium, so Gus and Daniel arrived there at around 2 to try and get us seats. I trailed behind a few hours later, having had to attend a meeting. We all got in, in good time. I must say that this was one good moment to be a woman. The ratio at the game was about one woman to every thousand men. However, there was a line just for women, and female bodyguards to do a security check. Which meant, no line and no pushing.

So we all plopped down in the “family section”, the only place where men and women can sit together, after being given free plastic bat things that made a loud noise when slammed together and flags to wave. Now, I know sporting events draw people in face paint, wigs and crazy outfits, but I have never seen such a large number of people outdoing themselves. EVERYONE had on some sort of costume. It was wild. Some of the stranger ones were women who covered their face with a flag instead of the usual black scarf. The cheering started at 2 and continued until 8 when the game ended.

Now the Oman team has one very popular player, their goalie Habsi, who plays for the Premiere league, but the Omani team was considered the clear underdog for this game. It could be said that the Iraq team had a very off day and the Omani team played well (which is true), but it almost seemed as if the crowd won the game. They never stopped cheering, and whenever Iraq would get the ball, the entire crowd would boo or whistle. I can see how Iraq managed to not score and let in 4 goals. Yes, the score was Oman 4 Iraq 0. Although I thought the booing was a bit much, the crowd’s performance was something to behold and I don’t think I will ever see anything to compare. The best part was when we were leaving our seats. At the mouth of our entrance there was a celebration party. Drums, dancing and a celebration song. Daniel got it on video, we will post the link soon. I would also like to add a note that the Iraqi fans did their duty as well. Flags and organized cheering with a large bass drum. But they were one section out of too many. Anyways, who knows how Oman will fair with some of the stronger teams later in the Cup, but they had their moment, and it was lived to its fullest.

happy holidays

merry boxing day:

so. must be short. havent been on in a while as a cable feeding oman with the internet was severed leaving us with frustrated attempts since the tenth or so of this month. things are somewhat back to normal now and thats great.

the holidays have not been too unlike those weve celebrated in other countries: we found tree in the back lot - its not your average pine tree, but it does have something, we had a delicious and huge turkey dinner on christmas day, we sang songs, watched all the christmas movie classics, listened to the rat pack, met up with three camels behind our flat, gave good presents. you know...typical stuff. 

oh. wait. the camels...well on christmas eve there were these three camels hanging around our back yard. it was great. the way camels move is really wonderful - power, grace, and awkward at the same time. the arabian mountains at dusk, men walking around in dishdashas (robes i guess), the north star, and the general feel of the moment felt more genuine a nativity scene than any ive seen before. sundi said she felt like she was on the set of a play ... it was great.

so. that gives you some idea. we ate so much on christmas day that were both a little worse for wear today. but well get by...

love to you all and i promise to write again soon with a bit of catch up on our travels and the like.

happy holidays from nizwa,

us

Wadi Bani Awf

an nyoung:

after driving through all those crazy roads we threw down our tent in a place called "Wadi Bani Awf." Wadi basically translates to river bed in English and they are all over the place in Oman. Usually they are dry like the one we camped in, but sometimes they can flood and cause all types of problems. Luckily, our spot was slightly elevated so we had no worries. We were worried about the rain, but it just passed by.

I. - Here's our camping spot in Wadi Bani Awf. It was a perfect spot right in the canyon, quite quiet, and with lots of wood for a decent campfire.
II. After cleaning up and all that we headed to one of Oman's great forts: Rustaq. This is from inside the fort's foyer.
III. - Sun and I outside Rustaq Fort.
IV. - Me in front of the great view from Rustaq Fort.
V. Close to Rustaq was an intense hot springs. Here, Gus and I dip our feet. The water was so hot that it somewhat scolded our feet.

Rustaq ...

ma kore?

This week is Eid. We have nine days off. Originally we thought of going to a different country, but didn’t get tickets on time. It actually works out well because we just got our Jeep and want to test it out a bit. Which we did in spades on Friday.

Sundi, Gus and I headed to a town named Rustaq, via a precarious 4 X 4 only road. Here is a short visual presentation of what we saw …

I. - We run out of "road" and prepare for what is next...
II. - What is next. In the far distance you can see the road we will follow and eventually find...
III. This. This is part of "Snake Gorge." You can walk through and continue down through a couple of canyons. Without much water the pools become kind of stagnant making going into them not high on the priority list. Also, as we all know, weird stuff lives in stagnant water and we dont want any of that.

IV. Sundi and Gus heading back to the Jeep with Sundi pointing out how we may be able to get into Snake Gorge without going into the weird water.
V. Way further down the road we saw this. Not sure of the name of the town, but I definitely want to go back already.

Selaif Fort

gruzi:

Not far from Nizwa is a place called Ibri. We almost ended up taking a position in Ibri, but are very thankful we didn’t. There’s not much to do there. Even less than here.

Between Nizwa and Ibri there is a fort called Selaif. We saw it on our way to Abu Dhabi and then, on our way home, decided to stop and check it out for a while.

A very nice Omani man met us there and took us on a nice tour of the fort. His language was very limited, but he did communicate essential info about the fort.

Ill let the pictures do the talking.

I

sun looking through a fallen roof

II

gus, sun, and our guide
III

looking out onto a mosque
IV

how food was hung at the fort

worth the wait

witaj:

We have just returned from abu dhabi where we visited jon, robyn, josh, sam, and the soon to be named child in robyn’s belly. Our trip was a short one, only three days, two nights, but it was full. Mostly we just shopped for things we needed but couldn’t find here for some reason. We made a list and got only a few things we really wanted. One of the strange things about Oman is that everything that comes here first passes through Dubai and Abu Dhabi and is picked at a lot and the remnants are sent here. This means many things just never reach here. This is sad sometimes, but does prevent us from getting tempted by too many things

Anyways. One of the coolest things to see in the UAE is the exhibition at the Palace of the Emirates depicting what is being built on Saadiyat Island. Here is a link to that. Very absurd in a lot of ways. My favorite structure-wise is the Louvre. 

Here are a couple pictures from Abu Dhabi. Oh. This will be the first picture we show of our new vehicle. The Jeep “Cherokee” which is actually a Jeep Liberty in North America. Its in great shape and is a very nice ride.

So. Here are the pictures.

I

Here’s the Jeep in front of the Palace of the Emirates. It’s one of only a handful of seven star hotels in the world. Yes. For those of you who don’t know, there are 7 star hotels. We saw a couple helicopters come and go while there. Also, there was a Lambourghini and Maserati out front for rent. Crazy. Apparently it’s 1000 US a night to stay there. We won’t be doing that anytime. Ever.

II

Sun and I in the centre of the palace.

III

The border leaving the United Arab Emirates.

how things do, etc ...

sawubona:

so. we have a steady internet connection at home now and are pretty pumped about that. AND we are only two steps away from buying our vehicle. i will probably post pictures next week of it as we plan to come into possession this week. sweet.

i realize this may be a short post, but the day was tiring, and i am pretty out of it.

here is the lone pic of the week: a flock of goats walking towards the police station. maybe they are getting their labour cards as well! that's how we got ours. 

working it out

hej:

its been a while. this past week has been pretty crazy all over the place. i will not mention a certain election somewhere that everyone everywhere is talking about, but i will mention a party of other sorts.

as its been over a week since the last post, i am inclined to mention halloween. my mother has now seen 76 summers and winters, and i realize how tough it must have been for her when we were young always wanting candy and never making her cakes. or did we? i dont remember really. i will ask her when i call her soon. happy birthday mamie.

oh. that is big news. we have internet at home. it is not a steady connection (we either prepay a service or pay 10 bucks for unlimited usage for a couple days - this is what we are doing now to "catch up" on the serieses [?] we miss) but will be as soon as we get our work visas. we have the modem in hand though and it is 10 mbps roughly, which isnt bad really.

hmmm. oh, also big news, although we shouldnt count our chickens, is we have found our vehicle and will make a down payment this week. although we were fixed on a new one, we get close to that with a jeep liberty we saw advertised at a local supermarket. i will send pics in the next post.

speaking of pics, here are a few from the past week(s).

I
this is where we work out.II
i am pretty sure you can guess what these are from. hey, czech peoples - is this funny? Červená trpaslíci

muttrah souk (market) in muscat

nazdarek:

we went to the souk in muscat again and enjoyed ourselves more because things were actually open. last time we went was during eid (a religious holiday) and only a few shops were open. it was okay, but not the best.

here is the stained glass work from the central room. its cool, yeah?
oman men's caps at the souk. this is only one of many shops. some shops are literally stacked full with them.

stefania's judging face. she says she has no haggling skills, but the day we were there she sure busted them out. basically she paid only what she wanted for everything or she walked out. one she negotiated started at 25 rial and she got them down to 10! thanks to her we felt brave too and cut down the price we paid for a throw for our coffee table.

sadly, stefania is leaving this week to head back to toronto for a journalist gig. we will miss her.

alright. thats all for now. i may post over the next few days, and if something CRAZY happens ill post with the week. if not, i will definitely post about the u.s. election next week.

speaking of posting, i know im bad at returning comments on here, but i hope that hasnt discouraged others from doing so. its nice to know who is checking this blog out, so please do comment at will.

d

tanuf and chedi

buenos dios:

i thought i would post early for this week because i teach many hours on saturday.
we have been hanging out with gus and stefania (a couple from the greater Toronto area) and have visited several places with them. here is a place very close to Nizwa (where we live) called Tanuf. there's a huge damn there, but the day we were there there was no water so it wasn't that exciting. here's a pic of sundi in her favorite hat, shirt and glasses.
we went to the nicest hotel in muscat for a breakfast buffet on gus' birthday. it was great. one of the best breakfasts thus far in my life, with not much scandal-to-do. here's a pic of sun and i on the beachfront property. far behind you can maybe see the weird chemical plant.
me on the same beach. if i ever record a solo album this would be one of the front runners for the cover.

k. that was one day.

d

booking it

giasoy:

so. not much time to post or edit pictures, but we have a lot of cool ones from this past week.

a friend here is looking for book recommendations and asked for a top ten book list. i replied in kind, but couldn't hold to only ten. so here's the list(in "no particular order"):
anna karenina - tolstoy
old goriot - de balzac
the voyeur - robbe-grillet
notebooks of malte laurids brigge - rilke
america (the man who disappeared) - kafka
dubliners - joyce
memories of my melancholy whores - garcia marquez
farenheit 451 - bradbury
animal farm - orwell
the idiot - dostoevsky

the trial - kafka
the book of laughter and forgetting - kundera
of mice and men - steinbeck
dead souls - gogol
molloy, malone dies, the unnamable - beckett
cats cradle - vonnegut
mrs. dalloway - woolf
the beautiful and the damned - fitzgerald
story of the eye - bataille
sexus - miller

i will post again when i have time to edit pictures and the like.

d

more goats and little to do

yeah:

so the past week or so has not been very eventful. we're still waiting for our schedules and the like whilst watching smoke pass out of our mouths from the shisha houses we frequent.

the gym has been nice. i will post pictures of us working out when i can. that'll be a gas.

weather here is really starting to cool off. sundi sported goose bumps last night in Muscat. wow. well she does get cold pretty easy, but it was an event.

next week i will write and post about our favorite restaurant here. we call it the turkian restaurant because originally thats what the sign said, but its obviously turkish. they have the best bread ever there. weve been twoce this past week and it was excellent both times. during Ramadhan it was sad because they closed for renovations and the like, so we were shut out, despite checking almost every day to see if it was open again. yes, that is how we roll in nizwa.

pix this week:
1) livestock here is often transferred via pickup trucks. cows, goats, even camels. here's a little pic of some goats. sadly, we always see the camels when our camera is at home. moral? dont leave home without the camera...



2) the effects of intense sunlight on produce.



oh...so well see you next saturday-ish. the publishing on saturday promise went to the wayside, but whatever...give or take a day, alright?

d

The Yaris

I said a while ago that I would post a picture of the rental, so here it is. This was taken on an outlook just outside Misfah.

Misfah II

Some more pictures from Misfah:

I

While we walked around we saw lots of kids talking to each other whilst hanging out by their windows. No worries, they’re safe.

II

Dan by the Falaj (Canal)

III

Sun by the Falaj

Misfah I

I
‘lo:

this past week we mostly chilled out and prepped for going back to work tomorrow. The week has been spent mostly reading and writing and the like. Little else has gone on. I caught most of goodfellas the other night on tv and was happy with that.

Traveling around with our little mp3 player, we have tried to listen to all “new” music and have taken a firm liking to beck’s latest “modern guilt,” despite weird hints of religious “undertunes.” Albert Hammond jr.’s first album has also been getting regular play, and sundi has taken a particular hating to several decemberists songs from “the crane wife.” I am in partial agreement on the hate, but a few of the songs are pure…

Sun finished off “Waiting” by ha jin this week and is pretty far into “the comedians” by graham greene. I am focusing still on “the curtain” by kundera and “six walks in the fictional woods” by umberto eco. Also, I randomly open Anna Karenina for some more of that. Something we didn’t mention in last weeks’ post was that when the albers-fulton clan visited last week they brought with them a great many books which I dropped at their abu dhabi residence on my visit in march. So now, we are not in want of reading material.

Ok. So on to the pictures of the week.

I
This is from the museum at Al Hoota cave, which isn’t far from here and looks pretty interesting. We booked an appointment to go on Wednesday morning and showed up on time, but were turned away at the door because the precipitation was too high. According to one of the workers at the cave, “You will die if you go inside. You can not breath in there. The percipitaiton is at 100%” So. My question is: isn’t 100% a flooded cave? If anyone out there can answer this id appreciate it. This picture shows some of the goods you can get in the museum. Sundi thought it too strange to not take a picture.

II
After being rejected from the cave we went to a nearby town called Misfah which is built into the side of a mountain. You can see hear a house literally built on top of natural rock formations.



III
Yet another angle inside the village. This one with a bridge between two houses.