Omani adventure

A week or two ago, we decided to have sneaky mid-weeky getaway. Fly the coop and get out of Dubai for a few days, a place that can get a little suffocating at times. The kids and I hadn't been to Muscat in Oman yet (although Clint had been a number of times), so we made that our destination.

It's an hour's flight from Dubai, but we decided to be a bit adventurous and drive. We headed out of Dubai, through the big red sand dunes, over the rocky Hajar mountains to the coast of Oman, following it until we hit Muscat.

The only disappointment of the road trip was when we hit the Omani border and had to get our visas, Darbs cried out: "Hooray! Holidays! We are here!" and we had to inform him we still had quite a way to go. Oh and the 50 billion roundabouts along the way.

The Omani coast is spectacular and so different to Dubai. When I thought of a city like Muscat before I moved to this region I dreamt of the exotic, mystical middle east, of dhows and gold and old world traders. So far it hasn't disappointed. The locals and friendly and generally the people I have come across are not as brash as in Dubai. Traditional dress for Omani men in the white dishdash (similar to the Emirati men) and a distinctive embroidered hat (they way I've always been able to spot Omanis in Dubai).

Today, we've been lazing around our resort, swimming and playing and eating. We'll hit town and the souk tonight, where you can buy gold, frankincense and myrrh under the same roof. Hopefully pick up a few momentos and trinkets.

We haven't been here a day yet and I already feel recharged. There's nothing like an unexpected mini-break.

We will remember

Taken on Anzac Day 2012, our last in Australia. 

Lil has always remembered and talked a lot about Anzac Day. She remembers the time we lined the street in Byron Bay, sprigs of rosemary proudly pinned on our chests, waving Australian flags as the diggers walked down Johnson St.
Afterwards, Skip joined the end of the parade at the RSL and had a schooner and a toss of the two-up coins, while the kids and I sat on the beach and talked about the meaning behind Anzac Day and the march we'd just seen.

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My grandmother waved off the love of her life from their small NSW country town to the jungles of Papua New Guinea, aged just in her early 20s and three babies at home. I can't imagine what that was like, it must have been desperately awful.

I'm sure to her pure joy he returned home and they had another child. Then a few short years later she lost him again suddenly to an illness he contracted while away fighting.

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In year three we learnt about Gallipoli. I remember being intrigued and horrified all at the same time. I bought a book about Gallipoli at the school book club and read about Lone Pine and Simpson and his donkey. I was fascinated. I remember spending hours imagining what it would have been like to be there, what I would've felt if it had been me on those boats, wading through the water at ANZAC cove. The stories from that book remain with me to this day. I can still see the illustrations in my mind.

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Asking about the significance of Anzac Day, Goosey was worried. "My friend Irem is from Turkey. Did we hurt her family? Will she still like me?"

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I feel incredibly lucky today. I've never had to send someone off to war. Conflicts are something I read about in books or saw in movies. In my 20s I often went to an RSL club on Anzac Day to play two up with friends and diggers. I got to sit and listen to stories from old men about being young men and arriving in Egypt or France or Papua New Guinea. I never got the opportunity to sit with my own grandfather and hear his tales or how he felt, so this was a way to get a glimpse into what that might be like. The diggers were always pleased that a young girl was interested in their stories and happy just to listen as they yarned to each other, for me it was a privilege.

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I have a wonderful family of my own now. They're happy and healthy and we live the most blessed life. We live far away from Australia, but you can't help to take a moment and remember on Anzac Day. Reflect on all the Australian servicemen and their families whose lives have been affected by war and continue to be affected.

We'll make Anzac bikkies, because it's a tradition. It's a small way to involve the kids and keep Australian tradition alive for them. Teach them about the lives of their family, the sacrifices their ancestors made and remind them  how blessed they are. A small way to commemorate.

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Lest We Forget

This and that

Look how long it is since I've been here. So many times I've thought, ooh I need to write about that or that would make a good blog post and then the moment has past and I haven't typed a single word. It's frustrating.

But it looks like I have a little more time on my hands so hopefully I can be a bit more diligent with the blog posts and writing in general as I do miss it.

So a quick recap - the kids and I had a lovely spring break. We did exactly what I hoped and hung out at the pool a lot, made sushi, had playdates and took Darbs to his first movie - Rio 2, which I probably won't do again for a while! It was a really nice week and the kids and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out together. It was brilliant.

The kids are back at school and in the swing of it for the last semester of the school year. This year has just flown and I can't believe we're starting to think about end-of-year concerts and after school activities wrapping up. I'm not ready for the loooooong Dubai summer or for the next school year. The crazy thing is Darby will actually be eligible to start school (in the British system) which seems like madness to me, so that won't be happening. The baby will be kept a baby for a little while longer yet!

We've got lots to look forward to in the next few weeks - a quick getaway to Oman, family coming to  visit and all those end-of-year school things. I'm hoping to get out and do a bit more 'Dubai stuff' before the heat becomes too searing and maybe even do a few 'grown up' things, too.

Whatever the next few months bring, I really just want to concentrate on the kids (they seem to be growing up in fast forward at the moment - I swear Lil has grown a foot recently) and Skip. As well as me. I want to write more and find my little place in the world as the kids grown and need me just that little bit less.

That's what's happening in my world. What's happening in your world?

Spring Break!

It's spring break in our part of the world at the moment. I know it sounds like a dodgy American teen movie, but that's what they call this week of holidays. Our last week of school holidays before the final term of the academic year and our big, long Summer break over July/August. Seriously, where has the year gone?!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to go away as Skip is flat chat at work, but the kids and I have a fun and relaxing week planned at home. Now it's day one, Sunday, and we've sent Skip off to work, the kids are still in their PJs watching Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 licking the vegemite crumbs from their chops. Loving not having to rush out of the house at 7am to make the school bell by 7.30am.

We're planning on spending a lot of time at the beach, because in a matter of weeks it will be too hot to hit the sand. There will also be plenty of time spent in the pool. Using up every ounce of energy and making every glorious mild day a winner.

The girls love nothing more than going out for lunch, so we're going to attempt to find some half-decent sushi and maybe even a sneaky Maccas. We will of course grab a falafel roll – we'll watch as the bread puffs up in the wood-fired oven, as they freshly fry the falafels, then pile up the salad, the fluro pink pickles and homemade minted labneh and hand over the equivalent of AUD$4 for the privilege.

We'll visit the mall and check out the Lego Friends (the latest craze for my 7-year-old) and we may even watch Rio 2 at the movies.

We'll organise some playdates and catch up with school friends - which will undoubtedly involve some pool time, some Lego friends, sand balls and scooters. Silly jokes and lots of laughter. Making up dances and performances to Frozen and Katy Perry tunes.

There will be time curled up with books reading about the Wishing Jug or Rainbow Fairy adventures. Quiet time spent on Studyladder and Sumdog.

Then hopefully there will be three kids falling into bed exhausted at the end of every day! Fingers crossed.

Not a bad way to spend a week, I'm quite looking forward to it.

Baby, you can drive my car

One of the best things about being with someone for such a long time is watching them grow, change and develop. Skip and I were basically kids when we got together. Only just out of our teens.

Over the years we've changed so much as individuals and as a couple. We've done so many amazing, different and wonderful things (alongside many, many mundane things, of course). We've dreamt about things we thought would never come true. We've had things we could never have imagined come true.

When I met Skip he was a boy and now I look at him and he's a man - a wise man who can read people, who's keenly interested in the world, who works really, really hard for his family and has success and respect from those around him. He loves to read books now, he reads more than me and when I first met him he said it was 'boring'.

On the weekend, I got to help make one his dreams come true. We went out to the track and he drove a super car fast around it. When we were younger we to car shows and Skip would dream about driving a car like that, never expecting he'd get the opportunity to. It was nice to do that one small thing for him when he does so much for us.

My mother-in-law asked why I didn't have a go too and to be honest I got much more of a thrill seeing Skip's face as he pulled himself out of that sleek car than I would have had driving it.

The constant chat up

As I've mentioned 18 billion (or so) times before, Dubai is a transient place. People are constantly coming and going. We've said goodbye to many people in the 18 months we've been here. It's a strange position to be in, I must say, to constantly have to build up your social circle, your family-away-from home. It's hard enough first time round, but having to do it over and over, well it's a tad monotonous.

You finally find people you like, that you connect with, you share these moments with, then suddenly they're gone. Sometimes it feels like it would be easier to just be hermits and forget about the whole friend thing, but then you'd slowly go insane.

I realised when I was at playgroup this morning, it's almost like being single again. With my closest Dubai friend leaving the country soon, I looked around the group of women and their kids and took a deep breath. Gotta put myself out there again. After being in a romantic relationship for more than 16 years, nervous chatterings at the church playgroup took me back to being in a nightclub aged 19.

I noticed a lady on her own, Darbs and her little girl were playing trains next to each other. She was alone. We struck up a totally uninteresting conversation about trains. Then we started chatting more and even started replying with "Yes! Exactly!"The conversation flowed effortlessly. Wow, I thought to myself, she seems really nice. I let my mind run away, imagining dinners, BBQs and other social events together. I turned to help Darbs with something and turned back and she was gone. I spotted her talking  and laughing with someone else. Was it the nasty stench of cheap Nescafe on my breath? Was my interesting conversation completely boring to her? Man, it sucks and playgroup doesn't even serve any G&Ts to help ease the nerves!

I was chatting online with another expat friend recently about the inevitability of saying goodbye when you're an expat. You forge these tight bonds and then it's 'See you later!' Most of them you'll probably only ever see again on Facebook.

Anyway, the vacancy sign is currently up and hopefully positions will all be filled soon for quite some time.

Barf-O-Rama

I'm a big fan of the movie Stand By Me. There was a stage when I could recite every piece of dialogue word-for-word, in fact, if pushed I probably still could. There's one part of the movie that I wasn't too keen on and that's when Gordie tells his latest story to the other boys called Barf-O-Rama, it's about a fat kid who's taunted by everyone in his town and gets revenge at a pie eating contents when he vomits up the blueberries pies and in the process sets off a chain reaction of vomit through everyone at the contest. The vomit was revolting and the fact that everyone's vomit was blueberries just didn't do for me.

I'll tell you something worse than that scene of the movie. It's when you have your own Barf-O-Rama in the back of the car. Yes, it did happen and, unfortunately, it's not the first time.

On the way to school one morning this week, Lil-lil piped up that she felt like she was going to vomit. She looked a little grey but sometimes says that she feels like she's going to vomit with no consequences so I wasn't too concerned. Plus, I was in three lanes of traffic so there wasn't a lot I could do.

We motored on when I heard a sound and saw some movement and some spray in the rearview mirror. Panicked, I grabbed around the car for something, anything, to contain the vomit. Unsuccessful I quickly dived into a slip road and pulled over. Dragging Lil-lil out of the car just in time for her to chuck everywhere. She was covered in it. So was a corner of the footpath, unfortunately I looked up to see we were right in front of one of Dubai's most famous tourist attractions not the best place to fall suddenly ill (sorry tourists, she got as much in the bush as possible). I got her back in the car, but the smell of chuck set off a chain reaction.

Darbs in his car seat start to gag and before I knew he'd spewed everywhere. This set off Goosey who also started to gag. I jumped out of the car again and got her out in time for her to chuck in the bush, keeping herself nice and clean. Darby continued to vomit. Good times, friends, good times.

Darbs screamed, shocked by the wave of vomit that covered him.

"This is the worst school run ever," I said, not really sure what to do next.

"Even worse than when the fire extinguisher went off, Mum?" said Goosey.

"Yes, even worse than that," I muttered.

Have you ever had your own Barf-O-Rama?