Catch up

Touched down in Oman about 4.5 hours ago. Met at the airport, got the visa, picked up the bags and was out. Did the usual and changed some money and bought a SIM - that did take some effort to work out, but, interestingly enough, Oman Mobile’s customer service is available and completely functioning before the sun comes up - I was terribly impressed.

So, where am I? I’m not living at work, I’m across the road, not far, apparently 200m or thereabouts - walk in the heat at your own sweaty peril! So I shall need a car to get to school (I’m not kidding I was told it was necessary). My apartment is huge! Walk in the front door to the hallway, immediately to the right is a small room, bare except for two decaying plants. Next on the right is the first of many bathrooms. On the left is my lounge dining room. Continue on into a kind of “holding” room - I don’t really see any function for this room, maybe as a separate dining? On the left off that room is a rather spacious kitchen - alas the stove is electric, no roti-making for me. Diagonally opposite from the kitchen is the master bed with en suite, and opposite that is a single bedroom with en suite. Space is nice, but then I think about all the cleaning and dusting and the cost of running the AC! Oman is very, very, very HOT and humid. At present I cannot leave my bedroom because I turned the AC off in the rest of the house (being green) and now its a good 5/6 degrees hotter out there, and its sticky! Can’t open the windows, to hot. Cold water faucet is persistently luke warm. I think its the first time I’ve opted to have a cold shower (where there was hot water available, therefore Jordan is excluded). Will post pics of the house when I upload my photos.

So, presently lying under the AC on my bed, blogging about the heat and wondering how on earth I can get internet hooked up by this evening and buy all the things I want (RIGHT NOW) form Carrefour without a car!

Conundrums. Maybe I’ll nap on it.

***End day one***

So my first day in Oman has come to an end. I’m unpacked (except for my invisible boxes) and I’ve started on the “new house top to bottom cleaning” which seems to accompany every move. Went to the supermarket (equiv. of Spinneys in Egypt) and picked up urgent items like disinfectant, bleach and soap. Unfortunately there were no latex gloves so my hands have been destroyed. Al-hamdoulillah.

Lunch was nice, dinner was nice - so were the choccies from my favourite little possums.

I’m feeling terribly tired. Might read a little then sleep - once I finish washing all my new kitchen stuff.

Off to do more shopping tomorrow, hopefully will complete most of the list and find out the prices for the rest... Don’t think there’ll be much money saved this month, but you know what they say... You gotta spend money to make money... or maybe its the other way around. Anyway whatever, I’ve got dishes to wash.

Much love and ma’a salama.

*** Day Two***

Late breakkie this morning followed by tour of the school and some meetings. Afternoon dominated by a trip to City Centre - shopping mall, includes Carrefour - and a blinding headache. Still no internet set up at home - could be a while - and the schools internet is down for a systems upgrade or something. Decided that I am definitely buying a washing machine. My boxes haven’t been delivered yet and I’m running out of clothes - no one was kidding when they said three outfits for one day. The humidity here is shockingly high (90% last week apparently). Hopefully by then end of tomorrow I’ll have a hire car sorted. Thinking I’ll hire until I can work out whether or not to buy. Seems that the comfort of all included insurance and not being responsible for the maintenance/repair of the car in case of issues/accident is a good way to go - potentially long-term, it seems to work out a little more expensive to buy a new car rather than hire. Other alternative is a second-hand, looking into a Jeep... All price dependent of course. Anyway, I am off to bed to nurse the remnants of my blinding headache. Hopefully tomorrow brings significantly less pain.

Much love and ma’a salama

***Sometime Later***

I’ve got my car! *woot* It’s all very exciting, I can now get out and about without bugging people for rides. Just a Nissan something-a-rather, sedan, auto (which makes traveling on the crazy Omani roads a breeze) and its white (not sure of the relevance but you get the idea).

Day before yesterday was a morning meeting to “demystify” Islam, and the afternoon was dominated by the medical check up. Interesting experience. We were bussed to a medical centre about 30mins away to have our chests listened to, eyes checked, blood drawn, pee placed in a cup and a chest x-ray. It took 4 hours. Very long hours, but thankfully I did not faint (I was too busy marveling at how little blood they need to draw here in order to test for HIV compared to home...amazing).

Yesterday was the day for organising Resident cards - pretty much nothing can be done/organised here with out this particular card. First stop was a non-descript building 40mins away. After some time waiting our finger prints and photos were taken. Then it was back to the bus - approximately a 1minute ride - then we decamped into another non-descript building in the same compound. More sitting. More waiting. Finally we are called in. Another photo, finger print scan and this time we had to sign a digital pad. That signing was more difficult than it sounds, you couldn’t see where you’d written, nor could you watch the screen as it occurred. In the end just about everyones signature looked like a poor attempt by a five year old. Forwarded onto another waiting room. We waited. Sat and waited. Eventually names were called, we filed up to get our brand new resident cards and then made our way back to the bus and eventually back home.

That afternoon most people went on an excursion, I didn’t attend, deciding instead to go shopping. So I took my wheels for a spin and headed out to Carrefour to pick up most of the things I hadn’t already, and a bunch of delicious stuff not on the list. I’d like to say my fridge is filled with healthy and delicious food, but unfortunately only the delicious side of the equation is really true.

I’m still not used to the heat. Always so sweaty, its quite horrible. I think I need to drink more water. Still no internet and still no boxes. Hoping for tomorrow for the boxes and perhaps the delivery of my washing machine! I am officially out of clothes - i.e. even being able to re-wear items.

Tonight I headed out to the fabric district after dinner. The plan was to find some fabulous, soft cotton in plain colours and get some skirts made. Turns out that plain cotton is a rare commodity here in Oman - rare as in non-existent! The traffic into Seeb was crazy, bumper to bumper. But the main drag was just fabric shop after fabric shop. Some of the most beautiful hand-embroidered cloth I’ve seen masha’Allah. Went into several, disappointed each time by the lack of plain cotton fabric. Managed to get home with only one (minor) incident - hitting a massive pothole at 70km. I think the car survived. Guess I’ll check the tyres in the morning.

Anyway, after a less than fruitful expedition to the fabric district in Seeb, I shall say goodnight.

Much Love and Ma’a salama