My head is swirling

It's hard to know where to start with this trip - the Sultanate of Oman. It made such an impression on our family. Although we had this trip booked for about 5 months, and had done some research, we left for Oman still not knowing quite what to expect.

Many tourists to Oman primarily go to resorts that are set up along the coast and taking day trips here and there for shopping/touring. The temperatures were 25 - 30 C while we were there and it is a huge draw for cold Europeans during winter (primarily heard UK, German & Russian during our stay) months.

Before we headed to a resort for sun and relaxation, we spent 3 1/2 days with an Omani guide, Salah, and traveled through a portion of their Country. Oman is bigger than Switzerland but the population size is only approx. 2.5 - 3 mill. (depends on who you ask). One third of the population lives in the capital city of Muscat - a port city. Until the 1970's, when Sultan Qaboos came into power, Oman was relatively closed to the rest of the world. Fact - in 1970, there was only 10 km of sealed (asphalt) road in the country. A very conservative and struggling country. Since then, the Sultan and the people have worked hard to bring the Country into the 21st Century and it is evident in the roads, hospitals, schools and ministry buildings - everything is relatively new, efficient and they embrace technology while trying to preserve their culture and heritage.

OK - enough of the history lesson today.

Random thoughts/experiences re: our trip:

• We grew to enjoy the smell of Frankincense in the air (80% of Frankincense comes from Oman)
• the Dates - tasty!
• Omani coffee - a blend of arabica beans, cardamom and rose water - delightful if you like trying different coffees. I do - and Bart drank some to be respectful with the other men - His first coffee ever! Drinking it in a Bedouin tent and at the Muscat fish market - in little porcelain tea cups rinsed out in warm water. I don't know whose germs were on there but it would have been rude to refuse our hosts.
• Ladies - take your own tissues/TP for the toilet. Only in hotel and/or museum facilities will it be available. And wearing a skirt is better than pants. I never thought to take a pic of a potty there - a whole blog in itself! Anyhoo - they were typically what the girls call a 'squat potty' - not a seat but porcelained floor potty with a hose bidet for 'rinsing'. Believe it or not - there are countries that find the use of TP to be unhygenic and backwards. Enough of that.
• an old Omani man touching my arm in the Souk (market) and holding out his hand without looking at me. As an Omani man would not touch a woman without her permission (they only shook my hand if I offered it), I figured he really needed some Rial. I won't forget how that felt.
• watching my girls dress in Bedouin clothes and how beautiful they looked
• looking at all the differences in dress - the men in their neat, clean dishdasha's (white or earth toned) with caps/turbans and the women in everything from black decorated abeyas to colorful wraps to full abeya w/ birka (face veil). There were many degrees of dress if you took the time to look. And in the heat/sun, being all covered up in loose, light clothing makes a lot of sense.

First stop on our tour: Birkat al-Mawz (Banana pool). A pretty village of date palms, banana and mango trees. We drove through on our way up to the Jebel Akhdar (green mountain) area where we spent our 2nd night. The mountains themselves are not green - it refers to the areas below which support a variety of agriculture during the cooler months when rain accumulates in the wadis and terraces.

In the Nizwa Fort - traditional pottery and chests found in many homes. The New Year dessert buffet our first night. We stayed at a hotel by the airport, got rested and acclimated before the touring began. It was quite a feast and the girls enjoyed the New Year noisemakers and party hats they were given. The desserts? We had to force ourselves to stop!

The Nizwa Souk: we were so overwhelmed by all the items here. We did buy Bart's khanjar (a traditional Omani curved dagger) and Omani outfits for the girls here. I need to go back though - they had things that I didn't find in the Mutrah Souk!!!
Rachel looking over Nizwa from one of the Fort rooftops. More later. It's Bart's Bday and I need to bake a cake. Happy 4-th Birthday Honey!!!!!!

We brought them home....

.....Our little Bedouins. Had we been willing, we could have negotiated husbands for them. They (Rachel & Kendra) did say they wanted to live in the Desert all the time. We respectfully declined - amid a lot of laughter from the Bedouin hosts. I won't show the other pic of R on the Net with the mask off and the Kohl rimmed eyes - no makeup for that girl! Too pretty and grown up - I want to keep her young for another couple of years if I can.

I am trying to sort through all the pic's and get laundry done.

What an absolutely unique experience - we were sorry to see it end. It was great to have a full get away. Bart especially needed it and hopefully is fully refreshed as he has to jump back into work with both feet on Monday. We didn't even have email while we were gone. I'm sure we could have paid for it at the hotel(s) but it was nice to be fully disconnected for a while.

I know I said I wouldn't bore you all with Oman when we got back but, too bad, life is back to school and housework and our trip was full of so many different experiences that it is all I will have to share this next week. We feel really fortunate to have had the opportunity to go and hope you will enjoy reading about the experience and enjoying some pictures this next week.

Happy New Year!!!!!

Oh Man - we're leaving for Oman

Let the packing begin:

I can't tell you how long we spent packing for this trip. A long time. We typically spend not much more than 1 hour or so combined for the family - we've had a lot of practise now. I write a list and the girls pack themselves from it.

But - this time, Bart and I consulted each other as to which items and how many. We will be at a Western Resort on the coast for part of the trip. However, the first half of our trip will be in the City of Muscat, local villages and the desert - the Dunes! I tried things on so he could help me decide which items "covered" me - nothing above the knee, baring too much arm, no cleavage and nothing too fitted. Not that I dress risque but - western styles of dress differ greatly from those of Arabic countries. Days will be more casual, nights not so casual and we read that people dress "smartly." So we will try to look smart. It took a little sorting.

No - in Oman they don't require women to cover their heads. Only if one is Muslim. I'll only be required a head scarf when we take the Grand Mosque tour.

We want to be respectful of their customs and not be offensive or draw unwanted attention to ourselves. Bart isn't even packing a pair of jeans! On vacation!

We'd encourage you to google Oman if you're interested and read up on it. The first questions we get regarding this trip is "Where is Oman?" and "Why are you going there?" It is bordered by Saudi Arabia, Yemen (no, we won't be near that border), the United Arab Emirates and the Arabian Sea. It is still a monarchy ruled by the current Sultan. They have an interesting history and while embracing tourism as a new source of national revenue, they are trying to maintain their culture differently than their neighbor, the UAE (think Dubai).

So that's where we'll be ringing in the New Year.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and God Bess!

More Christmas....

Just thought I'd share Kendra's present from Aunt Sissy: Kendra promply declared: "Hey, I need to take this to school and wear it. I want people to leave me alone!" Yep - she's a piece of work.

Below - note the organized piles of presents? This was done before "Mom" got into the living room to take the picture she (I) takes EVERY Christmas - the one with all the presents "around" the tree.

Basically, this was the year that Christmas was our of our (Bart's & my) control. They had been cooking up a "surprise" for us for months in regards to Christmas morning. It was a sweet and wonderful surprise but I think most of you can get a kick out of the following timeline:

• 6:45am - Rachel wakes up and proceeds to "see" if Kendra is awake yet. Amazing how Kendra happens to be awake when sister says "hey, are you awake yet?"
• 7:10am - Rachel says "Hey mom, are you awake yet?" I was not. And gave instructions that we not be disturbed until 7:30/40. Aren't we mean? But it had been a busy Christmas Eve and we were tired!
• 7:35am - Rachel checks again only this time she's carrying a tray. "Merry Christmas" they both yell as they patiently wait for Bart and I to manage sitting up in bed. And serve us breakfast in bed! I typically don't eat until about 30min - 1hr after waking up - and ALWAYS after a coffee. So the croissant and grapes I was staring at were not too appetizing but I figured I could get them down after the coffee which was also on the tray.
• "Um - girls, could you nuke my coffee, it's kinda cold?" They leave to nuke coffee.
• Look over at Bart who is valiantly putting down a mouthful of Special K and declares it to be "a bit soggy - I think it's been sitting for a while."
• The girls return with my piping hot coffee and we gush about how wonderful this is and thoughtful and all that stuff. We then ask "So - when did you make breakfast?"
• "Weeeeell, we got your breakfast done by 7:00 but you weren't up yet. So we woke you up but you wanted to sleep longer. So we waited. Do you like it?"

We absolutely loved it - and we ate it all including soggy cereal. And I didn't even freak out at the fact that while our breakfast was "cooling" and they were waiting for their lazy parents to wake up on CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!, they completely sorted ALL of the presents into nice little piles. Like a couple of little accountants. No idea where that comes from.

Sometimes it's just hard to keep up with them!

I mentioned we spent Christmas with friends in the mountains. Kendra declared D to be her sledding buddy and off they went. We had a bit of fun on the sledding hill until Rachel and N got into a bit of an accident and there were tears, etc... Everyone ended up fine and Rachel has a beautifully colored goose-egg adorning her left shin.

I think I've mentioned that Swiss refridgerators are a bit small - and most freezers are smaller (usually deli-drawer sized at the bottom of a fridge). So this is what you do when the temps are down and you are having Christmas at your house. Old fashioned refrigerator!Our fireplace decorated with cards!

While one would not typically hang cards over a working fireplace, we have candles in ours instead of fires (and the place is cement so the fire danger is LOW). We call it our funky fireplace and yes, the flat was built in the early 70's.

I show you this as a Thank You for all the cards we receive. Holidays can feel a bit off when you don't live near family. They feel even more off when you don't live in your own country - try getting your tongue around "Frohe Weihnachten." So thank you all for sharing the Season's Greetings with us!

The week of Christmas

Well - it has been such a busy season. I have, obviously, been doing things other than sitting at my computer. Thus - the Blog has been boring and silent for many days.

As I mentioned previously this month - we've been spending time with people. Making the most of time with friends who will not be returning to Switzerland as they left for their homes in the US this past week. Those who are visiting for the holidays. And - those who feel like family in the absence of our own.

I also realized another reason why I have neglected the computer. Please observe the following picture of our living space. It's a very large room and I am taking the pic from the dining area portion. So - dining room, TV/stereo/family room and corner office all in one. I like to work on the computer in silence.

There's not been much silence since last week's visit with Lind's in Engelberg - the girls got out of school the next day. Therefore, quiet will return to the house Jan. 12th. But we're having fun!

Just thought I'd share the following funny observation as I passed our Christmas tree:

Annika! Watch out!!! Padmae is ready to lazer Barbie. Perhaps she's taking out any competition for Anikan's affections? Just thought this was funny and I doubt the girls did this on purpose as they decorated the tree.

This is what happens to our living space when the girls are home with any length of time on their hands. They each have their own rooms. Apparently the neutral territory of the living room works better for them.

Christmas Eve (and Christmas) dawned grey and gloomy along Lake Zurich. So, I took the girls up to a little place nearby to get their ski legs worked out (I had mine the week before - YAHOO). Alpthal Brunni is a small family place and only has t-bars, no chair lifts. As you can see - it also had sunshine and no fog.

In honor of Christmas Eve, they gave the lift operators the day off apparently. The T-bar was self-service.

Um. Self-service T-bar. For a mom with two kids who don't like the T-bar in the first place. FYI - I had not been on a T-bar for about 30 years until we moved to Switzerland. They still have a lot of them as they are cheaper/less liability than chairlifts and easier to install through the cow pastures we ski through. But they are more tiring than sitting oneself on a chair!

Here you can see them with the bar properly placed under their backsides. I think this was our 3rd try. 1st try landed them in a pile about 15ft from where we started. I cleared them out and we tried again. 2nd try had the bar under Rachel but at Kendra's lower back - they still made it all the way to the top. 3rd time was a charm and I finally got the hang of grabbing the bar, getting it under them and catching the next one. It's harder than it sounds - they come in on the left (I am right-handed), it's a moving target and you have to pull that bar down pretty hard and fit it under them. But we had fun and it was a nice Christmas Eve morning.

Bart wasn't working. He was hanging out at home with his bum back. He threw something out in his lower back last week and can't do too many active things this week. Bummer. We missed him.

We headed to Germany last Sunday to visit Bart's sister and her family. Had a nice train ride and enjoyed some cheaper shopping than we would find in Switzerland. The Christmas markets are fun but tend to be full of the same stuff. But we always enjoy the food.

Thought I'd share my sister-in-law's beautiful table - and this was after we did the dinner damage.

She has a knack for decorating and playing hostess. Everything was black & white and beautifully presented. It is fun to be treated!

And the day before we went to Germany (I'm going backwards as you can see), I (susan) was in France to tour a couple Christmas markets/Towns with some friends who have done this annually for about 6 years. I was so glad to join them.

I love this area of France - the Alsace Region. Home of light, sweet wines and beautiful, cottage- filled villages and yummy foods. We finished out our Christmas shopping, ate pastries and had a wonderful lunch in a cellar restaurant - complete with accordian playing by local musicians.

Our last stop was Colmar (a couple of you reading know where I'm talking about). D & I headed to the shops while M & L went to the grocery store - we had only an hour. D & I had time to do a little damage (very little but fun) and decided we need to go back and make a Spring trip.

We had a wonderful Christmas and spent time with a group of friends in the mountains nearby. We are fortunate to have a family of friends here and our health.

Above all we are grateful for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, through whom we are saved by grace.

We wish you a Happy Holiday!