Switzerland!

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Area Workshop for my Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) class in Muscat.  In this part of the world, the areas are much bigger.  My workshop was in Zurich!  A tough location, I know!  And as long as I was there, I might as well stay a bit longer and do some sightseeing.  

 

I flew into Zurich and was picked up by my BSF hostess, Rene.  She had a family function to attend, so she dropped me off in the middle of Zurich, with a map and a promise to return in three hours.  So off I ventured, to soak in as much beautiful scenery as I could in that short time.
 

 

It was a beautiful, warm day in Zurich.  But I found myself in need of a coffee break.  I had been up since 3 am!  One problem, however.  Money.  In my wallet, I had Omani rials, some dirhams for my layover in Dubai, some euros left over from Italy, and a couple of $20 bills.  But no Swiss francs.  I popped in a bank, and got some francs.  I still had no idea how they compared to US dollars. Money exchange overload.  I paid 10 francs for a tall iced coffee and a muffin.  Come to find out, that was $11!  Yikes!  Zurich is expensive.



I am a sucker for window boxes!  And I think I will do three separate blog posts on this trip.  This is not the last picture of window boxes.  :)

 

Rene picked me up and drove me out of Zurich, to the countryside.  As you can only imagine, it was all so beautiful!  My other pictures did not do it justice.  I went to the home of Luzell, another BSF member.  This is the view from the side of her house.  It was a little hazy, or you could see the Alps in the far distance.  Luzell told me that before these Christmas trees were planted, there was a group of gypsies who camped in that spot for a couple of months.  I had no idea gypsies still did that!  She said they asked to 'borrow' some electricity.  Since they asked so politely, she said yes.



The views behind the house.  I could live in Switzerland.

I have to tell you about the special dinner prepared for us.  We had Raclette, a very Swiss meal.  I knew about fondue, which is basically a pot of melted cheese.  In Raclette, you melt your cheese differently.  Everyone got one of these little square pans and a small wooden spatula.

Raclette is typically a winter meal, but it was a lovely evening to eat outside.  Here are all the toppings-- Raclette cheese, another kind of cheese, and some various meats.

There is a heating element right under the grill.  You place your meats on top, and let them cook.

 





Then you place a slice of Raclette cheese, packaged in the perfect size for the pan.  Luzell's daughter showed us that we could put bacon on top.

 



The little pan gets placed under the heating element.  You need to watch carefully, so it doesn't burn.

 



While the cheese is melting, you take some boiled potatoes and mash them on your plate and add spices.

Then when the cheese is melted, you scrape it on your mashed potatoes.  It was pretty yummy, though maybe not a good idea if one is watching their cholesterol intake!

The next day, we went to the BSF workshop, located in the International Protestant Church in Zurich.

 



 All in all, a wonderful 24 hours in Switzerland!  Next stop, Stuttgart, Germany.

 

Austin Goes to Salalah

Today, I have a guest author on my blog-- my son Austin!  He spent a few days in Salalah (in southern Oman), where Joe's company is building a gypsum quarry.  I will let him tell you all about it!

 

This is the view from my dads quarry as you are looking out into the desert. Besides a few small trees here and there it is pretty much barren as you might expect. What you can't see are a few scraggly bushes in the distance that produce frankincense. There are very few places with the right soil composition to grow these prosperous plants. One of these places is Oman which helped the country grow prosperous before the discovery of oil.

When you think of the desert, usually the first thing that comes to mind is unbearable heat and wasteland with no plants. But during the Khareef season in Salalah it is cooler (which is relative to the regular heat) and it is possible to see the beauty in the land that has stayed uncultivated by humans for hundreds of years.

And this is it. The reason we moved out to Oman. This is the part of the quarry where the gypsum is processed and broken up into small pieces so it is able to be used to make wallboard and other building materials. You currently see some of the porta-cabins which are the temporary offices while the official ones are being built.

So as you might imagine internet connection and cellular service is hard to come by in the middle of the desert. So you need an extra big antenna to make up for that!

Hard hat swag.

This is a rug in a sheik's majilas room (room for entertaining male guests). I felt the need to take a photo of it because it is a spectacular shade of hot pink with glitter mixed into it. A sheik is a leader of a village and we met with them to broker personal relationships with the surrounding villages and to help them out in little ways like hiring men from those villages or renting equipment from them.

Hospitality is a big thing in the Omani culture. Before lunch we were served dates with coffee and fruit platters. Most guests are treated with such generous gifts of food to start out a visit well.

                                                You have to have a TV in a bachelor pad!

Camel meat and rice. A normal lunch for a man who owns over forty camels. And while camel meat is tougher and chewier than beef it is surprisingly tasty when well done. This particular camel was boiled to cook it and then seared to give it the crust and bring out the flavor.

                                      The whole layout of our first meeting with the sheik.

                                                         Sheik Beheit and my old man!

Today we ate lunch in the Omani style. One big plate and everybody just digs in. This time it was with goat instead of camel and it was simply fantastic.

The Omanis eat by taking some rice and some goat and then squeeze it in their hands till they get a ball of food which they then pop into their mouth. If you know me at all then you know that I can eat quite a lot. But these men could give me a run for my money. I was a foot taller but they could put that rice away! By the end there was precious little left on the plate.

During the Khareef season, up in the mountains, it can get kind of foggy. And in the best of conditions Omanis aren't the best of drivers. [Austin means that they can be a bit daring, shall we say.] When you can barely see fifteen yards in front of you it becomes downright dangerous. It is a 45 minute commute to the quarry from the villa where my dad stays at and he makes this drive twice a day!

I hope you enjoyed Austin's trip to Salalah.  I was hoping to make it there myself this summer, but Joe wants me to wait until it stops raining so much.  Maybe September!

Baaaaaaath time?

There was a surprise visitor today while I was laying out by the pool at Dolphin Village.  This goat must have wandered onto the property from the nearby mountains.  We were treated to our own personal rodeo event as the club employees chased the goat around the pool!  :) The smart goat finally made his escape.  

Summertime and the livin' is easy...

 I stole the title for this blog post from my friend Kelly's facebook update.  She was talking about being in her 13th hotel room of her summer visit to the US!  Here is a link to the song, in case you are not familiar with it.  Be patient, it has a long introduction.  Just close your eyes and relax.  :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwZc5W8tLK4

Well, the song might be relaxing, but the summer was not!  One of the first things I learned as a future expat is that most families go home during the summer.  It is too hot to stick around Oman and all the kids' friends would be gone.  There would be nothing to do.  And besides, we wanted to see our friends and family in the US, so it sounded like a good idea.  I will interject an interesting note here.  A lot of the American kids in Oman have spent many years away from the US.  Summer time is a good time for them to reconnect to being American.  So, I bought tickets for an eight-week trip and off we went!

Can I tell you the first thing that struck me when I got back to Illinois?  I went to Target and the parking spaces were so big!  I had forgotten how easy parking could be!  :)  It was wonderful being in the land of efficient internet.  And bacon (which I only had my first morning back.  Thanks, Jennifer Johnson!).  I had been told to hold off on shopping till the end of the summer.  Not a good idea to lug around all our purchases all summer.  But, who could turn down a 40% off sale at Chico's?  Not me!  It was wonderful to spend time with as many friends as we could squeeze in.  After three weeks in Illinois, off we went to Texas!

It was wonderful to see lots of great friends and most of our family in Texas.  Cousins and food and fun!  And a little more shopping.  I will interject another note.  When shopping, and Savannah wanted something, I didn't ask how much did it cost.  I always asked, "How much does it weigh?"  United was very strict with the luggage weight limits. Back to traveling in Texas.  I put almost 3000 miles on my rental car during my time in Texas.  Lots of driving.  And lots of talking.  My jaw would get tired from talking so much!  There were a couple of nights where I would wake up and think, "Where am I?  Where is the bathroom?"  Then there were also a few times when I was looking for something in particular and had to search three suitcases for it.  

So, if you are reading this and are a new expat or gonna be, here is some advice.  Think about how long you want to be gone in the summer, and subtract two weeks.  You will thank me.  Then truly treasure the time you get to spend with all the great people in your life. Except if you have a house in the US and all your friends and family travel to you.  Then forget what I said.  :)  Oh, and set out what you want to pack to take with you.  Then return half of it to your closet!  More room for new purchases.  :)

I am now back in Oman.  School doesn't start for another two weeks and things are pretty slow and calm, for the moment.  It is summertime, and the livin' is easy!

You know how sometimes the movie ends but then there is a little more to the movie during the credits?  Well, here a few random pictures of the summer.  :)

I was first introduced to Chicken Shawarma, not in Oman, but in Naperville, Illinois.  I loved seeing Naf Naf's truck, since I have seen a real camel crossing sign.

A very artistic soda display at Albertsons in McKinney.

This was cool.  The kids (and a cousin) are having fun with Steven Swain.  The Swains are our friends in Oman, and they just happen to have a lake house in Texas!

I took Austin to one of the army museums at Ft. Hood.

We spent some fun time looking at old family pictures.  Here I am, a bridesmaid at my sister's wedding, 32 years ago!  Diana was such a beautiful bride.

I took this picture while sitting on my former next-door-neighbor's back patio.  This was the view I had in Illinois-- all that grass and trees.  Not that my present ocean view is too shabby.

 

My first lunch back in Oman.  The mixed appetizer plate from the Turkish House.  You can't see the big flat bread that comes with it.  In the top left corner is the oven-baked chicken with tomatoes and peppers.  Yum!

The Gaylord Texan

 

Although I am back in Oman, I have some catching up to do with my blog.  I spent a great weekend with my good friend, Jennifer, celebrating her birthday.  We stayed at the Gaylord Texan, in Grapevine, between Dallas and Ft. Worth.  We all know how fabulous the hotels are in the Middle East, but I just wanted to show how Texas does a hotel!

 



 The Gaylord Texan

 

We got a Texas-sized welcome on our arrival.

 



 

 

No, this is not a park.  This is actually the giant atrium that makes up part of the hotel.  The best part?  It was air-conditioned!  Good thing, since the temperature was over 100.

 



Hard to tell, but the hotel had its own riverwalk.

 



 

The star at the top!

 

Of course you couldn't have a Texan hotel without a longhorn.

 

Or two.  There were some great shops in the hotel.

 



Not your ordinary cowgirl hat
 

The red-studded boots were my favorite, but unfortunately, not my size.
 

Texas-shaped boxes for your goodies.

 



 And more cowboy stuff

 

 

If you can't tell, cowboys were everywhere.  And if you didn't know how to be one, you can always be taught.

 

 

 

 But no one had to tell our new friend how to be a cowboy!

 

This is the entrance to the steak house.

 

We found this settee in one of the jewelry shops.  I have seen some pretty 'interesting' furniture pieces in Oman, but this settee can certainly hold its own.

 

 Here is some of the incredible landscaping in the hotel.  This whole area gets decorated for the seasons.

 

I think we got there just in time for the Train season.  :)  They were all over.

 

Okay, I did get a picture of the riverwalk.

 



Just chillaxing in the lobby.

 

We had a great time during our stay.  I have no pictures of the Cactus nightclub, which was fabulous.  Great music!  There is also a water park, which is great for families.  I am told the grounds are beautiful to walk around, but that will have to wait for a cooler visit. 

 

Y'all take care now!