Michael's Trip to Oman

Eeks - it's been a while since I wrote. It's been a tough month with the kids on a three-week spring break that doesn't correspond to mine. I'm just about to take my last mid-term (the second with the kids home). There's be no real posts for another week or too, but in the meantime I'll share the updates coming from Michael's trip to Oman. Michael went on an out-of-Kingdom trip with a couple dozen other 6th and 7th graders to Oman. It sounded like a good idea 5 months ago, but putting him on the airplane was one of the hardest things I've ever done. More about that, and his pictures another time...here's the updates from the chaperones:

Our flight left Dammam a little bit late and we ran into some visa problems at the Muscat Airport, so we didn't get to the Oman Dive Center until around 1:30am local time. The kids settled in niclely and we woke up today at around 7:30am to get ready for a day out on the water. The day started with a good breakfast and then a short drive to the marina where we boarded two boats. The first few hours of the day were spent watching dolphins, for as far as the eye could see! We saw hundreds of dolphins and a lot of them were very close to our boats. Afterwards the boats split up and one group went sea kayaking while the second group snorkeled in and around the inlets. Half-way through we ate lunch and switched parts so that everybody had an opportunity to both sea kayak and snorkel. We were proud of all of the kids as every single one of them kayaked the required distance, even though a number of them had no desire to go all of the way! They pushed themselves and I think that some of them are very proud of their accomplishments today. Everyone of the students snorkeled as well, again, even though some of them were hesitant to give it a try. There were thousands of fish, the odd sea turtle, as well as some eels and a whole lot of jelly fish. The jelly fish were the ones that were making some of the students a little bit shy of the water!

We arrived back at the resort at around 4:30pm and we all enjoyed some time to lounge around, go for a hike, swim in the bay, or play a game of beach soccer. We just finished a fantastic dinner, tonight was pasta night. For the most part the kids are tired and ready for bed so we don't think that they will be up too late tonight. Tomorrow morning half of us will spend the day mountain biking into Old Muscat, while the other half go rock climbing and abseiling.

If we have access to internet we will send out another update.

Please know that everyone is fine and having fun. The kids have bonded together wonderfully and they have done an excellent job thus far. They have been a pleasure to travel with thus far and we are enjoying our time with them.

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We have had two wonderful days here in Oman. The weather has been fantastic and the kids are having a great time. For the last two days we have been rock climbing, repelling, and mountain biking. Every single student was able to climb to the top of one or more of the rock faces, and almost every single one of them braved the 60 foot drop down the cliff when they repelled down. They were of course very proud of themselves and very excited after making it down. There were some anxious moments when a few of the kids heard the velcro on their harnesses shifting and "ripping" and they thought that their rope was tearing apart, a sound that sent a wave of panic through them for a moment, but something that they can now laugh at!

Mountain biking was super! The kids biked approximately 5 km along the corniche, around the Sultan's Palace, in Old Muscat, and of course to the Fish Souq. There were some beautiful views and picture opportunities through out the ride and it was an enjoyable outing all around. The Fish Souq was a hit and the kids loved seeing the fish, sharks, stingrays, and some of them were bold enough to pick them up, sometimes by the eye sockets, to get a photo! It was a cool experience and made for some interesting photos and memories. We also hit the Mutrah Souq to shop but most of the stores were closed for prayer time by the time we arrived. That being said, even with a limited number of stores open, the kids had no problem finding some bargains and it was neat to see them negotiating the "best price" for their trinkets.

We are just about to have dinner here at the Oman Dive Center. This is our last night here and we have loved our time here as the bay is fantastic for swimming and jumping off of the dock. There are a few fish here and we have had a couple of stingray sightings, but it is just a beautiful setting and the food has been superb. Tonight is BBQ night and the kids are looking forward to dinner after another day of activities. The most exciting news of the day was probably when Mrs. Strawn went into her bathroom to find a snake eating a lizard on her bathroom floor. All of the kids climbed the rock wall surrounding her open-air bathroom to watch!

Tomorrow we are off to the Ras al Hadd area to see the sea turtles, hopefully! We will stop for a hike along the way, visit a Wadi, and a sinkhole as well that has some excellent swimming opportunities. Then we will attend the night time viewing of the sea turtles at about 10:30pm. When we get up the next morning we will start our journey back to the Shangri La Hotel for some "pampering and spoiling". Not that we have been roughing it by any means.

The kids have been great and we continue to enjoy spending our time with them. Everyone has been very well behaved and it has been great to watch them interact and have fun together. They have been supportive of each other and cheered each other on during all of the activiites, some of which have been difficult and hard to accomplish. There have been many times where some of the kids have wanted to quit (climbing a wall, riding up a hill) but they have persevered and continued on with great satisfaction. We will try to touch base again before we leave for home. Please know that everyone is safe and having a great time.

Hoopie Birds

Most of the birds around here are pretty ordinary, with the exception of the pure white egrets that come during the winter and...the most fascinating bird I've ever seen, the hoopie bird. I've been trying to take a picture of one for nearly three years now. The only time I had seen them are when I don't have my camera. Then last month I saw one in front of our house. Miraculously I was able to snap some pictures before one of us, Peaches or I, frightened it away.

The top of it's head looks fairly flat in the picture. At times it spreads whatever that thing is on top of it's head, much like a peacock spreads its tail. Then it's like a mohawk, an orange and black striped mohawk.

It's just the most interesting little bird I've ever seen. It's proper name is Hoopoe, but folks around here call it Hoopie. There doesn't seem to be many that live on our compound, so a sighting is like a lucky penny to me. I wonder if the Saudis know that it's the national bird of Israel?

Crooked Emblems

I can't sew straight to save my life. Seriously. Even when I use masking tape 270 degrees around an emblem and shift the tape as I go, it somehow ends up on the uniform crooked. If I've been drinking Kahlua and Cream while I'm sewing the emblem on, it's even worse.

Shortly after arriving in Dhahran I found out about the 16th Street Cleaners. For about $.50 they sew an emblem on for you. You tape the emblem on the uniform where you would like it to be placed, drop the whole thing off and come back one week later to a perfectly straight emblem sewn on the uniform. I thought I died and went to heaven.

However...there have been times (twice in the last two weeks as a matter of fact) when one of the boys earns an emblem and there hasn't been enough time to have the it sewn on by the 16th Street Cleaners because they need to wear their uniform to an event coming up quickly. If it's a minor emblem, I just tell them to lump it, wear the uniform without the emblem, and I'll get it in after the event.

Michael just recently completed the rigorous requirements for Second and First Class Scout in Boys Scouts. He's been working on both of them congruently since the beginning of last summer. I'm not going to list everything he had to do, know, perform and live in his everyday life in order to advance - you just have to believe me that this was a REALLY BIG DEAL for him. At the same time, he earned the merit badge for first aid, as well as CPR and AED certifications. And...last night he was elected to be a patrol leader for one of the new scout patrols. The boy has some really cool emblems that need to sewn on - pronto!

So I took the emblems into my buddies at the 16th Street Cleaners yesterday, with plans to pick the uniform up on Friday - the soonest they'd be done. Then to my horror I discovered this morning that Michael needs to wear his uniform on Thursday morning for the annual pancake breakfast. I was able to get it back quickly, but without the sewing done.

So what's worse at a high profile event:

• NOT wearing the emblems you worked so hard for and are so proud of?
• or...wearing the emblems, BUT they are as crooked as the day is long?

All I can hope is that everyone eating pancakes Thursday morning will only notice the pride and love I have for my son, and look past the crooked emblems.

Our Ship Finally Sailed

We finally got the Mahroosa in the water! And after sitting here for 20 minutes trying to find the link to my previous post about buying the boat, I've come to the conclusion that I've never blogged about her. We bought her last January and I was certain I told you, but apparently not.

We bought the Mahroosa in January 2010 with another family here. Owning a boat is the best way to get unlimited access to the yacht club beach where we camp and play. We didn't have the car ready with a hitch, and unfortunately it took us about 11 months to get one. (just don't ask...)

And after we had the hitch, it seems like every weekend has been jam-packed, or the tire on the trailer was flat, or the guys who are going to teach Steve and Michael how to sail couldn't go, or...you name it. Michael was beginning to doubt that we really own the boat.

This last weekend we had an unplanned 3-day weekend, courtesy of the King returning from a 2 month medical vacation. And the stars aligned for putting the Mahroosa in the water. We went down with a couple of families and made a day of it. The guys washed her, readied her and by about 4pm sailed her. Talk about excitement!

I think I'm going to be seeing a lot more of the beach in my future.

Valentine's Day in Saudi

I thought our mailbox here in Saudi, where we only get correspondence sent from the school, employee association and occassionally the company, would be free of junk mail. I was wrong. We received a letter last week from the Khobar Islamic Center that detailed how concerned Muslims should handle Valentine's Day. It was such a hoot that I had to share it with you.

Here is the text in it's entirety (I'll refrain from making snarky comments as I go along):

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a jaahili Roman festival, which continued to be celebrated until after the Romans became Christian. This festival became connected with the saint known as Valentine who was sentence to death on 14 February 270 CE. The kuffaar still celebrate this festival, during which immorality and evil are practised widely.

Shaykh *** (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked:

In recent times the celebration of Valentine's Day has become widespread, especially among female students. It is a Christian festival where people dress completely in red, including clothes and shoes, and they exchange red flowers. We hope that you can explain the ruling on celebrating this festival, and what your advice is to Muslims with regard to such matters: may Allaah bless you and take care of you.

He replied:

Celebrating Valentine's Day is not permissible for a number of reasons.

1- It is an innovated festival for which there is no basis in Islam.

2- It promotes love and infatuation.

3- It calls for hearts to be preoccupied with foolish matters that are contrary to the way of the righteous salaf (may Allaah be pleased with them).

It is not permissible on this day to do any of the things that are characteristic of this festival, whether that has to do with food, drinks, clothing, exchanging gifts or anything else.

The Muslim should be proud of his religion and should not be a weak character who follows every Tom, Dick and Harry. I ask Allaah to protect the Muslims from all temptations, visible and invisible, and to protect us and guide us.

End quote from Shaykh ***

I seriously don't even know where to start. My favorite part is "during which immorality and evil are practiced widely." I better make sure to buy some red pants, socks and shoes to go with my red shirt so I can properly celebrate Valentine's Day next year.

(***I omitted the name of the Shaykh who wrote this.)

Sittin' on the Fence

My firstborn went to the Sweetheart Dance at the Middle School last week. It was his third dance of the year, but the excitement level was every bit as high as the first. He *loves* going to the dances. He loves them so much that when in deep caca earlier in the year he willingly accepted a whole month of screen time restriction (no TV , video games, or computer time) so that he could attend a dance. That's a lot of love.

I haven't been allowed to chaperone so I only have the word from my spy network to rely on. Apparently he's quite a little dancer, often break dancing with a large group of kids cheering him on. He comes home with tired, aching feet but the rest of him so wired that he can't go to sleep. And as I'm sitting in his room listening to him regurgitate the exciting events of the evening, I can't help but wonder where my baby went. How is it possible he can be going to middle school dances already, willingly dancing with girls, and (gasp) LIKING IT?

But something happened at this dance that shone a light on the reality of the situation. He lost a tooth while breakdancing. A baby tooth! At almost 12 years old he still has a number of them in his mouth, although I think this was the last one from the front. It was totally surreal to hear him talking one minute about where to find the tooth fairy box and discussing in the next breath who he slow danced with.

Reflecting on the events of the night, I couldn't think of more perfect symbolism for the stage of life Michael is in right now. He's sitting right on that fence that separates kids from teens. He wants to like girls, but he doesn't want to like girls. He want to hug me goodbye in front of the school, but he doesn't want anyone to see. He wants to take more responsibility in some areas of his life, but he's not quite ready for it yet. He goes to middle school dances and loses baby teeth.

There's a spot for me on the fence with him: I don't want to rush him into the teen years but I don't want to hold him back either. I'm constantly unsure of how much to push and how much to pull. I'm proud of him, I want to see him mature, but I want to keep him little for as long as I can.

I'm going to let him sit up there as long as he wants.

Looking at the Stains in a Better Light

I stumbled down the stairs this morning to find a gift waiting for me on the Persian rug in the entry. A gift from Peaches. Her gifts are never the kind you're very excited to get. It's never Apple products or gift certificates for massage, but things that need to be cleaned up. So before I even had a cup of coffee, I was cleaning up dog puke. That's how my day started.

I was determined to not just get the stain out, but keep a good attitude in the situation. It's JUST a rug, right? And as much as I try to keep our furniture and rugs in good condition, we are an active family. With active boys. AND a puppy. I could stress myself out trying to keep the rug looking pristine, or just roll with some stains.

It reminded me of the kitchen table we purchased right before moving over here. It's not an expensive table, but I really like it and would like to have it for a long time. I'm not sure if the wood is just soft or if my boys press really hard when they write, but I can see where they've done their homework carved into the table. When the light hits it just right, you can see a mosaic of elementary school spelling words, math and doodles - a written history everything they've learned in the last couple school years.

Some day my house will be quiet. The dog will be old and will sleep all day. The kids will be grown, and when they do visit they'll take their shoes off when they come in (they will, won't they?). I'll look at the rug and remember the time that Jake ran in with mud, so proud to tell me of his accomplishes on the four-square court at the park. Or the day Michael came in with wet feet after dancing around barefoot in the rain. And of course, the morning their cherished pet puked on the rug but was still so happy to see me.

The rug might start looking stained to most, but it's really just silently recording the best days of my life. Some day I'm going to love those stains.

A Pictorial Summary of the Last Three Months

How do you like my fancy title? I thought it sounded more "studious" than "Recent Pictures". Maybe all the essay writing I've been forced to do is actually helping...

Seriously, here's what you've missed from September to December (in a nutshell) while I was off with my nose in the books:

Jake's 9th birthday. Those are supposed to be light sabers -- not my best work, but made with all my love! He had 5 friends over for a birthday sleepover. It was insane. Never again.

Michael's first middle school dance! He was so, SO excited. He's wearing a very cool black hat, but you can't tell because of the black door he's standing in front of. He had a great time and even wowed the crowd with his breakdancing moves. I can't believe he's old enough to be going to dances.

Michael earned 5 merit badges at camp last summer: Rifle Shooting, Photography, Videography, Fingerprinting, and Wood Carving. He's advanced rank once this year and is about to again - by mid-February he'll start working on his Star Scout rank, with just Life Scout and Eagle Scout after that.

Halloween

For those of you that haven't kept up with Star Wars since your childhood, Jake is Darth Maul. He looks so short because he's in his socks and Michael has shoes with wheels on, making him taller than usual.

Michael was such a disturbing Joker that I had to show you a close up. I could scarcely look at him. And the second we would make eye contact, he'd give me that disturbed look and say, "Why so serious?" Serious is right: seriously creepy.

Jake and I camped out with the Cub Scouts in November, trying out one of our new high-quality tents and my "princess pad" (a self inflating mattress pad from REI - the thickest they make). I'm not sure what skill he's working on in this picture; maybe learning how to lasso camels?

Michael took a Drama and an Improv class last semester at school. He has found his niche! This is a still shot of one of the skits the classes did. He performed his part with a perfect British accent. Talk about a natural performer...

We took a Mediterranean Cruise in November. One of the stops was Rome. I hate this street side picture of the Colosseum, but we didn't get a lot of good shots there that day. We were also disappointed that we weren't able to go inside, but we hope to go back some day. You can't see all of Rome in one day!

Venice was beautiful and fun! I can definitely see Steve and I returning there some day without the kids.

We found the most interesting market in Barcelona. It was large, lively and full of the freshest produce I've seen outside of Pike Place Market (and a farm). Our very favorite thing in Barcelona.

The kids loved exploring this old castle in Lisbon. We happened to be in the city at the same time as a NATO conference, which made traffic patterns interesting. Sadly, we did not get to catch a glimpse of President Obama. Regardless of one's political beliefs, things like presidential sightings or even little things like seeing our flag flying over the consulate are a thrill when you live overseas.

The picture collection from the cruise would not be complete without this one. How fun! I believe this was just after we got off the ship in Naples.

Speaking of Naples, the boys' absolute favorite stop on the cruise was there, where we hiked up to the crater of Mt. Vesuvius, famous for the eruption in 79 AD that covered Pompeii. It's still steaming! It last erupted in 1942.

We also saw Pompeii that day - very, very cool.

Moving on from the cruise...We had a shmal rather early this year (if you've forgotten what a shmal is, you can refresh your memory here). In this picture, Michael models the latest fashion in shmal gear:

There's no shortage of interesting Michael pictures, is there? He put in some service hours for Boy Scouts in December, helping out with a Mom's Morning Out. They worked on crafts and played games with smaller kids. I believe he is an Elf Helper. An old Elf Helper? Not sure what's up with the beard, but if you look closely you'll see jingle bells on his shoes.

Christmas Eve - in their new Christmas pajamas. We wanted an intimate, family orientated Christmas this year and got more than we bargained for when the internet went down and we had no way to call home.

Catching a Christmas day nap. Who says Santa doesn't bring presents for Dads??

Christmas dinner menu: Prime Rib, roasted asparagus, carrots, mashed potatoes and homemade rolls. Oh my, was it tasty!

Loving the Drops

It's raining this morning! It looks like it rained all night. The gray dreary sky puts me in such a happy mood this morning!

As a Pacific Northwest girl straight to the bone, I can complain about the rain with the best of them. I know what it's like to not see the sun for weeks - only gray skies and rain. And I'm not talking about downpours. That type of rain comes, dumps, and moves on -- leaving blue skies. The Northwest type of rain lingers for days, just a bit more than a light mist. Little drops coming down constantly: drizzle. You begin to wonder if the clouds will ever lift or if the gray sky is it, the beginning of the end.

But moving into the desert where we get less than three inches of rain each year makes me miss the rain like I NEVER thought I would. There's just something about looking out at the solid gray sky, seeing the drops of rain in puddles, and feeling the moisture on my cheeks as I walk to the car that goes straight to my soul and makes me feel at home.

Not everyone in my family feels the same way about this liquid joy. The kids came home at lunch and told me that they had indoor recess this morning. I asked why. Jake responded, "because if we went outside, we'd get WET," and then he stared at me in such way that I knew without a doubt a silent "duh" was placed at the end of that statement. I stared right back, speechlessly. My kids will play outside for hours at the park in 110+ degree heat, only coming in on my command for sunscreen and water, but they can't get WET?

It's starting to rain harder. I probably have more to say about this, but I really want to go outside now.

Should it be a Surprise?

Fate leads the willing, and drags along the reluctant.

-Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Those of you who have know us for our 21+ years of marriage know that you never, EVER write our address in ink. It's just bad judgment.

We were just remarking the other day that we've lived in Saudi for a longer time than we lived in Michigan. I really ought to know better than to tempt fate that way. No, we're NOT moving. But fate apparently thinks we OUGHT TO BE and is determined to punish us, along with those who used ink for our address...

The mail service we use in Florida is moving to a new address, so apparently WE now have a new address too. It's actually the easiest move I've ever made. No boxes required. But we've found that one of the worst parts of frequent moving isn't the packing and unpacking; it's losing touch with friends.

And one thing we really look forward to every year is getting Christmas cards from our friends and family. Even those long brag letters (they're actually my favorite). When we get our mail containing a stack of cards, I gather up every bit of control I possess to wait for Steve to come home. Then we make a couple cups of joe and dive into the cards together. And every time we move, the pile gets smaller as someone invariably doesn't have our new address or number. Sniff.

I think we'll probably send out a change of address card to friends and family, something similar to a Christmas card, using our Christmas card address list (so if you don't currently get a card from us, please let me know if you want our new mailing address). Our email address and phone number will be staying the same.

Get those erasers ready.

How Much is My Time Worth?

I'm one week into my 7th, 8th and 9th online classes now and just finished up going through the syllabi, schedules and assignments. One common thread amongst all of them has been the "introduce yourself" on the discussion board assignment. I really dislike that assignment. The classes range from around 50-100 students, and reading through all of their introductions is tedious, time consuming, and time wasting. Occasionally I'll recognize a name from a previous class, invariably someone with whom I vehemently disagreed. That always makes things interesting for a brief, uncomfortable moment. But when my eyes are glazed over at the end of the day I forget who is who and frankly, don't really care.

Steve always asks me, every semester, why I take the time to read each one. I've wondered the same thing myself. There's really no way to select all and mark all as "read," like you would in an email inbox, so I have to open each one. I might as well at least scan it for something interesting while I have it open. And in my economics class this semester, my professor responded to each and every post, carrying on conversations in some of the threads. You just never know what important tidbit of information you'll miss if you don't read those. And if HE can read and respond to all those, surely I can too.

But the real reason I read each one is that I do walk away from the assignment with something hugely valuable, something that I'm sure is a completely unintended effect of the avalanche of introductions: perspective.

Perspective. Just typing that word makes me squirm. It means an uncomfortable reset of my way of thinking and the way I view my circumstances. The acknowledgment that I wasn't looking at life the way I ought to be. And in many cases, the lowering of my pride.

I get a lot of encouraging comments from friends about my efforts to finish this degree at this time in my life, as well as compliments on my ability to balance being a wife and mom at the same time I'm carrying three university classes. While I really appreciate the support, ultimately it grows my ego and blurs my perspective. Take at look at some these introductions:

My name is ____ and I am a 34 year old returning student. I have two children (six and nine) and work as a tech in a pharmacy....But, with a full time job and single fatherhood, very little options for studying in a classroom setting. Right now, this works best for me. There are some nights when I might not be able to start my "class" until 10p.m.

I'm a single mom to an adorable almost 7-year-old daughter!...

I am married with two small kids and I work full time...

My name is ______ and I am active duty Air Force...

I'm a single mother of 3 sons not by choice but by the infidelity of my soon-to-be ex-husband...

...my 70 hour work weeks only permit me to take online classes...

...I am married and I have 4 children (ages 4, 3, 1, 2 months). My family takes priority to my schooling, so I’ve had to take some time off here & there. My oldest daughter has major medical concerns, but I hope to be able to finish the two classes I am scheduled to take this semester...

...my daughter is a Daisy in Girl Scouts for which I am the Troop leader...Besides Scouts and Full-time school, I work approximately 35 hours a week as a receptionist for an electrical supply store...

I am a 27 year old accounting major and am taking both microeconomics and macroeconomics this semester along with Finite math, Biology 140 and Poly Sci...(my note: that's FIVE CLASSES folks!)

And here's what my introduction read:

My name is LaLani Green and I’m a returning student living overseas with my family. My husband works for an oil company in the Eastern Province of Saudi, where we live on a large compound (a city really, with 12,000+ residents) with our 2 sons, ages 9 & 12. I enjoy traveling (last year we spent 2 weeks in China and took a 10 day Mediterranean cruise), shopping, reading, and being active with my boys. My husband and I are both from Western Washington and really miss the mountains and good tasting water, among many other things.

What I left out of that was:

• I have someone who comes 5 mornings a week to clean my house, do laundry, clean the patio furniture, wash the car, and pretty much anything else I need him to do.

• I have a cook who comes every other week for four hours that makes homemade burritos, calzones, scones, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls and pretty much anything else I want him to make.

• My husband works a straight 40 hours a week and is home by 4:15 nearly every day - no weekends.

• My family is incredibly healthy

Get the picture?

Reading through all those introductions is not my favorite thing to do, but honestly I wouldn't consider NOT reading them. I walk away (three hours later) with a ton of respect for my classmates and a renewed thankfulness for the blessings in my life. How can I truly consider that a waste of time? You can't put a price on good, healthy perspective.

If At First You Don't Succeed...

...try, try again!

Remember this:

"I'm setting a goal of writing one blog posting each week - we'll see how that goes. I think it's reasonable and attainable."

I figure there's a couple of ways to look at this situation. Either I set my goal too high, or I just need to dust myself off, get up and try again. Being a glass-half-full kind of gal, I'm going to try again!

My semester runs from January 10th until the first week of May, with a week off for spring break (that unfortunately doesn't coincide with the boys' THREE week break!). On the slate to be attacked this time are Business Law, Statistics and Macroeconomics. I received good marks from both Steve and WSU for last semester for balancing family life with my coursework. Let's see if I can successfully add the blog back into the mix...