Update January 2012

I am enjoying photography more an more lately so I thought it would be fun to use a little collage to provide an update on January.

The year started with our travels to Singapore and Malaysia. We spent New Year's Eve having dinner on the Singapore Flyer, the highest observation wheel in the world, we then followed to the Singapore Flyer Lounge to watch the fireworks from the terrace. A very civilised way to end 2011 and start the New Year. 

In Malaysia we visited the towns of Melaka and Cherating eating lots of yummy food and taking surfing lessons. I also enjoyed the irony of foreign languages (the Italians who take a look at the photo on the left will understand what I am talking about.. and there are more like that). 

Back in Muscat we have taken up a new activity: we are learning to Kitesurf. The lessons are at the beach just a short stroll from the house so it was impossible to resist. It will be a good way to ride the hot summer as the southern beaches promise good wind for practice and fun right during the hottest months when there isn't much else to do. We just have to ensure that we don't get whisked away by the ankle.

Though we were away for half of the month we have managed to fit in a first camping trip to the desert. I managed to pop the Tyre out of the rim for the first time, which is a bit of a bummer to put back in place. Yet, all part of the fun (they say). 

Lucky the dog is officially part of the family. Yes, yes I know we have had him for donkeys months now but up until recently signs were still up trying to find suitable adopters. Nobody came forward...and after all these months we have grown rather attached that it's quite hard to imagine giving him away. So we have officially removed the signs. It is a big commitment that we had not planned to take but me thinks that it is not as demanding as other type of commitments.

I have received the results of my university final year project. It's all over, phew. Now I am waiting to see what class degree I am going to get. I have an idea but I like to keep ideas to myself. 

I will be in Portsmouth in July wearing the funny hat. 

That's it for January 2012... and we are almost at the end of February!

If you are wondering about my resolutions for the year: none. I think they are a waste of time.

Pearls of wisdom

Today, on the phone to the SPA receptionist.

Me: hello I was there earlier and I forgot my (me thinks: let's not say Kindle) digital book reader in the changing room.
Receptionist: your what?
Me: OK, it is a device on which you can read digital books. It looks like a small book. It should be in the changing cubicle at the end.
receptionist: OK Ma'm, let me have a look and I will call you back.
End of conversation.
I jump onto the car and drive all the way back to the SPA.
Receptionist when she sees me enter the SPA: we could not find it
Me thinks: I must have missed that call.
I walk out of the SPA with my Kindle.

Lessons for the day:

• Place your kindle into the bag instead of the bench while changing
• Take some phosphorus tablets to improve memory and focus
• Never ask someone to look for something they have no clue what it is

Happy Holiday update

Merry Christmas!!

 Merry Christmas to you all. Where has the time gone?

The last few months have been a whirl.

I have been working like crazy to finish my university project. I finally handed it in at the beginning of December and not sure what will come out of it; but at least I’ve got my life back.

We have moved to a new house and we like it very much. The move: I didn’t like it at all. Basically the usual shambles: movers coming without the right tools, asking me to use our curtains to wrap furniture, moving an entire house with a small pick up truck, scratching things and breaking one of the knobs on the cooker; and finally asking for more money than they had originally quoted at the end of it all (!?) Alas, nothing out of the ordinary.

In October I lead a marine expedition. It went very well, apart from some rough weather hindering the start and one of the elderly volunteers having some kind of a freak panic attack under water on the last day. It was a good experience nonetheless and I have been asked to do it again next year in the Maldives and Oman.

Muscat Opera House (exterior)

The Opera House has opened and we’ve been to four performances for the season. Very, very nice.





I have started a painting class, which I enjoy very much. The class is now finished and we did an exhibition at the end of it to show our work. Both my two paintings had interest from potential buyers. Quite encouraging considering that this is my first attempt! There are some doubts on whether the class will run again in the new year because we don’t have a venue any more but I hope it does. I really enjoyed it.

Italian fields

Arabian Dhow

Art Exhibition

Art Exhibition

 I have given up piano lessons, which I wasn’t enjoying at all. Mostly I think because of the tuition style, but also because it seems something that takes too long to master to an enjoyable level and my motivation dwindles quickly when I cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just couldn’t see the point of continuing something that I was not enjoying. Maybe some other time.

Art Exhibition

So here we are at Christmas. The third one in the Tropics. Not much to say other than it is very hard to feel the festive mood over here. No detectable change from every day life and although some shops have some form of decoration and Christmas gizmos and food are sold around town there isn’t much of a festive vibe; well that’s because of course it is not a festivity here. We spent Christmas Eve out for dinner with friends and then Christmas lunch at their house: a lunch that extended until 11 pm! It was nice. Today S. is at work. Just like any other day.

The start of the New year will be another story though. Singapore and Malaysia here we come.

Health and safety

Health and safety is often the subject of hilarious conversations here or at least it is often the subject of my thoughts. The thing is that, no matter how used I am to the fact that the concept of safety or even simple self preservation is apparently non existent here, there will always be something that startles me and makes me recoil.

In my three years of highly scientific observations and behavioural analysis which were only possible thanks to the abundance of material for study, I have come to the conclusion that it all boils down to a lack of common sense and the inability to learn from mistakes (own or others’). AKA stupidity.  

I have witnessed or heard accounts of the lack of the most basic common sense with the result that people die or seriously injure themselves in the most stupid ways.

I have seen labourers dangle 30-50m above ground on a wobbly scaffolding with no form of safety on, seen tiny children let freely and happily bounce up and down the inside of fast cars skilfully swerving their way around obstacles on a motorway, heard of labourers flattened down to the ground by stone crashers guilty of having selected the wrong place to sleep under, seen uncovered holes in a middle of a path, electric wires laying on puddles. The list could go on.

I have talked about this subject before so why bring it up again now?

Well, because I have finally come across something that has startled me and made me flinch, again.

Finally, after three long years, I have got around to order another bottle of gas for the cooker. A spare. So that I don’t end up again having to make desperate calls to the gas man in the middle of a roasting session.

So the man comes with his tools and the bottle. He sets up an ingenious system of pipes and taps so that when the main bottle ends I can simply pop out and turn on the tap of the spare one.

It seems quite impressive. So far so good. The chap ends his trafficking  of pipes and tools and declares that he wants to check for leaks. That’s great! I am genuinely impressed.

Until he turns towards me and asks me: “do you have a lighter?”

 

Royal Opera House - soft opening

You may or may not be aware but Muscat is about to open the doors of its beautiful and impressive brand new Royal Opera House.

The past weekend Muscat was flooded with Italians: a whole Opera cast, staff and orchestra had been flown to Oman for two evenings of performances for a prestigious soft opening event.

I was going to tell you the story of how we managed to get our fidgety fingers onto the oversized gold embroidered tickets for the “by invitation only” event but … naah. Let’s just say that sometimes being Italian with a shiny “faccia di bronzo” can help a lot.

Last Thursday night we had the pleasure of watching an amazing performance of a Gulf-adapted version of Rigoletto by the Teatro Regio di Parma.

Talented artists, amazing costumes, breathtaking sets and an outstanding venue made for a very special evening. Especially if you count that we had some of the best seats in the house (the ones from where you can count the buttons on the Tenor’s costumes).

We are immensely honoured to have been given the opportunity to be there for their fantastic performance and as an Italian I am especially proud that our talented artists and finest productions have been chosen to launch this outstanding and incredible new cultural venue in Oman.

I am afraid I have no pictures to give you (phones and cameras were duly confiscated for the duration of the performance - thank goodness) although I could show you a couple of pictures of the wedding style invitation and a couple of photos of us with the Duke of Mantua who we found in the bar playing pool after the performance.

What can I say? I guess only in Oman you can go to a special Opera event and then spend the rest of the evening in a pub across the road with some members of the cast fresh off the stage, as if they were old friends!

Anyway, we have an amazing theatre season coming up with top artists from all over the world in a spanking new and beautiful Opera House.

I am peeing my pants from the excitement and everybody seems to be in a bit of a ticket purchasing frenzy.

The grand opening is next month with Turandot and the Arena di Verona.

I hope I can make it as I will be coming back from the Musandam expedition on the day. of their last performance. 

Yes I am going back and I almost forgot to mention: I’ll be the expedition leader this year.

Lots of exciting stuff coming up! Bear with me, I’ll try to bring you up to speed soon.

Summer

The summer over here is never a particularly eventful time of the year. There is the heat and at the moment there is also Ramadan. Although at least it is about to end: just a few more days then finally back to normality.

In summer (and particularly during Ramadan) most of the expats escape; it is very quiet in town. We also went away. With a few trips back and forth to Europe I have clocked five weddings (great occasions to spend some nice time with people we hadn't seen in a while), a lot of air miles and an inflated credit card bill.

So now we are back and relatively settled for a little while (although we are already planning a holiday. The proper one I mean). The weather is already a lot milder, we have already started going to the beach. The good season is upon us and fun activities will start again.

For starters we are going to visit Salalah for Eid (the public holiday period that signs the end of Ramadan. This year it's 4 days off): finally we are going to see Dhofar in the Khareef (the monsoon that hits the south of the country transforming it into green land). Apparently it is about 30c and drizzly over there.

Amongst other news I have also been asked to lead the next expedition in Musandam with Biosphere Expeditions in October. Very excited to be going back.

The uni project is proceeding and hopefully I won't go into a fit when the deadline approaches (2nd December). S. says that of course I will.

I guess I am trying to be optimistic. Life is good, as usual, just a little bit uneventful at the moment. My hunch is that it won't stay that way for long;  in fact I can feel change in the air and.. as we say with Chiaruga "la stagione di Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo sta per iniziare". :)

The concept of beauty...three years on

The topic of "arabisation" is a recurrent subject amongst friends when we come to the realization that we may have been living in this part of the world a little bit too long. This realization usually strikes when casually noticing (and finding it totally normal) a certain tendency to be attracted to bling accessories and knickknacks.
This was exactly the subject of my friend A's very recent post after she went out and ordered a "Middle East Edition" of the the otherwise sober looking Sony Vayo. To see this wonderful piece of art you may visit the aforementioned post and figure.

In my mind I like to think that I am immune to this slow (yet dramatic) transformation in taste however today I surrendered that illusion after realising that for the last 2 days I have been fighting to desperately fit my Jeep with the beautiful steering wheel cover depicted below.

Yes that's what I shamelessly drive around with (also notice the shiny blue furry cushion I placed on the seat for added comfort).

Now, before you jump to any conclusions let me tell you that there is a (to me) plausible explanation to all this:

1. I did not purchase the furry object. It was a present given to husband as a joke; It had been laying with no purpose around the house since last Christmas.

2. The steering wheel gets really hot while the car is parked under the summer sun. With hot I mean that it literally scalds your fingers! Which makes it quite challenging to maneuver the car for the first 10-15 minutes when you drive off.


The other day seeing this thing laying around in the house I had my Eureka moment...

I admit that it is not exactly my idea of beauty but somehow I worry that it doesn't bother me at all to be seen sporting this stuff around. 

I will not comment in the cushion.

3 years ago, around this time of the year, after stumbling upon her blog, I was writing an email to my, then to me unknown friend to be A. asking what life in Oman was like.... I realise now that should have asked the right questions!