On being an expat

I've been an expat for the last 13 years. First in Europe and now in the Middle East and who knows where else I may end up.

Today I have been pondering on what being an expat means to me and here are a few thoughts.

• I have friends from all corners of the world
• tho my friends come and go all the time
• I don't consider “going back home” a holiday
• I have a very lose concept of what is home
• I think in a different language than my own
• my everyday language is not my native lingo
• flying between continents feels just like jumping on a taxi, distances have become relative
• every day is a new adventure
• the internet is my lifeline (to keep in touch, to feel connected)
  

The emigrant's destiny: The foreign country has not become home, but home has become foreign (Alfred Polger)

Ibra Tombs

We had planned to leave early, ahead of everybody else, just to explore the area a bit and maybe find the best camping spot. Or at least that's what everybody else thought we were doing when on a sleepy weekend morning, stirring in bed, we realised that the plan was more ambitious than we had originally envisaged. We hit the road well beyond schedule and way beyond the rest of the group.

Then there was lunch. For those who know us well this will come with no surprise: we just can't skip lunch. We had to stop for a quick bite in the family section of an anonymous restaurant alongside a petrol station on the motorway. So we were truly on our way around 12.30, perhaps 1pm instead of the planned 9:00 am.

Hooray! We were starting our weekend, heading towards Ibra for a camping trip with a group of friends high up on the mountains on the Eastern Hajars. Did it really matter if we were late?

Not really. Although it almost did.. All of this could have been irrelevant if.. well if.. S. hadn't decided to set off without the exact GPS coordinates or at least appropriate instructions on how to reach the agreed place. We had to make do with some random and vague instructions I had found on the web and scribbled down casually on a piece of paper the day before, just for added info.

At least that set us in the right direction. As instructed, after 16km from the turn off to Wadi Naam we turned right into the Wadi, just before Anniba Plantation. We did, well we did turn right into what looked like a dry Wadi, just before a plantation. I started to suspect that the directions were wrong when instead of getting closer to the mountains it looked like we were driving away from them back towards route 23.

We drove for a while on soft gravel ground. A camel resting under the shade of a tree gave us a curious look. When we ended up back on a paved road not far from the main one we started from, we were sure we were not where we were meant to be. We ended up in a loop back to the plantation. We decided to go back on the gravel road thinking that maybe we missed a turn. We hadn't. We did it a second time and half a third time. We tried to call our friends but by then we knew they had already reached the mountains because none of them had reception. We were lost, late and had no idea where to go and on top of that we had forgotten our good road map at home... we couldn't have been more unprepared.

I couldn't see how taking random off-road tracks would help, nor did I think that S.'s maniac driving could get us anywhere any faster. The 3rd time on the gravel S. almost lost control of the car as it swung from one side to the other. I thought we were going to end upside down, 4x4 have a high centre of gravity which makes them more prone to rolling. Having recently heard a first hand account of a Prado being rolled 180 degrees by an ex-class mate from the Arabic course didn't add any comfort. The image of her and her passengers hanging upside-down held by the seatbelts kept on visualising in my mind. They got out of the vehicle alright but had to wait 45 minutes for rescue. She got away with a few stitches and a bit of a shock while the car, borrowed from a friend, was a total write off.

No, I wasn't interested in that kind of experience so I must have sounded like one of those old ladies who keep on nagging to the driver, my body all stiffened up on the passenger's seat. I am normally quite adventurous but that afternoon I just wasn't enjoying S.'s driving.

Finally we decided to take a different route, on a paved road. We were getting closer to the mountains but we still had no idea where the turn off to start the climb up was. We drove through a road construction site until one of the workers had the good sense of telling us to get off... taken by speed S. missed the diversion sign. Not that they are usually very clear down here.

It was almost 4pm, the light softening in the sky, we had been going in circles around the same area for a while and still had no idea where to go. We had all the meat and charcoal for the rest of the group. It really could have turned out a fiasco of a trip.

Finally the bulb lit up! We called one of the friends who had to pull out at the last minute. The only one who knew where we were going and who luckily had phone reception. With directions and GPS coordinates we were soon outside of GSM reach, climbing up steep and bendy roads, surrounded by beautiful sceneries that unfortunately we couldn't stop to admire.

We reached the top around 5 or 5:30 pm, not long before sunset. After 5 long hours of driving! Some of the others, who still thought we'd left early in the morning had got a bit worried and had gone off on a search for us. They were worried they were going to find us down one of the steep drops along the road...

Luckily it all turned out well. We pitched our tents and we enjoyed the rest of the weekend. The following day we drove to the other side of the mountains down steep tracks towards the sea. 1700 m lower and 10-15c later we were around Tiwi beach soaking in the warm sea.

It was an adventure with a happy ending and it's definitely taught us something. At least to me not to trust a project manager to plan a trip.

Note - The roads to and from Ibra Toms are challenging, with narrow and steep gradients at points. The site can only be reached with a reliable 4x4 and some skilled driving. It's always advisable not to venture out on such trips on a single car. There is no mobile phone coverage from when you start venturing up the mountains until you come back down. Out of interest these are the GPS coordinates/directions we used to get to the top. If you decide to use them, you do so at your own risk. Do your own research before venturing out on an off-road trip. Roads change all the time and conditions can vary dramatically depending on weather.

From Muscat take highway towards Nizwa and turn off onto Route 23. (Ibra exit just past Bid Bid).
At Ibra take left turn at the sign to Wadi Naam.
Follow this road and turn right into dirt track at first GPS point below.
Point 1 – N22.53.437 / E58.53.074 (turn off into Wadi)
Point 2 – N22.50.124 / E58.59.590 (start of the ascent)
- at junction take track to the right
Point 3 – N22.49.239 / E59.00.993 at water tank refilling point turn left up the mountain
Point 4 – N22.48.924 / E59.03.335 (Ibra Tombs)

May activities

Life proceeds smoothly on the hot side of the world. I am now used to the idea that 40c is the norm and I have to say that some days I am secretly disappointed when I realise that despite feeling as comfortable as in a baking oven, it's still spring after all and we haven't reached the extraordinary temperatures that are expected over here..yet.

Humidity has arrived, so the beautiful mountains on the background of Muscat are barely visible now and the blue in the sky has been replaced by a milky haze. I think it will stay like that for a few months.

Anyway despite what you may be thinking, it is not all that bad. Air con is everywhere here so apart from the short and frequent shocks to the system rushing from an air conditioned environment to another, there is little suffering from these extremes. Certainly less than when we have extremely hot summers in Europe where we are less than equipped for it. We still enjoy the social life and try to explore somewhere new when we can.

This is a very diverse country and we are lucky that during the summer months we can still escape to the high mountains not far from Muscat where temperatures, are always at least 10c lower than down here.

Work for S. is going well. He is quite busy and he has long days that normally start at 8am and often don't end until 6pm. I keep on thinking that with the commute that's not far off from a normal working day in London. Anyway, he tells me that he is enjoying his job despite some frustrations and office politics; he has only a 15-minutes commute to and from work, he loves the chilled-out lifestyle outside work and the sun is always shining. So far the pros make the cons insignificant which I guess is a good recipe for sustainable happiness.

In fact life outside work is a very intense and activity-packed business. Yesterday we went to Wadi Sahtan with some friends who are here on holiday from the UK. It is a very big area and we only drove to one of the villages. There was no water in the wadi itself but the drive was extremely scenic, if not a little audacious.

The road climbed from 800m to 1700m in only 4 km. Narrow and steep in places we really put the car to the test. We noticed an interesting smell of brakes when we stopped on the way back. Not sure S. has worked out yet exactly how to use the different settings for 4x4 driving yet. I am sure he will read the manual if anything breaks down ;)

On the way back we also took a diversion onto the rough track along the dry river bed, just to make it more challenging (!?), so now we have a twisted hinge under the car and a damaged exhaust protector after S . drove over a massive boulder when he decided to ignore me pointing and saying “there's a rock there”... Small stuff that adds to the scratch I managed to shape under the front bumper a couple of months ago while parking in town. :D

For what concerns city life we can be seen out and about town at the usual watering holes, always accompanied by a loud crowd. We now have our trusted taxi driver who we call whenever we are on a mission night. At times I wonder whether it would be safer to drink drive than swish home on the motorway at the speed of thunder making a 45km drive across town a swift 15 mins hallucination, but then drink driving may earn you jail and other related trouble so we ride the cab. At least this driver doesn't text or talk on his phone while speeding away and has a plush car with dvd player and all sort of other gadgets that keep us distracted from the road. Definitely a step above the rest!

This past weekend we've also been to a ball at the Grand Hyatt hosted by the Environment Society of Oman. It was great to hear about the projects they are working on. Amongst the guests was Nabs Al Busaidi who is now a celebrity over here but you may have heard of him over BBC news. He's only just come back to Oman from his recent adventurous expedition. He is the first Omani and the first Arab to have walked to North Pole and it was great to be able to meet him, shake his hand and congratulate him personally.

As you know the purpose of these balls is to raise some money for charity so he personally auctioned off a special watch that he used during the expedition for charity. Some of you may have already seen this on the photos on Facebook so bear with me when I write it again for the benefit of those who are not enslaved to the infamous networking site. Apparently this watch was designed by NASA for expeditions to the dark side of the moon. It was the auction item that fetched the highest amount of cash: a whopping 14,000 OR; now that's about £28,000 or if this makes more sense the amount of money you need to buy one of the top of the range 4x4 over here. Now if you are interested I have found that online this limited edition Omega watch retails for £2,975.

A solar panel system for the house sold for about 12000 Omani Rials. The locals show us how it's done.. Good job there are people who can spare lots of money for charity! For everybody else there's Mastercard. ;)

I am still talking of the same weekend when I mention a night at the Intercontinental Hotel to watch a play/comedy by Muscat Amateur Theatre over dinner. It's a group of talented actors who do a very good job at keeping us entertained in town.

Recently we went back to the Al Bustan Palace Intercontinental Hotel auditorium to listen to the Royal Omani Symphony Orchestra. The concert was sponsored by the Spanish Embassy and Qatar Airways (if I remember well). The orchestra, conducted by talented Spanish conductor Jose Gomez, played beautiful Spanish/Moorish themed music and a selection of pieces from the famous Carmen. It was the best performance we've witnessed to so far, possibly encouraged by the fact that some members of the Royal Family were sitting in the royal box.

So as you can see life proceeds smoothly. We keep ourselves busy and entertained. Yet, amongst this mayhem of activities, we are always thinking about all of you back in the world we come from, so don't forget to drop us an email to let us know how you are doing every now and then.

We welcomed with enthusiasm and dropped jaws the recent news from John and the happy message about a stork reaching the far kingdom of OZ; now we wonder about those who are lagging behind.. and I am sure those in question know who we are referring to. ;)

Summer is coming!

Yes while you look forward to the long bright days, a break from the rain (hopefully), some sun and enjoyable temperatures here we start hiding indoors. There's not much to say: it's officially too hot to go to the beach now.

I tried today with a friend who's visiting. We went to the Yacht Club at 9:00 am; not a soul around. We stayed in the shade until the wind became so hot that it felt like having a giant hair dryer blown onto our face. It is a completely new concept for me not getting any relief from the blowing wind.

Bathing in the sea is still nice but you have to watch out for sun burns. We had a small child with us today and hunger struck quite early so at 11:30 we decided to flee to an air conditioned restaurant in town for an early lunch. Now I understand why they have afternoon naps in hot countries..

I went diving yesterday, that is probably one of the few outdoor activities that can be still sustained. It was a nice diversion and a great way to cool down. I love diving, it's so relaxing. The water temperature is around 26c (perfect!). Coming up, the last few meters on the surface feel like a bath tub and I didn't mind the hot wind on the boat in between dives; that's when I normally suffer because it gets too cold.

So diving it is from now on!

On the way to the dive centre early in the morning I passed the thermometer by the Souq (market) in Muttrah: there were 41c at 7:50am!

Shall I say more?

Summer is coming, enjoy yours!