The month in pictures - February 2012

Kitesurfing

The month begun with more kitesurfing lessons but I had to take a break soon afterwards though because the instructors went on holiday for the rest of the month. 

This is me on the board...well kind of. 

My first water start!

Muscat Fashion week 

I went with the ladies to have a peak at Arabian fashion on the occasion of the second Muscat Fashion Week (the first one was in 2011). 

OK the world of Laurence of Arabia is hardly the center of fashion but it was interesting nonetheless. Despite what one may think, considering the background of ladies in back Abayas, the locally produced fashion was intensely colourful. To be fair Oman is actually a very colourful country and women's traditional dresses can be a rainbow of colours made up of interesting fabrics. On the evening we went (Tuesday) there were some very interesting and beautiful gowns as well as an amazing collection of extravagant hats from a Saudi designer. I took over 200 photos. 

Pestering the cat

The cats are a little bit whiny lately so every now and then I try to take revenge.
Usually when they sleep I can kind of do anything I want to them (evil grin).

The Easts do Oman
Happy times! It was lots of fun. From 5-star hotel cocktail parties to lunches on the beach, from sunset on the mountains to rolling down sand dunes, from exploring old castles to boating along the coast we managed to jam quite a lot in, in such a little time.

Of course the best entertainment being the children.

My favourite expression now is "run for your life!"

Thank you for the memorable time together. :D








Carnival 
We ended the month with a carnival party trying to re-live some of my Italian childhood traditions but mostly as an excuse to make some hyper-caloric Italian carnival sweets, frappe (or chiacchere, stracci and the many other names they are known as in different regions!)
First time I made them in my life and the result was quite encouraging.

I have been doing a lot of cooking lately... February is also the month we bought this new and expensive kitchen gadget: suddenly the kitchen has become an experimental lab.







Ah of course, last but not least my uni results have been published on my University of Portsmouth student portal:

Honours Degree of Bachelor of Science In COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS with Upper Second Class Honours

Now I need a new project... I am in brewing mode.

Who'll be the winner?

Muscatmutterings.com is running a competition giving away VIP tickets for the Snow Patrol concert in Muscat on March 11th. 

Very generous.

Who's going to be the winner?

Top service in Oman

Settings: having drinks at the swanky new pool bar at the Chedi (one of the top and finest hotel establishments in town).

Me (to waiter): excuse me. Can we have the bill please? But only for the following drinks as we are going before the others who have just joined us: 2 beers, 1 Aperol spritz and a glass of wine.

Waiter: ok

A friend who's just joined our group intercepts the waiter in question and orders a drink.

Ale: oh-oh. You know this is going to create confusion..

I make a point to repeat the drinks we asked the bill for to the waiter.

He's off.

The waiter returns 15 minutes later... Maybe 20.

A tray on his hand carries the drinks we asked the bill for.

This is top service in Oman. Start again from the top...

*******

On a different day and in different circumstances:

I'm home. I go downstairs planning to read a book on the sofa. The maid is cleaning outside.
I hear a distinctive crackling noise coming from the window by the tv.

Here we go again: cleaning the windows means spraying water all over the place with a hosepipe... and the windows in this country are not watertight.

The noise is quite unusual. I gather that maybe it's not the sound of water being sprayed against the window. I draw the curtain to inspect the area. The little concert comes from the socket and plug right beneath the window: water is trickling onto the tv plug.
It doesn't sound or look good.
The maid totally unaware happily continues with her flooding mission outside.

My heart sinks: while on holiday this lady is going to look after our house and pets. I seriously wonder whether there will be a house to come back to.

The things you learn to live with.

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?”