The Chaos continues?

I just read that the Statess and the Britain have told all 'non-essential' folks to leave Syria. Wow. When we first moved to this region, our next door neighbors were from Syria. They were actually citizens of a 'western' country, but they were originally from Syria. They were lovely friendly neighbors. The 'lady of the house' and I shared a number of cups of coffee and good conversation about the faith of her family. Oh yes, and, they were/are Christian. They were the first Christian Arabs I had met.

Here's a link to an interesting read on CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/04/25/syria.role/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

Instead of chaos, I hope for peace.

Peace.

A beautiful quiet day

I love long weekends. The munchkins ended up with an extra day off this week (yippee!). To start things off, we had wonderful friends over last night for dinner, excellent conversation, and swimming. The husband and I stayed up very late playing 'Monopoly' with our munchkins.

This morning, we all slept in. The husband put up our new garden gate/trellis thing. It goes over and across the garden gate - looks really pretty. Tinkles the cat came by for a visit, and the munchkins have been very busy with seasonal edible 'crafts'.

Now, as I sit here typing this, I'm watching birds at the feeder, the husband is having a nap here on the living room rug, and I can hear the munchkins laughing upstairs as they play and watch an old movie.

To continue the vegetative state....here are some fun video links.....
http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2010/12/09/sbiz_hwgs_jim_henson_co.cnnmoney/ A brief history of the Jim Henson Company.

http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2011/04/21/smb_hwgs_peeps.cnnmoney/ A history of the company that makes one of our family's all-time favorite sweets - Peeps. But....I think they are impossible to get outside of the States. If I have a friend going to/from the States, I always ask them to bring us Peeps!

I hope your day is filled with peace.

Out of petrol?

Before I write/talk about petrol....I'm reading all I can on the calm now in Bahrain, and I'm reading all I can on the events in Yemen.

I was reading the news this morning....and I still can't believe what I'm reading.....
http://gulfnews.com/business/oil-gas/emarat-pumps-running-out-of-petrol-1.682789
http://arabnews.com/economy/article140261.ece

I do need to add, that after doing some reading around etc...there is still petrol in the UAE! There is certainly no reason to panic or anything if you live there! I just find this a fascinating look at life in the Middle East.

A bit of 'background' info - not all of the UAE has loads of oil. Different parts of the country make money different ways - from what I can tell. For example (very simplified!) - Abu Dhabi has loads of oil and some tourism. Dubai has lots of tourism, and finance stuff, and a little oil. I believe one emirate has a large manufacturing facility for ceramics (not kitch but good useful stuff). And, I think my favourite biscuits (cookies to you U.S. folks) are made in the emirate of Sharjah. Yummy, and they are a very good price.

Saudi Arabia (I think) has some of the cheapest petrol around. Oman is still fairly cheap, and from what I'm reading, the UAE's petrol prices are higher than Saudi's and Oman's. Now, please keep in mind (those of you reading this from the States or Europe), that the UAE's 'higher' price is approximately $1.80 (U.S.) per gallon. That's right, $1.80/gallon (yeah, sounds cheap to me too).

I read through the comments people are making on this article on Gulf News. I'm totally blown away that folks are complaining about gas prices and that they 'might go up'. Yes, Saudi's petrol and Oman's petrol may be cheaper by comparison, but if oil prices are rising, then yes (at least across much of the world), gas prices are going to rise as well.

IF you are an expat living in the Middle East, than chances are that somehow your work is related to the oil industry. In my opinion, just about everything here is touched by the oil industry in some form or another. So...if you're an expat in this region....well.....if you know me you know what I'm thinking. If you don't know me....don't use your imagination. Just stop reading this blog.

I think I better go walk the dog and then sit and watch birds in my garden.

Peace.

Death to Bacteria! and other weirdness

It's been a weird week. And, naturally, the husband has been VERY busy with work in the middle of the weird week. No sarcasm intended, the sweet man has been swamped - poor guy. First, we've had actual rain with thunder and lightening. Unless you have lived in a desert, you won't 'get' this. But for us desert dwellers, it was beyond cool. Second, Munchkin #2 has had strep throat. Now, as a mom, it's horrid seeing your kid suffer. So, I've been on a 'death to bacteria' campaign. The kitchen is scrubbed, the bathrooms are scrubbed, new toothbrush for Munchkin #2, and EVERYTHING we use for eating/drinking is going through the dishwasher. Now, part of the 'weird' with this....I can just walk into a pharmacy without a prescription and get antibiotics. Of course, we go to the doc first since we're not irresponsible. But, I know there are others who are not responsible. When we get the antibiotics, it's a powder that I have to mix with a certain volume of liquid on my own. In the home country, this is unheard of since you don't want a parent accidentally doing this wrong! Of course Munchkin #2 couldn't keep that nasty mess down, so she's learning how to swallow tablets. Also, a nasty business since the tablets here are not 'sugar coated.' Yuck. Poor kid. Third, it seems we have been adopted by a little kitty. We're calling her 'Tinkles'. She wears an ancient looking collar with a little bell on it. She's very sweet and very skinny. Rumour has it that the folks who previously lived in our villa abandoned a little kitty when they left. Since Tinkles keeps trying to come in the back door, I'm thinking the rumour is true. We're feeding her and giving her fresh water. If she continues to hang around, we'll take her to the vet and get her checked out and fixed up, so to speak. The sweet kitty loves sitting in Munchkin #1's lap out in the grass. Peace.

Grab the duvet

Thanks to the typical weather changes this time of the year, it's dark/overcast outside. And the brilliant bit? It's not dust but real clouds. Even though it's not cold outside, this kind of weather really makes me want to grab the duvet off my bed and curl up with a coffee and a movie or good book. I've been doing lots of reading today (on-line newspapers). Wow, there's loads of stuff going on. There's interesting stuff from the last 24 hours at Reuters and CNN. As a mum, I have always tried to teach my children to use words to solve problems as opposed to using fists. It is amazing how powerful words can be. Words can be used to bring joy through a great novel, happiness and love in a marriage proposal, sadness in an insult. As humans, our need for use of language is deep. Babies begin to absorb language basically from birth. As a young teenager, I loved joining in debates in my history classes. I would spend hours in the library preparing my facts for my team's side of the debate. It was exhilarating to exchange ideas and facts. It felt really good to have a proper forum for speaking out on various issues. All these years later, I'm still grateful to my history teacher, Mr. R., for allowing us those opportunities. Maybe after I clean the floors, go buy groceries, and do the laundry I will grab that duvet. Peace.

To Eat or Not to Eat....

The husband was hanging up some new window blinds/coverings/draperies this evening. The blinds came with a little zippered baggie of parts (screws, brackets, etc...). The outside of the baggies of parts said, "Do Not Eat." Yup, this is an interesting place many times. Peace.

Gripe, gripe, gripe....

I can not believe how folks are grumping and complaining about President Obama. He's too war-like; he's not war-like enough. Totally amazing. Ok my readers in the States.....coming at you - the only way the whole Libya no-fly zone thing is happening is because the States are part of a true coalition. YOU CAN NOT go guns blazing into an Arab country without Arab backing. Period. Full-stop. End of story. The U.S. can not go it alone. President Obama does have a foreign policy, and it is to actually work WITH other countries. Wow! Real diplomacy! Imagine that! Ok, enough gripe gripe on that one. On to other news.... If you are traveling around Sohar, Oman, the word is that you need to have identification on you and allow extra time to have your vehicle searched. For those of you who don't 'know' Oman, many people traveling from the UAE into Muscat via car drive through Sohar. If you're in oil/shipping/maritime industries in the region, there's a good chance you've at least driven through Sohar. So....so much for a lovely spring holiday traveling the coast of Oman enjoying the lovely old forts/castles along the way. Not to mention the beautiful snorkeling. Sigh.... http://danandjillian3.blogspot.com/2011/04/have-your-id-handy.html I wish I could get the munchkins to take the husband up on his offer of a few days in Mumbai, India this week. I mean really...5 star hotel that's paid for (we pay any extra cost for wife/kids etc of course)? But, the munchkins are very concerned about repeating the tale of mum very ill for a week after attending a wedding in Pune, India. So, today's big adventure shall be purchasing a new DVD since it's cheaper than going to see a moving in the theatre. Thrills galore..... [sarcasm is going drip drip drip]. And last but not least... We bought Munchkin #1 a beautiful new bicycle last night. He rode it as soon as he got it home. And, he ate breakfast this morning and was out the door with the bike. Awesome. On the flip side, we tried to also purchase Munchkin #2 a trampoline, but no one currently has them in stock. Sigh.... Last gripe of the day (or maybe a pondering).... Sitting here in my kitchen, I can see my neighbors' back garden. They've got 3 gardeners working, a maid, I've seen at least one driver, and maybe a second maid? How much help does one married couple need? Maybe I should head to the garden shop to buy some new flowers. Actually, I think I'll do some laundry. Putting stuff in my gigantic 'vented' dryer along with a fabric softener sheet really does brighten my mood. Gotta love big U.S. made/style appliances. I'll take a good U.S. vented dryer any day over a maid. Peace.

I'm back....

Well, the munchkins are off on 'between terms' break. And, we just got our internet hooked back up! Hooray!!!! Just when I thought the world was quieting down.... http://danandjillian3.blogspot.com/ There was info in the regional press about Sohar. It just really freaked me out because I've been through Sohar a number of times. We had been hoping to spend some of our holiday in Muscat, but we're staying home. In addition (and not really related), the husband made the offer that we travel with him to Mumbai this week (he's going on business), but the munchkins declined. They didn't really want to spend time with mum while she shops in India. Peace.