Sifa

About 1 hour from our house in Muscat is the village and coastal stretch of Sifa.  This area boasts a beautiful, sandy beach surrounded by craggy mountain scenery.  Accessible by 4-wheel drive, it is remote and peaceful.  Since our arrival several months ago, we have been there several times and I see many more visits in the future.  The kids love the soft sand beach and dunes.  We love that they can run, play, and meander freely.  And, as the above video hopefully expresses - with the right assortment of Arabic foods, we have found the perfect place to picnic and spend a lazy afternoon.

Gratitude on Election Day

Yes, I am thankful that I have the opportunity to participate in choosing my government - a right that is denied to so many around the world.  I have a colleague originally from Australia - do you know you are required to vote in Australia, or you get fined?!  I don't like the idea of being forced to do anything, but I do like the idea of everyone participating. So ....if you haven't voted yet - go, get thyself to the polling place! 

Gratitude Continued ...NaBloPoMo

A short observation for today (as I really need to get to bed): you know how some folks have famous quotes at their end of their signature block on an e-mail?  I rarely take time to read them,  but today one popped out at me: "We often take for granted the things we should be most grateful for..."
Amen!  Isn't it true in so many ways, whether its our most precious relationships, our good health, or the opportunities we have? So I am going to sign off now, and think about all of that ...should make for sweet dreams.

Sinkholes and Shorelines

So this past weekend, we joined our neighbors for a day trip to a sinkhole that is cool and clear for swimming.  You walk into this park and you can look down into the sinkhole from sea level and then take a long set of stairs to the bottom where you can go in and swim.  There are lots of little sardine size fish in there, and they absolutely love to nibble at your feet.  It feels a bit odd and tickly at first, and then gets downright weird, as more and more come if you don't brush them away.  Needless to say, a bit too exotic for me ....so we continued down the road to check out a new beach that we have been wanting to visit ....

The beach we found is called "Fins" which is the name of the village just near a series of coves with incredible turquoise water, white sand and these smooth white stones all over the beach.  Lovely!  It was getting late and we couldn't stay but hope to come back for an overnight camping trip and lots of swimming.

NaBloPoMo!

You are probably wondering about the strange title - yes, if you are not "in the know," it's National Blog Posting Month -- which is a challenge to post something everyday to share with those you care about.  Some of my crazy Mom friends have cooked up this crazy idea that we should participate in this challenge, and crazy me, I accepted.  Unfortunately I have already missed days one and two, but I had a good excuse.  Our littlest guy got a nasty case of bronchitis and the worst of it happened over the weekend, so off we went to the ER - in a foreign hospital - which turned out to be perfectly fine, with a very kind and gentle doctor, so we were thankful for that.  Our little man seems to be feeling better today and no more scary coughing fits and high fever, so we are thankful for his recovery (though I wish it would speed up a bit).  In case you missed the word thankful in here -- that is my theme for NaBloPoMo - and how apropos with Thanksgiving and all!

So grateful for these handsome guys!

Why have I chosen this theme?  I think with my work and lifestyle, I have witnessed and been exposed to the very difficult lives that millions of people on this earth have to deal with, and I marvel, truly marvel, at how I have landed in the circumstances I am in, to have such a life of relative comfort.  Not that it was an accident certainly.  My grandparents and parents fled war-torn Europe to come to the U.S. and make a better life for their kids.  And here I am with opportunities and freedoms and financial stability unthinkable to my grandparents after they immigrated.  It's hard to get my head around, why things have turned out for me this way, when others through no fault of their own have such incredible hardships.  I don't know.  So I'll use NaBloPoMo to ponder this and further explore the idea of gratitude, and why it is so grounding, and so good to ward off useless navel gazing.

And this is not some amazing original idea I had, by the way. Thinking about gratitude reduces stress and makes you a more content person -- just ask our regional shrink.  What?  Yes, our regional psychiatrist - who visits all of us out in the field periodically to ensure we have not gone off the reservation -- and seriously, to provide any counseling or mental health services that folks may need. Anyway, in his last visit, just about a week ago, he gave a brief talk about how to be less stressed -- one of the things he recommended was a "gratitude exercise," which you should ideally do daily, for 15-20 minutes, and take time to write down, or just mentally make note of all the things you are thankful for -- it's not just for Thanksgiving Day!  Anyway, I was thinking about this before his recommendation, but now I have professional validation that it works....so there you go.  Try it.
OK. Done with my first NaBloPoMo post.
Hope to add a short post later with some pics of our latest beach trip (speaking of grateful!)

Halloween

Below are some photos from Halloween trick or treating at the embassy.  Despite the copy machines and water coolers you see in the background, it was actually fun for the kids.  All of the different offices had candy, made some attempt at decorating, and many folks wore serious costumes to add to the festivities. I am ashamed to say I dressed as a diplomat for Halloween; but I didn't clip my Blackberry to my belt as not to embarrass my children. Later in the evening the Ambassador hosted a party for the kids in her backyard, complete with a "cemetery" and real life zombies.  Enjoy the pics of my little Fire Chief and the Great Pumpkin!