William in my hat. E. is hiding.

Well, I wonder if this blog is dead or alive. With two children, it seems more difficult to keep it alive, but at the same time I have a wish for blowing in it more life. By writing about the experiences our little family has, I will not only share it with you, but also be able to keep this memory for the future.

Many things I take for granted here, but is so exotic. We have become more and more ”expat-omanis”, especially as we live in an Omani neighbourhood.  A couple of weeks ago, our neighbours came with lots and lots of mangos. The sweetest most delicious mangos. In our daily talk there is ”Teddy”, the hairdresser, go to Safeer, a friend recommended a juice-shop, where they make ”rainbow”-milkshakes with cream and nuts and I meet people from all over the world.

And tonight is our last night in the house we love so much. Not the last night ever, but for a couple of months. And I am glad to tell you that makes me a little bit sad, as I love this place so much, and I will miss it. But….something I have been missing is of course my dear Europe. Holland and Sweden. Both in different ways. Sweden a bit more I guess, as that has become my true home. With Holland it’s more an eager feeling of meeting a dear old friend again, smelling and tasting memories from my childhood. Living in Oman doesn’t make you more slim, if you don’t excercise. I have the illusion that with all the nice walks in the woods in Sweden, I will return model-slim to Oman. At the same time, I realise that my list of things-I-just-HAVE-to-eat is rather long.

Holland: cheese, filet-américain, gevulde koek, dutch fresh bread, patat (belgian fries) with mayonnaise, kaneelstokken, aardbeien, fresh stroopwafels from the market – still warm, unox rookworst.

Sweden: kräftor (crayfish), falukorv, fläskfilet, bacon, bacon, bacon, kantareller, vaniljhjärtan, blåbär (blueberries) and so much more!

Another thing I realised not so long ago is that I have become such an expat woman. Before I leave, I see it as an absolute neccessity to get a pedicure. From previous experience I know it’s useless to get a manicure when you the following week will be doing all the housework yourself again. It will be interesting to see how the children and me will get into our old roles again. Mom has to do some housework and cooking besides entertaining the children. Sometimes my profession feels far away. Journalist. Still there, dozing.

Tomorrow Muscat. William has mentioned that he will bring his cars. Bedtime in Sohar.

I talked with my webhotel, and from now on I can download pictures on this blog. It will be no long blog today, but this gives me inspiration for more writing. It’s almost 11 pm: bedtime in Oman! The beehive on the picture is hanging in my parent’s garden. Here in Sohar, we have problems with wasps. Nasty, aggressive yellow ones. The problem here is that you don’t know how dangerous they are. I’m not so worried, but it’s good to be cautious.

Good night folks!

Today’s travelling makes diseases spread easily through the world. My mother had been in  England, then to Sweden, got a heavy flu, came to Oman, and passed it on to us. We will never know where she picked up this terrible flu, but we all got it. My mother and I got it worst, each in different ways. Soon, only my croaxing voice reminds me of the cold, and  today, we even went to Centrepoint for shopping.

It feels as if we are rather Muscat citizens than a family from Sohar. Gunnar has been teaching here and has meetings, and due to the flu I thought it would be better sitting here at my parent’s place in Muscat. What surprises me, is that even though I have so much help, I am still the mother. I want to be there for our children, and in many cases, William only wants me. Sometimes I wonder how our lives would have been if we would have lived in Sweden. William would attend ”dagis”, kindergarten, at least three days a week. Gunnar would work somewhere at a museum as an archaeologist, or digging during seasons, and I would occasionally write some articles, with Louise as my assistent. Would we still be living in Örsundsbro?

As a little girl, I once promised myself to never say no to a thing a might regret later. When we had the opportunity to work in Oman, I thought that we absolutely, without a doubt had to do this. This would otherwise be such a thing you regret the rest of your life if you don’t do it. Now we live in a Omani neighbourhood, have friends from all over the world and call this beautiful country with high mountains, vast deserts and millions of datepalms, home. Both Dubai and Muscat we visit regularly, and next on our list of places to visit is Abu Dhabi, also about a 2½ hour drive.

Now I have to take the opportunity to plan my days better with our housemaid who is an angel. If I want to do some planned projects, a good timeplan is needed.

I still have to work on this photoproblem. Soon, people, soon!

Two children and a husband having the flu. As a bonus, our children also have eye-infection. The poor things couldn’t open their eyes when they woke up in the middle of the night for several nights in a row.

Well….that’s apparently all I managed to write today. Nice blogging lately.

So long…

Still, we have an address in Muscat to stay over with the family when things need to be done here. From January, we will not have this address anymore, as our address is my parent’s place, and they retire in the beginning of next year. It will be different being here without them, even if we have our own life in Sohar.

First project now is getting William into ”normal” routines. As always, I feel stressed, sitting here at my computer. E. our housemaid has Louise, and Gunnar is playing with William, but needs to prepare lectures for tomorrow. We are in Muscat, as Gunnar is teaching Omani archaeologists osteology.

Time to go. Again, I failed uploading pics. It seems as if I am a wave-blogger. Sometimes a lot, sometimes nothing. Perhaps just like life is: up and down!

Part of the adventure of living in Oman is that things are different. For instance, panty liners smell of flowers, and so do nappies. It’s easy to forget what is exotic, because it has become part of our daily lives. The palm trees: I drew one for William and asked him what it is: ”boom” (tree). For him, this is the most common tree. Almost every night he is out in the neighbourhood playing with other Omani children. Sometimes he comes home with candy, and it even happens that he gets some money. Omani are fond of children and very generous.

The military presence in Sohar is almost gone. Last weekend there were only some vehicles and army men at the Globe Roundabout. Something that has changed: Al Fair, the supermarket, closed last Friday for good. This is the only place where you can buy decent bread and some western products. But….they say that Carrefour, a french supermarket chain, will open the 1st of May. For now, we are shopping in Omani supermarkets and Lulu far away…

William woke just up from his afternoon nap. Time to be a mom!

The past ten days, my blog, website and e-mail has been out of function due to a small ignored bill. It’s easy to make such mistakes when post is sent to an adress in Sweden and all the information is sent by e-mail to us. Anyway, I’m back again, and I am glad for it.

During the past ten days, many things in Sohar have happened again. When the police and army opened the roundabout, what I mentioned in my previous blog update, they also arrested about 100 people. A friend who was here this morning, an Omani, told us that he had heard that this happened in not such a nice way. That particular morning, police and army came into the houses of the people they had on their list, and in front of their families, including small children, they used unnecessary violence when arresting those people. Last week, about 50 of those people were released again.

Last Friday, there was a big demonstration in Sohar, demanding the release of all the arrested people. This was not a peaceful demonstration, as the demonstrators threw stones and even had guns. The demonstrations went on at the Globe Roundabout, and the souk or bank roundabout. 11 persons were wounded, and one person died. One of the demonstrators told Reuters that they will come back on Friday after the prayors. I am afraid that this won’t be a peaceful demonstration either.

We are planning a weekend in Dubai. I hope we can return to Sohar on Friday evening without any problems.

So long. So far. Sohar.

The Globe Roundabout is open again! This means that at least for traffic, Sohar har is back to normal again. We attended the Oranje bal yesterday at the Intercontinental Hotel in Muscat. Wonderful party. I will write more about it tomorrow. I just wanted to update this blog to let you readers know that life in Sohar is back to normal again. Except for many many strikes at companies.

So long…

Yesterday our little family acted as tourists. Our first stop was at the Friday market in Sohar. Here, many local farmers sell their vegetables and fruits for such a low price I didn’t want to bargain. When shopping there, you run the risk of coming home with things you haven’t planned. What to make with 6 kg tomatoes? I remember Jamie Oliver having a good recipe on ketchup. Walking around on that market makes us realise what an adventure and privilige it is living here. Meeting Omanis selling their ”food stuff”, the ladies wearing their traditional bird masks. Old men with most teeth gone give you a big smile. Such things make my day.

Afterwards, we went to Sohar Beach Hotel where we first had lunch and continued down to the pool. It is just beautiful there. Palm trees around the pool, an outdoor bar and behind this tropical scenery the ocean. Gunnar burnt his back by entertaining William in the shallow part of the pool. William threw one of his biggest tantrems when we decided to go home, as Gunnar needed to do some work, and William needed to sleep. I didn’t go for a swim. Our little daughter Louise kept me out of it by being hungry and awake. But is there a nicer place to feed your child than at the poolside in the shadow of a palm tree?

When we travelled home from Muscat, we did some shopping at Lulu there. To my big surprise, the man working at the delicatessen (what is it called, where they sell from behind the counter, cheese, pickles, ham etc) in Sohar was at the same post but now in Muscat. He told me that all personell from Lulu in Sohar have been sent out to different Lulu stores. Hopefully a new Lulu in Sohar will open next year. I hope he is right!

Sohar feels as always. Peacefull. I hope driving around will be easier soon.

Last night, Gunnar and I went to the European Business Group dinner at the Intercontinental hotel in Muscat. No surprise was that the subject everybody talked about was the strikes and demonstrations happening all around Oman at the moment. Strikes has been at six hotels, amongst them the Intercon. Throughout Oman, employees at different companies get inspired and have the courage to do things that they probably wouldn’t have dreamed of doing before: go on strike.

Until now, most expats feel safe and not threatened about the developments the past months. Not all of them. I met a lady last night who was living some kilometres north of the Port of Sohar, with no other expats in the village. She has two small children, and her husband is for a long time working in another country. She decided last week to move to Muscat, which I understand.

Even though I haven’t had the thought of leaving Sohar, I have packed our most important items twice. The first time I wrote about approximately 2 weeks ago. The second time was just before we left for Muscat. My father called Gunnar to inform him that several roundabouts in Muscat are blocked. Later he told us that the community house in Ibri was set on fire. I just put our most important things in heaps on different tables or in cupboards. Easy to grab in case we would only come home to pack our bags for Europe.

The situation in Sohar has calmed down. The Port Roundabout is not occupied anymore, and according to my father, it feels more calm now then before. Here I should mention that my father is working at the Port of Sohar.

At the Intercon last night, the ”networking” dinner went on as usual. I think it must have looked the same the past years: fancy dressed people outside in the garden under the palmtrees, sipping wine, eating fingerfood and chatting with eachother. Every now and then businesscards are handed over. Different perhaps was the subjects being discussed. Several people I spoke to mentioned that this is history we are witnessing. Something to tell our future grandchildren about. Will this period in Oman be mentioned with a certain name? When HM Sultan Qaboos came to power, the changes he made he called ”The Renaissance”. What name will these changes get?