- Chuck Nelson (said several times to his boys between the years of 1986 - 1994)
The quote above was often used by my father to explain the "breaks of life". The context of the message clearly indicated that although this is the way it is at that current time pull your socks up and get going. So we did.
A few weeks ago I was playing a manly game of ultimate frisbee and I dove for a disc. Not only did I come nowhere near the disc, but I also broke my hand in the process. Worse yet, it was the bone in my hand that connects to my pinky finger. Them's the breaks. Some men have battle scars, others tattoos and still others brandings. I have a broken pinky finger. Tina was proud.
Surgery in a developing nation is always exciting and I had an Omani doctor with a scottish accent prep me for surgery while still wearing the traditionaly disdasha (long white gown) and kuma (embroidered hat). Good show I must admit. I woke up hours later with my arm tied above my head to an IV cart. They put a plate and three screws into my hand and sent me on my way. Certainly not the Monday evening I was hoping for.
Given the healing time of the surgery we have been forced to do some different things with our time. We took an excellent day trip through two coastal wadis that we had not explored yet. We linked two wadis - Souway and Dayqah through an off road route and were shocked at how wet these wadis were. These valuable water sources were guarded by several impressive ancient watchtowers. The wadi edges rose dramatically on either side of us and changed from reds, to oranges and shades of brown. As we drove on through dry patches we would soon reach another deep green oasis. As long as we've been in this country it still is amazing to see people reaching into the depths of the earth to harness the water needed to exist.
Additionally being our last year in Oman we are taking in events that we otherwise have not attended. One of which is our school's formal Ball. It's an event attended by local bigwigs, embassadors and important people like us. We put on our best digs headed to the swanky hotel and had a good time.
Last year you might recall that Oman rocked to the beat of the Arabian Gulf Cup. The Omani soccer team won the event and the country went nuts. This year the national team had the opportunity to host two major international matches in the same week - the first against Australia and the second against Brazil. It was a great week to be a soccer fan here. The Bazilians played all of their stars except the guys that play in Brazil. Kaka played as did all the first team players available. Oman didn't fair as well this year going down 2-1 to the Socceroos and 2-0 to the Samba Boys.
In a little over a month Tina and I will be celebrating our marital bliss. With that in mind our colleagues here have gone out of their way to help us celebrate with them in Muscat. There was a wedding shower held in Tina's honour. About 40 ladies attended dressed all in white for an evening of cocktails and appetizers. Quite classy I must say. Not to be outdone, some fellas got together and we threw around a football, drank a few beers and headed to a low-brow local establishment. Not nearly as classy as the ladies. Next weekend we will get our final send off event as the families throw us a "this is your "future" life party". Their kids will be encouraged to run amok, they'll all look exhausted the whole evening and constantly tell us what a great decision we are making. Should be fun.
This coming week is our Eid holiday. We are looking forward to a 5 day camping trip going through the Wahiba Sands and ending up in two of our favourite coastal camp sites. The second part of our holiday will be spent in Dubai at the world famous Dubai Rugby sevens championships.
