We arrived in Oman just over 1 year ago

I will never forget that rush of going somewhere new.

Getting off the plane in Muscat & being hit with the heat. My camera fogged up. Muscat can be humid. Nizwa, not so much--at all.

The smell in the air was a fragrance that still appeals to me--mostly frankincense and perfumes.

The men all in crisp white dishdashas and the women in black abayas that at first glance, all look alike.  Not so.  The details, the decorative jewels, the details of stitching...so very different & so beautiful.  And the hijabs that cover the hair of the women...definitely a way to show your fashion sense and character.  Many wear black but again with as much individuality represented as the woman wearing it.  Others wearing bright colours, floral prints, ---anything!  And the women that choose to cover their faces usually have heavily made up eyes that just pop out at you--stunning.

Going through customs and walking through the exit door of arrivals was a sea of brown faces (mostly Indian) eagerly awaiting friends and family.  We were the minority.  I would say I had never experienced this before, but that is not true, growing up in south central Los Angeles. 


The people we encountered from the visa line, in customs, and the drivers of the van taking us to our hotel in Nizwa (about 1.5 hrs away from the Muscat airport) were very helpful, polite, hospitable, and doting on our 3 children.  Children are adored here by everyone!  All children. 

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We waited for just awhile outside of the airport before 2 men approached Rob and said "Doctor Robert?" Guess we were pretty easy to spot.  White family of 5 straight off the boat!  They helped us with our luggage and we piled into the van along with another guy from Jordan coming to teach at the University of Nizwa too.  The ride was at night time so it was hard to see our environment and surroundings but being at our destination, just being in Oman...amazing.  There was an Arab radio station playing.  Hearing the 2 men speaking to each other in Arabic and not knowing a word they were saying...so very surreal.
 Here we were, not knowing what to expect.  But ready to take it all in.

We were taken to the Al Diyar hotel where we stayed for 3 nights until our flat was ready to move into.

Al Diyar is a beautifully decorated hotel with a fantastic restaurant, which we still get take away from weekly.

We were greeted warmly and shown to our rooms.  Those 3 days are somewhat of a blur as we were getting over jet-lag and sleeping a lot.


We ate well. We swam a lot.  We discovered that we knew absolutely nothing about living here!  Getting things in order as far as making phone calls (international and local), figuring out how and where to have internet access, how to go about hiring a car, -- all part of the process of finding our way here.  They sound like easy enough things to get sorted, but not so.  Mind you, we are dealing with languages barriers constantly and although things do get done in time...that is the bottom line....in time.

In sha'allah.