First impressions of Muscat

Things to get used to...

There is a difference in timing of the weekdays compared to Europe. In Oman Sunday is the first day of the week. Weekends  start on Thursday evening until Saturday. 

Timing isn't the hardest thing one has to get used to... The thing we take the most for granted in Europe is the fact one can drink alcohol just about anywhere: in a bar, in a restaurant, at home, on the streets,... Seems like Europeans are alcoholics compared to people from the Middle-East.

Since leaving the plane we both haven't had a drop of alcohol. Not that we were alcoholics ;-)...

As soon as we have all our documents (work permit, Omani ID-card etc.,...) Wim will receive a 'liquor license' which gives us the opportunity of buying alcohol in a liquor store. One can spend up to 10% of his salary for buying alcohol. But when receiving a liquor licence one has to choose a maximum amount one will spend on alcohol and is then obliged to spend the whole amount each month. We haven't a clue how much alcohol costs, but we suppose it's not cheap. 

Even in restaurant's there is no alcohol available except in hotel restaurants, which we haven't visited so far.

Friday, the first day of the weekend

Wim went to the office each day and is getting used to working during office hours. Meanwhile I tutor the children and enjoy QT with them and they seem to enjoy it too. As school starts on wednesday 15th January at 7.30 a.m. we are trying to adapt to life here by waking up early and going to bed early too. (without the alcohol that isn't really a big problem ;-))

On Friday it was weekend! Hooray! We took the car to a Wadi nearby, not knowing what to expect. I must admit I expected a beautiful oasis with tropical blue water, but what we got in return gave us great pleasure too. We saw a river bedding and a lot of Omani's with high powered 4x4-jeeps driving in them, just for fun. As we had a high powered Pajero, we decided to go for it too. The kids enjoyed this as much as going on a roller coaster and I guess the biggest kid of the family enjoyed it the most! 

After this trip we decided to go to a nearby beach and headed for The Wave, an exclusive residential project near the sea (I believe it would be Oman's alternative to a Palm tree-project (Dubai)) in the hope we could have a decent (non Indian) meal. (I admit I was hoping for a glass of wine to make it a picture perfect, but that didn't happen ;-)

The Wave is a beautiful area in which we hoped to find a house before we came to Oman. However we would have loved living there we are even more so euphoric with our house which fits our needs so much better.

After lunch we drove to our compound as we were meeting up with our next door neighbour who is selling his car and we might be interested in buying it. Andy is a very friendly Englishman and welcomed us with open arms. Nearly all people in the compound are expats and the hilarious thing is, they all seem to have three children! The compound is built in a triangle around the garden and swimming pool. All terraces are adjacent to the garden and all children (between ages of 2 years to about 14 years old) know eachother and play together. The neighbours we've had the chance to meet are very friendly and helpful.

Saturday

On saturday we first went to the old city of Muscat where we wished to visit the Souq (a local market for gold, silver, textile,...), but first Max needed a haircut. We took him to a petite barbershop where he had his hair cut for a mere 1,5 euros! I think it must have been the barber's first blonde cut ever ;-)

The souq was not really what we expected to find, but is was a nice experience. After a quick lunch, we drove off heading for Al Sifah, a beach at 40 km of driving through the mountains. We must have passed the Sultan's palace as everything was so beautiful, exclusive and clean. Al Sifah, is an amazing clean beach with nice white sand, palm trees and nice blue water. 

I'd score it 9/10 (and my beach criteria are high ;-)). The fun part for Wim was being allowed to drive the 4x4 through the dunes... (I officially have a fourth child now ;-))

Omani

If people would ask me what to expect of the people I'd say, based on our first impressions, that there are three kinds of people: the Omani, the immigrants and the expats.

The Omani are very friendly and helpful, which is even reflected on their driving. This is something I haven't seen in a long time. In Belgium there often is a lot of indifference and mistrust between people. I even dare to say I feel much safer here.

As most Omani work for the government or the police or have high positioned jobs, they need people to build the houses and the roads. For that they have attracted Indians, Filipino's, Pakistani,... 

Then there are the expats, who are very lucky to be living in Oman.

To be continued...