Masayang Pasko 2008

Although 24th was still a working day for me, the family was really in the Christmas mood. Vivian was on edge about the upcoming gift-wrap-tearing session. The wife was busy all day (well most of the day) in the kitchen while I was somewhat busy at work with some customer migration issues. Not quite the way it goes but still...I couldn't be happier with this. Comparing to last year's holidays, where I was driving back from the desert in time for Christmas, this was quite welcome. In any case, after a quick detour to the grocery for some last minute items, I was home.

We had a simple dinner...enough to tide us over until noche buena. Killed time watching tv and waited until it was time to leave. The little girl was reluctant to leave but gave in when we told her we'd come back soon. Vivian left cookies and milk for Santa and his reindeers and went down with mum and dad to the car.

We heard mass at the Holy Spirit Ghala Church. Needless to say for Christmas Eve, the area was packed with devotees, members of the Church, and what seemed like an all Filipino choir. It was celebrated by several priests including a Filipino priest who actually gave the sermon. The mass was held out doors, right outside the church and essentially closing out the parking area for the masses. It was a perfectly cool night for prayer and reflection. And it felt good to be around people who were of your own beliefs and traditions. Growing up in the Philippines, one gets accustomed to things that normally play out during the season. Living in a country that is predominantly non-Christian serves to highlight the difference and makes one appreciate things you had previously taken for granted - making the celebration more solemn and more real - if that makes any sense. I blather. Anyways, after a lengthy mass, of about 2 hours I think, we went back home.

The little-girl's reactions were just indescribable. Eyes popping out, she exclaimed...'Mommy!! Santa came already!!' pointing out the missing cookies, empty milk glass and the unmistakable gift-that-wasn't-there-before. Her wide-eyed grin was simply priceless. After a wonderful noche buena, which included (homemade) suman at mangga, our favourite chocolate and butter cakes, and purefoods fiesta ham (a gift from a kabayan friend) the little girl dashed (and pranced) to the tree and handed out our gifts for the tearing. We all opened our gifts - of the course, Vivian had more to open but for each gift she opened , her enthusiasm never withered. The simplest way to describe it is that she was just simply happy and excited with all of it. It was amazing. Even Thess commented on how simply happy Vivian was...it was in her eyes. Ang saya-saya lang talaga nya. Her eyes said it all

Christmas 2008

seen...

'the week' is a local (news)paper of choice covering the goings-on of the various residents of Oman. this week's edition covered a whopper-of-a-concert and caught its attendees smiles. Of all the thousands, smiles of a select few were caught on film...er...camera.

Guess who....?

Paolo, Gabriel...and o yeah, GaryV

The gates opened at 6PM and, not really knowing what happens during concerts here in Oman, we played the good citizens and were right on time even though the program was to actually start at 9PM. Slowly, but surely, the open-aired theatre (Qurum Amphitheatre) got packed with hundreds of other kababayans. After about a three hour wait, we were treated to three hours of ...Gary V.

Even at fourty-four years, this guy can make an entire coliseum move to his rythmn with so much ease - even those rythmically challenged. Twenty five years into his career, he can make everyone shriek, yell and scream with just the first three notes of his songs. Keep pace with his son, Gab, half his age on the dancefloor. Deliver powerful songs with his other son, Paolo (who I believe has the more powerful voice). Bottomline, the guy still has it. Although, one thing I do miss from his performances of late, him and the Manuevers on his wings. Here's hoping he's not through yet...

the big '6' (video)

the big '6'

Vivian hits the big 6 today! As in past years, she treats her classmates to some cake (cupcakes) mum made. Vivian also gave away balloons and party favors. All Viv's classmates are such darlings...coming into the room with the goodies, you can literally see their eyes popping along with those big enthusiastic smiles. They sang the birthday song so loud and with so much umph! that you really didn't want them to stop.

After school, mum treated her to another round of painting in Cafe Ceramique. I picked them up from there after work and bought her this big Bratz balloon in Al Shatti. That was her prize for being nice to Grace, her classmate, earlier in school. She had agreed to give her own balloon to Grace after seeing that the latter had lost it to the wind during home time.

Back in the car, we surreptitiously told the girl that we were going home already and that that was it for the day. She agreed and didn't sound sad or otherwise. I proceeded to drive but then she asked why we were passing by a different route. I made some casual remark about trying something new which she accepted without much ado. As the road opened up, she saw the Grand Hyatt hotel on her window and suddenly exclaims, 'You tricked me! We're having CRAB tonight!!' And we all started laughing because she was right. We had dinner at another favorite restaurant, Marjan which is a poolside restaurant in Hyatt. Needless to say, bondat kaming lahat sa pepper crab...yes, for someone who doesn't like spicy food - she LOVES pepper crab.

Happy 6th little big girl!!

Yet another star...

the little (big) girl is on a roll...

I decided to pick her up today from school since I needed to talk to her teacher about her upcoming birthday(!). I was delightfully surprised to see what greeted me...

Vivian shouting, 'Mommy!!' with such gusto - the scream was half meant for her surprise I picked her up (coz I usually don't) and half was meant for her glee to be able to tell her mommy the good news...! She was (again) the Star of the Day. She last got the award about two months ago.

I asked Mrs. Ellman-Brown about the Star. It was a recognition for Vivian's focus on her work and that one can really see it on the results of her school work particularly in numeracy and reading. The message was that so long as Vivian really applies herself and focuses, she can really continue to do well.

--->> Mrs. Brown also congratulated her as she recently moved up from the green tagged books to gray tags. This basically means her reading books have gone up a grade.

Wahiba Sands

Wednesday was declared a holiday, we therefore had a long weekend. The Talabis troupe invited us and the Velarde cast to stay overnight at the Al Areesh Camp, Wahiba Sands. We left Muscat around noon that wednesday bringing along our 4WDs (our Sportage and their Fortuners) and arrived about 2.5 hours after at the camp.
Our first test was the steep uphill climb right after the camp entrance. It took me three tries before I got up and over the climb. Disheartening as that was, I still had fun with the afternoon adventure...a ride around Wahiba Sands until sunset. The sand dunes were amazing and then Thess and Vivian were literally rolling around the sand...the fine orange sand. Our 4WD however got stuck (along with 2 other vehicles) and we weren't able to complete our trip. The other vehicle (where the wives and the kids were) finished the entire desert route. We had to content ourselves with the serenity of the desert, the fresh air and amazing sunset.
After getting pulled out by another vehicle, we drove back to the camp for a heavy buffet meal and an evening of non-stop kwentuhan. The morning after... we had breakfast (it wasn't as great as dinner but filling nonetheless). We spent some minutes at the traditional shops before leaving the camp. The girls

had some intricate henna tattoos done on their hands. After that, a quick visit with local (not so) wild-life camel...he was tranquil enough for some pictures.
Before driving back to Muscat, we allowed ourselves one last run through the desert sand. Might not have been a good decision as it definitely left me wanting more of the offroading treat.

our new place (update)

It's been more than a month since we moved to our new place . Changes and adjustments have been made according to the needs and size of the apartment. We, and - note- that includes Vivian, decided to sell a lot of our stuff to loosen up the apartment and fund the stuff we needed to buy.

Our living room has more space when we sold the center and console table and decided to put a carpet rug and big pillows to be more inviting and comfortable.

We also bought our new space saving dining table, cabinets for our shoes and kitchen stuff. Our dining table folds down and occupies only a sliver of space when unused. The cabinets kept the narrow hallway organized, so I was able to remove all that clutter.

The not-so-little girl's room underwent a little bit of an upgrade. She agreed to let go of her Little Tykes table-and-chair set and aquarium which we then replaced by the big desk with a pink chair and a carpet rug for her play area. The desk and pink chair were courtesy of IKEA from our recent Dubai spree.

The Tree!

Amazing what a Christmas tree can do... one fine day, I came home to find our tree set up. It was the ultimate mood swinger. Although I knew December was coming up and Christmas was just around the corner, the idea never really sunk in until the tree was up. It seemed the same for the wife and the little girl - Christmas is here!

Mom's birthday '08

I had wanted to extend the Dubai excursion another day so we could wake up to Thess' birthday and celebrate in Dubai. However, practicality set in and we celebrated instead back in Oman in one of her favorite restaurants, Biella. We usually have a wonderful pizza and pasta combo but instead tried a pizza with one of their Risotto Marinara. Biella is a bit pricey but the food is quite delicious. Happy Birthday!!

Note: Thank you very much for all the gifts, cards, greetings and wishes. - thess

Dubai Class

Before November, I hadn't attended any courses or conferences which at first felt odd as it always seemed I would get chances to fly out on business trips for whatever reason well into the early months of the year. Although, the need was there to take some courses, however, getting to actually attend the class(es) was challenging, what with work schedule conflicts and class schedules getting postponed and cancelled. But then, finally, things clicked into place and I drove out to Dubai Nov 15th for a week's training (Cisco).

The final 'click' was that I got to bring the mag-ina along. Needless to say, they were beaming with excitement the entire four-hour drive across the border. I attended the class with a colleague and very good friend of mine, Sadiq, who had then just cleared his CCIE Security lab exam. According to unconfirmed reports, and I truly believe this to be true, he is the very first Omani CCIE (at least, the first homegrown). He also brought along his family to celebrate with him. So, early on, you could already tell it was going to be an enjoyable trip.
So, then, while my friend and I proceed daily to slave away at the Cisco class, Thess and Vivian proceed to each and every popular mall in Dubai. They had a list...one mall a day. They take a cab from our hotel (Holiday Inn Express in Internet City) to whichever mall that's planned for that day. If it wasn't obvious yet, shopping was on top of girls' list. After our class, I drive over (through Dubai's darn rush hour traffic, mind) to whichever mall and proceed to load bags, boxes and whatever onto Scabber's rear.

Our last visit to Dubai already made us believers of how truly amazing this city really is. After this trip, it has made us long for the urban lifestyles ten times over. One particularly memorable experience was the Dubai Aquarium, inside the newly-opened Dubai Mall. As expected, the Aquarium was a big hit with the little girl... eyes swirling around trying to see all she can around this gigantic fishtank... note - it's inside a friggin' mall. The exterior of the tank is clearly visible to passersby and that alone is amazing in itself. If you still crave for more though, you can pay to enter and pass through this glass tunnel that takes you inside the gigantic fishtank....and, yes, it's inside a commercial mall. The selection of marine life ranges from the big schools of small fishes, to sharks and rays. After the tunnel, you can opt to visit (with additional fee of course) the Discovery Center which is another long stretch of tanks of other marine life including Vivian's favorites... seals and penguins.

I never though it possible, not in a million years... kung may magtanong sa kin, 'kamusta dre, san kayo nanggaling?' sagot ko (in a highly nasal tone), 'ah pare, dyan lang.... nag-mall hopping lang kami sa Dubai....'

interesting note: you know that SUV feature where you can get more cargo space by folding the back seats. I had to fold one of the back seats by the first night alone. and again, I really have to keep saying this, I thank the powers-that-be for whoever thunk up GPS and Nokia for my N95. :)

International Day (2)

Each year, BSM celebrates Oman's National Day. Last year, Viv's class went to school in the traditional Omani dress. This year, the entire school had a common event. On Nov. 12, each student went to school in their own country's national costumes. Viv and the other Filipino gals all looked very pretty in their traditional baro't saya. The school held a program showcasing various songs and dances from the different countries. Filipino's, unfortunately, are a minority in BSM and so, except for being part of the parade of countries, no Filipino's went onstage to perform. O well, maybe next year's...?

Naturally of course, the wife made sure Vivian looked her best. What with the couture dress, pearls... Vivian wowed them all.

Thanks Mum!!

fantasy books....

About a year ago, I wrote about the Deverry saga I had started reading. I've finished off its thirteenth book, Spirit Stone (thanks to Erik!) and am trying find a way to get the fourteenth, Shadow Isle. Unfortunately, I am having a difficult time getting it - need to find someone who'll buy me one off of a UK rack. So, while I am awaiting the 'final' book, I've decided to branch out.

I've now started on the World of Time saga, by Robert Jordan, per Chaz' recommendations. Twelve books in all and I am just on the second book, The Great Hunt. Stark contrasts, different storytelling styles, a few similarities in references used and worldly (or non-worldly) concepts. Simply put, I am enjoying it. I am amazed by the books and I am in awe (and envy) of people who can write like this. Sigh....