R&R

It was a long vacation for us. daddy took a two week off from office and vivian had one week mid-term break from school.

Started on VALENTINES DAY, no dinner for two instead with six friends. we hosted a thank you dinner for our filipino friends. we wanted to thank them for their help and support since we came here. it would so much more difficult if it hadn't been for them. we served kebabs - fish & shrimps, chicken barbeque, steak, kani salad, tom yum soup and leche flan and ice cream (take note Selecta brand) for dessert. It was fun catching up on happenings, what we've been doing and some work related topics.

little surprises....daddy and vivian gave me three red roses when i was having my last minute grocery for the dinner. we gave daddy a heart shaped balloon. also bought some pink and white heart shaped balloons for our guests. happy valentines day!

PLAYTIME in our house. vivian's classmates/friends came to our house monday afternoon. they started off checking out the toys in the room. then they went out to play 'tennis' and ran around. i served them corn dog for snacks and also baked chocolate cupcakes for them to decorate. while eating (again) their cupcakes they went crazy on the v-tech dance & learn until their daddies arrived half past six to pick them up. the girls wanted to stay a bit longer so they played for another twenty minutes then said bye.

RUWI. we drove off to ruwi, this place is the first business disctrict of oman. when we arrived, most of the shops were closed til four in the afternoon. we ate lunch at the famous Palayok, a pinoy restaurant with bulalo as their specialty, felt like home to me. finally, around 4:30pm we went to the famous ever ready grocery store. the only place where you can buy isopropyl alcohol (sure you know why) plus broomstick (walis tambo), glutenous rice (malagkit) and dried fish. it's a small grocery store that has a lot of Philippine products that's why it's famous to all the filipinos here. we checked some more shops, looked around the market place which reminded me of Divisoria back in Manila.

SHANGRI LA. we managed a side trip in Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa, while waiting for the shops to open up again in Ruwi. we strolled along the pool and the beach side. it has a three-hotel resort village, 2 five star and a six star. it's really a nice place and luxurious and, of course, expensive, what do you expect.

HYATT SWIMMING. summer is fast approaching here and a day before vivian went back to school, we decided to spend our afternoon in the water. We decided to try Hyatt's pool this time, (we had Intercon's last year). As in most areas here, found several kabayans working in the hotel. as usual, they grew fond of our toy, Vivian. This works mostly to our benefit (wink) in restaurants...as in this case, somebody brought her a free plate of spaghetti and ice cream (libre!!)

SUSHI BUFFET DINNER. from hyatt, we headed to Jade restaurant for the sushi buffet, which was every thursday. my husband and i were longing to eat japanese food since we got here. we managed to chat with the filipino chef (mang james) while enjoying all his creations. the dessert buffet is also worth it, loved the creme brule`.