Visa Run - Sept. 5, 2009

This weekend went very well considering we had to leave the country and then come back in again. The way to renew your visa for 30 more days is to leave the UAE (quickest is to cross the Oman boarder) and then come back. So off we went to Al Ain, which is on the Oman boarder. We left after Patrick and I were done on Thursday. It is not really that far of a drive to Al Ain (about 1hr and a half).

We stayed at this really cool hotel at the peak of Jebel Hafeet. What a view. Lots of switch backs to get to the top; Wayne was alright going up, coming down was a different story :). There was a look out that we stopped at that was a bit unnerving - check it out!!! The road just stopped, and there were no guard rails or anything- BUT the view was fantastic.

Once we were at the top and checked in we headed to the pool for our daily swim. The kids had a great surprise when they got there - waterslides! We all got our exercise going up the stairs every time. It was a lot of fun!

The temperature overall was cooler at the top of the mountain, and the water was amazing. It was my kind of swimming temperature :)

That night we had an Iftar supper (breaking of the daily fast during Ramadan) at the hotel. The food was quite good and we all tried a lot of new things. Some we are happy to have again and there were a few things - not so much.

Friday was our visa run across the boarder. We had talked to our neighbours about it and researched on the Internet and somehow we still went to the wrong crossing. We were hoping to go to the one were we just had to walk across and do some paperwork and then walk back. We ended up at the one where we had to drive 50 km into Oman, do some paperwork, and then drive back. That was a bummer but the real kicker is that you need special insurance to go into Oman and we didn't have it, hence the hoping for the walking cross over. In the end we made it and everything was okay. We got a few cool pics while driving through Oman and are really looking forward to going back when we have all the right paperwork.

Once we got back to the hotel and after all the "boring" things were done, we enjoyed another afternoon at the pool. That evening before supper we went for a little walk to catch a good view of the sunset. It was beautiful. Wayne and Patrick even got in some fossil/rock hunting. Yes, we have more rocks to bring home and add to the ever growing rock collection.

This morning after breakfast we headed to the pool for a few more slides before we had to check out. The kids were disappointed to be leaving and are hoping to go back again soon.

On the whole, a very lovely weekend and a good first exersion from the city. There are lots more photos to show, and I will post some more later as I sort through them. Oh - the other cool things we saw were some falcons flying over head; gliding on the thermals. I was hoping to see some camels but all we saw were some camel crossing signs on the highway in Oman (and Wayne was too wigged out to stop the car for photos).

First Days of school - September 1, 2009

We have all had our first days now at work and school. Patrick is totally into the swing of things now. Samantha... we are still working on that. The first couple of days have been rough so far, but hopefully things will get better for her. I'm doing fine at work. Starting to get the hang of everyone's name in my class. There are kids from all over in my class (Egypt, Australia, Italy, Netherlands, USA, Canada, UAE, Turkey, and South Korea). It has been neat talking to them. The teacher that I'm working with seems pretty cool.

Wayne is getting back into work. He has been helping out with Samantha (she is done at 12 and with Ramadan there is no Kids Kare for her), so she has daughter/Daddy dates for the afternoon.

We are off to Al Ain this weekend to do the border crossing for our visitors visa. The place we are booked into looks nice, right in the mountains. Wayne says that there is a zoo there that is open at night so hoping to take the kids there. The drive is suppose to be pretty cool too. It is through the desert but the sand changes colour through out. We are getting some tips from our neighbours who have done the cross over three times. It should be fun. Our first venture out of the city.