Tuesday 20 January 2009

Marhaba - hello

Hey Carlos - good to see you -now you'll have to send us an email as I've spied you following the blog. It's great to get those emails from you all - I love getting up in the morning, at the crack of dawn and checking my emails. It's always a nice surprise to start the day with a read of news back home.
Brian and I went for a walk to a local park not far from our apartment. It wasn't a big park but there was lots of green grass, tall trees, flowers, seats and a children's play area. We sat for a while to take in the scene and felt like we were back in NZ. Then the sound of the call to pray came loud and clear from the mosque next to the park - suddenly we were jolted back to reality. Not that it's an unpleasant sound but very much a muslim thing - 5 times a day starting at 5.00 (in the summer about 4.30) they sort of make this song/chant to encourage/remind all good people to come to the mosque to pray.
Only 3 more days before the end of semester one. The odd part is the kids are not at school, they are strangely missing. It seems that once the end of semester exams are finished they don't come to school. The teachers have to be around, planning for semester two with the help of Cognition advisors.
We're off to Oman for 10 days.

2 comments:

Geoffrey said...

The image of you and Brian being jolted back to reality made me chuckle (hehe).

Have fun in Oman. I glimpsed at the link. The magnificent ocean looks a bit like NZ. Hope Brian can wet a line.

Unknown said...

Hey Brian, I've been listening to "Rarity" on Lucinda Williams "Little Honey". Wow. Good tip.