Quite the trip - flights through Africa...

There is something truly inspiring about traveling. The constant flurry of meeting new people, new smells and new sites, is enough to excite anyone with a dose of the travel bug.

I write this out of Tanzania. Didn’t think I would ever get here and yet, here I sit in the Flamingo Cafeteria enjoying an orange flavoured beer called a Twist. Before you get too excited, I am only in the airport. However, you are still surrounded by locals who are speaking Swahili and sharing their smiles.

My September journey out of Muscat, Oman to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia started at 4h35 am this morning, or so it should have. I was sitting on the runway for an hour, only to leave at 5h40 – an hour late. With my connecting flight to Johannesburg, South Africa only having a 45 min leeway, I knew I would miss my flight. But optimism seems to follow me and so I willed the plane to race ahead, possibly being able to catch up the time so that I could make my flight. It was not to be.

On the way to the plane at Muscat International Airport, some of the travellers are also a part of this race. Lots of bumping and pushing and “Yes, that is my toe!” and “No thank you, I would actually like to keep all 10”. Everyone likes to get close and hold onto you when there are bumps in the road, sometimes so much that you have to retrieve your arm back. But otherwise, we got on the plane all toes and arms connected.

Landing in Addis Ababa, we were met by a very friendly Ethiopian man who was dressed in all his airport gear, tie and all, who said quite matter of frankly, “The flight has left already. We will put you in a hotel and you fly tomorrow.” My initial thought was this is exciting – a free hotel stay in a new country! However, with an appointment scheduled at an embassy in Pretoria, there was no way I could arrive a day later. And so I make my way to a transfer desk where they offer me some other options. At this point, I am debating whether to raise my voice and demand that I get on the plane. But I just can’t do that. In addition, the lady that assisted me with other options was incredibly sweet and very willing to help. So smile on, we discuss the options. Either I leave tomorrow, or I catch a flight to Dar Es Salaam (new place!) and then catch a 3^rd flight to Johannesburg. I would arrive 5 hours later than originally anticipated but I would arrive today. So decision made, I was issued with tickets to Dar Es Salaam and off I went. At this point, considering I would be traveling more than 12 hours, I was very grateful I blow dried my hair as to not deal with a curly mess traveling through Africa.

Through the entire process, I cannot fault Ethiopian Airlines, aside from the delayed flight. Everything after that, they have approached with a smile and with the attitude that anything is possible and how can we fix this. This trip has also sparked a massive desire to travel into Africa. Addis Ababa – now that I have seen it for the first time in the daylight – is gorgeous. It consists of rolling green fields and beautiful hills begging for some adventure. And this was only what I saw from the airport. The sites from the airport in Dar Es Salaam are a little different. A bit drier and you don’t see the rolling green fields, but this country holds Mount Kilimanjaro. And that, is an attraction enough.

Although my day hasn’t gone according to plan, I cannot help but feel alive and fulfilled. It’s incredible. Africa is truly an amazing place and I want to see more of it. Africans as well, are a delight – a nation that loves their lands and its people and only wishes to share that with everyone they can. Every person should at some stage in their lives, fly through Africa. Don’t be conventional and choose the normal airlines. Be different and give yourself a cultural experience albeit from an airport cafeteria.

I will leave this little heaven soon and make my way to Johannesburg. I will be greeted with smiles and a comfort of feeling like home. Then I will catch the Gautrain for the first time and make my way to Pretoria. So many firsts in one day – it’s addictive. Wonder what tomorrow will bring – definitely something great J

A sideline adventure - becoming a Rescue Diver!

At the beginning of the year, I found a post on Facebook that said we should try and do something big and new every month of the year. One of my ideas was to do my Rescue Divers course and become a qualified Rescue Diver.

Once the seed had been planted, it was only a matter of time before I was itching to get it done. After having done my Advanced Divers course in Durban, South Africa at the end of November '14, I was still very much in love with being underwater. I also had an amazing instructor, who just so happened to also relocate to Oman at the beginning of this year. After many discussions on when would be a good time to get to the dive school where he worked, we made plans; and, at the end of July I was off to Dubai, to get a lift to Dibba, a little town at the very top of Oman. It can get a little confusing to explain, so I have added a link in, so that you can see where the dive school is exactly, as it borders the UAE.

Nomad Ocean Adventures - Google Maps

The trip from Dubai to Dibba is 2 hours by car. Not too bad at all. The dive school is called Nomad Ocean Adventures. What a place! Check out their website: Nomad Ocean Adventures 

Its a beautiful spot that makes you feel at home instantly. Above is a picture of the view from the school (the sea is so close!) and of the pool in the distance and where all the kits get organised for the dives. More pictures on their website! The people behind the scenes as well as the dive instructors are the best I have dealt with. Extremely professional and knowledgeable in all their descriptions and explanations. They run all courses at their school, which is a PADI affiliated school. They serve amazing food for lunch and dinners, so meal times are always eagerly anticipated. And if you are lucky, one of the instructors may even put together something real special, from his chef days! Also, while you are there you get to meet other divers who will be sharing their experiences with you when you travel to the dive sites. Many a laugh was shared with people who share the same passions as you do!

The Rescue Divers course itself is quite the challenge. Nothing like what you learn as an Open Water or Advanced Diver. In this course you learn to take care of others in an emergency. Its a serious course that requires focus, attention, practice, patience and utmost respect. All of which, you learn as you spend your days with the instructors. I did all my theory work as an e-learning student. You buy your pack online and go through all the sections as you would normally do on other courses. Much nicer to do it this way as you can do it in your own time and redo sections should you want to. Its exceptionally easy to use and all sections have videos that you can watch any number of times. The practical side thereafter is run at a school of your choice, of which mine was Nomad. You run through a number of scenarios numerous times until you feel confident about performing tasks in a real-life situation. 

As for the actual diving offered in this area: the water is beautiful and 90% of the time, you have crystal clear waters in addition to many fish at your fingertips. Also, the Arabian Sea is home to 5 of the 7 turtle species as well as whale sharks and black tip reef sharks. Well worth the visit.

Needless to say, that if you are a diver already and you are debating to which level to train up to, go to Rescue. It instills a confidence in you like no other course. You can help in any situation and potentially save a persons life. It is an absolute no brainer. If you are in the Middle East and you want a holiday as well as a course, go to Nomad. If you can travel there from further away, it will be a great trip. Take the plunge! 

It has certainly been awhile since my last blog post… It’s amazing that when you have so much to tell and to share that your energy levels decrease!

Following on from my previous blog post, we had an amazing evening at the 2015 Canadian Stampede. An amazing party was hosted at an amazing venue! Everyone dressed up so beautifully and it truly felt like we were in the middle of a serious Canadian barn party. It also proved to be a good place to meet some great people – new friends were made and dance moves shared as we partied the night away! My favourite picture from the event of my sister and I follows :) 

Soon after the Canadian Stampede, we were due to leave for Thailand. Final preparations were done and we were leaving on the 18^th March….. FOR A MONTH! The excitement was unbelievable. Will share news of my Thailand travels in the next blog post!

Hello March!

March is going to be a very exciting month for us here – as we will be traveling! More on that later J

After a month in Oman, I have learnt many things about how things work here or don’t. For example: everyone answers yes to everything and you are lead to believe that people understand exactly what you saying and it is truly a great feeling to be understood. Until of course you go back on your achieved ‘Yes” only to find out the answer could never have been yes in the first place. This has come to play when buying clothes and asking if they can be exchanged. “Yes!” they say. Only to get the response “No, no change” a few days later because something is too big or too small.

Following on from the wonderfully positive attitude of yes to everything, locals park anywhere. And I mean anywhere. They can happily leave their cars parked anywhere they feel there is space and sit there for ages. Or better yet, they leave their cars running so the air con stays at full capacity as the heat grows here, with summer approaching and disappear into the shopping mall.

Air con is everywhere here and so most times the heat is bearable because it is disguised by the wonderful coolness of the air con. With everyone having air con everywhere (shopping malls, homes, gyms, street cafes, etc.) there are many maintenance issues. And just like the internet maintenance crew, the air con maintenance crew is equally difficult to get hold of. While you wait, you can live with anything from waterfalls out of your wall (makes for a lovely water feature) or warm air flooding your house instead of cold. Both unbearable after a time. After many phone calls, the maintenance crew arrives. Not in a panel van or bakkie a.k.a. pick-up, but in a fancy 4-door car, with no tools! Fortunately, my dad has an extensive tool collection which they happily used to fix the air con. I wonder how other households manage! Oh the life in Oman! Never a dull day J

A normal shopping experience is the same as anywhere else, with a few differences. Every single trolley goes every direction, but forward. So if you don’t want to go to gym, never fear! Go to a shopping mall and walk up and down with a trolley. You shall be doing sideways lunges and reverse steps and if you really want to give yourself a good workout, try pushing two at the same time for a complete arm workout. In addition to that, girls try use the bathroom at home or at the malls. Don’t stop at a garage. Because you will think the toilets have been stolen as there is only a hole in the ground. Yes, only a very fancy hole in the ground. I shall let you imagine how difficult it is to go through with the entire performance. If that is not bad enough, there is never toilet paper, only a mini shower object. Enough said.

Aside from those challenges, which keep us laughing when retelling the stories, there are some amazing restaurants here. We have been introduced to some delicious Indian food as well as some restaurants which although not Omani, give us insight into what other places in the world offer. I have never been to America but I know that some of the food there is incredible. Service in a restaurant can also be entertaining, purely because in most places there is no service to speak of. You are wonderfully invited into the restaurant and thereafter it becomes a game of who can display themselves the best to get the attention of the waiters. To onlookers on the outside, seeing people stand up and wave their arms could be seen as awkward displays of dance to an unknown rhythm.

The pictures below are from our trips to the restaurants: the mini burgers are from a place called Slider Station. Amazing little burgers of all flavours and you can choose which you like! A Passage to India is a hidden gem here and is well worth the visit. The plate in the picture is what they bring to you after your meal. I don’t know about the little herbs and candy-coated herbs but I tucked into the sugar crystals.

We had the privilege of hosting Ed Sheeran here in Muscat. In Oman, we rarely get artists visiting so any time you can, you make sure you get tickets. The concert was incredible. Any chance you get, do yourself a favour and go and see him perform. Truly a musical artist and no doubt some awesome music still to come. I shall be learning some of his music on guitar! We arrived at the concert with the radio host saying that it would rain that evening. Now, living near the desert (Oman is very mountainous compared to other Middle Eastern countries) we thought the radio host was telling stories. But, not 10 minutes after arriving and just before the concert began, the heavens opened and the rain came pouring down! In a few minutes hundreds of people were absolutely drenched.  It was a short-lived storm but it left its mark. After the rain, fortunately the concert continued without a hitch and we danced and sang the night away. We also got the privilege of seeing the opening act Ryan Keen play. He was very good! Below is a picture of my sister and I at the gig! Some more pictures from the concert follow.

This weekend there is a huge party, the biggest of the year it has been said, called the Canadian Stampede. Everyone dresses up as a cowboy or cowgirl and there is line dancing to add to the whole experience. My sister and I have a love for anything country and so we have been looking forward to this since we bought the tickets (all 300 tickets sold out in 5 hours). I will be updating you with pictures in the next blog post! Have a wonderful March J

So much for weekly updates…

Next door to our property, there is massive construction going on. In December, they managed to destroy our internet cables in their building process. This resulted in us having no wifi. Doing everything including image uploading is very challenging using a phone’s hotspot and so all blogging was put on hold. As we have discovered, nothing in Oman moves quickly and so it has taken two months to get technicians out and only 20 minutes for them to fix the problem. Wifi is back on!

In the meantime, much has been happening in Oman and in our lives. My first week in Oman was surprisingly busy. Mom had done a good job of telling interested friends that I can tutor and as my plans for this year are a little ‘unplanned’, I would require work to get me through the next few months. It took 2 days before I had my first tutoring position. He is a 15 year old young boy who requires extra help with chemistry, biology and physics. His marks are good but his Dad wants him to truly excel. A challenging case because I find I am expanding his knowledge and not reviewing it. These lessons are three times a week, an hour each.

Not long after this, we meet up with a friend who has a daughter who also requires some help with her school subjects and some general ‘big sister’ love and attention. I see her as often as I can, sometimes for anything from an hour to four hours, where we go through her work and make sure she understands every detail. We are aiming for her mock exams end of March – holding thumbs!

There are many Muscat sites on Facebook that you can join to find out general information and ask questions. After a week or so of my arrival, my sister came across a post asking for a South African tutor who would be interested in home-schooling her Grade 11 daughter as they are immigrating to Oman from SA. Lolly put my name forward and the lady and I met over coffee to discuss if this could work. I made her aware I have no professional teaching qualifications but many years of experience and she has decided that we should go for it and see how it goes. This will be my biggest challenge yet and will be a proper job for 6 months or so. This has many perks aside from the awesome experience that this offers. But in addition to that, it comes with a salary and I will get a work visa to stay in Oman. So it seems, killing many birds with one stone. We will start mid-April, on their arrival.

Once you are living here in Oman, you are meeting people all the time. This goes for anywhere in the Middle East. Here, it is not what you know, but who you know. So you want to know or be connected to everyone. These affiliations have brought about my English tutoring that I do once a week at an institute here with Omani children. I have a class of 20 between ages 6 to 12. And I know all their names! Not because I wanted to but because they are so naughty that if I cannot stop them mid movement, my class becomes very rowdy. Apparently I have ‘that class’ and everyone gives me sympathetic smiles each Thursday. My first lesson was nothing short of crazy. I had a soft toy thrown at me whilst writing on the board, two boys swapping names and I was introduced to twins whose parents named them the same. Yes, twins with the SAME name: Nasser and Naser. The slightest of slight difference in pronunciations and the naughtiest of boys. Each week I have been at the institute, I have to relearn which is which, based on their clothing for the lesson. But aside from naughties, I have some great kids. And it pays!

My first weekend in Oman, there was a rock concert called Sandstock that was happening at a secret location in the desert. It has been a few years running and apparently is quite the festival. So there was no way we were going to miss it, so off we went. Road tripping here in Muscat is lovely. You have mountains one side and the sea on the other with long straight roads. Unlike other Middle Eastern countries, you have to drive to find the desert. On arrival at the entry to the desert, I saw a baby camel. What a treat. They are quite fluffy and as we know, anything in baby form is adorable.

Arriving at Sandstock, we found a great campsite for the night. Not too far from the stage, but far enough that we wouldn’t have to worry about someone falling onto our tent. Lolly and I volunteered to be a part of the cleaning crew (meeting people!) and we got a free t-shirt! By the time the sun disappeared, there must have been a good 500 cars and over 3000 people. What a turnout for a concert that was organised without Facebook and by word of mouth with email. The music was great and many great bands played the classics for us as we danced the night away. Met some good people and recognised a few from previous encounters. For anyone who doesn’t know, the desert gets very cold at night. So cold, that you could need slops a.k.a. flip flops (I have learnt that slops is a South African term) and a decent jersey a.k.a. jumper. So cold, that I was very grateful to be sharing a tent with my sister as the one blanket we brought with just didn’t cut it.

The next morning, armed with our black bags, we went around picking up little bits of rubbish along with the other volunteers. One bag each was enough as most people were really good about keeping the desert clean. On our departure from the desert, everyone stops to inflate their tyres and stock up on snacks for the drive home. We also have a compulsory drink that we get. It is called Cardamom tea. And for everyone that visits, the moment you land, I will treat you. It is a delicious hot drink unlike anything you have tasted. The cups are very small however and so, often we end up buying two a person. Just like the Milo drinks – one is never enough.

As some of you may know, Ed Sheeran is performing in Muscat on the 27^th February and we are all going. It is an exciting time because not many artists come to Oman, with Dubai being next door as their first choice. So with his coming arrival, there have been auditions to be his opening act at a restaurant here in Muscat. I went along and auditioned two weeks in a row. What a thrill to be behind the microphone again! Not much is more exhilarating than standing behind a microphone demanding attention with just your voice. Albeit unsuccessful in the audition process, the journey has re-ignited a hidden passion for music that took a backseat whilst pursuing a scientific career. So my gorgeous blue guitar now lives next to my bed and I am starting to perfect some of my favourite songs with the aim of learning and writing many more. Yet another positive outcome is the meeting of people in the music industry here. Now friends, I have sung with them at their gigs with the promise of potentially getting more involved as time goes. Definitely adding to an all-round experience here in Muscat!

Every weekend there are events organised by fellow expats or locals with a couple events during the week. Last weekend, we were invited to go for a braai a.k.a. barbeque and a beach sleepover. We opted out of the beach sleepover as we had other arrangements but joined the gang (picture below) for a fun-filled beach day. Everyone meets at a point and off we go in convoy. Now, for Africans, you will know that there is something called ‘African time’ and I have been teased with ‘Tin time’ as often I arrive late and ‘in my own time’. Well, us Africans have nothing on the people here. There is a thing called ‘Omani time’ where some people arrived an hour and a half late to the meeting point. Everyone here is in no rush to get anywhere and everyone always smiles. So the best solution is to just go with the flow and drink Cardamom tea while you wait!

With this, we start another weekend here in Muscat. We have an Ed Sheeran concert to look forward to and some friendly get togethers. The Dusi Canoe Marathon 2016 count down officially begins and it’s a year to go before I tackle the 3-day race in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Training starts this next week as I have been fighting flu amongst all other things recently. Almost at the end of February and I hope that all of you reading this are on track to reach your goals and achieve your dreams for 2015.

And so it begins… My one year journey, out of South Africa, to explore what some of the World has to offer. I have been in Oman for just over a week now and my, has it been a busy one. But the story starts before landing in Oman. All the way back in SA, packing up our lives to move overseas.

January brought the arrival of my dad, Peter, my mom, Linda and my sister, Lauren to South Africa. 2015 started in Arniston, Western Cape as we brought in the New Year watching some incredible fireworks whilst all imagining how amazing this year would be. On the 3^rd of January, my parents tied the knot for the second time, after many years of being separated and to many exclamations of “It’s about time”. The wedding was a hit and both bride and groom made it to ‘I do’ without putting on running shoes. 

My dad left South Africa on the 9^th January and we girls flew to Durban. This is where the true journey of getting to Oman starts. We had two obstacles before flying to Joburg at the end of the month. The first was to successfully pack up my little world and the second and far bigger task was getting through our storage unit and deciding what we kept, threw away, donated or left behind. This posed a giant task that we would not have managed to get through without the help of close friends, who have become extended family. But we did it. After almost three weeks of unpacking, sorting and re-packing, storage was officially empty and we had a truck filled with boxes containing all our collected and prized possessions ready for shipping.

In true Wilson style however, we worked hard in the day and had fun with friends at night. Even in such a short space of time, we managed to see all the important people for final chats and goodbyes as well as stealing one last photograph with each of them. Reminds us that we are so blessed with the people who choose to share our lives and in fact, are rich because of it.

Once my car had been sold, the boxes delivered to the shipping yard, my room cleaned out and our bags packed, it was time to leave Durban. On the 27^th January, we officially flew out of Durban leaving many special people behind and a few tears but onto new adventures. Joburg is a whole different ball game to Durban. Everyone has a quickened pace and most often, people are wearing suits. So I made the decision to replace slops with heels and enjoy our ‘free time’.

With no storage to unpack and sort out, no room to clean up, we had time on our hands and we could actually relax to a point and of course plan our social gatherings! I was able to catch up with close friends on the Tuesday night. Wednesday night we spent with our hosts and got to experience some amazing cuisine at a restaurant where a friend works. Our final night was spent at a venue called the Throbbing Strawberry. What a treat to see friends in Joburg that we hadn’t seen in years! Sitting outside in the Joburg sun, we were able to exchange some great stories. However the clouds rolled in and we got rained out and so quickly ran inside to escape the storm. Once we had repositioned, the chats continued. Finally enjoying a late night drink at Hogs Head, we called it a night and got some good rest in for our trek to Oman. I would just like to take a moment to say a big thank you to everyone who made the effort to meet us and make us feel so special.

Friday was traveling day. What a rush! Juggling weight to make sure we were all within our allowances to avoid hefty payments, we finally managed and all bags were equally distributed, with a minor exception of an extra 10kg bag we decided we were going to pay for. However, this was where the fun started. Because we had to fit all our luggage into the hired car. We strategically packed the boot (or so we thought) and got all the rest into the backseat of the car. Only to find, that the boot didn’t close. Not because we had over packed it, but because there was some contraption that took up space as the boot closed. So everything out! And we start again. I can assure you that we were so exhausted by the time we managed to successfully get everything in the car, with all forms of doors closed that neither of us wanted to man the gps, due to utter exhaustion. Airport here we come.

Flying with Ethiopian Airlines is quite different to flying with other airlines, even though it was voted Africa’s number one airline, three years in a row. You can’t just give them your reference number for your flight reservation and get a boarding pass. There are many other security checks that are required. We also had the task of charming someone with a tiny bag to maybe share weight with us so that we could potentially get this 10kg bag in for free. But after checking the potential suspects, we decided we would rather take the chance of getting it through on our own. To our luck, a young man ahead of us had a tiny bag and when he checked in, we saw the weight sitting at 11kgs. That was our chance and we spoke to the lady who allowed us (sneakily) to ‘use’ his 12kg deficit to allow for our bag. Getting a bag in for free = success.

Landing in Addis Ababa, you really did feel like you were in an underdeveloped part of Africa. Not the biggest airport and certainly nothing ‘sparkly’ about it but an airport nonetheless. There was one tiny security checkpoint which required us to undress. Almost everything had to come off bar shirts and pants. Everything else had to be scanned. The little café area looked like it had been setup a few hours earlier like something from a carnival – nothing looked like it was left there overnight. The departure boards showed our gate numbers, to which we discovered every gate number was incorrect. 

There was a little man that came and shouted out different destinations and if you didn’t hear him, you missed your flight. Lauren decided to hide from the world with Mom attempting to cool us down with vanilla spray. It made for a funny moment as Lauren had a coughing fit from the spray and we were all trying to sit still to avoid sweating as the aircon wasn’t working. We were not given boarding cards for the second leg from Addis Ababa to Muscat from our lady in Joburg and this caused a problem. Eventually, after much smiling and patient standing, we were given handwritten boarding cards and were allowed on the plane, smelling beautiful thanks to the vanilla spray! All in all, the whole experience was actually quite fun and I would happily fly with them again. Also, the ‘rural’ airport was a nice change from the glitz and glam of other airports these days. Somehow made one feel alive.

Muscat airport is pretty much straight forward. One has to follow instructions to buy a visitor visa of which 3 days, 1 week and 1 month are available, all with the option to renew. Once that is done, it’s get your passport stamped, through to baggage reclaim and out into the hot air. Very easy, so you can all come visit! My Dad picked us up and it was a lovely welcome, having not seen him for three weeks. However, the most excited welcome came from the dogs on our arrival. What an experience to see that much excitement all in three dogs. Peanut, my Jack Russel, was a ball of energy and ran around us, a bit confused I guess from all the shrieks of delight but soon I had her in my arms and it was one of the best feelings in the world after not seeing her since September 2014.

I managed to setup my phone with an Omani number and get all applications synced. I welcome news from everyone and would love to hear how you are. Next entry to follow soon as my first week in Muscat has been very eventful and I have many stories to share! Happy 2015 J