What a week..what a day!

Last trip to the visa office!

You can't make this stuff up! Sometimes this Arabian Life is just too bizarre, even for me. Roll back a week ago. The PRO ( the visa processing guy) continued to delay was being getting our family visa processed. It's been 3 months since my Sweet has had his paperwork approved. The final step for us all to get residency here was to take less than a week. But this is Arabia and nothing ever goes fast. Last week we had to renew our visit visas for the 5th time because the paperwork still wasn't ready for processing. We had to pay for the visas and some fines in part because the PRO had our passports and we forgot to check when our visit visa expired. Saturday, the process was to be finished (Saturday is the first day of the work week here) BUT the PRO forgot it was a "police holiday". Ok. So everything was ready. It took 4 more days to really be ready!
Finally after 5 months we are RESIDENTS!!
BUT...yes there is always a but..even though our visit visas had 3 weeks before expiring, we had to pay more money to get the official residency stamp in each passport! Our bank balance is drained but we are glad it's finally over..or is it? 
Turns out one of our kiddos who they made get a new passport (it had less than 6 months before the expiry date) has an entry visa in her new passport but not an exit one as we had to use her new passport to get her visit visa renewed when the US embassy cancelled her other one. Confused yet? Now they can't figure out which passport to put her residency visa in-even though we were told it had to be in a passport that had more than 6 months before expiring. Now the old passport is cancelled and the PRO has to sort all this mess out. So our visa runs may not be over just yet. 4/5 are resident!


The drama of the week also included me slipping out my flip flops on the stairs in the house (all stairs here are marble and concrete, no carpets!) and toppling head first down a dozen or so steps. I grabbed onto the railings and my finger got caught between the moulding which prevented my head hitting the steps but left me with what we thought was a fractured finger on my writing hand!
Of course this was when the PRO still had our passports so we were told we couldn't get treatment without our I.D. so we skipped the E.R. visit not knowing if we would be charged a huge fee for not being able to produce proof of residency or show I.D. After three days of not being able to move my hand, the swelling has finally gone down and it looks like just a bad sprain. It's amazing how hindered I felt and realised just how much I do need both hands to function! Couldn't type, eat properly, get dressed, cook etc. So today we have I.D and residency proof but thankfully do not need to visit the E.R.! I appreciate some good friends who took care of me during this time and know my recovery was quicker because they helped. I am thankful that there is no break as I had to get finger printed as part of the immigration process. It really hurt when the official hand to push my hand to get the prints-but had I gone to the E.R. and had a cast, we wouldn't have been able to complete the process today. Much to be thankful for.


 Two other highlights of the week:

Fast food Omani style

#1 A new gas convenience store has just opened at the gas station close to our house. My Sweet was so excited when he went to get gas as they were selling fresh coconuts. Yes. This is Arabia and this is what is sold as a thirst quencher-much healthier than a soda pop. So our little homeschool class took an impromptu field trip to the gas station! The kiddos would probably have rather had a can of fizzy pop but its fun to have cultural experiences-and right on our door step too! The coconut top is cut off and a straw is put in. There are options of having it cold or regular (i.e. sun baked). We opted for the chilled. The kiddos were brave and tried it. Sadly the coconuts weren't that ripe so the milk wasn't so sweet as it should have been. So not a great success in terms of getting them to like them-but they learned a lot about this style of coconut.

Green Coconuts to Go!

#2 My Sweet and I got to take a short stroll along a stretch of beach which we discovered is less than a minute from our house. Can you tell we have been preoccupied! Lots of fishing boats and huts are moored along this beach.  It was a slow stroll as I am still bruised on my back and legs from the fall. But it was a beautifully windy day. I even felt cold! My Sweet picked some beautiful shells for me. He knows my love for shelling. A tranquil moment in the midst of the whirlwind of a week.

The beach near our house!