Our Travels

It's the second day of the new year 2010 and what a fun filled trip this has been here to NZ. We arrived here on December 9th, 2009 from Oman and came straight to Wellington. It was a looong flight but sonny_boy was really good on the flight so it wasn't bad. There were lots of kids on the stretch from Dubai to Auckland so it was like a creche on the flight and Tau had many mates to play with. It was good because then no one could complain about a child as adults were almost outnumbered by travelling parents and grandparents. It was awesome. When we landed in Auckland my older sister, Aunty and cousin met us there for an hour for a short catch up before we continued on down here. We also had some surprise catch-ups with Alex's old work-mates. I recognized Rambo as he walked off a flight, he's also a pilot but for Jet Connect and he had flown from Brisbane where we'd just come from ourselves. Rambo gave us a lift to the domestic airport where he was heading to pick u...

Today we were due to go to Dubai with hubby. He's be working and Tau and I tagging along to do some Christmas shopping and catch up with our friends up there. This week-end is also the Rugby sevens that we were planning to attend if only for one day. Unfortunately my darling boy is so unwell that he and I stayed behind. I took him to the doctor yesterday and once again we walked out with lots of medication and optimism from the doctor that he should be okay today. Well quite the contrary this morning. He was coughing a lot and he's got a very runny nose. my poor babe is just not well. We hung out at home and made him sleep heaps today. He's been drinking water and thankfully he ate the chicken soup I made him today. I wanted to take him to another doctor today but most of the good clinics we go to were closed. It's still Eid holidays here in Oman and a lot of places are still shut. I hope my darling boy will feel better tomorrow and tomorrow, I will take him to another...

I'd like to wish my twin nephews Alex and Isaac in California a very Happy Birthday and Many Many More to come in the future. Thinking of you guys always. Lots of love from your Samoan family in Oman. It's my nephews birthday and wish we were all together to celebrate. I've met my darling nephews once when they were like two years old. They were soooo cute and now they're handsome young men. I always wished they could go to Samoa to visit our family but the circumstances don't allow it at the moment. I'm sure when they come of age they will be able to:) Isaac and Alex if you're reading this, we wish you both all the best and reach for the stars. Nothing is unreachable if you put your mind to it. Thinking of you always and lots of love from your Samoan family all over the globe. xxx

Somebody help me change the look of page already. It's so ancient it's depressing. I mean it was nice for awhile but now I think it's time to move on. Until I make time to discover how to widen it and add another background it will stay this way for now. I will have to beg another blogger out there to help me out here. Eid It's Eid again here in Oman and wow everyone is in relaxing mode. So if one didn't get pressing office related work done then hold your horses until after Eid. Oman is having a whole week off for Eid which is great for a lot of people. I just love it because the roads are empty and one can drive with ease rather than the usual highly stressful maneuvers one has to dodge or do to avoid getting bumped! Which reminds me... when I first got back to Oman in September and I was driving along the desert road towards the other side of town; I was hit with this nostalgic feeling of being back. And I thought how nice it is to be back as I sped along the des...

So I took Tau to play group at my friend's whose nanny takes charge of Tau and her son for about an hour and a half this morning. I went to the hypermarket to buy some groceries and stock up for our visitors N & R coming from Dubai. Luckily I had doubts that they would make it so didn't buy too much and thought I'd do another trip when they get here. Poor R had just returned from a business trip and thought it far fetched that they would be able to get away. N was determined and was positive they would make it. Poor N poor me, we were so looking forward to this week-end. Unfortunately I got the call at around 3.30pm when I got back from the gym that they couldn't make it:( I had to put the bed and things away before Tau extended his playground on to the fresh sheets. I went to the gym at 2.30 as today was my last day and the instructor from the other gym was doing the session. I was the only one there today so I had a one on one with the super instructor who was ab...

We got up eeeaaaarrrly this morning, more like sonny_boy woke up at 6.23am(I looked at the clock) as he does every morning came into my room and woke me up. Normally I pull him on the bed and he rolls around and plays on the bed while I squeeze in another short snooze but lately Mr. Bossy hits my arm and pulls my hair and makes funny sounds and pointing to the kitchen. He also tries to say susu(milk) in the process. So not unlike a dragon I rise up with steam coming out of my nostrils, hair all over and puffy eyes(not going to bed early enough) I proceed to stomp to the kitchen as I'm still half asleep and it's too much effort to lift my legs, I realize sonny dearest is screaming from the bed for me to bring him along. Sometimes I run as fast as my little legs can take me to the kitchen to fix his bottle but others I give in and pick him up and bring him to the kitchen where he waits impatiently and watches me like a hawk as I prepare his milk. When I try to take him back to my...

Okay so I was a bit too excited last week about the Samoan in town. I went along to meet Mr Samoa guy's wife and ummm don't know if it was me but there was no enthusiasm there. Ok the guy is from NZ and half Samoan moved to the UK and married a lady there. So the lady pretty much summed him by saying he just happens to be Samoan. That's okay I know a lot of Samoans/palagi with identity issues ha! Anyway not fair I haven't met the Samoan dude. I met the gate keeper instead who prefers to keep things the way they are it seemed. choo hooo. Need I say more it was not a warm meeting and we didn't exchange numbers and I didn't even feel like asking for her numbers as we were just NOT gelling(is that a word). So bye to any prospective Samoan toonai soon lol. My other friend checked out the other supposed Samoan that worked with her husband and it turned out that they're from Papua New Guinea! I still asked for their numbers so they can join our Pacific Island commu...

Two weeks ago I decided to be gung-ho and go out there and meet more people to make life more interesting. I met up with Molly again at play group and both were interested in beach walks so we went for our first walk on the beach two weeks ago and when I got there there was another woman with her baby in tow ready for the walk. So there were three of us with our little ones in tow all ready to face the sun rise on the lovely Shatti beach. So off we went. Nice quick steps and quicker with the chin as we chatted away. So the lady I'd just met asked my nationality and I said Samoan. We talked about NZ and she mentioned that she lived there for three years and her husband was from there. She asked if there were other Samoans here and I said not that I knew off. The only other one I knew left earlier in the year. Anyway as we kept walking and they mentioned a mutual friend of theirs and then Jane exclaimed that she's married to a Samoan!!! Imagine my excitement to discover that ther...

Moving I've been scouring the papers looking for a good priced villa for us to move to. We currently live in a two bedroom apartment complex which is really nice but feel we need more room for our little son to run around in. I've found one within our budget and am happy with it. It's now a waiting game to see how long it takes for our sponsor company to sort it out and if the landlord is happy with our offer. I'll just hope for the best. Spa break Last week-end hubby dearest booked us in a spa resort out of town for the night. It was such a lovely break from town. Beautiful green gardens and grounds. The hotel was spread out and used bikes and carts for people to get around on. It was very nice. I got a deep tissue massage which was so good I didn't want it to end! The pool was big and one side was very shallow that my son enjoyed immensely and it was easy to enjoy as he did his thing and we were just nearby to make sure he was safe. Later we went and played pool a...

The past week has been one of the saddest in my lifetime. When I heard about the tsunami I spent hours glued to the news on TV and also news from family and friends online. Video after video and story after story unfolded the horrific extent of the damage the tsunami had done to my beloved people. It felt wrong sitting in my nice apartment eating well with my family when across the oceans my fellow Samoans were fighting for their lives let alone looking for their toddlers, wives or parents. Each story seemed sadder than the last and I end up crying harder. Just when I think I'm okay I see yet another sad video and the loss is so endless I crying again. But the amazing thing is or what warms me in a way is that I know I'm not alone in this. I think anyone who is Samoan has been like me in the past two weeks, just a wreck and with puffy eyes from crying so much. I never thought I could cry so much in a week. I would find my husband with red-rimmed eyes by the computer and then I...

I had just hopped into bed last night when the landline started ringing. I ran out to the lounge to pick up the phone and my heart started pounding as late calls usually mean bad news. It was my mother inlaw calling to inform us that a tsunami had just hit Samoa and if my family was okay. The sick feeling I felt in the pit of my stomach was all I felt at that very moment. My mind raced as I tried to think if my family were in the danger areas. Poutasi, Falealili was mentioned and I felt even more sick as my sister J was in Poutasi to do her research there and now I was praying that she had left the area. I hung up the phone and started the marathon calls to Samoa to all my family's numbers. As I've just changed phones I didn't have all the numbers saved but these I have committed to memory. Amazing in the moment of stress and panic, I couldn't remember some of the numbers that I dial over and over. Panic rose as I could not get through to anyone. I was just not connecti...

Metro Today was the first day the metro started running here in Dubai. The radio stations and newspapers also published the rules and regulations for the metro. The metro is the hopeful relief to the traffic problems here in Dubai so we'll see what happens. The traffic is still a major problem here. Nets drove to pick us up from the hotel which is 10 mins away from her so we could go to a friend's birthday breakfast and well she was still in traffic in the morning for 2 whole hours!!! The breakfast turned into a birthday lunch due to our tardiness thanks to the traffic. We're currently at Nets and Rich's in Sharjah and having a ball. We haven't quite made it home just yet on our way from New Zealand. It's my birthday Two years in a row now I'm in the UAE for my birthday. I'm such a lucky girl. Nets got up early and made us all a lovely bacon and eggs breakfast. It was fantastico. Later in the evening the ladies of Dubai came over and we had a few drinks,...

We had planned to have Tau's brithday at the beach since it's prettier out there and the beach will keep the kids busy for hours. We were going to bbq on the beach and have a pig on the spit and celebrate till we drop. Come Saturday morning we woke up to heavy rain and heavy clouds. We thought it might be better on the other side of the island so my dear sister and nieces drove on ahead to hold a couple of fales for us before we all descends upon the chosen beach. Well we were constantly in touch and 'sister' called to say that it was stormy out at the beach. So a quick call around to the other family and my older sister suggested we do the birthday at their place since it's indoors away from the rain and in town. So I called all the cars that were heading towards the beach and everyone happily did their u-turns and headed back to town including us. We kicked started the celebrations with games for the kids that even the adults joined in. It was just hilarious. Gran...

We spent the whole of June in Samoa and it was just beautiful. Tau and I arrived in Samoa on June 2nd and hubby arrived on the 9th. Unfortunately the holiday kicked off on a sad note due to the death of the sister of friends due to a car accident. Net was still in Samoa so we both went to the family service which was very touching and a beautiful celebration of her life. She was a beautiful girl that lived life to the fullest. I didn't know her well but were only friends on bebo. She was a very active member on bebo and now miss her constant updates on her busy social life and her love for her beautiful niece that she's left behind. I could not imagine the pain the family is experiencing at the sudden loss of their beloved sister and daughter. I pray that they are healing and coming to terms in some way with their tragic loss. Paradies Nets and I went out a couple of nights to check out the local scene that we had missed out on in the past months! Nice to see that no one missed...

Here were are in Hamilton NZ. We had a good but looooong flight from Oman. Tau was very good the whole way. I was chasing him up the aisles as he crawled up and down and smiled at the different passengers. Some quite happy to entertain him, others with scowls on their faces of which Tau then kept going or wouldn't move till her got some acknowledgment ha ha! I love my smiling little boy. There are some courteous people out there. In Muscat one guy offered to bring take our cabin bag onto the plane and proceeded to follow us all the way stowed the bag and then told me that he will take it off the plane until we part ways in Dubai. I was taken aback but thanked him profusely and sat down to make Tau comfortable. The guy did as he promised when we landed in Dubai. Once off the aircraft I put Tau in the sling and dragged our bag along. Once we made it into the main terminal I found Emirates strollers that I then blonked Tau into and went to look for the evasive Marhaba lounge which we ...

I just watched the final episode of Survivor Tocantins which was filmed in Brazil. I actually enjoy watching this show. It's a live documentary of the Human Species at it's best and worst. So tonight JT the southerner won. He was a nice guy and he deserved to win much more than his 'BS artist' friend Stephen who could not tell the truth to save himself. Anyway in the end, most of those people end up lying, break people's trust just to get further in the game. It's a great show of how a million dollars affect people's decisions and the way they treat each other. They've announced that the next show will be filmed in my beloved country SAMOA. I think it's great tourism exposure for Samoa but I wonder also about other factors that might affect the ecosystem there. For example what greenery are they going to clear in order to shoot the show and do the challenges. Watching the past shows, I always cringed at the use and abuse of nature by some of the comp...

I've just realised I haven't blogged in a long time. Sad but in all honesty I have my moments of questioning if there is anything worth blogging about in my life. A while ago...blame it on PMS/PMT.. I wondered about what I'm doing with my life. Should I got back to work and make something(carreer path) for myself or should I just relish the fact that I'm blessed to be able to stay home and look after my son? I've had many MANY conflicting thoughts about this. I actually felt embarrassed to even blog about it. I sometimes do not put my honest feelings and thoughts on this blog because it makes me feel too exposed! This blog is so personal and has everything about me that I feel some things are best left to me, myself and I - until now :) However when I hear one of my sisters who is also a mother and holds a full time job cry over lost time with her child, I count my blessings and think maybe I should just be thankful for what I do. Don't get me wrong I love my ti...

Yesterday we drove back from Sharjah after five days with Netia and Rich. Needless to say we had an awesome time. Better yet Tau was comfortable and settled in quite well until he decided to give us a hard time and woke up in the middle of the night just for the heck of it. Didn't help after a few wines with Nets ha ha! The boys went out for a game of golf at the Sharjah golf club while Nets, Tau and I went to check out the Dubai Mall. The traffic wasn't too bad and for the first time I drove in the midst of Dubai's notorious traffic. I must say it wasn't too bad. Maybe the recession has something to do with it! Anyway one more mall to the Dubai list and wow what a mall. It's fairly cosy and they had this amazing waterfall at one end with silver men diving into the water. Very nice and a few steps further you come across the magnificent aquarium with sharks, all sorts of fish, sting-rays and human divers heh heh It was quite something. Very deep and huge. Not far wa...

I just saw this news on stuff.co.nz of a woman that gave birth and left her newbown baby on a Poly Blue flight from Samoa yesterday. Staff found the baby in the toilet and reported it to the authorities immediately. According to stuff.co.nz a woman suspected to be the mother later approached customs bleeding heavily. Both baby and mother were then taken to the hospital and received treatment there. My heart goes out to that woman and her plight. I pray that the little miracle survives and nothing is wrong with it. Details are not clear on why she did what she did but this is not news. This happens too often than not in Samoa. Some of the cases that I know of is a woman has a back or tummy ache and when they go to the hospital they are shocked to be told that they are in fact experiencing labour and about to have a baby. The pressure from family and society, I think, forces women to deny that they are in fact pregnant. Admitting one is pregnant outside of marriage is advertising that sh...

Two days ago on hubby's day off I went to get a haircut around lunch time. So it was just daddy and baby for lunch together. I came home and bubs was having his afternoon nap and hubby was relaxing proudly. I took bubs for a walk and a play in the gardens with other kids in the neighbourhood and got wind of a yoga class at the gym later in the day. I came home with bubs and told hubby that I was going to yoga so he will have to do feeding and the whole bedtime routine on his own. He was cool with it so off I went. I came back after class and bubs was already in bed, fed and bathed and hubby looked very relieved. I had a shower and was relaxing in the lounge when came in and said, wait for it; "Honey I appreciate everything you do." "yep it ain't easy is it now" was my cheeky reply. Of course when it's dinner time and bubs is tired and hungry he wants to be picked up. So trying to hold him and prepare his dinner at the same time requires three arms which ...

I was so shocked when I saw the news about the woman who had octuplets by in vitro fertilization and on top of that already has six children. I saw her interview where she said she wanted to have lots of children because she was a lonely child. How is having fourteen kids an answer to a lonely childhood? How is she going to raise all of them financially, physically and emotionally? She said that she's not on welfare. It came out that her three older children receive disability payments from the government and she gets US$490.00 worth of food stamps a month from the State. So I'm not sure what she calls those if not welfare. There are so many questions about this case. How is she going to feed and look after all of them? Did she think about how she's going to have time for all of them? I really wanted to hear what her parents had to say and saw that her mother, the octuplets grandma was interviewed on radaronline.com and there's the true story if you ask me. The grandma ...

I watched Obama's inaugaration with so much enthusiasm that I'm sure I was an African slave in the US in my past life. I had tears in my eyes as I watched history unravel before my eyes. And I feel that I was in tune with what all those hopeful people standing in the cold were feeling and listening to Obama's speech I believed in that change and have faith that changes are on the way. 'Hope over fear' was an important line in his speech. It was amazing to flick from CNN to Sky to BBC and find that all the commentators were so positive with their comments. Another thing I found interesting about the inaugaration was having an opening and a closing prayer. I don't know if it's always been like that but it carried on to the lunches the following day which were opened with a prayer. This is normal in Samoa where nothing is done without a blessing so maybe this is one of Obama's changes to put God back in the "In God we trust" logo of theirs. Great...

And so the celebrations continue late into the night here in Oman. We walked down to the road in front of our building to find it in chaos as people are celebrating on the roads. People are sitting on their cars and on the windows hanging out with flags and all dressed in their colours to celebrate their win tonight. I hate to think of the accident toll tonight due to the excitement. There are also children with their heads out the windows. What's funny is all this is live on TV as they cover all around the country and their celebrations on the roads. The cars are still moving on the highway and some people are dancing on the streets. People are just elated. The top scorer, best goalie and best player got apartments in developments around the country. The reporters are on the highway stopping cars and interviewing random people driving past. It's all in Arabic but the pride shining through need no translation as they praise their team and his majesty. Congratulations Oman. Two ...

I'm watching the Oman vs Saudi final on TV. It's being held at the local stadium near us so we can hear the cheering. This is a football loving nation and wow I've never seen such patriotism in the way the Omanis are supporting their team. For this occasion people are allowed to decorate their cars with the Oman colours. So the cars on the roads are quite colourful, some with stickers stuck all over their cars of the Oman flag colours and others bear the team posters. The stadium is very colourful just like anywhere else with the team colours in the crowd. There are also lots of women in the crowd and interesting also they are wearing the team colours as scarves and others with the wigs even but still manage to be conservative.It's quite something. It's great that the women are very involved as well. Right now they're going on to a shoot out as it's full time now and no score on the board. Ali Al Habsi is the local hero. He's the goalie for Oman and also...

It's long overdue that I update my blog. We did a lot since my last entry. Hubby was quite busy on the phones when we got back from the desert to find us a place to stay in Salalah. We had decided to go to Salalah for New Year's plus we hadn't been there before. So hubby found a villa at the Crowne Plaza with 3 bedrooms for a very good price that we started packing right away for our trip the very next day. Tau, his nana and I were to fly down the following afternoon while hubby, his dad and the kids were to drive the 1000kms down early the next morning. We landed in Salalah at about 2pm and what a sight it was. It was very green it was just like being back home. I was so surprised and immediately warmed to the place. Moreover the drive from the airport was like that from Faleolo airport to Satapuala with rows after rows of coconuts trees on both sides of the road. We checked in and as I was so tired we just went to the villa relaxed and tried to have a nap. Didn't succ...