Quick.  Someone call my son in Colorado and tell him there are photos on the Internet of his mother doing a wadi.  Of course, while my version also includes water, it is not the same thing he has in mind.  But, it’ll get him online reading my blog.  And, he would’ve loved my version too.

So, I had a fantastic weekend.  It began Thursday night with me winning a, um, massager with attachments and infrared lighting (or whatever the red light is called).  I guess if anyone were to win such a thing at a teacher happy hour in the Middle East it would be me.  After that little shindig we went to my absolute favorite place to hang out in Al Ain, the Leisure Center.  It’s this huge place with a beautiful patio area.  People lounge and smoke shisha, sip tea, listen to the two-man band (one with a violin, the other with a keyboard), talk, laugh, and eat really good food.  Shannan, one of my new friends, and I are totally working toward making it our Thursday night hangout.  Afterward, we went into Daiso, an Asian version of the Dollar Tree, and saw the creepiest Santa ever.

 This photo doesn’t do him justice.  One eye is way bigger than the other, and his eyebrows look like leeches.  But, we appreciate the effort, and I bought some cute christmas decorations in there.

Friday I hiked “the steps” with Lisa, my neighbor/buddy, stopped to get breakfast at La Brioche, cleaned house and then went out with the girls to watch the third Hunger Games movie.  When you buy movie tickets here you pick your seat and an usher with a flashlight walks you to your seat.  This is a chatty culture, so don’t expect everyone in the theater to stop talking when the movie starts.  That said when the really intense scenes were on, everyone shut the hell up and held their breath —- even those of us who read the books.  Great movie, and I’m glad I got talked into going.  Afterwards, we hung out at Trader Vics patio, which overlooks a nice pool area, and had mojitos and dinner.  Perfect day.

Today was even better.  We joined Al Ain Weekenders on a trek to find a few wadis in the Oman mountains.  A wadi is a pocket of water you can swim in.  Well, some don’t leave you much room for swimming, but others go on for quite a long ways.  We hiked to two small ones, but it was still worth it.  Folks who came in cars were able to drive to the first spot, but the second place we drove to was 4-wheel drive vehicles only, and trust me it was an experience.  I’m tired, so let me stop writing and just post some of the pics.

 our little caravan.  As you can see we are in the middle of nowhere. 

 Amy, me and one of the cutie pies who made the hike.Another cutie pie and me rushing into the cold water.

 Shannan checking out the calcium pondLisa’s photo of pond

 Lisa’s photo of the group. Wait, Lisa is in pic too.  Maybe Shannan took this.  Sorry, trying to give credit where it’s due.  Someone took it!

hahaha Lisa’s photo of Oman’s Angels and her photo of me taking a pic of her.  Um, of course mine was out of focus.  My eyes are going on me!

swimmers and a local man making sure we made it.  Okay, so he was out enjoying the sites as well.

We weren’t the only ones treading water.

Just because I’m not impressed doesn’t mean I won’t eat it…okay, fake eat it.

Amy, another Arizona girl, is far more adventurous on the rocks than I was.

Green!  It’s so much nicer when you hardly see it.

we’re on top of the world!

but you kind of wonder what happened to whatever was tied to the end of that rock.  There is a very steep cliff a few inches away.

A small house, an Omani family in the middle of nowhere, and they gave us directions on how to get to where we wanted to be.  Notice how Amy’s little mirror guy is swinging. There are no pictures that can do the drive to our second spot justice.

Even the goat was like, “Bitch, you’re crazy driving here.”

But, we all survived, and it was a beautiful day.

Now, if Thursday would just hurry up and get here so that I can get back to enjoying my weekend!