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Wow, how excited are we - we now have 6 followers. Thanks to everyone who left us messages!

Once more I find myself catching everybody up on our escapades.  Our time seems to be eaten up with socialising these days I'm afraid - nice change from before.

Anyway, our dinner guests cancelled on us due to my failing to check with them the day before (they had forgotten).  I am beginning to realise that here in Oman, people organise things a day in advance at most.  Still, the evening did not go to waste... After a beautiful walk along the beach in the setting sun with some people from work followed by a dring in a beach-front cafe, I subjected myself to the public humiliation that is a 'Zumba' class (a mix of Egyptian ballet, Salsa and Samba music amongst others).  Luckily there were only 3 of us there (the same people from the beach earlier), so not too many embarrassing moments.  Joe had spent the evening looking for cars (again), so when he collected me, we did not waste an opportunity to find more exciting food for dinner.  This time, after feeling adventurous, we decided to try a small restaurant with no menus outside.  We were not disappointed!  The curry was undoubtedly the best we have ever eaten in a restaurant.  That, coupled with the friendly Indian waiting staff, the fresh lime juice drinks and the price all added up to a most excellent dinner.

For the first time in a while, we spent Wednesday evening (our equivalent of Friday night) home alone and I even cooked just for us.  I then proceeded to spend the rest of the time covered in silicone sealant while trying to re-seal the bath and shower tray.  An interesting experience given that someone in the past had tried to do the same thing with tile grout!!!  Still, Beth 1 sealant 0 in the end.

Thursday saw a marathon car shopping expedition with Ben, my 6'4" Aussie friend from Grade 6 which lasted from 9:30am - 6:30pm with a short interval for shopping (yet another exciting supermarket experience) and lunch.  The highlight of the day had to be the test drive of the Suzuki Grand Vitara... We were told that the car needed to be collected from the service centre, so we toddled off with the guy from the dealership.  The deal was that we would follow him back to the dealership before swapping cars to drive the V6 version.  All was well until he informed us that he had no 'green plates' (the Omani eqivalent of trade plates).  This was fine, but there were no reg plates on the car at all. It would all be fine, he told us, we were just to follow him the 15 or so km back along the highway.  En route, it occurred to us that there were 3 ex-pats driving a car which we did not own with no registration plates and no proof that we were on a test drive (he did not take copies of residency cards OR driving licences!).  Imagine explaining that to a policeman who looks for the 'white Suzuki in front with the dealership guy' who is nowhere to be seen, or who manages to speak to said guy who claims no knowledge and says we sole it!  This in a country where you can get fined for having a dirty car or can face 2 days in prison for jumping a red light.  Still, all was well that ended well.  We did not get pulled over, nor did we commit any further crime (to our knowledge, anyway).  I have now driven my first automatic car and driven on the wrong side of the road for more than a few yards. I am most pleased with myself.

I have just been reminded that this was not the real highlight of the day.  While standing in a used car lot, we realised that we were right outside a mosque when the call to prayer began.  For the first time ever, I was hearing a live Adhan (I think that's the correct name).  Wow.  Not long after this, we visited a garden centre (no cups of tea I'm afraid) and now have a plant in our hallway.  Apparently it's fairly indestructibe.  Bets on how long it lasts before I manage to kill it?

And that brings us to today  - Friday, the last day of the weekend.  We found the ice rink - a rather small, but nice and cool place which we may try and organise a trip out to.  We also found the golf course - a sand course (you take a piece of astro turf with you to play off!).  Hopefully this means that I may actually manage to improve my game.

Bedtime now - it's 10:20 on a school night, so more tomorrow (hopefully).