Greetings
Good to hear your Christmas Day went well, Glenda. We had a busy morning, first shopping for a couple of bits and pieces (without luck, I might add), then I visited the clinic for the fortnightly check on my ankle. The verdict on that was that I appear to be doing well considering I have osteoporosis, so that perked me up. Was surprised to hear though that I?d actually broken both sides of my ankle, not just the one as I originally thought. After that we just managed to make the hotel in time for lunch, which was a carvery type buffet. Had a very good meal in an English type pub in the hotel, surrounded by quite a lot of other Brits celebrating Christmas with carols playing in the background (with the a/c on it felt cold enough to be in the UK). One of the meats on offer was a whole suckling pig, so we had a sampling of the 'forbidden fruit? (although, I must say, the bit I had was 90% fat). With the pork and the fact that there were several Omanis sitting at the bar drinking alcohol, it brought it home that the stringent rules of Islam are quietly breaking down in the more progressive areas.
Re your query, the schools here do have weekends off, but our weekend is Thursday/Friday, so that accounts for the kids going to school on a Sunday. I don?t think they go on the Thursday, but can?t say I?ve noticed as we usually try to have a little lie in then (7 a.m. as opposed to normally getting up at 5.30 a.m.). Out in the more countrified areas, the school day is split with girls going in the morning and boys in the afternoon or vice versa. I was commenting yesterday that the children don?t seem to be weighted down with rucksacks laden with school books as in the UK and many, especially in this area, go to private schools. Also, with the high expat population, there are a lot of schools specially geared to the different nationalities e.g. The Indian School, The American School, The British School etc. With such an early start to the school day, they finish around 12.30 p.m. for youngsters and 14.30 p.m. for older students.
Hope Boxing Day has also gone well for you. Roll on New Year (my packing can go into overdrive then \:D/ ).
And, to whom it may concern, don't think I haven't noticed you've messed with my smiley. [-X
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Mother Bear 
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