January 18, 2011 Kay's Journal Ghalya’s Museum of Modern Art

Breakfast on the deck overlooking the men repairing the fishing nets and just below a few of the men working on wooden boats. Such a lovely morning. Now were off and running to see the Nat’l Geographic exhibit on “dhows”. The wooden boats are still in use today. While waiting in line we met English mothers who are home schooling as well as American women doing the same. Just above us is the “Hypermart” grocery mall. Great fun to explore the food aisles and see the arrays of coffee beans, cheeses, meats, nuts and dates. From here we drove over to the Senior Bosch’s for lunch with Don, Eloise and Cecilia. Paul came in a little later. Very nice, lovely home, gorgeous view of the ocean and a nice lunch of pumpkin soup, tuna salad, fresh fruit and chocolate or date cake for desert. Very tasteful and good company, Don enjoyed himself as well.


The Bosch’s have let us do our laundry at their place for there are no accommodations at Leslie & David’s, plus use their computer which is very helpful. Off to the gym and onto the beach at the Al Bustan. How nice is that. Tonight we attended the opening of the “Ghalya’s Museum of Modern Art”. Very impressive. We sat next to the Japanese “Ambassador and his wife, in front of us were the Italian Ambassador with two very attractive women, British & American Ambassador,( Richard Schmierer and Sandy) in attendance.  There were traditional Omani musicians and dancers, both male and female, greeting the guests as they arrived and as they left. The ladies were dressed in bright red traditional Omani clothes. Gorgeous Omani women in their beautiful designed abbaya’s with tight “sarwal” pants tapered to the ankles worn underneath the abbaya. The shawls covering their hair are very feminine. The combination of the facial makeup, the shading of the eyes, lips lines and the many varieties of the “shawl” make for a very alluring look for the woman. We have seen so many attractive Omani women here. Femininity is very apparent in these woman. They love fashion and know how to wear it properly. Great fun being here with Leslie and David. They are known amongst different groups and with David speaking Arabic it has made this trip a true pleasure. David father, Don, is a retired missionary Doctor here in Muscat. Don, Eloise and children arrived here in the mid-50's. Don being the second Dr. ever to be here is highly respected, not only by the public but has endeared he and his family to the Sultan by his good care of the Sultan’s Mother. This is when David learned to speak, read and write Arabic growing up here a child. It is such a delight to listen to David conversing with Omani’s and to see the surprise look on some of the Omani faces when they realize this is just not a tourist giving his greetings! Back to the Bosch’s and into bed with the cool ocean breezes passing through our windows. Prayer call in the morning is our wakeup call.

PS - The weekly HI magazine social pages showed a picture of Roger and Kay at the opening admiring a painting with the artist explaining her work