I now have a spare moment and thought I would try and give you an update on life so far in Dubai. First up is a recent photo of Ali (on 10/27) when she went with her class on a field trip to Pizzeria Uno in the Dubai Mall. They learned how to make pizza! What a fantastic outing for 20+ 4 year olds! Ali absolutely loved it and could not stop talking about making pizza. She has helped me at home make home made pizza but, as you can imagine, it's (unfortunately) not an event that we have regularly. Now that she has learned by the pros, maybe we need have a pizza making evening in the near future.
She was funny as she has told me a little bit about it every day. Probably because she remembers another small part of it each day. She made her own pizza, got her own hat (which she still has at home), and brought home a few slices to share. The thing she liked best was the fact that the pizza Uno team spoke to them in English and the teacher had to translate into French. In Hungary, it was obviously Hungarian. She understands Hungarian just as well as English but it's the first time she has ever been in a school atmosphere with English spoken so she thought it was fun.
One of the mom chaperons took this photo of Ali and sent it to me. I thought it was adorable. She looks very happy and comfortable. I have lots of school photos of Ali (from last year) where she maybe looking at the camera and smiling but she has an unsure look about her. Or, maybe it's just a bit of a scared or not so confident look. I'm pleased that she is settling into her new school and making friends quickly. It helped that she new a handful of friends already but none are in her class. This is actually a blessing in disguise as she is making friends on her own in her own class as well. The teacher always reassures me that she is very happy and socially active.
Life in Dubai, in general, is fantastic. The only disadvantage is that we are all SO busy. The kids are in school Sunday - Thursday from 8am - 1:45pm. I have only picked them all up once since they started about 6 weeks ago. We have our Hungarian babysitter here helping us as we are both working full time. She is not living with us but in a small studio apartment in town. I have managed to spend one afternoon alone with each child since the beginning of the school term. We try and organize a fun afternoon just the two of us. Ali went first and wanted to pick out new sheets for her new bed then have ice cream. It was so fun and we had a great time walking hand in hand together. We then popped into a great toy store called Hamleys (I've seen it in the UK so believe it is British owned) in the Dubai Mall and bought her some food for her play kitchen. While in there, she insisted on getting something for Terence and Mia. She is thoughtful like that and always wanting to get gifts for others.
On Mia's afternoon-with-mom, we went to get our toes and nails (manicure / pedicure) done together. It was fantastic. We sat next to each other and talked and giggled. She felt like such a little lady - something she strives for a bit too much. We took a walk and just enjoyed holding hands and talking about everything. She always has SO many growing-up questions and she really took advantage of this time and asked me 100s of questions. I was so happy to have the one-on-one time with her as she needed it so much.
Unfortunately, I had a 2 week period when I couldn't leave work early so Terence had to very patiently wait. Due to a conference and lots of trainings, meetings, I couldn't get out to have my afternoon with him until last week. It upset him so much but he stayed strong and waiting as patiently as he could. Unplanned, I managed to surprise him at school last week. It was so great to see his face. He tries to act so grown up and will not jump up and down or hug and kiss but he puts on a 'I'm too cool to have emotions' face. Once we got in the car, he just chatted away and was so happy! I felt guilty that he had to wait so long but thrilled to finally have the alone time with him. He is so incredibly mature and when I am alone with him I sometimes forget he is only 9 years old. He teaches me so much and is so smart. He reads and watches the news and absorbs so many facts that he is so interesting to listen to. When he asks questions, I cannot BS him at all. Maybe it's because he is the oldest, however, I think it is just who he is as well.
He was very uncertain about what he wanted to do alone with me. I think he was just happy to spend time together. He couldn't decide, however, he had been begging us to get a home computer as Curt and I only have our laptops which are always with us at the office. He misses having a computer at the house to play on.
Since it was on my to-do list, I asked him if he wanted to pick one out with me. He was so excited as he is a complete techie! I knew he'd been hoping for an iMac so off to the Apple store we went. He was so great in asking the store rep questions. Most of them went over my head. We asked her to hold the computer we wanted (last in stock!) while we thought it over and walked around. He wanted to get lunch (he didn't eat what I had packed him in his lunch box) so we went to one of his favorite spots: Yo Sushi. They send out the sushi on a revolving conveyor belt. As it goes by our table we pick out what we want to eat and pay for each plate piled up on our table. After lunch, he was STILL hungry. He eats so much these days! We went to see what other restaurants were around and he spotted his favorite: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. So off to Krispy Kreme's we went for his doughnut fix. From there we visited some video game spots, then to pick out a birthday present for a friend's birthday party he is going to next weekend and then back to pick up our iMac that Curt agreed (over the phone) to get.
Terence, in true Terence-style, commented about how much money we had spent. He is very money conscious and always converting the dirhams into dollars and working out how expensive things are. He sometimes makes us feel guilty when we spend but we explain that we both work hard so we can buy these nice things. We also tell him we are lucky as we had opportunities to have educations and careers that many people from different parts of the world never have.
Curt and I are also doing well. We are slowly settling into our new home which we really like. We are almost unpacked and once we get one more dresser, should be just about there. We only brought about 1/2 hours things so were in need of lots (ie beds, TV, fridge, stove, washer / dryer, rugs, lamps, etc). The items we did bring, fit in really well.
I will slowly start to post photos of our home soon.
More photos and videos are coming. I promise. x o x o
on the right is the famous Owl Butterfly - meant to be the largest butterfly around.
