Above - After rampant displays of flesh and thread-bare clothing, the UAE ministry for Fashion, has insisted FS wear her 'Berka' at all times.
Above - Too Cute, first day of school (nursery) for B3.
Above - B3 and B4 getting ready for the first day apart from each other. Note B3 school uniform includes sandals.
Above - Night out dancing; who wants to be the centre of attention on the dance floor?
Above - Give NS a bit more hair on top, and you're transported back to 1991, and still in lurrrv.
Above - I'm a Leo, love long walks on the beach, socialising with friends...oops, sorry, thought this was the 'singles' pages.
Above - Question: What do you get when you put an Aussie in charge of an Iraqi, 2 x Lebanese, 3 x Filipinos, 5 x Indians and 500X Bangladeshi, Pakistan and Sudanese? Answer: Lots of badly pronounced G'day's.
Above - Children's City Dubai.
Above - B1 and B2 on dowh boat at night.
Above - Dinner on Dubai Creek restaurant.
Above - Watch out Shirvo, B3 makes us run races every night.
Above - FS browsing the shops in Oman.
Above - NS asking for directions in Oman desert township, answers roughly translated as, "check out the dickhead in his singlet and funny boardies, ha ha ha, we love it when lost tourists come to town".
Above - Night time soccer and dinner at the Muzzabarah.
Above - FS with a wooden camel and Arab.Once again friends and fans, we apologise for the delay between posts. Such is life here, "en shala", it'll happen one day and when God "wills it". Lots of photos attached to this blog, just to give you a taste of things over the last month. They say a picture tells a thousand words, so i guess i need write little here.
Quick summary though starts with a great trip to Dubai a few weeks back. We went to Children's City, which is pretty much exactly the same as the 'Questacon' in Canberra. An interactive Museum of sorts, all hands-on, which we all enjoyed and learned lots through. I should add that this was preceded by a trip to Ikea (a must for any westerners looking for something to decorate their homes with more familiar items, and guaranteed to last maybe 3 months. We even had a breakfast bowl come in a pack with a 'screw and nut', just to confuse us!), and a trip to Toys R Us (the fluffy toys are life size polar bears and elephants, no kidding, such is the scale of everything in this crazy city). After CC, we went down to the wharfs and caught a dowh (small traditional wooden boat, powered by a spluttering diesel engine, has no sides or railings and negotiates the Dubai creek amongst another 200 dowhs and other water traffic, you ca imagine FS was very relaxed with B3 and B4 on board??), jumped off on the other side of the creek and wandered through the souks looking at and bartering with the local sellers. The smells and noises and heat here are amazing, they're not good, they're not bad, just so varied that you really know you are along way from home, experiencing something so different. After a few purchases, we went to dinner, caught another dowh back and eventually drove home late that night. Great day!
We made another trip into Oman, and whilst our Arabic is getting better we were trying to read the road signs to take us the 90km to Sohar, we ended up on the road to Salala, only 1300km away!(obviously we know just enough to get us lost or in trouble). None the less we got to see miles and miles and miles and miles of flat desert; the boys were riveted as you can imagine, not. We ended up puling over, collecting some Oman desert sand in an Arabic Coca Cola bottle, and turning around to head back to Al Ain. Family bonding inside the car when it is 55c outside and you're lost...give it a go!
The month of August also saw FS and i have our birthdays and i was stoked with a new carver skateboard; I remember unwrapping it, then it was wisked away by the boys to go riding, they tell me it is very good. FS got a lovely new 'Berka' with a peacock design. I think for xmas she is hoping for the brass face plate as the matching accessory often worn by other local women.
We are so lucky where we live, we really have a good network of new friends over here and the facilities in the village are great. The summer was made only bearable for FS and the boys (13 weeks of school holidays), because of this. Of course, we've had some good laughs with each other and our shared "experiences" of adapting to the UAE life, and there is also a very good networked community of expats through out the whole region. One of the best nights so far has been the launch of the new Al Ain Rugby Club. Donated by one of the Sheiks to the club, the new club house is simply spectacular and the opening night was a great night with plenty of dancing and drinking and laughs for the grown-ups. If they didn't know us before hand, everyone new FS and NS after our dancing to the Grease Mega Mix and plenty of solo encores also.
School has finally gone back and B3 could not have been more excited about waking every morning, jumping in the shower, changing to his 'school uniform' and strapping his backpack on. After 13 weeks of cabin fever, FS has never been so excited eitherfor school to return. B3 has started nursery (kindy equivalent), but they have to wear the uniforms, and of course he loves the idea of going to school with his big brothers. Whilst a little less excited (i think we managed a grunt from one of them), B1 and B2 are back and enjoying seeing their friends and playing again.
B1 and B2 are starting their international rugby careers, (they are telling people they have been recruited from Australia to play here) this week, after FS finally conceded to let them play.
Ramadan starts this week, this is the period of fasting for the Muslims. During day time they are not to consume water or food as well as some other sacrifices. Come night time, they feast and socialise. This period sees all shops and most activity come to a complete halt during daylight hours, with all businesses working reduced hours and most people at home sleeping. The wealthy people often supply tents and stalls of food supplies to the less fortunate during this period also, as a way of giving. Prayers are still conducted 5 times a day, with all Muslims attending the mosques for these. Even as non-Muslims, people are required to adhere by the rules of Ramadan, so this is going to be an interesting experience.
Whilst we still never really know if we'll be here for only another 5 minutes or a year or more, this is part of the 'bobbing process' of being here and we are becoming more relaxed with this part of living here, although it makes any planning harder to do, there are still plenty more experiences we want to live and see, so for the time being it's all zen yeni, alsalam habibi's, shukra jazeelan.
