Images of Dubai

Dune Bashing is perhaps one of the most popular attractions among tourists and indeed, a fun one! A caravan of off road cars making their way through the desert sand, one second on top of a sand dune and the next, in the deep valley surrounded by sand mountains. The entire trip ends at a camp, where a delicious local meal and local entertainment awaits you. Grilled chicken and lamb, hummus, salad, shish tawouk, tabbouleh...all the delicacies of the Middle East (mostly the Lebanese kitchen) are being pepared while the show on the centre stage is going on throughout the evening. After a few hours, it is time to leave the camp and return back, not through the desert though, which is fortunate, considering the amount of food one has stuffed oneself with..
Dune bashing
Before we entered the desert, we were offered opportunities to do our own Dune Bashing with Quad Bikes! Perhaps something for the more adventurous, but it is great fun too!

Of course we had time to stop and admire the fantastic Desert Sun Set and as soon as the sun was gone, the temperature dropped rapidly.

The Burj Al Arab, the world's only 7 star luxury hotel, is designed to remind of a billowing sail. However, from the sea side (thanks to the sky bar) it looks more like a gigantic cross...
The inside is much what you can expect from a luxury hotel in Dubai.. a bit over the top, balancing between astonishing and tasteless... The food in the Asian buffet restaurant was amazing though and the service is impeccable. I don't think I was allowed to refill my water glass even once. The restaurant offered all sorts of food from China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia. We recognized dishes from Singapore, like laksa soup for instance and of course, there was an entire section with only sushi and sashimi! Lucky me!

I have never put my feet on a sailing boat, until last week! And it was a fantastic experience. Not that I did much of active sailing, I was mostly enjoying myself in the sun, with a glass of cold white wine in my hand, munching on snacks. It was great to be able to see Dubai and its landmarks from the sea side. We made a quick stop for swimming and the sailing adventure ended with champagne and cheese platter. Who could possibly complain??

Halloween

Halloween has never been something we celebrated in Sweden. It is something I have come across lately, especially since we moved abroad. Last year, we went to our first (!) Halloween party and it was very nice, I dressed up as a witch (what a suitable costume to go along with my personality...) and the husband put on a funny hat. This year we are trying to take it to another level. A completely new level. Last week, we had an amazing Halloween party, all dressed up in the most unimaginable costumes...! We laughed, ate and danced all night long!
This week, three Halloween parties awaits us ignorants from the North. Two parties for the kids, Elias will go as a bright green skeleton and Joli as a witch...(talking about matching personality!!). She has her own little party at nursery as well! On Saturday, a bigger party for kids and adults takes place and we all make our contributions.
I am truly looking forward, any excuse to celebrate, get together and met friends and get to know new people is good enough for me!
I bought the kids a small Pumpkin bag for the Trick & Treat and will try to remember to keep an extra load of sweets at home in case some witches, skeletons or wizards will come round to our house this weekend.
In between these parties, we have a birthday party to attend to also. Busy, busy! My trip to Kabul on Sunday almost seems like a relaxing getaway, to recharge the batteries and get De- Halloweened....

Our house

I was at first very reluctant to moving to the new compound. The thought of changing school and leaving all the convenient shops and take away restaurants, not to mention the Swedish Pizza, felt a bit sad. But I must say, I do not have any regrets at all. The compound is lovely and the kids are out playing everday, biking, running, walking and it is perfectly safe.
We have supermarkets nearby, only a few minutes drive away from our house and we are conveniently located near the club, where we enjoy swimming during the weekends. The school buses and taxis have started to find their way to our compound as well and it does not feel that far out as it did in the beginning.

The kids are truly enjoying themselves, during the weekends, I hardly see my son, he is always outside playing or at a friends house. We all know each other in the neighbourhood and keep an eye on each others kids.

Our next project at home is to sort out our garden. Husbands idea is to create some sort of desert landscape in the back and to put bricks and big pots with flowers in the front, where we are going to have our bbq and our garden furniture.

The temperature has dropped from daily 45 to 35- 40 so it is nice and "cool" outside now!

A few pics of our house and the rest of the compound.

Afghanistan

September has been a hectic month. The Holy Month of Ramadan ended and we celebrated Eid for two days. I brought the kids to the mall and enjoyed an outside lunch for the first time in a month and it was nice!

At my work, we have also moved office, and it has taken longer than expected. No telephones or internet for the first two weeks, so a lot of work had to be done from home. Finally, the days after Eid, internet and phones were working again and life went back to normal.

The last weekend of September, we were busy with coffee mornings and birthday parties, all very nice and social activities. Elias was invited to a pool party with all his class mates. It was great to see him running around and playing with them, one would not know that he just started a new class this year and I felt very happy for him. School is fine, he is learning French and Arabic and he will start playing football after school. My little girl enjoys her nursery as well, leaving every morning on the bus with her beloved "Ngingi" toy. The nursery is fantastic and every week she brings home amazing art work...!

The last days of September, I went to Kabul again for a three day visit, which was soon extended to a six day visit! I decided to stay a few more days to be able to finish some more work, though I think I have to go back there again by the end of the month, which I am already looking forward to! Kabul and Afghanistan is so much more than Talibans and bombs. Though of course, one has to be careful, and things take time. You need a driver to go somewhere and if a bomb goes off, everyone will be on security lock down and prohibited to leave the compound.

This time we had the opportunity to visit a local family. They live in the outskirts of Kabul, in a very quiet and beautiful area, where you can see the mountains just outside their window. We passed busy market streeets, dirty rivers and were amazed by all the houses built on the mountain slopes. I can't even imagine to walk up and down those stairs every day! Children with school bags, mothers with babies, men with beard and traditional clothes, men in Western clothes, women in burqa, women with only a thin head scarf.

We were greeted by our hosts older and younger brothers and all the children in the house, all curious and very friendly. We sat down in a bright room with big carpets on the floor and cushions along the walls. First, they servered green tea, cookies, candy and biscuits. After that, a lovely Afghan lunch was brough in. The typical Central Asian dish with rice, raisins (a type of raisin), carrot and meat, all cooked together (in Uzbekistan, they call it ploff). Chicken, fries, salad, soft drinks and after the meal, water melon and grapes. One of the family members acted interpreter and questions bounced back and forth between all of us. Being the only woman in the company, I had the opportunity to meet the wife and mother of our host. The women never show themselves among male guests and they have their on room where only the women gather.

It was truly an amazing lunch, to be able to sit down with these incredibly friendly people and enjoy a lunch with them brought new perspectives to Kabul. I am becoming more and more curious about this country and its beautiful but often also very cruel, history.

Power walk in the Mall

Yesterday, after dropping off my daughter at the nursery, I decided to go for a coffee at the only open cafe/restaurant at Mall of the Emirates during Ramadan. On my way, I met around eight- ten ladies, all in trainers, jogging pants and tops/T-shirts, with Ipods and water bottles. They were moving fast, a small group of expat women, their arms moving up and down in a steady rythm. I realized that they were all Powerwalking, inside the Mall.....how funny isn't that?? Ok, fair enough, it is very hot outside, but around 9 am, the temperature is around 34 and it is not too humid, I guess one can bear a power walk outside, let's say along the beach, or along Jumeirah Beach Road with its great scenery (the sea, and the mighty Burj Al Arab hotel) and not to mention all the other luxurious houses along that road. But instead these women are power walking inside a shopping mall.......I guess it's better than nothing, but still weird..

September

September is a hectic month, school starts and there are a few things to be sorted out: school transport, payment for school transport, enrollment in nursery (which nursery is the best one among a million to chose from???) payment for bus transport to nursery, purchase of school uniform, bag, PE bag, swimming bag, school hat.....Meet and greet with teachers at new school and nursery, one million information papers from school and nursery, lunch box purchases (Spiderman for the son and Dora for the daughter).

Office shifting and still no internet after more than a week. Everything is in a mess, files to be sorted and printers to be connected... in the meantime we try our best, some of us are working from home.

Afternoons are spent at the Poloclub and the lovely swimming pool. Most of our neigbours are spending the afternoons there so you can always find someone to chat with.

More of Sweden

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