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I’m rather behind with my blog. More like six months behind. It’s been a pretty crazy six months - new baby, new country, new challenges. Not enough sleep. We’ve done many of the fantastic tourist attractions here in Dubai, with a whining toddler and screaming baby in tow; moved house (again!); and just about got ourselves established in our new Arabian-style villa in Al Rashidiya. In fact, I don’t know where to start with this update - and am feeling a little rusty - so here goes....
Home Sweet Home Finally, we have a permanent home! After a whole year of living either with parents or in temporary accommodation, we now have a proper home. We’ve unpacked, painted and put up pictures. It feels good. We no longer have goats just round the corner, or airplanes flying right above. We now live opposite the airport fuel farm. Actually, it’s rather nice. My husband thinks we’ve really made it as over the road there’s a shawarma (Arabic sandwich) stand. I like the fact that there’s also a shopping mall across the street with coffee shops, a supermarket and a play area. The Big Boy loves the fact that Dubai’s eagerly anticipated
Our villa
Nahyan Villas, Al Rashidiya, Dubaimonorail runs right by us (it doesn’t actually open until September but, to the Big Boy’s delight, they’ve started testing the trains). The Cat’s happy because there are no dogs here.
Trains, planes and shops aside, the other good thing about our new villa is that it’s not orange in colour - our temporary housing was bright orange (think glow-in-the-dark orange) and became known as the pumpkin patch. Here, sunglasses aren’t required. Ear-plugs, however, might come in handy - there’s a huge mosque right by us (think cathedral proportions!) and the call to prayer starts at the crack of dawn, around 4 am. Actually, we’ve got used to it already, though they do go a bit crazy on Fridays, the Holy day, and start broadcasting the sermon. The kids refer to the call to prayer as ‘the noisy man’ and think our compound’s caretaker is the noisy man himself, as, on cue, he disappears off to pray.
I rather cunningly enticed Mum and Dad over for 10 days ‘on holiday’ - except they had to go home for a rest as we got busy painting the house and doing the garden. The garden’s small but now has potted
plants, a tree and even a tiny ‘lawn’ (a lawn, ha ha! It’s actually fake grass that certainly won’t require cutting but may need hoovering). The plants are on a schedule - needing watering morning and night - but not during the day as if the leaves get wet they get scorched in the sun. Yes , the temperature has peaked at 108F already!
Before moving here, we were toying with the idea of joining a fitness centre. Now I have no excuse. The compound’s facilities include a gym and pool - Muslim style. This means ‘his’ and hers’ - ie, a gym and pool for the gents and an identical set-up for the ladies. Both are nearly always empty, so if we all want to swim together, I can sneak into the gents’. Unlike our previous compound - where there were more Westerners than you could shake a stick at - there’s a different cultural mix here. At the local park (where men aren’t allowed in on week days), I’m usually the only female not wearing a veil. Sometimes (okay, often) I wish that our local parks were men-only, giving me more opportunities to skive and put my
feet up at home!
So, we’ve finally properly arrived here in Dubai. It’s been a long journey, involving a detour on the way to have a baby - have never been one to do things by halves - and I definitely had a touch of culture shock at first, but now we’re all set for visitors. Just bring plenty of sunscreen and earplugs!
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Gareth Gardner
non-member comment
Fab house!
Hi Maz Good to hear from you once again and glad everything is going well. The house looks wonderful, and it must be great to be near shops/cafes etc. And glad the cat is with you!!!! Missing you lots G xxxx