Pinching myself

Late yesterday afternoon, as the sun started to slide down the sky and the fierce heat started to melt away, we went to our pool and beach. Our pool and beach!

We splashed in the tepid water of the gulf and the kids made sandcastles.

Feeling hot we decided to cool off in the pool. The water is chilled, making it beautifully refreshing.

We swam and played and laughed. I looked around and had to pinch myself. This isn't a holiday, this is our home.

How lucky am I. So lucky, I can't believe it. I don't know what I expected when we moved here, but I didn't expect this.

Up, down and sideways

The past week has been busy. B.U.S.Y.

I've been up and down Sheik Zayed Rd too many times to count. We've bought furniture, we've waited for deliveries, I've had arguments, there have been stuff-ups galore. I've pulled my hair out, I've shook my head in disbelief. I've struggled to understand people's accents, they've struggled to understand mine.

There have been times when I've thought: "This is all too hard. What are we doing?" Others when I've thought: "This is awsome".

Best of all we're in our new home and we're loving it. This morning, being the weekend, we went down to the beach and swam and then cooled off in the pool. We had coffees and relaxed. And generally felt lucky and amazed that we now call this place home. I have to pinch myself some times.

It's so nice to be able to take some time to breathe this weekend, there has just been so much going on. I now feel like we can plant some roots and enjoy this place for what it is.

Before we left, my dad said to me: "This experience will be what you make it." So true. I plan on making it fun, memorable and the time of our lives.

Lump in my throat

For the past week, each weekday when the girls go off to school and Skip goes off to work I find this lump in my throat. It hasn't been there on the weekends, just when Darbs and I are alone in this place.

We've found somewhere to live and it's been a rush of finding and buying furniture. We came with just a suitcase, so there is a whole home for a family of five to set up.

It's a lovely place and I know that we're going to have a lot of fun and make a whole heap of great memories there.

But still that lump remains...

That lump is anxiety and nervousness.

It's worrying about the girls at school, hoping that they're settling in and don't have lumps in their own throats. It's remembering their little fingers digging into my leg as I pried myself away at their classroom door this morning.

It's the extra energy it takes when you're in a foreign place just to get in the car and find a supermarket. Or find a bed shop. Or find anything. It's making sure you don't turn the car into oncoming traffic or take a wrong turn and end up in another Emirate.

It's worrying that I'm dressed appropriately.

It's trying to find something for dinner in a supermarket that's different. Do I really want to buy that odd looking meat from Kenya?

It's worrying that Skip is finding his feet at work and enjoying it.

It's not having someone, anyone, to call and say let's catch up for a play and a coffee and a laugh.

It's looking at the mums at school drop-off in stilettos and full make up and wondering how or if I'll ever break into that circle.

It's all the things that you take for granted at home, that is second nature, that you don't even think about that suddenly need your energy.

I know that in time, soon enough, that the lump will get smaller and disappear. As the kids make friends, as I make friends, as I find my way around. I know that it's not a bad thing. I know that I'm learning and growing. I know that it will all be worth it. I know that I'll be glad that I've pushed myself. It's like the first of school or the first day of anything, the fear and the nervousness can be all-consuming but before long you can't even remember feeling that way.

But right now, right this minute, all I can feel is that lump.

IKEA re-hash

About 18 or so months ago I wrote a post about my love/hate relationship with IKEA. In that post I vowed never to return. Today I went back, thinking maybe IKEA is different in the Middle East. I'm here to tell you it's not. It's just as frustrating, just as annoying. We had a whole apartment's worth of furniture picked out - lounges, dining table, beds, etc, etc. Most of it was out of stock. It was going to take 7 days to deliver, if we wanted it sooner we had to take it ourselves that day - what, all of it in our car? We had to wander around and talk to eight different people. It was stressful and crap

We ended up walking out with nothing. We went to another furniture store that had stuff that was better, just as inexpensive, one person could take our whole order (no wandering through massive aisles finding parts and pieces), nothing to put together and they could deliver in 48 hours. Best of all the place was empty, no elbows or screaming kids. Why do you make it so hard IKEA?

To remind myself, I re-hashing the post I wrote last year. I hope you enjoy it.

IKEA and the ex-boyfriend

I went to IKEA today. What a mistake! In fact, while driving home, I decided that IKEA is a lot like an ex-boyfriend. Confused? Let me explain...

The first time you go to IKEA you're head over heels. There's so much to choose from, all so inexpensive. It's mesmerising. That's it! You're going to shop at IKEA forever, there's nothing better out there. You can't believe how lucky you are to have found it. Sure it's a little annoying and there's no-one to help you. Sure it's a little difficult to find what you're after, but you'll work through it. Nothing's perfect, after all.

Then you go home. Not only do you have to do all the work putting it and keeping it together, there is very little in the way of instructions. Once together you realise it's not quite once you wanted and is also a little wobbly (from having to put it together yourself). Shortly after it begins to fall apart. You curse IKEA and vow never to go there again.

Time passes and you think 'Hmmm maybe it's not that bad'. After all everyone else seems to rave about it. Maybe you didn't put enough effort it, maybe if you try a little bit harder this time it will all work out better. 

So, you go back. At first you're mesmerised again. Look at it all, it's wonderful! Then suddenly you feel trapped and all the things you hate about IKEA come rushing back to you. Putting in all the hard work, having to do everything yourself, the cheap shoddy product you get for all your effort. Being treated badly or like you're invisible. Often you simply feel like they're speaking a totally different language.

Tears, frustration, anger. Worst of all you can't work out how to get out of this damn place!

So, this time, this time I swear I will never go back to IKEA again. I've managed to put that old relationship in the past and replace it with a much, much better one, now to find a replacement for my retail relationship...

Be careful of what you wish for

A few days ago I started to worry about Goosey's first day of school. In UAE, they follow the British system and start school earlier than in Australia. So, Goose is going to school with her big sister. I was worried that her first day wouldn't be as special or memorable as Lil's. That with all the other firsts going on, this one would get lost in the wash.

I really shouldn't have worried. Goose will always make sure her presence is felt. 

Today was her first day and it started at 4.30am when Darbs decided to wake up. It then continued when Lil went to the toilet and slipped over in a large puddle of water, which I discovered had come from the roof.

While I was trying to sort out the leakage problem, Goose decided to give herself a new school makeover. She cut her hair. It wasn't just a trim either. She cut it ALL off, bar a couple of strands at the back that she couldn't reach. Her golden curls gone, she looked like a weird Billy Ray Cyrus type. This on her VERY first day of school. 

I love Goose fiercely. She's the kind of girl that marches to her own beat. She doesn't really care what others think. She's her own person. She's competitive, she's strong-willed, she's hilariously funny. She's the toughest person I know. She's ended up in Emergency from her own actions all too often. She's the only person, the only one I tell you, who would give herself a short haircut on the first day of school.

When she realised just how bad it was, she cried and said she wanted to go back to Australia. I did the best I could to tidy it up, she plonked her hat on her head and off we went. 

On our way, I suddenly heard a massive POP and then a thud. I had a flat tyre.

I called Skip. He was going to come and change it, but I reminded him it was 40 plus out and dusty. Not good when you're in a suit and have meetings to go to. Also, I didn't know if I could direct him where to go. The hire car company practically hung up on me, not before telling me they didn't change flat tyres. Our relocation agent said he'd love to help me, but he was in  Abu Dhabi.

I sat and thought. I'd never changed a tyre before. I looked at the tools in the boot. I looked at the spare tyre. Sweat started to drip off me after mere seconds.

All of a sudden a man pulled up behind me and before I knew it he was changing the tyre for me.

Woo hoo!

We made it to school.

On the way back, two cars collided in front of me on the main crazy highway. I had to swerve to miss them.

Nerves jangling. In need of a drink. I got home.

So I'm fairly certain Goosey's first day of school will be memorable. Not always for the right reasons, but memorable none the less.

Golden locks no more.

Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers. Best of all he didn't murder me. 

Goose decided to keep her hat on all day. I have no idea why....

The school is in the shadow of a landmark!

Speaking a different language

Anyone who has travelled knows that different people in different places have their own ways of doing things. There's a shorthand, that if you're from out of town, you don't understand even if you're speaking the same language.

That has happened a lot here. Such as being told on Friday night that the real estate agent needed a large deposit urgently the next day, despite us not having a bank account and limited access to ATMs. It was just assumed that we of course knew this. Of course, we didn't.

Or being told that the kids' orientation day at school was on from 8am-12pm. I thought that meant they went to school from 8am-12pm, but no, we can turn up any time between those hours for a quick 20 minutes orientation. Thankfully I had called about something else and happened to ask.

There are so many rules and procedures and ways of doing things that are different from home, yet it's assumed that you know what's going on. I find that when I ask questions I get a big sigh, or an eye roll. It's amazing how you can hear an eye roll over the phone.

"Houses don't come with oven/stoves in Dubai?" sigh "Of course, not. Who wants a used oven?"

"I would like a pre-paid sim card, please." "Where's your passport?" "I don't have it, do I need it?" eye roll "Of course you need it."

Sigh. "You need to take your bread to the bakery counter to be ticketed"

Eye roll "I need the correct change"

Even trying to buy a lunch box has been a fruitless four day shopping extravaganza. Everything is matchbox-sized. And insulated or a cold pack? Forget about it.

It's that constant feeling of not-knowing-what-the-hell-is-going-on.

I'm learning fast.

Internet dating

Things are starting to fall in place for our new life. Skip's entrenched at work, the girls start school on Tuesday and we 'think' we've found a place to live. A place that isn't in the middle of nowhere, that isn't falling down and is actually pretty nice. Anyway more on that once it's confirmed.

Now that Skip and the girls are getting their lives sorted here, it's time to try and find my place here. I know exactly one person here in Dubai. That's our relocation agent and as nice a chap as he is, it's not a friend.

One of the challenges that I've been most looking forward to moving here, is pushing myself a bit. Socially, I'm crap. I hate small talk. I'm socially awkward. I'm not one of those people leading the conversation at a party, it's just not me. So landing in a country where I don't know a soul, I'm going to have to come out of my shell a little. Put myself out there. Get uncomfortable. Now, Dubai is probably one of the easier places to do this as everyone is in a similar situation. From what I've heard, people are friendlier and more willing to let a newbie enter the circle.

It seems that everyone knows someone who lives here. Before I left home, I was inundated with offers of email addresses and phone numbers from people who knew people. I've also had offers from kind people who've read this blog. Funnily enough, I've even had the girlfriend of a family friend email me. Why it's funny is that these people were people my mum and dad met when they were living overseas before I was born and then became lifelong friends. Their son is my age and his girlfriend (who I've never met) lived in Dubai. They all read this blog "Hi, guys!". So the expat circle continues on through the generations.

So, I now find myself in the strange position where I'm emailing strangers and saying 'Hi, I'm Corinne! Want to be my friend?' To say I feel like a loser is a complete understatement.

I do worry that I won't meet people on the same wavelength. I have read blogs on  Dubai mums that scare the crap out of me.

Despite this, I have to put myself out there, suck up my pride and do this or else friends aren't going to come knocking on my door. The girls will get to meet people at school and Skip will meet people at work, and I'm sure I'll meet people through those avenues too but I have to pull my weight.

Have you ever been in a position where you've had to put yourself out there? Have you made friends through cyber introductions (other than blogging)?