The race that stops a nation, just not this nation

It's a strange thing, I didn't get home sick when Darbs and Lil had their birthdays recently, but the thought of missing the Melbourne Cup makes me feel far away from home. As the whole of Australia gathers round TVs and radios for the race, life will go on as normal here, I'm sure. Despite Dubai having some strong links to the cup.

The only similarity will be the school run interrupting the cup, the difference is it will be the morning run rather than the afternoon. Still, I'll drop the kids off and rush home to watch the race – I believe it's my duty as an Australian and a resident of Dubai, even if I won't be watching over a champagne luncheon and a handful of TAB tickets.

You see, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, (his whole title is always quoted when he's mentioned in the media here) is a horse racing enthusiast. He owns Godolphin stables and will be vying to win the cup tomorrow. I don't know if the Sheik is in town, if he is I'm sure he'll be watching from the palace tomorrow morning. Dubai airline Emirates is the major sponsor of the Melbourne Cup too. This means as an official resident of Dubai my tip for the cup has to be.... Cavalryman. Plus, it's Frankie Dettori's last cup ride for Godolphin.

What are you doing for the cup? What's your hot tip for the race?

Sorry Sunday

As I wrote about yesterday, Sunday is the first day of the working week here. The kids are back at school, Skip at work. Each Sunday, I feel a heaviness, it's the hardest time of the week for me. I'm not sure why, I feel like I should be relishing the peace and quiet, but for some reason Sunday mornings make me feel a bit sad and lonely here. It doesn't help that when I jump online to distract myself, everyone on Facebook and Twitter in Australia are enjoying the last moments of their weekends.

This morning after I dropped the kids at school and Darbs and I had a coffee and play time at the beach, I came home and cleaned up the destruction of the weekend. Brought some order back to the house. Wiped down the benches, mopped the floors, took the rubbish out, put on loads of washing. I made plans with friends to fill up the week. Physically and mentally tidying up.

The kids did not want to go to school today. In fact, I think we'd all have liked another day off. Moving to the other side of the world and starting a new life can be exhausting.

Since we've moved here, everyone has said to us you need to get out of Dubai every three or so months, just to keep sane. I didn't really get it, but I'm starting to now. I think it's time to plan a break away.... now, where to?

Darbs wondering where to go....
(look at those eyelashes, and those dirty windows I can't clean!)

Fridays are the new Sundays

As I've already mentioned, the official weekend in the United Arab Emirates is Friday-Saturday. Friday being the holy day, where people attend mosque and share family meals, etc. Banks and official offices are closed.

Apparently, the weekend used to be Thurday-Friday (and it still is in parts of the Middle East) but trying to run international companies and only being in sync three days a week wasn't efficient.

Anyhoo, this whole weekend caper tends to mix me up a bit. I spend the whole week not really knowing what day it is, often say "see you on Monday" when I mean Sunday, often ask people "do you mean Friday Friday or Saturday Friday?" I know, I'm not making sense even to myself, hence my constant confusion.

We've got our own Friday routine now - coffee at our favourite coffee shop, grocery shopping, then the rest of the day is spent relaxing. There's always some drawing and colouring. There's usually some swimming. We usually play DJ and listen to some tunes. There's a lot of planning of what's for dinner - a BBQ, delivered Indian, Pakistani fish, Lebanese or friends over for a cook up?

Friday is fast becoming my favourite day of the week.

Beautiful one day...

Life is Dubai can be bloody frustrating. Some times doing something that should be simple, like paying a bill or getting some gas for your BBQ, can turn into a full-day project. Hell, it can be a full-week project. You can get asked pointless questions: "Would you like to pay with cash or card? Sorry, we only take cash." You will get cut off every.single.time you go for a drive anywhere. Speaking to someone on the phone can be confusing and maddening. Often things just don't make sense. I have lost my patience so many times since I landed on these shores and I'm a patient person.

Then you get home and you realise that this is your backyard. And there's no way you'd be able to have this as your backyard if we lived in Australia. A morning coffee, a dig in the sand, a warm balmy breezy - just your average Thursday morning. Sitting here washes away every frustration, every 'if we were in Australia...', every hand wring.

Skip reckons there's a lot of pressure having day-after-day of perfect weather. No rain, no cold blustery to keep you inside under your doona. I'm pretty sure I could get used to it.

Halloween and my half-assed approach

The girls were super excited this morning. Halloween! Which meant dress-up day at school, they could come as their favourite book character, but nothing too scary. The girls put away their vampire and zombie princess costumes in favour of Sleeping Beauty and Angelina Ballerina (thanks to the inspiration on Twitter).

School here is obviously a lot different to home. They start at a different age, the teachers and students are from all around the world, there are different languages and religions. Academically I think it's a lot tougher than school at home too, Lil-lil is certainly being pushed a lot more. In some ways it's good, in others not so good, for the moment she's coping with it so I'm OK.

The one thing I really like about the school is that while there is a strong academic focus, they do like to have fun, like the dress up day. The lessons will go on as normal but they'll be Spidermen and policemen and princesses. They do things like this quite a lot and it makes the kids eager to get school.

To help celebrate Halloween, the parents committee decided to put on a bake sale. The note that came home said they wanted spooky treats that were home-made, purchased items would probably 'end up with the appreciative cleaning staff'. I have to say this really got my goat. Sure as parents we would love to spend time in the kitchen baking treats for the bake sale, but let's face it some of us don't have time, some of us just aren't that good at it.

Yesterday, I was stuffed after being up quite a few times in the night, after school was swimming lessons, Skip came home from work early to spend time with us. I could have spent time in the kitchen for the bake sale, but I decided there were more important things, so I cheated. I bought a packet of biscuits and some icing and went to work. As I watched telly and made my spooky treats I giggled and thought to myself: "These for sure aren't going on the blog! What a mess." And then I decided that they should go on the blog.

Life isn't perfect. I'm not a bad mother because I haven't home-baked. I'm not a bad mother because my contribution to the bake sale isn't going to end up on Pinterest any time soon. I'm just a mum who decided to spend an extra half-hour at the playground watching my baby eat sand rather than in the kitchen baking.

I remember my mum hating cake sale time, the pressure of it. She hates cooking and anything related. I remember her buying some biscuits from an old lady charity stall, so two charities won and she didn't have to bake.

So here's my half-assed Halloween bake sale effort for all the world to see. Lil-lil told me she was so excited about them she was going to buy them all, bless her.

I wonder how many were snapped up at the cake stall?

Note half-assed cardboard crown and mouse ears. I think they still look cute.

I would love to know what you do that is half-assed and not destined for Pinterest, Facebook or even your blog. Come on, share with me! 

Only in Dubai - part 3

We've been here almost three months now and it feels like forever and no time at all.

Things that seemed foreign and strange at first feel normal now – crazy driving, having someone fill my car with petrol, no BYO restaurants, being called 'madam', the wasteful Dubai attitude. There are times when I actually feel like I could still be in Australia, that it's not all that different after all. Then something happens and I'm reminded of where I am.


* The sand. The constant sand I sweep off the floor and off the tables and every surface in the house. Yesterday, just after we'd gotten home from school, the sky turned black and the houses that I normally see in the the distance had vanished. Sandstorm! The wind blew and the sky was eerie. Then as fast as it had begun, the sky cleared and the houses reappeared.

* Deliveries. You can get almost anything delivered here as I've mentioned before. The one thing that gets me is the relaxed attitude. I ordered some water to be delivered, they turned up on the wrong day at the wrong time. Then another time I didn't have any cash. Then another time I forgot and went out. It never bothered the delivery person. It's an attitude of 'Oh well, that happens'. Our fridge was delivered three times, once I wasn't at home, the next time I didn't have the right piece of paper and then finally they left it. I just can't imagine a delivery person in Australia bringing a fridge to the front door of an apartment on the 8th floor three days in a row without going mad.

* "What's your good name?" I get asked this a lot, I'm not sure if they want my first or last name or if it's just a term of endearment. Anyone know?

* Bottles that don't pour properly. Whether it's milk or juice, it always seems to end up on the floor, kitchen bench or table. Why, oh why, can't they make a bottle that pours without spilling?

* People just pulling out in front of me while I drive. Constantly! Nuff said.

* The weather. It's glorious at the moment, absolutely glorious. Warm and dry and not a cloud in the sky. It will be like that tomorrow and the day after and the day after and the day after..... (besides the brief sandstorm, which felt like a dream).

* The call to prayer. I absolutely love hearing it when I'm out and about, it's hauntingly beautiful and definitely reminds me of where I'm living.

* I saw this sign in a toilet at a supermarket. I can honestly say I've never seen one like it before! It's a urine colour chart, so you can do a quick check and see how hydrated you are.... hmmm.

Happy Halloween

Last night, we were lucky enough to be invited to a Halloween party. The girls got their ghoul on - Goose chose to be a vampire and Lil a zombie princess.

Our friends went all out and there were spooky games, bobbing for donuts, creepy looking food and plenty of sweets. It was fantastic!

At the end of the night, with their face paint a little worse for wear, we went home loaded up with goody bags.

I'm starting to like this Halloween business!