So--it seems fitting to be updating my blog today--as little A and I celebrate the six year anniversary of our move to Abu Dhabi. It seems that we turned up here, on October 1, 2008, at an obscenely early hour of the morning. I remember being so exhausted, after the 14 hour flight from Toronto--with no sleep--and little A--who was a sweet ball of energy and a wonderful and happy flier. We had left our comfortable and safe life, back in Canada, for the adventure of the unknown--the Middle East!
I didn't even have the energy to look out the window--and when I did (at the urgence of an older lady who had befriended me in the last few hours of the flight) my brain only registered the peachy orange color of sand below us.
I remember the carousel of lights that greeted me in the airport -- I was so overwhelmed by the people, the noise and the chaos. "Purpose of your visit?" the Emirati immigration officer asked--"To live" I remember replying.
I remember coming thru the gates and seeing Peter (and Pete M--who has grown to become an solid member of our Abu Dhabi family). Little A was just walking at that point and holding my finger--and we didn't know what kind of PDA would be acceptable--so we kept it minimal.
George Michael was on the front page of the first edition (ever) of the Abu Dhabi week magazine--a weekly paper that has become a major source of information for most of us living in Abu Dhabi's capital (though originally it was mostly advertising with the odd article tucked in between). With my love of GM at the time, I took this as a good omen--not only was he welcoming me in paper, but he himself would be in town for his "retirement concert" (one of many to come)--which I would attend--to croon my welcome in person (thanks again George-through it all, I still think you're amazing!).
I remember it being soooo hot (at 7 am) and taking off Amara's socks before tucking her into Pete's white car (of which there have been a few over the years). We drove "home", to the Millennium Hotel on Khalifa Street, on Airport Road, and I saw the Sheikh Zayed bridge being built. At the time it looked like two dolphins jumping out towards one another from the island to the main land. I never expected to be around here long enough to see it completed much less to have it become my favourite route onto and off the island.
Little A--the little baby who only really just started walking when she landed here--is now back to dancing--and in ballet as I write. I am sitting alongside the gulf, at the back of Al Bandar--probably the site of all that orange peachy sand I saw when I peeped out the window of the plane, enjoying an amazing breeze--not the heat of our first days here back in '08 (truly an unusually hot fall). The waves are thudding along and muffling the Tagalog conversation of the Bricco cafe employees taking a break behind me. This is my 'normal' now. Cities that rise out of the sand...
Our lives have changed so much. I continue to struggle with some of the challenges that Life has thrown me. However, I have indeed fulfilled my promise "to live" in Abu Dhabi. Three moves, two more babies, and one Arabian Mau later, we have definitely accepted a place that will never be our home-land, as our home.
I have no idea when our time here will end. Or when it does, where we will go next. We have watched so many people come and go here--our social landscape, changes almost as quickly as the physical one!
I just wanted to take a moment....
I didn't even have the energy to look out the window--and when I did (at the urgence of an older lady who had befriended me in the last few hours of the flight) my brain only registered the peachy orange color of sand below us.
I remember the carousel of lights that greeted me in the airport -- I was so overwhelmed by the people, the noise and the chaos. "Purpose of your visit?" the Emirati immigration officer asked--"To live" I remember replying.
I remember coming thru the gates and seeing Peter (and Pete M--who has grown to become an solid member of our Abu Dhabi family). Little A was just walking at that point and holding my finger--and we didn't know what kind of PDA would be acceptable--so we kept it minimal.
George Michael was on the front page of the first edition (ever) of the Abu Dhabi week magazine--a weekly paper that has become a major source of information for most of us living in Abu Dhabi's capital (though originally it was mostly advertising with the odd article tucked in between). With my love of GM at the time, I took this as a good omen--not only was he welcoming me in paper, but he himself would be in town for his "retirement concert" (one of many to come)--which I would attend--to croon my welcome in person (thanks again George-through it all, I still think you're amazing!).
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| From the vault--first day in Abu Dhabi |
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| Walking on the Corniche |
I remember it being soooo hot (at 7 am) and taking off Amara's socks before tucking her into Pete's white car (of which there have been a few over the years). We drove "home", to the Millennium Hotel on Khalifa Street, on Airport Road, and I saw the Sheikh Zayed bridge being built. At the time it looked like two dolphins jumping out towards one another from the island to the main land. I never expected to be around here long enough to see it completed much less to have it become my favourite route onto and off the island.
Little A--the little baby who only really just started walking when she landed here--is now back to dancing--and in ballet as I write. I am sitting alongside the gulf, at the back of Al Bandar--probably the site of all that orange peachy sand I saw when I peeped out the window of the plane, enjoying an amazing breeze--not the heat of our first days here back in '08 (truly an unusually hot fall). The waves are thudding along and muffling the Tagalog conversation of the Bricco cafe employees taking a break behind me. This is my 'normal' now. Cities that rise out of the sand...
Our lives have changed so much. I continue to struggle with some of the challenges that Life has thrown me. However, I have indeed fulfilled my promise "to live" in Abu Dhabi. Three moves, two more babies, and one Arabian Mau later, we have definitely accepted a place that will never be our home-land, as our home.
I have no idea when our time here will end. Or when it does, where we will go next. We have watched so many people come and go here--our social landscape, changes almost as quickly as the physical one!
I just wanted to take a moment....
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| This was our old backyard... but would THIS be our family photo had we stayed? |
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