Two became three, and then there were four. On March 24, we added one more. Add one chocolate pom, and you will see, we have been very busy in Abu Dhabi!
Salam wa aleikum
....thanks for coming to read my blog.
I hope that you will enjoy keeping in touch with our lives, and that one day, you might even make the trek out to come and visit with us (**NB - VISA's upon arrival for Canadians once again!!).
Grab yourself a nice cup of tea (Make mine JTG's Blue Mountain, mixed with a hint of French Earl...but get something that suits your fancy), and let's catch up...
It is no secret that my daughters are big fans of Maggi--a salty, brown seasoning sauce, with no nutritional value. I had always assumed it was Chinese in origin (which Peter will tell you is because I am a racist--but is actually due to the fact that Peter introduced the concept of Maggi to me like it was his own family's secret blend of 11 herbs and spices (especially when you dip white bread in it)). I think Peter was just as surprised as I to discover that Maggi seasoning has its roots in Switzerland.
Little A's love for Maggi (which we call "Maggi-dip" around here, as our girls love to dip everything in it) is so strong that it was her number one choice to name both of her siblings. Maggi has travelled with us on so many vacations--and Steiner--once again, I am sorry for the very pungent maggi momento we left in your van two years ago and I hope the smell has faded!
A toast...
Yesterday as we were walking back from the Ozzie vet's to Kids First (where kids have to walk in the doors first, hence the name), Magoo told me that she knows how to say 'noodles' in "Indian" (Hindi to be more specific). I asked her to share with me, and as I racked my brains to think how to translate noodles myself, she informs me that it is "Maggi".
Ho-ho-ho!
I told her that she was mistaken, and that was not the correct translation, to which she replied that I didn't know because I was not, in fact, Indian--YOU ARE A CANADIAN! Her friend (the same one who eats wojjy-tables) IS Indian, and so she most certainly knows better than I do.
Though it took the hamster in my head a little while to start spinning and figure out why 'maggi' would translate to 'noodles', I finally managed to impress Magoo (which is kind of like Maggi...so maybe little A indirectly got her wish) with my wisdom. I explained that instant noodles come in many different BRANDS (Lucky Me--like Malou liked, Indo-me--which we bought when we couldn't find Lucky Me, and Ichiban--which is popular where we come from). Maggi also makes a brand of instant noodles, which must be the one her friend's mom serves up in their household.
She eventually believed me, especially when I told her I would confirm with "Aunty Gopa" who is a REAL Indian (unlike me).
When I asked Gopa this morning (after she stopped having a laugh about "maggi' translating to "noodles"), she looked at me with her beautiful, big, maggi-coloured eyes and said "I don't know how we say noodles in India...I think we just call it 'noodles' (with an Indian accent of course)."
As it seems that life just chugs along and nothing ever changes--I will go backwards and see if I can meet myself back at turning 40 (which I believe was sadly, my last update).
Dr. Shalji's Apprentice
On Saturday, all three kids had their dental cleaning appointments at Smilerite. Pickle has had two extra teeth in his mouth (until quite recently). Seems like his two bottoms fully erupted, before the baby teeth had a chance to get out of the way. We made a visit to Dr. Smitha about a month back (when we first noticed this issue--that is the royal 'we' btw...it's actually just me). Dr. Smitha told me to wiggle the teeth as much as I could and extract them myself (as they were already wobbly at that point--unlike little A' s teeth which seem to be cemented in). We also made a back-up appointment (which is for this Saturday--mental note--call to cancel) with Dr. Shalji to have an extraction performed. On February 5, Pickle's first tooth popped out during some very rigorous brushing with mom (I was very nervous when I saw that big smudge of red appear in his mouth--my first thoughts were that I had been a very bad mummy). He was so excited, and hopped around the house.
He managed to pop out the second tooth himself, while sitting in the dentist's chair after Dr. Smitha told him "just pull it out yourself!". She was a little shocked when he followed through, thus pushing back his cleaning, giving his little mouth time to recover. Now, he is no longer like a shark, with multiple rows of teeth, and we will look forward to these teeth moving forward into their rightful place (hopefully).
We enjoyed celebrating Valentine's day. The children handed out cards to their classmates (they were the only ones), and then we had a mid-term break (two extra days off of school). The weekends fly by so quickly, and the two extra days we had were consumed by an Arabic project and a play-date. We had a small Valentine's Day party at home on Sunday (just family and Tina--our new helper). The children also got to decorate valentine's cookies and contribute to a hand-mural heart at Yas Mall. During our lunch, Magoo asked me "Mom--one of my friends at schools says she likes to eat wojjy-tables, but none of us know what wojjy-tables are...Do you know what is wojjy-tables?". It took me a minute to process--wojjy-tables?? And then, my ESL roots kicked in, and I realized Magoo's little friend was a vegetable lover! Cristina and I laughed (on the inside) as I enlightened little Magoo, and discussed how different people from different countries have different accents, which effects how they pronounce different words--and it was a difference we need to enjoy. We talked about how everyone mispronounces words here and there, and we chuckled at her EFL sister who enjoys listening to hits by a blockbuster songstress from the UK--Ada-lay (who the rest of the world refers to as Adele).
We welcomed in the year of the monkey, with our usual Chinese New Year traditions. We dressed up in our traditional clothes and headed over to the Shangrila hotel, to participate in their Dragon Dance. Each year they improve on their presentation, and this year they added a man who distributed fortune cookies to all of the children. Afterwards, we headed over to Peter's office for some hot chocolate (which Pickles spilled all over his pants). Fortunately, it dried quick enough, and we drove to Yas Mall for lunch (NB: healthy lunch options at Yas Mall are severely limited) and additional Chinese New Year activities--the children made paper lanterns.
One of our favorite CNY traditions is making dumplings with my friend Yang. She makes magical dumplings, and makes it appear so effortless. She is a dear friend to me, and I miss her greatly everyday, since she and Juergen moved to Bangkok. We put forward our best effort and made our own dumplings in her honor this year. Cristina was in charge of the fillings--and we all helped with pinching and pressing (my tray of dumplings are on the right...see how neat my little coin-purses turned out Yang!).
Chewbacca is adorable and overweight. On our recent visit to the vet (where we officially transferred all his veterinary records over to me), we discovered he needs to lose about 1 kg of weight and needs his teeth cleaned. While I was speaking with Dr. Rachel (our vet and also my friend from the gym) I mentioned his smelly breath and she noted that it was indeed very bad and she could smell it from where she was standing. I remarked "his breath does smell bad, but that isn't his breath we are smelling...". We all turned our heads to discover an obese hushpuppy behind me. Rachel asked the man holding the leash whether his dog was having bad gas issues, when we noticed the immense pile of poo, sitting by the man's feet. He gave an embarassed and apologetic shrug, as he had literally stepped in it. The children thought it was hilariously 'bisgusting'.
All the way from sunny Alberta, Fiona and Sandy made good on their promise and joined us in the sand-box. We had a whirlwind holiday together, and crammed as much as we could into their visit. It struck me as both strange and wonderful to be walking in a mall in Abu Dhabi with my dear friends from Edmonton. They have promised to return--I only hope they will stay longer, as I seriously cannot keep up with these guys!!
Peter turned 40 this year, and we enjoyed an amazing celebration in Phuket, with some of our family and friends. I think the combination of the location and the company made this one of my favourite holidays we have ever spent. Peter's sister Chris really helped me out by buying me a new Oiler's jersey for Peter (without him even suspecting) and the staff at our villa arranged for a delicious birthday cake (think Sara Lee's vanilla). Peter's celebration ended with us releasing the biggest birthday candles we could find (the Thai sky lanterns) up into the sky. What a memory to treasure!
I love Peter. I still remember him being that guy in high school who used to stop unexpectedly to give me a ride home after my shift at Suzy Shier. He was also that guy who used to throw staples in my hair and yank my chair back when I was working. If someone had ever told me that he would grow to be the man I would love and share my life and children with, I would have shook my head at how crazy that was (HE'S CHINESE!!). That's life, I guess--unpredictable at best. Peter is my best friend, and I cannot imagine sharing my life with anyone else....
Unless it was THIS guy....
Clearly--one of the highlights of my year of turning 40 was sharing my love of Jon Bon Jovi with my children. Magoo asked him why he looked so old (what a charmer she is) and he said "because i AM old sweety'. Jon (are we on a first name basis yet?) was REALLY exhausted, but took a minute to sign our guitars and take a few pictures (man--that guy can turn it on for the camera!), and helped me make a memory to put a smile on my face for YEARS to come!
Magoo has started EY1 this year. Essentially, this is a nursery year, but it is necessary to securing her a place for EY2 (where the REAL WORK begins). I felt quite torn about sending her (she is only four, so this is early by our Alberta standards). However Magoo was really ready for the experience, and though there were many tears (from both of us) on her first day, she settled in quickly. She adores her teacher, Ms. Claudia, and has made a BFF (Sho-sho, who luckily enough lives just a few villas away from us...they are off on a park-playdate as I type). I am proud of how well she has settled into school-life, and it calms any uneasiness I had about her being too young for the experience.
Pickles is in EY2 this year, and despite many disruptions (new shadow teacher, changing teacher's assistants), he loves being at school. His new shadow teacher, Chantal is a gift from heaven! She was little A's TA last year, and is a loving, caring lady from South Africa. I love listening to her accent when she talks, and she and Pix have wonderful days together. We have been very lucky to have such amazing people come into Pickle's life, to help him along on his journey. Though I try to keep a 'professional distance' with Chantal (as her employer)--it is absolutely impossible. She gives so much of her heart to my son, and it is impossible not to feel an enormous amount of affection and gratitude for this woman who looks out for the best interests of my darling boy, when I cannot. All of the kids adore Chantal (not just my own) and feel so safe and comfortable with her.
Little A is 8 years old now, and part of her birthday present was having her ears pierced in Austria this summer (and the Magoo got to share it!). Her heart is full of love and kindness, and I am told she is quite a popular girl at school. She has had some hard days, as there is a bully in her cohort this year. It is quite challenging for me, as little A is so soft-hearted that she is unwilling to protect herself, because in doing so, she will need to go on the offensive and hurt someone else...the bully. I am trying to support her by building her own confidence to deal with this MON(ica)STER, and hopefully one day this will be a memory she laughs about (her own personal Billy Roth--a behaviourally challenged boy I used to have to deal with on the playground when I was little--but I am told I was much more aggressive than my little girl is).
Austria and Germany is where we spent our summer holiday. It was so beautiful, green and HOT there--some days it was tooooooo hot--why does it seem there is always a heat wave in Europe whenever we go there?
First world problems...ugh!
We were joined by my parents, who got to spend a lot of time with their grandchildren (and Pickles still raves about Naniji's dahl and rice). This freed us up to go out on our own for lunches and dinners...something we generally haven't been able to do on our holidays before. We also got to meet up with my cousin Vinod and his wife Anne in Salzburg--whom we have gotten quite close with, since we have come out to the Middle East. Vinod and Peter share a love of golf, beer and Bosna sausage (not in that order), and Anne is like sunshine--the Mary Poppins of the Sharma family--impossible not to love that lady!
In Munich we got to reunite with our Fidelia--whom we love and adore. Her apartment was so close to ours, and we spent as much time as we could find together. She was in a transitional period in her life (the kind that comes when you are in between graduation and your 'adult' job) and we did our best to love and support her, and let her benefit from the wisdom of our years. She is such an intelligent, articulate and well-educated young lady, and we are so pleased that she is now happily settled in Hamburg, and employed doing something that excites her.
And...I think that takes us back to around the time that I turned 40...and we last caught up. I am sure I have hit the highlights (please see I MET JON BON JOVI above, in case you missed it). Phinny and Jonesy are just fine--but I can update you on them in the next blog entry! x
P.S. I won phase one of the fitness challenge I entered back in May. Yay ME!
