Pit Pat Pit Pat...

Woke up at 4:30 this morning...not feeling so hot...or rather, feeling too hot. Then, with my sneezing, I also managed to wake up little A. P has been sleeping in the guest room so that he can sleep (as A has been tossing, turning and waking frequently with her teething). Since he's been gone, she's actually been sleeping a lot better! So, at 5 a.m., I decided a little 'daddy-time' was called for, and P had to amuse her while I got another hour or so of sleep.

Not sure where I've gotten this cold as I've had so little contact with other people. I guess there are advantages to being socially isolated...

A decided around 8 a.m. that she was exhausted (no surprise there) and decided to catch another 45 minutes of shut-eye. This was a sound decision on her part, as this was our first morning of music class.

Surprise! Surprise! We were late. We left the house with 7 minutes on the clock left to go, and then I decided to take a 'shortcut' which resulted in me having to drive all the way back to the one road I knew, and then follow the map. When we got there, we had missed 1/2 the class.

Clare, the teacher, was lovely. Nursery rhymes sound just so much more lovely when they are sung with a British accent. We were in time to go around the mulberry bush, and to lament the pit-pat of the rain (and yes, there actually were gray skies in Abu Dhabi and bits of rain this morning). My daughter, who loves to sing and dance, sat mutely on my lap and refused to partake in anything. However, she vigilantly observed anything, and made some notes for next week.

On the drive home, A resumed singing. At home, after lunch, she began mimicking Clare's loooooooooooooong and short sounds. Hopefully next week, she'll appear more alive in class, and feel safer to unglue her cute little buttocks from my lap.

Announcing the newest arrival....

Don't get too excited. Although many of the moms in my Bonnie Doon mom's group seem to have had baby number two, or are in the process of...we are still not in 'that' place.

However, we would like to welcome A's THIRD TOOTH into this world. The top right tooth made its way out of her gums sometime between the hours of 1 and 5:30 a.m. on January 4th....I know this b/c I was awake all those hours as A tossed and turned with discomfort. THAT'S when it all began: January 4th...if it's even possible, A's sleeping took a turn for the worse!!

Only one day earlier, we were at the Al Noor Hospital getting A's 18 month vaccination shots. I was asking the doctor whether we should be worried about these 'late' teeth. She told us we don't worry until the children are 2. Then we test for calcium deficiency. So...we don't worry, and out pops a third tooth!! Isn't life great?

The Al Noor Hospital was an...experience. Clean, beautiful, new, private, and very inefficiently run (at least on the weekends). We had booked an appointment with one doctor, and were ushered in to see another (which was apparently a mistake). Locals were showing up and getting appointments with 'our' doctor (which is probably why we got bumped). They were running the facility like a medi-clinic (although we got better, faster service at the 'medi-clinic' hospital we went to before so...hmmmm). Maybe that was just a weekend phenomenon...who knows. I am also questioning the health care system here a wee bit, as although A was measured and weighed, nobody did anything with the data other than to record it in her file. Is she overweight? Underweight? Too short? Not growing properly?? These are things new moms need to know. The doctor didn't even physically touch her. No checking out her heart, or examining her limbs. Nothing like our experiences with our dear Dr. Kantoch at the Allin Clinic back home. Sigh....we miss you Dr. Kantoch!!

We spent the weekend on a private island in the gulf, as part of P's company's team-building activities. Apparently, only the Shaikhs and their families are allowed on this island. I was very nervous about going for a full-day event with little A (especially with the teething and the lack of sleep) but she was marvellous. We had to get up very early (7-ish) and be at the boat launch for 8 (but we actually didn't leave until 9 am...apparently this misinformation was a way to insure that the locals would all be there on time...so we, timely Canadians that we are had to sit around for an hour...grumble! grumble!). The boat ride was smooth, short and sweet. We travelled through multiple activities: camel riding (yes...I did it), horseback riding (no, I did not), shooting (you couldn't hold P back from this event!!), boat tour around the island (which I skipped in order to feed my daughter lunch), lunch (pretty so-so for me, the vegetarian), and then volleyball (chose to sit that one out too). The weather was perfect, and we got a bottle of honey as a parting gift. All-in-all, a very generous event. A was delighted to see the camels, and even got a picture on one. She loved the horses too, and was awed by the ostriches and emus (birds!birds!) we saw (although I think she got a bit nervous when that one ostrich almost broke our camera!!).

I have signed up A for a 'mommy and me' music group which is near by. I am trying to make an effort to get out with her more during the day, and to meet more people. There seem to be a lot of young moms in our area, but it is so hard to see them behind these seven foot high concrete fences we all have around our yards. That will be starting later this week.

Today's big event was 'coffee at Sharanis spa'. I was amazed to find a very modern and very western feeling spa in the midst of all this 'Arabia'. Sharon, the owner, has used Asian influences to build her wellness spa, which is 5 minutes away from my house. They offer a wide range of services: massage, ayurvedic treatments and mani-pedi's. She took a 12 bedroom villa and converted it into this luxurious day-spa. A and I loved our short time there, and we met some very nice ladies. I would like to go through all of the treatments...sort of like a menu...one a month or something...going to have to look into buying a membership.

This afternoon I am meeting another lady (who I've chatted with in an on-line forum called 'abudhabiwoman.com'). She's going to be giving me some 'housekeeper keeping' advice. You'll notice that ours is not here yet...apparently you MUST go through an agency to get a housekeeper, and so all of our hard-work and time...is just going to make less work and time-wasted for the agency we hire. Soon....hopefully she'll be here by month end.

Before I end this posting, I just want to say a special heartfelt thank-you to all of my friends who have made the effort and stayed in touch. Although I am working hard to make new friends (and yes...it is really 'work' to try and find venues to meet people when you are a simple 'housewife' like myself) my current friends, though very far away are so dear to my heart, and seriously irreplacable. I hope you know just how much I have loved every e-mail (even just the quick and short "thinking of you, busy as hell, miss you loads" ones) I have received from you. I cherish all the photo-updates (old-fashioned and on-line) and anybody who has had the time to 'chat' or 'skype' with us...well...you just make it that much easier for P and I to be here, so far away, and trying something new. I could go on and on...but...to those of you who have kept in touch (sniff!sniff!): thank-you!

Christmas Mubarak!

...a little bit of arabic 'fusion' on the usual Christmas greetings!

I hope that everyone has enjoyed the holidays. Now that it's boxing day over here (no sales that I'm aware of), I can honestly say we had a wonderful Christmas.

P took off two days from work (the 24th and 25th) and spent them at home with us. Sadly, we spent 1/2 the day of the 24th at the BANK (yes...really) trying to get our credit cards and atm cards all sorted out. It took about two hours, and we will still have to return to get MY cards. I think the banking institutions here still need to work on refining their processes and efficiency.

However, after that, it was all about our little family. We spent some time playing in one of 'our' parks, with A and Phinn. And thanks to our friend Kathy, who has come back for another visit to Abu Dhabi, we had a wonderful Christmas eve supper of salad rolls. We couldn't have made this meal without Kathy, as she brought us the essential ingredient: rice paper rolls. To date, we have not been able to locate these here (although, I'm SURE they are somewhere in Dubai). In addition to the rice paper wrappers, she also brought us a 'care package' made up of gifts and other 'requested' items from back home. Thanks to Kathy, not only are we eating well again (wraps and salad dressing), but we are also smelling fresh organically.

A enjoyed trying to make her own salad roll, and taking 'mouse bites' out of mine. That was our Christmas eve dinner. I went the extra mile and pulled a recipe for peanut sauce to dip our rolls in.

Thanks again to Santa Kathy, we had so many presents to open on Christmas day. A's aunties and grandparents were very generous with her. We bought her one gift: an echo microphone, as she seems to have inherited my love of singing and karaoke. We spent Christmas dinner with at the Cowell's place, along with the Macleod family. Despite the fact that there was no snow, Brenda's beautiful tree, along with her decorations and the fancy Christmas table spread...made us feel very much in the spirit.

Now...for those of you who read my blog..you'll obviously notice that I'm writing this much, much later than the actual event. As there have been 'new developments', I'm going to post this entry and start up a new (more recent) one.

Almost Christmas...Seriously???

Well...I'm listening to ezrock (edmonton) on-line...to try and get some feeling of 'Christmas' going on over here. We attended the Canadian Club's Christmas dinner at the Hilton on Friday night, and took a few pictures with their beautiful Christmas tree. We were visited there by possibly the worst Santa Claus we have ever seen in our lives...a Santa who doesn't realize that little ones have bed-times and perhaps he should have come at 8 pm, like he was scheduled to, instead of waltzing in at 9 pm. Good thing A has no clue about this aspect of the Christmas tradition. For me, I feel that this will possibly be my last seasonal 'Canadian Club' dinner...as I left hungrier than I started. My meal of lettuce pieces, mashed potatoes and 'buttered' vegetables (and I couldn't taste any butter friends) was sorely lacking any flavour. I figured I would make up for it with dessert, but was not alone in my disappointment of the two dessert selections (one of which was mincemeat tarts...which my friend Christine described as 'Halls in a tart shell'). I did enjoy the time with our friends though, and that would be the only thing that could lure me out to another one of these 'dinners' (I am using that word loosely). Apparently, the turkey was 'fabulous' (and I'm so glad that everyone else could enjoy it). Also...the smoking...blech! This event (unlike Thanksgiving) was smoker-friendly.

That was Friday. On Saturday, we got up and head off to Dubai, for our car to get serviced. We also had to drop off the Visa for Rosemarie, our housekeeper, to pick-up at the airport. We are flying her into Dubai, rather than Abu Dhabi, solely for the savings. For any of our friends considering visiting, make sure you use Dubai airport, rather than Abu Dhabi. You'll save yourself almost $1000 (I think it was $700-something). Then hop into a cab, and for 300 AED (about $100 Cdn) and an hour of your time, you can be at our doorstep, safe and sound...with more $$ in your pocket. The drive is actually quite scenic, as you can check out all of the developments in Dubai, and then all of the growth and development in between the two big cities. It is nowhere as boring as the drive from say...Edmonton...to anywhere an hour away (Red Deer was always the drive that got us).

Back to Dubai: we had grand plans. While the car was being serviced, we would get dropped off at the mall and shop. A would have lunch, and then we would head back around 2 pm, and she would sleep the whole way back. Seems the dealership, in their effort to help us out, decided to make our oil change service a 'priority', and get it done within an hour, so we could head back home with our baby. So, we didn't actually get to the mall, but A and I did check out the Dubai Garden Centre...a lot like the Ellerslie Garden Centre..but with elephant and peacock topiaries, and running fountains everywhere. I had a latte at "Raw" the coffee bar inside, and we wandered and checked out the plants...some familiar (they are really liking the petunias over here) and so many unfamiliar.

P had taken a cab to the airport, and we ended up heading back to the dealership around the same time. Minutes after we got into our car and were heading back towards Jebel Ali Road, A had fallen asleep, so we just kept on going back home. She woke up just as we entered our garage, and then proceeded to stuff her face with fistfuls of--what else?--pasta...today's special was macaroni with tomatoe sauce.

P got our speakers set up and we spent the evening catching up with Bond...James Bond in Casino Royale. We needed to be refreshed for when we watch Quantum of Solace (sometime soon...).
There are no holidays for Christmas here. P will be taking Christmas eve and Christmas day off. We are very excited to welcome our friend Peter M's family back to Abu Dhabi (as they fly over from various parts of North America). It will be so nice to see Kathy (Peter's wife) and to meet their children (who are young adults). We have been invited over for Christmas dinner with our friends Stefan and Brenda, who are having the event catered by the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. It will be so nice to be spending the holiday with friends.

Taking a little break...

I've had a little tiff with my blog...you see, I got tired of waiting hours for pics to upload, and then having them be the cause of reformatting my blog-spacing. Whenever I tried to correct the spacing, pictures would 'delete' themselves and have to be uploaded again. Thus...it was time for a well needed break. I'm not really an explosive person...just take some time off...and then try again (leaving the angry confrontations for others who are more comfortable with that sort of thing).

Anyways, I've taken my time to cool down, and now I'm back.

The weather continues to cool down here. P is back at work, so I'm able to get back to my own 'routines', which will now be changing, as it seems A and I finally have our own car to drive around in. This will really change up our days (at least I'm hoping it might). I was delighted to have the Al Raha workmen remark on my return...'I think missus has been on holiday...you have not been walking'...at least someone missed me.

Seems Phinn has a 'cough'...he has been hacking ALL DAY LONG. Nothing more soothing and peaceful than a coughing dog. I'm assuming that A has given him something to eat (maybe her baby mum-mum bar?) that he shouldn't have had, and now he's got a little 'tickle' in his throat. If it doesn't clear up in a few days, I will trek him over to the German Vet Clinic, which is conveniently 5 minutes from my house!! I had never heard of this clinic before moving here, and P and I discovered it by accident when we were driving home one day from the strip mall (also near to our home).

The cough will be a bit annoying though, when we have our 'company' over this evening. I am so excited that my friends, the Dehiris, from England (that A and I made during our stay at the Millennium Hotel) have returned. They contacted me the other day, and are taking a taxi out here around 5 o'clock. I loved entertaining people back home in Edmonton...but am so out of practice (not to mention, we don't really have all the same groceries here at our disposal). P is picking up a few things on his way home. A is also preparing by having a good and long nap.

A is a regular little darling. Still not much for the sleeping, her appetite for new words continues to grow. To date, the words she signs are: eat, all done (usually once Baby Einstein is over), hi, bye, fish, pig, elephant, more and milk. The words she speaks are: mamma (also means 'want that'), babba (often yelled really loud to help conduct the sound to her dad's small ears), buh-buh (bye), moo (cow sound), moon (in the sky), hee-hee-hee (for monkey), snorting noise (for pig), panting noise (for dog), roar (for lion), bird, up and down (which she does with a hand gesture when she wants Phinn to lie down) and the latest addition is 'shzz' (for shoes). She acquired the sign for fish pretty quickly (I used it once at the Aquarium and again when we were watching Baby Einstein, and now she shows me whenever she sees a fish).

Although she does not have a huge vocabulary, her comprehension is pretty good. She is able to retrieve things like her laptop, her fish and other items upon request. She will also pass things to her babba (like usb keys) when asked to do so. She likes to take Phinn for walks, daily, and ensures that he gets brushed and fed a cookie after every walk. To Phinn's chagrin, she also likes him to wear his harness and leash even while he is at home (not really sure why though, as she only walks him for a few seconds and then forgets about it...until I try to take the leash off that is).

She does love her room and her 'library'. I can now empathize with my friend Lynn, our school librarian, having to pick up book after book after book...I only do it every few days. She will often race out of our bedroom over to her own room, pull down a book and then sit down on the blanket that Ellie Grandma gave her to 'read'. I'm so proud of her as she babbles away with her stories. I'm also happy that her library is so full...I don't think I will have to buy her any new books until she's seven or eight years old!! Her favourite book, hands down, is "Where is Baby's Mommy?" (thank-you to the Simpson's who got this for her birthday). We have had to glue back a few of the pages...and the shower curtain is MIA...but it is delightful to listen to her read along with this book: I read 'is mommy in the closet?'...and she continues 'nooooooooooo ba bab baba BA' (the only time she really says 'no' so far). I often think of so many of our friends when we read, especially when we find your books in A's library.

Better go and get ready for our guests!

Abu Dhabi Celebrates 37 Years

We started to notice all of the lights on the boulevards and streets about three weeks ago. However, they only started lighting them up last week...anyone can see the city has spared no expense to light it up for their 37th anniversary. It's starting to look more like Vegas around here (the guy on the street handing out 'flyers' has been replaced by the guy on the street selling etisalat cards) everyday.

We spent our National Day by joining all of the other immigrants on the Corniche for a 45 minute fireworks show. It was nice to be back on the Corniche (it's been over a month now since we've been in the villa), and there was a cool breeze, that I've never felt before. A wore a sweater, and I brought along my New York pashmina (only the finest), which I eventually ended up giving away to keep A's legs warm (she was wearing a dress).

The Corniche was very crowded with all the brown people living here. I'm not sure where all the European ex-pats were...but they definitely were NOT down there with us. The fireworks started at 8:30 pm. It was very exciting (A's first fireworks)...but after the first 5 minutes...well...let's just say, I was ready to hop in a cab to get myself back home. I was still dragging from the GM concert the previous night, combined with the limited amount of sleep that A gave me once I got home (I believe ALL of the rest of her teeth might be trying to come in at once).

In addition to all of the street decorations, Emiratis have contributed to the festivities by dressing up their cars. From small touches like flags and stickers to the extreme painting of the shaikhs past and present, into their window tinting, we saw it all as they paraded on Corniche Road. Children were sitting out of sunroofs and waving flags. Firecrackers and string confetti were in the air. Altogether, a very colourful, happy and safe celebration.

Fortunately, traffic home was light (thank-you again to our friend Peter M. who drove us home), and we were home by 10. Everyone was exhausted, and so our party ended fairly early.

Our household was all asleep within the hour.

On Wednesday morning we visited the Shaikh Zayed Mosque. This is a beautiful mosque, where the Shaikh's body has been entombed. We all had the opportunity to dress up in local garb and tour through the mosque. We have decided this will be OUR West Edmonton Mall, because this is one place we will take EVERYBODY who comes to visit us in Abu Dhabi.

George Michael: "I think YOU'RE amazing..."

When I was a little girl, growing up in the backwoods of Alberta, I had a dream…well actually two dreams. Unlike Martin Luther King’s beautiful dream for the world, my dreams were the selfish dreams of a 10 year old. You see, my cat Tramp (yes…that WAS his name), had been missing for a few weeks. I was beside myself with stress and worry. In my dream, I remember looking out the back window, and seeing him crouched down beside our garage, licking water from the lightly frozen little pond in the yard. Imagine my amazement, when I woke up, and sure enough, there he was. It was so long ago…I can’t remember if he was actually trying to lap up the water, but believe me: he was there. I was convinced that I had found my hidden power: I had the gift of vision.
Imagine my delight when the next night I dreamt that George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley showed up in the very same backyard. They were wearing white cotton shirts, and what I now know to be Birkenstock sandals. They had come to get me, because (wasn’t it obvious?) our futures were intertwined—we were meant to BE together (remember these were the WHAM! days…prior to some personal revelations that GM was to experience in the future).
Sadly, that dream did not come true (although I waited…and I can remember being SURE that it would happen…b/c come ON!! The cat came back!!). It seems that fate had decided many, many years later, in a far off land, I would have my opportunity to share a few magical hours with GM. Who would ever have predicted that I would end up in Zayed Sports City, in Abu Dhabi, watching GM and his Wham! Dance moves through a pair of binoculars.
It was an amazing night for me.
Before I get into details, let me just mention:
1. Alicia Keys was also there. We actually ended up with two complete concerts for the price of one. She is absolutely gorgeous, and has a strong voice. Had I been familiar with more than 3 or 4 of her songs, I probably would’ve loved her show. As it was, I found myself getting a bit antsy…and waiting for her to be done.
2. I need to clarify my ‘love’ of George Michael. When Wham! came onto the scene in the 80s, I was just a little girl. I don’t remember ever thinking “I’m in love with George Michael and want to marry him” (I believe I already had another childhood crush going at the time). I just remember thinking that despite the feathered highlighted hair, the tan, the earrings (two hoops for the price of one), and the ‘wake me up before you go-go’ 80s beats, this man had some serious depth. You could hear it in the anguish of ‘Everything She Wants” (‘if my best isn’t good enough, then how can it be good enough for TWO?’), the ‘guilty feet aint got no rhythm’ in “Careless Whisper’, and “if you are the desert, I’ll be the sea…if you ever hunger, hunger for me…whatever you ask for THAT’s what I’ll be”…sigh…! That’s WOW! This guy had good-looks (lucky him), but more importantly (even to childhood me) he had brains and heart. He had felt pain and heartache, and could express and communicate those emotions through prose. He also has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard…not many men have his vocal cords and sound. When GM ‘came out’ publicly, regarding his sexual preferences, I wasn’t distressed or saddened by the revelation in any way (I know some fans turned away). “I Want Your Sex” was never ever the way I felt about him. The parts of him that I loved and admired were still all there, unchanged, for all time.

That’s enough with the clarification. Now let’s talk about the concert.

Zayed Sports City was a zoo. P dropped my friend Janice and I off on the road and we walked to the entrance. Traffic (as usual) was crazy and backed up, so it was much faster for us to walk there. We had already gotten instructions (from Brenda and Christine…waiting for us inside) that we should find Entrance 6, and come in ONLY through that entrance. The line-up was huge, and in true AD style, chaotic, inefficient and without any order. But we eventually got to the front of it. I was wanded, while Janice got patted down (she’s cuter than I am). I got my purse checked for “may-tal objects”…I had some, but nothing that could be considered dangerous I guess, as they let me through. We met up with our companions, and began the wait. The show started pretty soon after we got there, with Alicia Keys (please see blurb on her above).

I chose this time to go to the toilet. Let me mention that Zayed Sports City is a brand new facility; in fact, I believe this was the first event (in honour of National Day-37 years). The toilets, however, did not look like ones you would expect to find in a new facility. Let’s do a one-word summary: revolting. I used the men’s washroom, and discovered that I have fairly strong quads. It’s not an experience I ever need to have again.

Between AK and George Michael, there was a 30 minute intermission for changing the stage. More screens, and a second floor for musicians. Christine and Brenda decided that due to sore butts, they were moving down the grass. Janice and I felt more comfortable on the seats, so we stayed there. We were exposed to WAY TOO MUCH second-hand smoke. Coming from Edmonton, with the no-smoking laws (that are enforced), you forget just how absolutely disgusting smoke is. Having the open-air stadium helped a little bit…but I’m really waiting for the day that AD lays down the complete no-smoking ban (and actively enforces it).

And then it began. The lights went down, and the voice came pouring out like honey all around me: “There aint no point in moving on, til you’ve got somewhere to go…”, one of my absolute favorites. Lights came up, and he appeared on the big screen. I was mesmerized: I couldn’t take my eyes (aided by binoculars: thank-you Tikka!) off of him the entire time. He went from slow ballads, to fast songs (which got everyone up and dancing); old music and new(er). Half-way through the set, he took a twenty minute break (and was considerate enough to provide us with a countdown clock) and returned in jeans and a sports coat, and continued singing through his hits. After saying goodnight, he returned for two encores (Careless Whisper and Freedom). We walked away with his voice filling the air with an ode to his ‘freedom’.

Due to smart parking and driving, Brenda avoided all the horrible traffic. We were home by 2 a.m. A had a great evening with her dad (which I only worried about a few times through the evening), and that was so nice to hear. I had one of the most enjoyable and memorable nights of my life.

When I was young and carefree, I was bouncing around to ‘wake me up before you go-go’. When I started to move into the teenage years, he taught me about sticking with someone in “Faith”, and how to pick the right guy (when you remember the ones who have lied…who said that they cared and then laughed as you cried—who wants THAT guy?), and obviously he pushed the envelope on sexuality (but in a positive way—explore monogamy) with “I Want Your Sex” (which he didn’t sing…maybe too risqué for the AD audience?). When I was a young adult, he made me think outside myself: What was my contribution to society? Was ‘charity a coat I wore twice a year'? He also made me feel loved at times when as a young adult, I felt all alone, unloved and lost—“take care, my love, he said, you have been loved”. He was the music in my ears on my wedding day (literally in the limousine) and mentally, when we walked into our reception and I thought of my new groom “I think you’re amazing…celebrate the love of the one you’re with”. He was the lament that I sang to my dearest friend, Oliver-- ‘and every single memory, has become a part of me’, to help me deal with the pain of his passing. When my daughter A was born the music that echoed in my heart and head sang “the first time ever I saw your face, I thought the sun rose in your eyes…” as I spent hours on end simply watching her breathe, and taking in every part of her.

In essence, George’s music has been the music of my life.

One day, I hope to be able to meet him in person, and tell him how much his music has meant to me. I would thank him, for being able to pull himself up out of his dark and sad places, and put something positive into the world.

And with that, I conclude my ‘novella’ on the George Michael concert. If you meet George, please pass along my details, so he can get in touch with me.