New ballet term, new ballet uniform.

 

Here are the photos from Js first swimlesson

 

 

 

Yesterday an ex collegue and classmate who moved to Abu Dhabi came to Dubai for a visit. We me at Festival City, had lunch together before they, together with R and the kids went to visit the dinosaur exhibition "Dino-live". In the meantime I went to IKEA in peace and quiet and bought some frames. R got 3 flights to Malta in October so we plan to order some photo printouts from "our" printer so we can finally start putting some pictures up on the walls. After dino live we all went to our house for some tea and the kids to play. We had a lovely time and I really enjoyed it. Tomorrow is the start of yet another school week, the last one J has shorter days. 

 

 

 

 

Just realised that today is our one year anniversary of moving to Dubai! Time really does fly :)

 

 

My mum told me about flightradar24 this summer. Its a website (and app) where you can see planes in the air, who/what is passing ontop of you and where they are going, what kind of aircraft, its altitude etc and also follow a flight from take off to landing. Nerd as I am I find this interesting and during the summer I tracked what routes are passing over my mums house. Back in Dubai we have used it to be able to know exactly which plane is daddys. This is from this morning.

 

J wants to continue ballet this year and I´ve been avoiding dealing with it as I had heard the office was hard to find. Today though I decided to get it out of the way and it seems it was about time. They dont confirm you place in the class until you have paid the fee and it turned out that the class was fully booked but since some parents hadnt paid yet someone was bumped out and J got her spot. Good thing I ventured out on my own instead of waiting for R to return as I had originally planned.

 

my grandmother has had some problems since around april/may I think. She has fallen a couple of times and has been in a lot of pain. After lots of tests and being in and out of hospital she now got her diagnosis. ALS...I just cant get to grips with it, its like a death sentance. With the meds Im taking and the increased risk of cancer I have thought about how you would live knowing you have X amount of years or even months to live and it makes me sick to my stomach. I feel like I should call her but I dont know what to say, I mean, what do you tell someone who just got to know they are dying? Thinking I might send her a text to let her know Im thinking about her while I gather up courage to call.....

 

 

Today the after school swimming started and this year both kids are attending the lessons after eachother. First out was a very excited J and her lesson almost turned into a private lesson as only 3 kids in Reception/Foundation showed up. First they asseded their level and one of the children also ended up with another teacher. J did really well and Im sure she will develop a lot! After the youngest kids lesson it was time for A and a couple of grades over him. He was passed on between the groups for a while until he got his spot in the middle group (which I think was right). Its great that they got started (an apart from this swimming lesson A has one during school hours tomorrow and J has hers on Tuesday) but waiting for an hour and half in the more than 40 degrees heat was a nightmare. They put shading over the whole pool this year but shade doesnt really help when its that hot and no breeze so I sweated like crazy! I took some pictures but Im too tired to go down and get the camera so I will try to upload them tomorrow as R is flying to Venice and I (finally) get an evening all alone. Dont get me wrong, its lovely that he´s been home so much BUT I do like some time to myself in the evening when the kids have gone to bed.

 

One of my yearly highlights is Last Night of the Proms and I just watched my fav parts of it ("Pomp and Circumstance" and "Rule Britannia"). The music is amazing and seeing these wild and crazy englishmen (and others too of course, you see many different flags) just makes my day! This year I got to be proud on behalf of Malta too, as the maltese singer Joseph Calleja (whose son was in As class at San Andrea in Malta) took part. First he sang Nessun Dorma beautifully and the audience just wouldnt stop applauding him. He really looked touched, holding back tears and that was very nice to see. Then he got to sing the finale, Rule Britannia and I had goosebumps all over. Its so powerful when all those people sing together, and its like I can feel their pride of their country. At first I didnt see any swedish flags but then I saw a big one in the centre and most surprisingly there was the flag of "my" icehockey team almost at the front!!! When I less tired I will watch it all, and enjoy it to the full...in the meantime, if you missed it, do check it out on youtube.

 

 

After picking up the kids from school today we have spent our time in the kitchen. Stocking up the freezer with things for school. Pizzas and I also made my own cereal bars. The ones you find the shops are so full of sugar I wanted to try my own and so far so good. We shared one and it got thumbs up from both me and the kids though what they like one day can be pest the next so I really need to wait a bit more before I know for sure :) Anyone interested, here is the receipe I used.

 

 

School keeps on being a positive thing. Both kids are happy to go and J ran into her classroom when her teacher opened and we basically had to go after her to say goodbye! Her teacher looked a bit surprised at her eagerness and when I picked her up she had gotten a sticker that said "I came to school with a smile". A got some every now and then last year and he had one yesterday. The school seem to use stickers a lot as encouragement/reward when kids have done something extra good and A got one yesterday too.

 

 

Visiting Captain G on the flightdeck

 

 

Calling mummy in business class

 

 

 

 

Remind me why did we buy two beds?

 

 

 

R was supposed to go to Tunis for two days today but when I came down this morning he was still on the sofa and it turned out that the flight changed aircraft type so he got to stay home. They gave him standby from 23 tonight until 7 tomorrow morning. With some bonus time together we decided on a trip to IKEA, kids enjoy playing there, then a cheap icecream and still home in time for lunch. Lovely! We bought a cupboard for the bathroom, finally we will try to get some order to the downstairs bathroom with sunblock, meds and shoepolish running around. The kids new beds are in use since a couple of nights by the way, we are quite happy with them (but both of them still come into our bedroom at night)  Before we went away for summer A used to wake up about an hour after going to bed, crying and upset but I couldnt really communicate with him. It was like he wasnt fully awake...Nothing of that sort during summer though so I forgot about it but as soon as we got back to Dubai it started again. Tried to think about what was different to Dubai compared to Sweden and thought about the fact that its so quiet here at night. In sweden he used to sleep in the room next to the tv room and he used to ask me to switch on the tv every evening so that it wouldnt be so quiet. Here is room is far from the tv and most evenings I spend with the laptop, in bed so he wouldnt hear anything from me. Maybe he kind of wakes up (but not fully) and gets scared because he cant hear anything, worrying that he might be alone. Therefore we tried buying a small stereo that i loaded with soft, relaxing music and the two nights that he´s had it we havent heard a word. Really hope I found the solution. The "funny" thing is that I was exactly the same when I was a kid, always wanting to be able to hear my mum roam around, or the tv on so I can relate to his feelings!
The afternoon was spent with swedes, celebrating our friend the 39 year old (although her birthday really is tomorrow). Our countdown has been on for tomorrow too as the kids finally get to start school. They are both ultra excited, we´ll see how it all goes. Will update with pics as soon as I can.

 

 

Just about everyone we met in Malta asked if I/we like it in Dubai and eventhough I know the maltese dont believe me (I feel they always have a tendency to think ppl are lying to cover up for making a bad decision to leave Malta cause they cant think anywhere could be better than there) I can honestly say that I am happier in Dubai than I was in Malta. It doesnt mean I wasnt happy in Malta cause I was, but what a lovely life here in Dubai! There are things that I miss about Malta but there are things I really DONT miss too. We have discussed this quite a lot during our stay in Malta. 

 

I dont miss:

 

# The heat! Yeah its hot as hell in Dubai but I dont think I have sweated as much in this last year combined as I did during our 12 days in Malta. Most places are badly airconditioned, probably to save on electricity bills but come on, you have to be able to live! One of our fav restaurants is airconditioned but not in the loo! When we took the kids to the cinema they didnt switch on ac until the film started and by this time we were really sweaty AND the chocolates we had bought couldnt be eaten as they had melted! Parents in laws worry that the electric wiring was so old it couldnt cope with to units on at the same time meant that we had to sit and get soaked in the evening as we had to switch on in the bedroom when the kids went to bed. No, I definately dont miss the heat! 

 

# The exhaust! To travel around in a car (particularly without ac so you have to keep the windows down) or walking to the bus stop and breathe in the disgusting air is no hit. :S Especially in the morning traffic, I promise I thought I got cancer and/or asthma on the spot! And all the cars that shouldnt be on the roads, fuming black smoke. Very happy kids dont have to grow up breathing that air!

 

# The roads! All the pot holes and bumps and add those crazy egoist drivers into the mix :S

 

# Toilets! I had completely forgotten how crappy the maltese public toilets are. How you always have to carry a packet of tissues around, to wipe yourself and even to clean the toilet with. One evening when we were out walking on the promenade where lots of people come for a stroll, tourists and locals alike J had to go to the toilet. All that was on offer was a portable loo, without toiletpaper, no water to wash hands and no light (could this have been a trick so that it wasnt possible to see the state of the loo?)The normal public toilets were closed last year or even the year before, I thought to refurbish them but no sign of any kind of works in progress. Disgusting I say and am very happy with the always clean, always one close by public toilets in Dubai.

 

I think that sums it up. There are two things I miss though: 

 

# The language! I miss knowing that  most of the time people understand me. There are too many asians here in Dubai that nod their heads saying yes and then do the opposite of what you asked them to do. 

 

# The food! I miss going out to eat knowing that people understand what glutenfree is and that they most of the time can do small changes to a dish so that I can eat it. "No the sauce is not glutenfree, but we will do another one for you" or "No, we dont know what the ingredients are but here, let me show you the box/bag/jar and you can see for yourself"

 

 

 

This morning we headed to IKEA for a bit of this and a bit of that and also to meet up with a friend and her son. While the kids played in Småland (the playarea) the mums could browse in peace and quiet. After the kids had lunch at IKEA we went home for a bit before heading out to A and K, friends of A and J, to play even more. We had a lovely afternoon (their mum is so sweet!) and now Im waiting for R to come down from  having put kids to bed. He´s been away since we got back so Im looking forward to some time to catch up! Feeling a bit of a lump in my throat, guessing I can expect that sore throat/cold that I always get before I get used to the airconditioners, fingers crossed it will pass quickly though.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regardless how lovely the "holiday" was and how much I find myself missing having my mum and dad nearby I have to say its lovely to be back home again. We have already managed a few playdates and bought shoes for school. I still have a suitcase to unpack, but who cares? Its so great to catch up with friends again <3

 

 

At the cabin, kids cleaning the boat

 

Dew on the spiderwebs an early morning

 

 

 

 

 

On the way home from Nusnäs my dad called to see if we wanted to go to an airshow the following day. He had heard on the local radio that there was something in Dala Järna (a small village/town about 1½  hrs drive from where we live) and I thought to myself, what could be happening in Dala Järna? Quite a lot it appeared when we got home and checked it out on the website flygfesten.com. Airplane nerds as we are we thought it looked like a fun day so we managed to arrange with earprotection for the kids, quickly arrange a packed lunch and left for Dala Järna airfield in the early morning. What started out as a cloudy day turned into a sunny and lovely day!

 

 

 

 

Infront of a Junkers Ju 52, a plane from the second world war. Read more on wikipedia here

Mustang

 

 

These actually used to fly in the 1930-40´s (flying flea)

 

 

J zooming in

 

 

 

 

A enjoyed using the binoculars!

 

 

 

 

 

If I remember correctly this is a Saab 35 Draken (Dragon) an old swedish fighter jet

 

 

J got inspired and had her own airshow with her fork

 

 

 

 

 

A mustang and a Spitfire (amazingly enough we have a swedish spitfire!)

 

 

This was the kids fav part, two ladies on the wings during flight

 

 

 

 

 

The audience

 

 

This should be Jas 39 Gripen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F16 from the Belgian Airforce

 

 

 

 

 

Baltic Bees

 

 

 

 

For 160 Euros you could go for a flight with the Junkers (too much money for me, but would have been cool)

 

 

Ready for take off

 

 

 

 

The famous Dalahorse is made in my region of Sweden and J took a liking to it, exclaiming "look, my favourite horse" every time she saw one so we decided to do an excursion and go see where they are made.

 

Small break on the way up, it was really cold in the morning!

 

 

 

 

J riding one of the smaller dala horses

 

 

Watching the horses being painted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also got to paint our own horse!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cutting the horse form a piece of wood

 

 

 

They are still carved (and painted) by hand

 

 

The red one is the original and classic

 

 

but other colours have been made for special occations or companies here is a selection

 

 

Picnic lunch

 

 

 

Two big rivers, East Dalariver and West Dalariver meet here, in Gagnef and become the Dalariver