Wednesday, October 28, 2009


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Mosque

I have found that it has become at once overwhelming and underwhelming to keep up the blog. I sometimes feel like I have nothing of interest to say. I get up, get dressed, get Little Girl ready for school and Little Boy dressed. Before you know it the day is gone in a flash of hugs, cooking,bruises, spills, dishes, laundry, JimJam, bumps, messes and bedtime stories. Thing are falling into a routine, but I'm still not completely comfortable in Abu Dhabi. I should be settled in and feel like this is home, and yet a tiny piece of me is holding out. I'm not sure what for, maybe finishing the apartment or getting through the never ending red-tape.

More likely I won't feel settled into anything until the Little Monster starts sleeping through the night consistently. Just when I think I've finally figured it out and he sleeps all the way through, he's back to getting up 2 or 3 times a night. Ah well, this too shall pass.

More interestingly I had a really great visit with the in-laws. Yes, I am a lucky duck. My in-laws are great and we loved having them here for 10 days. They were troopers through the 11 hour time change and we did a few really neat things while they were here.

The most interesting of which was the tour of the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque. The third largest Muslim place of worship in the world. It is the only one to open its doors to non-Muslims and the tour was fabulous. Not only was the building amazingly beautiful, but Mohammed, our tour guide, was welcoming and accepting of everyone (including the pushy bloke who repeatedly questioned the practice of keeping the prayer rooms separated by gender). He answered questions about the building, Islam or the local history and culture. It was all food for thought. No one should miss a visit to the Mosque while in Abu Dhabi including residents. It took me 10 months to get there, but I'm glad I went.

Maybe I am an official resident now having had our first visitors and visit to the Grand Mosque.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

I miss US TV

I haven't been watching much TV that doesn't involve Barbie, Mickey Mouse or Teletubbies. We've amassed a nice collection of kids movies and there are lots of shows on the JimJam channel which reminds me a lot of PBS Sprout. We even have a Disney channel dedicated to Playhouse Disney which is the set of preschool shows. However, I'm having a hard time finding shows to watch, especially in English, on the rare occasion I want to watch a "grown up" show. Oh well, I guess it is better that I don't get too into any TV programs, just when I sit down to a kid free moment, something or, I should say, someone comes up. Sigh...