A Poorly Christmas

We had plans this year to spend Christmas Day lunch at the Saadiyat Gold Club with a handful of friends, but the four people in this household had to cancel.

Monet was ill for four days, which wasn't fun for the seven year old.  The 'four day tummy bug' has been going around and it seems to have missed the rest of us here, which is a good thing.  Lily though has a sore throat and a head cold and a voice that sounds like Donald Duck, but she is now slowly on the mend after sharing the head cold with me.  She's been sleeping solidly which is fabulous, considering on her first night of a sore throat she was awake and crying after every sleep cycle (ie. every 40 minutes).

Santa still dropped off presents for our girls, which was just as well!  It took Lily a little convincing that 'Santa' wasn't hanging around downstairs when she came down and then after she spied what he had left,  spent the rest of the day saying that 'Santa is a good boy'.  Her little wooden kitchen was a hit.  Monet laid on the couch as MrL put together a beautiful little dolls house for her, poor poppet.

One positive thing, living in a Muslim country is that all the shops are open on Christmas Day.  So as we cancelled our Christmas Lunch outing, MrL went and bought a rolled pork, a chicken, a bottle of champagne and other bits and bobs.  So whilst the girls napped, and both without appetite, MrL and I sat and drank and ate.

A very different Christmas and we will look back in years to come and talk about Christmas 2011.

This following photo was taken at a Christmas Party a week previously.  

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and everyone was fit and healthy, which is more than what I can say about my little family here in Abu Dhabi.  =)

Christmas in the UAE...

For a Muslim country, the UAE sure know how to decorate a Christmas tree.  Santa even comes and visits but shhh, we won't tell Lily - she is not a fan of the man in red.  Trust me, we've caught a couple of glimpses this week of him and she is definitely not a fan!

But that hasn't stopped her requesting that he comes and visits in a few nights time...

40th Celebrations.

If you've been reading my blog, you would remember that the UAE turned 40 a couple of weeks back. For the three years we have been here, we have always seen the cars the locals 'dress up' to mark the nation's birthday but I have never taken any photographs of them. I didn't think I would get around to snapping any pics this year either, until....

On Friday December 2nd, my dad, MrL and I decided we'd go over to Yas Island for a pint or two and lunch whilst Grandma agreed to stay at home and look after the girls for us. We saw spotted around the island, near the Yas Marina track, signs about the 'parade of the Union of the Nation' and thought, nahh, won't get to see anything. We were wrong. After a couple of hours at a couple of bars and a couple *ahem* pints in us, the parade had started.

I have never seen anything quite like it before and was grateful I had chosen to take my camera with me in my bag. So *joyous* and so funny! The local Emirates, certainly know how to amuse this Australian gal.  Yep, the old 'let's hang out the car window and the sunroof!', the lack of seat belts, the constant car tooting, the noise, the 'lets spray each other with foam', the car decorations all in one place.  And we were at the right place at the right time.

Below is a quick selection of photos from the afternoon.

My first, like, you know, 'Proper' Market Stall.

Well,with a bit of nervousness and much determination, I had my first market stall last Friday. I put my lovingly made skirts 'out there' for the public to ponder through.

I had been invited by someone to sell my skirts at a Christmas Bazaar, held in the area we live in, between the three current compounds. I jumped at the chance and got myself organised in the week leading up to the event.

As MrL had to work in the morning of the market (which ran from 10am till Midday), it was I who had to work out how to get my skirt rack from our villa to where it needed to be and organise two young girls to come with me.  I need not have worried - IKEA furniture is made to come apart and with a spare Allen Key (which I found in MrL's tool box), I had disassembled the rack and put it up again!

The Market itself was rather quiet, but busy enough for me to sell 10 skirts within those two hours.  Not a bad couple of hours work.  The girls were really well behaved, entertaining themselves with some snacks I had brought along and a couple of toys they had brought along.  My mate Kaz visited and entertained the girls for half an hour or so which was greatly appreciated.

This Thursday evening I am having another stall at the British Embassy Christmas Market.  I am actually looking forward to it and hopefully I will sell quite a few skirts to justify that extra glass of wine I will indulge in at our 'Abu Dhabi Family' Christmas party on Friday evening....

Now That's A Flag

And this flag is actually rather small as compared to others we have seen around these parts.

This year I have seen the biggest and grandest flags I have ever seen.   Forget the 37th, 38th and 39th National Day flags I have seen previously - 40 rocked!  I swear every second house here is draped in gigantic flags of the United Arab Emirates and most main roads have flags waving along the side of the road.  Apparently the flags are going to stay up for 40 days, taken from December 2nd.  Not sure how long some of the house flags will actually last with some of the howling windy days we've had lately but one thing is for sure - these Emiraties are proud of their country and so excepting of other nationalities and religions.  Many other countries could take a leaf out of their book.

Celebrating UAE National Day at School

Last Friday, December 2nd, the United Arab Emirates celebrated their 40th Birthday.  In 1971 all the head honchos from seven emirates sat down, chatted and ultimately decided to form the United Arab Emirates, where the previous seven emirates united as one. Well, something like that. The Head guy who formed all this was Sheihk Zayed. Around these parts he is a legend. Zayed's son, Sheikh Khalifa, is the Current ruler of the UAE and his grandson is the President. I think. It gets confusing. But everywhere you go in the UAE, you do see those three portraits standing side by side. Every school, every shopping center, IKEA even. Even on the road between Abu Dhabi and Dubai there is a gigantic portrait of Sheikh Zayed. I'm glad we weren't here when he died in early November of 2004. I'm pretty sure there was weeks of mourning. But anyway...

SO... the UAE love to make an excuse to let their hair down (literally) on December 2nd every year. This year, with the country turning 40, most people pulled out all stops.  Schools do celebrating of some kind and I was pleased that Monet's school did a presentation again, with parents invited.   I too was pleased that my mum and dad were still about to witness the celebrations, especially at school.

Last Wednesday students were encouraged to wear the colours of the Emirates, being white, red, green and black to school. Well, how could I not make the 7 year old her own camel skirt to mark the occasion?

It was great to see the kids line up on the ground and the local children put on a demonstration of their culture.

Personally, I was waiting for the 'hair swishing' dance, which didn't disappoint.  (It is a dance performed by pre-pubescent females where they move their brushed long locks from side to side in time to the funky music.)

During the day the school set up a few activities for the children to participate in.  Again, parents were invited to go along at your child's pre-set time to take photographs and join in.  It was good fun, especially watching some of the male teachers trying to participate in the male Emirate dancing.  Pretty sure some of those teachers were born with two left feet.   Some of the local men found it rather hilarious.

A thrill for me, was seeing a few of my 'Abu Dhabi' skirts around the playground, being worn by teachers (three in total) and a couple of yummy mummies. *wink wink*  Yeah, that's me on the left.

Monet got to ride a camel too, along with her Year 7 'reading buddy'.   Not sure who was more thrilled in witnessing this - myself or her grandparents.

Another successful National Day celebration tucked under the belt.  Pretty sure it was the best yet.  After all, it's not every year you turn 40.

Yas Hotel

Last week I took my parents over to Yas Hotel, located in the center of the Yas Marina Formula One circuit. It is (another) one of those buildings that you have to see to believe. It is a beautiful hotel and takes less than 10 minutes from where we live to there. I see the building practically every day and *still* love it.

Up close it is an amazing hotel/building to look at.  Clean, rounded lines and lots of white.

The couches are even white...well until a certain 2 year old put her Smartie-laced fingers on a pillow or two.  ;P

My mother announced she could have stayed sitting on the lounges all day and said that it would be one of her favourite places in Abu Dhabi.  I know what she means.

Doesn't sound like a bad idea actually, lounging on a couch and being waited on, in this beautiful mild weather we are having.

Unreal.

Yesterday I took my parents up to Dubai Mall for one last day trip before they head off home, after being away from Australia for close to six weeks. (They divided their time between the UAE and UK.)

The mall is okay and I do like going there, but it is too big with over 1200 shops under it's roof. It is okay if you know what shops you would like to visit and have a general idea where they are all situated, otherwise it can lead to a very tiresome and long day.

But myself, Lily, Mum and Dad weren't there really to shop. Okay, did a little shopping but we did go and take some photographs.

The Mall is situated at the foot of the Burj Khalifa, the highest building in the world, which I have surely blogged about before. But with my camera in hand, this time I took some photos.

Below (panoramic shot) is the foot of the Burj on the left and then across to part of the Mall on the right.  All these buildings look out onto a massive man-made lake, whose bottom is tiled with bright blue tiles to make it look inviting any day of the year.

There is a bridge that connects the Mall with a Souk (Arabian market place), which is really lovely to look at.  Lots of intricate laid Mosaic tiles and the like, patterns carved into wood and Arabian lights swinging from the overhead part of the bridge...

When you stand on the bridge and turn to your left, you come face to face with the beautiful Burj Khalifa herself, a whole 828 metres (or 2717 feet for you old schoolers) in height.

It is one of those building you must see with your own eyes to believe.  It makes you wonder what the UAE has up it's sleeve for it's next world-record standing attempt doesn't it?

MrL, the VIP

A few weeks back now, MrL was given a VIP ticket from his work, to attend the Official Formula One 'Black and White Chequered Flag Ball', which was held at the new hotel he had/still is, working at.

The next morning, after I woke, downstairs MrL had left his 'goodie bag' each seat had been given for me to help myself to.  (He ended up swiping 3! lol)  I swear, it felt like Christmas to see what goodies he was given.

He told me he got to walk the red carpet (there is a photo out there on the net, but I won't point you in the direction) and the Moet flowed freely all night. =)