Saturday 1 August 2015

Week 31 - Project 365

Every time I settle into a routine, we get a visitor, hubby goes away or I'm off somewhere. The teen is here for the summer holidays then hubby and I are off to the UK in September. It's been like this for the past 5 years, I guess I should just accept that this is my routine now and just get on with it.

Sunday. A good start to the week with collecting my AED 1000 prize for an Instagram competition run during Eid #HappyGatherings at The Beach, so I spent the morning drinking coffee on the beach front and writing my blog posts.

Monday. I've been watching back to back Obsessive Compulsive Hoarders and Cleaners. Hubby suggested I was being a bit obsessive with watching them all and suggested maybe I should go out and do something instead. I opted to have a clean and a tidy up instead but not at the levels they were on the TV.

Tuesday. The teen arrived early morning and took over the TV with immediate effect, which doesn't bother me as I rarely watch it, but it means there's another room to have the air con on all day and the mess. I've spent the week trying NOT to be bothered by the mess. he also 'broke' the internet with his attempt to improve the signal. It's only the 3rd time I've seen him this year and I'll miss the mess once he's gone.

Wednesday. The whole day was spent putting together documents and writing letters and making online payments to solicitors, the Foreign Office and UAE Embassy all in the UK to sort out residency visa for the 16 year old. Despite him being in Boarding School in the UK, his main residence is with us in Dubai. There was no court order when I divorced his Father which has complicated the matter. What I fail to understand is we moved to Dubai from South Africa having already produced all these documents, yet the UAE require us to process our application from our country of origin, not from the country we were moving from.

Thursday. Coffee morning with the expat ladies over at Dubai Festival City, numbers are dwindling, with many being away for the summer and a few having to move unexpectedly with hubbies jobs.

Friday. Up early with hubby, the teen and the dog, out into the desert. I packed a picnic breakfast, chairs and the camp stove. We went to Mugg and Bean for lunch a South African cafe for a little taste of 'home'. In the afternoon we went to the cinemas to Ant Man.

Saturday. A day of nothingness was planned, however it ended up with putting curtain rails up in the conservatory, we popped out to a new coffee shop (can't be many left for us to discover), did some food shopping and ate a picnic dinner on the beach.

Day 207 #onedailypositive #NegativeSpace #fmsphotoaday #IceCream #snaphappybritmums #project365 #50DaysOfSummer


I bought a box of 16 ice creams for today's photo prompt as I'm sure there would be many mistakes made trying to capture this shot, however hubby pulled it off first bite.

Day 208 #onedailypositive #clouds #fmsphotoaday #hair #snaphappybritmums #project365 #50DaysOfSummer


Current temperature in Dubai 42c with a heat index of 45c and a NNE wind of 14km/h therefore the clouds make no difference in regards to protecting you from the heat. The wind is warm and it's like you're being followed around by a hairdryer on full blast.

Day 209 #onedailypositive #LookingIn #fmsphotoaday #SomethingOld #snaphappybritmums #project365 #50DaysOfSummer



This is my glass collection, that my father started for my Mother in the late 50's when he travelled Europe playing football 59/60 season, picking up a glass ornament on his travels. I inherited the collection aged 11 and spent my pocket money adding to it over the years.

Day 210 #onedailypositive #LookingOut #fmsphotoaday #Toes #snaphappybritmums #project365 #50DaysOfSummer



Looking out the window, driving into the desert with hubby and Bob for his weekly trip to the lakes

Day 211 #onedailypositive #trash #fmsphotoaday #pets #snaphappybritmums #project365 #50DaysOfSummer



I have to hoover daily in Dubai, the cat and dog moult everywhere and the air con blows it around the house creating little piles of fur I can collect easily for the trash.

Day 212 #onedailypositive #IBoughtIt #fmsphotoaday #GoldenHour #snaphappybritmums #project365 #50DaysOfSummer



As an expat any and every taste of home is a prized possession. Often we find favourite items go out of stock for a few weeks, so any time we see PG Tips we pick up a box, along with a few other favourites. We've been known to buy the last 4 boxes of a favourite food item from the supermarket.

Day 213 #onedailypositive #fiction #fmsphotoaday #PostCard #snaphappybritmums #project365 #50DaysOfSummer



A bit of a sore point this one, some of our family aren't THAT interested in our real lives in Dubai, they love the idea of us living a life of luxury and not the reality of it being too hot to go out, too expensive just to take part in all the activities they think we do daily, such as Brunch, spa's, nail bars, concerts etc. While some expats do live this life style, they either live life to the max on their credit cards or are exaggerating back home as to what they actually do. So for a few I keep the correspondence short and sweet and just say 'Life is great here' as they don't know how to respond, if they bother replying at all.

19 comments:

  1. Surprised that some family think Dubai is all about luxury - surely the hotels and the glamour is mostly for the rich few as it is pretty much everywhere. I expect they are envious of you, but I think it they really stopped to think, they'd see it differently.

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    1. we're just a holiday destination now, they forget we still have the same issues to deal with

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  2. that glass collection is impressive!! sorry that family seem to have the wrong opinions od where you live and the life you lead, a case of being better if you could pick your family? x

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    1. the miles that glass collection has travelled is unbelievable and it's probably moved house more than 20 times

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  3. Impressed you're managing to get outside more with the temperature still 42 degrees! Must be lovely having the teen home (even if he did break your internet!). It sounds like a right hassle sorting out his paperwork.Your glass collection is very impressive! I particularly like the pandas - I've always had a thing about pandas!

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    1. Our youngest is called Alexander and the second eldest called him AliPanda, which ended up as Panda Pops for a nickname, hence the collection of Pandas

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  4. I remember being so happy to find proper tea bags when I lived abroad too!!! It sounds like a good week, I am so jealous of your weather we have had so much rain this week. Hope you have a good week and get the paperwork for you 16yo sorted. It is not one long holiday living abroad it can be hard I totally get what you are saying at the end! x #project365

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    1. It's so much easier to get a touch of home now we're living in Dubai, when we were in South Africa we had to rely on what we could pack in our suitcases and what visitors brought with them

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  5. My stepdad lived in Dubai for many years and recently left to go to Mexico. He would always tell us how hot it was and that was amazing to us cause he is Mexican so should be used to the heat. He also mentioned brands that are so cheap in the UK being a fortune over there. It looks like an amazing place to visit but not sure I could live there. Loving your collection of treasures.

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    1. it's not just the heat, it's the constant warm wind and the fact we don't have any cold water unless it comes from the fridge, even the sea temps are around 36c

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  6. What a wonderful glass collection.Must be nice to have the teen around, even with the broken internet and paperwork nightmares.

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    1. we've hardly seen the teen since he arrived, he's living in his bedroom with the air con set to zero

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  7. Ah yes, proper tea bags :) We've been struggling a bit with temps of 32C this past week, your temperatures put that into perspective! It must be frustrating that family don't realise that there's a difference between being on holiday somewhere and living there. Hope you're continuing to enjoy time with your son x

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    1. it is amazing how quickly one gets used to the heat, but i'd prefer not to get used to it, the teen has hardly left his room

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  8. In reality the grass is not always greener, and in your case it is probably brown with the heat. Your expression of being followed round by a hairdryer made me chuckle, but the reality would kill me off.
    Is that your feet on the car dashboard? Sounds like you had a nice family day out on Friday.
    I love your glass collection and like the history behind it.

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    1. the glass collection certainly has done some mileage now. Yep they are my feet on the dash, don't forget the cars are right hand drive,

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  9. It sounds like you has a busy week. I love your glass collection. I think people always think the grass is greener. Darren's sister lives in Australia and her husband posts all these fantastic posts about how good life is, how much he is earning etc. On the flip side that have a huge mortgage, it's all relative x

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    1. it sure is relative, when i post about something nice like a day trip or a dip in the sea i feel like I'm rubbing peoples noses in it, but they don't think the same when they post day to day stuff they do, like see family and friends, parties, weddings etc

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  10. the 16 yo is living off ice pops at the moment

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