Thursday, September 13, 2007

Update from Dubai

Apologies for the lack of interest (from our side at least!) in the blog for a while. We are still staying in our serviced apartment, which is great, but we obviously don't have internet access yet aside from the computer in the lobby downstairs (where I am now) so keeping in touch with everyone has been a bit tricky. It is also quite frustrating not being able to send anyone photos etc, as we've been taking pics of the kiddies in their new environment almost daily, but will have to wait until we have our own computer again.
Things are going very well on the whole and it's amazing to think we've only been here two weeks as it feels like a lot longer. This week has been very eventful. Firstly, Josh started at his new nursery school on Monday. He is attending it three morning's a week and so far so good, although we have had some wobblies and the second day was awful as he wouldn't let me leave, knowing what was coming! Anyway, today went a lot better and when I arrived to fetch him I struggled to get him to leave. He has made friends with another little South African boy, and they apparently spent the whole day together, so that's great!
Dan has been busy too... This week he decided to reach three milestones at once and is now sitting by himself (after a few wobbly weeks!), rolling over (doing 360's from one side of the room to the other!) and his first tooth broke through on Tuesday, so a big week indeed! I am soon going to have two little "mobile maniacs" on my hands when he starts crawling, which will be great fun!
Then on the house front it was also a productive week in that we have now found a place to rent, starting 1 October. Rental here is ridiculously expensive, but you have to get your head around it and not convert into Rands all the time, as it will send you into orbit! We will be renting a lovely little villa in an area called the Lakes - very lush and green considering we are in a desert, and with all the amenities you could need right on your doorstep. The communal pool and play area are right across the road, so the kids can still swim and burn off their excess energy which is great. How is this for a small world... Our landlords are a South African family; he went to Dale (much to Nath's amusement!) and grew up on a farm near Pedi! She is from Cape Town. Anyway, we went round there this evening for a drink (alcohol is very hard to come by until we have our residency visas and can buy some in limitied quantities ourselves, so N enjoyed the rare beer tonight!) and to finalise arrangements. All in all, renting a place has gone incredibly smoothly and we are very pleased with everything!
The week-end is now here and we will take the boys to the beach again tomorrow afternoon for a swim in the sea water which is the same temperature as their nightly bath! Everything is going well and we will post some photos as soon as we can! Till then...