Christmas In The Dubai Desert

Our Christmas Day was just getting started when we went to Ski Dubai. We thought we would finish the day with a complete contrast. Going out into the desert on a 4 wheel drive safari.

Now this isn't usually my cup of tea. Too much sand and not enough water. And the idea of driving up and down sand dunes in the desert, "I SEE DANGER" but heh its Christmas and we are in Dubai and this is something we will not get the chance to do anytime soon.

We should of known what was coming when the car picking us up was 1 hour late. The Arab driver (crazy guy) didn't speak any English so it was a pretty quiet ride out to the desert which was one hour out of town. Pretty quiet until he was driving at break neck speeds of 160km down the highway with the car shuddering due to the front right wheel needing an alignment. Mind you we were getting passed by other cars who would have been going 200km.

NOW I WAS REALLY SEEING DANGER

After stopping for fuel and to ask for directions (this is when I got worried) We finally met up with 2 other cars that had obviously been waiting for some time due to the "Not Happy" looks on their faces, we pulled over and the driver (crazy Arab) got out and let the tyre down and then we where off.

"DANGER DANGER"

Warning bells.

Oh SH**, Hang on kids..

All I could hear was 3 kids screaming with laughter in the back seat and Andrew chuckling behind me. Thank goodness for the "OH JESUS" handle because it got a work out. Along with the roll bar on the other side that I clung to for grim death.

Up and down we went, sliding down sideways and hooning around the dunes. The poor car screamed at 6000 RPM which was a good thing because it drowned out my squealing.

We stopped at a huge ridge to take some photo's and the wind was blowing a gale. I was worried we would loose a kid over the side. Then it was back in the car to be scared a lot more. The driver occasionally turning to ask us "ALL OK?" I think it must be part of the job to see how loud the car load screams as to how much faster he needed to go.

At least none of us lost our lunch like a poor girl in one of the other cars we where following. We ended up out in the middle of the desert to have dinner. A traditional Eastern meal, Kebabs, hummus and flat bread. Mac had fun playing in the sand and was thrilled when Santa arrived on the back of a Camel. We all enjoyed the belly dancing show and Eliza and I tried out a Henna tattoo ( which one week later we are still sporting)

What a day we had. Snow in the morning and the desert for the evening. We had a great day and I would recommend to anyone going to Dubai to do the Safari it really was a hoot. And we survived our first Christmas day away from our family and friends.

 

Our White Dubai Christmas.

Christmas Day in Dubai was sure to be a different day for the Purdy's. So we thought we should try to make it a very memorable one.

And it will be a day we will never forget.

The day started bright and early as you would expect, and the children where treated to a small sack of gifts from Santa. Certainly not the sack of spuds they may have been expecting after being threatened for weeks before if their behavior did not improve. Their behavior didn't improve that much but good old Santa never lets the team down. (wink)

Breakfast was a selection of Krispy Kreme Donut's.

Then we headed off to the most amazing place I have ever seen. SKI DUBAI.

Wow, when you see it on the TV it looks great, but here we were getting our snow gear on and entering -4 deg temp in the middle of the desert. Still can't get my head around it. The kids loved the snow and had a hoot on the toboggan run and the bobsled run. Sam's biggest thrill was throwing snowballs ant Andrew. That kid will never learn that his Dad usually ends up the winner. Mac love the snow and wasn't concerned about being scarred when going down the runs, he got lost twice or should I say "we" lost him. He just wanders around in his own little world making friends with all the staff who all think he is sooo cute. Eliza thought it was time to go after a couple of hours when her chin had gone numb. But she enjoyed being cold for a few hours after living in the heat of Chennai for the last 5 months.

The word for the day "AWESOME"

We finished the experience off with a nice lunch looking into the snow park. Needing to warm up a bit it was hot chocolates all round. Defiantly not our usual roast lunch, but the Cheese fondue was pretty good. Andrew was in Cheese heaven.

But the day was not over yet.......

Stay tunned.

I'm In Heaven

We have arrived in DUBAI safe and sound. Great flight with Emirates.

All I can say is WOW.

Of coarse the first thing we did was head straight to the "Mall of the Emirates" which is probably a 10 min walk away. I planned that well.

It is the most amazing place I have ever been to. We walked in the door and the first thing we saw was the Ski Dubai slope. It took a good half hour to pick our chins up off the floor, we were walking around with the biggest goofiest grins on our faces we must have looked like real dills.

Andrew arrives first thing tomorrow morning and we are all looking forward to seeing him. Can't wait to start exploring the rest of Dubai with him.

Growing Up And Moving On

Just think, that if we where home in Australia Eliza would have finished primary school today.

I cant believe that the last 12 years have flown by so fast.

I just received a email from my friend Clare and it really got me thinking about the different paths our lives are now headed in. She was commenting on her daughter Lucy's last day of primary school today and what a wonderful day it was. I am so happy for them, she is a great kid and her family should be so proud of her.
I am now feeling sad for Eliza that she didn't get to share in that with all her friends at St A's. When we make these decisions to accept a post in another country you try not to think of all the things you and your family will miss out on and try to focus on the new and exciting life that is ahead of you. Days like today and the first day of High School that she will now miss in sharing with all her friends at home are the hard day's. You can't ever get those day's back and it takes an experience like this to realise that. I hope our kids don't hate us for all these things they are missing and that they appreciate all the wonderful opportunity's that lay ahead. The world is now our oyster, this is so different from the life we had at home.

So to all of those Grade six kids back home who have now come to the end of one chapter in their lives and are now awaiting for the next chapter to begin at the end of January 09 Good luck and may life take you just where you want to go......

God Give Me Strength (please)

5 Days down

6 To go

Yes, Andrew is out of town and I am a single Mum.

So far, so good. No major catastrophes. No doctors visits. No staff issues. No sleepless nights. (yet)No sandwiches up noses. No broken ankles. No end of year school mass to attend (and have a cry) No last minute calls from Dad saying "What have you bought for your Mother?" No kids in huge trouble (yet) School only finished at 1pm today so lets see what tomorrow brings.

I'M BORED

I can't believe how much my life has changed. Living in a very foreign country with no husband for 3 weeks. Not working. Not even being able to make shortbread for Christmas on my own without it being taken over by Margaret. Flying around the world on my own with 3 kids.
What am I thinking, you might say. Getting on a plane to fly to Dubai will not come quick enough. This has been the longest week. I tried to start thinking about packing today and got told "Madame you don't leave till next week" please just give me something to fill my days.
I've made the shortbread(with help) made a flop of a Christmas cake, sent the Christmas cards, wrapped the presents and I even tried to sit down and watch a movie in the middle of the day to fill in time. Can't get my head around not being a crazy mad woman at this time of the year....
All is too calm.
Wait till tomorrow when the kids boredom sets in, then I will be a crazy woman.

NO SHOES ALLOWED

Deciding we needed a bit of Indian culture we headed off to this Hindu Temple in Mylapore, Chennai. We had seen it many times but had never gone in to have a look.

And now I know why..

It was shoes off.

AH SCREAM.

In India, in a public place no way! But that was the only way we were getting in.
So the shoes came off, and naturally it cost a few Rupee to have them stored for us while in the temple.

The kids where not happy and wanted to stay in the car with Victor, but it was about time they got up close and personal with India and it's finest.

It was a really hot day so we didn't last long. Especially after Sam stepped in Poo, probably left by these two calf's hiding under the cart (above). Taking photo's was frowned upon and I got told off a few times. Pity I can't read Hindi so I'd know not to take them. Our trip to the temple was not a good one, Mac was in his typical "I hate India mood" and the other two kids didn't appreciate the culture or the poo.

School Life

School's out for the day for the kids that go to the school across the road from where we live.

This is something to been seen and heard!

These are the most beautiful children and there must be hundreds of them that go to this little school. The school being a concrete two story building, that we would hardly call a school. No green grass to play on, just a small dirt area in between the two buildings. I hate to think about the state of the so called class rooms. No tables or chairs.

I will never forget the first day I saw these kids arriving to school. Most of them on foot, with no shoes, carrying their little plastic lunch baskets holding hands with their siblings or friends. A few arrive piled into an Auto, maybe 10 or more kids climb out, no parents with them, obviously with a trusted driver. Others arrive on the back of their Dad's motor bike (still no shoes) but with the happiest little faces you have ever seen.

Morning assembly happens every morning and kids straggle in at all times. The music plays and the singing begins. Always a solo from of the students, singing their heart out. Nursery rhymes and a prayer start their day. The first morning this brought tears to my eyes. Here are these obviously very poor children, just so happy have the opportunity to be at school.

Today I braved it and took the camera down to get some photo's.

It didn't take long to get spotted and all of the sudden there were kids everywhere, all wanting their photo taken or the chance to shake my hand.

When school is out for the day the street is lined with people, be it the Mothers sitting waiting for their children, Auto's with the usual 10 or more kids aboard, the ice cream man surrounded by 30 kids all wanting an ice cream in a cone or the little old lady sitting on the footpath with her shop set up, selling sweets and religious pictures. Oh and then there's the lady selling brooms that she has been sitting making all day long.

Beautiful smiles

Beautiful children.

Swing Me Higher

Mac and I had some time downstairs at the play ground this afternoon and as usual I had a helper, Singaram. He is our ever smiling guard who, whenever the camera appears, so does he. Standing straight and tall and very proud, he never misses the chance to have his photo taken.

He is such a nice guy and he always wants to play with Mac and tickle him. Much to Mac's delight. (not) So like I said, our little play at the playground ended up being a threesome, Singaram digging holes and pushing Mac on the swing. With the sound of Mac calling "Push me higher" I am now sitting on the hot bench seat boiling my bottom off wondering if I will ever have any idea how to play with my children, cook, clean, drive a car or perhaps just think for myself once this assignment is over????????????????????

Silent Santa

This Santa was pretty different to the usual jolly old fellow we normally find at the local shopping center. He did not say a word to Mac or I. It was a case of quick get the kid on Santa's lap, get the photo and get the kid out of there. (And the Mother who had far too much to say)

All Mac would like for Christmas is a Watch and a Robot.

I hope Santa got the message.

Sparky's Christmas

Saturday night we ventured out to a great restaurant in Chennai called Sparkey's. We had been told of the wonderful Christmas spirit that is present there and it did not disappoint. We were overwhelmed by the beautiful decorations and the effort which had been made to help all us expats get into the swing of the festive season.
This restaurant is owned by a great guy named Tom and he is always very welcoming when we go there. The menu is typical American Dinner sort of food, so the kids can have a good fix of junk.

It was great to catch up with Graeme and Noelene before we all head off for our Christmas and New Year R&R's

We loved looking at all the decorations. So much work has gone into decorating the restaurant. Sam is being his usual self acting the clown whenever the camera comes out.

Mac was very intrigued when Santa popped out of the chimney.

Even Noelene and I found a familiar old guy in a red suite.

"Wanted!" Motorized Lawn Mower.

I don't believe this.

Well I suppose I do, but man can someone introduce the lawn mower to Indians. This back breaking job has taken 4 days. The yard at the apartment building is not huge, but this poor fellow has cut the grass and then gone over it again to trim the stray bits.

All this was done with what we would call hedging shears.

Half done.

The grass was so nice and green. Now its dried up earth.

I hope it grows back....

(I bet even my Dad's love of cutting lawns would soon come to an end if he had to do it this way)

A New Frock for Christmas

This morning I had the pleasure of taking Margaret Christmas shopping. I wanted to buy her and Victors wife a new Sari for Christmas. Because we all know how nice it is to have something new to wear on Christmas day. As this was my first trip into a Sari shop I thought it was best if I took her with me to help. It turns out that you can spend as much as Rs300 ($10) - Rs3000 ($100) depending on the fabric and embroidery. You can also pay a lot more than that for a designer Sari. Which we were not. If Margaret had her way who knows what we would have ended up with........

Very typically there were about 5 salesmen to each customer so we had lots of help. They kept pulling out all these beautiful sari's and I was saying "No more" thinking of the work it would take to fold them all back up again, but as usual my words where unheard and we probably saw over 100 sari's. Some very nice and some down right UGLY.

One thing I didn't realize before coming to live here was that the woman all wear sari's. Whether it be sweeping the side of the road, labouring on a building site caring 10 bricks on their heads or even riding a motorbike. It never ceases to amaze me, all these beautiful bright sari's and I don't think I have ever seen the same one twice.

Margaret tells me that married women should not leave the house in anything other that a sari. I am sure some women do, as a matter ease. So she arrives at work in her sari and then gets changed into a Salwar Kameez. A dress with baggy pants underneath and a matching shawl. Again I don't think I have ever seen a duplicate of one of these. So if you are not married this would be what you would wear.

Most of the time the matching fabric would be bought and then taken to the tailor's to be stitched. There is a tailor on every corner, and I am not joking about that. Literally on the side of the road, sitting there with the old fashion treadle Singer humming away. Cutting out the fabric on the ground then stitching it together. Heaven help them if it rains. Some are very inventive and have a tarp strung up in the trees over their little shop.

We did end up with a lovely sari for each of them and I will try to get a picture of Margaret in hers one day.

This Whirlpool Comes With A RAT.

This is the work of a RAT....

Saturday whilst in the middle of yet another load of washing, my beloved Whirlpool started to squeal and smell.

Oh dear what was I to do?

As any Mother of children knows one or two days without a washing machine means life as you know it just came to an end. Days catching up on the never ending supply of dirty clothes the 3 little darlings seem to generate. Just what I need ("I" as in Margaret and I).

Being a Saturday I thought I would need to wait until Monday to phone the customer service center. Bright and early Monday morning I was on the phone. I explain my situation,

"My 4 month old washing machine is not smelling and sounding too good, in fact the smell nearly cleared us out of the house it was that bad. I am not very happy (blah blah blah) could you please send someone to fix it, preferably today."(Yeh right)

The reply was, "Today is out of the question Madame as our service guys are busy tending to yesterdays calls."

"What" I say, "Yesterday was Sunday, who works in a customer service center on the weekends?"

"Sorry Madame we wont have anyone there until Tuesday"

"Look this is not good enough, I have 2 days worth of washing to do and I am not happy that my 4 month old machine has died"

"I am very sorry Madame"

Great, what a princess I am.

So the wait began.....

Low and behold the door bell rang at 12pm Monday. The poor service guy got the fright of his life when he saw a crazy white lady jumping for joy. He quickly got to work on the whirlpool, I think to avoid sharing in my excitement.

And this is what he found..

A dirty stinken RAT had a feast on the wires of the control panel. I think I am going to scream. A RAT in my house.

The RAT seemed to have got into the laundry through the drain in the floor that the washing machine hose goes into. Yes that's right, a hole in the floor.

The washing machine even has a RAT cover on the underside, but a lot of good that has done.

Margaret tells me we need to buy rat poison, She obviously doesn't know Mac well enough that we don't leave anything poisonous lying around our house. (Remember the shoe primmer incident?) Then Victor tells me we need a trap. I'm not keen on dealing with a caged angry Rat thanks.

So the answer to my dilema is to cover the drain when not in use with the Laundry detergent tub. And you guessed it this morning I flooded the laundry because I didn't put the hose back down the drain....

Just another day in India.

Oh, just thought I'd share another RAT story. Tuesday night we took the kids to to one and only McDonald's in town for Eliza's birthday, and Sam just happens to spot a RAT running across the air-conditioning ducts in the ceiling. And we thought it was a safe place to eat...

DP, I suppose this means a trip to Chennai is out of the question.

Meet Indian Mac

Look at my handsome boy.

We went shopping a couple of weeks ago to get ourselves decked out in some traditional Indian garb. Mac was very keen to get into the change room and try his on. Sam on the other hand had to be dragged in there kicking and screaming.....

So Saturday night we were going out for dinner and out came Mac in his new clothes. How cute is he?

Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. (wink)

Nearly a Teenager

My Baby Girl has turned twelve and I cant believe where the last 12 years have gone.

The kids were very excited to have the day off for Eliza's birthday due to yet again another public holiday. This time it was Bakrid, a Muslim holiday. Andrew, of course had to go to work so he missed out on going for birthday lunch.

We decided that we would give Eliza her presents the night before her birthday as Andrew leaves soooo early that we daren't all be up to open gifts at some ungodly hour. Eliza could also justify this as 8pm Indian time was 1:30 am Australian time, so officially she was already 12.

She was very spoilt (as usual) but I think her favourite gift was the 2 blocks of Australian Cadbury's she received. One from Aunty Kerrie and the other that I had paid through the leg for at our local grocery store ($9) but you cant put a price on chocolate, can you?

"Heh Sam. Check this out, The Camp Rock CD."

"OH, I don't believe you found this new J.K. Rowling book!"

And doesn't every bear need a blonde Hannah Montana wig?

I think she had a good birthday, but one thing for sure, she really did miss celebrating with all her friends from back home.