Life In Dubai...Similarities and Differences

I'm finally feeling a little more settled now that 99% of our household goods shipment is put away. Our things faired well on the trip and we only had one dresser sustain some light damage, but we were insured and the moving company said it would either be fixed or replaced so I'm not too worried about the dresser.

Right now we are working on getting window coverings up. Currently we are sporting the latest design in tinfoil on our bedroom windows. It's a classic, clean look but not very functional so I'm hoping to get some curtains up soon. Randy is a great handyman but even he is being challenged with this house due to the solid cement construction. Great for surviving a hurricane or tornado, neither of which we get here, but not so good for hanging vertical blinds.

My biggest surprise about life in Dubai is how much I love it. Honestly, we should have moved from Abu Dhabi to Dubai years ago. I really like it here. And even though I miss my neighborhood friends from Texas dearly, I love this neighborhood more than our Texas neighborhood. This place is truly designed for families and enjoying the outdoors. And speaking of outdoors, the weather right now is gorgeous! Warm during the day but cool at night.

I think people would be surprised at how green Dubai is. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of sand, lots and lots of sand, but the communities are really green and very well maintained with lots of flowers and shrubbery. I love walking with the Bella in the evenings because the smell of honeysuckle and gardenia is so strong. It smells divine.

This is the view down our street. If you didn't know better, you might think this is a typical street in the states.


Entrance to our park.


This is just one of many medians in our neighborhood. They keep them covered in greenery.


Since moving to Dubai, we've been able to spend LOTS of time together as a family, which was our number one reason for moving. Recently Artem has decided he doesn't want training wheels on his bike anymore so Randy has been taking him to our park to practice in the grass.


He has done a fantastic job learning to ride and on the second night he got the hang of it and was zipping all over the lawn until two ladies showed up for their boot camp session and he started getting silly and falling off the bike on purpose to put on a show. He's already trying to impress the ladies at age four?? Heaven help me.


We live at the entrance of a small cul de sac that has one of the community parks in it. Our parks here are covered, they have to be due to the heat and sun, and it makes for a really enjoyable place for the boys to play.

There's the back of our house...nice and close to the playground!

Just like parks in the states, there are picnic benches and BBQ's for the residents to use.

We have two pools in our neighborhood that are heated in the winter and chilled in the summer so they can be used year round. I've been swimming with the boys several times already. This was Andrik's first experience with a swimming pool and he kept calling it a "big baff (bath) tub". He was very apprehensive at first but now he's all over the water, jumping and splashing. Randy was a lifeguard years ago so he likes to work with the boys on their swimming. Artem has the doggy paddle down perfect but we are trying to get him to swim with long legs and stroke with his arms. He just wants to do cannonballs off the side of the pool.

Just like in the states, we attend company parties and watch local men perform traditional dances. Our men just happen to be wearing dresses. :) Really those are called "Dishdashya" (pronounced Dish Dash) and is the traditional Arabic dress for the men here. It's what they wear on a daily basis to work, go to restaurants, go shopping, etc. I've even seen several playing soccer in dishdashya.

Just like in the states, our children go for pony rides at the company picnic. (tell me Andrik doesn't love riding that pony)

And pet animals at the company picnic; but instead of petting bunnies, they pet falcons; the national bird.

They paint pictures and accidently paint the arm of the girl next to them...

...and get a little paint on themselves...

...and they slide down jumpy houses. Just like in the states.

And just like in the states, the ice cream truck comes around the neighborhood. Only our ice cream truck has a camel painted on the side.

Mmmm...life in Dubai is good!