Rainbow Rosie

Rosie loves all things crafty and after speaking to some little girls in her class, asked me if she could start going to Rainbows. For those of you who don't know, Rainbows is the little, little girls version of Brownies and Guides. It's open to girls aged between 5 and 7. The usual helpfulness and resourcefulness is encouraged and it's altogether a good thing. I contacted the delightfully named leader, Daffodil, asking for a place for Rosie and volunteering to be a helper at the same time since I'm not averse to a bit of crafting myself. We duly secured a place for Rosie and a police check for me since working with children and the Girlguiding Association dictates this.

We miraculously found our way there on Wednesday afternoon and took possession of a brand new Rainbow uniform for Rosie and a helpers t-shirt for me. Rosie was very shy and reluctant to join in despite there being 9 new Rainbows this week (it's the start of a new term), 2 of which are her classmates. After a little bit of coaxing and a promise that I would be right there the whole time, she joined the circle and we learnt the Rainbow Promise and the song that we will sing every week. We made a helpful horse out of washing up brushes and j-cloths (?), played a guess what's inside the bag game and altogether had a fine old hour.

My homework for the week is to come up with a flower name for myself. Rosie thinks that I should be called Snapdragon but all the Rainbows have the ultimate say next week when we will take a vote. She fails to see the humour in this but it's not lost on me - I think that it's probably the most appropriate flower name and I think that any naughty Rainbows who need some firm control may be in agreement some time soon......

Winners

We've had a run of good luck in our family lately. When Andy bought his new car in June he was entered into a lucky draw. Thinking that nobody ever wins these things, he promptly forgot about it until the other day when he got a phone call from Arabian Automobiles telling him that he'd won a family holiday to Hawaii! Instead of calling me in an excited frenzy as I would have been sure to do, I received a one line email saying "I've won a holiday to Hawaii". Yeah, yeah I thought but nevertheless called him to get all the details and indeed we had won a holiday to Hawaii. The problem is that it would take a very, very long time to fly to Hawaii from Dubai in fact there aren't many places in the world that are further away. Doing the calculations, it would seem that we could fly Dubai - Singapore - Tokyo - Hawaii. Or..... Dubai - London - New York - Hawaii. Either way you look at it, not a fun prospect with 2 small children. Since our move from Asia, we were also kind of thinking that we'd give really long haul journeys a miss for a while. Luckily for us, the competition prize could also be taken as a cash equivalent which after a quick think we decided to take. Since moving into our lovely new house, we have realised that we need some new pieces of furniture so we're choosing to spend our windfall on that.

The same week, Andy and I joined some friends for a weekly quiz at a local golf club. We're proud to report that we won by a margin and the 4 ladies in the team were presented with jewellery vouchers to spend which was rather nice for a Tuesday night out. They say that good luck comes in threes so watch this space.

Playdoh Police.

One of the casualties of our move to Dubai were the tubs of playdoh belonging to the girls. The journey, the storage and the months since it was last played with rendered their tubs hard and impossible to play with. We are 'told' that the modelling medium is necessary for improvement of their fine motor skills and that, coupled with the fact that it's enormous fun, dictated that a trip to Toys R Us was necessary to replenish the stocks. Well, I was amazed. There is every hue in the spectrum. There are sparkles and there are sprinkles. And the tools available put my kitchen, which I previously considered to be well equipped, to shame. Of course, the sprinkles and sparkles won the day and we threw a couple of twisty and confetti makers (they look like sea salt grinders!) in for good measure. Once home, we opened all the pots and I spent a very stressful hour playing playdoh police because the first thing that Emily wanted to do was mix the colours and they had a fight over the purple pot. Emily's attention span is limited. It's a combination of her age and her personality and not much can engross her for longer than 10 minutes or so. It was lovely then to see her play for an extended period with Rosie. They cooperated and after the disagreement over the purple was arbitrated to everyone's satisfaction (we split it!), spent over an hour kneeding and rolling and generally making squidgy stuff. It was then that I realised that mixing the colours is just a sign that the stuff is being played with properly. After all, who wants a totally blue pizza or a caterpillar made from only pink? At that point, I stopped nagging and everybody was much happier. If many a happy hour results in sparkly brown playdoh streaked with blue and grey sprinkles, who am I stand in the way?

Life Moves On....

The girls are well settled into the school routine now. They're both making friends and we have the prospect of a playdate for Rosie and a birthday party for each of them to attend before the end of September. Andy and I met lots of our neighbours last night when we attended the monthly resident's drinks party at the bar in the hotel here at Desert Palm. With free flowing beer and wine, the atmosphere was definitely conducive to socialising and it was lovely to meet some people away from the child centered atmosphere of the pool and school environment. It will take time to make friends but we met some lovely people and we were made to feel extremely welcome which reinforced our decision to live here and become a part of this community. Everyone that we spoke to, without exception, loves it here and it was said more than once that this is THE best place in Dubai to live. The driving is getting easier and I'm actually using the map that Andy bought me to find my way around! I'm taking it one journey at a time and slowly but surely getting a feel for the roads and my brain is starting to compute what it must to navigate from the 'wrong' side of the road. Andy continues to be busy at work, but since we are all forced to leave the house very early in the morning (an underyeye bagging 7.00 a.m.!) to make it to school on time, he feels justified in leaving the office earlier and we're seeing much more of him in the evenings. All in all we're doing OK. I figure it takes 6 months to get a feel for a place and for it to start to feel like 'home' so it really is early days yet. Most importantly, we not regretting for one minute our decision to move here; our home is beautiful, the girls' school is outstanding and we're starting to meet some people. Result.

Twitching

Andy is turning into a bird watcher. Our new house in Dubai is in a bit of an oasis. It's situated in the middle of a polo club and stables so as we look outside we can see trees and grass and paddocks which is a real departure from most of the rest of Dubai which is just beige. Our house is upside down which means that the living space is on the top floor and the bedrooms are on the bottom and they lead out into our garden. Consequently when we're sat on our sofas we can see out to the tops of the trees (we have no curtains yet so the view is unimpeded) and the little time that Andy spends at home is punctuated by excited yelps at spotting another bird with "a brilliant blue underside" or "one with the spikes on it's head" or "that big one that looks like it can't fly". It's obviously not very scientific but it's given me a great idea for Christmas. What do you buy a man who needs nothing and wants even less? A pair of binoculars and a book on indigenous bird species of the UAE...... It's official, I married a geek.

Stumped

I think that I need to go back to school. Rosie is moving away from the usual 'Why' which plagues us for the first 4 or so years of a child's life. She's getting smarter and so are her questions. After breakfast this morning, at a mind numbingly early 6.45 a.m. she said to me that she had a very important question to ask. Floundering, I imagined that some sort of heaven vs hell or birds and bees analysis was to follow.... "Go on", I encouraged. "Why doesn't water just slip down your throat when you drink it?". I assured her that it does just slip down your throat. "No it doesn't, you have to swallow." I tried to recall my biology lessons of 20 years ago and managed to dredge something about having a valve that stops stuff going into your lungs and allows stuff only into your stomach when you swallow. That's why you cough when something 'goes down the wrong hole'. "That's rubbish", she replied. "You don't have to swallow candy floss, it just melts and slips down your throat so why doesn't water?". Hmmm, defeated by spun sugar. I briefly considered making this an afternoon project of internet searching and a trip to the bookshop to find a human biology encyclopedia suitable for a five year old but in the end said what any mum with a shred of self respect remaining in the face of daughter disdain at her lack of answers would say...."Ask your teacher, she knows everything."

Busy Days

We are slowly but surely getting organised. Most of the boxes are unpacked, some of the pictures are hung and we're finally getting on top of the sand and the dust. The weather in Dubai seems to be cooling down slowly. It's still cracking the flags during the day but within the next few weeks we should be able to hit the parks and the beach without becoming human barbeques. We're looking forward to getting to know the city and to spending time outdoors. The summers here are insufferable but the silver lining is that the rest of the year is warm, dry and perfect. To have some sense of changing seasons will be refreshing after Malaysia's androgynous months which roll into one without any significant change. And if we really feel like a change of temperature, we can always visit the indoor ski slope here which enjoys sub-zero temperatures all year round. There are so many things to explore in Dubai and we're excited at the prospect of road-testing all the attactions in our own time. Of course, our free time is limited since the girls are both in school now and after Ramadan (during which the school day is shorter than normal) they won't be home until mid afternoon after a very early start. That combined with Andy's long working week means that we'll really have to put the effort in to making sure that we use our weekends wisely.

Big School for Emily

If I was 3 years old and I walked into Emily's nursery I would think that I'd died and gone to heaven. Tables filled with playdough, puzzles, painting, wood shavings with hidden treasures, a dress up and play house, sand and water boxes and a ratio of 1 adult to every 4.5 children. Miss Balsom her teacher, is as pretty, blonde and soothing as her name implies and Emily took an instant shine to her. At her induction day, I left her getting stuck into bright yellow playdough and when I collected her an hour later she was sat in the same spot chatting away to the other little ones. On her first day proper, she needed to be reminded to say goodbye to me and was far too busy for a kiss. At pick up time, she bounced from the classroom, bunches askew sporting a very tired, very happy face. Emily takes most things in her stride and she has done much this week to make the first difficult days easier for us and allowed me to concentrate on her less socially confident sister. I was inordinately proud of Emily again this morning as she sauntered in amidst clinging classmates and crying contemporaries. The same spirit that exasperates and exhausts me sometimes has allowed her to pass this first test with flying colours. Way to go Emily!

Back to School for Rosie

One of the first jobs to tackle upon our arrival in Dubai was the purchase of school uniforms for our girls. The list was extensive and the pocket poorer when we left the shop with an enormous bag of essentials. Induction days for both Year 1 and Nursery newcomers were held giving both girls a chance to meet their new teachers and some other new children, the plan being that they would recognise a face or two on their first morning proper. Rosie started on the Sunday (the school week runs from Sunday to Thursday in Dubai according to the Islamic calendar) and on Saturday night she made us solemnly promise to wake her up really really early because she was so excited about starting her new school. There's not much danger of a sleep in these days with the alarm firmly set to full blast at 6.00am! We took her to the playground where her teacher came to meet the children to escort them to their classroom for registration. It's clear that parents are expected to efficiently say goodbye to their offspring and let the teaching staff do the rest. This is a departure for us after the intimate and informal atmosphere of Alice Smith School last year. At the end of the day when it was time to pick her up she was her usual evasive self claiming not to know the names of any of her new classmates and when grilled about what she'd been doing replied with a curt 'nothing'. A few tears the next morning at drop off did little to reassure me that she would have a happy day. Nevertheless she was a bit more forthcoming at pick up about what she'd been doing (arabic class, art projects and some reading) and who she'd been playing with (a little girl on her table had promised an invite to her birthday party). This morning she entered the playground cautiously and after a faux cheerful kiss goodbye from me I had no sooner turned around to wave than she was running hand in hand with another little girl who the day before had also been crying into her mum's skirts. What are you crying for now........Mum?

Here We Are

It's taken almost 2 weeks to get a fully functioning internet connection in our new house in Dubai. It's going to be a while therefore before I'm able to fully update on how and what we're up to as we start our new life here in the Middle East. We were very sad to say goodbye to our friends and family back home but it was high time that we moved on to the next chapter and it feels quite surreal to be living in a new country, in a new house and seeing Andy every night after work. There are a number of enormous changes for all of us. Rosie and Emily have started at their new school; watch this space for more details. The currency is obviously different and I'm still feeling a bit like mister mcgoo in the supermarket as I try to pay for groceries. The range and variety of groceries available is both refreshing and mind boggling. Who knows which type of hummus is the best? Which dates should I buy? Exactly where is the pork section (I found it behind a curtain at the back of the shop!)? The right side of the road is the wrong side for me (as I found to my cost earlier today when I had a near miss with a speeding taxi). The heat is stifling and if I ever thought that tropical heat was oppressive, now I know better. Ramadan is in full swing and the whole population is affected, muslim or otherwise.

So we're taking baby steps to settling in; unpacking boxes, hanging pictures, settling the girls into school, concentrating on driving on the correct side of the road and not getting lost and enjoying our lovely new home.

A Green and Pleasant Land....

We are approaching the end of our Summer 2008 holiday at 'home'. We've had a blast even though the weather hasn't been the slightest bit kind, in fact it has, for the most part, been foul. Nothwithstanding too much necessity to wear wellies and raincoats, our girls have got a whole new set of memories to bank and whole new list of favourite things to eat. In no particular order, they have eaten their own bodyweight and more in the following:-

• Fish and Chips - of course! Rosie must have absorbed some of the content of my constant nutrition lecturing and now insists that fish must be eaten 3 times per week in order to make her clever. She won't however, be persuaded that salmon reaps the same benefits as battered fish from the chippy.

• Ice Pops. Teeth achattering, Emily will eat these until her mouth turns blue and since I optimistically bought a pack of 100 when the sun was shining (for 4 days!), it's just as well that arctic weather doesn't deter her.

• New Potatoes. Previously labelled 'isgusting' (sic) by Emily and retch-inducing to Rosie, potatoes are now their carbohydrate of choice. Only being able to buy and serve almost sprouting, on the turn to nasty spuds in Malaysia perhaps contributed to their disdain and here's hoping that I'll be able to buy this little taste of heaven when we are in Dubai otherwise it's back to the rice for us.

• Mr Whippy ice cream. Rosie will always eat ice cream by the bucketful but Emily claims that it's too cold! However, we bought a 99 cone at the farm and that alongside the hypnotic effect of the ice cream van jingle has led to repeated demands for 'warm ice cream with a chocolate sausage'. Hmmm.....

• Roast Dinners. Familiar to them already because of my desire to keep true to our roots, the humble roast dinner has become a Thing of Desire. I have no problem with this since they have accepted that mounds of veg must be eaten before a second helping of yorkshire pudding will be dispensed. I won't be wasting any more money on Annabelle Carmel books.

They have acquired a taste for many more items that may not be as readily available overseas. Some I'm hoping that I'll be able to source (local strawberries, peas in the pod, mature cheddar), others I'm hoping won't be espied on the supermarket shelves (Foxes classic biscuits, Seabrook crisps). You can take the girls out of England but you can't take England out of the girls.......

Roots

Both Andy and I miss so much about our home country but it's fortunate that an intensive 'dose' every year or so is enough to satisfy our cravings whether they be for a decent pint in a decent pub or an eyeful of the the moors from my mum's garden. We are both of the opinion that real friends remain so and it's testament to this that without daily, weekly or sometimes even monthly contact we maintain a core of people that we truly value and consider to be our friends for life. Of course we miss our family and friends and since leaving Malaysia we have a whole other set of people to miss as well, but we remain convinced that our choice to live and work overseas is the right one for our little family. We are very fortunate to have deep roots here in the UK with both sets of families remaining close and in our hearts and those of our children. We work hard to ensure that our girls know where they come from and who is important to them through us. Hopefully, they will continue to feel connected through our regular trips 'home' and through the visitors we get to our home in whichever country happens to be called that at the time. We are privileged to have both a wonderful 'real' life which we hope will continue in Dubai, and a place where we can come periodically to regroup, reground and spend time with those we have known and loved longest.

Big Girl Shoes

We are reaching yet another milestone in our young girls' lives; Emily will be wearing school uniform for the first time in September when she starts at the nursery attached to Rosie's new school. Her feet are still so tiny that she had only one option when we went today to buy school shoes for her from Clarks; a weeny little pair of black leather mary janes. A row was expected, since Emily is particularly contrary when it comes to her personal attire, but she was so excited by the occasion and of course happy to be following her sister in getting big girl shoes that it never materialised. She was overjoyed when we proceeded to the sports shop to buy PE shoes which happen to be her very own favourite type of footwear. We almost had a glitch when she wanted some silver ones but the threat of 'these or none', since the strict uniform policy states white only are allowed, set her back on track to compliance. The next job is to buy the rest of the uniform when we reach Dubai next week and I'm hoping that they'll have one tiny enough for her. The past three years have gone so quickly and I can't believe we're at the point of buying school uniform for BOTH girls even if the youngest is still in size extra, extra small. Perhaps it's time for number 3.....

All Together

We've had a lovely few days since Andy has joined us in the UK. The girls were ecstatic to see their Daddy and he had a welcome befitting a returning hero when we met him at the airport.

We made the trip to North Wales on Saturday to join Andy's nephew Philip and his lovely new bride Lian at their wedding reception. The girls were resplendent in new outfits and silver party shoes and even though the evening ended up with them half asleep and not a little grumpy, it was nice for them to attend a family function the likes of which they're not normally privvy to.

We're trying to make the most of these last two weeks before we go to Dubai but we're all getting increasingly excited about the start of our new adventure. Not least because it's cold, wet and blustery here in the north west of England and the novelty of wearing jackets is starting to wear off. It will be cooking eggs on the tarmac hot when we land in the Middle East but pretty soon the temperatures should start to come down and we'll hopefuly be left with perfect pool, beach and park conditions. Hopefully our very early starts up for school again will leave some energy to enjoy it.

We Can't Wait

The concept of time doesn't mean much to very young children. The time tested solution to this is to count down the number of sleeps until an event and they seem able to grasp this. We are now at a point where we will have '5 big sleeps' until we see Daddy again. Emily tries to negotiate in the hope that it will become reality. Her contribution when we discuss it is to say 'no, 2 more big sleeps', or whatever. I suppose she's still at the age where she believes that if she wishes it so, it must come true. Our rather more mature 5 year old however is accepting of reality and is very pragmatic about it to the point where she takes great delight in explaining to her sister that Daddy has a ticket for the aeroplane and can only use it on the day it says so. Having said that, out of all of us it's Rosie that's missing Andy the most. Her occasional good behaviour lapses at the moment are I think symptomatic of unvocalised feelings towards being separated from her Dad for so long. She confided in Grandad Michael this morning that she's missing him and is feeling sad about it. We are definitely on the home straight now though. We have two weeks together in the UK and then we all fly to Dubai on the 31st August to start our new life there. What will we blame any less than perfect behaviour on then? Perhaps being 3 and 5 and just a little bit spirited is reason enough.......

Happy as Pigs in......

Our girls got disgustingly filthy today. I mean mud in the eyelashes and hosing off in the garden filthy. It started with splashing in the puddles in Nanny's lane and very quickly descended into sitting in the mud, making pies and dams and seeing who could get the most gloriously revolting. Just puddle splashing was in itself was a strong concession for me since I have an aversion to my children getting dirty. I know thats it's silly and bordering on cruel and that everything (particulary skin!) is washable, but I can't help it. My girls know this and I think they wondered when they would next get the chance and so decided to make the most of the opportunity. Luckily, Nanny Pat is the absolute best stain remover in the world and within an hour their clothes were sparkling again. Not so easy the children; they had to sit in a bucket in the garage to get the first round of muck off and then again in the laundry bucket and thirdly up the stairs in the bath for a final suddsing. The only lingering evidence was a thick black ring round the bath and two very satisfied children....

You can come too, too, too....

We went to Chester Zoo today. I don't know what the girls were more excited about; seeing the animals or meeting up with our friends Susie and Mia from Kuala Lumpur. They are also visiting England and it was our final, final chance to see them and say goodbye for a while. It felt a little strange at first being so totally out of the environment that we usually spend time together in (i.e. Malaysia!) but we all soon got back into the usual routine of playing and gossiping. The monkeys and apes were the draw of the day for the girls and a rather more exclusive (than the burger bar) little tea rooms was given the thumbs up by us ladies. The weather was relatively kind and we only had to shelter from the rain a couple of times.

It was sad to say goodbye and whilst I'm sure that many months won't pass before we see each other again, we will all miss the Harvey girls very much and we're glad that we were able spend a memorable day together.

Family

Although our girls don't get to see their grandparents as frequently as most children, they have several periods of intensive contact during the year both in their own home when their grandparents visit and when we come to the UK for our annual summer holiday. Needless to say, the time that they do spend with them is joy filled and memorable. They love them all for different reasons. They love Nanny Pat for her tireless patience and the great cardigans that she makes and Grandad Don for his comfy cuddles. They love Grandma Joan for taking them walking and letting them loose on her garden and they love Grandad Michael for his silly songs.

It's a pleasure to see them amongst their cousins and they are fortunate enough to have a total of 12 ranging in age from 18 months to 31 years!

We feel that it's important that Rosie and Emily know their where their roots lie and that they remain an important part of their extended families regardless of geography. We're therefore hoping that since we'll be living a lot closer to home than we have been come September, we'll have a lot more visitors and our families and friends can have a small taste of how we live and the girls can delight in sharing a little bit of their world too.

The Open Road

We made the trip along the M62 to see Nanny and Grandad yesterday and what a pleasure the journey was. I'm guessing that most people in the UK take considerate, predictable driving by fellow road users for granted but not so those of us who've lived in Asia for the past 8 years. A flash of headlights by another motorist means 'I'm coming through!', not, 'Go ahead please...'. Any space will be jostled into and traffic lights are considered to be mere colourful distractions so it's always necessary to check, look and check again before making any sort of turn. When I first started driving in Taiwan, I was determined to maintain high standards but it very quickly became clear that if I was to be staunch in that ideal, no journey would be succesful in terms of time taken to travel and stress levels at the end of it. And so slowly the metamorphosis began and I whilst I sold my soul to the Roadrules Devil, I managed an accident free, mission accomplished Asian driving career.

The downside is of course, that when come home for our UK break, I must revert back to a more gentile and responsible manner behind the wheel which is easier said than done. I have to contend with a manual car after driving an automatic all year, resulting in many an attempted corner turn in fourth gear. I really do have to stop at red traffic lights even if I am turning left, and there are absolutely definitely no oncoming cars. I have to remember that it's considered polite in this country to actually let cars join the stream of traffic even if the cost is two seconds added to your journey. The most challenging mindset change is having to remember that when entering a roundabout, I must wait for a clear gap because the drivers already going around will not tolerate having to stop for me because I'm not prepared to wait my turn. It's all a bit of a struggle but as I'm getting used to it all again, I'm happy to declare that it is actually much less stressful to drive when the rules are being followed by all motorists, not just me. The next challenge will be getting used to driving on the opposite side of the road in Dubai, but just for now I'm enjoying a little bit of civilisation.

Down on the Farm....

Rosie is getting to an age where she is beginning to remember things from not only her recent, but her relatively distant past. It's become an annual summer event to visit Cannon Hall Open Farm in Yorkshire and she has very clear memories of her trip there last summer and therefore knew what to expect when we went there today. Emily on the other hand, was expecting to see tigers, giraffes and monkeys and no amount of explaination could convince her otherwise. The first animal that we saw was a wallaby which didn't exactly serve to reinforce the notion of what types of animals live on a farm. Further on, we saw what can traditionally be expected: lots of cows, sheep, goats, donkeys and pigs. The odd rabbit, guinea pig and llama were bonus animals. The girls were able to milk a cow (just a plastic one but they didn't seem to mind!), see pregnant sows and suckling piglets, feed the goats and generally be at one with nature albeit in a confined and controlled environment.

They were less than impressed by how smelly the pigs were and whilst Emily liked to idea of the animals feeding from her hand, when it came to it, most of her feed ended up thrown on the floor in a panic. It didn't help when a cheeky little goat helped itself to the feed bag from her hand and at this point she decided that feeding animals was simply beyond the pale and was content simply to watch. Rosie on the other hand, really got stuck into the feeding and with only a minor hiccup of a snorting billy goat to upset her, gladly used all her bag and what was left of Emily's as well.

There was only one significant disappointment of the day for the girls and that was that Grandma didn't get spat in the face by a llama like she did last year but the sun shone brightly, the ice cream was delicious and we have one more precious memory stored up of happy summer days in England.....

Home Sweet Home

When the weather is good there's nothing more perfect than an English Summer Day. We don't need blazing sunshine since we do all we can to avoid it in our life overseas. What is idyllic for us is to be able to play outside all day without fear of sunburn, dehydration or mosquitoes. Needing to wear a cardigan is a rare treat for our girls and despite being warned that the weather is up to it's usual July tricks, so far so good in the 2 days that we've been back. We've even managed a picnic on the grass. Rosie has the gardening bug and Emily likes to think she has although doesn't like having dirty hands which might prove to be a problem. The long journey and the associated jetlag has meant that both girls have been asleep before the last pages of their bedtime books are turned and I'm sure that the fresh air has helped too. We have lots of plans for the next few weeks and the girls are incredibly excited to be spending time with all their grandparents, cousins and friends. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the weather doesn't let us down but in any case it feels great to be home.

Mr & Mrs Part 2

After a morning ceremony that couldn't have been quieter, the real fun began. Our friends had organised a great party for us with indian food, copiuous amounts of wine, beer and champagne, the traditional wedding cake, flowers, marquee and more.....

The first hour or so was spent greeting our guests and then Andy gave me the first surprise of our married life; a confident, funny and upbeat speech to welcome our guests and to say a few words of appreciation to all our wonderful friends that we've made over the past 4 years. If you'd have asked me before, I would have said that public speaking (even amongst friends) would have given him terminal case of the heebie jeebies, but I would have been wrong.

The next surprise was one that sent me into the ugly cry. The girls and Andy had very cleverly got their heads together and organised Malysia's very own Tom Jones/Elvis Presley impersonator to come and entertain us. For those of you who don't know, I must be Elvis's biggest fan under the age of 50 and whilst I momentarily wondered what this old guy whom I vaguely recognised was doing at my wedding reception, I think that it quickly became evident that they'd all managed to keep the surprise because when I realised, I almost died on the spot.

He got us all up dancing with the old favourites and then when it came to singing the requisite 'wedding song', it transpired that he didn't know the words and tried to dum de dum it from a songsheet. I'm sure that nobody would argue that this is acceptable so in a moment of impulse I took the microphone and proceeded to serenade my lovely new husband. Now, I would never claim to be any sort of singer and I'm not likely to be offerred a gig in Vegas any time soon but it was a fun moment in what was a really fun night.

The night moved on and we ate and drank and danced and laughed til the small hours of the morning. We have a million lovely memories of our time in Malaysia and this night and what it symbolised must surely be up there with the best of them.

Not Very Green

Moving a whole family and their lives from one country to another is not very eco friendly. The packers arrived this morning with bales of paper, giant rolls of bubble wrap and enough cardboard boxing to wrap the QE2. They proceeded to swarm upon us like ants. The girls and I have been battling for a week over what can be kept and shipped, what can be donated to charity and what can be thrown away. Tiny components of long forgotten games have been declared as favourites. Jigsaws with missing pieces have been wept over. Hair bobbles that have lost their elasticity can’t be lived without and it goes on. I keep finding items recovered from the rubbish bin covered in fluff and stuffed at the back of underwear drawers and in treasure boxes. Any lessons learnt about those who have and those who have not have been forgotten in the drama and talk of donating to the poor is met with incredulity because “we gave them that Barbie at the Christmas fair!”…..

Nevertheless, we have come to a situation where most of our possessions lie forlorn in cardboard boxes ready to be shipped to Dubai. It’s an incredibly sad sight to see our home decimated albeit temporarily. My head knows that we will see it all again but my heart hurts at this tangible evidence of our departure in two days time. It gives me a sense of what the girls must be feeling to see their possessions both weeded out and boxed away. Looking on the bright side, in three days time the girls and I will be landing in England, safe in the security of our extended families. In five weeks time, we’ll be flying to Dubai, all four of us as a family at last. Our possessions will be waiting for us and the next chapter can begin…..

Mr & Mrs Wilson Part 1

It's finally done! Under a canopy of organza of indeterminate age and colour, our vows were exchanged and we are now Mr and Mrs Wilson not only in our hearts but legally in the eyes of the world. The ceremony was witnessed by just 2 of our closest friends, Nigel and Susie, but this was enough to make it legal and binding. A touch of hysterics ensued when I misheard the registrar ask if we would raise our hands and "beat each other until the last drop of blood"! What he actually said was "be together until the last drop of blood", but we could be forgiven for the misunderstanding given his Malaysian accent and the surreal nature of the whole event.

The vows were exchanged, the rings placed on the fingers, the register signed and witnessed and we were married! The whole thing took 10 minutes or so and the sense of anticlimax felt by many couples after their wedding ceremony didn't exactly affect us since we were hard pressed to find a climax. A couple of glasses of very nice champagne (thank you Nigel...) in a nearby hotel did much to assuage any nerves that may have lingered and set the scene nicely for our party in the evening. Stay tuned for Mr & Mrs Part 2.....

Mermaids and Pirates

Rosie had her birthday party this afternoon. Our (?) shared dream of a party at home for all 22 of her classmates plus some of her other special friends was sadly beyond our space constraints and my tolerance threshold this week. The rules of the shared function room in our condominium inexplicably forbid music and food so it seemed a bit of a stretch to imagine that a fun time was to be had down there. So, we resorted to a generic party at our local soft play, Kidzone. Rosie was secretly very pleased with this option because a number of her friends had enjoyed a party there over the last year and the chicken's bum nuggets are always consumed with gusto. My extensive research into what can be played at a 5 year old's mermaid party was all in vain. No pin the tail on the mermaid; no treasure hunt for our 'pirates' to enjoy and no party bags filled with sand and real goldfish party favours. I'm sure that lots of other mums are nevertheless grateful for that small mercy. Regardless that the event proved to be soulless from the perspective of a 35 year old, the 5 year olds had a blast. The majority came in costume, ran riot for an hour then filled their faces with rubbish. The boys completely disregarded Rosie's 'NO FIGHTING BOYS' rule and had fine fun brandishing their pirate swords. None of our mermaids tripped over their tails and Rosie came home with a bagful of beautiful gifts. She's already planning next year's bash......

Not Again Emily!

I had a phone call from Emily's nursery this morning. It's never good news, and it was with trepidation that I answered it, dreading what I was about to hear. "Emily has broken her glasses". Happy that no blood, bones or teeth were involved, it was with resignation that we took another trip to the opticians to see if they could be fixed. 3 year olds and glasses are just not compatible and whilst she's really cooperative when it comes to wearing them (she appreciates the clarity given that she's blind as a bat without them), it's very hard for her understand that they must be handled with care. The glasses were judged to be unfixable this time and I'm coming to realise that if we get 2 months from a pair then we're doing ok.

I hardly recognise Emily without her glasses now and the squint that originally indicated that she had a problem is more pronounced when she takes them off . We were warned of this by the doctor who said that as her eyes relax with the help of her glasses, the muscles would get lazier making the turning more obvious. This is a small price to pay since her near vision is now stabilised and it's been determined that her far vision is perfect, and so now her view of the world must surely be more pleasing. She happily wears her glasses all day long. They come off only for bathtime and when she's in the swimming pool. Whilst hiding her beautiful eyes behind glasses seemed initially to be beyond unfair, her adjustment to it has been a lesson to us. Now all we have to do is stop her bending them, sitting on them, scratching them, drawing on them with felt tip pen (yes, really!) and letting her friends try them on and we'll be happy. Let's hope her 2nd pair last a bit longer than her 1st.....

Friends

They say that in the expat world your friends become your surrogate families and this week has proven that hypothesis to be true. Our friends have rallied round and taken up the slack. We've had a very gracious offer to host a party to celebrate our wedding, and my friends have collectively offered to organise most of the rest of it. I suppose that Andy and I's refusal to acknowledge our nuptuals as anything other than necessary may have prompted them to take some action and it's nice to be swept along in a tide of something other than panic and sadness at our impending departure.

I can't count the number of offers of general help that I've received in the last few months. I like to think that I'm a coper (or perhaps more of an ostrich) and whilst the pressures of everything are not major (no health crises or financial disasters), compounded as they are, they are certainly challenging. The smallest support, moral or otherwise, is much appreciated when it feels like you're falling off the edge of the earth without mum to call on and be salved with endless cups of tea and an ever listening ear.

Fairweather friends aside, of which many in this life necessarily are, our sadness at leaving behind the wonderful group of people we call our friends is justified. It's bittersweet because having so many people in our lives who care enough to make a difference is a blessing yet it makes it all the more difficult to say goodbye. Hopefully our house in Dubai will be busy and full with passers through in the years to come.

Every Cloud....

It's been a tough week. There's been several 'wake up sweating in the middle of the night' moments as it's dawning on me just how much we have left to do in the short space of time that we have left in Kuala Lumpur. Anybody who knows our family also knows that we are 'last minute' kinda guys. We are surpassing ourselves this time though on a number of issues. Andy is taking the redeye from Dubai to land at 6.00 am on the morning of our wedding and I'm trying not to dwell on the implications of a delay. I've not yet booked the movers to come and pack our life up and as it's now less than 2 weeks before we leave in what happens to be the busiest relocation month of the year, this shouldn't be considered my finest planning moment. Neither of our properties here are rented out yet, although to give me some credit this is not through lack of effort on my part, it's simply the way the market seems to be at the moment. The other minutiae of packing up a life in order to start another one on a different continent is starting to overwhelm me and alongside looking after the girls and trying to maintain some family equilibrium in the midst of the chaos, this week has been trying.

On the upside, all this movement is indicative that this is the final leg of being apart and once our holiday in England is over, we will be living together again as a family. Whilst we're not looking forward to saying goodbye to our life here, we are very much looking forward to the next chapter in this adventure that is our life.

Run Rosie, Run.....

Rosie had her Sports Day at school this week. In blazing KL sunshine, 100ish 4 and 5 year old children took part in sack races, bean bag balancing, parachute lifting and a host of other activities designed to promote a love of movement and physical activity. No longer does the fastest, strongest or most coordinated get rewarded with medals and labelled as a winner; nowadays the emphasis is on inclusion and participation. That's not to say there weren't a few parents on the touchline shouting encouragement and advice that would have been more appropriate at the Olympic Trials than at what was many of these children's first exposure to 'competition'.

Rosie did a great job although she looked horribly exposed for the first 2 or 3 events until her confidence grew to a point where she forgot about the crowds and started to enjoy herself.

On the way home from school she said very casually out of the blue "I'm a big girl now, can I have a mobile phone?"!!!! How could our 4 year old have been jumping in a sack that came up to her nose in the morning and then that very same day be requesting very seriously a phone of her own? What next? A GPS for her trike?

The Ringgit Thief

Living the very privileged life that we do, one of our parenting objectives is to try to ensure that our girls know the value of money. Poverty is evident here in Malaysia and I am bombarded with questions from Rosie about where the poor children live, what they eat, what they play with and more. It's very difficult for her to understand and I have to remember just how young she really is when I'm trying to explain. I don't want to freak her out about stories of orphans and abuse but I maintain that it's important that she knows how lucky we are to have everything we need and most things that we want. I'm debating at the moment the pocket money issue. She needs to know that you get nothing for nothing so I'm trying to come up with a list of chores that an almost 5 year old can reasonably be expected to complete, without prompting and yelling, in order to earn her allowance. There's an argument to say that pocket money is unnecessary and overindulgent and since she needs nothing more than she has, what's the point? The point is that she is becoming aware that things cost money, and she needs to know that things cannot be justifiably bought for no reason other than that she covets them. In trying to introduce the earning and saving concept, it's hoped that she'll learn the value of money in a practical way.

I'm hoping that she'll have no problem staying focused on earning her pocket money if the number of times that I have to raid her wallet to retrieve the cash that she's liberated from mine is anything to go by. She also has a rule that if she does the handing over of cash in a shop, she pockets the change and promptly squirrels it. Her father's daughter me thinks......

A Busy Day

We had a busy day today. We got lost trying to find the High School Summer Fair, had a tantrum because we couldn't ride the "furness wheel" (note to self: must explain in future to 3 year old that some words have more than one meaning...), jumped on a bouncy castle for 3 minutes because that was how long each turn was (I know, how unfair is that? Emily had just about managed to climb on and it was time to get off!), queued up at the sausage sizzle for 20 minutes to buy sausages that were deemed to be "gross", wanted to buy the same books at the second hand book stall that I happened to donate last week and then got lost on the way home doubling a 30 minute journey. Nevertheless, it was a successful morning but that was the trouble really, it was only the morning! We were back home for 1.30 and the girls were bouncing off the walls again an hour later despite my best efforts to extol the virtues of 'quiet time' ready for school tomorrow.

The only way to preserve my sanity on a Sunday whilst Andy is away is to fill it to the brim with activity so it was back in the car and round to kidzone soft play. This gave them the opportunity to run, run, run and also served to unite them in a spot of sibling solidarity when one of the other kids was being a little bully and not letting them down the slide. It was Emily protecting Rosie and not the other way round by the way! Pizza and pasta followed and after cleaning their plates we headed home for a much needed (the water was black!) bath and a record breakingly easy bedtime! The last thing that Emily said to me in a very angry voice before she fell into the land of nod was "why didn't you take us swimming today?". Oh well, you can't win them all can you?

Miss Purple Cat

There was a sheep, a frog, yellow birds and all the colours of the rainbow. No, it wasn't last night's dream after too much cheese, it was Rosie's first ever school assembly! The costumes were made, the songs memorised, the slideshow edited and the faces painted. The children of RC have been working hard for weeks to produce their school assembly with the theme 'colours' and it certainly paid off. The boys and girls all had a speaking part and were word perfect. They entertained us with a selection of beautifully sung numbers finishing with an appropriately saccharine version of Wonderful World. Of course there were a lot of 'children singing on stage' facial contortions which is always great comedy value.

Rosie got to be a purple cat which pleased her no end because it encompassed two of her favourite things: purple and cats!

A Small Affair

Our impending move to Dubai has forced our hand in more ways than one. In order to preserve our rights as a couple and as parents we must be married. We already feel married and don't consider that we could possibly be more committed than we already are with 10 years and 2 children under our belts. Nevertheless, sometimes it's necessary to play the game and follow the rules and if we're being honest, it's something that we should have taken care of a long time ago. So today found us registering our intent to be married at the (not so) salubrious venue of Maju Junction in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. Now, you could be forgiven for thinking that it's a shopping mall. In fact, you'd be absolutely right in thinking that it's a shopping mall, but a few floors up is the central registry office for KL. We submitted the paperwork (of which there was surprising little), and have been given the 16th July from 8-11 a.m. as the date and time of our nuptuals. We simply turn up (no jeans allowed!), take a number and wait our turn. I don't think that our Big Day is going to instigate a bidding war between Hello and OK for coverage rights, but it could start a trend; who can spend the least money making their relationship official - our marriage certificate will cost a grand total of 4 pounds 41 pence! Couples who pay together, stay together.....

You couldn't make it up....

Kids are so smart. In the car yesterday I had answered for what felt like the 50th time the question "But why?" from Emily. Anybody who knows children also knows that this curiosity isn't unusual and should be encouraged because it is very beneficial to their development. At the same time, anybody who knows kids also knows how exhausting it can be and half the time there isn't even an answer to the question. The next time, in exasperation I answered "I don't even want to go into why, Emily". A short pause then, "Where is it?". "Where is what Emily?". "Where is why then?". "Where is why what?". "Where is the why that you don't want to go into?....."

If we could just get into the brains of these 3 and 4 year olds to tap into their logic, I'm sure that the world would be a better place. Say what you mean and hear what is said and if it drives your mother crackers that's a bonus.

Movie Sunday

Going to the cinema in Malaysia is disgustingly cheap, as we found out today. We took the girls to see Kung Fu Panda this afternoon and after a bit of an ordeal to get tickets (we made the mistake of trying to queue up the old fashioned way!), it cost us the grand total of 5 pounds for the 4 of us. The bill for the obligatory popcorn and drinks came to a further 2 pounds so all in all a bargain treat. Rosie considers herself to be a seasoned movie goer after seeing both Happy Feet and Shrek 3 at the cinema, and so took it upon herself to educate Emily all about it, for whom today was a first. She got to hear about how it's really scary because it's loud and dark and the screen is bigger than a bus! It mattered not in the end because Emily fell asleep after about 5 minutes and snored through the rest of the movie, so just as well it was so cheap; we'd have been waking her up for sure if we'd paid UK prices. Rosie loved the Panda, especially since his most effective weapon is his fat tummy and she said it reminded her of Grandad Don. The expensive afternoon was topped off by chicken rice from the food court where Emily ate her own body weight in bean sprouts. Cheap kids? Maybe.... Cheap Parents? Definitely.......

In Our Own Beds...

Our floor is fixed and we slept in our own beds last night for the first time in several weeks and it was lovely! We have the added bonus of having Andy home for a few days too so if we concentrate very hard we can almost pretend that everything is normal and that our world is not about to be turned upside down with our imminent relocation. I've thought very hard about how the children will be affected by our move and I've come to the conclusion that the pay off of us living together again as a family under one roof will outweigh any trauma they may feel at leaving their friends and the routines in place here in Malaysia. We intend to have a few weeks at our family homes in England before we start life proper in Dubai in September so the transition between one regular routine and the next will be slower paced and hopefully less obvious. We're also hoping to take our helper Gracie to Dubai with us so that will also provide some stability and consistency to their world. It will undoubtedly be sad for Rosie to say goodbye to her friends and her school but she understands that we will see all those we care about again and that come September she'll have opportunities to meet lots of new people when she starts Year 1 at her new school. Emily has the typical patience and understanding of a 3 year old and just wants to be surrounded by the people she loves and couldn't really care less where we live just as long as Percy our daft cat comes too.

Mummy Bashing

We have a phenomenon in our family that we euphemistically call 'Mummy Bashing'. What this basically describes is that as soon as they see their Daddy, Mummy is not only surplus to requirements apart from cooking their dinner, but is actually fair game in terms of who can be the meanest, rudest, most hurtful child in the house towards her. As much as we try to stress the importance of protecting the feelings of other people and using only kind words, it's a uphill struggle all the way. I console myself with the theory that our girls are so secure in their relationship with me that they see no problem being pigs when the mood takes them. Never is this mood more apparent than after a long separation from Andy. It's been almost a month since they last saw him and after an indecent amount (my monthly ration!) of cuddles and loving when he walked through the door, the Mummy Bashing began in earnest. Only Daddy could put them in and get them out of their car seats; only Daddy could give them their bath; only Daddy could read their stories and sing their songs at bedtime. Since I don't take it personally, it doesn't spoil all the extra time that I'm able to enjoy by myself reading, relaxing and even sleeping because yes, you've guessed it, there's only one word we ever hear in the middle of the night and that's "Daddy". Oh well, never mind, every cloud has it's very own silver lining I guess.....

A Great First Year

We are very proud of Rosie as she approaches the end of her first year at school. Before embarking on her school career last September, we were concerned that her natural reticence combined with her July birthday (making her one of the youngest in the class) could make for a less than positive experience. However, as the months passed, she settled in fantastically well on a number of levels. From day one she fell in love with with her gentle, soft-spoken teacher and several of her words are now accented with Miss Cassidy's lovely Irish lilt. Socially she has proved to be a popular, kind member of her class with more playdate offers than we could reasonably accommodate. Academically she has climbed her personal learning curve with aplomb resulting in increased self-confidence both in and out of the classroom environment and her response to the positive discipline has been whole-hearted giving us guidance as to how to parent her best. It seems that she has some musical ability, as yet untested of course, but it has been recommended that she starts some formal instrument training as soon as we are comfortable. Above all, not once has she woke in the morning and claimed that she didn't want to go to school. We've had no imaginary stomach aches or spells of uncommunicative silence in the car on the way home. She has embraced the whole school experience and as we prepare to move to Dubai in August it is with sadness and fond memories that we leave The Alice Smith School behind.

Fashion Statement

I've come to a very definite conclusion that with very young children you have to choose your battles because there's absolutely no way that you'll win them all. In my pre-children years, I would see the woman in Woolworths closely followed by Spiderman in wellies and think "how could she let him come out dressed like that?" Now I know.

Emily went to nursery in Rosie's shoes today. Aside from being 5 sizes too big, they are ugly, cheap and nasty school regulation that Rosie has to wear for PE. If you are thinking that Emily has no shoes of her own then of course you would be wrong; there are the crocs (x2), the blue sandals that Daddy bought and today I was even willing to let her go to school in the pink sparkly mules from the dressing up box because at least they fit her, but no, it had to be these. It was a little bit of not so passive aggression in protest that her own trainers are wedged in a cupboard behind our fridge which had to be moved out of the kitchen because the floor is (still!) being repaired in our own apartment. There was no tantrum, just a resolute determination that this was her footwear of choice today and no negotiation would be entered into. I have no objection to a little bit of single mindedness and so made a decision to let it go and wish her well (incidentally, we had 30 minutes left to drive a 40 minute school run). Of course, by the time we'd got to the car she'd tripped over twice skinning her knees and spilling her water, so we still had a tantrum all the way to school. Consequences? What's a consequence Mum?

Lovely Mullet

Our girls are very passionate about wearing their pajama bottoms on their heads. It started with a Wee Willie Winkie hat obsession but then they realised that swinging one leg in front of each shoulder gave a pretty fair approximation of long hair and what little girl doesn't yearn for long hair? Unfortunately, whilst Andy and I undoubtedly make beautiful babies, they are not blessed in the hair follicle department. Our girls were gloriously bald until well past their second birthdays and even now the growth is slow and steady rather than copious. A few months ago Emily went in for a spot of self grooming which resulted in the confiscation of the paper scissors. She very cleverly chopped the middle of her fringe very short but I have to say it was straight and neat and if I had to choose better there than at the crown. We went for her third haircut (not third this year, third in her whole life!) this week and the hairdresser misguidedly trimmed the rest of her fringe to match the short bit so now she looks a whole lot worse than when we went in! I would say "never mind, it'll grow' but really when we have approximate growth rate of 2mm per month it looks like we'll be relying on the pajamas for a while yet......

No Boys Allowed......

Rosie and Emily have a much better social life than their parents. Hands up if you'd like to spend two hours jumping on a trampoline, painting canvasses, pretending to be animals to the soundtrack of Happy Feet, eating fairy bread, popcorn and fruit kebabs followed by a choice between triple chocolate cake and a variety of multi coloured day- glo cupcakes? Well, that's exactly what our girls have been doing this afternoon. Two of Rosie's classmates shared a 5th birthday party and what a fab time they all had. With Rosie's birthday coming up in a month's time, her party demands are coming thick and fast to the point where she has sat and drawn up several lists; theme, guests, games, food and accessories (think, pinatas(!), yes I know, it's getting silly). She has even gone so far as to compose some signs with party rules, one of them being "No Boys Allowed to Fight at This Party"! I'm doing my best to persuade her that simple is sometimes best and that there is just as much fun in pass the parcel and jelly and ice cream but she's not really buying it. One great parenting bonus to these major life events for children of this age is the power to threaten to take it all away as a consequence for bad behaviour. I'm not sure if this tactic would be wholly endorsed by the parenting experts but it certainly works in our house. She's never sure if I would really be so cruel as to cancel her party but she's also not willing to take that risk. So at the moment we are enjoying a certain level of cooperation, good manners and tolerance of Sister. After July, who knows? Perhaps Father Christmas can be persuaded to start spying early this year.....

Nostalgia

As well as looking to the future, having my children has made me look to the past. Rosie loves Enid Blyton books. They are deliciously (and officially, according to those in the 'know') politically incorrect but to my mind if the strongest expression of disgust is "Pooh" then it can't all be bad! She didn't, of course, choose these books of her own volition, but was strongly guided and may even have been gifted them by a certain someone who has the fondest memories of being taken to places far away in somebody else's imagination. As we share these books at bedtime I recollect just what Amelia Jane will do next with the plasticine and the watering can, even if it is 30 years since I heard to these tales read by my own Mum. Emily's TV of choice this week is Rupert Bear. It's somewhat different to my childhood version; it's very definitely been updated to appeal to the more sophisticated tastes of our 21st Century children but Rupert himself retains his gentle, helpful nature and most importantly his yellow checked trousers and scarf. Whilst we've done our best to include the latest, (and, according to the experts) most appropriate Smartie Book Prize winners and award winning CBEEBIES programmes in our girls libraries, it's almost too tempting to resist the urge to reminisce when the opportunity arises.....

Water, Water Everywhere....

Long before our impending move to Dubai was announced, we decided that we had outgrown apartment living and after a long hard head scratch decided to buy our very first family house with a garden. So after a long wait, we are finally in possession of the keys to our dream home. Now for the rub.... it is doubtful that we will ever live in it. Circumstances have come together and decided that we are moving to Dubai almost exactly at the time that the kitchen will be fitted, the garden landscaped and the windows treated with made to measure blinds in just the right shade of chocolate.

Nevertheless, we are emotionally detached enough (after much strong talking to self) to realise the investment value of such a property and who's to say that we won't be back in Malaysia in years to come? So, the process of fitting out the house so it can be rented moves on. Today was what should have a been a milestone day and indeed it was in it's own way. The water was turned on, the booster to soup up the water pressure was activated....and the ceilings flooded. Arrgggghhhh. The first explanation given was a cracked tile on the roof which had let in the rain. This was somewhat difficult to believe since it rains almost every day in Malaysia, so why the leak would happen to coincide with turning the taps on is beyond my technical understanding. Upon further investigation, it transpires that we have a hole in the water tank and none of the pipe joints have been sealed properly! As the deadline looms, the patience diminishes. "Mummy, why do you shout so much?" Why indeed.....

Miracles

Kids are miraculous and I don't just mean in their very existence, but in the way they bounce back and sail through illness and adversity. Rosie woke this morning smiling and happy, her pain of the last 2 days dismissed and forgotten (especially at medicine time when she claimed to need it no more). Emily's biggest concern was that she couldn't take her bike to nursery and there was no chance of her accepting why not when her friend (who lives two doors down from school) takes his every day! The next miracle that I'm waiting for is a day without a tantrum... Wishful thinking? Perhaps. In the meantime, I expect no help from above when it comes to workmen. It's been a week since we moved out of our home and it's gone from a tiled mess to a concrete bomb site with no end in sight. Oh to be 3 again and worried only about my bicycle.....

Poor Rosie

Nothing renders a parent more impotent than a child in pain in the middle of the night... and earache must be one of the cruelest for any 4 year old to have to endure. Despite magic medicine administered to the max and as many cuddles as could be reasonably tolerated, this morning found Rosie and I at the doctors and in possession of yet another round of antibiotics. The diagnosis of an ear infection and the start of tonsilitis did much to explain our middle of the night ordeal and gave me one more reason to feel guilty, as if any parent needs more! Should I have allowed her to swim yesterday for so long? Well, her ear infection was certainly exacerbated by our lovely time at the pool, but how is a mother to know that these horrors are lurking, ready to pounce? There are few occasions that I resort to bribing the children, but taking nasty medicine is one of those but that's another (guilt ridden) story......

Not a Bad Old Life.....

Sundays are the hardest day of the week in this life when Daddy is elsewhere.... No Grandmas to call on and no Grandads to see. Many people have Sunday as their 'Family Day'; sacred, special and not to be invaded. We were fortunate enough today to be invited to a local country club for lunch and swimming by some of Rosie's classmates families and what a lovely, relaxed time we had. The girls and their friends swam for 4 hours (hopefully making for a very easy bedtime tonight!), we ate lunch by the pool and chilled out in the tropical heat. It's not a bad old life is it?.......

Temporary Blip

Our World is being turned upside down in more ways than one at the moment. As well as the much anticipated move to Dubai and the to be expected preparations for that, we're facing another challenge this week... The tiled floor in our apartment has exploded (heat, humidity and poor workmanship all contributing to the debacle) and we've found ourselves effectively camping in temporary accommodation! With none of the comforts of home, Rosie and Emily are pushing all the right buttons and it's taking all our reserves of patience to stay friends. It won't be forever though; we're hoping that by the time Andy comes back for a visit, we'll be back where we belong, albeit for the remaining few weeks. I'm hoping that this blip will make us appreciate our home comforts all the more when we finally get to enjoy them once again........

Reflections....

As the time approaches for us to leave Malaysia, it seems appropriate to reflect....

We will miss.....

The wonderful friends who became our surrogate families;
Being able to swim outside every single day of the year;
Fresh tropical fruit cheaper per piece than apples;
Manicures for 3 pounds and haircuts for 10;
Having tropical paradise beach resorts on our doorstep.

We won't be sorry to say goodbye to......

Roads that lead nowhere and drivers who can't drive;
Mosquitos, giant cockroaches and geckos in surprising places;
20 hour journeys to 'home'.

I'm sure that each list could be extended further, but I'm happy to realise that the positives were much easier to compile than the negatives. Have we wasted 4 years in KL? Absolutely not.....

An Update

Our family is moving to Dubai in the summer of 2008. After 4 wonderful and productive (Emily was born here in 2005) years, we are saying goodbye to Malaysia, a country that we have been privileged enough to call home. Our Asian chapter is not quite finished yet though; we have a house to refurbish, homes to rent out, a wedding to undertake and many, many goodbyes to endure. The next weeks will be challenging and as the girls and I are home alone with Daddy already in the Middle East, the adventure is just beginning.....