Al Barsha Apartment - Virtual Tour

Check it out... the simple rough short virtual tour of the apartment that we will be moving into at Al Barsha. It isn't the unit that we will be moving into but it is all about the same. So enjoy. Nice or not?!?

Around Hor Al Anz

Here are some pictures of whats around our apartment in Hor Al Anz.  It is a downtown apartment with shops and restaurants around it.  It has 24 hours supermarkets like 3 minutes walk away, they are restaurants - Iraqi, Lebanese, Iranian, Chinese, Arabic and fastfood restaurants around the area.  It is convenient.  There also a lot of apartment buildings above shops too so there are quite a lot of people living in the area.

Emirates Airlines HQ

Have you ever been to your spouse's company's office or headquarters?  Well even if you have or haven't, you'll be impressed at the Emirates Airlines HQ.  It is a central building for their staff for almost everything from work, family, etc. 

Shien Wei brought us to the HQ the second day we got to Dubai to submit application for our Residence Visa.  Emirates Airlines help their staff and family with the application for Residence Permit, Residence Visa, etc.  It is a centre for almost everything related to your work and your stay here.  It is an office where you'll see staff and their family (with their kids) hang go.

The building overlooks the Dubai Airport and has a great view of the Terminal 3, an airport terminal specially dedicated to Emirates Airline planes only.  The HQ has restaurants, cafeteria, shops and cafes.  Its got an in house clinic for its staff too.  There you'll see pilots, cabin crews, staff, staffs' family, employees, walking in and out of the building like it is a public building. 

This is what I call a true international experience.  Their staff consist of all of the nationalities that you can think of and this is how an international company should be. 

Dubai Mall

Motivation for you to come visit us in Dubai. 

We went to Dubai mall yesterday (Sunday).  Its a huge huge huge mall, we didn't even finish walking through it.  If you think Sunway Pyramid or Megamall plus The Gardens is huge, this is larger.  Its a very new mall with every brand that you think think of.  It has shops like Pavillion and KLCC but more brands.  Any famous brands you think can think of, its all there.  Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Gap, Banana Republic, everything lah. 

The Gold Souk.  Ok people, the tree like thingy there is made of gold!!
 
It has this huge aquarium in the middle of the mall. 
 
Is this shop speaking your language girls?  Yeah baby?  Come come!

Bloomingdale's opening too!!!

One day, one day I'll have the guts to walk into this shop and maybe one day, one day I will buy a pair of Manolos!

Boy, look at what they have!!!  I haven't even been into the one in London and now Dubai also got!!!  Its lovely inside there and I can only imagine how much more wonderful it is in the one in London.  There's this huge huge section for Barbie's and its merchandises.  Jia Wen even found dolls from her all her Barbie cartoons.

Boutique chocolates. 

Outside the Dubai Mall.  Would be nice to live in those apartments isn't it? 

Outside the Dubai Mall is The Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world. 

It has the largest Kinokuniya ever!! Its so huge it is impressive and its beautiful too.  Boy, you'll love it!!!  You'll love this mall. 

Advice to all who come to Dubai - bring your most comfortable shoes or come and buy a Manolos!  At least then I'll get a chance to walk into the shop without feeling guilty and bad for not buying one.  :-P

Al Barsha Apartment

 

Yesterday morning, after stopping at Jia Wen's school we decided to take a walk to the new apartment.  Since it was walking distance we thought it would be a good idea to go check out the apartment and since I haven't seen the apartment, Shien Wei wanted me to take a look.  So we walked from Jia Wen's school all the way to the building.  It was a hell of a walk because there was a slight sand storm and the route to the building by foot was just messy with constructions, road work everywhere.  I have to say that Dubai is a "work in progress" city.  There's constructions and road works every corner you turn!!  It is unbelievable!! 

Anyway, it took us about a good 20 minutes to walk in the sand and we literally had to walk through road work and constructions!  We were really walking into a construction site!  The only difference was we weren't wearing safety helmets. 

We got there eventually and here are a lot of pictures:

The building with the triangle on the top is the apartment that we will be moving into.  All the buildings around it are new buildings either completed or being built. 

That's Jia Wen's school - Regent International School. 

(All the above pics were taken from inside of the taxi).

 
Our walk to the apartment was basically a walk through construction and road works!  It was windy so it was sandy and dusty.  So imagine the sand particles in my hair!!

 
Those who know JX well, will know how he is when he sees machineries.  He was in awe and he was speechless! :-P

Our future apartment building. 

JX quickly made friends with the security guard who brought us to see the units. 

Each block has a courtyard downstairs. 

As you walk through the main door (left pic), you'll see the kitchen directly in front of you.  If you turn to the left left, you'll see a corridor leading to the rooms (3 bedrooms) and to the right, you'll see the living room and dining room.  So you can see that the living room is separated from the rooms which I totally love.  There's privacy and less noisy too!! 

Pics of the living room.  You'll notice that the furniture here and the furniture in Hor Al Anz are exactly the same!!!

Right pic - the dining is next to the living room.  Its nice as it has a little corner of its own. 
 
The kitchen!!  Quite nice yeah? 

The cooker cum oven and washing machine & dryer
 
View from the kitchen window.

The master bedroom.  It is quite bit and has quite a lot of cupboard space.  I know what some of you might be thinking, don't worry SW and I will make some adjustments to the furniture.  The bed facing the mirror is not good feng shui, right? 

Jia Wen checking out her bedroom.  Yes the units come with ready linen and some towels too. 

Looking upwards from the lobby. 

Change of Plans

 

This morning (Sunday), we went to Jia Wen's school hoping to start her first day today but when we got there, we found out that there aren't any space left in the school bus for her to go to school from near here.  So Shien Wei and I decided that Jia Wen will have to postpone her start of school.  The school said it wasn't a problem so we will review the situation again in 2 weeks time.  At the meantime, we told the school that should there be an opening in the bus, they are to call us and Jia Wen can start school then.

Jia Wen was disappointed but understood the situation.  We hope in 2 weeks, things will change and be better for us.  Hopefully she'll be able to start school then.  Sighs. 

Tune in a again soon for more entry and pics of the Al Barsha Apartment. Went there yesterday and took a lot of pictures. To tune in again real soon!

Dubai & Us

I am about to kill myself with my blunt knife!! I spent the last 1 hour typing out a long ass entry and guess what - silly me lost it all!!!!! Lost it all.... I don't know what I did and I don't know why I did it but I lost it and can't get it back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really I am really really angry at myself and want to bite someone's head off now!!! It as a very long entry!!! Now I go no mood to retype the whole thing again but I am going to try.

Its Day 6 in Dubai and so far, it is going alright. The kids and I are doing fine. The kids are doing great, eating well and sleeping quite well. They have more or less adjusted to the new life in this apartment although they do fight a lot! Jia Xiang has been very naughty and quite mean to his sister most times. He can never leave his sister alone and steps on his sisters toes all the time. Jia Wen gets very frustrated but has no choice but to give in at most times. Jia Xiang dominates the play all the time an when he doesn't get what he wants, he'll cry and whine (which I hate) or he'll throw things around the house (temper) or he'll beat his sister! Its hard. Poor Jia Wen, she can never play in peace. And since we do not yet have a TV, they do not have an thing to keep them peaceful. For now, they have to play with the same things (limited toys and resources) so they fight even more. Shien Wei and I plan to get a TV hopefully tomorrow and hopefully that will help with the fights.

Yesterday, the kids and I ventured out of the apartment and went to Carrefour for some groceries. We ran out of a some food stuff and needed to get some so that could cook. We took a taxi to the Century Mall and got lost coming back. I think (I hope) he was a new taxi man so he didn't know where to go so it took us a while to get home. I myself wasn't too familiar with the place so it was frustrating for me too. I could only recognise a few buildings near us. Anyway, we did get home eventually.

I've been cooking. It is pretty expensive to eat out so I've cooked the past few days mainly so that the kids can have something homecooked and something decent. I have the basics in my kitchen at the moment but can do with more. Remember, I have 2 blunt knives? I now have a cleaver to the picture. Not as blunt but still miss my cleaver back home.

Jia Wen is drinking fresh milk and I am trying to switch Jia Xiang to fresh milk too as I only brought 1 packet of his Dutch Lady 123 powdered milk and so far, I haven't seen such milk in the 2 Carrefours that I have been to yet so I am guessing it isn't easy go get powdered milk here. Those that I've seen are baby formulas. I'll need to go shopping more to find slowly find out.

Shien Wei is doing alright. Today is his last day of his 3 days / 12 hours shift so he'll be off for the next 3 days. He starts work at 6 am and ends at 6 pm so he wakes up at 4.45 am to get ready to go to work. Soon we'll have to wake up just as early to get Jia Wen ready to school too. He usually follows a colleague from the same building to work but when he can't, he'll have to take a taxi to work. He says, it is the waking up early in the morning that tires him more than the work itself. So far, he is enjoying working an like the work environment. For me, you know what I like about his work (apart from his shifts), I so love the fact that he can leave his uniform at the laundrette at the hangar for them to wash and iron!!! So he'll leave his dirty uniforms there at the last day of his shift and collects it when he starts work again all washed and ironed!!! Cool isn't it? So cool lah!!!! Shien Wei reaches home before 7 pm and before you know it, its time to put the kids to sleep and by the time all that is done, Shien Wei is usually already sleepy. I've been sleeping unusually early since I got here! I've not slept later than 10 pm (Dubai time of course)!!!!! Record breaking yeah?

As for driving, Shien Wei is about half way through his driving course. Don't know when he'll be able to finish it up but hopefully soon. For now, he can only go for his classes on his off days but the beautiful part is he gets to do like 2-3 or 4 classes in one day so he can finish his course quite fast. So far, he has already passed his signal and parking tests. As for me, I'll first have to wait for my residence visa before I can enrol for any classes. Again, we'll have to assess the accommodation situation then as I should enrol in a class nearby where we stay. So if I enrol for classes near here and have to move out while I am still not done with the driving course, I'll need to travel all the way down here for classes which is a hassle. But then again, we can't just sit around and wait for them to tell us when we can move in. In any case, we'll have to wait till Shien Wei finishes his driving courses and get his license before I can start mine because someone would have to stay home with the kids when I go for my classes. We'll have a work something out. Don't know when we'll be able to get a car but I am really praying that it won't be too long. Would it be wise to start thinking of what car we should get? :-P So for now, we'll there will be a lot of make-dos and a lot of learning.

Jia Wen starts school on Sunday so tomorrow, we are going to have to shop for some stuff for her like black shoes, sport shoes, swimming suit, goggles, etc for her. She wears black shoes to school and have certain guidelines for sport shoes. She'll need a lunch box too. I was disappointed when the teacher said they do not provide lunch the kids but come to understand why. Quite a lot of schools these days do not provide food for health and safety reasons. So I'll need to pack some makan for her to bring to school. I think I'll just do light snacks or sandwiches for her as she can come home and have lunch. For her first day on Sunday, Shien Wei and I'll will bring her to school by taxi and get her settled in. We'll look into the bus arrangements, etc so that she can start taking the bus the next day. I am a little scared for her when she goes to school. It is afterall a much bigger school, with more students, with INTERNATIONAL students, etc. I hope she'll be able to cope fine. Of course she is excited and counting the days to Sunday. At least the school has staggered recess times which means the the smaller kids do not mix with the bigger kids and and kids JW's age group will have their own area to play in instead of sharing the grounds with the bigger kids. I am happy with that arrangement. I can't imagine if they all have the same recess time and share the same grounds as the seniors. It'll be like watching some American school movies with the bullying, etc!

Ok, I think it is time to name our accommodations to avoid confusions. Lets call our current 2-bedroom-tvless apartment Hor Al Anz and our future 3-bedroom apartment Al Barsha. Hor Al Anz and Al Barsha are areas like Nilai and PJ with about the same distance. If you have the time, do go to to Google Maps or Google Earth and you'll see that Hor Al Anz is very near the Dubai Airport which is very convenient for Shien Wei but inconvenient for JW to go to school. Al Barsha (deep roots of The Palm) is very near (walking distance) to JW's school but very far for Shien Wei to go to work. Hor Al Anz's apartment belongs to Emirates Airlines for its staff staying temporarily (like us) and for the staff who come for training. It is a more convenient place to live as there are shops nearby and lots of restaurants around but its not a very nice place for the kids to live in (right smack in town kind of place).


This is our Hor Al Anz apartment building and our unit is right above the Romance Phones and Elizeh Foshe Saloon. The above pics were taken by SW when he first moved in here. Now, imagine more boxes on the side and the kitchen looks less "bachelor-ish". I promise I will take pics of the current state of the place soon.

Al Barsha is a new area with more expat facilities, less traffic and a more conducive place for family living. I hate to consider myself an expat but I guess I am an expatriate right? hahaha.. The term "expat" usually comes with luxury and a whole new lifestyle but it isn't the case for us trust me.

When we move to Al Barsha, we'll be very close to The Mall of Emirates and many other canggih malls! We saw the Al Barsha apartment when we went to Jia Wen's school the other day. We didn't get to go in but did see the building from a distance. It is a nice building but it is currently surrounded by lots of road constructions and buildings being built. It is quite a messy area for now. The building is a shaped like a 3-blade ceiling fan (top view) so it has 3 wings. It is about 24-27 floors high with a roof top swimming pool. It is a building specially built for Emirates Airlines staff and I am sure more than half of the people living in Hor Al Anz apartment are waiting to move into Al Barsha. The allocation of the units will go by grades and seniority but we did put in our preference and if we do get the one that we have chosen (fingers crossed), we should be high enough to see the sea and high enough to see The Palm Jumeirah in a clear clear non-hazy day). Don't worry, we did ask for a few floors below the swimming pool (not directly below the pool).

I haven't seen the apartment unit yet but Shien Wei has seen the show unit. From what he has described to me, the unit is about 1500 square feet (I am only guessing ah) and for how he has described the layout to me, I am liking the fact that the rooms are separated from the living hall. Cuts out a lot of noise and gives a lot of privacy in the rooms. And if we opt for the furnished apartment, the furnishing is exactly the same as what we have in Hor Al Anz but will be bigger in size. And from what I can see, the kitchen will come with a hood, a 5-burner hob and huge ass oven. It will also come with a washing machine and dryer (separate machines) along with kitchen cabinets and a fridge. The rooms will of course come with beds and cabinets and the hall will have the necessary furniture.

Ok, in case you are doubting the fact that we'll be moving to Al Barsha (since it has taken so long) and think that we might be lying about the bigger place that we will be moving into, here are some pics to proof the existence of the Al Barsha apartment.

DISCLAIMER: These pictures were taken about 1+ month ago. Pictures taken are of the show unit. Actual unit may look different. :-)

Get what I mean about the 3-blade shaped building? See the constructions behind it? NB: the construction is all around the building.


Check out the oven!!

Corridor to the rooms

I think this it the masterbedroom.
This is the rooftop swimming pool. And if you squint your eyes and try very hard, you can see The Palm Jumeirah on the far left of the picture!!! More like a shadow really. hahah..

As you can see, the building isn't quite ready for occupants yet The latest status is that it'll be 2-3 weeks to handover from the contractors to the Emirates Airlines. So you can imagine how long more we'll have to stay at Hor Al Anz. Our mantra for the next few weeks maybe months will be "Make Do With What We Have".

It is weird not having internet access whenever but surprisingly it doesn't feel too weird not having 24 hours access to Facebook. I am now blogging this offline with Windows Live Writer. It is quite a hassle going downstairs to the wifi room. I'll have to bring the kids downstairs with me if Shien Wei is not in and they'll be running wild downstairs in the lobby and harassing the security guard. So far, I haven't stayed online longer than 1 hour. And if I do go down when Shien Wei is back from work and when the kids are already sleeping, no one is online back home anymore. So I normally only check my emails and facebook for a little while. We want to get our own internet connection but by doing that and when we move out of Hor Al Anz, we'll lose a couple of hundred ringgits for relocation, etc. Something like that lah. So for now "Make Do With What We Have". Perhaps life can be a little bit more normal when we have a TV in the house.

I am here sitting in between the kids while they are doing their colouring peacefully (at least for the next 30 seconds) wondering what else I should include into the this entry. Just drew an "apple" for JX and he just said "APPLE" again!!! He also said "ball" briefly. Peace is about to break as JX is looking at what JW is doing and is getting jealous of whatever colouring she is doing. He now wants ALL the colour pencils JW has!!! Haiz this boy ah!!! He is copying whatever JW is doing and when he doesn't get the same results, he'll be like he wants to murder someone!!! There are so many things that JW isn't allowed to do because JX will just copy!

For the past 2 nights, we got the kids to sleep together in one room on the same bed. So far (touch wood) its been alright. This is because Shien Wei has to wake up so early in the morning and if he sleeps with either one, he'll wake the one he sleeps with and I cannot have both kids awake at 5 am but I guess we'll have to wake up at 5 am soon when Jia Wen starts to take the bus to school.

I think I better stop here. JX is tugging me to get off the PC and its time for me to prepare dinner. Till the next entry, toodles!

... I was kidding about the squiting your eyes and seeing The Palm Jumeirah.

Breaking News

Jia Xiang can say "Apple" and "Car". The first time he discovered he could say "Apple" he was repeating the word over and over and over again for a whole evening!! It was music to my ears!!!

I hope it progresses from here!!!

Dubai Update

 

(typed yesterday)

Its Day 4 here in Dubai and so far, things are going alright.  Today is our first day without SW at home.  He went to work at 6 am this morning and will only be back after 6 pm today.  So its just the kids and I in this still-TV-less apartment. 

The apartment we are in now is in Hor Al Anz which is about 10 minutes away from the airport and pretty close to a lot of shops, etc.  This building belongs to Emirates Airlines for their staff in transit, staff who are here for training, and staff like us who are waiting for a permanent accommodation.  We are staying in a 2 bedroom apartment with to bathrooms.  For now, the sleeping arrangements are a bit topsy turvy as the kids do not have a room of their own yet.  So Shien Wei and I sleep with either one of them.  The kitchen is quite alright.  It does come with a washer-dryer machine which takes AGES to wash and dry.  A wash cycle can take about 3 hours or more!!!  I never knew washing and drying could take that long and because it is quite a small machine, it can't take my usual load so I need to a few loads sometimes. 

So far, I have cooked a few simple meals.  The kids need home cooked food.  I miss my kitchen where I have everything that I need in it and for now, I especially miss my kitchen knife!!!  The 2 knives that we have here are useless!!!  Can't even kill with it!!  Tried sharpening but still didn't work.  Haiz.   Make do make do!

Went shopping at Carrefour and bought some kitchen essentials so that I can at least cook some simple meals especially for the kids.  I am trying not to buy so much as we will be moving out so I am trying to make do with the minimum but it is hard.  Wish I could orb my whole kitchen here or at least orb myself back and forth to cook! 

Shopping here is nice - you get a lot of international variety and fantastic choices.  As for the prices, I haven't started complaining about the prices yet.  Of course most things are more expensive than back in Malaysia but I wouldn't put it as too expensive.  I bought a 5kg basmati rice here for RM25.  Again, I have never bought basmati rice before in Malaysia so I wouldn't be able to compare but I think it is quite alright.  They are really big on Basmati rice here so I think we'll eat basmati rice!  I'll be cooking my first batch of basmati rice tonight so wish me luck.  Not sure what kid of measurements they have compared to our normal rice back home. 

This weekend, we plan to go get TV and a DVD player and maybe get our apartment hooked to the internet so we don't have to go downstairs everytime we need to use the internet.  And then I can be online all day!! hahahaha.... yay!!! 

Yesterday, we brought Jia Wen to Regent International School for an assessment.  She got through the assessment and is now accepted into their Reception Year at the school where she will be doing their final semester before joining the Year 1 in September. 

Regent International School is a small school located in Al Barsha and the reason why we chose that school was because it is very near to our permanent accommodation (walking distance).  Although it wasn't our first choice school but the small quaint school might work out good for Jia Wen.  We got a short tour of the school and it definitely impressed Jia Wen and she's already counting the days to Sunday when she starts school.  Jia Wen saw the library, the gymnasium, the computer room, etc I guess any child would be excited too after coming from a neighbourhood kindergarten back in Nilai or even in Malaysia. 

We have yet to get her a set of uniforms, bags, etc which will cost a bomb!!  I think if I were to show you the price list of the items she would need to get from the school, you'll faint!!  I can't say that I am excited about their school uniform as it is not very far from what what the Malaysian students are wearing and for the price that we are paying, it is just "duh".  haha..

As we haven't yet moved to Al Barsha, Jia Wen would have to at the meantime take school bus to school.  It would be a real hassle for us at the meantime as she would not only need to wake up at 5 ish am but I'll need to take her on a taxi to the nearest bus pick-up place which is I think about 15 minutes from here and then she'll take a bus to school from there at 6.30 am!!  And when she finishes, school she'll take the school bus to the same pick-up place and I'll need to pick her up from there and then take a taxi back to our apartment.  It will be a hassle and tiring for a while but I am sure we'll manage.  And since I am not able to drive yet, taking a taxi back and forth to school 4 times (to send and to pick her) will cost nearly RM250 a day!!  The distance from where we are currently to her school is about 30 minutes with no jam!  I hope we don't have to do this too long.  Hopefully we will be able to move to Al Barsha soon!!

When we went to the school, we also passed by our new apartment building at Al Barsha.  It looks modern and nice but the surrounding of the building are just constructions and more constructions!!  Al Barsha is considered a new area so there's a lot of construction going on and its quite messy at the moment.  In case you are wondering where Al Barsha is, do go to Google Earth and type in Regent International School and you'll be able to see where the area is.  It is in the deep roots of The Palm and our nearest shopping mall is The Mall of Emirates!!   For now, we do not know when we'll be able to move in there. 

After Jia Wen's school, we went to my cousin Danny's place in Jabel Ali.  They moved to Dubai from Abu Dhabi last month and their son Kyhn Win has also started school at the Jabel Ali primary school.  They are staying in a 1-bedroom apartment in Discovery Gardens which is a very new area.  Joey brought us to Ibn Battuta Mall for lunch.  We only got to walk 1/5 of the mall as Jia Xiang wasn't quite himself then so we decided to go home. 

I think I should go wake the kids up soon.. oops, Jia Wen is up and I need to go do some ironing.  So till the next update, toodles. 

(sorry no pics yet)

Safe in Dubai

(too lazy to retype a new entry for my blog, so I am just copy pasting my email to my family here)

The kids and I arrived Dubai safely. The kids were very good in the airport and in the plane too. Jia Xiang only finally slept at 3 am (2 hours after the flight) but slept all the way to Dubai after that. JW and I didn't really have a good sleep but overall, we had a good flight without any problems. When we arrived at the airport, Shien Wei had arranged for the Marhaba Services to greet us at the gate, bring us through immigration, pick up our bags with porter service and went through customs. Shien Wei was waiting outside as we walked out of the airport. It was nice to see him after 2 months and the kids were happy.

We got back to the apartment nearly 5 am and we all managed to get the kids to go back to sleep for a while.The kids like the current apartment though it is a little small. I unpacked our suitcases so that we don't have to live out of our suitcases and boxes for god knows how long more. At least it made it feel more like home. Yesterday, we went to Carrefour and got some essential stuff for the kitchen. Shien Wei was not only living out of boxes and suitcases, his kitchen was a bachelor's kitchen. He had not touched the pots and pans, not touched more than 1 plate, cup and spoon. So yesterday, I went to buy some stuff to fill up the kitchen and so that I can at least start cooking if I wanted to. We had Iranian food for dinner yesterday.

Today, Shien Wei brought us to the Emirates Airlines HQ where their staff go to do everything. The HQ is one impressive building and there were a lot of people going in and out of the building running errands like getting visas done, permits, etc. The Airline basically does everything for you and the family when it comes to visas etc. So there's an office which handles such things. The HQ building is very nice. I haven't seen any company's HQ like that before. It has shops, cafeterias, services, etc in it. And the airline is truly international! Their staff consist of every race you can think of!! We went there so submit our passports and documents to them so that the can proceed with our Residents' Visa. So for now, we are passportless and we won't be able to leave the country even if we wanted to go home so badly!!

After the HQ, we went to City Centre shopping complex which is the biggest shopping centre in the area we are now. I think it is the size of maybe Alamanda but with better brands. There is Virgin (CD shop), Mothercare, the tiniest Borders I have ever seen, Bata, and a few others. Didn't go into all though. Sadly my kids do not enjoy shopping so we more or less breezed through the mall.

Special message to Shien Lung - the DVDs here are expensive. A DVD (not bluray) cost RM85 (movies) and the series cost about RM300 onwards. But I got to say, the variety I saw was enough to impress me!! I saw Family Ties, Mock & Mindy, so sososo many. Guess how much is the entire season of Friends? RM1100!!!!

It is almost 9 pm here now and the kids are already asleep. They are exhausted from today as we were out almost all day and they didn't get a chance to nap either. Today, I cooked dinner for the kids. The kids needed something decent so I cooked rice and soup for them. Shien Wei is upstairs with them and I suspect that he is already in slumberland. Now, Shien Wei sleeps with Jia Xiang while I sleep with Jia Wen. We are afraid that JX might fall off the queen bed if he sleeps with JW unless we push the bed all the way to the wall. Also, we are not sure how they would do sleeping together. So till we get to out 3 bedroom apartment, I think this will be the arrangement.

Tomorrow, we'll be going to see Jia Wen's school and we have scheduled for an informal assessment for her and the school. Hopefully everything goes well and she'll be able to start school soon. Then comes another problem - how to get her to school. The school is is very far from were were are currently so we'll have figure out a way how she can go to school. I hope we can move to our new place soon!!!

Shien Wei starts his morning shift on Wednesday. It is going to be weird not having him around in a new place like this. Living in a totally new place takes a while to get used to and take a while to build a routine, etc. It is also harder as we will be moving out of this place so we are trying to keep as many things in the box as possible. Shien Wei hasn't even opened the boxes he brought with him!!! Currently we do not have a TV yet and so far, the kids haven't asked about buying a TV yet but I reckon we'll have to at some point. We do not even have internet access in our apartment. We need to come downstairs to this internet room to get internet access which is a little bit ofa hassle but I can't complain lah.

Anyway, I have like 42 over FB notifications to go through and I am already a bit tired (my body is still a little bit on a Malaysian time so it is 1 am now) and need to go up soon. Tomorrow is going to be another long day but at least we'll be able to see most of Dubai as the School is all the way across Dubai!!! Missing everyone at home!!!!

Goodbye Nilai, أهلا دبي

(goodbye Nilai, hello Dubai)

Leaving on a jetplane – update 4

As ready as I can ever be.  (1550 hours)

I am sure at 2000 hours I’ll be like a mad woman!

New Adventure, A New Life

In less than 24 hours, my family and I will be embarking on a new adventure, a new life. A life that is almost totally new for us.

Shien Wei has been in Dubai for slightly more than 2 months now (thanks to Skype and internet, 2 months wasn't as bad as I expected) and we will be joining him there tomorrow. We knew that this day would come and I for one have been waiting quite impatiently to join SW there but when it all became real, I started to get scared and was in half minds of postponing our move there to join SW. Before getting the tickets and the necessary documents to travel there, I was bugging SW to get it done for us but when it all finally came through, we got our tickets and visas - I froze! Somehow, leaving home isn't as easy as I thought.

For the past 2 months since my "makan kaki" went away, I sort of lost appetite for food and didn't find as much pleasure eating. But today, I suddenly craved for Nasi Lemak and up till now, I am still imagining a good plate of Nasi Lemak (Madam Kwans or Penang Village style). Obviously I didn't get to eat Nasi Lemak today but I did eat Bak Kut Teh. Jia Wen suggested Bak Kut Teh for dinner and I was like "why didn't I think of that!".

When the idea of us moving to a foreign land to start anew, things definitely sounded exciting and I was keen on embarking on it fearlessly. But now that I am at this point where I'll be in the flight to a new land in 24 hours, I am beginning to feel fear. I am a little scared of the new place, the people there, the environment, etc but I think I am mostly scared of what I will be missing here! I wish I can just orb my whole house there and things won't be so bad. As I am typing this, I know I am going to miss my bed, my kitchen, my kitchen utensils that I have bought / collected over the years, I am going to miss my walk-in wardrobe, I am going to miss driving (for a while), my friends, my family. I am going to miss whatever I have (here) at my fingertips! But for now, I think I am going to miss my bed the most!

Well I guess SW and I have come to this and we'll have to make the best out of it and take it as an adventure, a new journey together. I am not saying this negatively but I am sure we will do alright!

So to all my friends and family, I am going to miss you dearly. You know where to find me and how to find me, so please stay in touch. You know I will always try to stay in touch. I'll be back before you can miss me! Wish us luck!!

p/s can't wait to see SW!!

Leaving on a jetplane – update 3

The almost finished packing

 
This is more or less it. 

May have to add another box tomorrow.

Leaving on a jetplane – update 2

Packing progress part 2

Never packed this massively before!

My professional packer from Labuan!  Thank God for my mum!  She’s a life saver!!!

Essentials!!!

More or less done.  This is about as much as I can carry tomorrow!  90 kgs limit.

This is what I’ve been working on for the past 3 weeks.  This is my life for now!!  My checklist!

Leaving on a jetplane

My packing progress. 

 

Kids’ bag

My bag

An afternoon with the Boudvilles

Today, I brought the kids together with Sidney and Scott to Nicole’s place so that the kids can play together before we leave for Dubai. Nicole blew up the pool and the kids had a blast in the pool especially JX. He was the last to come out of the pool and mind you, he didn’t come out without a fight!!

They had a good time in the pool though they didn’t spend too long in the pool.

Nicole cooked pasta and roasted a chicken for us all. Getting the kids to eat was like organising an orphanage or something!! It was chaos!!!

Jia Wen with her pals!!! She’s gonna miss her friends!!

Nicole and I have been friends since we were in diapers and now our kids are friends too. I am so gonna miss you Nicole!! (now you can see my red hair).