I was putting clothes away in Lewis’s room this morning when he woke up. Unlike him, he woke up quite cranky. When I cuddled him I asked, do you want to go to the toilet – he responded “No, I’m tired”.
I asked if he wanted to go downstairs and have some (rice) bubbles “No, I’m tired he replied.
Then I asked if he wanted to go back to bed, he made it clear “NO, I’M TIRED!”.
Interestingly, Myles also used this excuse when he was younger and we had asked him to do some sort of chore.
Does it count that it specified that it's unspecified
I was clearly under the wrong impression that the latest Microsoft releases supplied more useful error messages.
We ate at our table out the back last night, as the evening was so lovely. Lewis (aged 2 years old) looked up at the sky and announced to us all that it’s getting dark. I asked him why. He went quiet for maybe 2-3 seconds so I honestly thought he may not have known, but then he responded quite matter of factly, “Sun fell down“.
Early this morning I picked up a friend flying from Australia. He’s staying with us while holidaying for 10 days or so. I personally picked him up from the airport, despite the risk of his arrival being a very elaborate April Fool’s Day joke – his emailed booking details suggested he was arriving at 00:15 on April 1st.
In a massive inconsideration on his side, he flew on Royal Brunei airlines. He booked prior to reading my condition of entry clause that our guests must fly with my employer Emirates. It was good though to finally experience Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 1 for the first time. Flying Emirates has given us the advantage of only ever using the massive, new and shiny T3 – devoted to Emirates Airline (largest single carrier terminal in the world).
The public area of terminal 1 is very basic, to say the least. It reminds me of my childhood flights to Cairns domestic terminal in Northern Queensland, Australia. Both facilities clearly have no pizazz or gloss. To a visitor, T1 is just a lot of people waiting outside the automatic arrivals doors – emblazoned with large unwelcoming NO ENTRY signs.
Like all arrival meeting areas, it was filled with emotions. One benefit of the primitiveness of this facility is it gave the various set of interactions a more raw set of mood.
Part of me goes all mushy in this kind of environment. You can’t help but love seeing the genuineness on display as various people greet their incoming guests.
Some of the folks arriving, or those waiting had very tiny babies. From the warm feelings transparent in their embrace it had to be their first introduction to the family.
There were also grown children offering more traditional welcomes to their arriving parents through pausing in front of their family member’s feet, then with their hands sweeping away perhaps any evil sprits before they had gave more standard kisses and cuddles.
Of concern was a very different reunion between perhaps a daughter maybe in her 20s, and her waiting sister and mother. The girl’s face showed that she spotted them, and then she began to walk with more purpose toward her waiting kin. However when I followed her trajectory the responding reactions had no appreciation, welcome, or even anything positive. It was a bit of a downer. I stopped myself from creating theories on the cause and context for close family members coming together with such a negative display. It didn’t take long for more positive exchanges to fill the time .
There were many scenes all producing different energies of excitement, laughter, curiosity, or adventure. Sometimes it was a combination of all of the above, and then some.
I waited there for an hour or so, just long enough for my cheap chewing gum to begin to taste like poison and my jaw to ache. In the time I was waiting, my fondest memory though was reminiscing when I had seen my own family come through the doors of Terminal 3 for the first time after we were split from for four weeks after I moved to Dubai. I can still clearly recall my surprising tears as soon as Myles and I spotted each other through the glass and the quick wiping of them away as we both sprinted to where we could hug. In just four weeks away he looked like he had aged a whole year. I felt so fortunate now to think that the sheer joy I had at that time came after a month. I’m certain many of the families on display had a much longer wait, it’s lovely to see they finally met again.
You’ve gotta love airports.
While waiting for Elle to exit the local grocery store, my kids and I did something I wasn’t sure I’d ever have to do again – enter a DVD hire shop. It almost seems like a redundant business, with the amount of file sharing and DVD swapping that goes on. But we did it, and I’m glad we did. Otherwise we may have missed seeing Shaolin Soccer – a fun and interesting movie which seemed to miss the mainstream audiences which we’ve practically become with some help from the kids.
The storyline was close to being an unfortunate cliché. The scene was set with a dominant sporting team, and an unfortunate hero or two vying to do the unthinkable and beat them at their own game. The way it was depicted was unexpected, with well translated comedy. And as you can imagine, it does conclude leaving the viewers feeling good – although the way in which it finishes certainly is not part of the cliché I was expecting.
The following story caught my attention, “Airline industry last in line to sign up for algae fuel: Sapphire CEO”:
It’s an interesting prospect that airline procurement teams could soon be negotiating with pool cleaning businesses rather than fuel companies.
Although, perhaps airline carriers in the gulf may not be showing as much interest in the alternative fuel – for some reason.
Lewis very unimpressed with ex-English cricket captain, Mike Gatting
On the weekend we went out to 7he Sevens stadium to attend the annual charity cricket match between the famous Lord’s Taverners and our semi-professional Fly Emirates team. It was billed as a large fund-raiser, with even buses organised from work to pick up people. Sadly though, there was nobody really there except the players, their families, and a few tables of VIPs. It made for an interesting day, given I had Lewis in tow. And two year olds rarely comply with the etiquette of the posh cricket fraternity. Having said that, Lewis running around the WAGs drinking their Pims hardly bothered anyone.
The weather was perfect, and the lack of people meant it was a very casual, almost intimate affair. We decided to leave the pavilion and walk around the vacant field to give Lewis some variety. We let Lewis spend quite some time rolling down “the hill” (haven’t seen one of those at a cricket field for some time). Then we continued to walk around the other side where I managed to catch a well-hit six by one of the Fly Emirates batters. The batsmen were desperately trying to catch up to the 240 run target. It was to no avail. On the way back around to the table, one of the English spectators complimented my catching ability. I mentioned it was luck more than anything, I had my eyes closed. He made a good point. It doesn’t really matter as long as I didn’t drop it – cause that would have been really embarassing. Glad I didn’t think of that at the time. I would have dropped it under the pressure.
All in all a lovely day to be out in perfect Dubai weather to catch quite a lovely event – particularly given the Dubai heat will soon make watching cricket all day unimaginable. We’ll be there again next year.
A little while ago I realised I’m no longer able to fool my kids. It wasn’t too long ago that I used to scare Myles when he woke up by saying he missed our trip to Disney World. Now when he wakes up and I try something more realistic like he’s missed the bus, he just says to me “Give it a rest Dad!”
Myles was very interested in news of the devastating floods back home in Queensland, and particularly Brisbane – our former city. He was extremely concerned about the whole emergency.
From the various stories we shared with him about it, he particularly liked the story of the tug boat driver who saved the Gateway Bridge from the 50 metre strech of concrete walkway that broke away from its pylons – despite the clear risk, and it not being part of his job. Amongst Myles’s praises for the tug boat driver he mentioned, “No job is as important as saving another”. It was very touching, I just had to hug the boy. I thought it was excessively deep for a six year old. Then he told me he didn’t come up with it himself, it was from Thomas the Tank Engine – apparently Rusty said it once. Still it was lovely to hear him recount it.
It’s almost been an eternity since we had regular internet access at home, so there’s been no blogs for some time.
I’ve occasionally added to a journal, so I’ll post some of these out of date and out of context items below – and reset the date of the publishing, as they were mostly from the start of the year.
The cause of the internet issues was us moving from our spacious Tecom apartment, to an even more spacious villa. So although it was quite painful going without internet, the move was worthwhile.
At the end of 2010 we moved to our Safa villa, which is a family-friendly compound for Emirates employees. We knew it would be good for children, as we had friends living here before us (incidentally who have left the organisation and country). Within an hour of us moving, Myles had a friend over, that afternoon they doubled, and now he pretty much lives outside – or brings them here. The new place almost feels like a holiday house for him with all the new kids to meet and play with. It didn’t take long though for him to make a regular group of friends. Now it’s not too uncommon to have half a dozen kids around our dinner table doing a painting or some activity we were used to doing with Myles & Lewis alone. Or through Tecom families we’d need to organise in advance or call around. Now it’s just the kids’ way of life.
With the move to a new area, Myles and I had another failed trip to the library. I assumed they’d be open after 10am on a Saturday. No, it’s not open on the weekend at all. Just like the last time we tried and #failed, it ended with us visiting a nearby Islamic book store and buying a book. This time we bought animals mentioned in the Holy Qur’an – each chapter told a story of a different animal and history, including one story towards the end comparing Jews to monkeys.
On the work front, our annual IT department meeting reaffirmed our vision that have come from our exec team. And they also discussed our high level goals. To help everyone become a part of this, everyone was given a small piece of paper and told to draw their vision for the organisation’s IT. People were eager to participate, given the incentive of a surprise gift going to the winning entry. As I told Myles about this, he got a puzzled looking face and wondered why I’m doing kid activities like drawing pictures, and trying to learn Arabic. He suggested I must work in a nursery. A few grown-ups could think the same.
We also had another go at dune bashing. One of the guys seems to have more experience (and stories primarily) than the rest of us, but he doesn’t seem to have the same amount of luck with staying out of trouble. He’s the only guy in the group who doesn’t work at Emirates. Myles learnt this, and thought since he drives so crazy, instead of working with us at Emirates he must be a taxi driver. Not only did he have car operating troubles, when we all paused to cool down my poor engine, a group of local guys took some interest in his car and stole it. Well not literally stealing, but taking it for one hell of a spin. They clearly have no fear, and know how to have a good time.
Also at work we had our 7s Cricket tournament. It used to be a regular fixture for the people at Emirates. Being an Aussie, I thought I’d have to give it a try. Not that it matters, my estimates of the racial breakdown of the 60-70 players were: 90% Indian, 5% Pakistani, 4% Sri Lankan, and me. And in terms of performance I felt VERY alone. Every body else out there in the hot sun were living and breathing cricket. I on the other hand, were out with the first ball I faced. Not a good representing of Cricket Australia at all. I pegged things back in the second innings, but it was clear I was, and my team was, there to make up numbers for others who were clearly having the time of their life.
On the running front I’ve done very little, although moving to a stone’s throw from a popular running track around Safa Park. I decided to enter the Dubai Creek Striders Half marathon. My intention was to treat it as a training run, and to indicate whether I was on track for the full marathon or not. It was a successful test, I was DEFINITELY NOT in shape to think about a full marathon. At one stage in the race I was struggling behind a couple of women running. Then an old Afghani looking gentleman saw me, and heckled what was I doing, this is Dubai – women are meant to be following the men. I struggled to muster any expression in response – which was probably best.