Originally posted on www.kirstylarmourblog.com
December 2nd was the 40th anniversary of the UAE – it’s a day (a week even) filled with celebrations of the many things this country has achieved in it’s 40 years. It’s been through an evolution that’s pretty hard to comprehend, from desert living to a true 21st century country, and I’m lucky enough to live in the capital city, Abu Dhabi, an amazing modern metropolis.
If you’ve followed this blog you’ll have seen something of the UAE and the celebrations of National Day before here and here.
This week has been filled with parties, fly pasts, concerts, singing, dancing, competitions, fireworks and the whole city has taken on an air of celebration.
If you’re on my Facebook page you’ll have seen my girls all dressed up for their school party and getting into the fun of the celebrations.
For us it’s more than a 1 day party – this is the country where one of my children was born and she’s incredibly proud of it – and just as we celebrate Chinese New Year for Saffy who was born in China, we are thrilled to be part of the celebrations for National Day here in the UAE for Indy.
She may not be Emirati, but UAE will always be part of her identity. It’s important for third culture kids to have identity and roots – be that culturally, or via a country or language…
The girls indulged me a little photo shoot for 5 minutes after school while they were still dressed up in their kandora’s and with some of the gifts they’d been given by their Emirati class mates.
These are just outside our flat – we live slap bang in the middle of the most congested area of town – it’s not the prettiest part but we love it here 🙂
So, to all my fabulous friends – Happy National Day – hope you’re getting into the spirit of the celebrations (yes, we even have flags on our car!) and enjoying the long weekend… until next time, Kirsty x
Posted in Celebrations,Life,Middle East,Photography,Ramblings,the kids,TravelTags: abu dhabi,everyday life,family,Indy,photography,ramblings,U.A.E.
Summer 2011 – instead of heading back to England/Ireland as we sometimes do in the summer the three girls headed to Asia. There were several motivating factors… homesickness for the Far East, language skills, business admin to sort, a need to escape AD, and it’s crazy heat, catching up with friends, HKID maintenance, itchy feet, a need to be somewhere new and different, yet familiar being just a few….
What resulted was a whirlwind, crazy 6 day trip to Hong Kong, a night in Guangzhou, a month in Shanghai, a couple of nights in Bangkok and a week in Cambodia…. followed by a return to Abu Dhabi, rested and revitalised and ready to embrace the calm of Ramadan and some good quality family time before heading into a new school year, a year where Indy would join the foundation stage at school and Kirsty thought she’d get a grip on her business and stop running round like a headless chicken!!!!
I’ll post more on each leg of the trip soon…
We loved the whole trip – we loved exploring, the new experiences, the being able to chat away in mandarin, the change of scene did us all good – although we missed Tommy like crazy… and he did join us for the Bangkok/Cambodia part of the trip….
We came back to a blissfully quiet Abu Dhabi where we could indulge our revitalised selves with lazy beach trips and nothing too strenuous…..
(more beach pics on Kirsty’s work blog)
More of our summer coming soon…. Kirsty x
Posted in Asia,China,Life,Photography,Ramblings,the kids,TravelTags: backpacking,beach,Cambodia,China,everyday life,family travel,Guangzhou,Hong Kong,Indy,photography,ramblings,Saffy,swimming,train travel,U.A.E.
Posted in Africa,Life,Middle East,Photography,Ramblings,the kids,TravelTags: backpacking,bus travel,family travel,food and drink,Indy,local beer,morocco,outdoors,photography,ramblings,Saffy,shopping,souks,train travel
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by Kirsty