Expat Life

Expat Life

Sometimes we get quite caught up in our daily life and everything seems completely normal (it is) but then something reminds us that we are living in a place that is so different to where we grew up and that choosing this life has taken a lot of risk taking and bravery. 

Just this weekend we went out to explore the new mangroves walk and we stopped to acknowledge how amazing it is to have something like this on our doorstep. We have lived in the UAE for a short five months but we have done quite a lot. I’ll share some pictures here of our experiences so far. Scroll over any photo to read where we were. 

-Mrs T

Update

Update

A long overdue update! Looking back through the blog we haven’t posted regularly since 2017, when we first moved to Doha. We ended up completing the two year contract and moving on from Doha to Abu Dhabi. It surely wasn’t in our long term plan but Doha just wasn’t working out on enough levels. Mr T secured a job at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi and we began our transition to move. At just over 4, Little T was not keen on the idea, and spent many days telling us he hated “Abi Dhabi.” We kept things quiet in the summer with a few weeks in Doha, a lovely month in Phuket, a few more days in Doha before starting fresh in Abu Dhabi. 

The transition has been easier than expected and we absolutely love it here, even Little T. Upon arriving it just made us realise that Doha is a young city and actually much smaller than we originally thought. Abu Dhabi is big! We have found it very family friendly and are lucky to live in a beautiful community. We really do hope to stick here for awhile, we are definitely tired of packing up all our stuff.

We have also firmly rooted ourselves as an unschooling (home educating but without any formal curriculum) family, I will continue to stay at home with Little T and we will both be learning together as we live. Over the last few years I have been reading and listening to lots of podcasts and this lifestyle really feels the best for us. It allows us to slow down and really embrace and notice the learning that we experience everyday. I’m sure I will have much more to write about this as we go. 

For now we are just enjoying the beautiful winter weather here in the Middle East, spending long days at the park and chilly evenings cozied up together with a movie. 

-Mrs T

Water Taxi service in The Pearl

Water Taxi service in The Pearl

We’ve seen the signs and boats around The Pearl and decided to try it out. It turned out to be a nice activity for Little T and I to do in the day. The boat drivers have been super friendly and are happy to take us around just for a ride or to a specific location. It is a nice alternative to taking a TukTuk to get across The Pearl and I am sure as it gets cooler we will use it even more.

We went for The Pearl residents unlimited monthly pass for 100QR and was happily surprised to find out that is for two adults and the little one is free! You can buy your tickets on the boat or get your monthly pass at the Ronautica office near Tower 1.

-Mrs T