Four months ago our family left behind the forests of Russia and the Pacific NW and moved to the desert, to the city of Abu Dhabi. It’s taken me some time to post about our transition here. There have certainly been some interesting experiences and positives to our time here, which I will share below. However, as many of you know, my father died unexpectedly in September. I was able to get home and be with him before he died but losing my beloved dad is heartbreaking. He was an amazing father and an inspirational role model and I will miss him dearly. Here are some of my favorite photos of my dad and his obituary.

Though it has been hard to be so far away from family, here are some things we are enjoying about Abu Dhabi:

Food- Below you can see Mila being a risk-taker and trying camel milk. It hasn’t become part of our regular diet, but she gave it a thumbs up. Emirati food includes some familiar dishes like shawarmas, falafel, manakish, flatbreads, and fattoush salad. For National Day, we were able to sample Luqaimat (small donut balls in date syrup) and Arabic coffee with cardamom, cumin, cloves, and saffron. The UAE is incredibly diverse, with almost 90% of the population being expats. The culinary variety matches the diversity of the population. We have had lots of amazing Indian food along with tasty Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Pakistani, Philipino, Yemeni, Syrian, and Mexican.

COVID safety- Close to 100% of the UAE has at least one dose of a vaccine. Abu Dhabi in particular is strict, having a “green pass” system that makes it particularly challenging to do much of anything if you are not vaccinated. This was a challenge when we first moved here, because it took some time to get our Russian vaccines recognized. But now we appreciate that we live in a community with high vaccination rates, and abundantly cheap and available covid testing. The sign outside the testing center has writing in English and Arabic that reads “Don’t You Worry!” and look how much fun this lady is having getting her test.

School- Alden (grade 6) is enjoying middle school and Mila (grade 3) likes her teacher, Ms. Carter. The school is bigger than we were used to, but the teachers and administration have been kind and supportive as we adjust to our new school and workplace. Alden is playing basketball, has learned to juggle, and has a lunch chess club. Mila and I are starting a recycled crafters club in the new year and she is busy fundraising for Hawskbill Turtle Conservation.

Cultural experiences- We have had the opportunity to explore some of the interesting cultural attractions in Abu Dhabi. Below are some photos of a visit we took our first week to the Presidential Palace (Qasr Al Watan) with other new colleagues. The palace is used for official business by the leaders of the UAE but also opened to the public in 2019. After perusing the displays inside the palace, we watched an impressive light show projected upon and integrating the building itself.

Visits from family- We were so grateful that my mom, Bonnie, and Israel came to visit in October. We spent a few days in Dubai- exploring Old Dubai, visiting the Souks, enjoying a festive Mexican hotel brunch, seeing the Burj Khalifa and other modern architecture.

In Abu Dhabi, we visited the Louvre and Grand Mosque, body surfed in the most beautiful turquoise waters and enjoyed afternoon tea on the beach.

We had our first visit to EXPO 2020 while our family was visiting and were so impressed that we ended up going back again the day before Bonnie and Israel left. It is such a cool opportunity to have the World’s Fair in our backyard. We will write a separate post about our many visits to EXPO, coming soon!

Theme parks- Abu Dhabi and Dubai have so many theme parks and other kid-friendly attractions. So far we have been to Warner Bros, Ferrari World, and Yas Waterworld in Abu Dhabi and Motiongate, and Bollywood in Dubai which we visited with my mom. So far their favorite is Motiongate.

UAE’s Golden Anniversary- In addition to EXPO, this year is an important one in the UAE because it is the country’s 50th Anniversary. There are many celebrations, festivals, and other events taking place throughout the year. Mila and I went with Mila’s buddy Liam and his mom Alissa to the Sheik Zayed Heritage Festival. We watched artisans working, saw dance performances, and enjoyed all the lights. Our school had a big celebration for National Day. As teachers, we were encouraged to wear the UAE colors or traditional dress, so Simon and I went to the market and bought a Kandora and Abaya to wear. The UAE is a very patriotic country and you can spot the Emirati flag and the faces of the country’s leaders everywhere.

Staycations- We had a four day weekend for National Day and decided to head out of town away from the crowds to a resort on the coast towards Saudi Arabia. Other than lots of time relaxing on the beach, we enjoyed a day trip to Sir Bani Yas Island. Sir Bani Yas was a private island retreat for HH Sheik Zayed, one of the founders and first president of the UAE, who transformed the island- planting millions of trees and providing refuge for animals. The island was closed to the public during Covid as the royal family spent their lockdown days on the island at the palace. We had a private jeep drive us around and were able to see lots of wildlife including many Arabian Oryx, gazelles, this giraffe and two cheetahs.

Warm Winter- We just returned from our first desert camp out with friends in the dunes about an hour outside of Abu Dhabi. Shortly after we arrived an SUV with some locals pulled up to check on us as they had heard shouting (the kids’ excitement). They offered to show us their falcon and then joked “100 dirhams” after we took photos.

The kids conquered the huge dune next to our camp many times, “penguinning” back down headfirst or running down the dune causing small sandvalanches. Simon and I were glad we managed to huff and puff our way to the top once. The shadows and changing light on the dunes were beautiful, as were the sunset, sunrise, and the night sky, full of shooting stars. There were mixed opinions on the little mice scurrying around in the dark.

We are so happy to have another visit from my mom and our first visit from Emily and Michael during winter break. We know that it will be a hard holiday season for us all, but will take comfort in being together. We wish all our friends and family a happy holiday season and all the best in the coming year.