Courage comes first, confidence comes second

I dont know were to start. It’s been a while now since I did our last update. Time flies when you’re having fun as they say and it’s true, we have been having loads of fun together as a family. However, it’s not all been a bed of roses and brunches. There have been some really hard days over the past few weeks, days where I couldn’t see this all working out and days when I just wanted to be sat at my old desk with a cup of tea and having a natter with the girls.

I miss the independence I had in the UK, the daily routine of school runs and work. Family and friends being close by and the familiarty of the town I called home for 36 years. In some way I feel like I’m grieving the loss of that part of my life, but I know in my heart we made the right move and I just have to trust the process and have faith that it will all eventually fall into place. I dont want to sound ungrateful for this opportunity that we have been given. I am so very grateful. Its just hard somedays. Harder than either myself or James anticipated. Everyone always says the first six months are the hardest over here. Everyday is a learning day and we will get there eventually. Having said that though I’m proud of what we have achieved so far, we have a beautiful home, the kids are thriving at school and James is enjoying his new job.

So a few highlights from the past few weeks.

We had the garden lanscaped and had festival lights fitted. The weather is finally starting to cool down so we can enjoy evenings outside, now we can see what we’re doing and eating.

Zach was asked to join the school football team and they had there first tournament last week. They played so well but lost the tournament to Kings in the last match that went to penalties, I was gutted for him, they deserved to win, they played fantasticly all day. He’s made some new friends through the team and he seems to be fitting in really well. The comaradery within the team is something I’ve never seen before. They all want everyone to be the best they can be and have encouraged Zach and given him advice when the goals were just not coming at the start. I cant wait to see how they get on this season.

He’s also loving Basketball at the minute and if he’s ever missing, I know he will be at the courts just round the corner shooting some hoops with his friend, Oliver. Oliver lives across the street and plays football with Zach at Empire.

We put him down to do two Extra Curricular Activities a week, one being football and the other Comic Club. He seems to be enjoying both and it’s another way of meeting new people and making a few more friends.

The new accent he has developed is hilarious.

All in all, he seems to be doing really well. He still misses his mates loads and still gets upset over leaving but he is getting used to life over here more and more every week. He got a great parents evening report too, we are so very proud of him.

Sienna is doing really well too. I always worried she would struggle with the move but she has really embraced it and is getting on so well at school. It’s amazing to see the change in her attitude towards learning. She also got a good parents evening report and her teacher even said it was great to hear some British ‘banter’ from her and that she’s a delight to teach.

Her swimming and confidence in the water has come on so much since we moved. She’s in the pool most days and has swimming once a week at school. Her teacher mentioned she was so nervous the first day when she had swimming but now she’s got her confidence, there’s no stopping her.

She applied to be Art Leader for her class, she didn’t get it but the fact that she wanted to apply and put herself out there was a step in the right direction and again, we couldn’t be prouder. Her Extra Curricular Activities are book club and water colouring.

As a family we spend a lot more quality time together than we would in the UK. The boys went on the tallest indoor rollercoaster at Dubai Hills Mall, the picture is so funny. Then we went to the adventure park which is also inside the Mall too. The kids loved it and had so much fun.

We’ve also visited Green Planet, which was a great afternoon, it didnt take long to go round but was enjoyable all the same. Sienna was a bit freaked out by the thunderstorm but we pushed through and she loved the Armadillo that kept escaping. Zach loved the brightly colour frogs and Lizzards. I was constantly on edge because as some people know, I don’t like birds, Blue Macaws are a new level of savage! It was great to see a Mum and baby sloth too, they were so cute!

There’s loads to do by where we live, even just going for a little walk at night is enchanting. It reminds us a lot of Disney. We go to the frozen yoghurt shop on Fridays after Zach has finished football. He’s still trying to get on the Wave Rider but it’s always too busy when we go. Hopefully not too long before he gets on.

We went to the Brit Pop Brunch at Dukes The Palm last weekend and it was a fantastic day. We had access to the pool afterwards and the kids all had a ball and so did the adults. The food was so tasty and there was a lot to choose from. I’ve still never made it to the cheese section yet, maybe next time I’ll start there. The deserts were another level of decadence, they tasted as good as they looked. This Brunch was also on The Entertainer app so we got buy one get one free. After the brunch we sat round the pool and watched the sunset. The view from the pool is stunning and this was one of my favorite days so far.

For me, I’ve continued to meet new people through school, football and home. I’m the class representative for both Zach and Sienna’s classes. This means I’m in charge of the WhatsApp groups and making sure everyone knows what’s going on. This has been a good way to get to know the other parents in both classes. Ive been enjoying swimming again and walking. On Fridays, James and I go for a walk together and get a coffee on the way back. Its lovely to spend time together and have a look back on the week and make plans for the weekend.

We had a little visitor one day when I looked after my friends Beagle, Bruce, for the day whilst she moved into her Villa. He was so chilled and it was a bit of company for me as well. The kids loved him too and now they are mithering for a pet. They will have to make do with the little Gheko that lives under the couch for now.

I’ve started to get more confident with food shopping. We’ve tried Hello Chef for the past few weeks, which has been really convenient and has helped get us into a bit of a better routine around mealtimes. We have been relying on Deliveroo far too much recently which I put down to me not being able to use the oven properly yet. I’ll be glad when my air fryer gets here. I haven’t tried any baking yet but I did get the urge to make some cupcakes the other day. We’ll see, maybe one day I’ll bring Mrs M Makes out of retirement… maybe!

We have a busy few weeks ahead with visitors from the UK. We can’t wait to see everyone and catch up. We also should have our shipment from the UK soon, it’s due to dock in Jebel Ali port on Sunday. I’ll be honest I can’t even remember what’s in the boxes but can’t wait to get them here and unpack.

All in all we’re doing well. We’ve had the courage to do this, we just need to build the confidence to see it through.