Fun stuff I've done

It's not all form filling and suicidal driving you know - I've done some fun stuff here in Abu Dhabi. Let me tell you about it:

Pakistan v Sri Lanka Cricket
Not long after we arrived, N and I went to see the T20 cricket at Abu Dhabi cricket ground. As always, understanding the system wasn't easy and it took us two and a half hours to locate the correct ticket booth, collect our tickets and get seated in the stadium. Luckily N had misread the start time on the website and we'd turned up three hours too early - so in an unheard of twist of fate, we were sitting in our seats 30 minutes before the match started. Neither N nor I

Bureaucracy

OK - so i'm not saying bureaucracy here is worse than elsewhere - in fact I imagine it's pretty grim in whichever new country you rock up in - but let me share with you a little of my bureaucracy pain.

In two weeks I am due my 30 week maternity appointment.
Before I can do that I need to get my health insurance.
Before I can do that I need to get my visa sorted.
I can't do that until N gets his visa sorted.
He can't start that until he

My name's Eve and I'm an expat wife

OK - well I've been a fully fledged expat wife for a whole week now. I've found it to be a mixture of lie ins, guilt, low level productivity and drudgery - so far.

The hardest adjustment so far has been the lack of structure - it makes me feel like I'm floating about with no focus to my days. You don't last 15 years

Things I did in the UK that I could not have done in the Gulf

Played 'is that a dog turd or a mouldy leaf on the pavement?' with my nephew. There are no dog turds in Qatar, or leaves (mouldy or otherwise) or pavements, or....sadly....little nephews.

Caught a cold. 

Swam in a municipal swimming pool surrounded by school kids (possible source of cold..?). Shocked by the lack of Molton Brown toiletries and

I'm pregnant! I'm unemployed! I'm moving to Abu Dhabi!

I've not blogged for months because for months i've only had four things to say:

• I feel sick
• I hate my job
• It's too hot
• Qatar's rubbish

And as my Mother says, if you've nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

But now i do have some nice things to say:

• I'm pregnant! 
• I'm unemployed!
• The weather's a bit cooler!
• I'm moving to Abu Dhabi!

So the nature of this blog is likely to change yet again: first wedding blog, then new job in Qatar blog, and now expat wife blog. That's right - now i'll no longer be working, i'm going to seek out the life of a proper

Abu Dhabi

I'm back home after a weekend in Abu Dhabi. We liked Abu Dhabi, it's a bit like a cross between Dubai and Doha. At least we think it is, we didn't actually see very much of it, for the first 40 hours we didn't leave the hotel. But we did manage to see some interesting stuff during a six hour sightseeing spree this afternoon. We started the day at the mosque, where I had the opportunity to wear an abaya (well, you have to or you're not allowed in). I won't lie, I enjoyed wearing it, it was basically dressing up, which I like.

Here I am:

 Posing with my husband - no touching.

It was seriously hot in that courtyard - hottest part of the day, hottest part of the year, hottest part of the world.  Grim.

I was hoping N would have to wear a thobe (traditional floor length white shirt worn by men in the Gulf) - but they only gave those to men wearing shorts - and my husband is far too culturally sensitive to make such a faux pas.

Later we went to the

Doctors

I'm posting this from a doctors surgery, a doctors surgery with free wifi. Imagine. It's a doctors surgery that calls me a 'guest', and has velvet sofas in the waiting area, and has a tea lady with a trolley with drinks that are free. That's right, I've gone private.

It's also a doctors surgery that makes you queue for the cashier