Schlump

I guess most people who write a blog, or post their life up on Facebook, do so when something fun or special has happened. I know I do, I tend to keep anything else off my blog, why bother other people with boring stuff, right.
But life isn't quite all rainbows and lollipops though. Is it?

The past few days I have been really miserable. I guess I've finally run out of wind, after the move, the settling-in phase and everything that came with the big relocation. The initial excitement seems to have passed, and now it's just... quiet.

I take the kids to school in the morning, and then I spend the day waiting to go pick them up again. Yes, I also do the housework, but that doesn't take all day every day. We are not getting a maid (at least not for a while, for different reasons) so I'm just getting on with it.
I do go to a Zumba class two mornings a week. The instructor is very good, but I'm really missing teaching my own class. I have tried to scout out somewhere to teach, but it's proving difficult. So far no luck, maybe I'll have a better chance of making it happen in September.
And... yeah... that's, about it. I haven't been able to build any other routines, as everyone is gearing down for the summer and most people have already gone, or are getting ready to go. Nathan is working a lot, or sleeping, since most of his flights are night flights. So at the moment we kind of just do each our own things.

I have met some really nice people here, but as I said, summer is on it's way, so everything is coming to a halt. The whole country is emptying out, and everyone is busy with their own things. Abu Dhabi is a big city, and it's not as all-inclusive as f.e Brunei was. I've realized it will take time, and hard work, to build up a social circle here, and for the moment I'm feeling rather lonely.
The worst thing with moving is that you don't just miss all the good things with the place you just left, and all the people there; but you also start missing all the things you only can get in the other places you have lived, and all the other people, that are not where you are right now... :/

So yeah, I'm looking forward to going back to Sweden and Denmark in the holidays, to see some of my people.
Usually we would have our summer plans laid out already in March though, but we are now middle of June and - I have no idea. We have nine long weeks of holidays. Nathan can't get any time off, and he would complain if we would be gone all of it.
So I'm planning to try and drag out the departure a bit, but it's getting really hot (and empty, did I mention that?) here. Plus Ramadan is about to start next week, and here it's a bit more serious with the daytime shut-downs and the no eating and drinking than it was in Brunei. This is just not the place to be in July and August.

I guess this summer will be one of those travel-around-and-stay-with-many-different-friends kind of summers. It's always nice to see friends, don't get me wrong, but it's hard to keep the kids on their best behavior (...) all the time, and as nice as it is to do many different things and see many different people, it's a very tiring kind of holiday, for everybody.

My greatest wish is to find that perfect little summer house, in the Swedish countryside somewhere close to a lake and with a little guest house; where we could just plonk ourselves for the summer from now on - and people can come and see us. It's time we get our own summer sanctuary. For my sanity.