Old lady issues

Even though Nathan was the one stepping into a new decade on the weekend, it's me who has been having some age-related (?) issues lately... Two weeks ago, after having been sitting for a moment on my bed scrolling through my phone, I stood up again. I had pins and needles in my foot, and must've put my weight on it in a funny way, because it went 'crack!' rather loudly. Ouch!

Luckily we have a clinic right here in the compound, so after a few hours of icing the ankle, we decided to go check so that it wasn't broken. It wasn't.
But the orthopedist still wrapped me up like this:

At first I thought it was a bit overkill for a sprained ankle. But, almost two weeks later it still looks like this:

The half-cast was only on for a few days. I got medicine for the swelling and the pain, and once the cast came off I got myself a strong support brace. Although it is so uncomfortable and makes it hard to wear shoes. So at the moment I just walk very slowly and carefully, and in a straight line, not to bend or cause strain on the ankle at all.

Getting hurt really makes you appreciate your health and fitness.

Five-Oh!

As we had overnight guests, and had all had a long, late night the night before; Nathan didn't get sung to in bed as we normally do on birthdays. In fact, he tried to come downstairs in the midst of breakfast preparations, so he got sent back up to go back to bed until we were done.
No one had specified which bed though... so this is how we found him and Freddie. One of them slightly more awake than the other...

Then he was invited to his breakfast table, with flags, singing and presents!

Hmmm... all secretive about what was in this one. Turns out it was a nice decanter and glasses. As great minds think alike, he actually got TWO decanters - one from the Dehlis, and one from us.

Funny card from one of his colleagues:

A French electric table pancake maker! (Inspired by our friends the Petersens who had one when we visited this summer)

And, lots of whisky! I think I counted 5 bottles! This one came all the way from Sweden, a Mackmyra Special Edition:

Ida got put on pancake-making duty, and she did a splendid job! Such a cool machine!

After the long breakfast which lasted pretty much all morning, we had a chill day at home with our friends. Went down to the pool for a bit and just took it easy.
In the late afternoon, Nathan had wished for roast pork for dinner, so Freddie the masterchef very kindly rustled up a yummy birthday meal with Danish browned potatoes, red cabbage and roast pork with crackling. Felt like Christmas, but birthday boy was happy!

And cake, of course!

Happy happy 50th! ♡♡♡

Taco bout a party!

We are currently recovering from a weekend of celebration - celebrating Nathan's big 50th birthday! Hourray!

He had invited just a few friends down to Yas Bay, and had a private part of La Carnita booked. Linnea and I had brought a huge bunch of balloons to decorate to make it look really nice:

We had the room for a few hours of free-flow nachos, tacos, guacamole and all the Mexican food; together with Prosecco, SideHustle beer - and Margaritas, of course!

Some family photos before it all took off. We missed Lucas of course.

And photos with the closest thing to family we have here in the sandpit, the Dehlis who had come down from Dubai.

Peta was there too:

And Browny, and Johan! Linda unfortunately had to miss it since she was in Newcastle for a work thing, but Johan was intent on determining if these Margaritas had anything on my Thermomix ones..! Verdict is still out by the way.

Peter was there, and Karin and Holger.

The McGeehees also came from Dubai.

To really create the Brunei 2.0 feeling, Peta and Pip's parents Sandy and Pete also came by for a quick hello.

Linnea and Ida.

The girlies had some fun with their parents in the photo booth:

I took charge in bringing the balloons home for the next day, and walking down the waterfront everyone kept wishing me happy birthday... so I had to keep saying "They're not mine!" Not just yet anyway..!

There was even fireworks to celebrate! Hip hourray!

WarPigs update

Here's an update on this post, Lucas' viral reel have now reached THREE million views! Wowsa!

Class of 2024

Senior Year has officially kicked off - the Senior jackets finally arrived on Friday, an important part of the celebrations of their last year of school of course.

Here's our pretty Senior modelling hers, I love that they are personalised!
It will be used every day during Senior year for sure, lucky it is chilly at least in the classrooms while it's still 35+ outside.

Letters of Light

This month we also inaugurated the latest temporary exhibition at the museum, the first international exhibition of the year, called 'Letters of Light'.
This exhibition is co-curated together with Bibliothéque nationale de France. It presents the origin, form and transmission of the holy texts of the three monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

This exhibition brings together over 240 artworks where the three monotheistic religions are represented, on an equal approach. It is a journey to the heart of the spiritual roots of human history.
For example it showcases the Dead Sea Scrolls, a Nano Bible that has been to space (!), a Guthenberg Bible, six pages of the Blue Quran and one of the oldest copies of the Quran.

Fragments of the Hammurabi code:

The exhibition also brings us the only archaeological artefact with Jewish origins found in the UAE, a tombstone with an inscription in Judeo-Persian.

The key to the Kaaba:

A prayer book from Turkey in a really unique layout:

This is not only the first time so many holy books and precious illuminated manuscripts are gathered and exhibited in this region of the world; it is also the first time that this many pages of the exquisite Blue Quran is showcased together. A real showstopper in the exhibition.

The exhibition concludes with an immersive artwork by a Saudi Arabian artist, Mohannad Shono. The Unseen is exploring the relationship between light and dark, the tangible and intangible.

The exhibition even spreads out to the outside of the museum and interacts with the white walls of the architecture. Some of the artworks from the exhibition are displayed at night (after 7pm), and it looks absolutely amazing! What a great way of promoting the exhibition, and what a beautiful artwork in itself!