Happy New Year to me!

I'm not quite sure what is going on, with a new computer for Christmas and a really good start to 2024 picking this beauty up last week! Happy New Year to me!

We have been talking for a while about whether or not to keep my Sequoia, as I certainly don't need a big 8-seater car anymore. But we've been going back and forth with the arguments around spending money on a new car, when it was still nice to drive, and about how long we were going to stay, and if a new car would be worth it etc etc.

During the Christmas holiday we went to have a look anyway at a few different cars (Lucas was lobbying hard for a Porsche...) but before I knew it - we had ordered a BMW X5 xDrive0i.

We were working in tandem a bit, so to be able to go and get it together it had to be in the evening, but I was so glad I did come along, as I really enjoyed the nice red bow!

I have been driving it around for a bit the past week, and I think I've got all the settings sorted and figured out what (most of) the buttons do. It is a really nice car to drive, and even though it has all the latest technology, super fancy features and amazing gadgets like gesture control and a personal BMW virtual assistant; I mostly enjoy the simple upgrades from the Sequoia. I finally have a three-blink turn signal, automatic distancing while on cruise control and my seat and mirror settings connected to my key!

Shit happens

After one of many really long days at the museum last week, I had one even longer evening... Thursday night I left the office at 5.30pm, but didn't come home until well after 9pm...
Hitting the motorway, I noticed that my car was giving me a master warning, telling me with all red flashes and ding-dongs that it was overheating. I pulled over at the side of the road, and didn't quite know what to do.

Nathan told me Chad was in the city, and was about to drive home to Dubai; luckily for me he hadn't left yet. Like a knight in shining armour he picked up some water and came by to fill up the cooler.

At first it looked like it worked, but as soon as I tried driving off, my temperature gauge hit top high again; so I stopped at the side at one of the highway substations. No more option but to call Roadside Assistance, and wait.

At least while I waited I could explore the mangrove plantations going on just to the side:

And - I got to admire a beautiful sunset..!

It was 35 degrees outside, but luckily in the middle of the Saadiyat motorway there was quite a breeze so it didn't feel too hot. I just had to keep wait and wait, because the Roadside Assistance took its time.

Finally, I was saved and now the car is in the garage. Final verdict hasn't come yet, but maybe I'll go with Lucas who thought "Might be time for a new car..!". My Beast have been good for me, but it is nine years old, and I wouldn't mind a slightly smaller car now. We will see.

Roles reversed

Lucas has been driving a lot lately, both cars, with both of us. He drove us all the way home from Dubai and the Expo2020 last week and wherever else we have gone together.
Yesterday he took Linnea to school and back by himself, as both Nathan and I were home with no plans and we didn't need both cars at home. He had been dying to do that, so good to get that out of the way!

We have also sent him on some smaller solo expeditions, and - have finally got some pay back for all the times we have been running taxi-business... getting him to drop us off and pick us up from nights out!

The other day I was at a birthday celebration (by the way, isn't it the sign of the times when the party invitation reads '48h PCR required'..!?) and coming home, it was totally roles reversed in our WhatsApp convo... ha ha! Love it!

He's mobile!

Tuesday was a big day for another person in the family too - Lucas passed his driving test! On his first try! He is now mobile.
The next morning for his very first drive, he drove himself to school in Nathan's new Ram. Very happy boy!

This was in the afternoon, when I came along and got driven by my child for the first time (super weird feeling!). He drove to school for Linnea to do her PCR-test there, then me to Etihad Plaza for my PCR-test, and finally we dropped Nathan at Yas Island for dinner out.

 

He hasn't done a complete solo drive just yet. We still are working on time-in-car for a bit, before we let him loose on his own. The training at the traffic school was very basic, so we think he needs to build some more experience and confidence, together with us. You aren't allowed to privately practice drive here, so we are doing it a bit back to front - get the license first, then practice!
But we can see huge potential in this 'having our own chauffeur' from now on..! Good stuff! Super proud of him!

The Monster Machine

We have a new family member. Meet - The Monster:

Nathan's new toy, a Ram Warlock with a 5,7 L Hemi V8. (Fueled full tank for 200 AED/513 SEK/83 NZD/€49 the other day).
I had to give up my parking spot in front of our house, as this demands a bit more space than The Beast, believe it or not. I have only taken it for a spin around the block so far. Always takes a while to get used to driving another car than what you are used to, but I can tell you - it will be a long while before I take this anywhere where parking is remotely tight. It is BIG.

When Nathan picked it up he didn't just get the keys, but also a box of chocolates!

Lucas having a trial-sit in it, thumbs up! Another few weeks and he will be our designated driver..!

We traded in the old car, a Dodge we had bought off our neighbours when they left back to Ireland a few years back. Ever since we have had it, we never bothered to change the photo on the home screen of the car. A photo of their family, about 10 years old... ha ha!
We decided to sell the car, still with that photo - it's like those stock photos that sit in photo frames when you buy them. I wonder who is driving around admiring that lovely family photo now..!?

I also got something new, a new screen in my car:

Nathan had the whole radio console taken out and replaced with an Android kind of tablet, so I can control everything from a big touch screen now. Good idea in theory but we need to do something about the glare. I actually can't use it at all - as I can't see anything on it! Sigh...

Ehhhmm...

I might have to have a little chat to my telltale son about exaggerating. No wonder Nathan thought the worst reading these messages the other week:

So, just to set the record straight:
* I hadn't CRASHED the car. I had (yes, unfortunately and it was entirely my bad) scraped another car in the car park at rugby.
* I wasn't waiting for the POLICE, but Saaed. The other lady and I were both quite unsure about what to do, as it was a really small mark, but we thought we would do the right thing and call Saaed. They deal with traffic accidents here. (You need them to come and decide which part is faulty, to be able to have any damages fixed at the repair shops. They won't touch your car without a report from Saaed.)
* I was going to tell Nathan myself (who was in NZ at the time), of course. But first I had to call home and tell Lucas as he was home alone with Oakley, since Linnea and I were going to be a little bit later than I initially had told him because of this. I was going to text Nathan afterwards - but someone else got there first... :)
* I didn't CRASH into the compound gate either. I had merely nudged it earlier that day, when it didn't open on approach as it's supposed to do.

:)

Oups

So, I'm all covered. All good. I have had one parking fine, and now a speeding fine. No more needed. Thank you.

Heavy congestion

Nathan and I went to lunch today between the bridges. We had come from different ways, so we were in two cars. He was going to get Lucas on the way home, and I was going straight home to start dinner. Well, even after having picked Lucas up on the way, he was still home over 20 minutes before me - I ended up in my very first traffic jam!

It's not something that happens here all that often, at least not during the times when I usually drive around. It wasn't a complete stand-still luckily, but we were moving very slowly. I wasn't too worried, I had nothing to be late for really. I was mostly just trying to concentrate and keep an eye out, as people kept changing lanes without indicating, pushing in rather aggressively and driving where they weren't supposed to.
In these situations I'm happy I have my Beast, at least with that I have some road presence and nobody dares to drive on top of me!

My only argghh

Abu Dhabi, it's friendly people and superb efficiency has made the move here very easy. Everything has gone very smoothly, and for that I'm thankful.

Of course I do miss Brunei, but I also miss Sweden, Copenhagen, England, Paris, Lefkas, Spain and all the other places where I've lived. That's the price you pay when you move around and decide to be a citizen of the world. You will always miss something, or someone.

One of the very few (so far anyway!) "arrgghh"-things about this place, is when you have to fuel your car. Luckily yes, the fuel is still cheap and they still fuel for you so don't have to get out of the car in the scorching heat; but it's getting to the pump that is the hard bit. The queues are always super long, and the petrol station is filled with buses, trucks and school buses.

I have tried to fuel at all different times during the day, to try and find the best time with the least queue, but it doesn't seem to be any quieter at any time unfortunately. You just have to hope you get into the fastest lane, and quickly get served. Sitting for half an hour or more in these queues is not unusual. Ah well, I can take one small "arrgghhh"!

Big car - bigger car!

For those of you who have asked how big our car really is, for it to qualify to be called 'The Beast' - well..:

The car to the right is a Toyota Fortuner, the same kind of car as the one we had in Brunei. To the left - is our Beast! It certainly isn't some dainty crossover car.
It's a truck-based full-size SUV with ample room for all eight passengers, plus it has loads of towing and hauling ability. It weighs 2,5+ tonnes empty and has a 5,7 litre V8 engine. Lucky fuel is cheap!

The Beast

So, this morning our car was ready for collection, finally. We've nicknamed it 'The Beast'. It's huuuge!

There was a bit of briefing involved before we could take it away. It has quite a few specs on it we didn't have on our previous Toyota. Like remote start of the engine, automatic opening and closing of the boot, and automatic folding of the rear seats; it automatically turns off the airbag in the passenger seat if there is a little person, sonar warning system all the way around and a camera for reverse parking etc, etc.

As it's my car, I got the keys!

The interior is very roomy. There is even a fridge in the center console! It has lots and lots of little storage compartments, I like!

Kids loved it too, they have individual screens where they can watch DVDs, play video games or connect and listen to their iPods. They sat very comfortably and could see very well out of the windows, we like riding high.

It also has a built in GPS which of course will be a big help for me when I start driving around. Although it didn't quite agree with us straight away we managed to get it to find our first destination - the Marina Mall.

My Beast! ♥

Zaks

Yesterday was another day full of jobs to do before the weekend.
We started out going to the local Police Station, hoping to get my drivers license sorted. Nathan had had my Swedish drivers license translated into arabic, but mistakenly thought it was enough with having the visa in process to get the local one... So we went to the Police Station and waited and queued, only to have to come back once my visa is in my passport.
Ah well, that's about the first set back so far really; and I don't mind not being able to drive, it's quite nice getting driven around!

We then went to IKEA to exchange a few things, and pick up a few more. Nathan admitted he has definitely filled his quota of IKEA visits for a while, the man in the self-service area recognized him! :)

Even though lunch at IKEA is always good (you can never have to many meatballs!) - I have to say this is false advertising though:

These are not cinnamon buns! These danish are made with a completely different dough/pastry, and even though they are probably tasty (we didn't try them, we would've had they been real cinnamon buns..! ), they are NOT cinnamon buns. Boo IKEA!

At least the house is coming together nicely, things are finding their places and especially the storage spaces are getting organized neatly. After Wednesday next week we will be able to receive overnight guests too, that's when the mattress for the guest bedroom turns up. Yay!

We also decided to sort out the school uniform yesterday. Here they sell many different uniforms all in one big shop, Zaks, in one of the malls. It was easy peasy, we just went in, told the lady which grade the kids will go in, and she picked it all out for us.

Linnea will be wearing a white polo shirt with the RIS logo on it together with a green skort, and Lucas a white button down shirt with green shorts. The PE kit is the same white polo, plus shorts in a more sporty material. I also got Linnea headbands and hair ties in the school colours and both the kids caps with the school logo plus cricket hats (with big brims) - a good thing to have when we are going into the warmer months.

We had also been told my car was ready for collection, so we took a taxi in to the Toyota dealer last night. Unfortunately that was the next little set back, because due to the wet weather they had a backlog of work that hadn't been done, amongst other things the rust protection. So we will have to come back Saturday night instead.
At least Lucas got to eat ribs for dinner, as Mushrif Mall wasn't that far off and we decided we would eat out to celebrate the weekend. Ohm, nom nom!