The lemon twist

This Wednesday I went for the first time to the NYU campus here in Abu Dhabi, together with a Louvre Abu Dhabi colleague of mine, to attend an art lecture held by their Vice Chancellor Mariët Westermann.

She was going to give a talk about the importance of the artfully carved lemon twist, in still life art - "The emergence of the lemon twist in Dutch still life".

Yes, it might seem quite a narrow part of art history, but nevertheless, it was actually really interesting! She explained how the twisted lemon peel became one of the most beloved motifs of the still life painters in the 17th century, and why it was such a signature element of this genre.

Kathleen and I stayed on as well for the chat that followed on after the lecture, which gave rise to several interesting questions, thoughts and discussions. So nice to be in a room full of people, all displaying such a keen interest for the arts.

Breakfast Club

This week I had two breakfast dates booked in, first our regular Breakfast Club, this time in Al Bandar with great views over the Yas Bay:

And later in the week a breakfast to say goodbye to one of the Swedish girls who is moving back home next week, good luck Anna!

A magic carpet tour

This week I joined in the SWEA visit to the Center of Original Iranian Carpets, here in the city of Abu Dhabi.

I know absolutely nothing about carpets, so I was well keen to go. This place is the oldest carpet shop in Abu Dhabi having been open since the 1970s, having sold rugs to several notable UAE Royals - so what better place to go!

We were greeted by the owners, a brother and sister, and Mr Dawood Hossein-Zadeh himself gave us a short lecture about Persian rugs - their history, how they are made, what they are made of. It was very interesting, he told us all about the technical information, about the different patterns and colours, and about the rugs artistic value.

This gallery is home to over 5,000 hand-picked, and hand-made of course, carpets in all sizes, colours and price ranges. There certainly were some rugs here you would never be able to sell anywhere else in the world - like the silk rug behind Mr Dawood in the photos, over 4 x 4 meters large... imagine the price of that!

 

We were told the four things to look for when buying a carpet: age, colour, material and weave - the number of knots per square meter; and how to make sure it's a hand-made carpet and not machine woven. 

Of course the carpet I liked the most out of all of the ones he had on show for us this particular day, was the most expensive..! A small but breathtakingly beautiful turquoise silk rug fetching around 20,000 AED! An investment, for sure, like a piece of art.

This rug below was like a magic carpet. No it couldn't fly, but when you moved around the carpet and looked at it from one side to the other, it changed colour! 

A big group of SWEA ladies this morning! We went for lunch after as well, a really lovely morning!

20 January 2020

For the first time I got woken up first on our birthday! Happy Birthday to me!

Then somebody else had to go and play possum for a change!

Sweet 16!
As the numbers get bigger, the amount of presents get smaller... Although he did get what he wished for, so I think he was pretty happy!

A game from Linnea, cash both from the family in NZ and in Sweden; Stussy clothes and a cap, a hard drive for his gaming, and new shoes from us.

Pancakes for breakfast, of course!

All I had wished for was flowers and balloons (I love balloons!), but in the morning I had to make do with my Apple watch giving me balloons...

The rest came with the kids when they got home from school!

Cake time!

For birthday dinner we got treated to teppanyaki at the Benihana restaurant where we had been once before, a long time ago. It was just as delicious (and funny) this time.

Happy Birthday to us!

Personal Project Presentation

This week we went to school two days in a row, first for the Three-Way-Conferences on Monday to hear all about how this school year is going for the kids.
Consensus: a bit of a mixed bag, but nothing really to worry too much about. The kids are alright.

Then on Tuesday we returned to school to visit the Grade 10 Personal Project Presentation, where all the students in Grade 10 showcased their presentations of the projects they have been working on all fall. There was everything; someone having written a song, someone investigating using containers as living space, someone creating a make-up line, someone looking how architecture will evolve in the future, someone creating a workout program for autistic children etc etc.

So, the Personal Project is an independent research project which all Grade 10 students at IB schools undertake. The students are supposed to show their ability to independently organise, create and complete a substantial body of work. Grade 10 marks the completion of the MYP in IB, and the Personal Project is one of the big things this year.
In Lucas' case, his presentation was on making a sneaker out of sustainable material. He spent Tuesday morning finalizing his board..:

Finished result:

Well done Lucas!

Big news!

Have a look at this - they let anybody in these days:

Well, jokes aside, it's big news - Nathan now has dual citizenship!
He's become Swedish!
And no, there are no plans on moving to Sweden. But... at least now we could, if we wanted to!

All this came about a bit by chance thanks to a conversation with a Swedish friend of mine in Dubai, who is married to an Australian. She told me they had applied for citizenship for him thanks to a special rule including having been married for over 10 years, having strong ties to Sweden, but not having lived in either of their home countries. So it got us thinking, maybe this would be a good thing for us as well?? Once it's time to leave this place, it would be nice to have all the possibilities open for us.

So, we submit Nathan's application too and were told that the handling time was up to 30 months. Ah well, we had no stress. So we got really surprised when we were told already after a few months that he had got his application granted!
The other day we passed the Swedish Embassy to pick up this beautiful proof of citizenship, and apply for his 'samordningsnummer' (CPR-number) so that he can get his new passport.

I'm feeling left out now - I'll soon be the only one in the family with just one passport! No fair!