Childhood memories

Our daughter really doesn't need another toy, but this Barbapapa rattle brought back memories from my own childhood so I had to buy it.

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Vår dotter behöver knappast fler leksaker, men denhär mjuka Barbapapa skallran påminde mej om min barndom så den bara måste följa med hem.

Living off the land

It's a bit quiet on the blog, we are now in Finland and keeping ourselves busy by living off the land (and water). I am hoping that our daughter will grow up knowing where all the food comes from and the effort that is required before it ends up on our plates.

Here are some beautiful autumn pictures, although the camera doesn't do the scenery justice.

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De e lite tyst på bloggen igen. Vi är fullt upptagna med att leva på det som landet och vattnet har att erbjuda Jag vill inte att vår dotter ska bli ett sånt barn som inte vet varifrån maten kommer. Dessutom vill jag att hon ska kunna uppskatta allt det arbete som behövs innan maten ligger på tallriken.

Här kommer några höstbilder, tyvärr av telefonkamerakvalitet.

10 - 0

In the battle against maybe the sharpest baby nails in the world, I have come out victorious. 10 - 0. They will grow back in a few days...

Jag vann i kampen emot dom sylvassa babynaglarna, 10 - 0. Sen tar de ju bara några dagar så har dom vuxit ut igen...

Family matters

For the past five months I have had my in-laws living with me. My husband's older sister has been here since before our daughter was born and my mother- and father-in-law joined us later. Tomorrow they are all heading back to India and it'll be a while before we meet again.

It has been great having them around and we have had some wonderful family moments. I am glad that my daughter has been able to spend this time with her extended family, although she won't remember these early months of her life. But I want to teach her the importance of family and ler her experience the love that her family provides.

I will be very sad when all of them leave, it's a good thing we are off to Finland in a few days so the void will be filled.

I feel privileged to be part of my husband's family and it is humbling to try to experience life from their perspective. We might not always agree on everything, but we are family, and that is all that matters!

Translating Arabic English to English

I am on the phone with the appointment desk at our hospital, making an appointment for our daughter's 4 month check up. We have already settled on the date and the time when the person on the oder end says "Forfakseen?". From the tone I can hear that it is a question, but I am struggling to understand, so I ask him to repeat it. "For fakseen?" he says, now I know he says "for" something, but what on earth is a fakseen?! My puzzlement is obvious, because without asking he says "For fakseen or just check up?" That's when the light in my head finally switches on "Yes, it is for her vaccines" I say.

Although I lived over here for well over a year and I dealt with persons of Arabic origin for years before that, the accent when they speak English is still something that I am struggling with sometimes!

Parking the camel

You know the expression "driving like a woman" (I hate it, many women drive better than men I think), it should be replaced with "driving like a Saudi". Seriously, these guys don't even know how to park their camels cars!

En Saudi chaufför visar upp hur man parkerar en kamel bil. Det lokala sättet att köra lämnar mycket att önska, dethär är det minst trafikvådliga överseendet... Uttrycket "kvinna vid ratten" (som jag för övrigt hatar) skulle kunna ersättas med "saudier vid ratten" !

Passport update

Since a few weeks ago we have in our possession this, our daughter's Australian passport. We have also gotten her Saudi residency permit as well as exit & re-entry visa (yes, over here you need a separate visa in order to leave and re-enter the country...) sorted so we are most definitely good to go!

As you might remember, the passport photo caused some headache, you can read about that here. In the end I managed to get a bunch of decent photos of our little girl, but I was still worried that the Australian authorities might find something to complain about... I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we received the passport!

Not much longer until it's time to pack the bags!

Vi har haft framgång med vår dotters passansökan, vi har faktiskt haft hennes pass i några veckor ren. Under den tiden har vi dessutom fått hennes uppehållstillstånd och ut- och inresevisum för Saudiarabien beviljade. De älskar all sorts byråkrati här, och för att göra livet lite svårare för alla utlänningar krävs ett skilt in- och utresevisum för att man ska kunna lämna landet...

Själva passfotot orsakade lite huvudbry, jag berättade om det här, men till slut så lyckades jag få ett antal vettiga foton tagna. Men man vet ju aldrig hur dom australiensiska myndigheterna tänker, så jag drog en stor lättnadens suck när vi äntligen fick passet i handen!

Nu är det snart dags att börja packa väskorna! Jag som älskar att hata allt som har med packande att göra!

Bring on autumn

Only 14 more days to go until we travel to Finland. I am so looking forward to our daughter meeting her maternal grandparents, her uncle and the rest of my extended family and friends! I know for a fact that there's a bunch of people waiting for us too!

I'm also looking forward to the Finnish autumn weather, strange as it may seem. I'm just getting tired of daytime temperatures of 40+ degrees day in and day out. So bring on rain, dark nights and leaves in a multitude of colours!

Det är exakt två veckor tills vi reser till Finland. En resa som jag ser fram emot av många orsaker. Främst för att vår dotter äntligen får träffa sina morföräldrar, morbror och en massa andra släktingar och vänner. Det är många därhemma som också ser fram emot detta första möte!

Å andra sidan ser jag också fram emot det finska höstvädret. Jag vet att det inte låter klokt, men så är det när dagstemperaturen stigit över 40 grader varje dag i flera veckors tid. Jag kommer att njuta av regnet, mörka kvällar och granna höstlöv!