Little girl, big day

We are back on Saudi soil and the day/night rhythm is slowly creeping back to normal. So it's time to get back in to the swing of things!

Yesterday was a big day for our little girl, it was her first day at day care! A day that I was sort of looking forward to, because the past few weeks were quite intense. Imaan was increasingly seeking my attention and presence during almost everyone minute of the day. I know it's part of her development, but coupled with shocking night sleep and day time naps that sometimes lasted about seven minutes, I was left exhausted

and needed a bit of a breather.

But suddenly at the door of the day care center my eyes were welling up. My little baby, all of a sudden she seemed so big and so independent. I guess the fact that she did not even look back to say bye made the separation harder for me :) 

She had a very good first day, although when I went to pick her up she started bawling the moment she saw me. Apparently that is to be expected. I'm hoping almost goes well for day 3 tomorrow!

That loving feeling

It's day two of our Australian (ad)venture. It means that the jet lag is weighing heavily on my shoulders but I am happy!

 

It feels great to have brought our daughter to her home country, she does have dual citizenship but for some reason I primarily think of her as Australian, don't know why. I obviously (try to) raise her with my Scandinavian values in mind, but I also wan to incorporate with that all that I love about Australia and it's people. Because to me Australians are friendly, open, easygoing and warm. Australia is a country that is accepting and encouraging to people of all sorts of background. I'm sure it's not perfect, I doubt any place is. It may not be my home country, but it very well could be. It's a country that I have been in love with since I was 12 and that feeling is still there :)

The mission for today is to get over this jet lag somehow (I feel like I have gone through a mincer) and most importantly, teach our daughter to say "G'day".

Happy Sunday everyone! If you have that loving feeling, share it with those around you!

 

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House hunting

So we are looking at buying a house in Australia. we are trawling the internet left, right and centre to find something that fits our budget and our taste. This house will be an investment property, so we are truing to not be too picky about it ticking ALL the boxes. Does that make it any easier? No.

While we would like something that looks like this

Our budget probably allows for something that looks a bit like this

Sorry for poor image quality

But then I realised that the house of houses was for sale. Check this out: you can actually by your own piece of the Sydney Opera House. and if you know me even the slightest, you are aware that I am a huge fan of this particular piece of architecture.So if I can "own" one of these tiles for a mere 100 Australian dollars, I say go for it!!! I know I have at least one friend who i with me in a heart beat. Not sure my better half is so keen on "investing" a hundred dollars on a piece of ceramic.

You can even check out what sort of view your tile has, what's not to love people?! Time to call the house hunting off? Errr... maybe not.

Have a fantastic Tuesday everyone!

Homebody

With five trips in less than two months I am REALLY happy to be able to spend the coming few months at home. Preferably curled up on the sofa or playing with our daughter that is just such a little bunch of giggles!

Or why not enjoying a cup of coffee with a cupcake on the side?! Happy Sunday everyone!

Still here

Still around, but I have put the blog (and everything else) on the back burner for a while. After coming back from India the whole family got sick, so we are now trying to recover from a very nasty cough and cold.

The past few days have been a bit of a blur, but we will survive :) thanks to everyone for the get well wishes and for all offers of food, meds etc. 

Here's a funny pic for your Saturday night. Have a great weekend everyone!

Late night multitasking

Doing the dishes, having a coffee and putting the child to bed. Yup, one of these things is not getting done properly...

Diskar, dricker en kopp kaffe och lägger barnet och sova - samtidigt. Nåjo, om man frånser den lilla ettåringen som springer runt köksbordet...

Smashing!

Not having a great few days right now. After two days with a non stop head ache, this is what I get up to today. Good idea to stay clear of anything even remotely fragile. RIP moomin.

*********************

Klirr!!! Ungefär så låter de när muminmugg möter kakelgolv.... Helgen sim gick var inte då värst trevlig då dehär går helt i ton med det...

My Mission Impossible

"This house will self destruct in 60 seconds" That is the impression I have been having since coming back. It feels like it never ends, just as you feel one room is starting to look presentable, you walk into the next one and realise there's a few hours worth of work right there. I'll admit to being the laziest and most reluctant housekeeper there ever was. Hats off to those women who do it while juggling hobbies, work and more than one kid!

Reality bites

Ever since our daughter was born (and before that even) I have had the privilege of being surrounded by family, both my in-laws as well as my own parents. needless to say that they have helped tremendously with cooking, laundering, nappy changing, cleaning, baby sitting. Whatever I have asked for, they have been there to help.

Now I am back in Saudi Arabia you could say that reality is kicking in with a vengeance. Not only is the family support gone, but I have also become a part time single mother. Let me explain why.

My husband is working on a large scale project here in Saudi Arabia and his primary place of work is located some three hours drive from where we live. Up until now my husbands office has been located off site, which meant that he only had to drive 10 minutes to get to work! But now all that has changed and my husband is now living part time in the middle of the Saudi desert. He will be home for 3 or 4 nights a week, but it goes without saying that getting used to this new living arrangement will take some time to get used to.

Meanwhile I am grateful for all the help that I have received so far, thank you all for all that you have done!

Jag är nyss hemkommen till Saudiarabien och måste erkänna att det känns som om jag är tvungen att acklimatisera mej på nytt igen. Under de senaste sex månaderna har jag haft så gott som konstant sällskap omkring mej i form av min svärfamilj och mina egna föräldrar. Dom har alla hjälpt mej otroligt med allt som kan tänkas, tvätt, matlagning, städning, blöjbyten, barnvaktning och en massa annat. Närhelst jag har behövt det har hjälpen funnits till hands!

Nu är det andra bullar som gäller, jag har nämligen blivit ensamstående mamma på deltid. Innan nån nu börjar undra, så ska jag förklara vad jag menar.

Min man jobbar nämligen med ett storskaligt projekt som betyder att hans huvudsakliga arbetsplats ligger mitt i öknen, tre timmars bilväg från var vi bor. Hittills har hans kontor tillfälligt funnits bara ett par kilometer från vårt hem, men det gäller alltså inte mera. Min man kommer att vara hemma 3 eller fyra nätter i veckan, men resten av tiden så kommer jag och lilltjejen att vara på tumis. Jag håller fortfarande på att vänja mej vid själva tanken, förhoppningsvis så vänjer jag mej så småningom när man börjat komma in i nån sorts rutin med vardagen.

Samtidigt tänker jag med tacksamhet på all den hjälp som har erbjudits mej hittills, tusen tack alla!

The homecoming

Back home after 2 months away, my house greets me with a layer of dust, dishes in the sink and a group of plants that are just barely clinging on to life!

Scandinavian Sunday: nursery mobile

I would not normally see a need to decorate a whole separate room for a new baby. After all, a baby is tiny (but I'll admit that they come with a lot of stuff...) and I prefer the idea of having the baby sleep in the parents' bedroom. At least for the first few months.

Where we are currently living we have the privilege of having two spare bedrooms, so changing one of them into a nursery was only logical. Most of our house is a bit of a "plain Jane" with white walls and beige flooring, so we sort of wanted to have a bit of fun with one room. I won't give you the full nursery tour as yet, because some minor things still need to be finished off :)

But I thought I'd share a picture of the mobile for now. I just love it! It is a Scandinavian design by Flensted Mobile and as such did not come very cheap - considering that it is made from paper and all. I saw it in a shop when i was in Finland in January and I loved it straight away! But the price tag got me to back of and for a while I considered DIYing something similar. But then we travelled to Canada and while we were there we visited a few baby shops. That's when my husband saw it and he was keen on it too! So we went ahead and bought it. Hopefully the baby will like it as much as we do, which will make the investment even more worth it!

On a side note though, for the price that we paid I would have thought that the mobile would come with some sort of hook to hang it, but it did not. Buying a hook did not break our bank, but that's just one of those things that annoy me because it's more the question of the principle.

Tänkte dela med mej en snabb detalj från babyns rum, nämligen mobilen som hänger i taket. Det är frågan om en dansk design av Flensted Mobile och det var kärlek vid första ögonkastet för både mej och min man. Prislappen låg där kring 50 euro, därför ryggade jag först tillbaka och började istället leka med tanken på att fixa till nåt liknande själv. Men förhoppningsvis så kommer babyn att gilla mobilen lika mycket som vi gör, så då är den definitivt värd den lilla investeringen. 


Med tanke på priset skulla jag gärna ha sett att en krok att hänga mobilen i skulle ha följt med paketet, men icke sa Nicke. Så jag fick vanka iväg till vår lokala motsvarighet av K-rauta och köpa en. Det var ju ingen dyr grej, men dethär är saker som stör mej mera av principskäl än något annat...


Det blir förhoppningsvis lite mer bilder från barnrummet snart, men det är ännu några små detaljer som ska fixas... Det är ju nog på tiden med tanken på att det beräknade datumet är om mindre än en vecka...

Barbs & Blossoms

View from the kitchen window
Utsikten från köksfönstret

Living in a gated community is part of the lifestyle for western expats living in Saudi Arabia. These compounds offer a chance to live life in a way that is as similar to the lifestyle at home. What this means is that women can wear what they please, they can also drive on the compound and services such as gyms and pools are offered.

Living in western compounds is restricted to western nationals only, this is to maintain a culture that is as familiar as possible to the residents. Saudis are not allowed and they will also find it hard to get entry even for a visit, unless accompanied by a tenant. There are a number of security measures in place to protect westerners, the barb wire seen above is just the beginning...

Some expats refer to these compounds as open air prisons. It seems like an unfair comparison, seeing that the residents (male as well as female) are free to leave whenever they please! I suppose this comment might reflect some frustration about the insular way of living that expats might experience here. The compounds do separate you from the rest of the community, but I don't think it should be seen as an obstacle to truly experiencing Saudi Arabia.

I like to believe that living in a country that is so different as Saudi Arabia is, should be seen as an adventure and a privilege. It is a country that many people will never gain any access to and it offers a great way to get a view of a culture that is very different from what many may be familiar with. I believe that the expat assignment is what we make of it, it can be either barbs or blossoms. Sometimes it may be both in the same day, but if we do not get ourselves out there we will never really know for sure!

Västerlänningarna i Saudi Arabien bor utan udantag på bostadsområden som är separerade från omvärlden med hjälp av höga murar och taggiga trådar. Dessa villaområden erbjuder möjligheten att leva i västerländsk stil, kvinnor kan klä sig som dom vill och det finns tillgång till en rad olika tjänster, gym, restaurang, simbassänger osv. Dessa små ""byar" är tilllägnade endast västerlänningar och inga saudier tillåts bo där.


Vissa västerlänningar kallar dessa bostadsområden för öppna fängelser *, men liknelsen är ganska svag eftersom alla som bor inom området kan komma och gå som dom vill (både män och kvinnor).Kommentaren beror nog snarare på känslan av avskildhet och separation från omvärlden. Men jag tror att separationen ska ses som en formalitet. Visserligen bor vi som i en skild värld, men det riktiga Saudiarabien ligger alldeles kring hörnet!


Att bo i Saudiarabien är för mig något av ett privilegium, en chans att bekanta sig med ett land som många aldrig kommer att ha chansen att besöka! Det är en ypperlig chans att bekanta sej med en kultur som skiljer sig märkbart från vad många är vana med. Som tillfälligt bosatta utomlands så påverkas upplevelsen av hur vi ställer oss till det hela. Det kan vara antingen gott eller ont, många gånger kan det vara båda på samma dag. Utan att bege oss in i vår omgivning kommer vi aldrig att få veta vad dethär landet har att erbjuda!


* Det engelska ordet compound som dessa bostdsområden kallas kan (bland annat) översättas till krigsfångeläger. Men nu är det inte alls det det är frågan om här...

Spicing up our life

Day 15 in the Kingdom... Dag 15 i Kungariket

The last few days have been spent with trying to fix up the house and filling the pantry. Our housing came fully furnished and with a starter pack (4 sieves, but no cups or mugs), which helps out a lot when it comes to starting a new living from scratch. But we also have to eat, so over the past few days I have tried stocking up the kitchen cupboards with the essential staples, which includes a number of spices seeing that we do a lot of ethnic cooking.

A week ago we had invited some friends over for breakfast and just before they arrived I realised that we don't even have salt & pepper. Luckily our compound has a little grocery shop for the essentials, so the problem was easily solved.

Back to basics, spice wise at least...
Koka soppa på tre kryddor...

For a few days we got by with the above spices which included an Italian spice mixture that I brought with me from Australia. It is a really nice mix of spices and it also reminds me of my university days when me and my flatmate only bought the bare essentials for the kitchen as our stay in Australia was only temporary.



Nowadays I live in a half Indian household and my friends tell me that they now consider me Indian by association! No Indian household will get by without a myriad of spices, so on my first trip to the local supermarket I headed straight for the spice counter. The man behind the counter thought that my long list of things would never end...

There were still some spices left in the shop, I promise!
Mitt saldo efter att ha rannsakat kryddisken i supermarketen!

The supermarkets over here remind me a lot of those back home, they have these deli counters that sell a never ending variety of cheese, spice, fish, bread... It might seem ridiculous to some but finding the food that tastes and even smells familiar to you plays an important role when adjusting to a new country. Just this week I met a woman that found it hard to adjust because the meat tastes and smells so different. At first this seemed strange to me as there are so many other things in this country that is so different, but the more I thought about this the more I agreed with her.

Dom senaste dagarna har jag varit upptagen med att försöka förvandla vår villa till ett hem. Jag väntar fortfarande på att få frakten från Australien levererad så för tillfället försöker jag få köket att bli fullt fungerande. Alla möbler är inkluderade i hyran och huset kom också med ett så kallat startpaket. Startpaketet innehöll det mesta som behövs i ett hushåll: kärl, bestick, handdukar, lakan etc.





Som en del av servicen i vårt bostadskomplex är busservicen som transporterar oss husfruar till och från lokala shoppingcenter. Så en av dom första dagarna hoppade jag på bussen för att besöka den lokala supermarketen. Matbutikerna här påminner en hel del om marketarna därhemma, men besöker man butiken för första gången så behövs det nästan en karta så att man inte går vilse!

Mitt första butiksbesök gick mest ut på att handla en massa basvaror. Högst på listan stod en lång lista med kryddor. Inget halvindiskt hushåll klarar sej utan åtminstone en triljon olika kryddor. Mannen bakom kryddisken trodde nog att min lista aldrig skulle ta slut. Jo, ni läste rätt, kryddisken. I supermarketen säljer dom kryddor, nötter och torkade frukter av alla dess slag. Jag önskar att de sku finnas ett sätt att förmedla doften via bloggen. När jag nu öppnar mitt skafferi börjar det dofta alltmer som hemma, det är otroligt hur så simpla ting som dofter och smaker får det att kännas alltmer som hemma!

Happiness is... a clean home

I must admit that I’m not a super tidy person, nor do I obsess about the shoes not being perfectly lined about or if something is out of its place (OK, maybe sometimes I do…). Our home is definitely one of those places that looks like someone lives there, there are some books stacked here, a watch there etc. I have seen homes that look immaculate all the time, but I have to admit that many of them feel like they lack character, some even border on sterile.

What I do love though, is a clean house. I hate dust and watermarks on the bathroom mirror. Hence I was very happy to come home from work on Monday finding that the apartment had been vacuumed, the shelves had been dusted AND there were two meals on the stove ready to go! Needless to say, the dishes had also been done. Ah, bliss…

I feel bad for my husband though; he is allergic to dust, so I’m usually the one doing the dusting. Note to self, will bake him something nice next weekend.

Dom som känner mej, vet att jag inte är världens superstädigaste människa. De spelar ingen roll om skorna står lite snett, eller om saker och ting inte är på rätt plats (för det mesta). Jag gillar hem där det syns att någon bor, jag avskyr hem som saknar karaktär eller som e så fixade in i minsta detalj att det känns sterilt. Hemma hos oss står det en hög med tidingar här, en klocka ligger på bordet där osv.

Vad jag gillar är ett rent hem, jag hatar damm och vattenmärken på badrumsspegeln. Föreställ er min glädje när jag kom hem från jobbet på måndagen och fann att golvet var dammsuget, hyllorna var dammade och på spisen stod maten färdig, både kyckling och indiska köttbullar (koftas). Till råga på allt var disken också diskad!

Som tack ska jag nog ta och baka något gott nästa helg.