Shahrazad II? Not likely, but I do like to write and Facebook friends encouraged me to give this a try, so I am. The thousand and one nights is an approximation of what currently is a two-year commitment for Richard to work in the Abu Dhabi (and a couple of days a week in Dubai) office of his law firm. Our first international move in February 2000 was to Belgium. There, a three to five year assignment in the Brussels office became fourteen(!) as of February 2014. We can easily see being here more than two years, so 1001 nights could happen. 

We had a great time living in Waterloo – Sarah earned her stripes graduating from a francophone Belgian Lycée in June 2013, we experienced the introduction of the Euro, saw Bruges and climbed the Butte de Lion more times than I can count, met lovely, interesting people and saw some pretty great things during our travels around Europe and the Middle East.

We’re now entering our second month here in the UAE. We moved to Abu Dhabi on 8 April to temporary housing – a nice apt/hotel in the center of the city and not too far from Richard’s office, where he works 3-4 days a week. Our things cleared customs by the end of the month and we moved to an apartment with a great view in the Dubai Marina Living in Dubai was a concession to me by Richard – a man who hates to commute – I AM grateful.

Unpacking has taken quite a bit of time as the movers packed parts of things in different boxes – and apparently didn’t ship some things at all – a mystery we have to work on solving. The apartment looks like home now. To finally rid us of the remainder of the cardboard forest, the extra packing material will be taken away this weekend and as of 10 June, we will have access to a garage area storage unit. I took a break from the unpacking in early May, as I took a 10-day trip to the Pacific NW to help Sarah move out of her dorm after her freshman year at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon – a direct flight from Dubai to Seattle (on Emirates Airline) – who knew? She’s now in Waterloo for a summer job/internship. I’ll be there starting 15 June. Richard will join us in early July. We’ll be back in the UAE in August.