Making Friends in - and with - Dubai

It's been far too long since I last wrote about our two rapidly growing cutie pies. Along the way, Lukas has taken to doing and/or wearing the opposite of whatever Mom and Dad desire, and Alex has begun to string words together in true toddler fashion.

This blog entry finds us in Dubai, our "home" for at least three weeks time. With Tobi required to come for work, we found ourselves along for (a portion of) the ride.



Here in the Middle East the boys have had much exposure to cultures that they haven't previously encountered, which I love. Just this morning Lukas made friends with Adam, a 3-and-a-half year old British boy with Egyptian roots. Then there were the men from India in a park in Deira (which I wrote about on our travel focused blog), the handsome little Arabic boys on Juneirah Beach Monday, and the flirtatious young girls at the Ritz Carlton pool just yesterday. In fact, yesterday was kind of a first for Lukas in terms of situations where he's picked on because he's such a cutie (the girls were chasing and hosing him down with water)... which was quite fun to watch.

And four-year-olds are dying to understand how the world works. Just before his afternoon nap (which he now takes only on occasion), came the following cluster of questions, "Mama, how can you catch a worm? Mama, why is a gunshot not good for you? Mama, how can you catch a frog? Mama, is there Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter? And Mama, which one is the rain?"

As for Alex, people seem mesmorized by the light skinned, light-haired baby running around in the malls and at the beach (which is strange, given the amount of Westerners in Dubai). Some have even asked to have pictures with our kids, which I obviously refused (that's just a bit weird, sorry). A couple days ago he fell clumsilly to the floor in the kitchen, which was followed by "Papa, Al-la fall down!" (meaning of course, "Alex fall down!"). That's the longest string of words Alex has used so far, so we were ecstatic.

His knowledge of German is surprisingly good, too. Just yesterday Tobi spoke to Alex in German, saying something to the effect of, "Well, you could have just brought a diaper with you.". To our amazement, Alex marched right back to those diapers, grabbed one, and brought it over to him. Clever boy!

His somewhat limited word roster includes "Love you", "eat", "bat", "swim, swim", "Oh-day" (for "Okay"), "HelpYOO", "WOW!" (usually food related), "Why?" and quite a few other words. But his vocabulary is growing exponentially by the day, and he loves singing his favorite song, Old McDonald - "Eee-Eye-Eee-Eye-Oooh!". It's such an amazing age!!!

Having said that, perhaps the most wonderful reward of all is simply watching the bond continue to grow between brothers. If we're going somewhere and they're both walking, they walk hand-in-hand. Alex prefers to hold his brother's hand over his Mama or Papa's by far, and he has such an admiration for his older brother.

[Just now, while I was writing Lukas turned to me and said, "Mom, you have to see this! Alex was just dancing and it was so cute!"]

Lastly, we've done a lot of things during our time here that I hope the boys will remember for a long time to come. Dune bashing and dinner in the desert (complete with whirling dervish and belly dancing), snow skiing on the slopes of the Mall of the Emirates (as an Easter Day treat), swimming in the crystal clear water of the Persian Gulf, camel rides, and we still have nearly two weeks to go!

Sometimes I feel like our life - with all the traveling involved - is a bit out of control, like a runaway freight train. But then I look around me and I see - and read about - wonderful worldly people whose travels as children played a major role in who they are today. Which gets me to wondering, what's more of a disservice, to travel too much with children, or to travel too little?

So how are Mama and Papa coping with all the changes? Well, Tobi's working too much and studying for a big exam (for his MBA) in his "free time" and I'm adjusting to a very short stint in the Middle East by meeting other Expat Mommies (check out the Jumeirah Beach Residence's Sandpit group on facebook - AKA "JBR Sandpit Playgroup"). When in doubt, find other people that are going what you're going through. It's incredibly comforting! [she writes, smiling] I hope to jump back into some serious pitch writing and brainstorming within the next month, but for now, I'll just continue to get myself as familiar with the UAE as I can, researching hotels, resorts, restaurants, child-friendly attractions, and Emiratie culture as a whole.

The world is brimming with incredible cultures and experiences, much like a fountain, and our children, well they're soaking up every precious bit of it like the little human sponges that they are. It's the journey of a lifetime.