SPRING 2012

Her har våren kommet og gått. Ikke lett å si når det gikk fra vinter over til vår og til sommer, men i følge kalender så har det skjedd. Tror det er sommer når det ikke kommer flere gjester på besøk(pga varmen her nede). Men ingen klager på varmen fra meg, for vi har hatt en flott vinter/vår med deilige temperaturer, men med usannsynlig mange sandstormer. I dag er temperaturen under 40 og da er det jo ikke så ille, men det er vel ikke så mange dager før den er oppe i over 40 igjen. Men hva gjør vel det? Skal jo hjem til Sandefjord til St.Hans. Gleder meg til å se kjente og kjære igjen!

This spring has come and gone. Not easy to say when it went from winter to spring to summer. But I guess the summer started when the last visitors from Norway left(due to the heat)? But no complains when it is coming to the temperature, but I have to say that it has been many sand storms this spring. Today the temperature is below 40 and that is not too bad, but we are talking about a few days before the temperature is above 40 again. Who cares? Not me! Soon we are on our way to Norway to see friends and family♥

Ikke ofte jeg er på et bilde, men her er et som onkel Jim tok i Abu Dhabi. I joggesko! In running shoes!

This week has been very busy trying to get a container to Norway. My BFF Carolin gave me a kitchen! They brought it from Germany to Dubai, and when they moved to Bangkok they left it behind. And since we are fixing our kitchen back in Norway and they had to remove their kitchen from the storage here in Dubai - voila; I guess we both are happy - Carolin to get rid of it and we to get a "new" kitchen....just needed a container...and a forklift to get it in....and some people to wrap it....Sooo looking forward to see you in Norway this summer Carolin!!!

Fikk et kjøkken av Carolin som hun hadde lagret her i Dubai i 4 år. Etter å tenkt(skal/skal ikke) litt bestemte vi oss for å sende det hjem til Sandefjord. Skal legge ut noen bilder av hvordan det blir...om vi får det til å passe. Kjøkkenet var jo pakket godt inn da det for 4 år siden ble sendt fra Tyskland til Dubai. Og det ville jo være for ille å fjerne all pappen bare for å sjekke? Haha! Alt ordner seg! 

Gard and Helmi on a field trip

Er og har vært mye ute i ørkenen for å ta bilder av kameler. Det er en befrielse å reise ut av Dubai. Har tatt veldig mange bilder der ute, men finner alltid et motiv eller to som ikke har vært festet på filmrullen før.

I have spent many hours out in the desert trying to "shoot" some camels. It is always nice to get out of Dubai. Have taken many photos out there but still I always find some new motives when going.

This funny guy was selling rugs and pillow from his tent out where the camels are.

 

Trym and Austin at JBR.                 Both boys are in the schools swim squad. Gard in a competition at GEMS.

Trym playing "Black Betty". In June there is a talent show at school and he will perform there together with 2 friends. Gard will play "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" on his guitar with some friends - can't wait to hear them : )

EASTER

Trym

Ken and Trym

Påsken ble tilbragt her i Dubai. Onkel Jim kom på besøk, og Linda og Stenni var nedover. Vi koste oss med å forsøke å spille golf, turer på stranda og lange, late dager i bassenget.

Burj Khalifa by night

Ken, Linda, uncle Jim and Stenni enjoying a nice evening at our terrace

Trym 

Trym and Linda collecting sea shells. We were actually trying to find snakes....

♥Uncle Jim - 80 years old and still having fun in the water! At Atlantis.

Trym and Gard

Gard at Atlantis

Uncle Jim turned 80 in the beginning of April. He invited us to Bab Al Shams. I love this hotel out in desert!

Trym at Bab Al Shams. After spending some time on his own he was ready to join us again

LIWA DESERT

Huge, red dunes!

In March we had a great over night trip to the Liwa desert arranged by the Norwegian Seamen Centre in Dubai.
  

Beautiful colours!

Ken is deep into the groove at the Jotun staff party

In the beginning May we were on a boat trip. Always nice to see Dubai from the sea side.

The annual staff party at Jotun is held in April. This year, as previous years, it was a lot of entertainment.

A part of Dubai skyline - without Burj Khalifa

 TURTLES - MARINE AWARENESS

 
Gard is working on his final project in 5th grade. It is about marine awareness - I just love the subject, and yes I know that I am not the one doing it! But I am so lucky that Gard is involving me ☺We visited a rehabilitation centre here in Dubai to see the turtles they have there and to learn more about them. Very interesting, but also very sad to see the damage we humans are doing to them. The guy to the left and above could not move his hind legs. A lot of the turtles are eating plastic bags which will kill them, giving them a painful death.

And believe it or not; 3 weeks ago we found this turtle outside our house. I am not happy about making him to a new family member, but what can we do? No one is missing him! Probably a family moving away from Dubai or just bored of the turtle "lost" him. It is a red ear slider and he can be up to 30 years old, so then we just have to stay here in Dubai due to the fact that we can not bring it back to Norway. It is not a legal to keep turtles as a pet there.

January,February and March 2012

Since we came back to Dubai after a relaxing holiday-without snow!(- in
Norway with friends and family) the time must have running on "fast forward". It has been concerts, sports day, photo trips, field trips, visitors and a trip to India. In India we attended a wedding and it was great; lots of colors and they served vegetarian food( me like! ☺) After the wedding we took a taxi to Agra(7-8h. drive) to see Taj Mahal. What a building! Very sad to think about that lady it was build for never saw it...she was dead when they start to built it. From Agra we took a taxi to New Delhi and then a flight back to Dubai.

Jeg vet ikke hvor dagene har blitt av etter at vi kom tilbake fra juleferien i Norge, men observerer at vi allerede er midt i mars. Juleferien var jo som vanlig veldig koselig, men vi savnet jo snøen.

Det har vært mange arrangementer på skolen, vi har hatt besøk og vi har vært i India. Må innrømme at jeg syntes det er deilig at "alt er i gang igjen" etter ferie. Tenker da på skole og fritidsaktiviteter. Begge gutta svømmer, og Trym går også på karate etter skolen (graderte til grønn i dag!). I løpet av skoleuka spiller Gard gitar, og Trym trommer og piano. Og så har jo begge fiolin i regi av skolen. Gard er også med i skoleorkesteret hvor han spiller fiolin, og de har øvelse en dag i uka etter skolen. Som dere forstår så går jo uka her nede også. I helgene gjøres norsk, da det blir litt for hektisk å trykke det inn i ukedagene. Denne helgen skal vi dra i Liwa-ørkenen på camping i regi av sjømannskirken. Gleder meg! Og da blir det vel at jeg legger ut noen bilder derfra neste gang jeg skriver noe her.

Trym was on the yellow winner team

Gard was on the green team(with a blue cap?)

INDIA-Lucknow and Agra

Grunnen til at vi reiste til India i begynnelsen av februar var et en kollega av Ken giftet seg. Vi fløy til Lucknow hvor bryllupet var, og tok så taxi til Agra og Taj Mahal. Bryllupet var jo en opplevelse i seg selv, med gull og glitter nok til 150 norske bryllup. Det var høy musikk og gjestene var rundt overalt på det som nærmest var som en fotballbane. Da bruden kom så virket det egentlig ikke som om folk brydde seg nevneverdig om det heller, det ble i allefall ikke kø foran scenen der vielsen ble utført. Men flott det var hun, og han så ikke så ille ut han heller. Vi hadde i løpet av dagen kjøpt inn Indiske klær som seg hør og bør, men det var faktisk ikke så veldig mange i Korta(for menn) i bryllupet. Blir vel nesten som et Indisk par i bunad i et norsk "kjole og hvitt"-bryllup? ☺ 

Shushant and Chitney were great guides for us in Lucknow - a big thank you to them for taking so good care of us and to make the trip so rich of memories!

With Kens colleagues 

Trym

The boys were the attraction at this place

Even the laundry can be beautiful! 

Was thinking of my lovely sister-in-law Ellen when I saw all this flowers

Why not a little shaving when you are out walking?

The essence of India; cows and rickshaws

All these dogs ♥....at least they were not skinny,but it broke my heart to see them. I want them all!

At the wedding dressed as the Indians

The couple - thank you for inviting us!

Stunningly beautiful

The Hamer Gudvangen family

Some details from Taj Mahal

Early morning in Agra

The roads were very busy with all kinds of vehicles

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♥♥♥CAMELS ♥♥♥

In February we accidentally bumped into a camel race. We were out looking for some camels, but this was like winning the big pot! I am talking about hundreds of them, so we got some nice photos. 

In the beginning of March we were out in the desert again to "shoot" some camels. We couldn't find any race, but a camel market. The kids were trilled! And so was the mom. I will never get tired to look at this spectacular animals! But I didn't knew how they got them back in the trucks, so I was a little surprised when I suddenly saw a flying camel.

The arabs are very friendly with us when we are out looking for camels in the desert. They have several times invited us to their farm so we can see their farm and camels. Very nice!