We moved!!!

      Ever since leaving my hometown in 2009, my attitude towards moving and changing homes was always pretty relaxed... I thought, once I have left my mother's home I could practically live anywhere. So we stayed in Munich for about 3,5 years until our move to Abu Dhabi. As of this April we have officially lived longer in Abu Dhabi than anywhere else. And we are still going to be there probably until we reach our fifth year of expat life. 

      We played with the idea of switching houses for the past couple of years, but we never really needed to. Our one bedroom, waterfront apartment gave us everything we needed. Nalia is still small enough that she doesn't need her own space just yet. We felt quite comfortable. It was not the lack of comfort that prompted our move , but the fact that Nalia and I are not going to be staying in Abu Dhabi much over the summer season, then the fact that I really wanted her to start kindergarten in Romania in the fall... So after thinking things through it only made sense to switch to a smaller, more financially convenient space, that would not feel too 'empty' for my husband as he will still be there the majority of the time for his work.

     Finding a place that would be convenient enough and still accommodating for the 3 of us while we will be there, was not an easy task.  Even when we were deciding on an apartment, the agent  informed us that it was already off the market. Luck was on our side once again and we got our hands on a lovely studio apartment, not far from where we lived. We wanted to stay in the area which was familiar to us so we wouldn't have such a sudden switch. And I must say it's lovely. An open, bright space with a huge balcony, nice view and very near to everything we are interested in. 

      The move was an absolute nightmare. Several aspects took me by surprise... For one, I was extremely emotional when the movers came and started packing up. It hit me hard...this was the space we lived a good life in, made lovely memories, met with our friends, received many visitors, I carried out my pregnancy in this space, my water broke right there next to the bed in our bedroom (I know how gross this may sound to some...). This was the first place Nalia recognised as her home, she took her first steps there and filled those walls with laughter. So I was way more attached than I thought I would be.

     Second, never have I ever realised how much 'stuff' we piled up in that apartment. I got rid of more than half our things and I still couldn't fit everything in our new, smaller kitchen. That was kind of hard too... Letting go of all the nice things that helped make our house a home. But it had to be done and off they went.

     Third, we made connections to so many of the people in our neighbourhood. The group of moms I occasionally met for coffee, the staff at our favourite eatery (Nolus), whom were always so nice and welcoming, the girls at the beauty salon whom I felt so comfortable with, the lovely people at the supermarket, Imelda, our ever so helpful compound manager, the friendly concierge and so on... It is not easy to break away from everyone you know.

     In the end, I can't tell you how happy I am about having a bit of a transition period before we will move completely away from the UAE. This way we get to ease in, go back and forth between Europe and Abu Dhabi, get to say our proper goodbyes to the people and places we got so attached to.

     Until soon, good bye Al Bandar!