The Place We Are Moving To...

The city Al Ain is located in United Arab Emirates, and it's about 1.5 hours away from both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. To know about these cities, I read a good article on Lonely Planet.

I was told that Al Ain is very similar to any suburban town in North America - there're restaurants like Chillies, Starbucks, and of course, the MickyD. Mikael visited one of the big shopping malls in town, and knowing what I'm like, he said that I would enjoy being there. *wink wink* You can see a shot from one of Al Ain's shopping mall.

Al Ain is described as the oasis in the desert or the garden city. It's just by the border of the country Oman. Most attractions in the city are historical related. There is also a zoo, camel market, and a fun city(not sure what's about though).

Although this move brings advantage to Mikael's career development, but one other major element that let us decide quickly to make the move is Gemma's schooling. A decent nursery is hard to find in London, and many have waiting lists of a year or more. Mikael and I had night terrors from few of the nurseries that we visited - filthy and outdated toys, nasty carpet(from the Edwardian period), overfilled trash can, and extremely small space.

Well, there are probably good nurseries around town, and we did find one! Yet, the cost is nearly 900 something pounds per month for 5 half days/week...not something that Mikael and I could afford.

When I saw photos that Mikael took from one nursery in Al Ain (see pic), my mind was then made up. According to Mikael, the nursery is great, not only the facility but also they use Montersorris  technique. This type of nurseries would be considered way POSH and probably cost a fortune, but in Al Ain, general folks like us would get in without worry about borrowing loans.

Here I am, about 20 days before my new life adventure in the middle east. I am happy and excited...AND we get to live in a five-star resort hotel for the first two months until we find suitable accommodation. Many photos will be taken and posted on the blogs, so please do visit.