Beautiful Ariis
It’s quiet. It’s the kind of quiet that seems to explode in the ears, that deafening silence I am unused to after the constant background din of air-conditioners and traffic in Dubai. It’s green. Green everywhere you look, with fields stretching out as far as eye can see, crowned on the horizon by the Alps, [...]
Do you live like you eat?
It occurred to me the other day that the way in which consume food could be a compelling metaphor for the way we live. There are those of us who fill up so much on the appetizer that we tend to leave most of the main course untouched. It’s a bit like when we get [...]
The need to be right
It was only recently that I came across the Harry Truman quote “”It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” I must admit that I had a little self-conscious, nervous giggle to myself, uncomfortable recognition creeping through my self-righteous, I’m a mom-and-therefore-know-everything role. It occurred to me [...]
Connected Communities
This past month has been awash with several events that I can only really describe as the triumph of communities over the busy-ness of life. It started with Emiratweet, the virtual online community launched late last year. Its founder Heba Al Samt was featured on Dubai One as one of the young achievers being interviewed [...]
Stay Close
Last weekend, instead of couple date night, we had family date night. It wasn’t planned. In fact, it was almost a knee-jerk reaction – and a lovely one at that – to our tight foursome having been apart for a whole seven days. We didn’t do anything special. We had dinner al fresco, complete with [...]
Are we here yet?
“So if you could be anything you wanted, anything at all, what would you be? What is your dream?”, I said. My son and I have had this and similar conversations countless times. It’s a bit of a game, and often ends up in giggly tickling sessions accompanied by grand proclamations of becoming a dragon [...]
The Fear Factor
Nobody likes to admit that any of their actions are driven by fear. After all, that’s considered cowardly, or at least it is in my home culture of African pride. In fact, that could well be why after 20-some years we still don’t have a stable government in the Horn of Africa – but I [...]
The 25th hour
We all have exactly the same 24 hours in a day. Regardless of age, creed, colour, race, occupation, gender and current state of mind, we still all get exactly 24 hours in a day (ok, plus a few seconds, but that’s not the point.) I’ve heard it said (or did I read it?) that time [...]
Quench the thirst
You know how these fitness / nutrition know-it-all types tell you that you must drink water all the time, and that if you feel thirsty, you are actually already dehydrated? Well, they’re right. The good news is that you can quickly reach for some water, and soon be on your way to a balanced, hydrated [...]
Trust your voice
Growing up, my mother continually re-inforced that I could be anything I wanted to be. Absolutely anything. Armed with this certainty that only parents know how to infuse, and the natural defiance many first-borns tend to develop, I happily experimented in the years preceding university, searching for my “calling”. Safe in the knowledge that I [...]