Yiistiraaha (يستريح)

Yiistiraaha (يستريح) - Rest 

My last 2 months passed by in a whirl, and I am in the midst of a 2-week break before a new chapter here in Abu Dhabi, and the only words that I can describe my current phase is - thankfulness and gratitude. 

This beautiful morning, I woke up refreshed, and did a swim. Recalling the recent conversations on mindfulness, me-time, solitude - all so timely and good. In the midst of the busyness, the time-out and the space to myself is so important. 

I have so many things to be thankful for. 

My work
And finally, after I sent the email out to colleagues and friends, I found myself just tearing. It almost felt like it signified the closure of one beautiful work chapter, and the start of another. I didn't dwell on it for very long, but it was just a beautiful moment. I have not imagined staying on in SSG/WDA for more than a decade, about 12 years, but I did.

(https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6805423177133543424/)  

My finally tidier work station

Memories of the past 3.5 years full of work, captured into notebooks and folders. :)

And then, a whole cleaning up of the workstation, to usher in the new. 

It took me 4.5 hours on Saturday, and I was so glad to be done with it. It's the readiness feeling. 

The Kaypoh Kenji peering into all my notes and files, and thinking this is his hideout. 💓

A new, expanded social circle here in Abu Dhabi

I've never really been very adventurous here and made a lot of friends here, possibly because of the frequent travels back to SG, and also due to covid year. However, since March this year, I've gotten to know so many different ones. It almost feels like I'm re-discovering the newness here. With the new friends like Ildico and family, Nader and family, Joann-Andy and boys, Lawrence, Zann and Jerry and the arabic classmates, I really felt like I am re-discovering some of the newness here. Am so blessed truly, not just with the conversations and the getting-to-know, but also, the food and SG makan that comes along with it. :)

My Arabic classmates - and Amal (also means Hope), our instructor from Palestine

We would be continuing with this Arabic class. 

It's been pretty intensive, 3 times a week, and I'm so glad I joined this class. Never too late, though it's 4-years late. 😅 The rest of them are like 1-month to 1-year. :-D 

The class is also fun because of the class spirit, and all of us became friends - makan and drinking friends, sports friends. :D

I felt I learnt, though I must say I could do more with practicing and revising. I think I would be able to write a simple composition, and will endeavor to try it soon. For now, الدرس ليس سهل. --> Arabic is not easy. :-D We are learning how to form words and sentences. 頑張れ。

Me and my monster

When I first came, I always joked that the cars here are monsters, because they are so huge. After a while, they do not seem that huge any more, because everyone seems to be driving monsters - like the Nissan Petrols, and Sean drives a truck?! We recently got a Honda CRV as I'd need to commute for work, and I'm really liking it. I had thought of getting a mini - haha, but, now, I think a monster is good. Bigger presence, feels safer on the road too. 

And - this is my monster. I thank my steveywonder very much - it is he, who does all the research, the finding, the buying. 

A short adventure for Kenji

He was perplexed. 2 weeks back, with the Vesak day PH, we did a very short staycay here, at W hotel - the only hotel that allows dogs. He was so unsettled, and I never heard him bark so much in a night before. He kept prancing around the room, sensing the place, trying to understand why we are in a different environment. To be honest, I was glad to be home after the 2 nights. Exciting as it might be for a while, for K, home is still best. :) Still, we had some fun at the hotel, which is just right at the Yas F1 track, and we walked a different route. 

One of the nicest things about a staycay is 随心所欲。I can just decide how long I'd like to spend at the breakfast table, what to do on the spot. It was nice - to just chill. 

Was also contemplating if we should do one more staycay these 2 weeks, but then, decided that home is still the sweetest and the best.

Sports Galore

And because I had always told myself that for every non-working day that I should weave in some fitness activity, I've tried to keep to that. So almost daily, I do some sports I enjoy. And, I have, in the past 1 week, gone for swims, did crazy runs to explore the place, played badminton, cycled, played tennis. :) It's been just good! While the temperature has gone up to a searing 50deg at its hottest, thankfully, I like the sun enough to enjoy the outdoors still (but at a do-able temp). So much fun. One of the best was the impromptu run on Sunday to Al Seef, and then to eastern mangrove, with Lawrence. I thought it was going to be just 2.4km to his place, and it turned out that it was 5km. Haha. And then, the soaking-wet tennis sessions, and the cool-mindfulness water swims. :) Soooooo good. 

As I've said - the best is with my 小红。 The bike rides to explore the place - ممتاز ! (Mumtaz - good!)

Beautiful Bike Ride at Hudayriyat - it was just so refreshing to be up early, to ride as the morning awakens. :)

Nice Evening Chill Ride - and the feeling is different. Watching the whole island turn from light to hues of orangish to blusih-grey. And then darkness. 

Looking for milk cakes

And @Steveywonder now has a new passion - for milk cakes. We've been scouring different places and trying the various milk cakes. Basically, they are chiffon cakes, drenched in milk. At first, the thought of MILK cake was squeamish for me... but then, after I tried it, it was actually quite quite nice, albeit too sweet. Still, I am more open to trying new things, and have really enjoyed the different textures of the milk cake. The pistacho milk cake is my fave - not too milky. :)

And next up, I'll continue with my shopping spree, meeting with friends, reading and getting NF doses, and all of the above, plus endeavour to write my own mini Arabic composition. 

It's been a super good 1-week plus break!! 💓