January almost gone!  I realize the longer we live in the UAE, the less time we have on our hands. I remember when we first came in April 2017 we thought we will have loads of time to do the stuff we like, as many things are being taken care of by others. But here we are, 10 months later, and we have too many things to do so that our diaries frequently get unattended. And we got 2 cars now to make it faster. Both blue Ford Escape 🙂 This is mine.

Over the past month we have been travelling – back to Lithuania – for Christmas. White Christmas, we got it! The trouble however was that we were a bit late for it, as our plane from Abu Dhabi got delayed due to thick fog (I have never seen fog as thick before).  So far, times we went to Lithuania from Abu Dhabi and came on time: 0 out of 2. We are already planning the Easter break, and will fly an extra day before, just in case 😉

We spent a bit over a week in Lithuania, both in my hometown Visaginas and in Vilnius, visting family mostly, but also just walking around. For the New Year’s Eve we went to gala evening with ballet in Opera house. This is the second year in a row, and I truly love it!  Of course, we missed the fancy Dubai fireworks and laser show…which we watched on Youtube on Jan. 1. But family first 🙂  It’s nice to visit and be pampered for a while.

Back to the UAE we got warm again – from around 0 degrees to +20 was a pleasant surprise. And 3 days after landing we did our first mini cycling competition, a 30k and 46k cycling on Al Wathba track, a dedicated cycling place. It was the first time we went there and were quite impressed. (Not least by the cyclists and their gear). We got back again yesterday for a 70k ride. Maybe a 90k next weekend? 🙂 Yeah, the season starts unusually early this year. In Denmark it used to be not before April-May we got outdoors. Here by that time we will probably getting back into gym environment.

Apart from cycling we are doing some running too. We just did a 10k on Friday with Ignas, and both managed to get within 20% of the best in the age groups. My running was not best I ever had, but Ignas managed to set his personal best with a 43min 10k.  Cookies for him 🙂

One change in our lives is that Ignas started a full time job with Network International, as a project manager (he had to get back to people management…as I am difficult to manage), so he now works on Sundays, unlike me. Since I work on Fridays, usually half day, we have a 1.5 days together, and we try not waste it. Apart from sport, blockchain events, we do some cultural trips to. E.g. yesterday we went to Zayed Heritage Festival.  I got some carpets (can’t show the pictures too sensitive ;), Ignas got a ship (boys and toys!)

We both got a chance to hold a real falcon, the national bird of UAE. Their prices here range from 4000 to 100,000 dirharms (900-22,000 EUR), so better be careful! I have heard stories the locals even buy business class tickets for these birds.  I would only do this for a cat 😛