Hi family and friends,
Delayed as we've been, our September blog entry has arrived! September was a busy month, but in many ways less so than the last 8. After a whirlwind of a summer, we were local in Dubai for most of the month which great for us given we felt a definite need to slow down our pace of life here!
The month started out with one of Sahil's very close friends/colleagues from BCG, Libby, coming to visit us in Dubai. It was so great to see her! Though it was a quick few days, we were able to enjoy a few great meals with her and show her around our area in Dubai Marina. We caught up on life, she shared stories from Minneapolis, and we shared elements of our expat life here over the course of the year. All in all, it was so wonderful to catch up after so long!
The second week of September, we went to India for a quick trip to see Mana's family. Though we didn't make it outside of Crystal building (where Mana's parents live) much, it was wonderful to get some time with the family during a very religious time of year in Bombay (Ganesh Chaturthi). Naaya particularly enjoyed throwing her toys around the flat and making her presence known for the weekend as she played with Nana, Nani, Kahan Mama, Sanaa Didi (technically Masi but she prefers Didi :)), and Urmi Great-Nani!
The third weekend of September, we took being homebodies to a new level. We were couch potatoes for most of the weekend and Sahil got Mana into a series called Suits. Ever since, we've been whipping through episodes every chance we have gotten! It was amazing to have a lazy weekend because the last week of September required Mana to go to Thailand for 6 days for a work conference, so it was great to rest up before an active and exhausting week with the AMEA (Asia, Middle East, and Africa) marketing region. As usual, Mana was really sad to leave Naaya overnight, but Sahil stepped in as Super-Dad by staying in Dubai that week to make sure Naaya didn't miss a day of parental love!
In general, work has been really busy for both Mana and Sahil. As we are getting closer to the year end, priorities and responsibilities have ramped up tremendously. Though the work continues to be interesting for both of us, there are many challenges that continue to come along with fascinating emerging market work.
Naaya has had the most amazing development this month - she has started walking on her own! While she started the month holding our hands while walking, she now refuses to hold our hands and walks all the time non-stop! Her personality also continues to develop! We were at her friend Ishaa's 2nd birthday party last weekend and a 6 year old boy threw a ball which hit Naaya. While we don't encourage bullying, we were proud parents to see Naaya charge full speed ahead at the boy and push him down to stand up for herself! There's always the possibility that she was just going to kiss him like she does other kids and couldn't stop herself in her path, hence running into him, but either way, we were excited to see her interact with other kids. :) Her imagination has also grown as her favorite game over meals is to now pretend there is extra food in her chair which she'll pull out and give to us in anticipation of waiting for us to eat it in front of her.
That's about it for Sept! We are off to the Seychelles, an island off of Africa, for our last big trip this year to celebrate Sahil's birthday (Bali got replaced with Seychelles when we realized it would be a 12+ hour journey with a toddler vs a 4 hour flight)! Look forward to sharing more stories next month!
Delayed as we've been, our September blog entry has arrived! September was a busy month, but in many ways less so than the last 8. After a whirlwind of a summer, we were local in Dubai for most of the month which great for us given we felt a definite need to slow down our pace of life here!
The month started out with one of Sahil's very close friends/colleagues from BCG, Libby, coming to visit us in Dubai. It was so great to see her! Though it was a quick few days, we were able to enjoy a few great meals with her and show her around our area in Dubai Marina. We caught up on life, she shared stories from Minneapolis, and we shared elements of our expat life here over the course of the year. All in all, it was so wonderful to catch up after so long! 
The second week of September, we went to India for a quick trip to see Mana's family. Though we didn't make it outside of Crystal building (where Mana's parents live) much, it was wonderful to get some time with the family during a very religious time of year in Bombay (Ganesh Chaturthi). Naaya particularly enjoyed throwing her toys around the flat and making her presence known for the weekend as she played with Nana, Nani, Kahan Mama, Sanaa Didi (technically Masi but she prefers Didi :)), and Urmi Great-Nani!The third weekend of September, we took being homebodies to a new level. We were couch potatoes for most of the weekend and Sahil got Mana into a series called Suits. Ever since, we've been whipping through episodes every chance we have gotten! It was amazing to have a lazy weekend because the last week of September required Mana to go to Thailand for 6 days for a work conference, so it was great to rest up before an active and exhausting week with the AMEA (Asia, Middle East, and Africa) marketing region. As usual, Mana was really sad to leave Naaya overnight, but Sahil stepped in as Super-Dad by staying in Dubai that week to make sure Naaya didn't miss a day of parental love!
In general, work has been really busy for both Mana and Sahil. As we are getting closer to the year end, priorities and responsibilities have ramped up tremendously. Though the work continues to be interesting for both of us, there are many challenges that continue to come along with fascinating emerging market work.
Naaya has had the most amazing development this month - she has started walking on her own! While she started the month holding our hands while walking, she now refuses to hold our hands and walks all the time non-stop! Her personality also continues to develop! We were at her friend Ishaa's 2nd birthday party last weekend and a 6 year old boy threw a ball which hit Naaya. While we don't encourage bullying, we were proud parents to see Naaya charge full speed ahead at the boy and push him down to stand up for herself! There's always the possibility that she was just going to kiss him like she does other kids and couldn't stop herself in her path, hence running into him, but either way, we were excited to see her interact with other kids. :) Her imagination has also grown as her favorite game over meals is to now pretend there is extra food in her chair which she'll pull out and give to us in anticipation of waiting for us to eat it in front of her.
That's about it for Sept! We are off to the Seychelles, an island off of Africa, for our last big trip this year to celebrate Sahil's birthday (Bali got replaced with Seychelles when we realized it would be a 12+ hour journey with a toddler vs a 4 hour flight)! Look forward to sharing more stories next month!
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