A visit to Port Khalifa

Johan took us to his work site on Friday. The girls were very excited, especially Sera who was very curious about Johan's work. The girls were pretty good for the 1 hour drive but were definitely ready to hop off the car when we finally arrived. First stop was to his office, basically double storeyed porta cabins, very sparse interiors ... basically functional, and totally opposite from the, I daresay, almost 'luxurious' work environment I left years ago. Ha ha. Well, for sure, Johan really, and ONLY, works when at work.

We spent the morning in his cubby hole while he attended meetings. Sera and Yasmin were fed constantly by the friendly uncle, so they were busy snacking. It was almost tricky for me to entertain them in his office but I found some recycled technical paper for Sera to draw on, and for Yas, I found her some empty plastic bottles. The girls and I were very ready for the site tour when his meetings were over.

The project Johan is currently working on is an offshore port in the northern part of Abu Dhabi. I can't even begin to explain all the technicalities of his work, but my first impression is that it seemed like a massive project. He took us over the bridge, unto the port that is to be, and though it appeared like plots and plots of sand, concrete and machineries all over ... it was almost exciting to see the work in progress of the port. Sera showed much enthusiasm throughout, just because that is her, typically curious about anything and everything ... and just always wanting to be a part of any conversation. Yasmin didn't try very hard to stay awake and slept through the entire tour. I was just snapping photos (trying out my new camera ... haha).

We all had a good time, and it was really nice to physically see what Johan is so busy with everyday at work. And when Johan asked Sera if she enjoyed the visit to his work site, she pondered for a while and said, "Yes papa, there was a lot of sand everywhere. And it entered my shoes. I didn't like that."

Look at that smile ... she couldn't wait to dive into the muffins and cookies

Yasmin was even more blatant ... she just walked into the office pantry to get her snacks

Miss Busybody climbed unto Johan's lap while he was emailing

Putting the crayons to work ...

"Oooh, wait till papa see what new additions I've made to his drawings!"

Start of the tour. She looked out for about 1-2-3-4-5 seconds ...

And then, she slept for the rest of it

Ok, these are some of the shots I captured while we were on the bumpy site tour. It was a Friday morning, the weekend, so the site wasn't as busy as it usually is. So here goes, the makings of an offshore port ...

The end of the tour