Lots of lasts

There is so many lasts at the moment, but I think I've finally reached that somewhat numb state, where I just want it to be over with soon. I haven't shed any tears at all the last few days! Everything going on is all nice things though, so I'm enjoying each day at the moment, to the max!

Thanks to the packing being done in only one day, I got some extra time this week to see some friends for some special lasts: I had a last roti with Beenal yesterday for lunch, last sushi with the kids last night, last nail appointment with lovely foot scrub and yummy lunch at Saffron with Anna today and last pizza making at Sorriso with the Roberts tonight.

I've also managed to finish up all the different jobs I had this week: I've picked up the Leaving Certificates from school, I've closed down all our different accounts (Astro, phone line etc etc) and collected all our deposits, and banked them. Only have one more thing to cancel, and that'll be tomorrow. I've organized and given away the last few things left in the house, so now it's all empty.

The packing was all done Tuesday, the boxes all got labeled and wrapped yesterday and tomorrow the moving guys will come and pick it all up to take it to the airport. It sure doesn't look like much when your whole home gets packed down:

The approximate weigh-in said that I'm at 1314kg (we're allowed 1310!), so I'm feeling pretty darn proud of myself!
I sure feel like I can breathe a little bit easier now, aahh...

Last dinner with the gang

Last night we had the last dinner with "the gang". Although it was a bit decimated, since Ben and Andrew were flying and Kym and Jeremy weren't feeling that well. Turners are off to NZ this week already, so we had to do it before they go.

Yummy, yummy oysters and "Bloody Mary oyster shots" for appetizers, Pip's seafood chowder for entree, Will's lamb for main and Anna's kladdkaka for dessert - mmm!

The decorations were all in my honour, Tash had lost herself in the archives of the blog whilst finding the photos, and we all got a bit nostalgic remembering nice times:

It really sucks moving, but leaving the good life you've built for yourself and your family is even harder. Only two weeks to go.

My BFF ♥

Even though I had extra kids at home, and was actually planning to take them to sushi for dinner last night, to make it easy for myself - Nicole insisted we all came down there for dinner, extra kids and all. Ok then, she didn't really need to ask twice - I needed a good chin-wag!

She had made such an effort and cooked a lamb roast, with all the trimmings... mmmmmm, delicious! And, for dessert, all in my honour - a super yummy pavlova de luxe, with peaches, strawberries and Ferrero Rocher! Omg...

Even though the house was full of kids, we managed to have a really nice evening with some lovely heart-to-hearts. Might have been the last lovely dinner together we managed to have, who knows, time is running away from me...

I'm so lucky though to made some of the best of friends here in Brunei.
I will miss especially Nicole terribly, but I know we will meet again.
Because we will make it happen.
Over and over again.
Because we will. ♥

The Garden Party

The Yacht Club was so nice to organize a big Garden Party for Nathan on his last evening in Brunei. Well, maybe it wasn't just for Nathan, but we took it that way - nearly all our friends joined us there to say goodbye.
They had made the Yacht Club look really nice, and really different to normal. We started out by mingling to some live music:

Everybody looked really nice! Lots of bright, colourful, flowery dresses:

The lamb on the spit had been slow cooking all day, nom nom nom!

The food was so different to the "normal" Yacht Club party food, super delicious, especially the lamb and the seafood. Mmm! We had the best table in the corner:

 What a lovely night it was, and how nice to get to spend it with our friends.

Our favourite lunch

Our last family lunch here in Brunei was enjoyed at sushi, of course.
We had a big, big lunch on Saturday with all our favourites. I don't think sushi is quite as cheap in Abu Dhabi, and even if it is, it might not be just as good, so we will have to enjoy it now while we can!

Yeah baby

Yes! I even managed to squeeze in a "gourmet dinner" one night with Anne - at IKEA!
A 5 DHS hot dog is just what you need after a good browse around the shop.

Later that evening I also introduced Anne to a Swedish special, gingerbread thins with blue cheese, mmm! She was skeptical at first, but actually really liked it!

Fika

On Friday I got to spend time with Misuzu. Picked her and Ashley up at their condo, and out we went for lunch. I wanted to try this Swedish bistro 'Fika', so we headed down close to Little India.

The place was really busy, and they had a quite a large menu for a small café. It was hard to choose for me, I wanted to order it all!

In the end I settled for a shrimp and egg open faced sandwich, with some Kopparberg Cider; and Misuzu had 'pyttipanna' (diced potatoes, onions and beef with sliced beetroot), one of my absolute favourite dishes. 

The portions were really big, so when it came to dessert we decided to share, which was a good decision. We got a huge piece of 'kladdkaka' (a bit like a brownie) with strawberries and ice cream.

It's a shame the location was a bit off our normal trail. I'll try to come back again, if we are down that part of town some other time. It was really nice!