Life in South Africa

Hello friends, family, followers!

Time for a quick check in!

Well, life has pretty much become ‘normal’ being back in Africa 💛
I get to see my family whenever I want (which is at least once a week); my nephew (who’s only 1) knows exactly who ‘Aunty Hazy’ is, something that he wouldn’t have known had I still been in Dubai; my business is starting to take shape; I’ve been graded as an amateur boxer  🥊 ; and I live in the best house, on the little farm in the suburbs  🥰

I’ve managed to get out to the bush on multiple occasions since moving home – one of my absolute happy places – as well having travelled to Cape Town and St Francis Bay to visit family and friends. There’s nothing like an African sunset!

Well, that’s really all I have to say for now… enjoy these sunsets!

Until next time  😁 

Welcome to South Africa!

Well hello there readers, friends, followers  😁

I must apologise profusely for not having been around for the last year and a bit… boy oh boy has life been turned upside down.
Not only was I affected by Corona along with everyone else, but I also moved countries! Yup, I am now living back in my home country, South Africa, and am back with my family – including a new addition, little Max, the nephew 🥰

There’s so much that has happened between November 2019 and today, so I won’t bore you with all the details.

Rather, I’ll just give you a few bullet points and then will make a promise to not disappear for such a long time again  😁

  • I made the decision to move back to SA in September 2019
  • I decided it was time to give up the corporate world and so I began working on starting up my own business
  • I handed in my resignation at the end of August 2020, booked my flight home for October 2020, and did lots and lots of partying (covid-compliant) and spending quality time with friends during the whole of 2020
  • Saying goodbye to my Dubai peeps was awful  😭  💔
  • I packed my cat up and sent him off a few days prior to me, and we were reunited in SA on 19 October 2020
  • I moved in with my family for the first few months while I found my feet, set up my business, bought a car, found somewhere to live
  • In January I moved into my new gorgeous house – a cottage on a farm! A far cry from the crazy hustle and bustle, construction vibes of Dubai!

So, that’s me in a nutshell 🥜

I hope you’re all doing well, staying safe, looking after yourselves and loved ones, and adhering to all relevant covid-rules in whatever country you’re reading this from!

I will see you again soon  🤩

Week 45 – Sheikh Zayed Road SHUT DOWN!

How do you get 70,000 Dubai residents to get up at around 5am and run either 5kms or 10kms?

You tell them that they can run on Sheikh Zayed Road!!!!!

Sheikh Zayed Road is the 6-lane highway (in each direction… that’s TWELVE lanes in total!) that runs from Dubai to Abu Dhabi.
This is what it looks like:

But when the Government of Dubai decides that as part of the Dubai 30×30 challenge initiative they are going to shut down 2.5kms of Sheikh Zayed Road to allow residents to take part in a fitness challenge, and RUN on Sheikh Zayed Road, then THIS is what it looks like:

And this:

(Yes, those are all PEOPLE that looks like little ants on the highway)

Sheikh Hamdan’s photo shared on Instagram!

(Above photos are official photos from the day; the next few photos and video are my personal ones.)

What an exciting and FUN FUN FUN morning out this was!

Massive thanks to the organisers as this went off without any incident (that I noticed) – traffic flowed, people were happy (exuberant!), smiles everywhere, timing was perfect… just an all-round marvellous Friday morning!!!! ❤