I had thought moving to Dubai would provide some stability for my family. Sadly, no sooner had the several months of travel and paperwork brought my wife and daughters here,..and my bosses announced that my department would be closing at the end of 2014. Already I’m selling kitchen appliances and beds I bought 12 months ago, as we downsize to a 1 bedroom flat. I guess this is all part of Yao’s travels, but you find yourself constantly buying stuff that you’ll have to re-buy again in a couple of years somewhere else. Yesterday we were buying things for making cakes (sieve, mixer, measuring jug) that we already have back in Cote d’Ivoire. It would be nice to buying a bed that we know we’ll be sleeping on in a couple of decades time, and having a house full of basic stuff that we then don’t need to buy for many years to come. But such permanence isn’t part of my life for the moment. I hoped it would be when I arrived in Dubai – and I think that’s the reason I bought a iMac at the time (desktop Apple computer) rather than a laptop. Sadly, that now looks like one of the worst decisions I made in 2013.