Irina is a Master!
For almost two years, several evenings a week, Ira traded home life for the lecture rooms of Middlesex University Dubai. Now that long route has ended with a Master of Laws diploma — and another point on our map of Dubai
Irina is my beloved wife and the person holding the entire structure of our family together. Her legal career with a Dubai company moved us from Moscow to the UAE and opened a completely new chapter of our lives. She gave us our wonderful children, builds her career, solves the seemingly impossible, and maintains order where, without her, organised chaos would have taken over long ago. Without Irina, there would be no Dubai chapter — and none of us would be who we are today
For almost two years, several evenings a week, Ira traded home life for the lecture rooms of Middlesex University Dubai. Now that long route has ended with a Master of Laws diploma — and another point on our map of Dubai
For 1,360 days an old Arab villa in Umm Suqeim raised our children, let rain into the bedroom, broke its air conditioners and sent me onto the roof to retrieve the electricity. In the end it summoned an army of cockroaches and kept half our deposit. We moved to the Palm — grateful, but exhausted.
Ten minutes between “take shelter now” and “all clear.” These screenshots aren’t stills from a thriller — this is daily life in Dubai, 2026. While the skies decide the fate of regions, we balance work calls and emergency alerts from MOI. Hard? Yes. But people adapt to everything
This was the best restaurant I've been to in Dubai so far
We celebrated Ira’s graduation from the Law programme at Middlesex University Dubai — two and a half long years, but she did it and finally earned her dream: a British diploma. A great day, the whole family together. An incredible ceremony at Royal Atlantis on the Palm
Children are my best UX test, emigration is the main redesign, family is an honest product team. I live between the bay and the desert, children's school and a laptop with Figma. I write about life and design: honestly, with failures and discoveries, without gloss and instructions
We were able to go to the classical one, first misled Konstantin, promised him that there would be a musical there and he barely agreed, but there was a classical one
She is green, nimble and always knows where to park. It is white, massive and takes up half the yard in one movement
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