Women’s lib even sounds old fashioned now. Thankfully in Ireland liberation for women has happened and while there may be a few clear up items to be dealt with like equal pay etc., largely women are well regarded as being, well, just as worthy as men. In some cases even worthier if you consider areas…
Did you ever wish for something so hard that by the time it looked likely to come true, you weren’t so sure if you still wanted it or not? Two and half years ago when Saudi Arabia, my old home place, the UAE and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar, accusing us of funding terrorism, we…
If someone told you that one day you and your husband would come to the conclusion that to live in two different countries, neither of which to be your home country would in actual fact be the best solution for your family. Who in their right mind would leave England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales, and come…
I wish someone had told me ten years ago when we felt obliged to flee Ireland because of mutual economic ruin that ‘sponging’ would become a taboo topic and calling anyone, even spongers a sponger would be frowned upon and be the source of massive consternation among the snowflakes, the millennials and the do-gooders in…
Its long been the case that qualified teachers all around Ireland are struggling to secure full-time, permanent employment in Ireland. You try looking for a full-time job as a teacher in Donegal, Roscommon or Fermanagh where the local school might have a patronage of under one hundred children and the four teachers have been there…
One of the things I’ve realised from living in Qatar for nine and a half years is that things are never straightforward. I thought it was enough to apply for a job, get the job and start the job. I thought, all I had to do after than was provide my bank details and stock…
The end of summer never came quicker, I spent the last week in Ireland wishing for one last glimpse of sunshine whilst in the paradoxical situation of being in total dread of the blinding sun that was sure to greet me when I arrived back in Doha. Thing was, I have arrived a point that…
Rose tinted glasses, that’s what we’re wearing when we return from Qatar to immerse the kids in our mother culture for a few weeks of the summer. We get off the plane, turn our backs on the sweltering heat of Qatar, the dust and the restrictive nature of life in a Muslim society. Sick and…
What some people seem to forget is that the blockade between us, Qatar and Saudi, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain, is still on. The blockade started on the 5th June 2017, Saudi accused Qatar of handing a hand in terrorism and with immediate effect, we were excommunicated. Air, sea and land borders blocked and no…
Just as society was grappling with how they felt about the Notre Dame accident and which side we all fell when it came to pledge extortionate amounts of money to rebuild it, Sri Lanka happened. A calculated symmetrical trinity where three churches and three hotels were bombed killing over three hundred and fifty people, injuring…
As reports flood in about the Notre Dame fire which has left people saddened all over Paris and indeed Europe. For me, there are two take away items, one, the global and palpable relief that it was not a terrorist attack and two the absolute outpour of pledges of wedges to restore the Cathedral. The…
I love animals as much as the next person, but when it comes to owning one, I have a strict criteria. They must not require affection. They must not scurry. They must not require food, every day. I must be able to leave them for long periods of time without them dying and consequently disappointing…
Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse….. Last year, at this exact time of the year I muttered about having an identity crisis of sorts. It was heavily prompted by three days of celebrations, International Women’s Day, Mother’s Day and St. Patricks Day. All these massively thought-provoking days ultimately leave me feeling totally inadequate…
Far from thinking I deserved special treatment just cos I’m Irish n’all, long before the time came that my 3-year-old daughters passport was due to expire, I applied for her new one because I knew that the passport office would likely to be flat our issuing passport to folks that fancied an additional travel pass…
Almost everyone that comes to Qatar has an end goal in mind. They say that they just want to try something different, they say the want to gain valuable diverse experience that will enhance their career, they say that they fancy life in the sun for a while, but the reality is, there is only…
thereluctantemigrant 