Irish Mother and expat living in the Middle East
Friends come and go all the time in Doha, but not a lot come back! So this week when a buddy that left the sandy dunes of Doha for the lush fields of Cork made her way back to Doha, for a holiday I was super excited. Not many people come to Doha on a…
It’s probably ingrained in us Irish and maybe even more-so that any other nationality, that we are prone to suffering from a small bit of negativity. We lean towards the down side. We highlight the pitfalls, point out the inefficiencies and harp on about the negative in like, any situation. We loved to go on about Christmas starting…
It was only when a good friend of mine recently flew back to Ireland for her citizenship ceremony that I came round to the idea that being granted citizenship in a country, particularly Ireland of course, is a pretty big deal. Up to then I ashamedly looked with cynicism at highlights of ceremony on the…
Not an avid cinema goer per se, but this week I was looking forward to seeing The Girl on the Train. Having read the book I felt confident that there was little likelihood that it would be banned like the last movie on my must watch wish list, The Danish Girl. I was prepared for…
It’s the most notable thing about the Middle East, not the Burj Khalifa, not The Pearl in Doha, it’s the heat, the stifling, enveloping, steaming heat that descends in April and doesn’t offer respite until October, sometimes November. For weeks before the big Five O (degrees Celsius) you can feel it a little hotter each…
Only weeks to go before having a baby in the Middle East and along with the baby, reality starts kicking hard. Having a baby abroad is all very well and sounds like a great adventure at first but as the due date draws nearer so too does the reality that you’re thousands of miles from…
Last week I complained about the weather, my biggest issue was the rain, it was too wet to be outdoors and I my only options to entertain kids were indoor play areas and McDonalds. Sure, I waxed lyrical the first few weeks about the smell of the rain and the fresh air, but the novelty…
Spending summer away from Doha and slipping back into life in Ireland offers a perspective which is impossible to achieve without having the experience of living life in two very different countries. Every summer when I come back to Ireland I notice various changes, a nudge here, a dart there, many only obvious when being…
It was the balm. Coming home every summer and seeing how others were suffering and suffering, I could console myself that emigration five years ago was indeed the right answer, it soothed all homesickness and sentimentality towards leaving Ireland. There were many options open to economic sufferers back in 2009; Declare oneself bankrupt, close your…
It’s a thing among expats and one of the commonly asked questions at this time of year, ‘who are you flying home with?’ There’s a certain airline snobbery that exists midst expats they just love to discuss airfares, airports, air miles and flight paths. They know the best time to book, the best seats to…
thereluctantemigrant 