It’s only when you get a few women together that you realise when it comes to raising kids, everybody seems to think that the person next to them is doing a better job than they are! Somewhere between our grandmother’s time and here we’ve captioned child-rearing as being the most important job of all. For…
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’s a common misconception that the life as an expat wife is an easy one. While many expat wives enjoy benefits such as a maid, a driver and a larger disposable income than before, the emotional cost of a little luxury can be high and may result in an identity crisis. The first expatriation may…
Over the past forty years the role of the woman within the family unit has changed significantly in Ireland. Back in the sixties and seventies it was standard practice that women stayed at home while the men went out to work. The women busied themselves with raising the children, keeping the house and trying to…
International Women’s Day was celebrated on Wednesday last. Living in Abu Dhabi and surrounded by expat wives and women ( I differentiate purposely) it prompted me to think of the women I know and love and their qualities and achievements. Unfortunately, many of the qualities that immediately come to mind were bitching, moaning and complaining…
As it becomes more and more evident that the Irish community in Doha, pretty much stick to themselves outside of one or two large social occasions during the year, one being a St. Patrick’s Day Ball and the other a Christmas Party for Children hosted by a too skinny, too young, suit too shabby Santa, …
There’s almost a formula for expat couples in the Middle East. The man works all year round, takes two weeks off in summer for holidays and the woman looks after the home and hightails it back to Ireland or the UK for a two month hiatus from the intense climate and the hot weather! My…
As I take in life in Qatar with all the awe and wonderment of a virgin emigrant the wise words of George Orwell regularly resonate in my mind, “We are all equal but some are more equal than others”. Service is an integral part of the Middle Eastern culture. There are service attendants at…
thereluctantemigrant 