Older but am I wiser?

As I celebrated my 30 something birthday this week, one thing became abundantly clear. Ok two things were abundantly clear, one I am now officially in the realms of late thirties ( how the bloody hell did that happen?!) and two (once I got over point one) was that I had not celebrated a birthday at home, with family and friends, since my 30th. I used to be one of these people that would obsessively insist that I had to have my birthday at home in Jersey, even when I was a student in London I went back every year. So now here I am 3,000 miles from home and celebrating my 4th in Kuwait and 7th abroad (ah shit, the cats out the bag on my age now!).  This got me thinking about as an expat, how do I cope with missing and hitting milestones without my loved ones? 

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1 country, 2 worlds

After another week of self discovery and enjoying the “me time” I have to say I was delighted to spot a friend across the gym floor, unaware they were back in the land of sand. What followed was a quick catchup, as not to disturb each other’s mid workout heart rate, we fixed a day to have a proper get together. So on my merry way I went, back to my self indulgent alone time, but looking forward a day of company.  Yesterday came and we headed into the city for a bite to eat and a debrief on our summer travels, fighting the humidity and 50 degree heat, battling Kuwaiti style for a parking space (which basically means finding any available gap, be it on the pavement, roadside, dust track or a rare designated area) but it was good to be back in the social game.

As we got further into our conversation, just about managing to not inhale the food when it came, I was intertested to hear how this desert girl was finding her first year desertside. She like me had a very open mind moving here and had adjusted so fast, settling into life with no real issues, but as we talked we laughed over a few random situations we had witnessed and it got me thinking…. this desert life is one of many contradictions, I find myself in the midst of first world problems but at the same time observing strange, sometimes wonderful, archaic moments. What is it like to straddle two contrasting worlds? 

Me,myself and I

Here I am, back in full swing of desert life and as I suspected there really is no one around. I have experienced 3 Augusts in Kuwait now, each one the same as the other, hot, uncharacteristically humid and a ghost town. I don’t know why I am surprised, as the mass expat exodus is far from over with school still a month away from resuming. So as my phone is as quiet as the streets, there is only one thing to do, spend time with me, focus on myself and realise, for the next few weeks at least, there is only I. 

The sands of time

Well firstly I bet you have all missed my random musings over the last 7 weeks. As I went back to Jersey I hadn’t intended on having a blogging break, but as I got further ingrained in island life, spending my days drinking coffee, having brunches (actually not that different to desert life, I changed location!) and playing Auntie, I didnt have the inclination to write, plus my social life is hardly ground breaking blogging news. So after 7 weeks on my little island, I am back in the land of sand and the land of  blog.