A desert Ramadan

We are now heading into week 2 of Ramadan and whilst I am fully into my new adapted routine, I know some desert girls are still in the midst of finding their feet. This time of year is always a funny one, it quickly shows me how much I rely on a routine, even though I don’t have a 9 to 5 to stick to, last week I had no idea what day it was, because my usual social diary was torn up, so I had nothing to pin point the weeks progress. Having said that I have enjoyed the longer mornings with Hubby, chats over a pot of coffee and the papers (albeit digital), slowing things down, finding time to breathe. During this moment of reflection and pace change, I do wonder how everyone else copes with these changes and I know it varies dramatically. 

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Desert life is heating up and as many will agree, once the sun is out, happiness is accompanied by positive vibes, along with sunscreen and shades. That being the case, I have returned with a spring in my step and back to seeing the world through my rose tinted sunglasses. I am in an appreciative, reflective mood, enabling me to be fully back into the world of expat, living the dream and raring to go. As I stumbled out of my little wobble over the last few weeks, it seems to be a current theme among the desert girls, making me wonder if we are all like a house of cards, remove one or pressurise another, every card becomes a little unstable? Whilst our expat circles are there for support, can we also freak each other out? I ask myself, is our social network always worth a “like” or should we start to “unfollow” the crowd? 

Vexed lyrical

After laying my soul bare last week, you will be glad to know that I am over my little blip and back into the land of sand with gusto. What I would like to say is a huge thank you to everyone that took the time to comment and let me know that I was not alone in experiencing this expat black cloud, we all get it and have the exact same challenges wherever we are. To my desert girls, you were awesome, you rallied around me, went out of your way to make sure I didn’t spend too much time alone and friends back home whose texts meant so much. Last but not least to my wonderful, ever supportive Hubby, who was his usual understanding, sympathetic self, patiently holding my hand till I was through the other side, we are in this together every step of the way.

So after a bit of a downer and somewhat depressing post last week, I thought I would return with somewhat of a rant! I know, at this stage you are probably thinking what is going on with this girl, does she not have one ounce of emotional stability right now?! Before you go carting me off, I can assure that I am very happy and still love this desert life but there were a couple of days, where all me and my girls could do was scream in frustration. We love it but at the same time aggghhhh! I am sure there are moments where expats unite around the world, as we experience those “special” moments, when there is simply only one reaction and we simultaneously cry ……….FFS!

A motherload

Since we last saw each other, we have had the strangest week of weather. Yet more sand storms blew in, leaving their usual dusty mess behind and these were followed by thunderstorms and torrential rain. I mean this was proper rain, only dirty,  caused flooding in some areas, and made major roads impassable. The desert can’t cope with the rain and quite frankly neither can I.

So after a weekend indoors,  yesterday the sun finally made an appearance, I was making the most of it. To any outsider that had spotted me, all set up on my lounger, kindle in hand, sipping on my almond milk cappuccino, I was the epitome of relaxation and living the dream. What they wouldn’t have seen, is that, under my big floppy sun hat and large sunglasses, tears had filled my eyes and I was anything but relaxed.

Sunsets & Dreams

So I am back in the land of blog, I know you have missed my random musings. Now I am in no doubt, that you know that I have just returned from a trip of a lifetime. You have been enjoying (or enduring) my constant Insta spamming of all things Maldivian over the last 10 days, so it only felt right that my first blog post back, should be about my latest adventure to paradise.  So, sit back, grab a cuppa and I’ll tell you about dreams coming true (I know, just bear with me).

Shoulda, woulda, coulda

Last week I had a little impromptu chat with a fellow expat blogger, over Instagram. The thing about bloggers, and especially expat bloggers, is that we are an incredibly friendly bunch. Just like my desert girls they “get it” so we tend to gravitate to each other, not only in real life, but in the social media one too. Anyway I digress a little, I was sent a message regarding life in Kuwait and did I have any specific posts about life here and advice I could instill. I realised that whilst I had a couple of posts directly about Kuwait, I did not have a post, that anyone considering a move to this little random corner of the Middle East, could read and gain a little insight into what life is really like here. So thanks to the lovely lady for inspiring this post and hope that this may guide her decision.

Perfect timing

So this is my first post of 2017 and I can’t quite believe that another year has passed. It is true what they say, the older you get the faster time goes, which can be a little scary but at the same time Carpe Diem and all that, so Happy New Year dear readers. You will be happy to know, that this island girl has left her sandy shores and is now back on desert sands, and to some this maybe a surprise, but I am actually really happy to be back. I was not happy with the long 19 hour journey back alone and I had to battle with the usual Kuwaiti madness of boarding the plane in no orderly fashion, the man next to me who didn’t want to watch a movie but was quite happy to watch mine over my shoulder the entire time and then the mad rush off the plane with people wandering about whilst we are still taxiiing……..Ahhh it really is good to be back!