Life in the time of Corona

Anyone else get the feeling that 2020 is taking the piss!? We are less than 3 months in and already we’ve had Megxit, Brexit and now Covid-19. We all started January 1st with so much optimism for the new decade but looks like the universe had other plans. There isn’t anyone in the world that isn’t aware of the global pandemic that is currently causing havoc but what some people may not know is that this random corner of the desert is in lockdown. It’s certainly an unique experience in my expat journey and one I am sure we won’t be forgetting in a hurry. It is also a personal experience, as in all my posts these are my ramblings and others may not share my view or emotions. Yet, whilst I can’t help but chuckle at the irony that this dry state is fighting a virus named after a beer, I have to say yet again, I am sat in the Middle East feeling safer than I would at home.

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Face off

When you are far from home, connection is so important. Connection with your new location, with new friends, to the new culture, just to name a few. For me, there are two other vital connections which I have always tried to maintain, connection to where I am from, as this gives you some kind of identity in the sea of expats and their stories. Two, connections with the people back home, ensuring that those thousands of miles between you, are not a catalyst for distance becoming more than mileage. As I was sitting down with one of my weekly chats with home, I realised how lucky I was to be an expat in this moment in time, technology has changed the face of the earth, for good and bad, but for a me, sat in a random corner of the Gulf, its a god send. I ask, can FaceTime really be a substitute for face to face time?

Under seasoned & over done

After a long weekend in Dubai, I’m fully recharged and my spirits lifted. There is nothing like a change of scenery to put things in perspective and after a week of being full of a desert cold, feeling very sorry for myself, the stark contrast of a weekend in Dubai helped a lot. Whilst I was more than happy to come back to the sandpit and normality, I find myself not as settled as usual. For the first time in a long time, I feel that I am on December escape countdown. Am I getting sentimental in my old age or are even the most seasoned Kuwait expats missing the seasons?

Fake it ‘till you make it

There are many life scenarios where that element of self doubt creeps in and we smile and nod our way through that awkward dinner party conversation, which you have absolutely no clue about. We have all embellished a CV or done a little bit of self PR in an interview but these are socially acceptable moments to sprinkle a little of that BS glitter. My question is when does that fake it till you make it attitude become detrimental to your expat experience? Do we really know who are the oscar winning actresses are in a sea of bad ass, we totally got this women?

Emotional suitcase

Frustrated, comforted, distant, familiar, lonely, happy, uneasy, content. How can one person feel such a variation of contrasting emotions? Well I can second a guess that I am not the only expat who has had to navigate this rollercoaster during their summer break.  It seems extreme, when I see it there in  black in white, but I can honestly say that this is not an exaggeration, in fact I could probably add another half dozen adjectives, to describe my two weeks back home.  I question myself constantly and upon my return to the land of sand I ask, when did finding the familiar comfort of home, make me feel so lost?

The annual agonising

There comes a point in January, when the post Christmas catch ups are had, that latest trip home seems like a million years ago and the typical desert expat starts wishing the year away. I don’t mean it’s unbearable, a slog or there is pure desperation to get out, but there is a definite moment when the planning heads go on and we start to have markers in the calendar. We haven’t even finished January and I bet that most have up to September all planned out! So as Hubs and I are joining this bandwagon and trying to pin down our plans, I ask myself it this really necessary or just a desert thing?

Same but different

There comes a time in every expat’s life, where that ultimate question will inevitably need to be asked. You get to that point, where something or in actual fact nothing, can happen to spark a debate over the dinner table. Pros and con lists are drawn, emotions run high but ultimately there is just one thing that needs to be answered…..Do we stay or do we go?

The expat tool belt

In a recent article collaboration with Thelma & Louise Club, one of the questions I was asked was whether anyone could be an expat. Of course my answer was yes, I think most people can do this. 8 years ago I would never have thought I could, I wasn’t adventurous, I was a true home bird, didn’t really like travelling but somehow I ended up on this journey and its been the making of me. So that got me thinking…….In order to be a “successful” expat what tools do you need in your arsenal?

Home Truths

There comes a time in every expat life, where the novelties have worn off and it just becomes life. Routines are forged, every day flows into the next, without major discoveries or incident, and before you know it year 1, 2 and 3 are behind you. As Hubby and I approach the same time period in the desert, as we did in Prague we can’t phathom where that time as gone and how our desert life will have more longevity than our European adventure. I for one never envisaged that would happen, but love that it has. Like many expats, we entered the new year contemplating the last and having that annual discussion of whether we are happy, bored or indifferent to our current location and what plans should be made. As we are eager to continue on our sandpit journey, our travels will be for pleasure and Kuwait remains home. 

Own goal?

Well and truly back into the desert routine and that trip back home seems long behind me. Very quickly after landing back in the land of sand, it’s strange how fast I can now flip that expat switch and fall back into the everyday, which only shows how “normal” this all now feels. As well as hitting the floor running upon my return, of course comes the new year reflections, plans to be made, intentions drawn up, and like any obsessive planner I am, try to get some clarity on the immediate months ahead.  At first I thought perhaps my necessity for plans at the start of year, is just a distraction, something to focus on allowing myself not to get sucked into the January blues. It turns out, I am not the only one and that my fellow desert girls all seems to be grabbing 2018 by the horns.