O(h)man, we’re a hoot!

Last week Hubby and I took a much needed break to Oman. Ok, maybe not that needed for me, the girl who is on permanent holiday, but after a long summer apart it was good to know we had some quality, chilled out, switch off time together. As you all know Oman has become our little haven in the Gulf and to say we were excited about our return was an understatement. I have to be honest here, and tell you that my enthusiasm did falter when Hubby declared that we were on a 4am flight and that we would have to be at the airport by 2am!

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Give peace a chance

This perhaps isn’t one of my usual posts, but after reading a post from The Expats this morning and seeing comments on twitter and in the press, I feel like I need to say something.  It is apparent, after the atrocities that the UK has seen over the last month, that we are witnessing a real shift in our world, one that is hard to comprehend and find any sense in, the news seems to fill daily with yet another attack on humanity. The sad thing is, I am also witnessing so much hate, ignorance and intolerance which is just as heartbreaking as the incidents themselves. 

Why the blog not!?

People often ask me why I started this blog. It’s quite simple really, I wanted a creative outlet, a new challenge and couldn’t put the idea of writing one off much longer. I didn’t know if anyone would read it but it was something just for me and I loved it. Then slowly but surely people back home started tapping in regularly, sending me feedback and loving the insight into my life away. Then “randoms” read, commented and quickly posts were being shared with other bloggers as well as amongst  the desert girls here in Kuwait. Now some people still don’t know its me and that’s fine as I prefer an air of mystery (I’m thinking a 50’s femme fatale, in a big hat and dark glasses) plus I won’t get evil looks round the pool, if I shout someone out, when retelling my encounters!  My Insta page look like I’m incognito and as an Ozzie gal put it

I know your feet really well!

So to the outside world I’m the adventurous Jersey Girl and I can run my mouth off, lay it bear without too much come back and so my blogging persona continues.

Don’t judge a book club by its cover!

You will be glad to hear that I am finally coming out of the depths of a cold and was able to get back into my desert social life. One of the highlights of last week was attending my monthly book club. Now before you roll your eyes, pass me off to the realms of middle age and shout Geek!  I’ll let you into a little secret. 

New people, old attitudes

Something happened last week that shouldn’t have bothered me, but it played on my mind for a few days. Perhaps it’s because I was hormonal, perhaps it was being on the brink of becoming another year older or perhaps on reflection I was overly sensitive. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason, something gets to you and that’s that.

As the great summer escape comes to an end, I’m finally getting back into socialising with my fellow desert gals. Now the kids are still on summer break, so my mummy friends are still in trying to find a balance of having a good gossip with the ladies after 10 weeks and entertaining the little people. So happily I’ve gone along to parent friendly events, just to get back into the swing of desert life. This was going swimmingly with my close friends but then I hit a brick wall. I tagged along to another day out, where the kids would enjoy an adventure playground and us girls would coffee and natter for the duration. When I accepted the invitation I had no idea this was a mass outing, so was surprised but at the same time delighted, that there was a group of women, all looking forward to a good old-fashioned expat ladies Starbucks session.

Square peg, round hole

From the moment we arrive on this earth, we seem to spend our lives being ushered between social groups, the mother’s choice of where she places the baby in the music tots class and what friends they make on the play mat seems to  lead to a predetermined path of where they will fit in. I have often wondered about how my life would have been if I had fallen into the an alternative social group and would the parallel universe me be any different, that Sliding Doors moment of every choice has fated us to be where we are today.

We have all seen those American teen, coming of age, high school movies, where the cheerleaders, jocks and geeks barely interact, as they have found social acceptance in their worlds and believe that it is better to befriend like-minded people, than give in to social suicide of not belonging and roaming the school corridor alone. We all watched and we all feared that this was real life, so the teenage me gave into the pressure and found a group of friends who accepted me and my school years were saved and I flew under the radar of being fairly unknown therefore avoiding many social nightmares.