Liberated within limits
thereluctantemigrant | from Ireland to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and back to Doha
by thereluctantemigrant
4y ago
Women’s lib even sounds old fashioned now. Thankfully in Ireland liberation for women has happened and while there may be a few clear up items to be dealt with like equal pay etc., largely   women are well regarded as being, well, just as worthy as men. In some cases even worthier if you consider areas of parental leave, custody rights etc. Women in countries like Qatar are bang smack in the middle of this climb. While it’s reported that equality for women in Qatar and in the region is on the up, there are ingrained beliefs in Qatar and Muslim society that will make the climb more difficult fo ..read more
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The Little Thaw
thereluctantemigrant | from Ireland to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and back to Doha
by thereluctantemigrant
4y ago
Did you ever wish for something so hard that by the time it looked likely to come true, you weren’t so sure if you still wanted it or not? Two and half years ago when Saudi Arabia, my old home place, the UAE and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar, accusing us of funding terrorism, we honestly thought it was the end of the world. The end of Qatar and the world at least, as Saudi Arabia sealed off the 41-mile land border with Qatar, Qatar’s only land link to the rest of the world. Wouldn’t have been so bad if they hadn’t also locked sea and air space around Qatar also, leading us with the narrow corrid ..read more
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Happy Ever After, Apart
thereluctantemigrant | from Ireland to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and back to Doha
by thereluctantemigrant
4y ago
If someone told you that one day you and your husband would come to the conclusion that to live in two different countries, neither of which to be your home country would in actual fact be the best solution for your family. Who in their right mind would leave England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales, and come up with the plan that hubby will head off and work in Cairo or somewhere and that she, along with their three kids, would live in a place like Doha, for example.  First things first, Cairo is in Egypt and Doha is in Qatar.  Egypt and Qatar are two separate countries. Egypt and Qatar are not pa ..read more
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First out – Last In
thereluctantemigrant | from Ireland to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and back to Doha
by thereluctantemigrant
4y ago
I wish someone had told me ten years ago when we felt obliged to flee Ireland because of mutual economic ruin that ‘sponging’ would become a taboo topic and calling anyone, even spongers a sponger would be frowned upon and be the source of massive consternation among the snowflakes, the millennials and the do-gooders in general. I could have become a sponger and life would have been so much different. We could have taken the help at the time, handed back the keys of “Satis House”, rented next door under the HAP scheme, dabbled in a few government schemes and courses before possibly obtaining l ..read more
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Irish Teachers In Qatar
thereluctantemigrant | from Ireland to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and back to Doha
by thereluctantemigrant
4y ago
Its long been the case that qualified teachers all around Ireland are struggling to secure full-time, permanent employment in Ireland.   You try looking for a full-time job as a teacher in Donegal, Roscommon or Fermanagh where the local school might have a patronage of under one hundred children and the four teachers have been there since the children’s parents were there back in the 70’s. It is not easy, and the only alternative is to take a job in Dublin when you need to supplement your wages to pay for a room in a house that has no parking, which is not such an issue perhaps, as you can’t a ..read more
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Red Tape in Qatar
thereluctantemigrant | from Ireland to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and back to Doha
by thereluctantemigrant
4y ago
One of the things I’ve realised from living in Qatar for nine and a half years is that things are never straightforward. I thought it was enough to apply for a job, get the job and start the job. I thought, all I had to do after than was provide my bank details and stock up on a work wardrobe from COS.   I thought a nice water bottle, a decent set of Tupperware for my lunch and smart but comfortable shoes would see me off to a great start in the workplace in Qatar. Needless to say, I was wrong. The start was fine, I arrived at school, greeting everyone in a polite and friendly manner, plugged ..read more
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A walk in the park
thereluctantemigrant | from Ireland to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and back to Doha
by thereluctantemigrant
4y ago
The end of summer never came quicker, I spent the last week in Ireland wishing for one last glimpse of sunshine whilst in the paradoxical situation of being in total dread of the blinding sun that was sure to greet me when I arrived back in Doha. Thing was, I have arrived a point that comes to us all. ‘Us’, being mums and ‘all’, being mums that live in Doha, the children start full-time school at the tender age of three and the bell tolls for us to go back to work.   I was in this situation before, four years ago but managed to side-step the reality of having to get a job by having another bab ..read more
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Moving Zoo
thereluctantemigrant | from Ireland to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and back to Doha
by thereluctantemigrant
5y ago
Rose tinted glasses, that’s what we’re wearing when we return from Qatar to immerse the kids in our mother culture for a few weeks of the summer. We get off the plane, turn our backs on the sweltering heat of Qatar, the dust and the restrictive nature of life in a Muslim society. Sick and tired of the sterile feeling forced fun of a day out in public in Doha, we can’t wait to the trail of family fun in Ireland, which wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Dublin Zoo. See thing is, we long to expose our children for the freedom of a day out in Ireland, to show them a little bit of our history ..read more
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Stockholm in Qatar
thereluctantemigrant | from Ireland to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and back to Doha
by thereluctantemigrant
5y ago
What some people seem to forget is that the blockade between us, Qatar and Saudi, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain, is still on. The blockade started on the 5th June 2017, Saudi accused Qatar of handing a hand in terrorism and with immediate effect, we were excommunicated. Air, sea and land borders blocked and no access to airspace. On the day the news broke, everyone rushed out and bought all the chicken and milk that the shop assistant would sell to one person. The rumour was that those would be our biggest immediate problem, the rumours were right. It was 6 months before we had fresh milk in Qat ..read more
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Sri Lanka Easter 2019
thereluctantemigrant | from Ireland to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and back to Doha
by thereluctantemigrant
5y ago
Just as society was grappling with how they felt about the Notre Dame accident and which side we all fell when it came to pledge extortionate amounts of money to rebuild it, Sri Lanka happened. A calculated symmetrical trinity where three churches and three hotels were bombed killing over three hundred and fifty people, injuring hundreds maybe nearly a thousand more and crushing our faith in the presence of a greater good in each us. Instead it is the case that are people living, studying, working among us today that will in go on in the future to bring terror, hate and fear to the world by ta ..read more
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