I thought it might be fun to record some expectations of our new home and life before we arrive later this week, especially since I've never been there and barely even been to the continent.
You'll know the feeling that you have when you've never met someone but you've created an image in your head about what they look like and how they speak or respond to things. Apart from seeing a few pictures and videos, all the images I have in my mind about our new home are heavily influenced by my past experience of living in the ME and a description someone offered me of "Dubai 20 years ago".
Regarding the home, I know we're moving into a furnished apartment on the 3rd floor of a 3-storey building (no other residents in the building)...I imagine tiled floors, dull beige concrete walls, netting and possibly metalwork on the windows, big rooms, bedrooms with mosquito nets, bathrooms with bidets and hoses in which you can't flush toilet paper, and a large balcony area with plants and comfy seats. I expect it'll get dirty constantly, so we'll spend a lot of time cleaning the floors and dusting shelves. The kitchen is likely to be gas run, but I don't know if there are local shortages or whether we'll have constant water, electricity or gas. I've lived in environments that have had full coverage and intermittent, so I'll adjust either way. I'm not even sure if water is piped or delivered on a schedule to our home. We'll have a water cooler that we refill with 15L bottles delivered to our door on demand, and I will probably pay someone to carry the groceries up the stairs for me - at least initially when we are purchasing a lot at once :). That makes me think about the Dutch pulley systems they have on the outside of tall buildings for lugging heavy items up and in through the windows...
It's easier to imagine what his 'life' will be like rather than my own because 50-60 hours a week (at least initially) will be work-focused and structured. He's going to be tired outside of the time, looking to relax and enjoy the warm weather and explore our new home. I think we'll probably sleep early in the evenings and wake very early to get things done before it's too hot.
I have lots of things I could do to keep busy but I don't yet know what I will do, or what will 'work' in the new environment. I want to continue to improve my language, to meet our neighbours and develop friendships, to look for part-time or contract employment, to determine a way I can get and maintain fitness, to learn how to enjoy knitting in a stinking hot environment, to learn how I need to support him outside of work. I would like to get back into sailing (a teenage hobby I loved). Part of me thinks it will be easy to find work as a foreigner with some NGO, developing world, healthcare and project experience, but another part of me thinks it could prove to be very difficult, so I'm trying to avoid getting my hopes up. Wait and see, one day at a time...
Initially I'll be busy setting up home, ensuring we have all our basic household supplies for cooking and cleaning and healthy living in a hot, hot place. I will have to ask local women what they do to prepare fruit and veges to eat safely. I'll need to learn our local area and the best place to buy veges, meat, clothing etc., and also how to get there and back safely. I've heard that public transport is reasonably good and safe, but it always takes a while to learn the routes, and in countries such as this, there are always unique ways to let drivers know you want to get out etc. I expect that there will be some kind of mini-bus or local taxi service that run regular routes that I can hop on and hop off as needed. It's a good way to get to know the city, by riding all the routes, especially with the advantage of map apps on the phone to record places to return to and set routes. I'm not sure whether I'll feel comfortable doing that on my own immediately, or if I'll have someone's wife from the office to come with me. It certainly helps that I have enough language to get myself home and express frustration if needed! It's cultural to have a maid and given that we have to iron every single item of clothing that has been dried outside (including underwear), I'll be glad for her assistance. I've hired cleaners in the past for a couple of hours a week but I suspect this will be more of a few days a week role and I'm quite nervous about what expectations to have of her and how much I'm expected to monitor etc. I like to think that we'll become firm friends and she'll only speak local language with me.
I hope that some of the pleasant smells of the ME will be found around our new home - roasting lamb, turkish coffee brewing, fresh baklava, sweetened mint tea in small glasses, lemon juice dressing, sheesha smoke. I expect landscape features of vacant lots turned into rubbish dumps, stray goats, cats and dogs wandering around, partially destroyed buildings, kids playing football in the street, the odd camel.....but I don't know how much of this will be different or not present due to the influence of the continent the place is situated.
I have heard that the locals are extremely friendly and hospitable, so I hope that I'm able to make friends quickly. My basic language should help with that and I hope I can encourage someone to become my local tutor. I expect that some of the cultural differences I'm used to from the ME will not be as significant in our new home, but I don't know which ones yet. I'm quite confident I'll be waking to a loud melodic call to prayer, and structuring my day around the 5 calls each day. I imagine that women will generally have more freedom than I'm used to experiencing in the ME and hopefully that will encourage friendships for me....but on the other hand, it could mean less interest or need for local women to develop foreign friendships. I wondered about how many women are in the workforce (and therefore how many are at home and available for me to be friends with!), and came across some interesting stats. The literacy rate for women is 63% for the nation but it would be much higher for the area where we live. Women make up only 25% of the workforce, but 80% of national labor is agriculture, so the statistic is perhaps less dramatic than it seems. Surely that means there are women at home during the day who are dying to meet a foreigner who dresses strangely, knits and speaks a poor and weird version of their language?
You'll know the feeling that you have when you've never met someone but you've created an image in your head about what they look like and how they speak or respond to things. Apart from seeing a few pictures and videos, all the images I have in my mind about our new home are heavily influenced by my past experience of living in the ME and a description someone offered me of "Dubai 20 years ago".
Regarding the home, I know we're moving into a furnished apartment on the 3rd floor of a 3-storey building (no other residents in the building)...I imagine tiled floors, dull beige concrete walls, netting and possibly metalwork on the windows, big rooms, bedrooms with mosquito nets, bathrooms with bidets and hoses in which you can't flush toilet paper, and a large balcony area with plants and comfy seats. I expect it'll get dirty constantly, so we'll spend a lot of time cleaning the floors and dusting shelves. The kitchen is likely to be gas run, but I don't know if there are local shortages or whether we'll have constant water, electricity or gas. I've lived in environments that have had full coverage and intermittent, so I'll adjust either way. I'm not even sure if water is piped or delivered on a schedule to our home. We'll have a water cooler that we refill with 15L bottles delivered to our door on demand, and I will probably pay someone to carry the groceries up the stairs for me - at least initially when we are purchasing a lot at once :). That makes me think about the Dutch pulley systems they have on the outside of tall buildings for lugging heavy items up and in through the windows...
It's easier to imagine what his 'life' will be like rather than my own because 50-60 hours a week (at least initially) will be work-focused and structured. He's going to be tired outside of the time, looking to relax and enjoy the warm weather and explore our new home. I think we'll probably sleep early in the evenings and wake very early to get things done before it's too hot.
I have lots of things I could do to keep busy but I don't yet know what I will do, or what will 'work' in the new environment. I want to continue to improve my language, to meet our neighbours and develop friendships, to look for part-time or contract employment, to determine a way I can get and maintain fitness, to learn how to enjoy knitting in a stinking hot environment, to learn how I need to support him outside of work. I would like to get back into sailing (a teenage hobby I loved). Part of me thinks it will be easy to find work as a foreigner with some NGO, developing world, healthcare and project experience, but another part of me thinks it could prove to be very difficult, so I'm trying to avoid getting my hopes up. Wait and see, one day at a time...
Initially I'll be busy setting up home, ensuring we have all our basic household supplies for cooking and cleaning and healthy living in a hot, hot place. I will have to ask local women what they do to prepare fruit and veges to eat safely. I'll need to learn our local area and the best place to buy veges, meat, clothing etc., and also how to get there and back safely. I've heard that public transport is reasonably good and safe, but it always takes a while to learn the routes, and in countries such as this, there are always unique ways to let drivers know you want to get out etc. I expect that there will be some kind of mini-bus or local taxi service that run regular routes that I can hop on and hop off as needed. It's a good way to get to know the city, by riding all the routes, especially with the advantage of map apps on the phone to record places to return to and set routes. I'm not sure whether I'll feel comfortable doing that on my own immediately, or if I'll have someone's wife from the office to come with me. It certainly helps that I have enough language to get myself home and express frustration if needed! It's cultural to have a maid and given that we have to iron every single item of clothing that has been dried outside (including underwear), I'll be glad for her assistance. I've hired cleaners in the past for a couple of hours a week but I suspect this will be more of a few days a week role and I'm quite nervous about what expectations to have of her and how much I'm expected to monitor etc. I like to think that we'll become firm friends and she'll only speak local language with me.
I hope that some of the pleasant smells of the ME will be found around our new home - roasting lamb, turkish coffee brewing, fresh baklava, sweetened mint tea in small glasses, lemon juice dressing, sheesha smoke. I expect landscape features of vacant lots turned into rubbish dumps, stray goats, cats and dogs wandering around, partially destroyed buildings, kids playing football in the street, the odd camel.....but I don't know how much of this will be different or not present due to the influence of the continent the place is situated.
I have heard that the locals are extremely friendly and hospitable, so I hope that I'm able to make friends quickly. My basic language should help with that and I hope I can encourage someone to become my local tutor. I expect that some of the cultural differences I'm used to from the ME will not be as significant in our new home, but I don't know which ones yet. I'm quite confident I'll be waking to a loud melodic call to prayer, and structuring my day around the 5 calls each day. I imagine that women will generally have more freedom than I'm used to experiencing in the ME and hopefully that will encourage friendships for me....but on the other hand, it could mean less interest or need for local women to develop foreign friendships. I wondered about how many women are in the workforce (and therefore how many are at home and available for me to be friends with!), and came across some interesting stats. The literacy rate for women is 63% for the nation but it would be much higher for the area where we live. Women make up only 25% of the workforce, but 80% of national labor is agriculture, so the statistic is perhaps less dramatic than it seems. Surely that means there are women at home during the day who are dying to meet a foreigner who dresses strangely, knits and speaks a poor and weird version of their language?
So exciting ... so very exciting!!
ReplyDeleteYes, a new world to be explored, and the possibilities are in Good Hands....
ReplyDelete