My first impressions were that it was dusty, hot and basically a building site. Rich saw the positives in this. After all, his job is to sell equipment to the construction industry, but I wasn't sold at first. But nonetheless he was offered the job and we decided to take the plunge.
It was almost 4 months between him getting that call and me finally stepping off that KLM flight so I had plenty of time to think about it and what we had decided to undertake.
I believe that any international move is difficult. That's not to say that there aren't positives. Obviously there are or we wouldn't do it, but it's difficult, especially at first. And I'm lucky because I've moved with Rich so I've not had to navigate all these changes on my own so it could be far harder.
I struggled with the heat at first. I mean this is the desert and it doesn't come much hotter than this, but 7 weeks in and I'm OK now. In fact I sometimes find a bit on the cool side, especially in the evenings and certainly in the crazy air conditioning of the malls.
I was also really wary of offending people at first. I didn't really know how to greet people. Was shaking hands going to be seen as a sign of affection that could get me in trouble? And the mums in my class who wear the veil with only their eyes showing presented me with the difficulty of not having a clue whose parent they were when they came to collect at the end of the day. I've gone from Spanish parents kissing me whenever they can, to being worried about offending with a handshake! It's not too bad though. even the children can't always spot their own mum so no one expects me to.
The city itself couldn't be more different to Valencia, or indeed anywhere else I've lived. It's so modern and yet is holding on to traditions through areas like the Souqs and Katara, the cultural village, so you get a great mix of old and new. It's just a shame you have to spend so long in a car to get around though, as I really miss walking and cycling around like we could in Valencia and now we spend so much more time indoors because of it.
Of course the biggest difference to our lives is how we can interact with each other. We can't live together and Rich isn't allowed to enter our block of flats. We can't hold hands in public or have a little cuddle and we do find that hard. I also wear far more covered clothes here. I used to live in shorts and vest tops, but despite the heat, I'm in long skirts and trousers most of the time here. You do see people showing their knees and shoulders, but it's not what I want to do when surrounded by local people, as the last thing I'd want to do is offend someone.
It's all manageable, and in the few weeks that I've been here, I have begun to get used to things and worry less about getting it wrong. At least there are things that make it easier. It's far easier to get hold of home comforts like Cadbury chocolate and they have Nandos here which is always a plus. It does feel like a very different part of the world though, very far from home. Time is helpful though. What felt daunting 7 weeks ago is now becoming normal, so I'm sure that over the course of the next few weeks, months and years it will start to feel more like home.
This is definitely not Valencia.
I was also really wary of offending people at first. I didn't really know how to greet people. Was shaking hands going to be seen as a sign of affection that could get me in trouble? And the mums in my class who wear the veil with only their eyes showing presented me with the difficulty of not having a clue whose parent they were when they came to collect at the end of the day. I've gone from Spanish parents kissing me whenever they can, to being worried about offending with a handshake! It's not too bad though. even the children can't always spot their own mum so no one expects me to.
The city itself couldn't be more different to Valencia, or indeed anywhere else I've lived. It's so modern and yet is holding on to traditions through areas like the Souqs and Katara, the cultural village, so you get a great mix of old and new. It's just a shame you have to spend so long in a car to get around though, as I really miss walking and cycling around like we could in Valencia and now we spend so much more time indoors because of it.
Of course the biggest difference to our lives is how we can interact with each other. We can't live together and Rich isn't allowed to enter our block of flats. We can't hold hands in public or have a little cuddle and we do find that hard. I also wear far more covered clothes here. I used to live in shorts and vest tops, but despite the heat, I'm in long skirts and trousers most of the time here. You do see people showing their knees and shoulders, but it's not what I want to do when surrounded by local people, as the last thing I'd want to do is offend someone.
It's all manageable, and in the few weeks that I've been here, I have begun to get used to things and worry less about getting it wrong. At least there are things that make it easier. It's far easier to get hold of home comforts like Cadbury chocolate and they have Nandos here which is always a plus. It does feel like a very different part of the world though, very far from home. Time is helpful though. What felt daunting 7 weeks ago is now becoming normal, so I'm sure that over the course of the next few weeks, months and years it will start to feel more like home.
This is definitely not Valencia.
Have you ever experienced a completely different culture? How did you find it?
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