EXPATITIS...

EXPATIS...............

I have diagnosed myself with this new condition....my own interpretation of what is happening to me and what I have experienced.

Here goes.

I struggle to keep the blog updated due to this condition. I have all the best intentions to keep this blog alive BUT every time I want to expatitis steps in.....Eish she is a bitch.

So many changes are made that it take a while for all to set in and take shape. I think it will be an ongoing condition.

What is expatitis you ask....holy sh*t  not even I, who considers herself inflicted, can truly answer that but I will give it my best shot to explain.

When this process started of relocation to Dubai everything was exciting and frighting. There was so much to do that most of the feelings are put aside to deal with later....you do not even realize this at the time as you think you are dealing emotions at that time.

You take serious stock of  your life (just by packing up) you have to make decisions of what goes what stays and what will be discarded permanently. 

The time in run-up to departure is heavy with visits and goodbye's and promises. Busy busy busy....

Excitement to leave and rejoin Hannes and to be together after 6 months apart. All experiences are new and the brain and heart cannot take all in, so here goes to putting aside to handle another day again.....

Arrival in Dubai was bliss. Good to be together and all this new and exciting things to do and experience....Lots of felling here again BUT again put aside to deal with another day.....

Finding a new apartment and decorating and stabilizing a new "home"  Jippee exciting stuff... New feelings and experiences too much to deal with so again...put aside to deal with another day.

You change with the time and place you live in. 

Experiences here are "moment" things and difficult to explain and put into words. 

Sometimes it is also just too much effort as Expatitis makes you very very tired.

Start missing family and friends BUT too busy to deal with that now so put aside to deal with another day.....

You find wonderful things in your new place of residence, and also a few things that are not so nice, Overall everything is good and fine and dandy.

You have to learn to drive on the other side of the road than what you were used to. You have to find a hairdresser, dentist, grocery store, new products and names etc etc etc. The list is endless. All you knew has to be relearned. A small example is easy reader (we call then clicks no 1) are difficult to find....The "eye" stores do not stock them at all. Only at pharmacies...and then they are very expensive.

You choose meat from 5 different countries.....butter form at least 5 countries, the eggs here all have dark yellow yolk even orange.... Milk is not always marked as cow's mild and you get camel milk here in all the stores as well. Laban is not Arabic for milk is means buttermilk...... You can NEVER ask for directions. Nobody can help you. Either they cannot understand or they really did not know. The  first day of the week is Sunday. You go to church on Fridays....The beach is full every day with men woman and children.

Children here are everywhere. on their bikes and scooters in the street and until very late at night. Alcohol is licensed. No disorderly conduct in public is tolerated. Loud aggressive behavior will land you in jail. Police here have all the power and execute the jail time as well. Quick court appearance and off to jail you go. As an expat you will be deported immediate after jail time. Courts are only for very big court cases.....

I can go on and on and on.

I have  learned to be very tolerant of the new culture I am living in as I have made it my business to try and understand all the customs. Some I find very appealing.

Ok that list can go on and on and I think all of you are clever enough to get the picture.

In time a form of "reality" sets in......I say form as it is MY REALITY.

I love Dubai and it's people AND I will always be a South African but  I have become very guarded... I  check what I say about South Africa to people in the UAE as I want to be a good ambassador. So some things I tend to leave out......AM I WRONG? I am very guarded when I give my feeling to my SA family and friends about what I reading the newspapers...Firstly because I cannot trust all that is printed and also because it is met with a lot of sceptism or I get the feeling I do not have the right to be opinionated. I have had comments of "but you left us SO IT IS NOT YOUR PROBLEM ANYMORE....or you did not care to stick around....or you are so lucky to be in Dubai......or you are earning foreign currency so you must be swimming in it......" I have" lost"  to right to have an opinion...Why? We still support SA finacially (small) and we still pay tax....

So I get guarded and proactive (eat your heart out DOK) and tend to walk the politically correct line.

Day to day life has normalized here. I have to do my chores and runs the house and keep myself occupied. All the people you meet here are "in-transit". It can never be a permanent place of staying as the visa's do not cater for that. So most friendships are dealt with in the same manner. 

I have been very lucky to meet fantastic friends here and these are friendships that will go on for ever. You tend to lean must more on your friends here than what you were used to AND they all have expatitis.....in some form or shape.

I MIS everybody...THIS IS THE BIGGEST CONDITON IN EXPATITIS.

You have HUGE longings that you have never experienced before. Mine are only for people and not places.

Some months I could have bought a ticket to see them with what my cell bill was like......

Facebook is good and dandy and e-mails are fine BUT I need the physical contact.

You miss the regular contact to stay updated in their lives and to be up to date on all gongs on.... Some how 'n computer can never full fill this need. I have had comment of " why do you miss me, you decided to go away...."

Bouts of "depresion" or anxiety are not strange. Loss of interest in Everything is common....

System overload is always lingering.

Finacially I have had to change...I have to budget. That alone can give you expatitis.... It cost us a fortune to do this relocation . You find it out as you go and even the best planning could not have warned us.

I wach the exchange rate like a hawk. We still have comitments in SA and we are STILL paying tax so the exchange rate is very important in when to tranfer money to SA.

The world becomes so much smaller and fantastic new opportunity arise and new countries to explore...Exciting stuff. Just an example. Sri Lanka is close and very cheap at the moment to travel. Maybe in the near future.

In a nutshell Expatitis is the positive and the negative experiences and feelings having a massive "fight" in your head and heart......... It tends to debilitate you.

You also now have to deal with all those issues you put away originally to deal with later. It like washing washing that has been in a bag for a year....

 I think the condition is temporary but I cannot give a time on how long it will last......

All in all I know we have made the right choice and Dubai is the best place for us at the moment. Who knows what the future holds....

Just remeber everyday I miss you all very very much BUT am  happy here too (SOUT PIEL COMES TO MIND)

Lets keep our fingers crossed this condition is really temporary.

L