If someone had told me a year ago that I would be packing up my rather settled & comfortable life in Malaysia to start a new chapter abroad, I would probably have thought it was plausible. With Poss & I both being half-castes, we often romanticized about living it up in one of our respective ‘Mat Salleh’ countries. After all, moving to London or Australia wouldn’t really feel like we were in a foreign land – it would be like going back to our other kampung. But even with that, chucking it all in always just remained a romantic notion.
So you can imagine how gobsmacked I was when a simple connection Poss received through LinkedIn concluded a month later with a job offer that not only meant we’d be moving but that I would suddenly become a first time expat wife at 40+ – in DUBAI! So many thoughts hit it at me once, I almost got bowled over – Mainly, WTF? Expat wife? Dubai? – That’s not London or Australia! What about Mum? What about Max? I’m too old to become a rookie expat wife! How will I control my brash Aussie attitude & tongue? What am I gonna wear?
And then reality really hit! OMG, I’m gonna have to cook, clean & iron!!! Aargghhhh!! Now that’s gonna come off sounding really precious but let’s get real here. The last time I probably held a vacuum and cleaned up after myself was when I was studying in Australia. Most of my meals are either cooked at a restaurant or by my mum. And let’s not even get me started on the ironing! I would rather buy clothes that are meant to look wrinkled to avoid ever having to plug in that appliance! It’s quite sobering when you realize just how blessed you are growing up in a family & culture where there’s almost always help at home, but that’s quickly followed up by – Can my maid come?
As for my friends – they pretty much had 2 reactions to this breaking news 1) What about your Mum? 2) What are you going to do there?
Being away from my Mum is probably the hardest thing to come to terms with (besides being away from my cat Max). And that’s not to say I’m not going to miss my Dad, but Mum & I have been joined at the hip for as long as I can remember. We have the perfect Mother Daughter relationship of driving each other crazy , so I can see my phone bill being racked up already to get my fix!
To the 2nd reaction – What am I going do in Dubai? – I really have no freaking idea! And that’s where this blog comes in. Firstly, it gives me at least one thing to do (stroke of genius there!) but more importantly, it’s a journal to document all the little adventures this Diva’s gonna get up to. Plus, writing it as a blog means my mates can check in on me any time they like and I won’t have to actually send any emails!
So bring it on Dubai – let’s hope it’s one helluva ride!
Diva Does Domestic 