As I mentioned earlier, I have been trying to exhaust the sources of information available to me on by visiting any and all blogs, websites, listservs, etc. or reading any books that have anything to do with Qatar in particular, living in the Middle East more generally, and, even more broadly, expat life as a whole. I'm nothing if not a researcher, of course, so this part of the process has been fun for me, though also a little aggravating because it turns out there isn't a whole lot of information available on the specific topics I am wondering about. Luckily, I have also been able to leverage my network of well-informed friends, family, and new acquaintances to fill in the gaps and, slowly but surely, all of my questions are getting answered. Hooray!
Along the way, I have found some really sources I keep returning to again and again. First, I've mentioned her before on From Frank to Frivolous, but I'm even more grateful now for Design Mom's chronicle of her experiences living in France for over two years with her six children. In particular, I recommend this post about finances, the suggestions from which the husband and I have gone about implementing almost verbatim.
This year, A Cup of Jo did a series on motherhood around the world and one of her posts, 12 Surprising Things about Parenting in Abu Dhabi helped me envision life in Doha with small children since, from what I can gather, raising children in both cities is similar.
"Moving guides" have often been filled with woefully obvious information, though a few, such as this one in The Telegraph have contained useful information. My sense is that folks feel like there is only one audience for these kinds of pieces: the complete neophyte, never left the country or even the county before, who has absolutely no idea about travel or living abroad at all. Clearly, this isn't me, and I'd like to hope there are more than a few like me, who have traveled, even lived abroad, who are open to trans-locating but would like a bit more substantive, country-specific information.
Of course, I have been very interested in kid-specific information as well and came across the term "third culture kid" in my research. My children are so young (almost 6 and almost 4) I feel like if we spend our anticipated minimum 4-5 years in Qatar, they will certainly be TCKs by the time we leave and these issues might be really important for them at that time, whether we move back to the States or not.
Interestingly, many of the most helpful expat/Qatar blogs I have found have been, unbeknownst to me at first perusal, written by Mormon women. It's really true: apparently we DO rule the blogosphere, even in the most unlikely places in the world. I won't link to them all here, mainly because, for the most part, many of the women I have read who did once live in Qatar no longer live there, but their pasts posts have been helpful in myriad ways.
My favorite book has been The Expert Expat, though some of the horror stories kept me up nights, particularly the plight of poor "Patricia" who had almost every conceivable thing that could go wrong happen to her when she moved to some tropical locale (I have suppressed most of the details in the interest of continued mental health). This book likes lists, as do I, so it has been good for me and is currently filled with post-its and sitting beside my bed for easy and frequent reference.
There are more sources, of course, especially Qatar-specific sites, but this is a good start for now. Don't be fooled by the brevity of the list: if it's about expats or Qatar and it's on the web or in the library, I have read it, looked at it, evaluated it, taken notes on it, dismissed it, and/or cataloged it for future reference. And I'm not anywhere close to done yet!
Coming soon in future posts: what to do with kids in Qatar from an outsider's perspective, the best of Qatar expat blogs, and my current living situation (sans husband, with kids, sans most of my belongings). Stay tuned!
Along the way, I have found some really sources I keep returning to again and again. First, I've mentioned her before on From Frank to Frivolous, but I'm even more grateful now for Design Mom's chronicle of her experiences living in France for over two years with her six children. In particular, I recommend this post about finances, the suggestions from which the husband and I have gone about implementing almost verbatim.
This year, A Cup of Jo did a series on motherhood around the world and one of her posts, 12 Surprising Things about Parenting in Abu Dhabi helped me envision life in Doha with small children since, from what I can gather, raising children in both cities is similar.
"Moving guides" have often been filled with woefully obvious information, though a few, such as this one in The Telegraph have contained useful information. My sense is that folks feel like there is only one audience for these kinds of pieces: the complete neophyte, never left the country or even the county before, who has absolutely no idea about travel or living abroad at all. Clearly, this isn't me, and I'd like to hope there are more than a few like me, who have traveled, even lived abroad, who are open to trans-locating but would like a bit more substantive, country-specific information.
Of course, I have been very interested in kid-specific information as well and came across the term "third culture kid" in my research. My children are so young (almost 6 and almost 4) I feel like if we spend our anticipated minimum 4-5 years in Qatar, they will certainly be TCKs by the time we leave and these issues might be really important for them at that time, whether we move back to the States or not.
Interestingly, many of the most helpful expat/Qatar blogs I have found have been, unbeknownst to me at first perusal, written by Mormon women. It's really true: apparently we DO rule the blogosphere, even in the most unlikely places in the world. I won't link to them all here, mainly because, for the most part, many of the women I have read who did once live in Qatar no longer live there, but their pasts posts have been helpful in myriad ways.
My favorite book has been The Expert Expat, though some of the horror stories kept me up nights, particularly the plight of poor "Patricia" who had almost every conceivable thing that could go wrong happen to her when she moved to some tropical locale (I have suppressed most of the details in the interest of continued mental health). This book likes lists, as do I, so it has been good for me and is currently filled with post-its and sitting beside my bed for easy and frequent reference.
There are more sources, of course, especially Qatar-specific sites, but this is a good start for now. Don't be fooled by the brevity of the list: if it's about expats or Qatar and it's on the web or in the library, I have read it, looked at it, evaluated it, taken notes on it, dismissed it, and/or cataloged it for future reference. And I'm not anywhere close to done yet!
Coming soon in future posts: what to do with kids in Qatar from an outsider's perspective, the best of Qatar expat blogs, and my current living situation (sans husband, with kids, sans most of my belongings). Stay tuned!
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