Mum of Children in College in Ireland

We arrived in Doha on December22 having just managed to exit Dublin with all the snow!! Noel had been here since October (It is always a good idea for the husbands to come first) He had processed his Residents Permit and all his other licences and had initiated our Visas. The paperwork down here is a chore but cannot be ignored. He had also secured our ‘Villa’ translate in Irish to read 3 bedroomed house. We left half our family behind due to school/college commitments so it was a fairly traumatic upheaval.

One of the best and most helpful thing about our move was a friend put me in touch with a family who’ve been here for over ten years. They were wonderful (still are!) and happily answered all our questions both stupid or otherwise. Their teenagers introduced ours to the social scene and having recovered from the ‘You’ve ruined my life’ scenario they will now admit that their social lives are far superior than rural Ireland

Schools can be difficult but firstly decide wether you want the closest school to your home or are prepared to battle the school run twice a day. Some schools provide transport (ours do) and you can happily wave goodbye to the little darlings in your pjs. Contact schools well in advance and you might be lucky and secure a place of choice.

Everyone talks about the driving , realistically as long as you understand that the car on your ‘right’ might be turning left and the one on your ‘left’ turning right and probably at the same time then you’re laughing! After 6 months I have learnt to expect the unexpected and touch wood have’nt hit anything yet. If you see a lunatic bearing down on you, don’t take the high moral road and jeopardise your safety just get out of the way!!

With regards what to bring, the only things we bring from home are Lyons Tea, Bewleys Coffee and Alka Seltzer. Most products can be obtained here although imported goods are quite expensive so if you’re desperate then be prepared to pay! Incidentally the supermarkets close around 11am on Fridays for about 1 hour, our first Friday here was Christmas Eve and when they announced that the store was closing we ran around like lunatics grabbing anything to create ‘The Christmas Dinner’, imagine our supprise and relief when someone kindly pointed out that no the shop was not closing for Christmas only for an hour!!

Hope this is helpful, I expect to be back in Ireland for the summer and feel free to contact me for any queries. Irish in Qatar will pass on my email.

Contact the author at info@irishinqatar.com