I’m the wife of a badly paid academic working in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. How did we end up here? Well in a nutshell it goes like this:
2001: Desert Mermaid is working in a high pressure, professional job in London. Her husband is offered a a faculty position in the Gulf. It’s tax free, well paid, housing and school fees included. Sunshine. Joy. Where’s my passport?
2002: The Mermaid waves goodbye to her job and leaves for pastures less green. It’s all looking good so far…
2003: O-oh. The value of the US dollar continues to drop. Mermaid’s husband is paid in dollars. Sterling to US exchange rate getting worse every day. Inflations hits the Gulf. Mermaid goes out to work as a teacher in a local school for a pittance of a salary. Why? Supply and demand. There are lots of similar women to DM who want a job so why pay more?
2007: Mermaid Husband applies to get out of the Gulf, it’s a sand trap and we’re not making any money. It appears that getting out of here isn’t so easy after all. Working in a Gulf University has done no favours for Hubbie’s CV. September sees us in another Gulf country and another Gulf University.
2008: I’m pregnant with our third child at the moment so it’s not all bad news! Read about how Desert Mermaid grapples with rising inflation, sky high school fees and expensive food shopping trips while her husband continues to be badly paid. Read and weep when she describes her fellow expat ladies, hubbies on huge salaries and generous packages, lives revolving around parties, pool BBQs and trips to the Maldives. And they still manage to save money. WOW!
I’m back again working for even worse money but at least it pays the school fees!!
Finally, if you like the header artwork, go over to Mahirates website on Deviant Art and buy a copy. Maybe she won’t hate me so much for using her work on my blog if you do.
DM
