Post Category - Family LifeFamily LifeNewbie to the desert, Nessa shares her experience of dealing with the hot summer weather as a mama in Dubai
From the moment we landed in Dubai, we were asked the question – “Will you be around for the summer?” followed by a look of amusement and something that resembled pity when we enthusiastically answered a positive “yes” response.
We arrived from Ireland at the beginning of February and I was pretty surprised that I was still wearing jeans for a few weeks. Everyone warned me about the heat here in Dubai. It’s only May and my friends that have been here for years are already complaining about the current so-called premature temperatures. I am trying to see that as a positive thing… I am praying that is doesn’t get much hotter than this but I know I am only fooling myself. At the moment, for five out of seven days of the week, I manage to escape most of the heat as I work all day in an air-conditioned office. I arrive to work like a hot sweaty mess after the seven minute walk from the carpark to my office in the exposed sunshine and don’t leave the building again until the temperatures have dropped significantly.
In the last few weeks, the weekend has brought some very mixed feelings. I feel absolutely joyful that I get to spend two full days with my daughter Emie-Rose. This working-mum guilt is seriously eating away at me. On Friday and Saturday I feel less guilty all day as I don’t have to drop her off to nursery for a long spell without me. On Friday and Saturday I feel so excited that I have some time to discover more of my new city. On Friday and Saturday I feel stressed about how I am going to entertain a super active toddler that is obsessed with being outside in 40 degrees heat. She knows exactly what she wants and she is not afraid to ask for it. She very gracefully bangs continuously on the door and screams the house down until you bring her outside. I have now come to understand that pretty much every other mother in all of the Middle East feels the same way as me. I have a crazy respect for all of the mamas that entertain their children in this heat all week long.
I have also come to understand why I got so many pained expressions when I said I was staying in Dubai for the whole summer. I have now also booked a flight home to Ireland at the end of July for a month. I know it’s all a serious case of first world problems but wow, there is only so much of this hot sun that my Irish skin and my mentality can take. What’s your best advice for managing these hot temperatures with a toddler that constantly needs to be on the go? Go on; share those hidden gems you have been hiding out at! (email sassy@sassymamadubai.com – we’d love to know!)
