Naturopathy

This is a blog from the real world of Egyptian wives and mothers living abroad, trying hard to make it in the real world outside Egypt, without the support of maids, drivers, networking, doing it all alone like most western, modern women, who work, cook, clean, bring up children…etc…

May 2004
The day I decided to stay
After a teary afternoon, I sat in a corner of my then half empty home, furniture was still being slowly delivered….I gathered my thoughts as I was about to make a major decision that would possibly affect mine and my family’s life forever, do I toughen up, take up all the challenges ahead and stay in the UK? or do I simply just quit, and go back home to what I’m used to? after a long pause, I decided I’m not a quitter, and how can I make an impulsive decision based on less than a week of trial…I got up, emptied my shopping bags and pretended I was just back at home in Alex. on a day where I had no help, I cooked a nice meal for my family and started to make a plan of action….I called the only Egyptian friend I knew in London then; knowing that she would sympathise and understand where I’m coming from (how vain! now looking back and thinking about it) my whole life revolved around help..I asked her if she can recommend a maid even once a week, which she did…hurray I felt, it’s not too bad after all, my next challenge (again very vain) was ironing our clothes (I had never done it before) well i knew what it entailed (roughly) that got sorted by my good old man, who decided to pitch in, knowing otherwise I might just collapse….I think you’ve all started to get the message by now….13 years later and looking back on the first few weeks I moved abroad, I feel so sorry for anyone of my generation or beyond who have been brought up the way I was…really sad how we were so spoilt, no wonder (and I’m not judging) half of the marriages around me collapse, I utterly sympathise…it’s not our fault (men and women) it’s our parents faults for the way they brought us up, with minimal responsibilities and too much support which bread a spoilt, non productive bunch…everything was provided for my generation whether upper, middle or even lower middle class, an apartment for when you get married if you were a boy, the big lavish wedding of course whether they could afford it or not, they would even borrow to make it happen, all the furniture if you were a girl……till recently I was obsessed with “must buy a nice diamond ring for my son for when he meets the right girl and wants to propose” my husband kept humouring me till one day he said ” if the boy can’t afford to buy his wife to be a ring, then he certainly shouldn’t be getting married” how much sense does that make…..I thank God everyday I married a man from the do it yourself world, his family brought him up in a way that instead of handing him money, they taught him how to earn it….to be continued otherwise our supper will burn