Morag from Manama

I walked into Marks & Spencers this week and felt like I had stepped right back in time … not because of the granny-style flannelette nightdresses but because I bumped into a stranger and found myself looking at a mirror image of myself when I first landed in Bahrain.

As apologies were exchanged about who bumped in to whom, I noticed this gentle lady’s eyes filling with tears as she asked: ‘where does everyone live in Bahrain?’

I immediately realised that she was a struggling new expat to the island and like a deer caught in the headlights unable to move, or think rationally, yet desperate to make contact with another expat in her new posting.

I too had once been that newbie.

I quickly discovered that Estelle had only been in Bahrain one week and was temporarily living in a serviced apartment, feeling lonely and out of her comfort zone.

With her husband spending long hours in his new job and without transport, Estelle had been confined to the apartment and wandering around Seef Mall.

Only that morning, she had called her father back home with her woes and wondered if she had made a big mistake coming to Bahrain. Wisely, her father had encouraged his daughter to go to a supermarket and to strike up a conversation with another expat (I need to remember that for my next posting). With Marks & Spencer’s food section being Estelle’s only option, who would have guessed she’d bump into me!

Anyway, I’m going to tuck Estelle under my wing, share my local knowledge and hopefully point her in the right direction. Why? Because it’s kind and I’ll probably be that newbie, again, somewhere-else, one day.