Michelle spent 18 years as a trailing spouse in three countries before moving back to India — where her adjustment adventures have continued after all, as chronicled in her new book, “Becoming Goan: A Contemporary Coming Home Story,” one of our summer reading recommendations. This is Part 1 of her story.
My trailing-spouse adventure began in 1993, when my husband Bharat was offered a job in either Dubai, UAE or Nairobi, Kenya. We evaluated both opportunities and chose Dubai for the safety of our young family. (Our son Kunal was two years old when we left India.)
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After the initial culture shock, we began the business of settling into Dubai with supermarket shopping, high heat and humidity, getting a UAE driving license, hiring house help, and finding a job for myself. We were young and enthusiastic and easily adapted to our multicultural, international lifestyle and developed a palette for Arabic food — still a favorite to this day — and Thai cuisine.