About Emirati Mama

Who I am?

I’m an Emirati in her 20’s who is relatively new to the world of motherhood and is hoping to do good when raising her children.

I only have one child, AZ, who is 10 months old currently (yes, I update this page to reflect his age).

Where do I come from / Where do I live?

I come from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and I live in Dubai, the city that witnessed major development and changes in a very short period of time. It was / is cool to whiteness its changes.

The way the city is different today comparing to the days when I was a child has its pros and cons of course. Since I am a mother now, raising children is one of my main focuses to observe, considering the changes.

Spoken Languages

Arabic is my first language, the first main language that I learned and spoke. I can also speak English, obviously. I started learning its very few simple words when I was around 2-3 years old from my nanny who took care of me when my mum was a teacher in one of the local schools.

When I entered kinder garden, I learned more English in its own one subject. In my academic years, Arabic was still the main language for the rest of subjects, till the day I graduated from high school.

When I entered University, English became the main language for the subjects and majors a student studies in Dubai, unless you wanted to major in local law of course.

After graduating from university, English words started to enter my Arabic sentences when I speak to my family , friends and other Arabs. It reached to a point where I just, subconsciously, feel that these English words are Arabic; some English words blend into my sentences without me realising that I am mixing the two languages together.  It is kind of sad to be honest with you when you realize that your language is slowly dying. I am thankful to hubby who reminds me from time to time to only use Arabic words when speaking in Arabic. You should hear him say, during our conversations when I enter English into our Arabic communication, :
“ha? shu gelti? Mafehamt?”. In other words: “What? what did you say? I didn’t understand”;
Or when he says: “bel Arabi?” … in other words “In Arabic?”.
I love that he does this from time to time. Even though, I have to be honest, when I am deeply connected to what I am saying at that time of interruption for Arabic reminder, it can get annoying. Hopefully, he doesn’t need to do it for long.  I am working on having complete Arabic sentences without even adding an “ok” or “wow” to such sentences, in hope that I can revive my language. I am still in the process of applying first aid to it.

There are a few other languages that I can understand or speak a little. These are:

Tagalug (Pilipino) , Urdu (Hindi), Ajami and German. Hey, our city is sure mixed with people from everywhere which helps 😀

Arabic is the language I hope for my children to learn and speak with first, despite the fact that the trend today in some Emirati young children to learn and speak English first. I am not judging their parents; not at all; to every parent his/her own. I am fine with whatever you decide to do with your teaching. You do your thing and allow me to do my own thing. Also, I can understand it when some say that this is the language a young child needs to excel before getting into majority of pre KG, kinder garden and the early years of education, To me, Arabic is still #1. After all, it is the language of the Holy Quran that is used worldwide.

Let’s see how will it go with AZ . I want him to learn both languages with the addition to few more since I am a big supporter to learning languages. However, nothing is better than learning and excelling your mother language first and foremost. This wasn’t a challenge back in the days when I was a young child in Dubai. It is one of the challenges today though.

My interests    

Beside my focus on my baby boy, I enjoy photography, traveling, home-video-making, graphic design, cartoon drawing and recently, cooking. I also love animals and enjoy having pets at home. The only pet I have currently is our galah cockatoo who is named “Matto”.

About this blog

I created this blog to share my thoughts and experiences in motherhood in specific and everything else in general. I hope you enjoy the ride along if you were one of the frequent visitors to this blog.