I recently received an email from the HR department, a version of which has arrived every two years for nearly the two decades I’ve lived in the UAE. It was time for my medical test again, and for the renewal of my Emirates ID.
It’s never alarming. But it does what it always does for me: it marks time.
For many expats, time doesn’t announce itself through birthdays or anniversaries alone. It reveals itself in reminders like this – contracts, visas, renewals – gentle administrative nudges that make you pause and take stock. Is my job still working for me? Is my landlord getting greedy? Is it time to try out that new gym that’s just opened?
You don’t drift through life here; you check in with it every few years – a moment of reflection that i
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