Middle East here (which I know is a dirty word on here, so hopefully this will help with a bit of cross-cultural understanding and respect):
Do you have semi detached houses? Terraced?
Arabian houses tend to be built in compounds, with a wall around them. Extended families would have a house each within the compound and there would be staff such as security and gardeners on duty looking after it. Each house will also have household staff such as drivers, nannies and maids (who either live inside the house, or in little cottages outside the main houses). This culture also maps across to houses built for westerners, which are also typically done as compounds, with a secure entrance and often containing a club house with a community room, pool and gym to try and entice tenants. I have noticed that the biggest, fanciest houses that the locals live in tend to be as close to big roads and junctions as possible - I think it’s a status thing. It baffles me because they are so close to the noise and pollution.
What's the equivalent of our going to Spain & similar on package holidays where you are?
We all tend to do staycations within the Gulf a lot. Locals will often have families in other Gulf countries and do a lot of travel between the two. Staycations are great as there are loads and loads of amazing high quality hotels which are really off the beaten track, eg up in the mountains or out in the desert. Oman is always worth a trip as the scenery is stunning, there is amazing wildlife, the locals are friendly and hard working (and humble with it), and there are no big shiny skyscrapers ruining Muscat.
Do other countries do Sunday dinner? On Sunday's or different days?
On Fridays, the locals all go to Friday prayers when they wake up (around 11am) and then to home for a sleep and family time - I understand that this family time involves a big amount of food. In the evening they then all go to the malls or parks - the roads are crazy in the evenings, especially on Fridays, and I tend to stay at home to avoid it all. If you go to a mall in the morning, you won’t see any locals as they tend to stay up very late and sleep late in the morning.
Expats sometimes go to brunch as a special treat on Fridays - it’s all you can eat and drink from 12-4pm and all the hotels do it. It tends to get quite boozy. There are usually special rooms set up for the kids, with bouncy castles, face painting, films and special food, or in some hotels you can use the beach or pool after.
What about Uni?
Depending on which Gulf country, the locals can be quite entitled and are guaranteed a VERY high paid, cushy government job without really trying (and even then, most of them don’t bother going to work every day or even working a full day). However, there are some who are breaking the mould - interestingly, it seems to be mostly women. The men don’t seem to be so incentivised to change their ways. There are some absolutely awesome women really making huge advances to society eg as surgeons and especially as engineers in the oil industry, which some may be surprised to read. They seem a lot more motivated to use their opportunity to learn and make a difference. I can think of loads of women who are making huge waves here in science, the environment and the arts, but very few local men.
To incentivise the locals to get an education they often get a very good salary paid by the government while they are at uni - I was looking at medical degrees on a uni website a few weeks ago and saw that the locals get a grant of £10000 per MONTH to study medicine there!!!!! Whereas us expats have to pay.
What are bank holidays like where you live?
Absolutely bonkers. They quite often change them at the last minute, usually springing surprise ones with very little notice, or deciding to close schools for spurious reasons such as football matches or state visits.
Many are linked to the moon and cannot be officially announced until the night before, and sometimes the government randomly decides to give us the whole week off if the holiday is going to fall mid week.
The public sector get more holidays, because it’s mostly locals working in the public sector and the government has to keep them happy.
Drink driving
The police will breathalyse you if you’re in an accident, and if you’re found with alcohol in your system you’re in big trouble. Most people don’t risk it as taxis are everywhere and very safe and cheap.
Summer camps
Most schools and nurseries offer summer activity camps to help working parents, but the hours are shorter than normal school hours and it’s hard if you’re a working mum. The entire system revolves around the assumption that you have a team of drivers and maids/nannies at home, which of course most westerners don’t. If you work and you want your kids to stay sane over the summer, you usually have to send them back to England to stay with grandparents (as unaccompanied minors on the plane).
What's childcare like where you are?
Most people have maids/nannies, although they are usually not well trained and when I see them out and about they usually aren’t doing a great job.....
Locals sometimes pretty much leave all their childcare to a team of nannies and don’t do much for their kids. It’s quite sad to see. I think it’s part laziness/entitlement and part pressure to reproduce and have huge (6 kids plus) families at a young age. I actually despair for the psychological damage which is being done to the next generation by this nanny culture.
Nurseries take babies from 6 weeks, because that is all the maternity leave that most companies offer. They are very mixed in terms of their offerings, although there are good ones. Childminding is illegal, but i understand that some cultures eg Indians and Filipinos do it under the radar among themselves (sometimes with tragic consequences).
Breakfast
I don’t know what the locals do at home, but the traditional dishes are shakshouka, which is like huevos rancheros, and fouls madames, which is like baked beans.