Poor MeltedLolly- you're a sane, reasonable, informed voice, but you're not getting anywhere with your points- people really don't want to see your point of view. desertmum also writes a lot of sense. Not that this will make any difference.
Again, the sheer ignorance is staggering, as evidenced by responses to my post.
sashh:
"Why are you paying school fees? Don't you want your "well-rounded" children mixing with the locals?"
sashh: You're very ignorant and ill-informed on this issue. While that's undoubtedly a proper put-down in Putney, and you probably thought you were very clever to think it up, it just shows that you've no idea how society or school works in the UAE. Only Emirati children are allowed to go to Emirati schools, so I have no choice but to pay school fees. Plus, it's not as if I'm "too snobby" to let my children mix with locals or any other nationalities (as you imply)- the international schools have every cultural group and nationality of child imaginable here (including many Emirati children whose parents want them to have an international education)- which is an excellent thing.
sashh You seem to be very interested in what colour my "maid" is. For what it's worth, our childminder (who isn't a maid and doesn't live with us) is the same "colour" as my husband. Does that make us racists? Entitled expats? Is it any of your f*ing business what colour my family is relative to the people we employ to help look after our small children while we are at work? Would you ask that of a working mum in London? Would you think it was unfair if she earned more than her childminder and use it as a snide way to undermine her views?
SybilRamkin:
I don't live in a luxury gated community. I live in an apartment building filled with ordinary families from all over the world- with an emphasis on families from the subcontinent and the Arab world, and only a handful of (mostly Eastern) Europeans.
When I was talking about peace, calm and tolerance, I meant in the context of war, religious freedom and the ability to practise different religions openly, terrorism and violence; concepts all too familiar to those who live in this region, many of whom have fled to Dubai to escape unimaginable hardship or persecution in their home countries. But of course that counts for nothing compared to your well-researched (ahem) arguments about UAE law (let's not let any of that get in the way of a good headline).
pleaseaffixstamps: I guess I'm spoiling the party here. I'm not at either end of your neat wealth spectrum. I can recommend villages near Al Ain or Ras al Khaimah if you'd like to check out the UAE version of a one horse town, but I myself live with my family in the centre of Dubai, (and the centre of the spectrum).
As for the poster who based her opinion of the UAE on four days spent with a cousin who lived in a hotel, well, what can I say about that level of in-depth research? Why listen to me or to desertmum or MeltedLolly when you can have informed opinions like hers?
Actually, to those of you who are saying so vehemently that the UAE is a bad place to live/a horrendous place to bring a teenage girl, never… having… been... here: do you think we're lying? Do you all honestly think we'd bother posting all our arguments in favour of living here if it was even remotely as bad as the sensationalist headlines? What, are we being paid by the UAE government to drum up propaganda, or something?
Why is it that on this thread people who have never even set foot on UAE soil are more entitled to have an opinion on this country than the people who have lived here for years?
I'm only bloody bothering to type this because I hate ignorance and bigotry. However, I can see I too am wasting my time. I've just come in from work so I'm going to set about getting dinner ready. (Funny, I've hollered for my supposed army of maids but there doesn't seem to be anything happening…)