Cold feet re Dubai

[Starmummy]

OK so now its real and the days are just whizzing by. DH contract was finalised 12th Dec, he handed his notice in and finshes 12th Jan and flies out 14th Jan! Gulp it all seems so quick. DS and I are going out at the end of jan to visit schools and try to sort a house before we go out for good in Feb half term.
Now I feel really scared, I think with Christmas and the IL's staying for a week (who incidentally are in complete denial about the whole thing), my DM staying at the same time, more vistors yesterday after the others had just left, (its like having revolving doors lol). In between I had 3 removal co's for quotes and have just emailed them to dubai, no answer from there till at least Tuesday as its Eid. Arranging big leaving party - 174 guests ;0 for 5th jan. Everything is so close and happening so quickly. All I can think about is DS doing entrance exams, starting after all the jan intake of new kids, not making new friends, oh gosh its upsetting me all over again. DH is v excited about the opportunity and his new shredder which is working overtime. We have a skip coming on Sat for all the real junk. Have already sent 2 bags to Blue Peter and 28 bags to bag2skool. I'm in such a panic I dont know where to start. Help me please to keep sane.......

also my pal told me you have to have a licence to have alcohol in the house and can buy/have £130 worth each month - i think you can only have this amount at any one time. Before you get excited the alcohol there is extortionately expensive.

Typical, just my luck.

I knew this, it was my first peice of research almost. I have told dh to ask for the licence on the first day!!! It was almost a deal breaker, I just couldnt have gone to a dry country. My evening treat, all my parties, girlie nites, bar bq's aggghhhhh cant imagine life without.

I didnt know the amount allowed though and I do know its expensive, thats life, I'll have to give up chocolate - not! lol

Don't worry about the alcolhol, there are "holes in the wall" where you can stock up but you still need a licence to have it at home, the tax in the liquour shop (MMI & A&E) is 30%, so it is much cheaper to go to Ajman or Umm al Quwain!!!

I found this was one of the hardest things to get used to that you can't just pick up a bottle of wine at the supermarket when doing your shopping.

Yeah that is a big shock - here in Qatar we get a licence based on salary - 10% if you earn over a certain amount and as it took forever for our residency to come through (which you need pre liquor licence) we were pretty parched by Christmas! Luckily we had friends who helped out with occasional bottles of wine! Funnily enough now we have the licence we don't seem that bothered -its just getting used to the idea of alcohol being restricted.

Dubai is better than here in that you can get alcohol outside the hotels I think. Here there are maybe 4 bars you'd want to go to, and none you could go for a girlie night out really.

Now you're scaring me! Meowmix, what do you do for a girlie night out then? Do you just go to each others houses or go in couples? I think I maybe pre-empting here as I dont know anyone to have a girlie night out with (lol). DH says his first purchase was wine from the duty free after you get off the plane, just to keep me happy I think.

Dh arrived yesterday and phoned this morning whilst having a coffee in the MOE overlooking the ski slope. We live/d just outside Leeds and have a real snow slope about 10 mins drive away. DH says the one in Dubai is massive compared to out local one. He also tells me the weather is a pleasant 24 degrees, unlike here where even if it wasnt cold, it would be because the packers have all the doors open! actually all creidt to them they are super efficient, I know they always say you can tell an expert because they make it look easy, well there guys must be real experts. So far really pleased with them. Fingers crossed it last all the way to Dubai.

I'll keep you uptodate with progress, and treat you kind ladies to a drink when I get to dubai, maybe we can start a girlie nightout?

starmummyxx

You're on Starmummy - I'm in Dubai loads for work, we can have a Middle East Mnet Meet Up.

We've kind of had meals in hotel restaurants instead or just got everyone round to someone's house. Houses tend to be MUCH bigger than the UK so you can have 10 wifies cackling in your living room without too much pain. Also if you're living on a compound (which sounds hell but really isn't) then Friday afternoons tend to pass by in a blur of gossip and wine. Fridays are Sundays, Saturdays are Saturdays and Sundays are Mondays by the way. You don't get used to starting the week on a Sunday.

Another note re the wine (I sound such a lush) - wine boxes are more reliable, bottles don't tend to travel as well and they;re rarely stored properly so do go a bit off.

gotta go - will think of other useful things and CAT you.

Fab, what a brilliant idea, a middle east mumsnet meet up. I'm so excited already. I take on board the wine box idea, will make sure after all I dont want to waste my precious allownance. (tee hee). And I just love the idea of Friday afternoons passing in a blur of wine and gossip. I feel at home already. Does this make me sound like a lush? We must be twins (lol). I like the idea of a big house, although my house now is reasonably big - DH copied the details from when we bought the house 10 years ago so he can do comparisions when he sees houses for rent to tell if they are as big. I think a gated community may not be too bad if I can find some kids the same age ish as DS. It all seems a bit more secure.

I am excited at the mo as the packers are doing such a fab job. DS v disapointed as container will only be here for about 2 hours and he will be at school. I might have let him come home early but they are on a school, for which I had volunteered to help but will have to be inventorying the container instead. Woo hoo!!
email me at jude underscore bonner at hotmail dot com if you like to let me know anything else I might have missed out on. Can you tell I am drinking my wine store as it cant be packed but I get to drink it .

Thanks again starmummyxx

how goes starmummy? we may be moving out this year...aaarrggh

Hi Mabs,
Too late for cold feet, am basking in 28 degree heat, most pleasant. Ds started school on Sunday (we flew out last week), he is really enjoying it, says the most amazing thing so far is a boy in his class who is 10 and has lived in 9 different countries already :0 We moved into the villa yesterday. Have met loads of mums, went for a coffee this morning after school started at 7.30 (gulp). I got stuck in on day 2 and have been drivng my huge big 4x4 (consider it an essential as the traffic is appalling, its the only way to feel safe.Today we had our first home cooked meal, it was the first chance I had to shop, house was full of people all day yesterday coming and going. And I slept in my own bed, how sad am I but I really missed it. As for the things left undone back in the UK, I cant even begin to think about them lol. Come on out, you'll love it. The internet was connected today - great, also tv, v bad, even Ds cant find anything to watch (so maybe not bad after all). Anything you want to know I'll do my best to help. Not that I know it all after 1 week, but so many people have been so kind and helpful.

Starmummyxxxx