Work in Abu Dahabi, live in Dubai

[MABS]

Here we go again girls, would appreciate any advice on this. Dh has been offered a great job in Auh, with full expat package. Co have said that housing now far cheaper in dxb, so advise us to live there and put kids to school there and he commute each day. Any thoughts on that advice?

secondly , we have 2 children , girl in year 10 and boy in year 4, any good English schools i should contact? or any to avoid?

TBH we are not sure whether to leave uk or not but dh flying out to have big chat with employer on Thurs this week. Really appreciate any thoughts.

so do you think you will definitely do it MABS? how does DD feel about it so close to GCSEs? Very difficult decision and hope it works out for you x

Starmummy sorry to reignite new thread.

We're applying to Kings and also thinking about Jumeriah Primary.

Am a bit worried about the entry tests. My children (though I love them dearly) are not the brightest of the bright (certainly by MN standards )The eldest struggles slightly (no SN but I worry)

They're used to a bog standard village primary and I'm somewhat dazzled by the schools shiney websites.

[panic] [panic]

Am planning on visting with DH in January (with dcs) but am applying now thanks to your earlier post.

Any advice?

(sorry its Sagacious BTW)

Shameless bump

it's not on your list so far, but dh (works in AD) has friends whose kids go to the British School and are very happy with it (apart from the compulsory Arab classes ...)

thanks mimisum, am speaking to them on Wed as it happens.

Wordsonascreen-where/when are you moving? mu kids are at a very shiny bright private school in uk, so am concerned with the school websites out there how old are your kids?

wordsonascreen/sagacious I've just realised you've been in the same situation as me - dh does 3 weeks in AD and 1 week back home - this has been going on for 2 and a half years now

what's made you decide to relocate? sorry, just being nosey! cos I don't know anyone else in RL who's dealing with this ... in some ways life would be a lot easier if we were all over there, but ds1 is very happily settled in an excellent secondary here and my dad is very old and frail ... I don't know though how much longer we can sustain this mega commute though .. (and no jobs in dh's field back home)

mimsum, why did you not go if you don't mind me asking? my dd is 14 and v established at her school here, and ds has some disabilites so it won't be easist move for us!

expat package looks very good that they are offering we think.

Nothing would persuade me to live in a country that offers so little for women, Islamic countries make me shudder. Doesn't anyone else think Dubai is the most vulgar place on earth?

Minsmum: We considered the 3 weeks in AD 1 week back but TBH running 2 households and not seeing dh I think may have ended in a very quick divorce ! I take my hat off to you for dealing with it for so long.

We will probably go out there before September (dh would already be working out there a few weeks on/off iykwim.)

Plan is to live on Dubai Marina (cheaper and we can send money back/save// a completely new concept to us ! And would aim to be back in UK when ds goes to Secondary (dcs are 5 and 7)

Complicated my the MIL as she has terminal cancer and really is in a bad way.. no idea how we're going to tell her (tbh it seemed likely when we found out about the reloaction in October she wouldn't be here now .. )
Plus theres the pets (elderly cat and squeaky guinea pigs...)

Arghhhh

MsDoctor

I'm very keen on leapard print and laboutins ta very much.

[vulgar]

[sweeping generalisation]

But it's dripping with wealth that is splattered around and is just vile. The only thing about that place is money, without it noone would care if it sank in the sea.

Yeah well terminal cancer is vile I'm not sure what your point is ?

Yeah well..... are you a teenager?

It's not a place I could live, vulgar, vile and vacuous.

MsDoctor

If you do not like the ethos of Dubai you certainly don't have to live there.

Barging in on a perfectly reasonable thread and slagging off a place where people do live is rather vulgar vile and vacuous

I think the OP was asking for opinions, free speech and all that still exists in the UK or did you forget living in Dubai?

Mabs have you decided then? We will all miss you! can't believe some of the nasty comments here about a place that some people call/will call home on your behalves!

I live in England
If you'd read the thread you may have realised that.

But any hoo

X Post Noddy that obviously wasn't directed at you !

I'm not reading the thread, I read the OP.

Behind the glittering seaside resorts, there is a darker side to Dubai, where an increasing number of women suffer.
While the United Arab Emirates tourist industry booms, so do the numbers of women suffering from human trafficking and abuse here. There is now a shelter in Dubai, but it is being overwhelmed by the increase in victims.

Women face harassment and groping on Dubai's beaches.

Beauticians in Dubai are luring women by offering a controversial product claimed to make them look younger - made from newborn baby placenta.

Dubai is where the worlds' dirty money is washed; where poor women who have been enslaved from Eastern Europe are kept in captivity.

Government warning:
We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in the UAE because of the high threat of terrorist attack.
Pay close attention to your personal security at all times and monitor the media for information about possible new safety or security risks.
Statements by international terrorist groups continue to call for attacks against Westerners on the Arabian Peninsula and in the Gulf region. These include references to residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests. We continue to receive reports that terrorists are planning attacks against Western interests in the UAE and the wider Gulf region. Commercial and public areas frequented by Westerners are possible terrorist targets.
When you are in the UAE, be aware that local laws and penalties, including ones that appear harsh by Australian standards, do apply to you.
The UAE has a zero tolerance policy towards illegal drugs. Penalties can include the death sentence or life imprisonment. Medications available over the counter or by prescription in the UK may be illegal in the UAE.

The money is always worth risking your personal safety and supporting such a hideous and disgusting place..... to be honest I think people who go and live there are greedy and immoral.

who would live in a country like this

msdoctor

Crap cut and paste job - I assume it comes from the Johann Hari article published to much ridicule in the Independent? Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi wrote an excellent piece in response which starts by pointing out it is very easy to generalize about a country when figures are manipulated to sensationalize and sell papers. It is worth reading and will perhaps give you a better insight into a region which you clearly have no idea about.

I'm assuming you have never been to the gulf let alone actually lived there because the idea that Dubai (or Abu Dhabi as that is where the OP is actually off to) is unsafe is one of the more ludicrous I have heard in recent weeks.

Anyway getting back to OP there are three main British Curriculum Schools in AD: BSAK which has been running for 20+ years, Al Yasmina an Aldar Academy school which opened last year off Island and the British School (run I think by Nord Anglia) which is it's first year. Al Raha International offers the IB curriculum and is also very popular with expats.

All are good but fairly expensive and rising (47% fee increase at raha last year in senior school) - make sure the company undertake to pay the full amount and remember to get them to pay it direct rather than give you a monthly payment as you will be paying termly in advance (one of those things that people don't often consider until they are here and in a situ they cannot change).

Good Luck

Rueters actually, I wasn't aware that news source was akin to tabloid press. I have been to the gulf and know many many expats that used to live there. I know that it is very 'safe' place to visit but securing that safety comes at a high price. In addition to that I have a friend who served 18 months in a prison over there for 0.04g of weed that was in the pocket of his jeans, packed in his luggage.

It is without doubt a place where most everything can be bought, including people.

reuters

Pretty sure Reuters are reporting on the Hari article. For a good few months those opening lines became synomymous with sloppy journalism and were widely reported throughout the worlds media.

Perhaps if you have actually vistited the gulf (although I'm still guessing not the UAE) it would be helpful for you to add your personal views rather than some badly rehashed sensationalist crap from a journalist with an agenda. This is after all a reasonable thread asking about the area and at the moment you are coming across as both beligerant and rude.

For instance perhaps you could expand on the phrase "that safety comes at a high price"? The article I referred you to in my pp makes the point about how foreigners might perceive a Britain who
"not wanting to get its hands dirty, had resorted to secretly outsourcing torture to Third World states under the guise of rendition by allowing up to 170 so called CIA torture flights to use its bases. Or that Britain's MI5 unlawfully shared with the CIA secret material to interrogate suspects and "facilitate interviews" including cases where the suspects were later proven to be innocent"
in the interests of "safety". A high price too I would argue.

Look I am not a particular fan of Dubai, I have been to better, I have been to worse but I do have particular feelings about poorly researched, sloppy journalism dealing in sensationalist soundbites and urban myths. It is lazy, unacceptable and it worries me when people take it as truth.

This isn't AIBU and the OP is looking for legitimate advice - that can be negative as well as positive but at least make it your own.