dollydaydreams

[FONT="Arial"]Hi everyone, my husband and I are currently living in New Zealand (we are from the UK and spent 5 year in Abu Dhabi before here). We love living in New Zealand but the cost of living means we are enjoying the beautiful country but always paying our credit card and not saving. We are considering a move back to the middle East, this time Qatar. My hubby is a structural/bridge/civil engineer, and I am a teacher. Our plan would be for Hubby to work and I would work maybe in a pre school within a school or a nursery. The one thing we are struggling to figure out is if we could afford it/it be worth it? Anyone help with the cost of an average food shop? Bills? Rough eating out cost? Villa (nothing over the top) but 2 -3 bedrooms (as we have 2 dogs and hope to start a a family). Any help at all much appreciated. We loved Abu Dhabi whilst we were there but Hubbys job got so busy we needed a break but now struggling financially. Thought please ???

Thanks
Lyndsey

mikewot

did you have a look at the sticky at the very top of the page about living costs in Doha?
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=762609

dollydaydreams

Hi, no I didn't see it, thanks for that, I'm looking now : )

OriginalSunshine

Oman is booming in construction right now, and is a far far nicer place to live. Plenty of jobs for teachers, but you will need to time it for European start of years (e.g. August, September). Plenty of jobs in Nurseries and pre-schools. If you want to get into primary teaching, best off to start as supply / TA, and if there's a mutual like you are more likely to be offered a full time role directly when it comes up.

EastWest

As far as I know, salaries in Oman are the least among all GCC countries. I agree though life there is better than elsewhere in the region.

OriginalSunshine

From what I've seen on this forum, they are very comparable for O&G and Construction industries. My experience is that my salary in Oman is excellent enough to not be tempted by other offers in the GCC.

How about you EastWest? What's your experience with salaries here in the GCC?

EastWest

Well, over the last few years I was offered three similar jobs in Kuwait, KSA and OMAN. The Oman's offer was the least, knowing that the job is the same. Needless to say all of the three offers were low beyond my minimum expectation.
I also know people working almost in every GCC country, and know how much they earn. Also one of my family members lives and work in a GCC country.

dollydaydreams

Thanks for the info, we couldn't so Oman as potential job for hubby is in Qatar, but thanks for the info : )

busybee2

when were you in ab dabs...... as its very very expensive now, and qatar is very similar, without all the perks. most of the civil jobs are in doha tho.

dollydaydreams

We were in the middle of town initially, Khalifa Street, then moved to Al Raha beach to be closer to Hubbys project. So we did have to get used to less around and more urban living out there. Which I guess is what Qatar will be like. As long as we can save a little and still find a few nice hotels to visit , eat and drink at during the weekend, then I'm hoping we should be ok. It seems there is less of a social side there and more strict with alcohol and leaving the country? Is this what you have also found? Thanks for your help : )

busybee2

nah if you were in raha beach it was quite built up then... i moved to kca like over 10 years ago when it was just sand, the pink shops were there but nothing in them, and nothing else, no raha beach hotel, was a lovely public beach for the 10km or so, then they built raha beach on it and reclaimed all the land and ruined the beach!

dollydaydreams

I can imagine it was quite unspolilt a few years ago. So how are you finding Qatar now? We pretty much used to spend the weekend at the pool by our villa, at the British club and would usually pop over to Yas island for a meal/brunch now and then. Do you think that is a do able lifestyle in Qatar? I suppose the other thing on my mind is how busy people are saying it is. Is it really any worse than Dhabs city centre? Thanks : )