HayleyJaffrey

Hi, I am Hayley and my hub has been offered a full-time job in Baku which would involve the family upping sticks and moving there. As you will appreciate, I am looking to find out as much as I can. Mike (hub) has worked in Baku month on/month off for the last two years but has lived there essentially as a bachelor, so he is hopeless when it comes to finding out about schooling, healthcare, social-life, new friends, etc!

I am 34yrs old and mum to Harris, who is 7 and Maia who just turned one last week. Harris is just going into P3 after the summer and we need to find out loads to assure him that the move will be a great one, so I need to know about schooling options and what the little peoples social scene is all about!!

Maia is just one and she has some physical development challenges (hypotonia = low muscle tone) and regularly attends sessions with a Physio and Speech and Language Therapist here in the UK. What is the healthcare system like in Baku for ex-pats. Do we use their national health system (if there is one) or are there private facilities? How good are they?

Finally, what do the ladies get up to? I work part-time and study OU and would not be looking to be a full time lady-what-lunches, if you get my drift!! However, I would like to meet other similar gals and at least have a social life that extends from my own front door!

Any help/info/advice is incredibly appreciated - so thanks in advance!!
Cheers
Hayley

Ray51

Wrong Thread ( Baku being NOT in Europe , but in Asia ) !
Anyway , I've been there , honestly wouldn't recommend it to married women and children ...come to think of it actually : not to most men , either .

980

Hello Hayley,
I live and work in Baku (BP Azerbaijan), but not as an expat. Please send me your e-mail, so I could forward your questions to my friends expats.

Kind regards,

Mubariz

HayleyJaffrey

Not especially helpful, Ray51, but thank you for taking the time. Unless I am very much mistaken, Azerbijan is considered by most as Eastern Europe and not ASIA, but hey - what do I know??!!

HayleyJaffrey

Hia Mubariz
Thank you for taking the time to reply. If your expat friends have any useful info, please direct them here, as it would save any hassle with email addresses, etc.

I am trying to find out as much as I can about Baku before I get there - I am coming over to check it out in the next month or so.

Thanks again
Hayley

Ray51

Sorry , my brief reply was in good faith and I had no ill intentions ;
I'm so glad to learn that you'll be going there first , to check it out ;
that should suffice , then - Best of British Luck to you and yours !

web2go

Sorry i replied before reading this one Hayley.duh!
Here is web sites for expat medical places:
https://www.internationalsos.com/en/...rbaijan_34.htm

980

I also wanted to add TURKISH-AMERICAN MEDICAL CENTER web address:
http://www.tamc.az/eng/

Hayley, it depends on what company your husband will work for. If BP - most probably it will be SOS. It could be MediClub as well, but MediClub has another weblink: http://www.mediclub.az/eng/index.shtml


Best regards

slmch

Hi Hayley.
I lived in Baku 2004/2005 with my family. I loved it.
I went out with my parents and my brother who was 17 at the time and my sister who was 7. I loved it right away. I spent most days up at the Hyatt Hotel sunbathing and "doing lunch". I had a job for a while at BIS, one of the schools. The main other one being TISA. BIS is the smaller of the two and this is the school my sister went to. It's just a nice size actually. Not too overwhelming for the little kids. I'd say most go to TISA but my parents were against this for various reasons.
The schools are good, though work in American...ie American spelling and money in Maths work. This meant we were sometimes unable to help my sister with Maths homework if it was dealing with American money as we've never used US coinage.
We had a driver for a while but found we weren't making use of him enough to justify paying the money for him. Instead we go friendly with a taxi driver who worked from outside our apartment and he became my sister's school driver.
We also had a cleaner who came twice a week. She was great. Really did a good job. I think some people have negative experiences with their cleaners but you just have to find the right one.

We mostly ate out at night. There's so many places to choose from. Some expensive, some pretty cheap.

There's not a huge choice when clothes shopping. There are a number of shops like Zara, Mexx etc. But it's not like walking down the high street back in the UK.

There are a number of supermarkets but be careful which one's you use. Don't go for the ones aimed at expats as you'll pay double the price than if you went to a supermarket that the locals use.

There was afterschool activties every day at school so plenty for them to do.
At weekends you'll find a lot of families up to the Hyatt so they're bound to bump into someone they know.

As for medical care. We were all provided for on my dad's contract. We used SOS. You could get an appointment anyday no problem. We had to use them in an emergency too and found them good.

The social life is good. You bump into other expat women everywhere and you'll soon get chatting and be meeting up all the time.

We loved Baku.

If you want to know anything else feel free to drop me a line.
- S.

HayleyJaffrey

Thank you so much for your reply - REALLY HELPFUL!! I am hearing mostly positive reports, so think that we would probably go for it!

Thanks again!
Hayley

glyntastic

hello can anyone tell me more about BAKU as we are due to visit next week for possible employment me my husband and two small kids what is it truly like to be an expat there we are currently in khobar in Saudi Arabia

Melanie33

Hi

anyone from Baku? I would need some help.

thank you

Pebs

Hi, i am new to this website but glad i have found it !! I will be moving to Baku in November with my (almost 5) son who will be starting at TISA and i am just trying to find out about stuff to do myself etc.... If anyone can recommend where to start i would much appreciate it !

Hope to meet some of you soon
KERRIE

Frankiss

Hello,

I need advice, (like the rest of you), we are looking at moving from Uralsk, Kazakhstan to Baku. We have a 10 month old and another due in March.

Could anyone please tell me what medical facilities are like? Does anyone know of anyone who has had a baby in Baku within the last 2 years? Are there activities for toddlers? What is life like for the expat mom's who's children are not at school? How is the outdoor life? Are there woods to escape too or natural landscapes to explore? Is there any sailing?

I have so many questions, but I think I will leave it there and hope to get a reply from someone soon.

Cheers

sass153

hiya

I was just wondering if u ever went to Baku? my husband and i moved to australia from the UK nearly 5 years ago, and we have 2 children now aged 7 and 2 and he is thinking of accepting a job in Baku but its a expat one so we will all go, just looking for some feedback about the place, as there isnt much around

Many thanks

Sarah