Heart of gold

[QUOTE=Jellybean]If you've been here long - wots good and bad - please no maid stories

Cheers

TS




What I don't like about this site is the mafia influence by young immature students and unfunny innuendos by people who should know better.

JB
May now you can tell us what you like and dont like about Dubai as that is what I think that is what TS was referring to!

Jellybean

[QUOTE=Heart of gold]

Ohh right sorry.

I love Dubai, everything about it...well I have just come from the 'shithole' of Indonesia, sorry Novita, that's what it's commonly known as over there. Jakarta is not so bad but this is a vast improvement.

I can't say I hate anything about Dubai. I love the culture, what I know of it, I love seeing the locals in their attire. I love being so close to the desert, it's all new to me. I love being able to let the kids play outside with friends. I love the weather and the misty mornings. I love having neighbours. I love the shops...of course.

Heart of gold

Thats more like it!!

novita77

Hey... do u think i would be here if I love Jakarta????

Palm Tree

Wow, JB, I am impressed! Are you having a good day today, now that hubby is back!? So much positive wibe from you. Keep it up. Can I send another Karma your way? Well, I will just try.

Palm Tree

Sorry, it didn't let me. Another time then.

Jellybean

Hey we can have this as the 'Good Vibe thread' Good vibes ONLY lol Hey Novita I just didn't want to upset you that's all It's you guys that bring out the best in me

Benson

I first arrived in AD in '81. I was at Al Khubairat till I was 10 then boarding school in the UK as there was only one school that went higher than that age. School holidays were always spent in AD and also when on holiday from college.

After leaving college I was in the merchant navy for a few years working 4 months on 2 off. Spending the 2 off here in AD. Eventualy had enough of life at sea and got myself a job in AD. Been at the job now for nearly 4 years. Never even thought about going back to the UK. My mother and father are here and my sister. I am what is frequently refered to as an ex-pat brat!!!!

I have witnessed severall horror stories such as boats getting shipwrecked, water skiiers crashing on the beach. cars falling into the sea. Was in a flash flood one time when in the wadis! No one injured or lost anything, was fun seeing the water coming over the bonnet of a nissan patrol! :scared:

Hopefully I will have any more years of happines here in the UAE and hopefully the recent events will not bring any drastic changeds tio this country.

novita77

JB: I will never say that Indonesia/Jakarta is the best place to live. So don't worry that you might up set me by cursing that place. I do still go back there at least once a year... got too many family/relatives left behind.... I love going back to Jakarta because I found it hillarious staying for 1 or 2 week with my step mom and dad. Well... they ONLY have 4 maids and 2 drivers (they only have 2 kids). They will petrified when I try to carry my own bag from the house to the car :scared:

In the other side sometime it is nice when you don't have to lift a finger to do anything... but back here in Doha... or since I got married... I never use any house maid. Used to do everything my self (let's not talk about maid or Bob might ban me and send me to the other side...).

Arrived in ME (Doha) 3 years ago. A bit cultural shock for me. That was first time I been to ME. Don't drive till about 1 yr ago (because my son start his school). 1 week after hubby bought me a car... taxi hit me from behind. And last week... on the roundabout... another driver managed to skid his car and put it nose to nose with my car!!! :scared: The best part was... he only smile and drove off...

Never thought that I would find large expatriate community in Doha. On the surface when we just arrived I always thought that this city is very quiet. In fact this place as cosmopolitan as Singapore.

Well... i better go... or I will sounds like PT (Sorry PT... no offence!!! )

JB... will you ever go back to your old shithole (maybe for holiday to Bali???) or you will never never go there???

Jellybean

JB... will you ever go back to your old shithole (maybe for holiday to Bali???) or you will never never go there???[/QUOTE]



Novita have lots of friends in Jakarta, lovely friends, but prob never go back there, they have to come here. I do miss my two maids, 3 security guards, gardener and driver though lol Bali was a w/e retreat, superb but been there done that...moved on.

DubaiExpat

Alright, I'll tell you my story for those bored enough to listen to it!!!
Born and raised in Surrey, UK for those of you that don't know its a little county just south of London. Lovely county, went to uni in Bath where I did a brilliant course in art. Ended up in the big smoke that is London with a job in marketing which I loved. Few years down the line I was itching the explore the rest of the world, so I sold the flat back to my parents and moved to Australia which was fantastic - for a while!! Career did not seem to be going anywhere and was all set to leave back to the UK when I met my significant other. Moved back a year after that and it was bliss, settled down and had a child. But both of us were dying to explore the world, which was when he got a job offer at one of the banks here in Dubai. He moved out here in 2002 and I was all set to move with him when we found out us not being married might cause a few problems!! Took this opportunity to have a lovely wedding which I don't regret one bit
So where was I, yes, I finally made my way here to the sand dunes late 2002 and haven't looked back at all! When they announced expats could buy here we sat and thought hard whether we wanted to live here long-term and there certainly was a lot of thinking that went into it, but we finally decided to take the plunge and bought a nice house here which was well-worth it!! Moving in was a bit of a hassle, our rental contract expired before our villa was ready which got us a bit worried but it worked out in the end. Like PalmTree said, we like this place and could definitely see us staying here for quite a while!! I hope all of you are still awake by the time you're reading this!
Now I don't work so I am pretty much a homemaker (never thought I would end up being one!!!) Some might say I am a Jumeira Jane but I don't live in Jumeirah anymore!! No but in all honestly my life does not revolve around coffee mornings!! What I love about Dubai is the weather, the relatively high standard of living and the fact we are so close to the beach. It also feels like an exploding new city and who knows what it will be like in ten years time!!! What I don't like is the heat, the excessive materialism at times and the poor treatment of Indian and Pakistani expats. Bless them, they work just as hard but are treated like s**t really, bless them really.

Well that is my mini-essay there, can't compete with Palm Tree's!

Jellybean

Thanks for sharing that DE, I totally agree with you regarding the treatment of the workers here. So, you too can join the realms of the NON JJ pack. lol

Palm Tree

Well... i better go... or I will sounds like PT (Sorry PT... no offence!!! )


I had some stuff to deal with on expatmum a while back and gained an iron shield. Anyone wanting to let off their steam on me, that's fine, it will just bounce back.

This site is a whole new experience in life for me. Never participated on any chatboards before, I don't think you can call expatwoman a chatboard, and I find it interesting to read all the different wordings on here. Great experience to communicate with people who I haven't got a clue about. But with everyone chipping in a bit about themselves, it won't take long to be like old buddies.

It is hard to know, when someone is being serious or just taking the mickey and having a laugh. I for one, just take everything with a pinch of salt and enjoy everything. I don't even think Bedouin Boy deserved to be banned. I couldn't read through all his assaulting threads under his previous names and maybe there is a valid reason but it was fun to have some local stuff thrown in. No, I am not on his side, because he was throwing some charm my way but it seems like not many on here are actually British Expats anyway and since all of us using the board have our reasons for doing so, I enjoyed our mistery man's crap. Sorry, anyone who holds a grudge against him.

Message to everyone: I can handle anything, so no need to treat me with silk gloves.

Jellybean

Hey it's the BB fan club again. Me too PT I actually learnt a lot from BB from PM-ing him and asking questions about culture and stuff. He was actually very patient and understanding, I think he just found all this British humor and sarcasm to difficult so went a bit AWOL.

I know I will get slated for this BUT I think that some of the other guys on this forum felt a bit threatened by him. I don't mean to offend anybody by saying this, and I know some of his threads were...err hard to cope with and his charm and 'dating' trends were a bit confused with trying to fit in anyway he could.

Truth Speak

I know him :scared: