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"Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

"Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

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Old Sep 24th 2012, 4:32 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by OriginalSunshine
Compared to living in Saudi Arabia, Sakhalin, Lagos (& being pregnant there!), and Indonesian Borneo, living in Oman is a dream, and Dubai is just another world. Anyone who thinks Dubai is "hard", is "soft".
Sakhalin? That's where my all-time favourite Biggles story was set ('Biggles Buries The Hatchet').
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Old Sep 24th 2012, 6:39 pm
  #17  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by OriginalSunshine
Compared to living in Saudi Arabia, Sakhalin, Lagos (& being pregnant there!), and Indonesian Borneo, living in Oman is a dream, and Dubai is just another world. Anyone who thinks Dubai is "hard", is "soft".
That's the problem though.

You think you're a better expat because you've been dragge to shitholes around the world.

I just pity you.
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Old Sep 24th 2012, 6:54 pm
  #18  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by Scamp
That's the problem though.

You think you're a better expat because you've been dragge to shitholes around the world.

I just pity you.
I don't think being dragged round shitholes makes you a better expat, but it does make you more appreciative when you end up in one of the better berths!
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Old Sep 24th 2012, 7:05 pm
  #19  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

As a nipper, I started in Lagos. Life has been on the up ever since, though the belly laughs and family yore have decreased.
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 7:59 am
  #20  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by Bahtatboy
Really? (Not a sarcastic "really"). I'd have thought that with the great mix of nationalities that populated the States, there'd have been a lot of different social norms mixed together, or was it the case that national groups stuck together? Where's the social anthropologist when you need one?
To clarify, when I refered to American settlers I was talking about those heading west away from the Eastern seaboard. That culture was fairly well dominated by early english settlers and expats from England. Heading west the only people they encountered for the most part were the occaisional French outpost and Native Americans. Neither did much to change the American/colonial structure. Assimilation, for immigrants was for the most part the norm in the US until recent times.
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 10:57 am
  #21  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by Scamp
That's the problem though.

You think you're a better expat because you've been dragge to shitholes around the world.

I just pity you.

I am wondering what being a 'better expat' entails. I hadn't realised there was a scale of expatness.
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 10:58 am
  #22  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by Beaverstate
To clarify, when I refered to American settlers I was talking about those heading west away from the Eastern seaboard. That culture was fairly well dominated by early english settlers and expats from England. Heading west the only people they encountered for the most part were the occaisional French outpost and Native Americans. Neither did much to change the American/colonial structure. Assimilation, for immigrants was for the most part the norm in the US until recent times.
I don't disagree but my experience is that different groups in the US often mix far less than in places like the UK.
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 1:40 pm
  #23  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

I think some expats who have been to hardship postings think they deserve more respect than those who have been somewhere fairly tame like Dubai.

These same expats often forget the world has moved on and that a lot of places have developed...I for one would rather be living with running water, bogs that flush and a/c. If some see that as being soft, so be it.
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 1:59 pm
  #24  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by Meow
I don't disagree but my experience is that different groups in the US often mix far less than in places like the UK.
As minority groups become larger and more culturally threatening to the dominant group their ability and desire to mix becomes less. As their numbers grow they can form sustainable societies (i.e. shops, religious groups, sports, cultural events etc) built around their 'home' cultural without the need to find substitutes within the cultural of other groups. In the US as 'non-white' populations have grown (isn't the population or at least birth rate not now higher among 'non-whites' than 'whites') there has been less interaction, whereas in the UK, generally, the immigrant populations haven't grown to such as scale and in such densities (with some exceptions), hence segregation has been less.
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 2:01 pm
  #25  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by NorthernLad
I think some expats who have been to hardship postings think they deserve more respect than those who have been somewhere fairly tame like Dubai.

These same expats often forget the world has moved on and that a lot of places have developed...I for one would rather be living with running water, bogs that flush and a/c. If some see that as being soft, so be it.
I'm soft as shit then.
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 2:45 pm
  #26  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by Scamp
That's the problem though.

You think you're a better expat because you've been dragge to shitholes around the world.

I just pity you.
**** off - where did I say I was "better"? And **** off with the pity as well Mr-oooh-I-would-send-someone-to-Yemen-for-my-own-financial-gain.
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 2:45 pm
  #27  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by OleJanx
I don't think being dragged round shitholes makes you a better expat, but it does make you more appreciative when you end up in one of the better berths!
Quite
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 2:48 pm
  #28  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by NorthernLad
I for one would rather be living with running water, bogs that flush and a/c. If some see that as being soft, so be it.
That's not being soft. But being all "expatwoman" oooh the maid doesnt dust properly, pork is soooo expensive, customer service is shite, oh the driving is terrible darling.... is.
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 2:51 pm
  #29  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

I worked in Uttoxeter once. Now that is a shithole and makes Doha look like a thriving metropolis.
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Old Sep 25th 2012, 3:13 pm
  #30  
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Default Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"

Originally Posted by britexpat76
I worked in Uttoxeter once. Now that is a shithole and makes Doha look like a thriving metropolis.
Hell's bells! Who'd you piss off?
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