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Your life as an expat v your previous life
The good and the bad, please. Expat good: shorter hours, safer for the children, cheap home help, better savings, great weather for six months a year. Expat bad: intellectual stultification, summer humidity, the driving, the widespread stupidity. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Good: Better lifestyle (pool/private beach in close vicinity that we can use without getting hypothermia), wider gene pool to choose a partner from, opportunity to tick off some bucket list cars, not surrounded by moaning pricks.
Bad: Sanity tax, air quality, bureaucracy (the stress, hassle and expense I had to go through just to get a cracked windscreen replaced almost had me packing my suitcase), lack of community (i.e. every man for himself), quality of fresh produce compared to what I can get back home, the smell of that incense stuff they burn outside every perfume shop. censorship. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Good: money, holidays, weather, 'lifestyle', better car, less pikeys / scumbags, cleanliness of surroundings.
Bad: distance from family, certain freedoms, hassle of dealing with morons, driving. Former definitely outweighs the latter. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Good : was a brilliant place to bring up my kids, V8 cars, cheap taxis which leads to decent social life, disposable income, closeness to Asia
Bad : as others have said, bureaucracy, newbies and their imported political correctness, beer prices, stale overpriced ingredients for cooking, closeness to Asia. Like others, overall the money/happiness bucket is still filling faster than the 54iT bucket. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by TheShed
(Post 12561631)
Good : closeness to Asia
Bad :closeness to Asia. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Interesting and timely thread. Good to see comparison from people who have been living in UAE for long time.
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
The good:
Massively improved our financial prospects Successfully changed career path and have benefited from a lack of local skills and competition n the market which has pushed me up the ladder very quickly More of a global outlook Re politics and social issues than friends back home Hugely grateful for our place in the lottery of birthplace Easy access to sports and meeting the world's best as they come through Concerts Live music Easy, easy life. Bad points: Realisation that most of the world is ****ed by power imbalance Watching cavalier environmental destruction Hatred of the fact that the approach to law enforcement is so race dependent Too easy to smoke so I still do Too easy to go out and my liver hates me for that too |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by al dente
(Post 12564402)
The good:
Massively improved our financial prospects Successfully changed career path and have benefited from a lack of local skills and competition n the market which has pushed me up the ladder very quickly More of a global outlook Re politics and social issues than friends back home Hugely grateful for our place in the lottery of birthplace Easy access to sports and meeting the world's best as they come through Concerts Live music Easy, easy life. Bad points: Realisation that most of the world is ****ed by power imbalance Watching cavalier environmental destruction Hatred of the fact that the approach to law enforcement is so race dependent Too easy to smoke so I still do Too easy to go out and my liver hates me for that too |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
My expat stint is coming to an end this December and this will be the second one, both in the Gulf and both lasting four years with a two year stint back in the UK in between. My list below is based mainly on Dubai, the past two years in Qatar don't count.
The good: Money Travel More rapid promotions for those who work for it, greater responsibilities and challenges at younger age on bigger projects Ease of life (nicer/bigger flats, nicer cars, greater disposable income) Great outdoor activities year round Never having to check the weather forecast before planning a camping trip Dune bashing / desert and wadi explorations Never having to clean or iron Great diversity, people from all over the world, meet a huge range of people Expats tend to be friendly and sociable Expat circles tend to be active, always partying, always playing, always out and about and doing stuff. Very positive attitudes and "go get 'em" approach to life. Nothing is impossible. Anything can be accomplished if you put your mind to it. The attitudes and mindsets reflects Dubai quite well, being able to build an entire metro system in a handful of years is a perfect example. A lot closer to NZ The bad: It's not the real world. Lots of knobheads around. It's all about money and nothing else. Materialism abounds. Self-absorbed, narcissistic people abound. Diverse but heavily stratified society more akin to Victorian Britain than the modern West Dating/relationships are ephemeral Friends come and go too quickly. Entire circles of friends can too easily up and leave within a year, leaving you alone Racism/sexism prevalent Lack of equality Everything is overpriced Surface is all bling bling, underneath it quality tends to be shit (and this applies to everything from construction to people) Still 14 hours from NZ Both the list of pros and cons are exaggerated to a degree but I think they still provide a realistic overview of what can be expected. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Morons and stupidity are found everywhere. Remember that 50% of the population everywhere are below average intelligence !
Retiring to Scotland I was reminded that many people on this island of Britannia are insular. Well it is an "insula" I suppose. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by Millhouse
(Post 12564422)
All but one of your bad points are actually good points.
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by al dente
(Post 12564440)
Must be my sunny personality..... or because of your more cynical one?
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Today!! First day since summer that I drove to work with the top down :-) Start of Autumn.
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by TheShed
(Post 12567670)
Today!! First day since summer that I drove to work with the top down :-) Start of Autumn.
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by Scamp
(Post 12567869)
You drove topless? I imagine there was a queue of women in cars behind vying for a peek?
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by TheShed
(Post 12567670)
Today!! First day since summer that I drove to work with the top down :-) Start of Autumn.
Or are you more into really inappropriate grime? |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by Millhouse
(Post 12567946)
Do you do this with Dire Straits', Money for nothin' booming out?
Or are you more into really inappropriate grime? |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Hearts 80s radio all the way. I think Kylie made an appearance � ���� |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Completely tone deaf here. Despite being dragged to a million and one concerts by my parents and forced to take piano lessons for a few years, I couldn't tell you a thing about music and only have the vaguest idea who Kylie is. Blond Australian, right? I don't think I ever bought a CD in my life, which is also showing my age because people don't buy them any more, right?
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by DXBtoDOH
(Post 12568381)
Completely tone deaf here. Despite being dragged to a million and one concerts by my parents and forced to take piano lessons for a few years, I couldn't tell you a thing about music and only have the vaguest idea who Kylie is. Blond Australian, right? I don't think I ever bought a CD in my life, which is also showing my age because people don't buy them any more, right?
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by Millhouse
(Post 12568540)
I genuinely feel sorry for you - how can someone so young be so disconnected from modern day culture. What happened?
Music just isn't my thing. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by DXBtoDOH
(Post 12568680)
Please don't.
Music just isn't my thing. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by littlejimmy
(Post 12568768)
Do you appreciate any art whatsoever? Are you actually a robot? Don't mean to be rude, just amazed that someone can have no connection with any music at all.
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by littlejimmy
(Post 12568768)
Do you appreciate any art whatsoever? Are you actually a robot? Don't mean to be rude, just amazed that someone can have no connection with any music at all.
It doesn't matter whether it's the King's College choir or techno pop or whatever, it's all background noise to me. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by Millhouse
(Post 12568876)
music aside - general popular culture. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by DXBtoDOH
(Post 12568954)
Of course. I'm an architect.
On the first year of my QS degree in Newcastle the course was shared with Architects. There was a guy who loved telling everyone he was an architect. Like every single seminar...hand would go up..."Hi, I'm an Architect". To be fair, I wish I'd been an architect rather than a QS... |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by littlejimmy
(Post 12568970)
Ah, that explains it... :D
On the first year of my QS degree in Newcastle the course was shared with Architects. There was a guy who loved telling everyone he was an architect. Like every single seminar...hand would go up..."Hi, I'm an Architect". To be fair, I wish I'd been an architect rather than a QS... You probably make more money as a QS. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by DXBtoDOH
(Post 12568976)
Eh. It ain't all cracked up to be.
You probably make more money as a QS. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by DXBtoDOH
(Post 12568956)
You make too many assumptions, Millhouse. I do enjoy the Great British Bake off even if I don't cook. And that's popular culture, isn't it?
Have you been watching the new series? |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by littlejimmy
(Post 12568970)
Ah, that explains it... :D
On the first year of my QS degree in Newcastle the course was shared with Architects. There was a guy who loved telling everyone he was an architect. Like every single seminar...hand would go up..."Hi, I'm an Architect". To be fair, I wish I'd been an architect rather than a QS... They tell you. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by weasel decentral
(Post 12568985)
Reminds me of that joke; how do you know if someone has an iPhone?
They tell you. |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by reddiva
(Post 12568982)
Have you been watching the new series?
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by DXBtoDOH
(Post 12569008)
Haven't seen 2018 yet. I've seen last year's with Prue Leith, who I enjoy just as much as Mary Berry. Don't tell me any spoilers!
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by Millhouse
(Post 12568988)
What's the joke?
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Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
I’m new to Dubai, what’s the best bank account to open to start saving my money? |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Originally Posted by Scotland2.0
(Post 12573140)
I’m new to Dubai, what’s the best bank account to open to start saving my money? |
Re: Your life as an expat v your previous life
Standard Chartered. Best cashback card is the Platinum Mastercard - shopping, school fees, dewa, etisalat, salik, speeding fines :)
Depending how much you spend on it, of course. Also, their Xtrasaver is giving 2%, no restrictions. Customer service can be pants, but nothing unique there. |
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