Anyone Ever Lived in the UAE (Dubai) Temporarily?

my husband is currently over there. I am not sure about how schooling would be over there, because I am here with our kids. However, I do know that food over there is astronomcial. My husband pays 15-20 american dollars for breakfast and it costs over 10 for a simple hamburger. Have you, he doesnt have the luxury of going grocery shopping, but still from what he has said pretty much everything over there is crazy. Its costs him 4 dollars just to wash a pair of underwear. (yes 1 pair) military pre diem is 87 dollars a day, and he nearly uses all of that. Anyway hope this helps in someway. I feel like it sounds that I am saying you should go, I'm not. I just wanted to let you know that you are correct it is VERY expensive there.

Hi,
Your husband wouldn't happen to be in the construction industry would he? I ask because my husband has been applying for Jobs over there in Dubai. I have a 5 month old girl, and I am too curious and somewhat worried if he gets called and accepts the offer to relocate. I mean my daughter won't begin school until probably 3 years or 4 from now and i assume the project would be terminated by then. Please let me know what replies you get and info etc...

Have a good day

Hi G., my sister-in-law currently lives there. She moved there about 1 year ago when her husband got a great job as a pilot (Captain) for them. She actually loves it. She has 2 older kids that do not live with her, but her youngest who is 9 does. The older 2 are over 25 and actually live here in Florida. Her 9 year old goes to school and it is Sunday to Thursday. Yes, there is school on Sunday. But the bus picks up her daughter right at her front door and so far her daughter is doing great, making lots of friends and loves school. It is a regular public school. I can find out which one and the cost if you want. I do know that the airline company pays for cost of living, housing, schooling etc, so cost of school does not matter to my sister-in-law. She also lives in a really big community that ONLY has foreigners. It has it's own shopping plaza, pool, parks so she does not go out of it much. She has a lot of friends who also moved with her and knows a lots of Americans living there. She sends of pictures all the time when she explores UAE, with her camel riding or visiting the mall which has a ski slope in it!!!! Dubai is really beautiful from the pictures. My mother-in-law went for 2 months this summer and loved it. She said the people where so nice and friendly. But as you said on the expensive side. I do not know anything about home schooling, but I can ask my sister-in-law if any of her friends or people she knows does. I can also give you her e-mail address to contact her if you need, I will just have to check with her first. But she is really sweet and VERY down to earth person. Good luck and let me know if you need my help. Lisa

I never lived there but I have lived in a couple foreign countries while in the service. My suggestion is to start researching all of your questions. If you decide to go ahead with this you will need to have things preplanned, and have some idea of how to arrange everything otherwise you'll set yourself up for problems and isolation.

I did some browsing on the web to find some info on education there, you would need to do further searching, but here is what I have found. Dubai does have both public and private schooling, but from what I can tell the free schooling is only for citizens. People from other countries can pay to attend private schools, but they have to be enrolled before May or they have to wait for the new year in September. Once you decide to place your child somewhere they are only aloud to change under "special circumstances". Costs vary dramatically. As for English, Dubai does teach Arab but most schools also teach English. Many foreign countries have English as a second language. There were several sites I found with schools that were specifically geared toward English. So both English and Arabic are given which is very good for children. Learning two languages early on is very good for increasing their understanding of language, and increasing connections in the brain. This makes learning later on much easier. Plus at that early age it is much easier for the brain to process and absorb that information.

As for Homeschooling I could not find a lot of official information, but I did find several posts from people who did choose to home-school due to high schooling costs. There are international curriculum's available from many companies that you should be able to have geared toward English while being used in Dubai. Dubai is, as far as I can tell, very advanced compared to many middle eastern cities, and should have accommodations for many of the things you are concerned about.

As I said, you will definitely need to do your research to make sure everything is planned for, that you have a good idea of affordability for things you have to pay for, and that you know the laws, and cultural expectations for the area and nation you will be in. Also make sure you get out and get to know people if you decide to go for it. It is not good to keep yourself isolated in a foreign country. And Dubai should have plenty of English speaking individuals there.

Hi G.,

Is your husband in construction? I'm asking because my husband's friend (construction development) went about 4 months ago to work in construction development. Unfortunately, his wife stayed in NYC working while they waited for her visa to come through. It did, she quit her job and the day after she arrived, he was laid off and told he had to leave the country within 14 days (their visas were dependant on his job). Construction in Dubai has pretty much come to a halt with the world economic situation, so just be super careful if this is your husband's field.

Now they are both back here, with no home (they gave up their apartment) stuff is still in transit from Dubai, and they have no jobs. Seriously consider your own options as well since you would not be able to work in Dubai....

Good luck! C.

G.,

I have a close friend that moved to Abu Dabi (sp?) about 6 months ago. She moved with her husband and 3 year old son. Although its different she considers it a lifetime experience for both her and her family. She is American and says that it is a melting pot of culture. She was able to put her son in an American school there to. She misses some of her food staples but other than that she is adjusting and enjoying it. She also moved there because her husband got a job offer.

Please let me know if you would like to get in contact with Jaime.

Hi G.,
I have never lived in Dubai, but have lived in other parts of the Middle East and have met lots of people who lived in Dubai. I'm certainly not an expert at home schooling but I have friends in other middle east countries who home school their kids with either an American or German home school course. I'm sure you already know that Dubai is an incredibly exspensive city, but despite what you see on television, it is still very middle eastern. There are a lot of people there from all over the world so you don't really feel like you're totally stuck in the middle of the desert..but as soon as you leave the city that's kind of what it feels like.
Becasue of the wealth, it can be hard for kids there to see that it's not really reality. I have a good friend there who is struggling with that right now.
I love the middle east and I think it's a really wonderful place, and I find the people there are so open and friendly (although people from Dubai can be a bit more snotty) and I think it would be a great experience for your kids and your family if you feel it's the right thing to do. Good luck!!!
J.

I don't know anything about living in the UAE, but I say if you can't be in control of your own children's education, stay away. One source that is well-known for providing educational materials for overseas families is Calvert.