I worked in the Middle East for a couple of years, Cairo, was offered a job in Brussels and took it - was a stupid mistake. Cairo was a great place to live and no tax plus other bits and pieces afforded us plenty of scope to make savings / rent property in UK etc, but, forgetting the financials, a great experience - Go for it and good luck
My brother was headhunted to run a huge retail centre. He was treated in a really bizzare way by the company he worked for.....ridiculous hours, constantly under survelance even in the company hotel, constant demands to surrender his passport...even in his free time if he left the hotel he was asked where he was going and they insisted on him being taxied anywhere by the company taxi service even if the trip was only a block away and wanted to know when he was going to return and in the end he used to just make a dash out of the hotel and ignore the employees who tried to follow him down the street...they didnt like him doing his own washing and stopped him leaving the hotel on one ocassion, a staff member ripping his washing bag from his hands...they gave him "free" accomodation but then they deducted the costs from his monthly salary, and when he tried to resolve it, they told him that they had decided to change his contract and that he should look for alternative accomodation if he thought he could find anywhere cheaper......he found out his predecessor tried to resign and the leave the country 3 times and he was intercepted at the airport on his second attempt to leave, the third time he left all his belonging behind and when he got on the plane and it was taxi-ing down the runway, he sent his employer a mms photo and captioned it "have a guess where Iam?. Apparently they treat the workforce within the centre like slaves and they also live in very poor conditions in some sort of camp complex. One morning he had had enough, he just left his apartment, hailed a cab and then paid cash at the counter on the next plane out of the country....the company have since written to him with threatening letters and have told him in no uncertain terms not to return to the country as he would be arrested on some ridiculous visa charge....truly bizzare as he held such high hopes.
Ive stayed overnight once, way before my brother went over to work...not my choice as the plane I was taking was delayed for 8 hours.....found the locals to be rude, unhelpful and felt like they were almost sneering at customs and made to feel very uncomfortable......plus side-a nice airport, with good facilities in both terminals so long as you dont have to step foot outside or deal with the locals.....most of the staff are foreigners thankfully.
Having worked in the Middle East I would say try not to fall into the expat life too much. Keep your feet on the ground, far too many expats end up with an over inflated opinion of themselves after a while.
Racism is chronic, especially towards Asians and non emiratis but overall the standard of living is good.
Some of are pretty awesome though.
By the time I finish this contract it'll be 3 years since I moved to China, I'm leaving in September but the ONLY reason is I couldn't raise children here and as I'm proposing to my girlfriend tomorrow it's something I now have to think about.
The only things I really miss from home are football and family, sadly money isn't good enough in china to make even semi regular trips home viable, I'd imagine that is not the case in Dubai. You've gotta go for it, if you try and hate it you can always go home, if you don't you'll probably spend the rest of your life thinking "what if".
Having worked in the Middle East I would say try not to fall into the expat life too much. Keep your feet on the ground, far too many expats end up with an over inflated opinion of themselves after a while.
Racism is chronic, especially towards Asians and non emiratis but overall the standard of living is good.
Some of are pretty awesome though.
By the time I finish this contract it'll be 3 years since I moved to China, I'm leaving in September but the ONLY reason is I couldn't raise children here and as I'm proposing to my girlfriend tomorrow it's something I now have to think about.
The only things I really miss from home are football and family, sadly money isn't good enough in china to make even semi regular trips home viable, I'd imagine that is not the case in Dubai. You've gotta go for it, if you try and hate it you can always go home, if you don't you'll probably spend the rest of your life thinking "what if".
Having worked in the Middle East I would say try not to fall into the expat life too much. Keep your feet on the ground, far too many expats end up with an over inflated opinion of themselves after a while.
Racism is chronic, especially towards Asians and non emiratis but overall the standard of living is good.
Some of are pretty awesome though.
By the time I finish this contract it'll be 3 years since I moved to China, I'm leaving in September but the ONLY reason is I couldn't raise children here and as I'm proposing to my girlfriend tomorrow it's something I now have to think about.
The only things I really miss from home are football and family, sadly money isn't good enough in china to make even semi regular trips home viable, I'd imagine that is not the case in Dubai. You've gotta go for it, if you try and hate it you can always go home, if you don't you'll probably spend the rest of your life thinking "what if".
Ok everyone. Time for an update..... We've accepted the jobs and we head out in August!
Thanks again everyone for all the input on this thread, much appreciated. @Red_Pete in Dubai, I'll send you a pm, I'm sure I could do with some general advice along the way, thank you. Also congratulations @Stu_of_Kunming on your brilliant news.
Cheers all. Now, as I'm a five year season ticket holder - anyone want a season ticket in the North Upper? LOL!
Ok everyone. Time for an update..... We've accepted the jobs and we head out in August!
Thanks again everyone for all the input on this thread, much appreciated. @Red_Pete in Dubai, I'll send you a pm, I'm sure I could do with some general advice along the way, thank you. Also congratulations @Stu_of_Kunming on your brilliant news.
Cheers all. Now, as I'm a five year season ticket holder - anyone want a season ticket in the North Upper? LOL!
Ok everyone. Time for an update..... We've accepted the jobs and we head out in August!
Thanks again everyone for all the input on this thread, much appreciated. @Red_Pete in Dubai, I'll send you a pm, I'm sure I could do with some general advice along the way, thank you. Also congratulations @Stu_of_Kunming on your brilliant news.
Cheers all. Now, as I'm a five year season ticket holder - anyone want a season ticket in the North Upper? LOL!
The North Upper's dead. Now if you'd said A Block, I might have been interested...
Congratulations on the new jobs, and good luck with the move.
Comments
Ive stayed overnight once, way before my brother went over to work...not my choice as the plane I was taking was delayed for 8 hours.....found the locals to be rude, unhelpful and felt like they were almost sneering at customs and made to feel very uncomfortable......plus side-a nice airport, with good facilities in both terminals so long as you dont have to step foot outside or deal with the locals.....most of the staff are foreigners thankfully.
Congrats mate.
well done mate that's grrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaattttttt news
We've accepted the jobs and we head out in August!
Thanks again everyone for all the input on this thread, much appreciated.
@Red_Pete in Dubai, I'll send you a pm, I'm sure I could do with some general advice along the way, thank you.
Also congratulations @Stu_of_Kunming on your brilliant news.
Cheers all. Now, as I'm a five year season ticket holder - anyone want a season ticket in the North Upper? LOL!
Congratulations on the new jobs, and good luck with the move.
Congratulations Stu...hope she said Yes mate.
She did, never been so happy.
Not even when you could change your name from StuFromHull?
Good luck LordRomford. Look forward to the headlines about E number craze hits Middle East sports.
Al Barsha is a nice area.