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Please help me!!!!


MSCHARLTT My husbnd and I are moving to Dibai in Spring of 2008. This will be the first time we have lived out of the USA. I was wondering what the stores are like there to buy food. Is it anything like the USA and will I be able to find the same things there as we do have here? And what kind of meats do they have. Beef Chicken Pork. Or will I have to eat Lamb. I have tried it but don't like it all that much. Can anyone please tell me what to expect. And if you would not mind giving me a e-mail address or MSN Yahoo or AIM screen name so that we could chat. Cause I do have a whole lot of Questions about living there. Not just the food shopping thing but like what should I bring with me. We are going to be there for a least a year and maybe 5 1/2 years not sure on just how long. Need to know if I should put everything in storage or ship what I want to keep. ie Christmas,easter etc decerations. or just ship them to Dubai. Thank you all I have been reading in here some questions but just get confused with some of the answers. Like USA tv. do I need a Slingbox? or can I get tv there? Thanks again
Concord
Where are you coming from?
Mississipi? Iowa? San Fransisco? NYC? Florida?, etc.
Then the "description" of would or would not make sense to you when a comparison is made....
So let us know and someone might be able to describe it better to you... MSCHARLTT we are moving from the East Coast of VA. Concord Ok. Here is the "scoop". They have everthing here in Dubai except "White Castle" burgers. Think of Dubai as another USA state, really. All the junk food stores are here, all the mall stores are here in addition to some british stores. Things are very modern (except the bureacracy). Traffic is a bit crazy in that there is too much and people drive fast. Think D.C. traffic at rush hour. It is very hot and HUMID for half the year... Alabama in July humid and temperature is at around 100 from June to September (and at mid day always above 100). But everything is airconditioned. Forget about long walks during the day. It is not a pedestrian friendly city- both planning or temperature wise...Nevertheless in "winter' one can walk in some areas. Restaurants are not that expensive (think city prices, DC, Philly, NY, etc.) and they only serve alchohol at hotel restaurants or hotels in golf clubs (or clubs). If you are young there are lots of clubs. There are people from all over the world here and most likely you or/and your husband will be working with people from all over the world. You must have a car to get around. There is descrimination - specially if you are indian/pakistani/phillipino/bangladeshi and it is very overt. Becuase of the discrimination many people walk around with an air of superiority. Particularly those who come to Dubai to "get a second chance in life". Meaning they were hair dressser or mechanics at home but here they walk around the malls or restaurants pretending to be royalty. They are so obvious and laughable... Doctors, Dentists and hospitals are ok. They have churches - if that is your thing. The locals are polite and pleasent. At first they seem arrogant but they are like New Yorkers once you strike a conversation with them they are quite friendly, helpful, etc. Same at work... But teenager will be teenagers.. You need a copy of your passport for everthing. To get a phone number, to get cable tv, to get electricity, to get water service, etc. You need your lease to get any utilities. You need your residency visa to get a lease. You need a job to get residency visa. In most cases you have to pay the rent up front (one year, one check). Rent is expensive - think NYC rent prices. But you aint getting NY living. It's sunny everyday - except the 3 days it rains. Because of the construction there is a bit of haze. There are not many museums (in fact there is one). And not many cultural things. They do bring acts/artists quite often. Currently Justin Timberlake is here (if that's your thing). They do have "time out Dubai" here. You can bring your pets but if you are bringing a dog you need to live in a house. Note that it is nearly impossible to walk them becuase of the heat. Schools are all private (unless you are a local). You can wear whatever you want. Whatever you would wear in virginia you can wear here. Leave all your winter clothes behind. No need to ship your stuff. They have everything here. If you have a place to store it that would be best unless you are moving here for good. Furniture and household goods are cheaper or same here (Ikea is here, etc. and there are other similar stores). Kitchen appliances often do not come with the aparment or house. Kind of stupid but that is the case. Cable programing sucks. They do have showtime but it is all re-runs of american shows. Your best bet is to get sling box and if you have tivo even better. However, note that cable sucks as well so sometimes the sling box transmittion is choppy. If you want to see live sports on tv you need cable here. A pint of bear costs 7 bucks (25 dirhams) Supermarkets have everything including interesting and unrecognizable fruits and vegetables. The beaches are nice and the water is clear. If you are a USA citizen you have the privilege of still paying taxes in teh USA even if you are a UAE resident. There are 5 daily flights to USA - good to know just in case. It's far from West Virginia - thank god. Good luck. Concord Double post :oops: arniegang Fantasic post Conc Not a lot more to say me thinks KeithL Nice one Concs :wink: gtmash Yeah, accurate description by Conc, even though I read half of it. He has a lot of free time this long weekend. MaaaD i freakin miss white castle burgers at 5am will someone bring it here hack88
which tourism company do u work for?

1 Dubai Jobs .com The First Place to Find a Job in Dubai
hack88
anywayz ..u are really helpful Concord The Dubai help post went well so I decided to post a similar one for Sharjah:
so here it goes
[color=red][/color]
Of course I am somewhat kidding. St.Lucifer :) great job Conci.. quality!! gtmash
Damn dude. I guess you got the December 3 holiday as well. gezza There is descrimination - specially if you are indian/pakistani/phillipino/bangladeshi and it is very overt. No need to ship your stuff. They have everything here. If you have a place to store it that would be best unless you are moving here for good. A pint of bear costs 7 bucks (25 dirhams) A few discrepancies!! .I think you will find its called beer my friend, .If you can DRINK a bear then your a better man than me....! Please DO ship your stuff because in a new city...you will need your own Familiar surroundings to help you settle. .as regards the racism post....each to their own good post though mate 8) HP
:wink:
sage & onion Whilst the post for Dubai was good and for the most part really informative, the one for Sharjah, is not quite correct so I would like to add my 2 fils worth, just for the hell of it.
English Girlie I haven't laughed so much for ages!! Thank you Con :lol: :lol: :lol: Just perfect!! xx MSCHARLTT Thanks so much for all your help. My company is the one's moving there and Husband is going to be working with us as well. So our jobs are set. We did not have to look for our jobs. They said if we stay in Dubai for 1 year we do not have to pay taxes here in the USA. That we will see. As for the goverment here they find a loop hole in everything and find a way to take your money.LOL But that will be seen. We don't care for White Castle (sorry for those who do) or much in the line of junk food. And as far as Applebees goes we ate there the other night and it was not good at all. Not sure if it was just one location or not. Will have to see. We wished that we could bring a WAWA with us just for the Milk and Coffee. But don't think they will move there. We are from NJ but moved to VA a few years ago and missed our WAWA coffee. and now they are building them here in the south. (Will have to call them on Dubai)??? for anyone who knows what a WAWA is will know what I am talking about. Starbucks coffee is not as good as WAWA>LOL But thank you all for your help hope that we can all chat sometime on here and will be reading your postings I do enjoy them. We are not drinks so that is also a good thing for us. But never know. I most likely will not drive there anyway. I don't drive that much here. Hubby and I work at the same place no reason for me to drive. (Thank goodness) I don't like to drive all that much and depend on him for that skill. He should do fine in traffic just will the people there do as well once he hits the streets. Thinks he is a NASCAR driver and on the track. You will all know who I am with out a picture of me just look for the girl riding on the passange side with eyes closed. LOL But reading some of the post on here I have to laugh and some of you say yes you can and some say no you can't so there are some things that I am still not sure of. All I want to do when I get there is not insault anyone's way of living. I have lived in the woods with no people around and I have lived in the city with too many people around. We just go with the flow. Traffic can be no worse there then it is here. Some times a 2 mile trip on the interstate will take you 45 mins or more. You learn to laugh at the people that get upset and start yelling and blowing there horns. (they think we can all fly over traffic and that there horn is a magic button that makes the traffic go away)
gtmash
I drank a bear once. Tastes like chicken.
And as an indian/pakistani/phillipino/bangladeshi, I can relate. Concord
You know, they now sell those things in the frozen sections of supermarkets. I've been tempted but...
Belly Bombers... Concord
You are welcome.
And note,the bit about not paying taxes in the USA is not true . You will pay federal taxes on anything above about $90,000.00 provided you stay out of the country for 330 days. Otherwise you will be be guilty of tax evasion - just remember how they got Al Capone.
What happens is that Employers will say "its tax free". Well yes, there is no income tax in the UAE but you are obliged to file taxes in the USA and pay income tax for anything above the $90,000 - your accoutant will be the one to talk to about that. Your employer has no obligation to withold taxes it is all your responsibility. Now, if the salary is less than 90K then there will be no tax liability. Your State Tax (from your user name I would have said North Carolina but you said Virginia) are another matter and they depend on whether or not you are a resident there, keep a home, etc.
Think of it, how else could the USA afford to pay for all those bombs!
The rest is as you said...
Good luck. Concord Oh, and one more thing: You will run into morons in dubai (real and virtual) you only need to look back -not too far - in this thread and it will take you a nano second to spot the culprit. sage & onion
You must be looking into your little doggie mirror Concord
But of course, you must have loads of relatives. Concord Wow it took less than a nano second! English Girlie Ping..... off to fightclub!! Interesting and entertaining too..... shame!! :roll: arniegang please all keep it civil -this is a good post. Sage it was obvious the post about Sharjah was houmorous, i for one found it very entertaining. anymore bickering and i will split the thread to FC. Thanks ^ian^ Clearly there is a rift in the space time continuum. maximusprime Think of it, how else could the USA afford to pay for all those bombs!



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