Expatriate Community

Here in Abu Dhabi we are expatriates from all over the world, in particular there are many South Africans, Indians, Australians and British.

Almost everywhere you go you will hear voices and languages from the rest of the world, the schools here typically have representation for around 70 countries, this makes for a really diverse cultural mix, and is something we can embrace in our lives here.

Each nation has some sort or other ‘group’ for socializing and keeping up to date on their own country’s news and goings on (See Expat Clubs and Societies in Abu Dhabi). We are encouraged to celebrate our home country’s culture and festival days, and all our social events are expected, and catered for by the local community and businesses. It is very easy to buy Christmas items here for example. Expatriates are very well catered for in the shops, malls and supermarkets, where with a little searching, we are able to find a range of products, foods and other items from our home country. We are able to eat foods from our home countries in restaurants, but more importantly we are able to sample them from other nations, without going far at all.
 

Of course we expatriates are able to view and experience first hand, this country! And after spending just a short while here have an understanding of the culture and way of life of this Islamic nation (See Emiratis), The Holy Month of Ramadan (See Guide for Ramadan) is a perfect example of this, we are included in the rules because we live here, and this close at hand experience of the culture, is one of the reasons we all choose to live here.

The melting pot of all our nations is one of the very positive things about living here as an expatriate in Abu Dhabi, we are able to learn a lot from each other while getting on with our everyday lives. What a great opportunity!