Several random questions in my head!

Hi Nozzamalozza!! Hoping all on the board are fine. For school, must check the website of Abu Dhabi Education Council because they provide you with the list of public and private schools along with their complete details and ranking based on performance. I have a son Alhumdullilah and looking for a school for him these days. You can officially ask for an appointment to visit school, it is much better to collect details online, views etc. and then finalize a visit to it. So it will be easy for you to choose the best for your child. Daiso, this Japanese shop is my favourite too! Regards, Reema

1. Can you get sky sports TV out there? Either an app or via satellite? You can use the app if you have Sky subscription in the UK. 2. We have seen loads of property's for rent in Hydra Village, what are they like? It's very far out and would take ages to get to most places. I also heard there were issues Tawtheeq's and therefore companies weren't paying housing allowances on them and difficult to get ADDC bills in your name. Not sure if this is true though. 3. Do you hang washing out to dry or use tumble dryers? How does it work? We use tumble dryers. The clothes feel really crunchy to me otherwise. Always hung out in UK and Oz but hate the feeling here. 4. Are the mosques really loud or can you have a lie in if you want? You learn to sleep through the call to prayer. I don't even hear them anymore when I am asleep. 5. My 5 month old son has a cleft palate and once surgery is done in September in the UK, he will need speech therapy, has any one had experience of this over there? It won't be for a while yet obviously! So really my question is, what's the health care like? Healthcare is amazing but dependent on your level of cover. We have Daman Enhanced Platinum and the care for our twins (one of whom its critically ill) has been the best we've ever had. Nothing (for us anyway) is really covered for routine dental care so I just shelled out 3k for a crown but the root canal was covered. Routine cleaning and x-rays aren't. 6. Which area should we NOT live in? Really down to personal preference. We live in Khalifa City A near Etihad and love our villa. Originally lived in Al Reef and it just wasn't for us and I hated the longer commute to school. 7. Which is the best British curriculum schools? My twins attend Brighton College and we love it. Not one complaint at all. We also considered BSAK, Cranleigh , BISAD and Al Yasmina. Amity has just opened and has impressed me a lot. All schools are next to impossible to get into so you'll need to apply to all of them. 8. I'm into all things crafty, is there places I can buy sewing bits etc? Not crafty at all so can't help with this one.

Sorry, autocorrect on my phone is an utter nightmare! Hopefully what I've written still makes sense! ?

OK, so here's my contribution. Hydra villas - These are a long way out of Abu Dhabi. I'd recommend somewhere closer to the centre. Are you going to have a car? If not, you'll be reliant on taxis and if that's the case, I'd recommend living in a community like Al Zeina, Al Muneera or (if you have to have a villa) Al Raha gardens close to lots of amenities, especially if you have kids. There aren't really any bad areas to live but some developments just have more going on than others. There's a shop called 'Dubai Library Distribution' in Al Raha mall that has lots of craft stuff. I myself practice decoupage and scrap booking and get lots of stuff there. Daiso is also quite good for bits and bobs. Laundry dries very quickly both inside and out here. We use drying racks in our maid's room as we don't have a live in made. My husband sends his work shirts to a laundry to be washed, dried and ironed and that costs us about £7 a week (usually 5 shirts and a pair of trousers or two). I really can't tell you much about schools, My child hasn't started yet, but healthcare here is good. If anything the doctors try to persuade you to do more than you would in the UK as your insurance pays for it. I know a lady who has sent her son to speech therapy and he has made huge progress over the last few months. I can't hear the call to prayer from my place unless I happen to be awake early in the morning and then I have to strain my ears to hear it. I have a friend who lives right next door to a mosque and I have to admit it's pretty loud. She says you phase it out after a while and she never has any problems sleeping. One thing I would suggest is that you join Abu Dhabi Mums when you arrive. It's a great way to meet other mums and find out crucial information about the city and what it has to offer. I've been here 6 months and have made loads of friends through it. Most developments also have Facebook groups for mums where play dates and meet ups can be arranged. Hope this helps! ?

OK, so here's my contribution. Hydra villas - These are a long way out of Abu Dhabi. I'd recommend somewhere closer to the centre. Are you going to have a car? If not, you'll be reliant on taxis and if that's the case, I'd recommend living in a community like Al Zeina, Al Muneera or (if you have to have a villa) Al Raha gardens close to lots of amenities, especially if you have kids. There aren't really any bad areas to live but some developments just have more going on than others. There's a shop called 'Dubai Library Distribution' in Al Raha mall that has lots of craft stuff. I myself practice decoupage and scrap booking and get lots of stuff there. Daiso is also quite good for bits and bobs. Laundry dries very quickly both inside and out here. We use drying racks in our maid's room as we don't have a live in made. My husband sends his work shirts to a laundry to be washed, dried and ironed and that costs us about £7 a week (usually 5 shirts and a pair of trousers or two). I really can't tell you much about schools, My child hasn't started yet, but healthcare here is good. If anything the doctors try to persuade you to do more than you would in the UK as your insurance pays for it. I know a lady who has sent her son to speech therapy and he has made huge progress over the last few months. I can't hear the call to prayer from my place unless I happen to be awake early in the morning and then I have to strain my ears to hear it. I have a friend who lives right next door to a mosque and I have to admit it's pretty loud. She says you phase it out after a while and she never has any problems sleeping. One thing I would suggest is that you join Abu Dhabi Mums when you arrive. It's a great way to meet other mums and find out crucial information about the city and what it has to offer. I've been here 6 months and have made loads of friends through it. Most developments also have Facebook groups for mums where play dates and meet ups can be arranged. Hope this helps! ?

8.There's a craft shop called Green Branch on Electra St that has a lot of craft supplies. 5. Stars for Special Abilities and Kids First both have qualified speech therapists. 7. This can be contentious, but imo the best british curriculum schools are British School al Khubairat, Brighton College, Al Yasmina and Pearl Primary .Long waiting lists for all though, especially the younger years. 1. My husband loves watching sport on TV - we have Bein for premier league football [english commentary - more live games than you get on Sky'> and OSN - he watches F1, golf, rugby.... he also watches the champions league etc. Hope that helps a bit

Hello I have several things running round my head that I'd like to know about. I'm not in Abu Dhabi yet, I will follow my husband there in 4 months from the UK. So, anyway, my questions, if anyone can help I'll really appreciate it. 1. Can you get sky sports TV out there? Either an app or via satellite? 2. We have seen loads of property's for rent in Hydra Village, what are they like? 3. Do you hang washing out to dry or use tumble dryers? How does it work? 4. Are the mosques really loud or can you have a lie in if you want? 5. My 5 month old son has a cleft palate and once surgery is done in September in the UK, he will need speech therapy, has any one had experience of this over there? It won't be for a while yet obviously! So really my question is, what's the health care like? 6. Which area should we NOT live in? 7. Which is the best British curriculum schools? 8. I'm into all things crafty, is there places I can buy sewing bits etc? Thank you in advance. I thought it would be easier to ask all questions at once! I hope you can help me with any of the above or all! Thanks x I can help with number 3! You definitely won't need a tumble dryer. The A/C inside or the temperatures outside are adequate enough.

wow Nozza lot's of random questions, to answer your questions: 1. you can get sports TV via Etisalat or OSN cable network based on their different TV packages,it depends what kind of sports you are watching.. 3. usually people hang in their clothes after wash but again it depends, you can buy a washer/dryer all in 1 and also you can buy separate washer and dryer. it's like UK and north america that they use washer and dryer. 4. Mosque are their place to pray they call a prayer 5x a day so you can hear it not more than 5mins and if you're living close to a mosque. 6. there's no area here that you cannot live in. mostly here are really nice and well developed, if you want closer to the place where you work and do not want to take a bus or drive then you should consider in the City of Ad. but if you are driving then you can go farther like in Hydra Village as what you checked. there's a lot of nice places to choose from. it depends on your preferences 8.i'm into Scrapbooking and cross stitching, i didnt find any place yet for cross stitching but i found a place for some crafts that you can see lot of things : Craft store close to World trade center and i go to Daiso for cheaper stuff.. i go buy my threads tons of them, whenever i go back home in Canada because we have diff. stores there to buy lots of things for crafts and it's way cheaper:D i'd rather pay taxes than pay 3x more than the price here.. :D hope that helps! and cheer up you dont need to be disappointed because nobody cares about your message here in the forum. i feel you but you know sometimes we just have to help ourself to find our way out.. shoot me a message if you have more questions and i can help you look into that.. :D