Custard Apple | ExpatWoman.com
 

Custard Apple

Custard Apple
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 03 July 2011 - 18:27
Well, there's no denying that Dubai's road layout is crazy, and the signposting eccentric, but that's a separate issue to spelling, surely? There's no one 'official' method of transliterating words from Arabic into the Latin alphabet, so you will always get variants that, if you read them aloud, sound roughly the same like all the variant signposts you passed. Like you see 'Sheikh and 'Shaikh' interchangeably. It's even comparatively recent that the spelling of Dubai has settled as 'Dubai' - old maps have it as 'Debbai' or other things... (And locals pronounce it more like that, I think...?)
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 28 May 2011 - 13:38
I just sent off a super stressed, overworked, and over exhausted husband to a spa treatment and until I handed him the voucher it was a surprise. His immediate reaction was "ughh, a massage? what if the man is g*y or something?" And I nearly cried because in reality I really need such a treatment myself but thought he would enjoy it more hence the surprise. He was so reluctant until I literally pushed him out the door. If he doesn't end up enjoying it I am so going to regret spending money on this. Thanks for reading. I had to get that off my chest. I'm sorry that your thoughtful attempt to de-stress your husband backfired, but jeez, what's with the kneejerk homophobia on his part?
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 28 May 2011 - 12:26
Some fine, some debatable and some downright laughable points being made here. Worth a read though. But why is it that I instantly bridle whenever I read an article about Dubai which invariably kicks off with the statement: "Visiting Dubai on a work trip ..." [or holidaying or doing a mini-break to do yet another Dubai-bashing story'>? I hear you on the 'work trip/ 'quick break' point, but on the other hand, no one who is actually Dubai-based will be able to do research/write any kind of negative investigative journalism, so you're left with foreign journalists coming in for short periods. I did some freelance journalism in the UAE a couple of years ago and the pressure was intense to just rejig press releases and to self-censor. And I do get impatient that any negative journalism is all too often converted into accusations of 'Dubai-bashing' - not meaning your comment specifically, WaxMuch, but the general tendency you get on EW. Just because it's 'familiar' doesn't mean it's entirely inaccurate. I don't think the international media is under any obligation to make any of us feel good about living in Dubai. <em>edited by Custard Apple on 28/05/2011</em>
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 25 May 2011 - 12:53
When we lived in Geneva, even though I asked for RSVPs to invitations to parties, I learned the hard way to ring people who hadn't replied to make sure whether or not their child would be attending, explaining that I needed to know the numbers for the birthday cake I was having made. This worked, more often than not. I think it is an aspect of a transient ex-pat population that this happens, rather than an "only in Dubai" thing, myself. I think that's true about the transient expat population thing, but your Geneva situation sounds a little bit different, in that it was about having to hunt up people who hadn't RSVP'd to let you know how many to plan for (which is rude in its own way). But the OP's guests had confirmed they [i'>were[/i'> coming before cancelling on the day. As the guests were all British, it strikes me as behaviour they must have 'learned' in Dubai, because I don't think you would ever encounter that kind of mass last-minute cancellation in the UK, assuming there wasn't a genuine epidemic of illness at a school. It would be considered outrageously bad behaviour, and grounds for breaking off further contact.
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 17 May 2011 - 16:34
swiss girl a report published a couple years back said that the risk of genetic disorders from first-cousin, first generation marriages are about the same as those in a baby from a woman giving birth after forty. i'll try to dig that up if i can. It's linked in the Wikipedia entry for 'cousin marriage'.
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 17 May 2011 - 15:38
custard apple, i think just the mere thought of 'going there' is gross :D or is it :\: What, as if it was your sibling or - gulp - parent?
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 17 May 2011 - 15:33
I am South African/Australian and in my family/culture marriage between cousins is totally UNacceptable. Cousins are like siblings etc and you love them in the same sort of way. In fact when I got the letter of no impediment to marry from the Oz embassy they specifically asked if DH and I were related in any way, if we were they would not allow the marriage I think that's to check you are not siblings! It's not illegal to marry your first cousin in Australia. Absolutely right. They do ask 'the question' though. But it's completely legal. Stomach-turning [imho'> but legal. :) Interested to read the strong 'that's stomach-turning' responses - I don't quite understand why people seem so grossed out. I can't imagine fancying any of my first cousins, but that has more to do with them as human beings than their genetic relationship to me!
Custard Apple
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 17 May 2011 - 15:27
I am South African/Australian and in my family/culture marriage between cousins is totally UNacceptable. Cousins are like siblings etc and you love them in the same sort of way. In fact when I got the letter of no impediment to marry from the Oz embassy they specifically asked if DH and I were related in any way, if we were they would not allow the marriage I think that's to check you are not siblings! It's not illegal to marry your first cousin in Australia.
Custard Apple
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 17 May 2011 - 13:38
I have to totally agree xmas baby!! Its just a no no....Aside from the genetic deformation that can happen....(apparently...dunno..never tried) its just wrong and disgusting and illegal (in Irl and Id imagine most western countries) and eewww....no....u just dont marry your cousins!! Yuk!! (I really do like my cousins..male and female...but not for marrying)!! :) This is hilariously ill-informed - the US (some states, not all) is the only Western country to have a ban on cousin marriage! And yes, there are raised risks of producing a child with a genetic defect in a cousin marriage, but according to recent research (basing this on the very detailed and interesting Wiki entry), it's at the same level as it is for a woman having a child at 40 or older, and I don't see anyone arguing for a ban on older mothers. Get real, guys. You may not fancy your cousins, and if you grew up close to them, they may feel like your siblings, but it's considered entirely normal in many cultures (I gather it's v. common in the ME), and if both parties are aware of the genetic risk, and can test for problems in advance, why on earth not?
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 May 2011 - 12:49
Sorry, SarahK, none of these people are in Dubai - all UK and Ireland. My sense is that there are very few stay at home fathers in Dubai, where the arrangements among expats tend to be much more 'traditional' - possibly partly because so many women follow their husbands' jobs here. It might be worth your husband checking out one of the parent and toddler groups, which might be technically open to a parent of either gender?
Custard Apple
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 May 2011 - 12:34
We don't have children, but several of our friends have this arrangement - my closest friend's husband has been their sons' (10 and almost 4) primary carer since she went back to work after each maternity leave. I don't find it at all odd, and I'd find it monumentally rude and, frankly, a bit weird if someone found it all that surprising! Are these surprised people in Dubai? Because it did strike me that some of Dubai expats had ideas about gender that were pure 1950s.
Custard Apple
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 03 May 2011 - 22:25
Intellectuals. Proper bookshops. A symphony orchestra. Oh hang on, you want a business idea. ;) Agree the sandwich shop/salad bar idea is a good one.
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 28 April 2011 - 02:20
I think there are two completely different issues here. One is maids being mistreated and overworked by their employers, which is awful, no matter whether they're being overworked looking after the children or scrubbing the floors. The other is parenting styles. I think it's ridiculous to pretend that the only way to be a good mother is to be with your children 24/7. I know good mothers who can't handle more than a few hours concentratedly with their small children. I know good mothers who aren't keen on small babies and come into their own as parents when their children are past the baby stage. I know good mothers who are shocked at how difficult they find parenthood. Love doesn't make it all OK. I'm sure there are disastrous mothers in Dubai, as there are anywhere, but I think people are reading an awful lot into a few public scenes.
Custard Apple
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 27 April 2011 - 23:13
Jokay, I think you are over-reacting to Desert Roses's politely-made original point, that your difficult personal circumstances - not being able to have children and your husband not seeing his as often as he would life - are skewing your view on this issue. I'm not blaming you in the least, but I think that in your situation, it would be very easy to imagine you would spend 24/7 with your children from the moment they were born to the moment they left home, but, realistically if you do have children of your own (and I hope you do), you may well find you need to make compromises on grounds of finances or for other reasons you can't foresee. How do you know the children you see with maids 'don't know anything about their mothers', or are brought up by their maids? If the maid regularly picks them up from school, does that mean their parents don't spend time with them later in the day?
Custard Apple
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 27 April 2011 - 18:03
I dont know, I guess we were so close while growing up that I felt that bond would run into adulthood no matter where we ended up. It was the line my mum kept uttering, blood is thicker than water. I think my hurt/anger stems from the fact that I love them so much, no matter where our lives have ended up. I wouldn't write it off - in my experience, family relationships go through phases. There's possibly a sense for some of us that we don't need to work as hard on sibling relationships as on friendships, because we'll always be connected to our siblings, so we feel we can let them lie for a bit while we are getting on with other aspects of our lives. Might your brothers simply be having a tough time and putting all their energy into some aspect of their own lives, leaving them little time for anything else? It may not mean they love you any less, just that they can take your love for granted for a while.
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 27 April 2011 - 17:55
Was the visiting friend American? Because 'housekeeper' to me suggests a fairly senior figure in the household, possibly with other staff under her and a fair amount of responsibility, but I notice in the US that it's used to mean chambermaids who clean hotel rooms. To me, it's not that accurate a term for what most people in the UAE hire domestic help to do, which is mostly basic cleaning and childcare. But I think people understandably don't want to call those people 'nannies' or 'childminders' because they aren't really, in any official sense. We used an agency and called the lovely Sri Lankan woman they sent us twice a week our 'cleaner', as we called our once a week cleaner back home in the UK, because we both found the word 'maid' demeaning. Though to be honest, I'm less concerned about what the job is called than that the maid/housekeeper/helper is paid properly and treated with respect.
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 27 April 2011 - 17:47
I don't think sisters are necessarily closer than brothers. I'm not close to either of my two sisters or my brother, even when we're all living in the same country. We have a perfectly polite, but distant, relationship, and sometimes don't see one another for a year or more at a time, which suits me fine - we're just very different people with completely different lives and priorities. The fact that we have the same parents and shared a childhood doesn't automatically make us close as adults. I love them, because they are my siblings, but I don't feel the compulsion to be friends with them, or to be automatically interested in their doings. I'm sorry that you're obviously upset about it, but am not sure why you feel your brothers should necessarily be interested in your life, when they show no signs of it, and why so angry? Why force something that isn't there? Blood just isn't always thicker than water, and you wouldn't keep running round after friends and berating them for not keeping in touch, would you?
Custard Apple
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 26 April 2011 - 20:01
Ooooh yuuum! Yes there must be pate, cucumber and egg sandwiches (separately of course!) cut into triangles without crusts, jam tarts, egg custard tarts, scones (both sweet and savoury), French Fondants (Spinneys sell the Mr. Kipling ones), trifle, strawberries and cream. If you wanted to get a bit gourmet you could do canapes like mini Yorkshire puds with little slivers of roast beef and a teeny gravy pool, mini toad in the hole (you can use chipolata sausages), mini black pudding rounds topped with little bubble & squeak fried rounds...assuming you don't eat halal obv! My mum used to do things like that and they're surprisingly easy and a bit different... I'll always remember being taken as a birthday surprise for High Tea at the Grosvenor in London before going to see Maggie Smith at the theater - I felt SO fancy :) But we're definitely heading away from afternoon tea towards high tea with that kind of spread - and they are very different things!
Custard Apple
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 26 April 2011 - 19:05
...never mind speaking any other language than my [b'>mother thong[/b'> in an understandable way. An unexpected benefit of expat life. :)
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 26 April 2011 - 18:52
I love what is really a CAKE Party being disguised in the name of a Tea Party.... edited by Sugarbeach on 26/04/2011 But 'tea' in this context is the name of the meal, not the beverage.
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 26 April 2011 - 18:51
Cutting all my M and S labels out of my underwear for fear it would be confiscated on entry - still dont know if this actually happened to anyone or was just a rumour. Yes, did this ever actually happen in the UAE? I remember coming across a mention of it in a Hilary Mantel novel set in the 1980s in Saudi Arabia, but assumed it was specific to that place and time.
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 25 April 2011 - 14:43
I've been a vegetarian for eighteen years. I didn't wake up one morning and decide to stop eating meat, it was quite a gradual process over a year or so. I think the last non-vegetarian thing I ate was shellfish. My rationale is as much environmental as ethical (though I suppose they're not separate.) My partner did it around the same time, though he would now identify as a foodie who doesn't like meat, rather than has a particular ethical base. I could never have gone out with/lived with someone who wasn't vegetarian - I can't imagine kissing someone who ate meat, or sharing a kitchen. He does all cooking in our household - we don't have meat in the house under any circumstances. Anyone who stays is vegetarian too. If you are planning to do this in the UAE, please be aware that because the quality of imported fruit and vegetables is so poor, they have lost a lot of their nutritional content by the time they make it onto your table. After a year of living in Dubai (despite eating more or less what we would have eaten at home and a daily multivitamin) I had serious vitamin deficiencies, because the fruit and vegetables weren't as nutritious as at home. Good luck - it's a good thing to do, and I haven't regretted it for a second.
Custard Apple
141
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 April 2011 - 23:38
There is actually a small airport in Waterford, with flights from London Luton - the airline is Aer Arann. Check their website for schedules.
Custard Apple
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 April 2011 - 15:34
Considering 92% of the population here is expatriate, then odds on that there are some thieves in that number, but i think you're talking about shiny Caucasian expats? Why is that demographic any less likely to have people with low morals amongst them? Shiny Caucasion? Tongue in cheek, it just irks me that 'expat' is only applied in certain circles to certain nationalities, when everyone here unless a UAE National is an expat. Yes, exactly. The original question - while obviously I'm sorry the OP had something of value stolen from her home - seemed to rest on a fairly unthinking set of assumptions, judging by the way she used 'expat'. What she actually seems to be asking is whether a friend or visitor to her home would steal from her, to which the only answer is that she's in a better position to know this than random people on the internet. Were the people she had round friends, or friends of friends, or vague acquaintances? Thinking one of your actual friends may have robbed you is a nasty thought...
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 23 April 2011 - 13:28
What an extraordinary question. 'Expat' isn't some kind of moral category. What you are essentially asking is whether someone who habitually lives in another country, usually for work reasons, would steal from someone else who habitually lives in another country for work reasons...?
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 08 April 2011 - 16:00
I wouldn't actually call it 'culture shock', to be honest - for me, it's more like the absence of culture making the difference between encountering deprivation in Dubai and in some other places. I mean, I'm no stranger to extremes of poverty, but encountering extremely poor Keralans in Kerala, for instance - when they are surrounded by a vibrant social/cultural/religious fabric and their family and community - feels very different to encountering Keralan labourers in Dubai, where they are away from home for years at a time, working in brutal conditions and living in labour camps, with only the fact of more earnings as an advantage. In other places, immigrants have the possibility of assimilating to the culture of their new country, but the sheer numbers of foreign residents from all over in Dubai means there is no longer the possibility of assimilating to an accessible Emirati culture, so I think deprivation here is particularly stark, and the quality of life for the lowest level of immigrants correspondingly low, because there's no social fabric for them to be part of.
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 19 March 2011 - 16:07
Somehow, it's [i'>always[/i'> about maids... To go back on topic - and this is only anecdotal, from friends working in university admissions - my sense is that some ME schools are looked at with a certain amount of scepticism, as pale imitations of long-established UK schools set up as cash-cows for an expat market perceived to be undiscerning and only borrowing the famous name etc.
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 18 March 2011 - 17:03
I spoke to a friend the other day she said that Oxford don’t even take grades into consideration (most people applying would have achieved top grades) anymore as its so easy to pass A levels the results are meaningless. They go on the interview, whether they play an instrument and extracurricular pursuits With respect, that isn't true. I did two degrees at Oxford, and admissions don't have the slightest interest in extracurricular stuff, unless it's directly relevant to showing your commitment to your degree subject, or in whether you play an instrument, unless you are actually applying for a choral or organ scholarship (or are applying as a music student, obviously). And it's not that A levels are meaningless, it's just that they get so many high-achievers applying now, they [i'>can[/i'> look beyond three starred As and require other things as well!
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 18 March 2011 - 16:55
In London, the foreigners and the local do not smile. I thought they just don't smile at me but asked DH. He said Londoners don't have time to smile...they are too busy. Frankly, I don't see how your husband can, in the abstract, distinguish native-born Londoners from foreigners without an interview! I'm a foreigner who's lived in London for a decade, and I think it's a pretty naive question - of course I smile at and talk to neighbours, people I recognise in our local park, my local barman, or the person I buy my bread from every week, but equally obviously, I don't get into a tube carriage in rush hour and beam at everyone else, or say hello to everyone I pass on the Tottenham Court Road! There are an awful lot of people in London!
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 18 March 2011 - 12:40
Some of the sentiments on this thread are the kind of thing I mean when I saw the level of EW intelligence isn't exactly exploding through the roof. Obviously, I would defend to the death your right to make frankly dumb remarks about the German Chancellor's lack of a manicure and appropriate shoes (which would be what, exactly?). Opinions on Obama's nailcare? David Cameron's tie choices? Or do you save your grooming complaints for women politicians? Actually, I'm going to assume this is a joke thread. Is there something weird about Dimitry Medvedev's hair?
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 20:35
No I am not joking and sure I am not the only one who doesn't actually care how intelligent a fellow poster is? edited by miss balamory on 17/03/2011 Honestly? For me it's probably the single most important element in whether I take to someone or not, along with kindness and sensitivity (and funniness). I find stupidity monumentally depressing to be around. By 'intelligent' I don't mean 'of a certain level of education', either - I know people with a string of postgraduate degrees who are fundamentally thick, just good at their particular discipline. By intelligence, I mean a basic approach to the world, a curiosity, a willingness to ask questions, to be informed. To me it colours everything else in someone's personality, rather than being something isolated, like whether or not they're good at maths or run marathons.
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 20:02
Why does intelligence even matter? Are we now judging each other on our intelligence as well (remember the thread on people that judge each other on the books on someone's bookshelf etc) What does it matter how intelligent someone is - ? You must be joking, Miss Balamory...? <em>edited by Custard Apple on 17/03/2011</em>
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 19:33
It is not the place anyone would put top of their list for intellectual discussion, but that is not its function. I agree, but even granting that it's a space for practical requests and chitchat - and, as I said, people posting anonymously in languages in which they often aren't fluent - I think it's still entirely possible to gauge the basic intelligence of posters, even if they're talking about the school run or where to buy a certain style of abaya. I mean, I don't think it needs to be a high-level debate forum in order to get a sense of people's basic capabilities. I agree too in part with AnonDubai's post. She says she does think EW posters are mainly intelligent, but says they are 'not very aware of the culture here', whereas I would see a lack of awareness of the local culture as a sign of a low level of intelligence. Maybe that's really what took me aback in the expats I met in Dubai - some of them mentally had not left their corner of New England/the Home Counties/Durban etc.
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 18:32
No, with some notable exceptions - based entirely on reading posts and comments, having never met another EW person, and making allowances for the fact that some people are posting in their second or third language. No with notable exceptions? Dare we? I'm saying nothing! ;) But it's THURSDAY!!! Yes, but where I am it's still early afternoon, and wine is a Long Way Off. I would say, though, in fairness, that I wasn't generally impressed with the level of intelligence of the western expats I met in Dubai, anyway. So, not just an EW thing.
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 18:03
No, with some notable exceptions - based entirely on reading posts and comments, having never met another EW person, and making allowances for the fact that some people are posting in their second or third language. No with notable exceptions? Dare we? I'm saying nothing! ;)
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 18:02
When in Dubai, I had [i'>The Guardian[/i'> and [i'>The National[/i'> delivered every day, and [i'>The Observer[/i'> on Sundays, as well as reading the [i'>Irish Times[/i'> and listening to BBC radio online. Now I'm back in the UK, with the usual news outlets, I still read [i'>The National[/i'> and [i'>Gulf News[/i'> most days online, as well as snooping around occasionally on EW to see what people are saying about Bahrain, Oman etc. I've never considered Twitter - I know I'm being unfair, but I tend to regard it as just full of Stephen Fry mouthing off about things, though I realise it's becoming an important way of hearing breaking news on the ground.
Custard Apple
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Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 17:55
Was the UAE ever - in the fairly recent past, anyway - considered a 'hardship posting' for western expats the way Saudi still is, given the comparative latitude given to non-locals?
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Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 17:48
No, with some notable exceptions - based entirely on reading posts and comments, having never met another EW person, and making allowances for the fact that some people are posting in their second or third language.
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Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 15:21
Cost of living varies wildly depending on location, so he needs to know that. For instance, some salaries include a 'London allowance' because the cost of living is significantly higher there.
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Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 15:18
I'm not a fully-fledged asthmatic, but my symptoms - wheeziness etc - were certainly worse in Dubai. I wasn't sure whether it was the pollution or the amount of sand in the air, or possibly also related to air-con indoors.
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Latest post on 07 March 2011 - 12:46
With the exception of dates and sand everything else has been imported to Dubai. There are lots of other countries that stock goods for the fraction of what you pay in Dubai, I don’t see what the point would be taking things out to resell Allegedly the sand in JBR beach and some of the sand in the golf course bunkers are imported from overseas. Not sure about JBR specifically, but certainly hotel beach sand is imported - the local stuff is considered too coarse. And bunker sand for golf courses is also imported for the same reason, funny though that seems. I met someone once who worked in Dubai in sand importation, which I thought was hilarious! I seem to remember him saying that local sand wasn't even suitable for construction! I think he said a lot of what he brought in was from Saudi. To the OP - no, it couldn't possibly be worth it. If there's a product that interests you as a business proporsition, it's almost certainly not from Dubai, so you could need to consider the import/export costs etc in relation to the country it is actually produced in. Where, for instance, are the pashminas sold locally made?
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Latest post on 07 March 2011 - 00:02
I only spent one summer in Dubai (plus a few weeks of the summer before in Abu Dhabi) and I found the heat, poor air quality and humidity almost unbearable, and the claustrophobia of being eternally indoors just awful. I also discovered, after leaving Dubai, that I had a serious Vitamin D deficiency (presumably from lack of sunlight, though I did genuinely try to spend 20 minutes in the sun every day.) Then again, I am Irish, prefer chilly, damp weather, and don't care for even the hotter parts of northern European summers, so I was never going to find it easy.
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Latest post on 06 March 2011 - 15:52
Some of these are great (laughing at the idea of hitting back at tormenting shop assistants!) I originally meant less to do with service stuff, though, than things that were legal and/or socially acceptable in Dubai that weren't at home, wherever home is.
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Latest post on 01 February 2011 - 20:27
Buy me a Pony, you talk about your son's friendships with these women's sons, and various helpings out in crises, but do you consider the women as your friends? It just struck me that perhaps it was more a matter of having kids of the same age than real closeness...? I've lived in a lot of different countries, and moving to Dubai wasn't by any means moving abroad for the first time - neither was it from my home country, where I haven't lived in some time. I don't think anyone ran about being heartbroken - it's been a long time since all of my friends were on the same continent, let alone the same country, and we've all upped sticks internationally on at least one occasion, so we're quite accustomed to staying in touch without seeing one another for years at a time. People did think (rightly) that it was an unlikely place for me to live. I have to say, though, that the friends I made in Dubai have been singularly bad at keeping in touch since I left, despite my efforts. Can't decide if the isolation of Dubai made me choose as friends people I wouldn't normally have, or what the difference is...
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Latest post on 01 February 2011 - 02:48
It's certainly done in London. My OH's Blackberry is never out of his sight, day or night, and he is often taking calls as we're turning the light out at night.
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Latest post on 31 January 2011 - 14:56
I'm noticing a singular lack on this thread of the vitriol recently expressed on other threads about immigrants trying to obtain British passports for the 'perks'.
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Latest post on 30 January 2011 - 22:45
The accent is something very different . If you were French, would you want your child coming home with English accented French ? Probably not ... Why is there always so much fuss when certain nationalities are mentioned ( but not others) ? It's [i'>not[/i'> the same thing, if the teacher in question is a native speaker of English. The equivalent would be whether a French French-speaker was bothered by her child acquiring a Canadian-French accent at school.
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Latest post on 30 January 2011 - 22:28
I much preferred living in Abu Dhabi to Dubai, but we didn't live in AD for long (trying to find an acceptable, affordable flat was a nightmare, so we gave up and moved up the road to Dubai), and we don't have children, so you probably need to hear from people who do. My OH commuted to AD, though, and given the road horrors, I would choose somewhere that limits time spent on the roads above most other considerations.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 30 January 2011 - 22:23
haven't read the whole thread but if the school teaches british curriculum, it's unacceptable. All job adds for teachers I have seen they require a native english speaker. And by that you mean what? I am an Indian by birth but I consider myself a native English speaker. All my education has been in English. I speak fluent English, read and write fluent English. I even think in English. And I have an Indian accent. How does it matter? Absolutely to this. There must be enormous numbers of Indian native speakers of English. Another thought struck me reading the later parts of the thread - is the OP a native English speaker herself? (I know she says her husband is British, implying she isn't, and the fact they are trying to speak a different language with their child at home suggests the OP might be a native speaker of another language?) If she isn't, might part of her issue with not having understood when the Indian teacher told her they were doing the letter 'o' be the OP's [i'>own[/i'> accented English?
Custard Apple
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Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 30 January 2011 - 17:35
I really don't mind the stupidity as well (well I probably do but it ranks a bit lower;)) but just the underlying arrogant tone of the city gets me......people who don't hold doors open, pushing into the Metro when you're trying to get out, people just expect you to get out of their way, so many times (and its mainly women!) just push past knocking into me without a blink of an eye, talking in the cinema, pushing in at shop queues, pushing in at the traffic lights.....arhh the list is endless!!! Is it a lack of accountability thing? The vast majority of the population is away from 'home' and may feel less accountable than they would in their home environment, being judged on their behaviour by people of their own nationality, and (if they live somewhere small) by people they actually know? You get the same thing in tourists, sometimes - 'home' rules don't count when abroad - and some Dubai expats (and expats are what, 80% of the population?) at least seem to feel they are on permanent holiday. And also, because there are so numerically few natives of Dubai, and because laws and customs are often such grey areas or only occasionally enforced (decency rules, dress codes etc), there might seem as if there are no 'local' rules to assimilate to, either? I remember conducting a poll among people I knew about recycling - and even people who were passionate about recycling in their home countries often didn't bother in Dubai because they felt transient, and there wasn't a strong Dubai culture of recycling.
 
 
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