HoustonLADY

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 23 June 2011 - 02:57

I am heading back to Oz with my 2 sons tomorrow, to pack the house and do the final arrangements to move here. I think we have a house, a really nice house, thanks to the gorgeous Bowbellscowbells <3, but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone else on here for all your assistance and support over the last 4 months and , in particular, the last 10 days. It's been pretty stressful, with pretty much whatever can go wrong, going wrong, but you ladies have helped keep me grounded through the worst of it. I think without this forum, with your helpful suggstions and distracting threads, I would have folded long ago, LOL. Anyway, we'll *hopefully* be back in a month and maybe in time, I will be able to "pay it forward" to some other newbies. xoCongratulations on successfully sorting out these things, on paying forward your thread and contributions have already helped me in understanding and planning my move :):):):):):):):):):)

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 23 June 2011 - 02:50

Geant in Ibn Battuta also has a large electrical department, and it is walking distance from where you are staying. Thanks Cornish Pixie - we just briefly visited the mall to have quick dinner and I saw the Store and will be checking it out for prices.

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 21 June 2011 - 09:00

Hi Houston Lady! Hope you are getting excited about your trip! For electronics etc. why don't you check out Carrefour in Mall of the Emirates- they have everything you could need in there so you will get a good idea of the prices. You could also go to Ikea to check out furniture prices- that's at Festival City or they do have an online catalogue so you could save yourself a trip- in fact Carrefour do too.... http://www.carrefouruae.com/ and http://www.ikeadubai.com/content/main.asp# They would both give you something to work off for your company. Some houses do come with white goods and some don't- so best to factor in having to buy everything for negotiation with your company. Hope that helps a bit and good luck!Thanks so much Licorice, will look at the web sites and will visit the stores as well.

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 21 June 2011 - 07:59

Thank you everyone for your responses. Are there other things we should be looking beside school and housing during this trip. We also want to get an idea of appliances/electronics as none of ours would work (don't want to use converters).

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 21 June 2011 - 06:18

Thanks Buy Me a Pony - we will definitely look into GreenFields during our visit. For now I'm thinking may be apply for some of the 2012 sessions and enroll my son in one of the available pre schools. Also thank you for the documentation tip, will do that prior to leaving tomorrow.

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 June 2011 - 18:53

Greenfield Communinty School also takes 4 yr olds and the greet community is nice. Victory Heights is nearby and really good too. Although I was on the palm this morning and thought about how nice it would be to live right on the water!! Too many cats and dogs in my life to dream that dream though! Yes, that's the area we are targeting as well, have to wait and see how it goes when we are there. Thanks everyone for responding, keep them coming ladies

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 June 2011 - 18:52

You are not going to find it easy getting a place for a 4 year old, that age group is the most difficult/stretched this year . A few suggestions - Childrens Garden - Jumeirah, Jumeirah Baccalaureate School in Jumeirah 1, Collegiate American School (opening new in Sept), and GEMS Wellington Academy Sillicon Oasis. A tip, look at a few housing areas but concentrate on the school place, schools pretty much all break up on the 29th June and some have already finished the school year but the admin dept will still be working.Thanks for responding, that's our plan as well to look for a better school and then plan the housing accordingly as it's the harder part. Have been calling all these schools but they are all on a waiting list for 2012 program and no openings for 2011-12 as of now. We plan to visit them when we get to Dubai this week and then talk to them to see what can be done.

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 June 2011 - 18:49

Hi there, Houston Lady! Welcome to Dubai. Don't worry about the residency visa for schools, it's no problem getting a school place on a tourist visa, and as has been pointed out elsewhere, as long as the papers for a residency visa are in process, you should have no problem renting somewhere (trust me, just my husband's company did things strangely when we arrived). Have you trawled the threads for Buy Me a Pony's comprehensive list of costs to be taken into account when moving to Dubai? I'm not sure if this is the final, final, up to date list, but BMAP is here at the mo and may be able to tell you how accurate she finds it now she's actually on the ground - how's it going, BMAP? Anything settled yet? http://www.expatwoman.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=135373Thank you for the visa tip, will have to wait and see how that goes with us as the HR department has been really slow and things are all over the place. Right now even DH visa is not in the works (I believe). Yes I've already looked into Buy Me a Pony's thread and the lists she has maintained, very helpful indeed.

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 June 2011 - 09:06

Hello Ladies - great forum and collection of threads here. I also need some advice and help with our upcoming move. To start with DH has been offered an Accounting Manager position in his US based company which is starting operation in Dubai. So we'll be moving to Dubai sometime soon. Offer is still pending however we will be visiting Dubai next week from Wed to the following Friday for 9 days to look for a school (for 4 yr old) and also look at the housing options. I understand that since we don't have a residency visa yet we will not be able to finalize anything, so our main goal is to may be book a place for our son for a future term and then narrow down the community/area search for our future home. Also we want to get estimates about furniture, appliances and electronics. All in all I believe this would give us an idea about the future start up costs in Dubai and help us in negotiating with the HR as well. I'll appreciate if you ladies can add other stuff that we should do or look into during this trip that might be useful, I'll appreciate your help.

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