I have done 3 levels at fanar and have loved it. the pace is fast and you have to work hard to keep up. By the end of level 1 you can read and write arabic but understand very little, still a huge achievement. i think the course has improved over the last few years and i had great teachers. it is also a nice opportinity for western expatriates to meet lots of people who I never would have, and that was great. The issue is that arabic is really hard to learn and the opportunities to practise here are few and far between. You learn classic arabic which is really different to the local Qatari dialect but does mean that you have a form of arabic that can be understood in any arabic country. Hope that helps
few other things:
- an adaptor for each appliance as the ones here are useless.
- Bonds Undies - bring the next few sizes. my kids are older but that is a must buy whenever someone goes home.
- we are coffee nuts so use ours daily. hubby roast his own beans after we hunt down green beans at the souq usually.
My kids are at ASD - when we were looking they were the ones that made an effort to get to know us and welcomed us. I found that other schools wouldn't even return phone calls and I felt anything but welcome. guess always a matter of timing and who answers the phone. it is expensive but they are very happy and we would have paid private school fees for high schools in australia anyway (probably).
There are many australians here. I really love it!
If it helps:
- we bought our coffee machine and some small kitchen appliances with us for Oz and they all work fine. Wish i had bought more with me as the ones here are nowhere near the standard.
- english books here are scarce so bring as much as you can.
- bring your bikes if space is not an issue.
- i find clothes cheaper here compared to sydney.
- would bring all your tupperware as i didn't and i miss it daily.
basic gist is that if you have space bring as much as you can as long as you are planning to stay for a few years.
don't know if that helps.
my kids also missed 6 months of school and it really wasn't a problem. they entered the year ahead of where they were in oz and didn't miss a beat (they are in american curric here)?
