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Latest post on 02 October 2012 - 10:19

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Latest post on 27 September 2012 - 15:28

Why don't you give him the flu shot every year? It won't give immunity to each and every flu virus out there, but it will give immunity to the main flu variations that year (if that makes sense).

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Latest post on 27 September 2012 - 09:59

My company have a similar process as you have outlined below for executives. They are paid a housing allowance every month, however the company will upfront pay the rent and then deduct back the amount from the employee's salary. It's the same every year. I would highly doubt that the company would take an allowance away from you once they have given it to you. Plus, they should pay the rent for you every year and then deduct it back from the salary in the same way that they have this year.

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Latest post on 27 September 2012 - 09:48

Magnolia Bakery in Bloomingdales, Dubai Mall, have lovely cupcakes.

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Latest post on 27 September 2012 - 09:46

Go to the doctor! DD had it and ended up with pneumonia and a long hospital stay. If your chest is not feeling great you need to get it looked at. Hope you feel better soon. Apparently there is a lot of cases of pneumonia at the moment - please go and see your doctor today!

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Latest post on 27 September 2012 - 09:44

I like Al Muna at the Mina Al Salam hotel in Madinat.

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Latest post on 27 September 2012 - 08:53

Any laundry should take it. I sent our rug (roughly the same size) to our local laundry in Business Bay and they charged me 100 dhs to have it cleaned. They did take it for a week though - the guy said that they take it to a location away from their shop as it's so large.

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Latest post on 27 September 2012 - 08:40

Are you sure you want one? http://www.babycenter.com/204_nap-nanny-baby-recliners-recalled-after-childs-death_10336047.bc

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Latest post on 26 September 2012 - 17:26

The MEHR or Mehrieh as us iranians call it, is very very common in Iran. Nowadays the bride and the family ask for extraordinate amounts. It is never set in money, always in number of gold coins. The norm these days is to ask for the number of coins to collerate to the bride's year of birth. So the younger you are the higher the number of coins! When I was getting married, and talking about all this, my father said he will not discuss before hand, he will announce it at the ceremony. Something has to be mentioned as the mehr it part of the verse that they pronounce you husband and wife with. The sentence goes something like, Miss X, daughter of Mr. XX, are willing to enter marriage with MR Y, son of MR. YY, with this set MEHR..... Do you give me the permission to wed you? my MIL was sweating bullets at my ceremony, thinking its going to be crazy as my sister in law her other daughter in law had asked for 1357 gold coins, which equates to 1,357,000 dollars today. i am also born in 1357 in the iranian calendar so they were expecting around the same. Then when the moment came, my father asked for 1 Quraan. The guests were shocked! Cause these days, something like this is unheard of. I will forever be grateful for his decsion, cause he didn't put a price on! I am no commodity to be priced! My father's philosophy was, if my marriage falls apart no amount of money can bring back my youth and lost years, and that I was fully capable of supporting myself if i ever divorced. Similar to my story. Contrary to what OP thinks, I actually think our dad's valued us much more this way, and I will forever respect him for that. But seriously, your age in gold coins?!?! That's ridiculous!!! Who can afford that?

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Latest post on 26 September 2012 - 16:40

Yes i did, my daughter's birthday is on the 11nd October and she was the oldest in her class so the first birthday party. Tip is to send the invitations out early, two or three weeks in advance, and I have found that having the birthday on a Saturday is best (Friday being a family day and the weekdays being difficult for working moms). Don't expect people to rsvp though. A few will but the majority wont. So then basically keep asking the mom's when you see them at school, "Hi im so and so'd mom, I invited your child to my child's birthday party, can they make it"? There were people later in the year that had birthdays on weekdays or sent out the invitations only a couple of days before and only three or four children turned up. Choose a place that is both child and adult friendly. When my daughter was 4 I had her party at Safe Play in Jumeirah Plaza. Its a small play area and relatively empty, but its really good for that age group. Plus there is a Dome right opposite so the parents can sit and have coffee but keep an eye on the children. The price was also very reasonable (65 or 75 per child depending on the package).

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Latest post on 26 September 2012 - 16:16

Honestly it would depend on the situation. I comment on people being on their mobiles all the time and often do it jokingly. Quite frankly I would probably comment on them all jokingly if I could, becuase I don't think I have the guts to turn to somebody I know and say to them "you were rude". So say with the waitress, after she was gone I might turn to the person and jokingly say "chill out! she's being paid a crappy salary to do a crappy job". I would hope that they get the message. In general I think a lot of people forget their manners the minute they step foot in Dubai. I defintely don't mean everybody but a lot do. There is this huge divide between religion and cultures and people think they can get away with pretty much anything. It's like a battle to prove who's best. I used to love the multicultural aspect of Dubai, now I don't like it at all :(

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Latest post on 26 September 2012 - 15:23

When I got married I remember that my dad sat with my DH and his family to "negotiate" the dowry. We were drinking tea at the time and he took a sugar cube and placed it on the table and said I will accept that as dowry for my daughter. In no shape, way or form was I offended! He had two points, which I perfectly understood and think that any father should think the same way. 1. Marriage is about love. I am not selling my daughter to you, you are now a part of our family and I expect you to take good care of my daughter, treat her well, respect her, etc. Nothing that money can buy. 2. If, God forbid, something went wrong and we did get divorced then my dad was not waiting for my then ex husband to support me. I will always be his daughter, and he as my father will always have an obligation to take care of me and support me. My dad does not expect that the dowry paid to me will be for me to take care of myself. He has not washed his hands clean of me because he set me a good dowry. Quite frankly thats the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard. In the end my DH's family set a figure and we accepted, and they kept me in line with the other daughter-in-laws. As per religion we needed to set a figure. May I also point out that dowry's do not take into consideration inflation, interest, tax, etc. Quite frankly a dowry set today may not be worth much in ten or fifteen years. I have a lot of respect for the father in that article and wish that more men would think this way.

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Latest post on 25 September 2012 - 13:28

If you're able to scan it, then I will happily read it for you. Let me know and I will post my email address.

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Latest post on 24 September 2012 - 12:19

Hi imolinar! We were in Thailand over the summer (bangkok and Phuket) with a whole range of ages of kids. Mine were 13 months and 4 years old, and we also had a two year old, 7 year old and another 4 year old. It was very child friendly. You can pretty much do all of the tourist attractions with kids. What you can't do are the more adventurous activities, such as zip wiring through the jungle, etc, but you can do everything else! You can take children with you on elephant rides, on the boat/canoe trips, etc. there wasn't a time that we were told no you can't go. You can even take your children to some of the shows, such as Fanta Sea and Simon Cabaret, we went without our children but there were many children there (lol your toddler will be too young to understand the ladyboy thing!) We went in July and were told that the best time to visit is November - March, so I think that you're going at a good time. It rained a lot in July, but even that didn't stop us. The hotels also have very good babysitter services (all of whom are hotel staff) and we used that a couple of times - it was really cheap even though we were staying in 5-star hotels. I would definitely recommend Thailand with a toddler. We also went to Europe a month before that, and I'm lucky that my kids were good, but there isn't much for them to do there. Thailand was a lot more fun for the children.

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Latest post on 24 September 2012 - 11:31

So many things...situation in Syria is top of my list :( I agree with Daza about worrying about my children. They're at the age at the moment where they're very young so I feel like I have control over them, but I worry about when they're older and start going out on their own and making their own decisions...it's a scary world out there! I have to have faith that I raised them well though. I totally agree with your metaphor Daza! I'm also currently worrying about having to move house. We signed a non-renewable lease last year because our LL wants to sell, so we knew that this was coming but I feel like we're being thrown out! I love our house now, location, size, and price are all great. Where we live now the prices for the same type of building have shot up and we don't want to pay much more than what we're paying now, so realistically I know that we have to compromise on either space or location and I don't want to do that!! Eurgh I know people have way bigger issues...

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Latest post on 24 September 2012 - 11:25

To be honest I wouldn't pre-prepare formula unless i absolutely had to - I think it can only keep for an hour outside of the fridge once you have prepared it. What I would do is sterilize all of your bottles, then when you're about to leave the house put boiling water in one of the bottles and then put it in one of the insulated bottle warmer things. It wont take long for it to get cold, but you could probably use it a couple of hours later and it would be a good temperature for your baby. Then buy bottled water from duty free. Honestly I never sterilized bottled water. I know some people do, but my midwife and health visitor in the UK always said it was fine, I would only sterilize it at home. Then on the flight or during the stop over ask the flight attendant or coffee shop person (depending on where you are) to heat your bottled water for you. Have them do it a good while before you actually plan to feed so that it can cool to room temperature. You need to have a few sterilized bottles on hand as once you have used one you can't sterilize it during the flight.

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Latest post on 24 September 2012 - 10:57

I'm guessing that it is completely out of our price range, but can you tell me the rent as we're looking to move around that time?

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Latest post on 24 September 2012 - 10:46

You don't need a pay monthly data plan to have a smart phone. In fact, you don't need to subscribe to any data plan at all if you don't want to. BUT this will mean that you are not able to access 3g data in a place where there is no wifi. Smart phones work in wifi areas for free, and have the same functionality. You need a 3g data plan if you want to be able to use your smart phone on the move (e.g. access internet, send whatsapp messages, waatch videos, download emails, use google maps, etc). If you have a pre paid phone and do decide to get a data package, then at the start of every month you need to make sure you have sufficient credit in your phone for etisalat to withdraw the amount for the data package. There are lots of different data packages available depending on your usage. For an iPhone 4 or 4s (I'm not sure if you can still buy an iphone4) then you need a micro sim. As other posters have said, you can either cut your current sim (there are videos on you tube that show you how to do this), or you can go to minutes or the like and they will cut it for you for about 15-20 dhs, or you can order a new micro sim from etisalat with your number for 50 dhs. I would advise that you buy an iphone 4s. A new iphone 5 will set you back around 6,500 dhs in Dubai and I dont even think thaat the nano sim is available. The iphone 44s is much cheaper than that. It was around 3000 dhs, but may be even cheaper now that the iphone 5 is out.

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Latest post on 24 September 2012 - 10:38

Hi Big Blue, I think you can carry through pre-prepared formula onto flights, or even hot water if you tell them that it's for your baby. What airport security do to check it is make you taste it in front of them and then they let it through. I would also carry dry formula with you as well. You can usually find hot water at one of the coffee places. Just sit and order a coffee and if you have a bottle of water (bought from duty free) then they can heat it up for you in the microwave, or they can give you boiled water straight from their machines if you are happy with that (depends on the country that you're coming from and if tap water is safe). Remember to feed your baby upon take off and landing. Babies don't know how to deal with the air pressure and can't unblock their ears. So, if they are feeding (i.e. sucking) then they can unblock their ears which means they won't suffer any pain.

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Latest post on 24 September 2012 - 10:31

Check on the SIM for the iPhone 5. You can cut down a regular SIM for an iPhone 4/4S but I believe you can't do the same for the new SIM in the 5. I upgraded my 4 to iOS6 and regret it. SD why do you regret it? From what I have heard and read I wasn't planning to upgrade yet but it would be good to hear from somebody that did why they regret it.

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Latest post on 24 September 2012 - 10:20

Thanks! Does your phone have a working googlemaps / GPS capability (with the talking voice and everything)? I have heard somewhere that apple is now stopping googlemaps from working on the phones? Can someone clarify? TIA iOs6 does not have Google maps so if you upgrade, you will lose that. I think the ios6 has introduced a maps system created by Apple. On the face of this it might sound good but apparently there have been a lot of complaints as Google maps has been around for a while and has been thru lots of upgrades so it is quite established. The new Apple one is new, so it will have its teething troubles. To be honest from what I have read/heard, I don't think I will be upgrading to ios6 at the moment as it seems to have little functionality here. Pleasae correct me if I'm wrong about this!

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Latest post on 20 September 2012 - 21:50

Bateaux Dubai? I think the other great location to go to is somewhere in Madinat, or one of the restaurants at JBH, Mina Al Salam or Al Qasr. You get gorgeous views and good food...the only problem is that at the end of the day it's just a meal and nothing that you're going to talk about for years to come! Lol I don't think I'm being very helpful am I?

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Latest post on 20 September 2012 - 21:26

Lol then you have me stumped! I guess it depends on what are the ages of the children? It would be hard to go to one of the fancy restaurants and then have kids running around screaming so that's why I said Atlantis because you can get away with that! If they're older then that totally changes your options.

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Latest post on 20 September 2012 - 20:59

That's a tough one! What about Atlantis? A lot of the restaurants there are quite children friendly - you don't state the age of your children so I automatically assume that they are young. If you want a buffet restaurant then Kaleidoscope is very children friendly and the food is good with a big selection that caters to all. You can tell them about your special ocassions and they will arrange a cake. You can then take everyone to the Lost Chambers later...I think aquariums are usually enjoyable for young and old alike. Oh plus you can use Entertainer vouchers for both Kaleidoscope and the Lost Chambers.

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Latest post on 20 September 2012 - 20:18

I think they're good, but maybe call the hospital just in case? Although the below article says that the baby is at Medcare. http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/health/newborn-baby-needs-platelets-not-blood-1.1078494

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