SunDevil | ExpatWoman.com
 

SunDevil

SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 19 January 2011 - 21:35
Jules we are almost paperless too but we have one investment company that holds several of our investment accounts that refuses to go totally paperless. They insist there is a federal law saying that we can't go totally paperless b/c they need at least two ways to send us legal notifications, which I think is a bunch of baloney. rosse10, thank you, that's really affordable!
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 19 January 2011 - 19:54
It's the mascot from the university I graduated from. I want to know how TeaBag came up with their name since every time I read it I can't help giggle b/c you know...
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 19 January 2011 - 06:43
Thank you Rosse10, that's one of the companies I was looking at. Do you mind me asking what you typically pay per month? We might end up shipping about 10 letters total a month to Dubai, it won't be much. Also, can you shop online and have it sent to you in Dubai?
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 16 January 2011 - 05:16
In all of our hunting in AR I saw one furnished. One was partially furnished but what they called partially furnished was some patio furniture and a bed in one of the rooms. Not exactly partially furnished.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 13 January 2011 - 22:52
Both of my boys are adopted from Moscow, Russia and we have spent a lot of time in the country back in 2008 and as recently as this past summer into September. DH and I have traveled all around the world and like to think of ourselves as risk takers but there is no way we could live in Moscow. It's very, very expensive. A cup of coffee, muffin, orange juice and water would run us $50 USD. The cigarette smoke alone is enough to keep me out of there. The people are nice once you get to know them but as a rule, most people are not friendly when you are just walking around or going into shops. Living in the south here in the US everyone just says "hi" when you walk by or starts talking to you when you walk into the store but it's not that way in Russia, eyes are down and averted. Housing is very small as we stayed on the economy for our trips for the adoptions and typically in high rises. And the traffic is terrible, much worse than Dubai, don't even bother with a car, just use public transit. And despite what was said, it's really cold there!! But if you can see past all of that and have a definite time when you get to leave then maybe, maybe I would go. I think it's better without children so maybe get this part of your life out of the way and try to enjoy the move. Ethihad has an easy, cheap 5 hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Moscow, why not give it a try, especially right now when the weather is so cold? Try it at it's worst time of the year.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 13 January 2011 - 21:16
We ended up finding a place in Mirador and DH will move in mid Feb and I'll be there first week of March. My boys are 4 and 2 and we'd be up for meeting up with others.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 12 January 2011 - 09:43
Colorado Springs is gorgeous and so is Boulder. You would find plenty to do in both cities.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 12 January 2011 - 09:42
http://www.vrbo.com is an excellent way to find a vacation home to rent. We used them to find a vacation rental in December as all of our family was coming in from different states and it worked out great.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 11 January 2011 - 19:53
Well good luck to them...! He may have had money whilst he was married, but if that happened to me, DH certainly wouldn't by the time I was finished with him!!! My DH knows I wouldn't be collecting alimony, I'd be living high on the hog on his life insurance policy!
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 11 January 2011 - 18:52
So strange to hear about the Dillard House on the Dubai expat forum but so cool! The Dillard House is wonderful and their restaurant is family style where they seat you at big round tables with other people and they bring out the most wonderful food to your table and you help yourself to what you want and how much you want. It's delicious! Have you considered somewhere around Asheville, NC? The Biltmore is in that area and gorgeous that time of the year. My husband's uncle lives in Franklin NC and the area is ablaze with color that time of year. Do you ride motorcycles? You can rent them and ride through the mountains to see the foliage.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 10 January 2011 - 21:19
Does this link help? http://www.dubaifaqs.com/schools-dubai.php
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 09 January 2011 - 07:25
I think DH may have found a house. We should know today if the LL accepted our offer. The only drawback is it's a type 16 which might require some creative placement of our furniture. I have a small Ikea table (only seats 4) that I keep in my kitchen in our flat in AD that I use for lunches for the boys but can't tell from the pictures if it will fit in the type 16 kitchen. Anyone been in a 16 and put a small table in the middle of the kitchen?
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 09 January 2011 - 00:37
We don't have any bio children but both of our boys, 4 and 2, are adopted from Russia. We tried for 7 years with the help of top doctors to have a bio child but it never worked and now I thank God that it never worked b/c now I see I was meant to be the mother of the two beautiful boys that we have. They are not biological brothers and we did their adoptions about 2 years apart. Our first one took 6 months start to finish and our second one took 11 months start to finish. The first adoption cost around $40,000 USD and our second adoption cost about $45,000 USD. In Russia single women can adopt but certain regions are harder than others to adopt from. Both of our boys are from Moscow Region which is a very easy region to adopt from and travel to and from. Quicksilver6, I can only speak for Russia but they don't want the child to be more than 43 years younger than the youngest parent. So if you are 40 and your husband is 49, you are safe to adopt a fairly young child. I am 40 and we adopted an almost two year old for our second adoption. If you were the youngest and were 50 you would have to adopt a 7 year old or older b/c that's 43 years difference in their age and your age. I hope that makes sense. Also, sometimes the older children are not as expensive to adopt so that's something to consider. I can only say that we are incredibly blessed. People say our boys are the lucky ones but really, we are the ones that are lucky.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 08 January 2011 - 08:35
Thank you Clairehdp! DH isn't much of a negotiator. He sends me in for the heavy stuff, calls me his little pitt bull, so I'm a little concerned that I'm not there with him. He thinks of what he wants to say and tells me everything he's going to say and then at the final moment I hear, "Okay Sweetie, you tell them all that and knock 'em dead!!" But he's standing firm on our price so far with the agents so I hope he can do it. We're looking forward to getting out of our high rise in AD and getting into a normal house with a yard so I've got my fingers crossed he can find us something. :) Plus we've already given notice on our place in AD so we have to find something.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 08 January 2011 - 08:11
Thank you so much! DH will be in Dubai today to view as many properties as he can. The one check issue is easy for us as DH's company will give us all of our allowance in one lump check to give to the landlord. That's the only way we've done it for our place in Abu Dhabi. About this 25K DEWA connection fee, are we going to have to pay that when we move into a villa in AR??
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 08 January 2011 - 00:30
We got our maid a futon so during the day it's more of a couch and at night it's a large bed.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 21:06
Well now you've piqued my interest when you mentioned your own pool. I can find them on Dubizzle but not on property finder. Do they go by another name than just The Villa?
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 20:06
I had traditional metal bracket braces in my early teen and I had invisalign when I was in my early 30's about 8 years ago. They cost me close to $5,000 USD. They worked okay but I wasn't happy with the end result and ended up doing another year and half of full metal braces. The straightened my teeth as far as the shape of my jaw. It's hard to type but if I opened my mouth and you looked up or down at my teeth they were in the perfect U shape. But when you looked straight on at my teeth they were not straight across. A few were taller and shorter than the others and if I was paying $5000 I wanted perfectly straight teeth. After I had the brackets glued on they perfectly straightened my teeth in the U and when looking straight at them. I do have invisalign retainers that I wear faithfully at night. I grind my teeth in my sleep so they have also doubled as a night guard and I can also fill them with whitener when I want to touch up my teeth.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 20:01
http://www.gulfphotoplus.com/workshops.php Gulf Photo Plus has great classes in Dubai. I attended one a few years back and it was excellent. It was an all day course on a Saturday and was held in Knowledge Village if I remember correctly.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 19:51
Have u looked into the Villa Community behind Falccon city just pass arabian ranches and global village? Your get more for your money, all new detatched houses...you ll get a 5 to 6 bedroom for under 220k ... I have not heard of the VC. DH will be commuting to AD each day for work, how much would that location add to his drive? Is it just starting out with lots of construction dirt or are there trees and greenery? We really love AR's and have our hearts set on that area. DH did speak a few weeks ago to a couple agents at HH but couldn't get anyone to respond to him or follow up. Finally a woman named Kerrie responded and I told him to stop at the kiosk tomorrow when he goes to Dubai to look at the houses.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 04 January 2011 - 23:17
We were stationed in Savannah a few years back, but are now in TX. I have two months until I return to UAE and I'm soaking up all the Chipotle I can put in my mouth. If they really have one over there then I will have died and gone to heaven. The biggest thing I'm going to miss is sweet tea; one shouldn't have to specify what type of tea they want, you should just be able to say "tea" and the waitress brings a sweet tea to you. I like mine heavy on the sugar, with a dash of tea. :)
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 04 January 2011 - 22:52
Thank you so much ladies for the information and links, they have been very helpful. I can't believe how nervous I am to enroll my son in school but I taught for all those years and never thought twice about teaching other people's children. It's so different when it's your own baby!
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 04 January 2011 - 08:50
Thank you ladies! The reason I asked about the phonics is I taught Kinder and 1st grade for 10 years and believe in teaching the phonics rules but we purchased some books from the bookstore in the Khalidya mall in AD and the books were from the UK and spelled the words as aeroplane and tyres instead of airplane and tires so I wondered if that's the way the Brittish curriculum schools teach phonics. Evelyn, do we hire Ms. Coutts to find schools that match our needs? I've never heard of hiring an Education Consultant before.
SunDevil
774
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 03 January 2011 - 23:48
You can use the link below to see all the neighborhoods in AR and within each neighborhood you can find the floorplans for each home. Hope that helps you see which homes have maid's rooms. http://dubaiproperties.ae/main/projects/index.php?hdnID=78 We are now officially hunting for a house in AR and I think I have every floorplan memorized. :)
 
 
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