RAMBLINGS & RELECTIONS ON FIVE YEARS IN THE UAE

On the 11th August 2016 we realised (thanks Facebook) that we have been in the UAE for five years now. 

It's one of those things that you know is real but it feels surreal at the same time. We kind of looked at each other and thought "how on earth has that happened?".

When we came here five years ago we had no idea how it would go, what would it be like, would we like it, would we survive? all going well I thought maybe we would be here two years, earn some money and then go home. I have been overseas I thought, I enjoy seeing my family and friends regularly, so why would I leave again for so long? 

Well, like we tell people here it's a honey trap and when asked "how long will we stay?" the answer is we truly don't know. Years ago when I was a newbie here I would meet people who had been here for 20 or more years and I would think "huh, why would you stay so long" but now I get it. So although I don't think we will be here that long I think we will definitely be here another few years, and I will follow this by the compulsory inshallah, which if you don't know what that means you can read about it in this post. 

So at the five year point, these are my musings and random thoughts on life here. Grab a cup of coffee, it could be a long one!

For the most part we really enjoy living here, oh yes it has alot of quirks and frustrations but it also has alot of opportunities that we wouldn't get living in New Zealand. I get asked alot of questions like "why do you live here?, do we like it?, what's it like?", all totally valid and what this blog is about.

The UAE is a pretty interesting place to live, essentially it's in a hot bed of a location, all around us in the gulf different uprisings have happened and war is going on, and yet the UAE remains an incredibly safe place. I have never in five years felt unsafe here. I can leave the front door unlocked, my car unlocked and running, I can walk around solo at any time of day or night and not run into any trouble at all. Could I or would I do that in New Zealand or other parts of the world? the answer is absolutely not.

People are ALWAYS surprised when I tell them this. Oh, it has it's share of crime which you read about but on the whole for a country with over 9 million people living here in my opinion it's incredibly safe. Why is that you will ask? well my reasoning is that 7.5 million of the population is made up of expats from all over the world and we all need a visa to live here, so if you are caught up in crime you will go to jail and be deported. It's just not worth it for many people who are here supporting their families back home.

The UAE is such a tolerant country. This is a Muslim country who opens it's doors to all nationalities and religions from around the world and offers work to people who simply wouldn't have a chance in the likes of their home countries. There is a job for everyone and everyone has a job, from street cleaner to CEO, we are all welcome. Not only does it offer work but it offers churches, social clubs, schools and more all catering to the different religions and nationalities to make living abroad even easier.

This country is enterprising, yes it all started with oil but it's no accident that Dubai has become a trading hub, a tourism hot spot and city of the future. There is a vision and and it will be accomplished and along the way anyone is welcome to jump on the band wagon, foreign business is welcomed and entrepreneurs are encouraged. If you have an idea than this is the place to go for it.

Now onto the real reason that 90% of expats are in the UAE, it is tax free! That's right, you can earn good money and you retain 100% of it. Along with other benefits such as housing allowances, furniture allowances, flight allowances and health insurance, the perks IF you can get them are quite good. Even with the rising cost of living, financial freedom is still one of the biggest positives this country offers.

Following on from above, I will be completely honest about the frivolous things I love that this country offers me. I love getting my nails done on a (sometimes) weekly basis, I love designer handbags, I love 5 star resorts and I love good Champagne. All of these things which I probably won't be able to afford once we leave this country but for now I class these things as "rewards" for getting through the frustrations like in this post and although they don't happen all the time they do happen.

So for all that good stuff it would be remiss of me to not mention some of the frustrations of living here because it's not all positive and the daily struggles are real. Also, according to our friend Mitch I am too calm and positive, so this is for her!

When I first started interviewing for jobs here, the question asked time and time again was "do you have UAE experience" and my response was always "well no, but I have other great experience" to which people always just smiled or smirked at my positive naivety. And a few months into my first job the realisation hits me, what they are really asking is "can you handle the daily frustrations of working here?". Because at the end of the day, there is 200 nationalities working here and everyone has varying degrees of english, everyone has a different way of operating and on no two occasions will you EVER get the same answer.

Somedays the frustration is so bad you will absolutely end up losing your temper at someone who doesn't deserve it, or maybe they did but they won't understand you in any case so it wasn't really worth the bother. Logic and common sense are not characteristics you will see a lot of so you have to really change your way of thinking in order not to have what we like to call a "brain explosion". 

For all the tolerance this country has as I mentioned above, it also suffers a deeply ingrained passport based caste system whereby your nationality is the most important factor. When the passport you hold dictates what job you will have and how much you will get paid it's tough. Not so tough for me as a holder of a New Zealand passport but tough for my friends, colleagues and staff that get treated so differently just because their passport states Philippines, Nepal or Sri Lanka. Or, in one case my colleague who was a fellow kiwi but of indian origin and was told by HR no less that "she doesn't look like a New Zealander"! 

I have become somewhat hardened in order to deal with the above on a daily basis and I will always stand by the saying "treat others as you wish to be treated" and in five years I like to think that I have done exactly that to each and every person I come in contact with. 

The driving. Oh boy, this is hands down the number one thing which will turn a good day into a bad one. The concept of using indicators, being considerate and generally paying attention when driving is lost on 90% of the drivers here. It's a miracle that in five years I haven't been in a crash, near misses yes, but thank goodness no crashes....inshallah. YouTube is full of videos verifying this fact so if you're interested than take a look and you can gather some insight!

At the end of the day living abroad as an expat is just like living in your home country, the good, the bad and the ugly make up every part of every day. But after five years of living in the UAE the one thing I understand everyday is how lucky I am, I may complain but I really have no right to because I am constantly meeting people who are much worse off than me and they are so happy about it.

If there is anything you may wonder about living here than let me know and I am happy to tell you about it!

Thanks for reading my thoughts and hopefully making it to the end of this post.

Amy