Dubai Offer, is it ok?

Thanks for your inputs.

I'm actually renegotiating my package now, asking an accomodation to be included in the package + transfer allowance.

i realize that house rental rates are unpredictable.

hopefully they give in.

I have just left Dubai....

Housing alone for a family costs equiv 15,000QRpm 3/4 bed villa, i would say similar to Qatar rentals.

Say you need 10,000QR equiv for 2 bed apartment in a reasonable area.

Living is expensive, need approx another 10,000 pm...depending on your standard of living!...

Then , if you want to send to your home country / saving etc...add whatever else...

so 20,000 to 25,000 would cover living in dubai...single guy or just husband and spouse no children...need alot more if children involved..etc...

The baby's safety and well being comes first.

Your baby is the priority. If you would not be able to find someone you can really trust with your baby, such as your inlaws then I suggest you think twice about getting the job with AJI.

I dont want to sound chauvinistic bust traditionally its the man's job to provide for the family. I know career is important for you as well but your baby's safety is way too important than anything else.

i agree with you, if not the mother the next best people to take care of the kids are their respective grand parents, i dont have that option here, cos my mom and mom in law have committments back in my hometown, lots of baggage that they cant leave behind to come here for the sake of my career and its not fair on my part to ask them too, this is what i feel.

being a full time mom was a conscious decision of mine, taken long before i had kids, but, i am finding it difficult to loosen the ties in between to go after my own career. will my babies miss me at home, even if they are with a trusted caregiver who can mother them like i do, the though of them feeling helpless without me is what scares me. its basically a lot of emotional issues i need to sort out, so now i know other mothers go through it too.

whatever you decide, regarding the caregivers, daycare or wiring your house with cameras, let me know,i border on obsessiveness where their safety and happiness are concerend.i feel no matter what, if anything happens to the child in your absence, even if there is a nanny/caregiver, it is still your responsibility, i think you may agree with this.we decided to leave the child with someone we trust. so keep this dialogue on, it feels reassuring communicating with you.i think we shud open a new discussion on this topic for other mothers to contribute, bcos right now we have hijacked sunspotters discussion. what do u think.

juggling a baby and a career is the hardest thing i have ever done, especially with my line of work in t.v. which means hectic shifts and un bearable working hours. howver i always thought that when i have my baby i will be a full time mom.. but then when i had him, and saw how much his grandparents take care of him and how much they love him it made it all easier to me. i am very much attached to my baby but at the same time i can deal with my attachment to him as long as he is happy, and i made sure from he was very young that he is used to being with my inlaws alone it wouldnt be a shock to him when i left back to work... but this is all in uae...now that i am moving to doha and not having my inlaws around scares me alot..and at the same time i dont want to leave my career, so it is a very hard decision.... but i will not make the decision until i am 100% sure my baby is allright..as you said we brought those baby to the world and we are responsible for their well being.. so i will do whatever it takes to make sure he is happy and safe, even if it meant ip cameras , surprise visits, or having a neighbour keep an eye on them.

so as far as answering your question, it is hard leaving your baby behind because you are both attached to eachother, but it will only last couple of weeks and then both of you will get the hang of the new routine.. as long as you know your babys needs are met of course, and like i said my situation before was a bit different because i left him with his grandparents, so it took most of the worries off for me.

we have deviated from your discussion to baby care issues, i hope you dont mind and if you do, we will gladly take up this issue elsewhere. i felt princess1's genuine concern, so had to reply.

while on your subject, think a lot about moving to dubai, cos it is an expensive life and stylish life if you like good things in life.more than that,princess1 has given you an indept information about that place.take care and all the best

i think u are perfectly normal, as those are the things that i might do myself, if i had the means and my hubby agrees with me. you cant be too careful with kids.i am not working, but the thought of leaving my babies with anyone scares the daylights out of me.too much of emotional attachment.there are horro stories with nannies and day care places, you have to be your own judge on this issue, because at the end of the day if your baby and his/her interests you are looking out for.you have given me a very god idea of installing ip cameras to track the caregiver, and why not, its just to make sure all is well, i was thinking on the lamer side of asking my husband to make surprise visits or myself doing that just to let the caregiver know that she cant have it her way and that someone is watching her, this is when i start taking up work full time.

then again i know many people who have nannies/caregivers who look after the kids like their own and they trust them fully and have no problems at all.

let me know what you are thinking.you can obsess about your child, until they can think on their own you are responsible for them, so why not?everyone will be happy with some extra care and love.

while on this subject, how did u manage work with a small baby, the emotional quotient of it, cos i am having a tough time, giving up being a full time mom for my career, i am ready for my babies to be attending school full time, when i think of taking up a good job. the sad part is, being an engineer i am getting good offers right now.

did u go through the same thought process of leaving your baby behind in his granma's care while u decided to work?

Do you really desperate for work? Can't u wait for at least another year? Me think 1 yr old a bit to young to be look after by stranger

Have you try Busy Bees, go and find Nadene Shameem (she is from Wales) the owner of the place. Tell her that Novita (she is a good friend of mine) recommend her. Go and have a look around the place (she moved the place from JBK compound to Al Mamoura and i never been to the new place yet).

I know some people have different situation for everything, so wish you all the best in getting somebody to choose the nursery / day care.

thanks guys for the reply, but now am really confused...the thought of leaving my baby with a stranger is horifying since my baby is been kept with his grandma to take care of him, he is used to one on one attention, also i have heared horror stories about stay home caregivers so i have to do lots of research. However, me and my husband were thinking of installing ip cameras all over the house to track the caregiver all the time through the net but i guess that is a bit crazy too. someone suggested that we hire a nanny and send her with the baby to the day care so atleast there will be other people around and at the same time my baby will get one on one attention.. but am scared that is getting to obsessive ..plz let me know what you guys think..

thanks again guys

instead of a locally hired nanny, i would suggest you try to get someone on your own sponsorship to look after your home and the baby. i have a year old baby too and i dread sending my babies to the day care, i would prefer keeping a housemaid who is capable enough to look after the babies in my absense.

the main problem of daycare is kids falling sick, and this is what i have heard and seen, andthey wont allow a sick child in the day care, which is fine, considering the health of the other children, but then u gotto see, if u can take time off to tender to your sick child.lots of factors that need to be looked into.

if you do find the contacts for nannies, please do let me know too.

I have a few friends who are also expats and they put their children in a daycare that is run by the american hospital, they really like the standards. I don't know about nannies, there are waaay to many horror stories in the Qatar press of abuse and such. I would do much more research before making a final decision.

hmmm...thanks for the input I cant imagine leaving my 11 months in a daycare that you described forget about that... i wil go wiht hiring a full time nanny,, do you happen to know any of the agencies you mentioned , like a website or phone number so i can get more info.

thank you

there are a lot of daycare centers available in doha but i really do not advise this option. i've seen how they run the daycares here and its pretty scary, especially if you have kids 1-2 years old. it would be better if you get a full time nanny. there are sevral agencies that cater to this sort of business of providing nannies.

- an apple a day, makes seven apples in a week -

thank you for the information, i very much appreciate it..however, aljazeera is offering furnished villa accomodation so it will save me from going through the pain of finding a place... i am looking forward to moving to doha because it is more laid back and less crazy than dubai...since i have a family it will be much easier for me........hmmmmmmm about you living in sharjah with the shift hours you have it will be suicide.....u can wait in trafic for atleast 2 hours to dubai and 2 hours back even know on an empty road it takes 20 minutes to DIC...i can cope with it because i work shift hours so am not really caught in rush hour.... about you trying to get your work to win you back ..good luck on that, but i think it will be crazy for them to loose a trained employee to another company uf they could afford to pay you...meaning try to state to them how expensive it will be to them to recruit someone with your qualifications and how costly and time consuming it would be to train her/him and maybe they will try to negotiate something in your favour...

but what i want to ask you actually is about nannies and daycares if you have any info in terms of is it easy to get an english speaking nanny and is there very good day cares around aljazeera area..

thank you

of course aljazeera is one of the more respected (and prestigious) media outfits in the region. good to hear that you landed a job there.

as for qatar, well the rents are soaring as we speak. traffic is also heavy at times because of numerous road constructions (especially in the area where aljazeera is located). a typical unfurnished 2 bedroom flat is in the range of 6,500-7,000 QRs per month (for now). villas are in the 12,000 to 15,000 QRs range. i dunno what your living requirements are but i hope this can give you an idea of the living expenses here. doha is a relatively small place compared to dubai, and its typically more laid back-- (not a lot of nice pubs and clubs like dubai). but if you welcome a slower pace in life then qatar may be a perfect fit for you.

btw, what are the rents like in sharjah? how many hours drive is sharjah from DIC? the office hours of the frim i'm applying for is 8AM-6PM so i'm thinking that i'll always be catching the rush hour traffic.

hopefully i finalize my plans before month-end (as i'm hoping that my current company will try to win me back by matching the dubai firm offer...'dream on?) so i can make my move.

well i should be moving to qatar in a month or so if everything works out, i will be joining aljazeera international... hmmmmmmmm.. DMC is great but the opportunity at aljazeera is greater as it is a step up for me in my career and who knows i might be back again in dubai in few years to land a better job.... btw if you have any info about qatar plz let me know, apart from the culture because i am originally arab so i am aware of the culture. and about where am residing in dubai...i dont actually live in dubai, i live in sharjah , but was thinking of moving to springs before i got my aljazeera offer.

princess1, thanks for your inputs.

btw, when will you be moving to qatar, and if i may ask, why? dubai (DMC) in particular is a nice place to work right? which company will you be working for here? i can probably give you some info about moving to qatar and what to expect here.

p.s.

since you worked in DMC, which area are you residing in dubai?

you are very welcome suspotter, the offer you are getting is really great actually. and dont worry about moving here from qatar, you will do just fine as long as you are moving up in your career you have nothing to worry about. i work in DMC (just a step away from DIC ) and the place is just great, and lots of things to do around here, the golf course is like 5 minutes drive, and pubs and clubs are all over the place (if you are interested in that) about the choice of accomodation you mentioned sycg as springs and meadows are great places , the greens is not too bad either but it is an apartment complex rather than a villa complex, the rents are for springs for a 2 bdrm villa with study room (pretty small, but cozy and nice) is somewhere between 85,000 - 90,000 , the meadows i think is a bit more expensive, the greens however i think for a one bedroom apartment is around 70,000 dhs.

now i guess you can see from the prices above that rent will be almost one third of your salary so if you can negotiate for them to pay at least a portion of your rent it will be awsome.

as for making an informed decision , just put the pros and cons of both place , putting career , money spent and money saved every month in mind, after all i think most of expats if am not mistaken are here to be able to enjoy tax free life and save money as well as move up in their career. and hopefully after weighing the pros and cons you will be able to make a better decision.

thanks for the advise princess1. The offer I got in Dubai is 22,000 AED/month plus a signing bonus of 15,000 USD. The job is in in one of the companies located in DIC. Im trying to negotiate for the accomodation to be included, but jst in case its not, I'm eyeing to rent a place somewhere near there - The Greens, The Springs, The Meadows. Would you have any idea on the rental rates there?

I'm just a bit curious (little worried also)that the career move Im doing is the opposite of what others (such as yourself) are doing -- meaning moving to Qatar from Dubai, and not the other way around. Is there something else that I should consider to make an informed decision?

- an apple a day, makes seven apples in a week -

sunspotter ... visit expatgossip.com, members there mainly based in Dubai. Or you can go to britishexpats.com middle east section.

hi sunspotter, well I live in dubai at the moment and I am moving to Qatar soon, but to answer your question ... the amount of money you mentioned all depends on wether accomodation is being offered with the package or not, if accomodation is offered then it is a damn good deal , if not...its still a good deal considering you have to pay an arm and a leg for a decent accomodation here.(accomodation is anywhere from 100,000- 200,000/yr for a 3 bdrm villa)

however, to get some ideas on living cost and rental cost in dubai you could do some research on the net and dubai is like any place in the western world it has tons of publications , other than that you will have the time of your life in dubai, it is a great place to live, raise family and have fun if you have the money for all that...lol....

hope i helped.