03 May 2013

Dubai living!

It is finally time to put this one out! :)

You are all so interested how is life here in the sandpit, so I'll try to describe it best I can from my own perspective.

Madinat Jumeirah

First of all I knew where I was coming, wasn't dreaming about living in a big vila on the beach, swimming with dolphins every morning before work or drinking cocktails every night on the top of Burj Khalifa :) I knew it is a city in the desert, it is a muslim country and I'm coming here to work, not for a vacation, so my expectations weren't that high, because of that I got so much more than I did hope for deep down inside :)

My appartment is big and my room is huge! I have one flatmate. Everything is new, except the oven (I'm affraid of that thing!). Every building has a gym and a pool, security 24/7 (you have to sing in everytime you're visiting someone and a security guy calls you first to confirm the visit). The only bad thing is the area, let's call it industrial. We are quite far away from everything and across the street is a cattle market, imagine the smell...oh...specially during the night in summer months, mmmm...



This is the list of the things we get when we come:

 
 
Honestly, I don't think I would ever come to live here if I wasn't doing what I'm doing... Why?
There's no parks, nature, not like the ones most of us are used to have around, you don't go out for a walk, you go to the beach or one of the million malls.
That can sound great, and it probably is for a short period of time, but after a few weeks you just wanna go 'outside', have some grass and trees and birds and bees around you,  you wish for that small simplest things (I was sooo happy when it was raining the other day for a few hours and I smelled the rain on the asfalt!), you want to be able to go barbecuing and have a real beer with it, but you're not allowed to do that here , know what I mean? There's no cultural or historical sights...

Sheikh Zayed road

The other thing about this place is that everything is, how should I say it? Fake? Money oriented? Superficial? Soulless? Hypocritical? Yes that's how I see it here, so yes, I do not plan to fly forever or live here more than a few years cause I don't believe in having a real normal family life with this job, and sure I don't wanna raise my kids in a place like this one day :) This is all I'm gonna say on this subject,  keeping my long term plans for myself until the time comes ;)


Spending my days in Dubai...
- SLEEPING!!! You can't imagine how exhausted I can be, disoriented and lost in time zones :)
- Being at home, doing laundry, cooking, having friends over, being with Adri and Ana wathcing TV, having coffee downstairs in the restaurant, soaking up the sun on the pool, reading... Sounds boring? I don't care, this is how I love to spend my free time between the flights :)
- I visit aerobic class every 3 months hahaha, and/or go to the beach. Now it's getting too hot so we'll skip the beach for a few months and go to one of the hotels on the pool.


- When I go out clubbing I spend entire next day recovering :) but I haven't been out for some time now (not in Dubai), being too lazy and I have a good stash of booze in my living room anyway :)

Hahahaha

Some other clubs, bars I've been to or haven't been yet :) - Barasti beach bar, Nasimi beach, Cavali, Zinc and Rock bottom (places where most of the crew is going), Budoir, Armani, Amika, Irish village... Trader vic's, Crystal, Blue Marlin Ibiza UAE...

- From time to time I go to the mall, only and only if I need to buy something, otherwise I have no energy what so ever to spend a day in the mall. The ones I go to are Dubai mall cause it has the biggest book store of all, and we like to have lunch outside by the fountains, Deira city centre cause it's smaller from all the others and nearest to me, or Festival city where Ikea is and an amazing Jamie Oliver's restaurant!

Mall of the Emirates (MOE)

- I'm leaving a lots of things to see and visit for when my friends come in November, so I'm looking forward to that! Weeeee :)
- Finally the thing I want to start doing on my days off is traveling around some close destinations, first on the list is Petra in Jordan :)

Petra, Jordan

I see Dubai as a stopover between my flights, as much as I call it home now, sometimes it feels just like every other hotel room in the world.
It doesn't feel like I'm all by myself here, you find yourself a new family you spend your days with, have fun, share tears and problems, friends with whom you share this amazing experience that no one else can understand, and if you're lucky they will stay in your life even when this episode of your lives finishes...

This city is a great place for a vacation, you really do have everything here - sandy beaches, inside iceskating and ski slope, desert safari, swimming with sharks and dolphins, skydiving, great hotels, even better night life, concerts and festivals, hell of a shopping if you can afford it :) you name it!
But besides that? As a tourist you don't visit neighborhoods where all those workers from India, Pakisatn, Bangladesh or Philippines mostly live, so you don't see that side of the coin, you don't deal with crazy banking system or people who don't understand what are you saying to them or just pretend they don't, and everything here so so so slow! I mean everyone.
Opposite to that everything is clean and in order, you know the rules and you live by them. And of course it is always sunny and warm so it doesn't matter how bad you feel when you see the sun outside your window everything looks better (if the window isn't full of sand from a sandstorm the day before :p)

Dubai metro - no eating or drinking inside is allowed

What about the prices here? Don't believe that everything is cheaper, some things are but most of it is the same as everywhere, clothes I mean, at least the things I was looking or buying. Food is more expensive than back home, specially fruits and vegetables, cheese, ham, and the quality is not that great. I'll list some of the things I'm buying on daily basis... (in UAE dirhams!)

1l of milk - 3,75
Chopped salad - 15 and more (depends which one)
Cherry tomatos - 18
Nestle cornflakes - around 20
Canned vegetables - 5-10
Barilla pasta - 10
London dairy icecream - 28
Philadelphia cheese - 13
6 Eggs - 5
Cheese ementaler - 14 
400g of frozen spinach - 5
1kg banana - around 6
Strawberries - 34 for a pack and more

10 dirhams = 2,75 US dollars = 2,08 euros = 1,75 pounds = 2,65 australian dollars

Electronics, cars and of course gas is cheaper.
Ipad 16GB - 2000
Iphone 4s - 2300
external hard drive - 300
Samsung 44inch TV - 1500
Canon camera  eos 600 - 2800 (2200 on a discount)

...the rest - manicure/pedicure 65-75, full legs waxing 90, hair wash and dry 60 and more (all of it depends which salon you choose to go to), big mac meal 20, books 45 and up, eating out in restaurants I alwasy pay around 70 - 150 per person, vodka sprite, bacardi cola around 50 dirhams, one shot 20-30...

There are also very good ladies nights, you pay 50aed for 'one glass' and from 8pm till midnight you drink as much as you can (don't ask how the last one ended up, I would have to lie to you :D), or promotions like 5aed for 5 cocktails and so much more that will keep you 'hidrated'... :))

 
Ladies night in Barasti beach bar :)


As cabin crew we have discounts in specific places so mostly we go there, dicounts are from 10% up to 50%.

You have to adjust to a lots of stuff and then again there are some other things you'll never understand how or why, for the love of god, is this possible! It's just how it is in such a multicultural place.
Someone else will have totally opposite opinion, some people loooove Dubai, they will stay here forever or go further in the world and never go back home, the others hate it and can't wait to go back home, some have already left. It is 100% personal and subjective thing to talk about. And this was mine side of looking at it. :)
I'm sure I forgot to write down a lot but hope you're pleased and have a better picture now, at least a little bit. :))

I'm so sleepy I'll go take a nap but before that here is my freshly new and open facebook page Come fly with me :))
(Until I learn how to put it somewhere on the homepage of this blog hehe)
I thought it would be easier to answer  your questions there and publish new posts, pics etc...so LIKE IT if you LIKE IT :D

Till the next one :)
Sweet dreams wherever you are! 

 
P.S. The rest of your questions will be answered shortly in some of the future posts (or facebook if you like) :***
 

19 comments:

  1. you are very nice to do this kinds of things, like helping other :) Thanks it was very informative and gave me lots os help and an inside ideia how it is like to live in dubai working for emirates :)
    xoxo from italy

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  2. loved the post thanks for answering
    keep writing love! :D

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  3. Awesome post, it helped me a lot!
    Thanks you Tea! :)
    Until the next post... :D XOXO from Aussie!

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  4. Here in Portugal, things have almost the same prices that there in the UAE, and omg Iphones and Ipads are so much much much more cheaper! :o
    Loved the post, really thankful that you've done it. Thanks you, kisses and keep writing! :)
    xx

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  5. Loved the post! you are THE VERY BEST! :)

    Can you take photos to your uniform? Thnks xx

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  6. Very good and informative post! Can't wait for your next post! kisses! ((:

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  7. keep writing! :D
    Kisses and hugs from Poland! :D
    One day I hope i will be in Dubai working for Emirates as well!

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  8. Love it! <3 Please keep on writing! :) I would like to see a post on working for Emirates. "A Day in a Life of an Emirates Cabin Crew""! What's your day like? What are the procedures you have to do during the flight? Greetings from Australia! :)

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  9. Good post! (y) Keep writing! :)

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  10. love your blogm and thanks for answering my questions!

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  11. Nicely done

    I think you may enjoy my blog post about Dubai too
    http://acollectionofmusings.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/dubai-the-city-of-cities/

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    Replies
    1. Interesting subject and soooo true :) well done yourself ;) and thanks..

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  12. Looking for a holiday or vacation in the Dubai? We are provides best short term apartments and dubai accommodation for holidays and self catering vacations in Dubai.

    Khalifa City Abu Dhabi

    ReplyDelete
  13. H! ! very nice blog, and life too, the trips are awesome ;)) can I ask you something, do you have a washing machine for laundry in your apartment, hihihihi, because I see you often say that you have a lot of laundry to do ?? :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi to you too :)) hahahaha well this question is in place hahaha, yes we do have washing machines but somehow I always have at least one to wash, cause when I come back from a layover I feel like my clothes is 'dirty' so I wash it ;))

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    2. hehe, I can completely understand this :)))))

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  14. Hey Tea,
    I was wondering, how are people in Dubai, I mean mostly about the crew, because you see them most :) From, seeing other crews blogs and profiles, it seems to me like most of them are superficial, only want to go shopping and elegant dining, not caring much about exploring culture of other places and people. Is it right for most part?
    On the other hand, you seem like a grounded person and adventurous one.
    I hope you can answer, at least diplomatic one ahah
    Thanks :))

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    Replies
    1. Hey Jele, sorry for the late reply, I was on vacation without my laptop :) So here it goes... People are different, there are superficial ones, there are the ones who want to explore and learn and see things, there are the ones who stay in their rooms and save the money and not interested in anything... On every flight you can find at least one person to go around with and that's more than enough sometimes :)
      There are destinations where you can't do anything and have to stay in the hotel, there are places where you see interesting things in the first 2,3 times and then every other time you just go shopping, eating, drinking, cause 24hrs is not enough for more exploring from what you already did and so on and so on... :))
      Everyone is different... :)

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