Career break - Is Abu Dhabi really that boring?!

kalamityjim

Heading on a career break to go teaching in the Middle East, just not yet sure where. After looking around different forums online, there's a pretty resounding opinion that Abu Dhabi can be pretty boring, as can pretty much everywhere else in the Middle East outside of Dubai.

Is this really the case? 30 years old, single, so would be looking for a decent social scene but don't want to head over there for a year if there's only 2 or 3 decent places to enjoy a night out? So is Abu Dhabi really all that boring? Or is it just that Dubai is so vibrant, everywhere else pales in comparison without actually being dull places themselves?

Cheers

SeanThor

how do you find abu dhabi? i am considering taking a job out there.
As a single man who enjoys a beer and the company of a woman from time to time, i am wondering if this a good idea?

kalamityjim

Didn't make it to Abu Dhabi myself in the end but I have a few friends who are in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and they are having a ball. I think Abu Dhabi and Dubai are different in a lot of ways, but each have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Dubai is a bit more lively but Abu Dhabi is more homely and has a closer-knit expat community. Abu Dhabi is by no means boring from what I hear but still, the friends I have over there end up going up to Dubai maybe once every 3 weekends for the craic. A lot of people actually seem to prefer Abu Dhabi cos it goves themall they want - a good expat community, bit of craic and the mayhem of Dubai is easily accessible when they want to go really mad.
I'm just going on what I've heard from people but same as yourself, as a (somewhat!) young lad who was looking for a good social life, Abu Dhabi would have ticked all the boxes for me and I would've actually preferred it to Dubai.
Hope that helps.

DeeDee89

has anyone else any experiences of teaching in the UAE and what are the best schools???

crappyireland

hey. said id add my bit.
Im a mid 20s female and ive lived and worked in education in Abu Dhabi for 2 years. 2010-2012. had to best time and experience of my life. its far from boring!!!!
fire away any questions you may have

Annalyn

Just my experience, i have not worked in abu dhabi but i have spent a lot of time there.
There are countless bars/resteraunts and clubs in abu dhabi, i have been to many and have found them fantastic! You just always need to bare in mind that you are not in a a pub/club in ireland, it is a very different scene. But not for the worst! I certainly would never describe abu dhabi as boring! There is so much to experience and there is a massive expat community there.

endacl

Main difference is that people from Dubai don't watch the Flintstones, but people from Abu Dhabi do!









I'll get me coat....

Siosleis

Just make sure you stick with the Euopeans over there and you'll be grand. DO NOT under ANY circumstances trust the Arabs when it comes to alcohol. Be wary of them always because the police will arrest You sooner than a Man who had been drinking alcohol earlier. Other than that it's very hot over there and there are a lot of malls.

Annalyn

I second Siosleis on her comment about the heat. I found in totally unbearable at times. Between May and October it can get to the late 40's. Dec-March are the only 'cool' months and even they are tough. Its the humidity that makes very difficult. There are certain times of year that i would never even be able to walk for more than a couple of minutes outside and i consider myself someone who is not too bad at taking hot weather. The humidity out there is something like you wont experience anywhere else.

Tom Dunne

Siosleis wrote: »

Just make sure you stick with the Euopeans over there and you'll be grand. DO NOT under ANY circumstances trust the Arabs when it comes to alcohol. Be wary of them always because the police will arrest You sooner than a Man who had been drinking alcohol

Can I ask on what grounds you are basing this assertion? As somebody who has lived in the Middle East for a number of years, I find your statement quite alarmist.

kalamityjim

As regards the best schools, the only thing to maybe avoid is ADEC (the Abu Dhabi equivalent of the Dept. of Education here). Just because its a bit of a lottery - their current process is that they will pay very well, probabbly better than everywhere else in the area, but they won't actually tell you where they will put you until you get out there. You could be lucky - you could get somewhere fairly central but I know a few people who got placed in schools out in the desert, nearly an hour from the city, in a rural school where discipline isn't exactly the order of the day. Now you could take the chance that you get lucky with your placement - its a complete lottery - and if you don't get positioned in a central location, then try to jump ship and find work elsewhere. That's what one of my friends did but at the same time, jumping ship from any of the schools out there is not an easy thing to do.

Apart from maybe avoiding ADEC (public) schools, I have heard that private schools with a healthy percentage of kids from expat families generally have better discipline than those that are full to the brim with locals - generally the local children (in private schools), being from their plush backgrounds don't entertain the idea of discipline quite as well.

Outside of that though, if you google the name of the school, half the time you will be able to find comments on it in different forums, both from parents and ex-staff, which would give you some sort of an idea of what kind of school it is.

Siosleis

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Can I ask on what grounds you are basing this assertion? As somebody who has lived in the Middle East for a number of years, I find your statement quite alarmist.

I have lived there and was seriously assaulted. The female doctor wanted me to see the police but also advised me at the same time that UAE police were not like European police. I read enough between the lines.