Differences between Dubai and the UK as an expat

There are 4 main differences I've noticed this week on my UK visit between Dubai and the UK and have reached the conclusion that no where is perfect.

Weather. 
It's winter in both countries now but the differences are huge. I can't get over how cold the water runs from the taps in the UK, even in summer just cleaning my teeth is sensitive and I swear it takes longer for the kettle to boil and food to cook and I defiantly couldn't dry clothes and when mopping the floor it seemed to take forever to dry.

I had no idea how to manage the central heating system. In Dubai you have instant cold air when it gets too hot. In the UK it takes forever to warm the house up.

Dubai - I can't cool down in summer without the air conditioning. I have to spray the car windows from the water bottle to remove the sand. The sea and tap water run at 36c+. It's impossible to have a cool shower.

From the outdoor tap June 2015.

UK - It takes ages to warm up in the UK, but I can do it with extra clothing and keeping active without the need for putting the heating on. It's not pleasant, but it is doable. I have to sit in a freezing car, pressing various alien buttons to defrost the windows and had to buy deicer and a window scraper to see out.

Driving.
Both countries have their own style of driving, after 5 years in Dubai I automatically drive in both countries on opposite sides of the roads. I guess it's like learning a second language, it just becomes natural as you switch from country to country.

Dubai
We have 16 lane highways, they are permanently congested, there is little lane discipline and indicators are rarely used. Parking spaces are huge as are most of the vehicles here. To get across busy junctions you have to drive by and do a U turn rather than trying to cross busy intersections. New roads just pop up over night.

Two years ago we drove across the desert to take a short cut to our house, we now have this.

UK
Lanes are narrower and just as congested. Everything is in mph and I often wonder why it takes me twice as long to reach my destination, then I realise I've automatically assumed the signs are in kms per hour. I don't get confused with the speed limits as the vehicles for each country are in the correct format. Parking spaces are also narrow and far less available. I have to remember to put my own fuel in the car and go and pay.

Shopping.
I constantly think in Dirhams and convert all the time. I'm constantly surprised by UK prices as I haven't lived here for 9 years. It's all more expensive than I remember, but like I said it's been 9 years.

Dubai
On walking into any store you are greeted and asked if you require assistance, even if you say no, you are followed around, goods taken to the till and automatically packed. I don't do online shopping in Dubai as I find delivery times are too wide and someone has to be at home to receive the goods. Most people have live in maids, we don't and I've often waited from 8am for a delivery that's arrived at 8pm.

UK
Most small independent shops I walk into no one ever speaks. Trying to find an assistant in a supermarket or large store for help is almost impossible. Shopping online is easier, parcels will be left with neighbours or you can collect post the following day from the post office and it's easy online to rearrange a delivery.I do prefer wandering around the towns in the open air rather than be inside a mall all day although the views from the coffee shops differ greatly.

Monmouth

Dubai

Getting things done.
It's just as frustrating in both countries.

Dubai
It is easier to visit a branch, store to make a complaint or resolve an issue than it is to phone or email. We don't have street post delivery and the post can only be collected by Peter from his office, so if he is away I'm unable to enter the Freezone to find if anything has been delivered. All voice over internet is blocked in Dubai other than using an app which is expensive and uses up your mobile data as well as a monthly fee. It can take up to 6 weeks for post to reach both Dubai and the UK.

UK
To set up utilities I was on hold with nearly every phone call for 20+ minutes before I was then transferred to the correct department. All emails sent stated a response in 2-3 days or even up to 2 weeks.

Dubai or the UK?

Well from next month I'll have the best of both worlds with a home in 2 countries. I found winter in the UK to be as unpleasant as summer is in Dubai. While my main residence will be in the UK I still ahve the advantage of making regular trips to Dubai in winter and have the best of both worlds.

In regards to getting things done, I'll just have to keep switching between my Dubai and UK brain, as I do when I'm driving and hopefully it will all become 2nd nature to me quite quickly.

Stop procrastinating and get things done

I don't procrastinate through choice. I just get overwhelmed with life and things that happen outside of my control that I'm left to deal with. I do work better with a deadline and sadly if I wait till the deadline to do something which I think I have fully under control, then fate plays a cruel hand and I up end up having to deal with other stuff that's often hard to deal with, complicated or has external factors beyond my control. Things like renewal policies and birthdays are marked in my diary and I plan ahead for these dates, but then I find I need a one time pin for my UK phone to renew policies in the UK or for online banking as something has changed and my UK sim doesn't work in Dubai, so it complicates matters by having to find alternate ways to pay and often foreign credit cards aren't accepted, especially British ones in Dubai, if I happen to be trying to do something the other way round. It cause me great stress and can physically make me ill.

In June last year I headed to the UK for 4 months, my mission was to support the teen into work and try and knock some sense into my dad about downsizing. Sadly my dad died 3 weeks later and the teen was sidelined.

I spent the next 5 months downsizing with my mum which involved getting rid of 77 years of my dads collections, selling her home and helping her purchase a flat.

I’m pleased to say my mum moved into her new home last week and all went well.

Thankfully my dad was a very organized person and when I’d been in the UK in April I’d asked him if his affairs were in order and although he didn’t discuss financial details with me, he did show me where everything was and had put together information for his funeral and finding his CV s and footballing career history made it easy to put together his eulogy.

It made me realize that while we live abroad that if something happened to me, Peter would be in quite a bit of a pickle. My father did everything the old fashioned way. We do everything online. Whilst my mother had no clue where to start with phoning round and selling a house, Peter would be in the same situation with our finances as everything is done online and in my name.

We have a plan in place should anything happen to Peter, as I would have to leave Dubai within 30 days. So I have a bank account in my name only here and in the UK with enough money in to get me, the dog, cat and furniture out of here and allow me to live financially for 6 months while we sort the will out. We also own a flat in the UK which is solely in my name so I’d have somewhere to live also.

We don’t need these plans for Peter as he would carry on working and have an income and could take his time sorting this stuff out, but he needs to know how to do it also.

So I’m off to the UK next week, sadly for a flying visit for my ex SIL’s funeral. Her sudden death last week after a brave fight with cancer has made me realize life isn’t to be taken for granted and I need to stop procrastinating and get on with sorting out our financial affairs.

I have a 7 hour flight ahead of me. I’ll take a note pad and a pen and I’ll be writing down account numbers and passwords that I hold in my head (in code obviously) I’ll type them up in a password protected file, that I’ll pass on to Peter and drop a copy of the files password into the solicitor to add to our will along with the list of who I wish to leave personal items of jewelry to, something else I’ve been putting off doing.

The risks of putting stuff off can be huge for us as expats. We've already had tenants from hell, so if I fail to renew our buildings insurance and was a fire...........or taking it down a notch, I forget to renew the TV licence in the UK or pay the council tax on time, I'm going to get a big fine, same as in Dubai if I fail to get the vehicle registration renewed, but if I don't have Insurance and I had an accident, I could go to jail and get deported (taking it back up a notch)

So if I don't sort our finances, what's the worse that could happen? Well Peter would get it all done, eventually as long as he has 2 passwords. The one to my laptop for the list of renewal dates and the one for my email accounts for the renewal notifications. So that was my starting point. He now has a copy of renewal notices and is signed into hotmail on his tab also.

What's new this week as I work on being a groovymum

How to be a Groovy Mum

Kateonthinice describes what a Groovymum is missing over on http://kateonthinice.wordpress.com/how-to-be-a-groovy-mum/
Take a look if you fancy joining in.
I did back in Septembher when I felt something was missing from my life, and that something was work, how do I compensate for not working for the 1st time in 20+ years. It's not easy, I felt part of my identity had gone. I'm trying to reinvent myself, it's a long process (been a year already) and it's getting there day by day.

I'm finding things a bit negative at the moment, so I'm going to ignore those thoughts and only focus on the positives from this week.

This weeks challenges from Kate are as follows:

1. Body – What are you looking at? What can you see differently? On a practical level, how is your eyesight and eye health?

BEEN GETTING MIGRAINES THIS WEEK, SO HAVE BOOKED AN APPOINTMENT FOR BOTH ME AND HUBBY FOR A CHECK UP. STILL SWIMMING A MILE A DAY (MON-FRI) GOING TO UP THE EXERCISE WITH A FEW BRISK WALKS.

2. Mind – How is your mental health? Are you stuck or if you think really hard, can you find ways to improve things for yourself? What can others do to help you?

BEEN AND GOT MY FINGER PRINTS TAKEN FOR THE POLICE CLEARANCE CHECK SO I CAN START TO DO SOME VOLUNTEER TEACHING.

3. Spirit – What memories are you making? What would you like your legacy to be?

I TOOK A GIANT STEP THIS WEEK AND WENT TO PRETORIA, I STEPPED AWAY FROM THE SECURITY THAT SURROUNDS ME WHEREVER I GO AND WALKED OUT ON THE STREETS, I HAD COFFEE IN WIMPY, TO GATHER MY THOUGHTS, DID A BIT OF SHOPPING AND TOOK A WALK AROUND THE CITY. I FELT SAFE, APPREHENSIVE AND A LITTLE BIT RELIEVED WHEN I RETURNED TO MY CAR.

4. Blogging – Do you think people miss you when you don’t blog? What can you learn from that?

NOT REALLY BOTHERED IF PEOPLE READ MY BLOG OR NOT, I GET FEW COMMENTS ON IT, BUT MOST PEOPLE RESPOND VIA TWITTER, I WRITE FOR ME AND AS A DIARY OF OUR TIME HERE IN SOUTH AFRICA.
I'M ALSO GOING TO BE BLOGGING MORE, NOT JUST ABOUT WHAT I GET UP TO BUT I'M GOING TO ASK QUESTIONS ON THE BLOG AND OFFER SUGGESTIONS OF THINGS THAT I'VE FOUND HAVE WORKED AND I'VE ENJOYED THAT I'D LIKE TO SHARE.

5. Special Days – Valentine’s Day is a week away. Do you acknowledge it? How do you show love on that day or all year round? Who loves you?

USUAL STANDARD CARDS, GIFTS AND CHOCOLATES BOUGHT BY HUBBY AND ME AND A MEAL OUT TONIGHT. WE AREN'T REALLY ONES FOR ACKNOWLEDGING ANY EVENT, BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES AMONGST US ARE TOKEN ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. WE DO THINGS SPONTANIOUSLY THROUGHTOUT THE YEAR FOR ONE ANOTHER AND THE KIDS.

6. The Big Question – This is the challenge that is supposed to help you to reflect deeply. This week’s is …

What good are you doing?

I'M GOOD AT GETTING THINGS DONE, I'M ALSO GOOD AT PUTTING THINGS OFF. I WROTE A LIST LAST WEEK ON GROOVYMUMS ABOUT STUFF I WANTED TO COMPLETE. I'VE STARTED, BUT AM BEING HELD BACK BY RESPONSES. SO WILL BE FOLLOWING UP EVERYTHING THIS WEEK.


So that's my Groovymums for this week, nothing new to challenge myself with, but much more positive than the past few weeks