Indian Ladies in Abu Dhabi - meet here!

thank you samah for the suggestion .
after so much of searching, i too think that wud be a good option.

Hi Everyone,

3 weeks in Abu dhabi, and I quite like the place.

I am from Pune, now here with my active 8 month old kiddo and hubby, a sofware engr, who is here on a project. While it was initially planned that we would be here for 7 weeks, it now looks like the project is going to go all the way to around 6 months !!

While i think i will be visiting this place a lot to bombard you all with my questions as time goes, I would love to simply hear from others and make friends.

My first few questions -

My tiny tot is surely missing all the people back home. We had his grandparents and a maid who came in 5 hrs since i worked. This is apart from the big group of under 1 year olds that met with their mommies every evening in the common garden of the complex. So are there any groups here that meet regularly with their kiddos, to get him to socialise a bit ? He surely enjoys trips to malls and supermarkets in evening , but I would like to do better than that.

Now that I have time on hand I am looking forward to some weekend activity for myself - yoga to start with. And glass painting OR origami. Would be great to hear from someone who can help me locate a good place for these.

Thanks in advance ladies.
Once again, it will be lovely to hear from you all even if it is just to say 'hi' to a newcomer

Cheers
Shilpa

hello shilpa,
welcome to IL and abu dhabi .how did u find this place ?
where do you stay in abu dhabi?
did u like the climate here ? a total contrast to that in india , right?
anyways ,i hope u enjoy being here in AUH

bye
jils

Hi Jils,

I was quite surprised by the place and pleasantly so. You know, many of us back home have a lot of misconceptions about the place and its culture.

Weather is surely different though when compared to Pune which is known for its pleasant climate. Very hot here, but i am told it gets better after August/september?

I am currently in a hotel apartment, but now that we plan to be here for a longer period it looks like we will be joining many others in praying that we find ourselves an accomadation real fast..wonder if it is really that difficult !!

For today i am looking forward to this 'desert safari' that has been arranged for us :) ..camel ride and belly dance and stuff...lets see what my 8 month old thinks about the belly dance and camels !

Cheers
Shilpa

hi, shilpa

i'm sanyogita, i was inactive fro quite some time due to some tech. problems of my comp. read your posting that u have been in abu dhabi for about 3 weeks now, actually my husband is there in abu dhabi (on a project) since 2 mth and will be there for around 6-7 mts more. initially even i was going to join him by this sep. but unfortunately due to my elder daughters school, we have dropped that idea, so i will be joining him only in the holidays app. Nov and dec. i will have to wait till then Well how is ur son, 8 mts old right. u must be having a tough time new palce, to handle all alone, i also have a very naughty son, will be 2 this oct. well hope u enjoy your stay there.
bye for now

take care
sanyogita

Hello,

New to this site and was completely floored as to how helpful you all have been,Very informative,Would be great if you could let me have the details of your male servant .
Thanks

Originally Posted by kanaka Raghavan

Dear Doctor
Welcome to Abudhabi.I have been shuttling between here and Chennai for the past 3 years.
I will share with you what little details I managed to gather.
I f your husband is close to the airport ,it is better if you get a place in Raha or Shanama.Airport is nearly 30kms from the city centre.Villas are available there.I heard from someone that rents are very reasonable outside the city.Inside the city a 2 bedroom flat costs nearly 75,000 dhms.Rentals have gone up tremendously.
They say corniche hospital and Ahalia are good.Today a liitle known friend of mine delivered a baby at Corniche.She said facilities are really good.There is also New Medical Centre.There are lot of Indian doctors here.
About maids you can lot of Indians as well as Sinhalase.A male servant works for me .He is a tamilian and he comes once a week.Most of my friends have only male servants and they are reliable,as far as I know.Some of my friend are here for the past 10 years and they have no complaints.Their salary ranges between 20 to 30 dhms per week.
All Indian items are available in a shop called Adil.Electronic items are available in Lulu.Km,a french outlet called Carrefour and Abudhabi co op.
I t is nice place.Not much of entertainmemt excepting for malls,gardens and the corniche.You get to watch indian movies at the theatres.There are Indian eating joints .Not many like Dubai.You find only high rised buildings in the city centre but away from the city it is much better.It is easy to navigate as it is not big like Dubai.Taxis are available at a reasonable rate.It is quite safe here.You can easily move alone.This ismy personal experience.You are more at home .Only drawback here is there not good veg joints like sarvanna's.We have Sangeetha and small veg joints.On the whole I enjoy coming here.You feel at home.All best.I have shared whatever I knew.If you need anymore info I will find out from my friends.

Jenn,

Kanaka has moved to Chennai.
She keeps shuttling bet AUH & Chennai.

Originally Posted by Jenn

Hello,

New to this site and was completely floored as to how helpful you all have been,Very informative,Would be great if you could let me have the details of your male servant .
Thanks

Hi, annu

Remember me! actually i was inactive for quite a long time due to some tech. difficulties with my como. u had helped me in taking a decision regarding my daughter's school. after your input on this issue, i had spoken to my husband and asked him to get all the possible details regarding the same, simultaneously, i also tried talking to her teachers here and then we soon came to the conclusion that changing her school would not be a wise idea cause as you had mentioned that the admissions were difficult,(as checked by my husband he said that the school St. Joseph there will not take any extra admissions cause then they have to pay a heavy fine to the government for each extra seat taken, so the school dosen't take any chance ) it was a big risk so we dropped the idea, hence, we will be coming to abu dhabi only in the diwali holidays maybe till christmas.

Though unfortunately we will not be able to stay there for a longer period i am still very thankful to you for helping me come to a decision.

i want to upload my childrens photograph in place of the image(flower) could you kindly tell me how to go about it.

Rest how is everything! do most of you have a meet regularly. i am very excited to know about all of you there. if everything goes fine and we could be there by diwali, i would love to be a part of this.

well, bye for now.
sanyogita



welcome to Indusladies.

if ur daughter's school is the only concern for you, let me tell you, there is no much difference in SSC and CBSE. i think your daughter must be going to 1st standard now and classes will commence for her by june end in India if i am right.

here the academic year begins from april and vacation starts from end june to august. from sept it is the beginning of the 2nd term. if u r planning to come here in august she will miss her first term. if she can complete her first term there then i think it should not be aproblem.

also getting admissions in to schools is a bit tough in the middle of the academic year. but again if there are any transfers and vacancy is created then r chances.

hope i hv cleared ur doubts to some extent.

bye annu[/quote]

Hey Sanyogita !

Oops, nov-dec is quite some time from now. I dont know if I will be here then, but could be too - depending on hubby's project. Coming here has been a total shift, since I gave up working after so many years and finally decided to be a full time homemaker at least for now.

It is a bit tough since I am in a hotel apartment, and not many people around. Thankfully my son keeps me on my toes, else I would have been talking to the TV by now !! You know how it is back home, you can just pick up that phone and chat up some friends if you feel like. Thankfully though, hubbys work has not been too demanding, so we have been able to explore the city and its ouirts a lil bit. The 'desert safari' with the dune bashing and camel ride and belly dance was fun.

Abu Dhabi seems to have good facilities and places to take kids. And your two are at the right age to enjoy them. Cornice Beach and malls where they have play and learn centres, gardens etc. Also post sept the weather is supposed to get friendlier. So you are actually going to arrive at the right time. Would have been nice to get to know someone from Pune, had you been here though :)

Which part of pune do you stay in ?

Shilpa

Hi shilpika,

welcome to IL. Its good to hear that you are liking this place. This thread became dull these days as most of active Ilites have gone for vacation. With your entry, again Im seeing the same enthu.

Enjoy....

cheers

laxmi