Driving in the UAE

Accidents are a common sight in the UAE. People complain about the Emiratis and while I do agree many of them drive too damned fast, the fact is that other nationalities are just as bad.  

For North Americans, getting your UAE license is just a matter of getting your US license translated. All the Department of Licensing actually looks at is the translation of your name. The reason I say that is because I know of someone who got her UAE license using a VERY expired US license. This easy process is the same for most European citizens as well. 

For those from African, South American, and non GCC Asian countries, it is not a fun process. These unfortunate people must attend driving school and take a test. Since UAE drivers have to take the same test, it can’t be hard. All of the people I know who had to go through this process did not pass the first, second, or third time.  That does say a lot about the drivers here but they are not the whole problem. 

First, let’s start with the speed limit. What is posted is not the speed limit since tickets aren’t issued until you pass the speed limit by 20km/h. This means that if the posted speed limit is 120km/h (75mph), the actual speed limit is 140 km/h (87mph). You quickly  learn where the traffic cameras are on the roads you travel often and therefore there is NO speed limit. Only 1 of my 7 speeding tickets has been for a violation in a 120 zone. I blame Metallica and the fact that it was June 3^rd. I was going 160km/h (99mph) when I remembered the camera.  I managed to slow to 150 before it triggered. 300 dirham lesson learned. I have cruised by police SUVs on my way from Dubai to Abu Dhabi going 139; they don’t bother unless you go past 140. There are very few actual police cars on the road monitoring traffic. Only 1 of my 7 speeding tickets has been from an actual human. 

Second, if you think New Jersey drivers are aggressive in the left lane, think again. Here drivers flash their high beams and give you about 30 seconds to GTF out of their way. After that, they pass you in the shoulder. Come to think of it, they pass you on the right shoulder too if they feel like it. People here do not like to wait their turn. They will often take their SUVs off road to bypass slow moving traffic. 

Third, turn signal anyone? You can tell the westerners, we are the ones who use our turn signals. Changing lanes, exiting, turning…nope not a turn signal in sight. 

Fourth, there are roundabouts everywhere. I thought it was kind of cool how they have a little system going: if you are going one exit, you stay in the far lane; for two exits, you go to the center lane; for three exits or a u-turn, you go into the true center of the roundabout. BUT THEY NEVER GET OUT OF THAT LANE. This is a problem if the person next to you has just entered the roundabout into the center lane and is going one exit further than you. 

One corner of the "square-about from hell".

Last  but not least, people here hate to wait. I know I addressed this before but it is a special problem where I live now. I have to traverse the “roundabout from hell” every morning to get out of here. Since I am going to school, so are all the kids that live here. That means buses. Lots of buses. The Al Nahda Park roundabout is more of a square-round, therefore at the rounded parts there isn’t enough room for a bus and a car to pass through at the same time. That doesn’t stop the morons from deciding to squeeze into the traffic on the roundabout as a bus is navigating the curve. What results is a cluster fuck of monumental proportions. Neither the bus nor the car can move, or the worst case scenario occurs and the bus decides to move, and ends up hitting the car. Which leads us to SAEED………

SAEED is the department that handles traffic accidents. Apparently they cannot determine what happened unless the cars remain EXACTLY WHERE the impact occurred. Since honking your horn is apparently going to change the course of history, everyone honks.  Nothing moves until after the SAEED guy looks, pulls out his Blackberry, and takes photos. 

I had the unfortunate need to avail myself of SAEED’s services on December 1^st when a taxi driver,  apparently confused by my left turn signal, passed me on the left as I was turning into my parking garage. This was a long and painfully drawn out process as nobody at the Sharjah Police station could figure out our location. Remember, there are no addresses here. The officer finally arrived and took both statements. He looked at my much EXPIRED registration (that’s another story) and started to say something right as I handed him my very current car insurance policy. “Ahhh, mafi mushcala”. The report was entered into the computer in his car, I was handed a referral form that was totally in Arabic, and he told me the name of Sharjah City Taxi’s insurance company. 

This is the computer image of the accident from the Saeed report.

Since December 1^st and 2^nd were the National Day holiday, I couldn’t file a claim until December 3^rd. The car was towed that night, repaired, and I retook custody of Smurfette on December 7^th. They handed me papers, in Arabic, to sign. I asked for a copy and was refused. That’s right, piss off a Jersey Girl who has been without wheels for a week. The saga continues…………

New School....Again!

After the drama and illegal activities at my old school, I decided to break my contract and accept a job at a private school in Sharjah. My previous employer  attempted first to cajole me into staying, and when that didn’t work they tried to bully me into staying. Anyone who knows me knows that once my mind is made up there is no going back. Trying to bully me just makes me dig my heels in more. This was still going on in September, while I was teaching in my new school with a Visa for an entirely different school and Emirate! 

One of the common occurrences here when YOU break a contract is that you get banned from employment for 6 months to a year.  Sometimes you even get banned when the school doesn’t renew as happened to a friend recently. My new school made several calls and determined that since I was on a “Free Zone” Visa, a ban did not apply outside the Free Zone so all was good. Wait a minute here…….I didn’t work in the Free Zone. WTF? Needless to say, one of their illegal actions saved my ass. 

When I hadn’t been able to reach an agreement with the other school by the beginning of October, I filed a complaint with the Free Zone Labour Office. Funny thing, my employer and I reached an agreement right after they received the email regarding my complaint! I will spare you the details of my two attempted trips and two actual trips, one unsuccessful, to the Free Zone Labour Office. Suffice it to say, nothing is easy here.  Insha’Allah my old Visa will be canceled by the end of the month and then I get to start the Visa process with the new school. I see at least one Border Run in my future. 

I am extremely glad my current school, Wesgreen International Private School, has been willing to tolerate all of this drama because I LOVE IT! My campus is only KG1, KG2, and Year 1 (3-6 years old) and has 900 students. Considering how small Sharjah is, this tells you how well respected the school is. For the first time here, and for the first time since I was involuntarily transferred out of PTHS to the middle school, I enjoy teaching! Woo-hoo! 

Unfortunately, this left me entirely without pay for the summer months and I have had to borrow money to eat. Having awesome friends has made the situation easier. The ex is even floating my share (small as it is) of Lauren’s tuition until things are settled here. Worse than having to borrow is the lack of gas and toll money that has left me STUCK IN SHARJAH more than I want to be.  Yet again, friends have saved the day! 

When I worked in Al Ain, all of the teachers were either British or South African and looked down on me as an inferior American. At Wesgreen, we have more of a mixture: South African, Greek, British, Canadian, and American. There are even classroom teachers and assistants who are Muslim (Arabic and non-Arabic), something unheard of at AAESS where I felt the Arabic teachers, who only taught Arabic and Islam, were treated rather rudely.  Needless to say, I have made friends here. There have been a couple of liquid dinner nights during our nine day Eid Al Adha Break and I didn’t feel as homesick for Abu Dhabi as I had expected. 

There have been some blips: having my assistant switched after a month and three cases of head lice in my classroom, but life is not perfect. My classroom has resources! There is a Head of Year who doesn’t just hold meetings to hear herself talk! She handles the basic lesson plans and weekly parent notes; we just decide what we are doing to implement those lessons. Instead of having to write an entire page script for each lesson, I fill in a 1” x 1” block on a spreadsheet. 

I am staying in my current housing, though the school doesn’t fully cover my rent. My flat is right on the Dubai-Sharjah border and the school is out in the industrial area meaning the housing is there also. I like living in the city and being anonymous in my 31 story tower. Well, as anonymous as I can be as the only western woman in the building! The only way out of my area to that end of Sharjah is a roundabout that clogs up with buses in the morning. As a result, I have to leave at 6:10am to get to school at 6:45 though I am not due until 7:30. If I leave any later, it is a crapshoot as to whether or not I will make it to school on time. Needless to say, this non-morning person is considering moving to the school housing when my lease is up at the end of March. 

My favorite roundabout as viewed from my flat. I think it is really more of a squareabout. This connects to the right with yet another roundabout. It wouldn't be as bad if people here knew how to DRIVE.  Buses need both lanes to take the corners, and people squeeze in to the right of them, making it impossible for either to move.

My students are great. I have a mixture of nationalities: Emirati, American, Pakistani, Iranian, Indian, Jordanian, and Egyptian. I have KG2, which is 4-5 years old. Luckily my assistants (both the first and second) are awesome with crafts and painting because I can’t stand that shit.  I give a basic idea of what I am looking for and they run with it. As a result, my classroom looks awesome for my first observation, which is next week.Wish me luck!

Deeper and Deeper

I arrived in the UAE in August 2011 and taught for a year in East Camel Funk, about 40 minutes from Abu Dhabi. In September 2012, I moved to Al Ain and taught for a few months.  Al Ain is in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, about 60 minutes away from Abu Dhabi. Half-way through that school year I moved to a school in Dubai and obtained housing in Sharjah. This is about 75 minutes away from Abu Dhabi. For September 2013, I have accepted a position teaching at a well-respected private school in Sharjah, staying in my current housing in Sharjah. This is about 90 minutes from Abu Dhabi. 

I continue to addressing the distance from Abu Dhabi as this is where my social life, my weekends, my non-working life, are centered. Yet, I keep ending up farther and farther away. A friend stated recently that by August 2014 I will be in Umm Al Quwain.  

The school where I have worked since February 2013 has done everything that people warn will happen when someone accepts a job overseas. There is a plethora of small things they have done but I’m just going to complain about the biggies on this blog. Let me say in advance, these situations occurred in violation of UAE Labour Law. This IS NOT the norm. 

What do you mean you’re holding my passport? Yes, they tried to pull this. I discovered that my Residence Visa had been processed a week prior and yet I still did not have my passport. Following the chain of command, I asked the principal…..”the company holds your passport, call HR“.  Thus, I called HR…….””the company holds your passport”.  Luckily, in walked the Operations Manager while I was calling the US Consulate.  I smiled and reminded her that I am a US citizen and that if my passport was not in my hands by Monday (this was Thursday), that I would be addressing the situation with my Embassy. Needless to say I received my passport, along   with a story about how I MISUNDERSTOOD….…..”we only hold the Philippine, Indian, Pakistani, and African passports” . Wow!  It is so nice to hear that you discriminate with respect to your illegal employment practices. 

What do you mean I have to use your bank? After having submitted my banking details TWICE and still receiving my pay in cash, I was advised that the company uses International Bank of Boroda and that if I did not switch to that bank, MY bank would charge me  50 dirhams per pay. Really? Being as that I am an American and we don’t accept things that don’t make sense, I went to my bank. My bank, the largest in the country, explained how my COMPANY is charged 50 dirhams per salary deposited due to a government decree and that they were apparently trying to pass this charge onto me.  Just to play Devil’s Advocate, I checked out the Humpty Dumpty  Bank: no debit cards, astronomical international transfer fees, and cannot  use the ATM card in North or South America. I took a pass on Humpty Dumpty and advised HR that they were not to pass the fees onto me. Late Note: I learned last week that though ALL of the other employees changed banks, they are being charged a 20 dirhams per pay fee that the bank stated "your employer refuses to pay".

Amazingly enough, I did pass my probationary period.  LOL The fact is that I can teach and I do it well! I managed those 3-4 year old students  without whining every day that I need another assistant or less students (not that I am pointing fingers). I dealt with the autistic boy who should have had a one-on-one ABA Assistant, the 4 who were not yet potty trained, the Sociopath in Training aka Mr. Big Head, and being the only native English speaker in the ENTIRE SCHOOL. 

As of this posting, they still have not accepted my resignation, though I have started working in another school. They have not paid my August Salary, which I am entitled to AND I AM BROKE. Most importantly, they have not canceled my Visa, making it impossible for my new employer to obtain a Work Permit or move forward with the Visa process.  I have been called in twice for meetings in which the Operations Manager attempts to bully me into returning.  Unfortunately this is what has succeeded for them in the past. I would hazard a guess that they will never hire another American, or at least not a Jersey Girl! 

Luckily, though the US Embassy does not get involved in labor disputes, they do get involved with Passport and Visa issues.  

Sharjah (Maybe a Third World Country)

In November I was given notice by my school that my position was being cut. They gave a whole boatload of reasons that didn’t work for me. Delving a little deeper, as is my habit, I discovered that the school and the corporation that owns it are in financial trouble. I am still considering what to do about the shoulder injury that occurred there…….but that’s another story. 

The timing worked well since I was able to focus on PT for a month while looking for another job after winter break. On January 28^th I moved in with a friend in Al Ain. Thanks again, Jasmine and family! Less than two weeks after moving in, I interviewed for a job in Dubai and got it. For two weeks I commuted the 93 miles between Al Ain and Dubai. Then another friend let me stay with her in Sharjah while I looked for a flat (it’s not an apartment here). Her flat was only five miles from my school but it took an hour to drive it. Same amount of time in the car as the trip from Al Ain, but less gas. 

I looked at flats and pretty much had a choice between 1. rat feces and mangarillos 2. the Dubai Power Station and cancer or 3. a nice two bedroom flat less than a mile from my school. After spending an hour waiting for the manager to return from “break” I was told that I could not rent the flat because I am single. Welcome to Sharjah, the dry and pork-less Emirate. Wallah! No beer and no bacon. 

I finally found a flat that I liked in the same general area but almost lost it because the school, which does not employ many westerners, had not YET processed my work Visa more than a month after I started. Many tears flowed while showing up in the management office daily and I got the flat. I should have been an actress. 

To the right of the building on the right is Dubai. The rest is Sharjah. When I say I am on the border, I mean ON the border.

Love the living room window, though a balcony would be better.

Unfortunately then I entered the “moving furniture from two different locations while physically in a third” zone. Here the shout out goes to Rob and Nic for coordinating the movers. When I moved from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain in September, I moved into a fully furnished flat. I didn’t like the cooker (range) or the washer so I had mine moved from Abu Dhabi. I sold Lauren’s bedroom furniture along with my futons and baby fridge. My bedroom set and dining room set remained in Abu Dhabi at a friend’s flat and that is where I stayed most weekends. Thanks Melany and Nic! 

The bedroom is a LITTLE small for a king size bed and a wardrobe but.....

As a western female, I rate a primo assigned spot. That is Smurfette on the left. No dings for me!

BATHTUB. After the shower in Al Ain, I don't care that this isn't as huge as the one in Abu Dhabi.

I also bought a real sized refrigerator.

One truck arrived at 6:40pm and the other at 8:00pm. My bed was finally together at 10:00pm. The refrigerator was not scheduled to arrive until the next day. Now, I live on the border of Sharjah and Dubai, only because it is cheaper. My view from one side of the living room window is Dubai while the other side is Sharjah. The fridge was accidentally loaded onto a Dubai-bound truck and for some retarded reason; delivery trucks aren’t allowed to cross Emirate lines. WTF? The fridge got off loaded and then disappeared. That was Monday. I finally got my refrigerator on Wednesday night. 

It is now beginning to feel like I live here.   I have located the pork store right across the border but the beverage stores in Dubai will be a problem as they require a license to purchase……..which requires a letter from my landlord and my employer. Since liquor is not allowed in Sharjah, bringing it to my flat requires yet another license. Then again, the stores in Abu Dhabi don’t check for the license so………