If We Stayed

If We Stayed...




'The Club' Lay Out Of Bar

Because my grandparent is ill, I was able to do my blog on where I was born and what would have happened if my parents never moved back to Canada.... I found out that my parents moved in 1997 to Abu Dhabi, both my parents saying they moved to the area because they wanted to travel and do “something different”. Once there they found it very multicultural, and were able to go out to balls, and dinners. They created many amazing friendships with people who came from all over world. They enjoyed their lifestyle there very much. I was born 3 years later and raised in Abu Dhabi till I was 5. During that time I went to a private school; when researching the school I found it’s very good for a young kid to be taught there, as the student to teacher ratio was 6:1. I ask my parents about myself and other children that were foreigners there and how we were treated by the generally community, and my answer was “Lindsay, you would go around saying hi to everyone and everyone would say hi back, even the flower shop and the bakery would give you free stuff. Everyone just seemed to love kids there.” My mother says. She continued to tell me about ‘The Club’. ( http://www.the-club.com/sections/squash/). A place where my parents and their friends had memberships to. I remember my mother saying she’d just ask the staff where I was because they were often playing with me.  In my opinion,  I think a young child growing up here would do well, as education, and community all seem to be good.

Truly the UAE sounds like a great place to live. So I asked why we moved. My mother said my dad got a job offer back in Canada. I thought that reason wasn’t enough to leave behind what is such a nice life style so I asked my dad. He said it’s because there was little to no job security. Meaning he could get fired for saying the wrong thing or offending the wrong person and be out of a job because of it. And while having two daughters to take care of this wasn’t ideal, so we moved to Canada. My dad continued the same work in Canada, while my mother was a stay at home mom. Choosing to stay home with my younger sister, since she wasn’t old enough for school. I enjoy my life in Canada very much, but I wondered what my life there now would be like. So I did some research on the school system there, sports, and laws.

The school system there for high school is different depending on the language you speak and the nationality. There are many private schools, mainly british based, but other schools take after their country's school system. As well there’s public school for people who speak arabic to attend, but there is also private schools they can be sent to. Around 60% of students who do speak arabic attend a private school, and since Abu Dhabi is multicultural many people don’t speak arabic causing them to attend a private school. I would have attended an American private school because that the closest they have to the Canadian curriculum, which is what my parents prefer. After looking at few different American private schools I found most co-ed but there’s often an option for a girl to attend an all girls school, as well for a boy to attend an all boys school. Often non co-ed schools cost more.



Jet Packing in Dubai  

Sports in Abu Dhabi is as diverse as the people, ranging from soccer to rugby to running and even hockey. Although Abu Dhabi itself dose not have a high ranking of professional athletes, who compete at high levels. Yet I think the diversity of sports there would be a fun to experience. As there’s sports there that dose not exist in Canada, for example netball. And there is much extreme sports that happen there or close to (Dubai). Such as freediving, sandboarding, desert quad biking, and much more. Since the country itself is known to be a ‘rich place’ many people try newer sports as well like Jet Packing there.

As for laws it’s much more strict compared to Canada. Canada has little to no dress code but in the UAE women are responsible to dress modestly when in public areas, and the clothes need to cover the tops of the arms and legs. As well swimming attire can only be worn on beaches or at swimming pools. And cross-dressing is illegal. As well, Canada is okay with showing affection towards someone not related to you, but the UAE is not. Enforcing the religious rule of waiting till marriage. People are not allowed to touch one another in public unless there married and even then anything more then hand holding is frowned upon. As well, all sex outside marriage is illegal, and you can not share the same hotel room, with someone of the opposite sex to whom you aren’t married or closely related. And while Canadians may be known for being nice we still express ourselves rudely sometimes, by swearing and indecent gesturing, which is a way to get fined or imprisoned in the UAE.

Truly I believe my life in Canada here is better than what it would be there. Since my family is very big on physical touching, like hugs, and kisses (we are italian). So having to watch and think before hugging or kissing someone would annoy me. As well I often curse sometimes without noticing, so getting a fine every time I would slip up would be frustrating. Overall I think I’d just feel too overprotected by the government laws to be as happy as I am in Canada. Although I think growing up there would be good as a small child(1-10). As then you’d be used to multiculturalism there VS orangeville where the majority here is white. I do plan to go back and visit the UAE though, as seeing where I was born and living life there, even for a brief moment, would seem like an amazing adventure.