# Anyone working/living in Dubai Silicon Oasis?



## chubunga

I'll be moving to DSO with hubby in August for a 2 year contract at the Gems School they're setting up there. I'm prepared for some hard work but wondered if anyone else already works or lives there, or will be moving there in the future?


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## Amame

chubunga said:


> I'll be moving to DSO with hubby in August for a 2 year contract at the Gems School they're setting up there. I'm prepared for some hard work but wondered if anyone else already works or lives there, or will be moving there in the future?


I live in Silicon Oasis, but on the apartment side, not the villa side.  
It's a lovely place, a bit far off but there are big supermarkets and lots of tree and all. I love it so far!


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## Confiture

Amame said:


> I live in Silicon Oasis, but on the apartment side, not the villa side.
> It's a lovely place, a bit far off but there are big supermarkets and lots of tree and all. I love it so far!


We are considering Silicon Oasis as a place to live with both children at GEMS.


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## CHEEKYCOUPLE

We are also considering the Cedres in that area....


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## spam

We moved into Cedre Villas in October - wife, 2 young children and me. It's a good location for us in terms of school and work. The Spinneys in the Community Centre opened this week which is a 5/10 minute walk or 1 minute drive. Other things will start to open in the centre in the coming weeks. The new GEMS school is a 2/3 minute drive away. Mirdiff city centre is 10 minutes away. Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa 20 mins - costs 50 dirhams in a taxi. Souk Madinet/JBR/Dubai Marina all take 30/40 minutes and cost c75 dirhams.

We're in phase 1 (A-D) and have a lovely community pool, park, tennis court and volleyball pitch (although never seen it used!). The other two phases now have pools. The children cycle around our phase on their own and have good fun.

The nationalities of the other residents vary - mainly brits/europeans and emiratis. Living near a large local family is a little different to what we're used to, but nothing that makes us feel we made a wrong decision in choosing here.

Any problems in the house get fixed after contacting the Facilities Management in DSO. In the main the maintenance workers show up and do a decent job - there's been a few times where problems continue and it takes longer than it should have to fix the issue.

Our view from the back of the house is the biggest downside as they're building apartments behind us and I guess will be doing so for many more months (or years!).

We looked at Arabian Ranches, Victory Heights, The Villa plus around Umm Suqiem when deciding where to live. Our reason for choosing DSO over the other areas was mainly due to location for school/work and what we paid for the Villa we rent.

Overall we're happy here and see no reason to consider moving from here.

Hope that helps.


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## nozzaclaire6478

My son has just been offered a place in year 1 at the Gems school in silcone oasis I am moving out with my daughter 18mths and 4yr old son in august. currently looking at places to live. my husband lives in JBR and works at media city and would rather live in emirates hills but i've been looking at cedre villas or arabian ranches do u feel like u are in the middle of nowhere?


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## scharki

*Dso*

Hey everyone! Just found out I'll be working and living in DSO from 1st April. What advice or comments can ppl give? What is it like there? How far is it to Jumeira beach from there? Anything I should know?? Thx )


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## dizzyizzy

Hi and welcome to the forum,

The location is not very central, so you'll need to drive to the shops, etc. Is probably a 25min-30 min drive to the beaches at JBR/Umm Suqueim


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## 7100islands

I work in DSO, I bring my own food everyday. Not much cafe, resto here.The one in our building sells just so & so food not to mention the overall look of the resto is like a pub.
There are a few supermarkets like Spinneys,choitram and I heard carrefour is opening soon.

However in the main building of DSO there are several cafes like costa and bakeria.


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## scharki

Thx for that. I'll have a car so should be ok to get around. What's it like for children around there? Are there any schools/nurseries/playgrounds etc?


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## rsinner

If you do a search of the forum you will see many threads on this
http://www.expatforum.com/expats/du...nyone-working-living-dubai-silicon-oasis.html
Let me google that for you


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## spam

nozzaclaire6478 said:


> My son has just been offered a place in year 1 at the Gems school in silcone oasis I am moving out with my daughter 18mths and 4yr old son in august. currently looking at places to live. my husband lives in JBR and works at media city and would rather live in emirates hills but i've been looking at cedre villas or arabian ranches do u feel like u are in the middle of nowhere?


'does it feel like u are in the middle of nowhere?' - I don't feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere. DSO might not be the marina or jumeirah, but as you need to drive anywhere in Dubai anyhow I think it's fairly well located and has got good facilities for what we need. But it depends on what you expect in terms of where you live and the drive to school/work and back. You might want to consider the drive from emirates hills to DSO for school drop off/pick up 4 times a day. Others will know better than me, but it might take 30 minutes each way. AR will take 15/20 minutes each way and Cedre Villas at DSO 2/3 minutes.


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## DubaiATC

The "Let me Google that for you" link was REALLY FUNNY ! ! ! ! :clap2::clap2::clap2:


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## the_laceys

Hi chubunga!!! We're also moving to DSO in August and I'll be working at GEMS on a 2 year contract too !! What year will you be teaching??


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## chubunga

Hi TheLaceys!
Woooohooooo so glad to have found someone who is also moving to DSO! We're secondary teachers - I'm music & my husband is PE, but we'll be teaching a bit of KS1 & 2 as well. What about you? Have you had much info on accommodation and stuff? I tried to private message you but couldn't figure out how - I'm new to this site!


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## Confiture

Hi,
I am on a fact finding couple of days in Dubai right now and took a drive through Silicon Oasis this morning.

First thing that struck me is the sheer size of the place, and the amount of construction that is happening (much like the rest of Dubai I guess!).

the Semmer Villas area looked very nice. Well established and friendly, however the Cedre Villas area is very much work in progress. Will be going to visit some properties tomorrow and have a closer look.

In contrast, Arabian Ranches was very impressive throughout. I would give Silicon Oasis a 6 or 7 out of ten, depending on the area within it, and Arabian Ranches a 9 out of ten throughout.

I took some video and will upload it soon.


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## chubunga

Hi Confiture
Thank you for that info, it's great to hear from someone who's been there so recently, not sure how I feel about all the construction going on but I guess that is one thing I will have to deal with in Dubai, wherever we are!
Still not sure where exactly our apartments will be in Silicon Oasis but I have faith!! Would be great to see those videos


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## the_laceys

Hi chubunga,
woohoo!!! great to meet someone who's going out there too!!! I'm a primary teacher and will be teaching FS2, my husband's starting to look for a job now i've signed the contract and it's actually happening!!! Have you had your info pack yet??? Sssooooooooooooo exciting!!!! have you had all your documents attested yet?? I'm hoping to get mine done by the end of this week!!! i'm not sure how to private message either!!!


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## chubunga

Hi Lacey! No we haven't had an info pack yet - all I know is very basic details of what kind of accommodation we'll have out there, and that's pretty much it. We've just sent our contracts today so yeah it's feeling pretty real now! We've had all our documents attested, had to go to the embassy in London on Friday, so once we get them back (hopefully tomorrow) we can send everything off. You should be able to private message me by clickiing on my name 'chubunga' and then there should be an option to send a private message. I can't do that to you though until you send 5 posts - it says you've only sent 2 so far! I think I have 6....! What does your husband do?


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## the_laceys

hiya chubunga,
did it take a long time at the embassy or was it pretty straight forward?? i'm just waiting for my degree transcript to come through the post and then got to go get them all attested!! the info pack is quite good it gives you a much better picture of the deal we're getting!!!!! my husband works for the council as a supervisor but he's also been a class 2 driver and bar manager so kinda hoping he'll be able to find a job somewhere- he's got the gift of the gab and will talk his way into anything!!!!!!


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## chubunga

Hi Laceys - would you mind sending me your email add? Would love to ask more questions but not sure we should keep doing it on the forum for all to see!! :-/


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## the_laceys

hi chubunga,
yeah drop me an email on /removed, we've been to the FCO today and heading to the embassy tomorrow!!!!


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## justforraghu

Can anyone help me out to find a car pool or some private transport company who picks and drops from Jebel ali gardens (residence) to Silicon oasis (work place).

thanks in advance.

Raghu


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## wandabug

justforraghu said:


> Can anyone help me out to find a car pool or some private transport company who picks and drops from Jebel ali gardens (residence) to Silicon oasis (work place).
> 
> thanks in advance.
> 
> Raghu


I'd suggest you start a new post so it gets seen.


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## justforraghu

wandabug said:


> I'd suggest you start a new post so it gets seen.


Thanks a lot i just posted it as a new thread.

Raghu


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## tara_k

My Husband and I just went for our "go-see" trip to Dubai- first time for both of us. We were both very pleasantly surprised with Dubai!  We are considering Cedre Villas for. For us, an aartment with our kids, just wouldn't be sufficient. We are loud!  We were very impressed with the community. Do any of you who live in Cedre Villas consider it a welcoming community and people are interested in making friends? Having playgroups? I know it is more out there, but the villas we looked at closer in were VERY worn in , smaller, and more expensive. We are also interested in the school opening next door- any thoughts on the school? Thanks guys- see you soon!


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## tara_k

Also-
Where and what are the names of the closes Nursery schools for a 3 year old? 
Thanks!


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## Confiture

Hi Tara, we arrive next week and Silicon Oasis is at the top of our list.

Some useful links here:

Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) - Welcome to the free trade zone and integrated technology park located in Dubai, U.A.E. (Official Site)

Dubai Silicon Oasis property, food and community website - The Silicon Oasis Community Home Page (Community forum)


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## scharki

Hiya. Been here for 3 weeks now and was originally told that Kensington nursery would open in DSO in April, but now they're saying they will open in September. As far as I can tell it's a brilliant nursery, my daughter (4) goes to their Jumeira branch and is very happy there and all the staff seem great etc. Other than that I've not heard of any nurseries in DSO. Mirdif is quite close and there are quite a few nurseries.


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