# Moving to Al Ain as a single woman non driver - dangerous?



## ExpatLibrarian

I have accepted a job with ADEC working at a girls' high school in Al Ain, starting supposedly on Jan 12 according to the final contract, though I don't know how that will be since I am still waiting for my FBI background check and my attestated diploma and New Year's is coming up. Anyway, I was on reddit and a man who claimed to have lived in Al Ain said it is 'ULTRA conservative, nothing like Dubai or even AD' and said I should never go out by myself even in the middle of the day and should never take taxis by myself, even if I am fully covered. Well, how am I supposed to get to and from work if I cannot arrange a car share, not to mention how am I supposed to do my grocery shopping, walk to the bus stop, go to the gym, etc.? Since I am blind in one eye I have never learned to drive(I am 46 years old), have always gotten around by myself in 3 continents sans private car(probably could not have traveled as much if I had the expense of driving, tbh). The guy said even when his wife was on the street alone men would aim their cars towards her.. Can anyone please tell me Al Ain won't be this bad? If it is I guess I am just going to need to deal with it - I am determined to make this work. The female recruiter seemed to think I would have no problem but she is in AD, not Al Ain.


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## Andy17

Hi in yet another thread, My wife and I were in Al Ain today and we thought it a very nice place to live so I think you should ignore the wind up and look forward to living there. The UAE is one of the safest places in the world, you are probably in more danger in New York then you would be over here so move the worry scale down a notch or two and think about the good times you will have especially if you solve the visa problem for your husband.


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## busybee2

al ain is no abu dhabi which is no dxb but its not ksa..... you will be fine.


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## humus

All the info you need for adec teachers is here.

Good luck.

Teach Away Inc.


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## UmMohamed

you will be fine inshallah, my friend lived and worked here before she got married. the only time i saw a man harrasing a woman here he was pulled over by the police and ticketed pronto. the country here is much safer than the US.


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## UmMohamed

oh and they have ladies only taxies here! woman drivers


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## ashburn

UmMohamed said:


> oh and they have ladies only taxies here! woman drivers


Wow, that's cool !


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## ExpatLibrarian

UmMohamed said:


> oh and they have ladies only taxies here! woman drivers


Thanks, I have read this, is it easy to call a taxi co. and request a woman driver?


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## ExpatLibrarian

UmMohamed said:


> you will be fine inshallah, my friend lived and worked here before she got married. the only time i saw a man harrasing a woman here he was pulled over by the police and ticketed pronto. the country here is much safer than the US.


Thanks, this is very encouraging. Think I will be coming over next week but still waiting for my diploma to come back from UAE embassy.


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## ExpatLibrarian

Andy17 said:


> Hi in yet another thread, My wife and I were in Al Ain today and we thought it a very nice place to live so I think you should ignore the wind up and look forward to living there. The UAE is one of the safest places in the world, you are probably in more danger in New York then you would be over here so move the worry scale down a notch or two and think about the good times you will have especially if you solve the visa problem for your husband.


Thanks, I was talking with him today and he says from the videos and blog links I have set him that we can have a nice life there - if I can bring my parrot over when I come back to NY in the summer then my life will be good - not sure if it will be more difficult bringing hubby or 'mithu' over, lol.


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## sammylou

ExpatLibrarian said:


> Thanks, I have read this, is it easy to call a taxi co. and request a woman driver?


there is only one fleet of female driven taxis Pink Taxi fleet dubai : Dubai Taxi and they currently number only 65 in a city of 2 million. i have no idea if there is something similar in al win.

honestly i have never used one and never even seen them on the road! i doubt you'd ever have success flagging one on the side of the road. but they could have a good system for pre booking, i just don't know.

personally i have been just fine with regular taxis but that's only been in dubai and ab dabs.


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## Andy17

ExpatLibrarian said:


> Thanks, I have read this, is it easy to call a taxi co. and request a woman driver?


 google women taxi drivers in Al Ain and it shows that pink cabs have been there since 2010 so 4 years on you should have no problems.


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## busybee2

ab dabs have pink taxis but not very many... al ain is part of abu dhabi emirate.


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## nonoa

Sigh....my hometown. I had to move to Abu Dhabi for work and I always wanna cry. 
Al Ain is very safe, just take all precautions you would take normally. When calling for a female cab, call early or in advance to book one cause they can fill pretty easily. Then I'd call again a few hours before to confirm its a pink cab. The pink cabs are part of the regular taxi fleet run by TRANSAD.
Ask your school of they have transportation buses for teachers, cause some places offer staff buses and they're separated of course.
The new town buses are great too if you must take them every now and then.


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## nonoa

Oh and like sammylou said, you'll be perfectly fine with regular cabs. But it would be good for you to get to know the area and your way with some females around you first. That way (God forbid) if a cab tries to scam you, you'll know.


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## nonoa

ExpatLibrarian said:


> I have accepted a job with ADEC working at a girls' high school in Al Ain, starting supposedly on Jan 12 according to the final contract, though I don't know how that will be since I am still waiting for my FBI background check and my attestated diploma and New Year's is coming up. Anyway, I was on reddit and a man who claimed to have lived in Al Ain said it is 'ULTRA conservative, nothing like Dubai or even AD' and said I should never go out by myself even in the middle of the day and should never take taxis by myself, even if I am fully covered. Well, how am I supposed to get to and from work if I cannot arrange a car share, not to mention how am I supposed to do my grocery shopping, walk to the bus stop, go to the gym, etc.? Since I am blind in one eye I have never learned to drive(I am 46 years old), have always gotten around by myself in 3 continents sans private car(probably could not have traveled as much if I had the expense of driving, tbh). The guy said even when his wife was on the street alone men would aim their cars towards her.. Can anyone please tell me Al Ain won't be this bad? If it is I guess I am just going to need to deal with it - I am determined to make this work. The female recruiter seemed to think I would have no problem but she is in AD, not Al Ain.


And all of that is not true. Yes it is more conservative(not by much) but I'm guessing the person who told you all that doesn't know how to communicate with people. As long as you're dressed appropriately, no one will bother you. You get used to being stared at by some of the Asian community but they'll stare at you whether you're in an Abaya or naked so I wouldn't stress over it. Cabs are great, and every now and then you get an idiot of course but that's everywhere.


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## ExpatLibrarian

nonoa said:


> Sigh....my hometown. I had to move to Abu Dhabi for work and I always wanna cry.
> Al Ain is very safe, just take all precautions you would take normally. When calling for a female cab, call early or in advance to book one cause they can fill pretty easily. Then I'd call again a few hours before to confirm its a pink cab. The pink cabs are part of the regular taxi fleet run by TRANSAD.
> Ask your school of they have transportation buses for teachers, cause some places offer staff buses and they're separated of course.
> The new town buses are great too if you must take them every now and then.


Thanks for the tip 
I am looking forward to moving(will probably be next week, sent in my scanned, attestated diploma today so just waiting for them to let me know my departure date) - both excited and scared at the same time if you know what I mean. I have spent most of the day packing.

I have been watching videos of AA on Youtube and one thing that strikes me is how few people you see on the street, especially women, even in the downtown area which looks very pedestrian friendly. I saw one video of downtown and thought I would love to explore all the different shops but maybe saw one woman(in a black abaya) among all the men. The video was shot towards sunset. Do expat women go for walks in the city, weather permitting of course?


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## nonoa

You can


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## nonoa

If you're used to big cities, you might find it a little slow but you can certainly walk if you feel like it. It does get quite busy evenings. Part of the beauty of Al Ain, is that it has street shops. You can get dropped off.. Shop around a few streets, then hail a cab from anywhere. Even when it's too hot, it's still pleasant cause its easy to walk from shop to shop and at least one part of the street will be shaded. In recent years, they've installed numerous cross-walk lights, so that you get across the double lane road with ease.

But if you're looking for a lot of people, you'll find them in the malls, taking refuge from the sun. I don't like malls so I'll talk up the street shops til I die, cause I think they're the most fun. But of course, you won't find fancy retailers there, mainly services, restaurants, fast food, optics, banks, things of that sort. Other streets have cheap thrift-style clothing(used to shop there back in the day) and of course the souk area with all sorts of jewellery, abayas, incense etc.

I also love Al Ain cause growing up, everytime I discovered a new neighborhood, I'd find a small old fort to go with it. They're all listed now which is great.


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## UmMohamed

dont know about aa but women in sarjah go out a lot. a lot of people wont film women much out of respect. Because of this it can seem like there are less women. dont know if this is the case in this situation or not. Something that strikes me about this country is that there is generally a lot more respect and consideration for women. Not always of course, but more than in the US.


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## ExpatLibrarian

nonoa said:


> If you're used to big cities, you might find it a little slow but you can certainly walk if you feel like it. It does get quite busy evenings. Part of the beauty of Al Ain, is that it has street shops. You can get dropped off.. Shop around a few streets, then hail a cab from anywhere. Even when it's too hot, it's still pleasant cause its easy to walk from shop to shop and at least one part of the street will be shaded. In recent years, they've installed numerous cross-walk lights, so that you get across the double lane road with ease.
> 
> But if you're looking for a lot of people, you'll find them in the malls, taking refuge from the sun. I don't like malls so I'll talk up the street shops til I die, cause I think they're the most fun. But of course, you won't find fancy retailers there, mainly services, restaurants, fast food, optics, banks, things of that sort. Other streets have cheap thrift-style clothing(used to shop there back in the day) and of course the souk area with all sorts of jewellery, abayas, incense etc.
> 
> I also love Al Ain cause growing up, everytime I discovered a new neighborhood, I'd find a small old fort to go with it. They're all listed now which is great.


I agree with you on the small 'mom and pop' shops - where I live it is almost all mom and pops, mostly owned by immigrants, and I find these stores much more interesting to shop in than the malls. Of course I will probably hit the malls soon after I arrive since I need to set up my apartment. On one video of AA downtown I saw a couple of shops selling Indian clothing - nice I won't have to go to Dubai for Indian clothes. I am hoping I can find an Indian grocery store for spices, etc.

I am still waiting for my departure date, thought they would get back to me since I emailed my diploma and today is the start of the work week...


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