Guest Blog: Advice for Newbies

Hi, my name is Patricia. I lived and worked in Abu Dhabi for three years.  During that time, I had a vast array of experiences ranging from horrifying to blissful.  And, yes, many of these experiences were at work!  Each environment and experience will be different, however, here are a few things that helped me throughout my expat adventure!

1. Know Yourself: Know your strengths and weaknesses, and your limits.  Know what you can and cannot bear. Don’t allow anyone or any situation to push you to the point of no return.  Take care of YOU, first.
2. Know Your purpose: Stay focused on your goals, whether they are financial or personal.  That will be the one thing that will keep you from losing your mind when things get crazy.  If you don’t have goals, get some! Otherwise, you won’t make it.
3. Be Open Minded: Learn the culture.  Be willing to learn about the people you will be serving and living among.  The more open you are, the easier the transition.
4. Forget What You Know: Put aside everything you did at home; things work differently here. Change is constant. You need to be flexible and go with the flow.
5. Build Relationships: Try to establish good work relationships with your fellow English and Arabic colleagues.  If you show yourself friendly, and willing to learn and share, it will pay off well.  Working collaboratively with my Arabic colleagues helped me greatly with discipline and communicating with parents.
6. Seek Solutions: If you happen to find yourself in a negative situation, take care of YOU and seek resolution.  Pursue solutions through your organization’s procedures.  Don’t allow negative feelings and situations to linger; it can be bad for your physical and mental health.

With that I say: Welcome to Abu Dhabi!

 Patricia and I at Tribes in Dubai.