Job Discussion Forums

[MENA_chica]

Hi all! I would like to give a summarised yet holistic profile of my experience as a newbie to Saudi Arabia. I feel as though this forum could benefit from a new and current perspective. I'm a black female British teacher in my early thirties, with 2 years' experience, a CELTA, BA and MA (both unrelated to TESOL). I've been in Riyadh for 2 months.

The Job

I work 8 hours a day, Sunday to Thursday at one of the universities in Riyadh, and teach for 4 academic hours a day (3 hours 20 minutes), back to back. There are between 25 to 30 female students in each of my 2 classes. The students range in age from 18 to 21, and they're the highlight of my day. They're chatty, inquisitive and generally cheerful. However, only a handful are really interested in learning English. A few can be disruptive from time-to-time, but overall, they're respectful and respond well to private feedback. The teachers are of many different nationalities and ethnicities, and are a delight to work with, and management are mostly supportive. I just get on with doing what I'm supposed to do, to the best of my ability, and I've had no issues.

Education Experts

I work for EdEx, and have encountered no issues. I was given a salary advance within my first week (upon request), received my iqama after 5 weeks, and both salaries were paid a few days before the end of the month. Each teacher is given individual log-in details to an admin portal, where you can request leave, see your accumulated vacation days, view, print and query pay statements etc. EdEx can be slow to respond to emails, so I've found the best way to get immediate answers is to go into their office on my way home from work. They do not respond well to shouting from teachers, and I've seen teachers in tears after being shouted back at. However, I've seen EdEx employees in shouting matches with each other, only to laugh it off after. Shouting appears to be part of their corporate culture. My strategy over the past 5 months (including 3 months in London) has been to respectfully request only things of utmost importance, and I've had zero issues.

Housing

I live in an apartment building which is owned by EdEx. There is a mix of both male and female teachers occupying the four floors. There are 5 permanent staff, including round-the-clock security. My apartment is quite basic in terms of structure and fittings, but comfortable. It has a bathroom, tiny kitchenette, small living room with 3 sofas and a flat screen TV, and a spacious bedroom with a king size bed. I've grown to love my space, and have stamped it with my own personal effects. I have freedom to come and go as I please. There are other apartment buildings which are privately rented by the company, ranging from basic to incredibly luxurious. A company bus takes us to a shopping mall at an allocated time, twice a week, and picks us up 3 hours later. A company bus also takes us to and from work daily from the apartment building.

Life outside work

I can honestly say that my work-life balance is great. In terms of leisure activities, there are scores of restaurants to fit every budget, ranging from basic to fine dining. There are shopping malls and souks galore, as well as a myriad of spas and salons. All of these I've been to alone, as well as with company. Every weekend, I go to western compounds (no invitation needed as an expat) for lunch, and every other weekend, a manicure and pedicure. I've also been to expat-only embassy functions as well as private invitation-only compound parties. I have 3 trusted taxi drivers that I use, who were referred by other teachers. All this, and I'm still able to save 70% of my salary.

I'm really enjoying living in Saudi Arabia. As a western non-Muslim woman, I feel comfortable wearing the abaya and head scarf. Yes, I'm sometimes ogled by men and stared at by women. Yes, the laid back approach to dealing with serious issues sometimes gets on my nerves. Yes, the stores and restaurants closing during prayer times can be an inconvenience. However, do all those things change the price of rice in China? No!

[hash]

[lcanupp1964]

"I've always said: the best ESL teachers are "au fond" professional narcissistic clowns."

No wonder I'm such a great teacher!

I don't have the strength to fully comment on the main post by the "teacher" having a wonderful and soul-lifting experience with such a supportive company. I'm surprised there were no details about the oven-fresh muffins served daily in the teacher's longue. There must be a little "somethin'-somethin'" sprinkled in the muffins to keep teachers happy and gleeful enough that they feel like describing such basic things like getting paid on time and having the freedom to come and go as they please as real employee benefits.

Excuse me while I keep twisting my balloon into a poodle. And, no... That's not a euphemism. I'm a clown looking for my reflection, remember?

[veiledsentiments]

It is nice to hear that our OP is having a positive experience. She has been here asking questions, so she arrived with realistic/low expectations I expect. Two months is still the "honeymoon" period, and as time goes on - as in all jobs everywhere - the negatives may begin to loom larger.

Hopefully the good will continue to outweigh the bad. Keep us updated mena chica.

VS

[jaffa]

3 sofas you say ... I'm in the wrong job. My two seater splits down the middle when I lie on it.

[LPKSA]

[MENA_chica]

[das31]

Thanks MENA_chica. Nice to read about your positive experience with EdEx, and details about your position.

What salary are you making with them?

[MENA_chica]

[plumpy nut]

[MENA_chica]

[Hatcher]

It is pretentious to call it teaching.... babysitting? much better

[lcanupp1964]

I do have to apologize to the OP for one thing: I assumed that your were being a “positive troll” – a person who works for the company in a staffing role trying to make the company sound better as a recruitment tool. When I read some comments from one of the two ladies that posts countless postings that you were, in fact, a teacher new to KSA, I felt bad. I’m sorry. I really do wish you continuing contentment - with or without those oven-baked fresh muffins.

You have to know that EdEx has one of the - if not the single – worst reps in the Middle East. After reading hundreds of posts from many different people regarding how much EdEx sucks and then to read such a finely written and thoughtful posting on how great it is for you, well…

Taking a very small part of your experience (two months in a new country/culture) and using that as a comparison to base your remaining time over here is not very helpful to you, or the newbies I'm assuming you are trying to address regardless of the fact that I very much envy your energy and cheerful outlook. Yes, you have every right to write anything you want to on this site - your words and mine are just as equal. You are not wrong, because you’re not a smart, insightful person; You’re wrong because you don’t have enough time in KSA to really know what’s going on. I’m super happy that you are embracing your time/experience over here, but…

Commenting on the freedom of movement of western women in KSA and thinking that your take on it (again, after only two months) will help anybody make up their mind is the best example I can cite about how naive you really are. I hope you will keep being the bright, happy person you are right now, but I feel that this experience will change you. If a newbie is thinking of coming over to the Kingdom, but is scared to try the new experience, I doubt your words of limited wisdom will sway him/her into taking that leap of faith.

I would be extremely curious to read your last post before getting on that plane with your exit visa in hand. I know it will be a completely different take on your time here. That was the main point of my last post. I rarely comment on the comments of commentators commenting on my comments (huh?), but I just wanted to say that I mainly post comments for two reasons: One, to entertain myself (I find myself hilarious), and two, to help people reading these posts in the future as a way to help them make a more informed decision, especially regarding EdEx.

If you take my one post as the only method to shape an opinion about me without reading all of my other 360+ posts spanning over five years of living in KSA, you would understand better that I wasn’t slamming you - how can I? I don’t know you. I realize that I‘m being hypocritical right now by not reading all of your posts, but when I saw that you had 50 posts, I thought I could take the risk. If I was being critical of anything it was regarding the rarified situation at EdEx you were describing in such detail. Kind of hard to believe, but if you are that one exception, so be it.

This latest post was not written to convince you, or change your mind - I know that. Like most people, you will not “see” the positive notes I write, but only focus on the few negative things you may have perceived. That’s human nature. Again, I’m writing this for others.

I was attempting to show another side to all the people who might read this thread of posts in the future. Once you start your journey deeper down the rabbit hole, please tell others on this site. Please take care as you descend.


“Don't go changing to try and please me,
You never let me down before.
And don't imagine you're too familiar…”
- Billy Joel

(I'm an old fart)

[scot47]

For me, it was good to read a report from a Newbie who put a positive spin on her life in KSA. We get lots of the other kind of posts and I can't help feel that some of the negative posts reflect more on the poster than on KSA !

[MENA_chica]