Job Discussion Forums

[Arab Strap]

Scot47,

Yer not back in the Magic Kingdom are you??????????

I'm still in Czecho, -5C now , missing the shisha and the sunshine.

PM if you read this

Arab Strap

[scot47]

Scot47 is indeed back in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques.

[scot47]

And is wondering why things are so quiet ! Not a bang to be heard !

[veiledsentiments]

and... you are complaining about that??

From the news, maybe you should move to Kuwait...

VS

[scot47]

Not complaining. Just curious.

[veiledsentiments]

the calm before the storm? let's hope not...

VS

[Bebsi]

Hi there, I am new to this forum. I have been following things quite closely for some time though, just never got around to joining.

I have been out of KSA since last Summer, living in Romania, (yes, yes, yes...that's right, anyone reading this who knows me personally has just identified me!!!!) and I hope to return to the land of many mosques in the summer. I am actually looking forward to it. I am not especially worried about the security situation; I was far more worried when I left last June.

That's not to say I wouldn't be concerned or careful....great concern and care are certainly called for, but I certainly do not subscribe to the paranoia that still prevails.

I hope I don't live (or die!!) to eat my words, but I suspect that it has become a good deal safer since last summer. After Yanbu, Paul Johnson and Khobar, I sense that many Saudis were utterly revulsed at what was happening and that AQ decided that a 'refinement' of their activities was in order, to maintain reasonable support. Suffice to say, I am not North American and if I were, I would NOT consider a return, and especially so were I contracted to work for a military or related institution. I would be even more worried if I were diplomatic staff!!

In a nutshell, I reckon that the kind of vicious, random attacks on foreigners such as we witnessed last year, have more or less ceased.

I hope I am not proved wrong!!!!!!!!!

Incidentally, like scot47, I also find that while eastern Europe has many attractions, these do not, sadly, extend to the workplace. I was recently offered a job by a respected international institution, at a monthly salary that I would get in KSA for an evening's overtime. I realise that economic exigencies prevail, but I am certainly not a 'typical TEFLer' in that I do not even remotely subscribe to the view that teaching is far more important than making money.

That's not to say I don't do a good job: I do, but I DO like to get paid for it too!! Exploitation is not my thing at all, I am just not into the idea of working for a pittance for some language school. Basically, I like my fast cars and foreign hols, the ones where I get to stay in decent hotels, and over a Rum Punch, from my terrace, bemusedly watch the local TEFLers across the road in the local taverna scraping the pennies together for another beer. It's great fun to sometimes 'slum it' and listen to them talking about their DELTA programmes and career-development, while they simultaneously plan their next hitch-hiking trip.

I recall one amusing incident, where I was driving around Jordan having driven up from KSA, and I gave a couple of hitch-hikers a lift. They were TEFLers in Amman, and we got around to talking shop (as you do!). They were horrified at the idea of working in Saudi, and were full of misconceptions about the place. They were earning less in a month than I was in a week, and they started talking to me about professional-development, going so far as to suggest that I should do a DELTA...as they had done...so I could develop my career and get out of Saudi. When I asked for suggestions as to where I could go (my tongue was sticking out my ear by now) one suggested "you could find nice, rewarding work in Jordan". I told them my job in Saudi was far more rewarding, and they were sitting in part of it. The irony was missed, I think Unless THEY were being ironic, but I doubt that very much.

What can I say?

In recent threads, people compared Saudi with other Gulf states. I think that it's all a matter of personal preference. It seems, however, that people opt for places like the UAE as a long-term lifestyle choice. KSA is, I imagine, for most, as it is for me, a financial choice. Maybe it's alimony, a failed business, bankruptcy, a need for capital to set up a business...there are many reasons I have met people there, but they all come down to a common denominator. There's nothing at all wrong with that. In other professions, people make career moves based on personal (ie. material) reward; why is Money such a dirty word in TEFL? So many posters to this site have called Saudi EFL teachers 'mercenary'. Why? Because we want to get paid? IMHO the Saudi Expat is probably the most realistic of all those in TEFL.

Your comments are invited, folks!!!