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Zlestial
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 8
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 Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 12:19 pm Post subject: Life in a BAE (BAe) Compound? |
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Hi
Is there anyone there who can give me an informed opinion about life in BAe compounds?
What is the accommodation like?
What is there to do there?
What facilities are available?
Do people there generally feel positive about the environment?
What is the teaching like with BAE?
And any other comments?
Yes, I did a search but didn't come up with much that was useful.
Thanks for your help. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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| BAe is populated by miserable people who like to share their misery. |
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Cleopatra
Joined: 28 Jun 2003
Posts: 3657
Location: Tuamago Archipelago
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Is it a major habitat for members of the Khaleej species known as the 500 Club? |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| The Fellowship of Five Hundred are heavily represented. |
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007
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2684
Location: UK/Veteran of the Magic Kingdom
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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| scot47 wrote: |
| BAe is populated by miserable people who like to share their misery. |
I thought BAE compound is populated by people who like to hide their high standard and enjoyable life without misery! Where they have luxiroius air-conditioned villas with swimming pool, satellite TV, Internte access, and the maid (known as SADIK in Saudi) wash their cars and serve them the purple, grape, and orange juice, also they have thier private bar with different types of alcohol (like in ALI BABA film), and free dancing, etc, etc, etc, .....
I crossed an article in the telegraph titled 'My life inside the Saudi kingdom', by Fiona Moss, , where she describd her life in the compund of BAE:
"Within our compound, we enjoyed spacious, furnished and air-conditioned villas, Western dress codes, unisex swimming and gymnasium, satellite TV, internet access, European-style foodstuffs in the small compound shop and, yes, a "facility" with real alcohol, albeit the liver-hardening and home-made variety, made with local red and white grape juice, yeast and sugar. And, while a compound worker washes your car, tends the garden, even does your housework for ludicrously low payment, you, as the lady of the house, can choose to off-load the children at the compound cr�che and laze by the pool, or perhaps take quilting classes in a neighbouring villa for the entire duration of your husband's contract."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2004/06/04/ftsaudi04.xml&page=1
Mr Scott enjoy reading the stories of the lucky and happy people in BAE 
BTW, scot
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| How can we best avoid crazy people ? |
If you want to avoid crazy people, go and live in BAE compound. |
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Cleopatra
Joined: 28 Jun 2003
Posts: 3657
Location: Tuamago Archipelago
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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| As far as I know, BAE only employ ESL teachers on single status. Therefore, their idle wives would not be able to 'enjoy' the colonial lifestyle as described by Kompound Kate. In the Torygraph, where else... |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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Life is passable enough if you don't mind compounds. There is an excellent Bridge Club at the Riyadh compound, though you don't have to be a BAE employee to play.
I heard in Dammam they were putting two single guys in one married person's villa, though they were big enough to avoid each other.
If the cloistered life gets you down, you could always rent somewhere in the city out of your salary; it should be big enough to take the hit. |
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Balzac
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Posts: 266
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:12 pm Post subject: Re: Life in a BAE (BAe) Compound? |
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| Zlestial wrote: |
Hi
Is there anyone there who can give me an informed opinion about life in BAe compounds?
What is the accommodation like?
What is there to do there?
What facilities are available?
Do people there generally feel positive about the environment?
What is the teaching like with BAE?
And any other comments?
Yes, I did a search but didn't come up with much that was useful.
Thanks for your help. |
Hi Zlestial,
don't worry about all the negative comments about BAE: they're always by the same old tired people with too much time on their hands. A useful hint is to ignore comments from the three who've already posted here (No Stephen, I'm not including you.) as, from my experience, they are three of the most negative posters here (perhaps partly excluding Scot47 who occasionaly has something positive to say!)
The fact is BAE is one of the best companies to work for in the region which is why they have fabulous staff retention rates. Anyone who says otherwise is just sorry they can't get in on the act.
If you do a search for BAE on these boards, you'll find a wealth of info about the company.
Feel free to PM me for all the information you need, too. Unlike the other sorry posters, I only come here to give friendly, helpful, objective information not to give my sordid, subjective little opinions which are negative because I can't get a piece of the action. That's why I probably won't be back on this board for a while too as I don't use it as a platform for enunciating my own feeble prejudices.
Balzac |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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If you like the idea of the sort of life you might have on RAF Much Binding in the Marsh crossed with RAF Habaniya it might be okay. Remember you will be teaching low-grade military students who are unmotivated and with little talent for learning English.
For this they will pay you heaps of money. Most of the denizens of BAE seem to be deperately unhappy and/or dysfunctional.
Staff are expected to grin and bear it. Constructive criticism is not something that the management in this institution understand or encourage. |
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007
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2684
Location: UK/Veteran of the Magic Kingdom
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:47 pm Post subject: Re: Life in a BAE (BAe) Compound? |
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| Balzac wrote: |
The fact is BAE is one of the best companies to work for in the region which is why they have fabulous staff retention rates. |
As far as I know, BAE is the most corrupted company in the region.
According to the news, BAE had made payments worth hundreds of millions of pounds over a number of years to Uncle Bandar of Saudi Arabia.
Just check the following: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6239918.stm
As Uncle Scot said, they are the merchant of DEATH. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:41 pm Post subject: Re: Life in a BAE (BAe) Compound? |
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| 007 wrote: |
| As far as I know, BAE is the most corrupted company in the region. |
Oh please... the race for most corrupt is a tie between the whole bunch of them. Corruption and bribes were invented by the early traders of the ME and little has changed. Lots of money means lots of greed.
But really that is all pretty irrelevant to the teachers. For those who can tolerate the students, it is a place to pick up a lot of money quickly and hopefully get out before you are permanently dysfunctional.
VS |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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One of my fellow-countryman not long ago left BAe after a few years of high earnings. He described the working environment as "toxic".
He saved a lot of money but was not happy in his time there. I have met many who could tell the same story. Why do you think the British Military-Industrial Complex is paying 4,000 sterling a month to people to TEFL ?
Work it out for yourselves. |
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Never Ceased To Be Amazed
Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 3500
Location: Shhh...don't talk to me...I'm playin' dead...
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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| scot47 wrote: |
| Remember you will be teaching low-grade military students who are unmotivated and with little talent for learning English. |
Only someone who is utterly lucid would ever utter such an absolute truth!
| scot47 wrote: |
| For this they will pay you heaps of money. |
And put the food in your mouth, the clothes on your back, give you the right to purchase BAe stock at the price the stock traded for on the day you were hired (at least before the merger with Marconi split the BAe stock and turned the name into the more properly referred moniker "BAe Systems"), etc... Christ, I wish my contractor had the contract writers that BAe had writing the Yamama contracts!
| scot47 wrote: |
| Staff are expected to grin and bear it. Constructive criticism is not something that the management in this institution understand or encourage. |
Witness the evil BAe manager (er...I mean PELT) of Riyadh Air Base who was given the heave-ho because of his Hubris in 2001 and rather than, like a warder given the choice of joining his former wards, accept a lowly teaching position at TSI opted to leave BAe...last time I heard of him, he was stuck family-less in Tabuk!
NCTBA
Last edited by Never Ceased To Be Amazed on Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:45 am; edited 1 time in total |
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guty
Joined: 10 Apr 2003
Posts: 365
Location: on holiday
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| Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:30 am Post subject: |
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From my experience there are plenty of weirdos at every workplace in KSA, where Scott works is no exception.
Would you rather be surrounded by wierdos while you are earning 11,500 riyals a month, or surrounded by wierdos while you are earning �3,500 a month.
I know several people who have done their time at various places in Saudi. Without exception, those who went to save money and get out saved way more working at BAe.
Of course, if working in Saudi is a lifestyle choice and the money is secondary ....... |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:34 am Post subject: |
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| This is maybe a strange idea for guty but a working environment is not just abouut the numbers on the paycheque. |
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