Job Discussion Forums

[RGA22]

Hi

I am currently teaching in South Korea but saw a few positions in Saudi Arabia that seem to pay a lot more and also cover accommodations.

Firstly, I am caucasian Canadian with a B.Ed and a B.A in English. I am qualified to teach K-12.

My questions are probably ignorant but making a commitment for a year or more I would like to know:

1) Is Saudi Arabia safe -- I don't want to be the guy on the news with a knofe to my throat

2) Is Dating of Saudi women allowed without being subject to number 1?

3) Can you actually save money? Living expenses very high?

4) Is transportation reasonable?

5) Are school owners reliable in terms of pay and honesty. South Korean Hawgwons have a lot of trouble telling the truth about most everything.

6) Ohh is Alcohol acceptable.

I am sorry if these are incredibly naive questions but that's what I get for watching Western television news channels.

Thanks,

[trapezius]

[Susan WW]

[brasscat]

Saudi Arabia is safe, weird, but safe.

Forget anything with drinkable alcohol in it. This is the heart of Islam.

Yes, you can save, if you don't play party hound.

Transportation is available, relatively cheap, and mostly depends on your haggling abilities.

Pay does happen, some places better than others. Contract people tend to encounter the most problems.

Women, a.k.a. U.M.O.s, mostly hands off, unless you are in the compound. Arab women, dream on.

For fun and games, go to Bahrain on the weekends.
brasscat

[Van Norden]

Nothing wrong with any of your questions, except for the naivete. 80-90% of men under fifty are thinking the same things. Alas, forget about dating women, alcohol and almost all forms of pleasure (music, parties, dancing, laughing, smiling, etc.) This place is dry and barren in every sense. The locals prefer it like this and they demand that you suffer too. Of course, the corollary of this is you can get paid well above what you can get elsewhere in the world.

Only consider coming here if you can save significantly more than you can in Korea or Japan or anywhere else that is pleasant and civilized. This is possible, but you�d need to get some kind of ESL qualification (any Mickey Mouse one will do.) With a B.Ed + MM tefl qualification you could get a job in the military here and save around $3K per month or more.

Alternatively, stick with Korea (or go to Japan) and try to supplement your income through teaching privates and second jobs. This might enable you to match or better many/most packages here. If you�ve got the drive and energy. I don�t. That�s why I like it here; you just sit it out, do your time, and the money comes in. How old are you?

One other option for you to consider is the Hong Kong NET scheme. It�s very lucrative. Have a look on the Hong Kong forum. You need to have a few years full-time school teaching experience, and they also like your CV to be littered with extra-curricular activities.

[007]

[trapezius]

1) Yes, very safe. Among the safest in the world, but of course, common sense should be used in every situation in every country.

2) I already answered that in my earlier post. It IS possible to do it, but only if you find single Arab women as your colleagues, or if they are living in the same compound as you. Lots of dating does go on here. But it is hard to find someone, as there aren't many single females in this country (expats), and the ones who are single, are already probably dating/screwing someone. If you get to know the "right" people, you can get invited to parties with a high concentration of single females (usually nurses, but teachers also).

3) If people couldn't save money here, why would they bother coming here? To see the desert? There are only 2 reasons why expats come here: a) because you can save more money here than anywhere else in the world, or b) for religious reasons, but still, the money is good!

4) What transportation? Public transport? It practically does not exist. Everybody uses taxis, which are dirt cheap. A typical trip costs $4 to most places within a city.

5) Depends on the school. Some are, some aren't. Dig up threads in here about various universities/schools to learn more about them.

6) Inside compounds, people make their own, some even enough to sell it. If you really need it, you can either learn to make your own, or make friends with someone who make his/her own inside a compound, and then buy it from them. Or make friends with a blue-collar worker (laborer, supermarket checkout person, restaurant employee, etc), who can get you some (usually Lebanese, Syrian, Saudi, Indian subcontinental, Phillipino, etc). Or, you can make friends with people who work in embassies, as that will give you access to the real thing, yes, real bottles of all sorts flown in from outside, in diplomatic boxes. How do you think diplomats and ambassadors survive here? Make their own alcohol? Yeah right!

I am a non-drinker, but having worked in a British school and lived on a compound, I came to know the modus operandi of people who do drink.


You haven't mentioned what kind of teaching positions you are looking at? Because you are qualified to teach K-12, I would say screw university teaching, and teach at any of the American or British schools in SA. Not only could you earn more from school teaching, but you will also be working in a mixed-gender environment, and have easy access to all the ladies and to the alcohol. If you teach in a university, or in a language institute, it is going to be men-only.


What else?


P.S. There is a saying here: Everything is impossible, and anything is possible. (in this country).

Not to be crass, but drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, gambling, witchcraft, etc, are widely available in this country, if you know the "right" people, which are usually the "wrong" people, except in case of alcohol, which most regular joes (from US/EU) indulge in.


DISCLAIMER: I do NOT know how to get any of those things I listed. No one contact me wanting to get their hands on alcohol or drugs or anything else illegal in this country. I have not, and do not indulge in these things, I just hear stories from others.

[RGA22]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

The reason I asked is because the impression of the Middle East I get from News and a person I know is that dating is a no-no because the religious police will "pressure/threaten" the girl not to see a foreigner.

I ask about dating merely because I am single and I don't really care about race.

As for booze I can live without it because I'm not really a drinker.

I'll have to explore it some more.

Thanks

[rxfaith]

why not just get married and bring your wife along?

[trapezius]

Oops... I was afraid you would misunderstand me.

Dating is a complete NO NO here. You CANNOT date in public view of everybody.

It has to be done in secret. You can do whatever you like inside a residential compound (but doing stuff in a regular apartment building is highly risky). Perhaps you could take a taxi to go eat at a fancy restaurant (still risky).

But that's about it. You can't walk on the streets together. You can't go to malls together. You can't walk on the Corniche (sea coast) together. And so on. I mean, you could, but you risk being caught by the police or the religious police. Furthermore, the punishment you receive depends on your ethnicity. If you are caucasian from US/Europe/etc, you will be let off, but if you are from ANY Asian or Arab country, you will be jailed and then deported, and may even be lashed.

And that's why I said in my previous post, that it is only possible to date, if at least one of you is living in a compound. That's how you will find a girl in the first place (a resident inside a compound), or perhaps a colleague (if in a mixed work environment).

As for dating Arab/Muslim women, what are you looking for?

If you are looking to just have fun, go for it. Apparently, from what I have heard of some cases, Arab women are all about a White man.

If you are looking towards a serious relationship possibly culminating in marriage, there are 3 obstacles you have to overcome:

1) You have to be a Muslim to marry a Muslim woman (according to the religion). Sure, you can convert for convenience, but you will have to take that to the grave. (I know of some cases like this)

2) You will have to get her father to agree (marriage not possible without his approval), which is very unlikely (assuming of course, that you are ready to convert).

3) If she is Saudi, she will need permission from the Saudi government to marry a foreigner.

[Van Norden]

I think by dating we really mean 'dating' here. In the euphemistic sense. You can't really have a proper boyfriend/girlfriend relationship in KSA. Where can you go? What can you do? (as trapezius has noted above.)

Relationships are hard enough to sustain in the best of environments. Imagine being cooped up on a compound with someone? I see some of my associates doing this: Walking around the compound holding hands; going to play ping pong; renting some idiotic DVD to kill the afternoon/evening...

God!!! That would be MURDER...

[Stephen Jones]

[potabavich]

has anyone with kids got an idea about children establishments - for very young children - about 2 or 3 yo, prices, rules, etc... how easy to find someone to look after one's kids, while mother at work, full time or part timers, and if there are mothers taking kids for walks during the day time - western of course, Arabs usually sit at home... and are not willing to communicate with westerners? thanks for any advice
would appreciate if you have any knowledge to share about hospitals and health care for children

[Susan WW]

.............

[Susan WW]