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MyTrunkshow
Joined: 21 Apr 2007
Posts: 234
Location: One map inch from Iraq
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 Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 4:19 am Post subject: |
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Hashim. Thank you.
You have youthful enthusiasm for your new life in Hail and you are about the only one. I've read dismissive, accusatory and inflammatory remarks from Brasscat, Hail's most prolific poster. I find it very hard to get any real information from his comments which are based on his intention to discredit the place. Whatever. Good luck to him but he never posted info about Hail when I asked him. There's a story about The Fox and the Grapes that comes to mind.
I don't expect Hail to be some wonderful oasis of academia but of the 4 people I met at TESOL-Arabia from UOH, I was taken in. One was a teacher, who like yourself, is not a native English speaker but he sure was friendly. The other two, a Brit and a Yank were charming, a bit older and very friendly, light and jovial. If the staff are anything like them, then I will consider myself very fortunate. The vice rector was also very much a gentlemen (although I know this all may be smoke and mirrors but my judge of character is pretty darn good, thank you very much.)
For myself, the most rewarding part of work is relationships. So far there is nothing to suggest it will be difficult finding my own little network of a few people to mingle with at the UOH.
I do have one question though. Is the initial flight for direct hires paid for by the university? ..or do we get there on our own steam? I'm holding off on asking the university these questions until I have visa in hand. This is my first uni. job and I want to tread softly as I'm not familiar with the routine or Saudi customs.
Regards,
mytrunkshow |
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trapezius
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 1670
Location: Land of Culture of Death & Destruction
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 11:50 am Post subject: |
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I have something to post about UOH, but I also have to cook a fancy lunch now.
So y'all will have to wait for a few hours  |
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hashim99uk
Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 47
Location: UK
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 2:47 pm Post subject: better than western life |
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| Mia Xanthi wrote: |
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| Donot be hesitated, come and live it is a rich and productive experience. |
Even though I find life in KSA tolerable and even sometimes pleasant, I wouldn't trust anyone who describes a job here as "a rich and productive experience"!  |
Hi
Yes, it is true, at least in my opinion, and the reality of many Wetern people are working in Hail.
Life is not real in the West, material and we have to pay only.
we learn from the west that the life has one face, how to pay !!
headache and psychological problems.
We learn how to ratify our needs, how our children go to the wrong sides and how wives to be independent !! in the name of freedom and democracy !!
Wild west ! |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 2:55 pm Post subject: |
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| ...and some learn to write English. Some better than others. |
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hashim99uk
Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 47
Location: UK
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 3:05 pm Post subject: tickets after visa |
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| MyTrunkshow wrote: |
Hashim. Thank you.
You have youthful enthusiasm for your new life in Hail and you are about the only one. I've read dismissive, accusatory and inflammatory remarks from Brasscat, Hail's most prolific poster. I find it very hard to get any real information from his comments which are based on his intention to discredit the place. Whatever. Good luck to him but he never posted info about Hail when I asked him. There's a story about The Fox and the Grapes that comes to mind.
I don't expect Hail to be some wonderful oasis of academia but of the 4 people I met at TESOL-Arabia from UOH, I was taken in. One was a teacher, who like yourself, is not a native English speaker but he sure was friendly. The other two, a Brit and a Yank were charming, a bit older and very friendly, light and jovial. If the staff are anything like them, then I will consider myself very fortunate. The vice rector was also very much a gentlemen (although I know this all may be smoke and mirrors but my judge of character is pretty darn good, thank you very much.)
For myself, the most rewarding part of work is relationships. So far there is nothing to suggest it will be difficult finding my own little network of a few people to mingle with at the UOH.
I do have one question though. Is the initial flight for direct hires paid for by the university? ..or do we get there on our own steam? I'm holding off on asking the university these questions until I have visa in hand. This is my first uni. job and I want to tread softly as I'm not familiar with the routine or Saudi customs.
Regards,
mytrunkshow |
When you get the visa you have to contact the university to send you the ticket. Some universities let you pay your ticket then after your arrival they will reimburse you, gives your money back, this for some universities, because many people got tickets then changed their minds , never come !
But most of Saudi universities pay the tickets after getting the Saudi visa.
Good luck
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Mia Xanthi
Joined: 13 Mar 2008
Posts: 955
Location: why is my heart still in the Middle East while the rest of me isn't?
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| We learn how to ratify our needs, how our children go to the wrong sides and how wives to be independent !! in the name of freedom and democracy !! |
Oh, please forgive me. I forgot my place as a woman. The lack of independent wives is what makes KSA such a paradise on earth. I'm so lucky to live here where my husband can be the boss and my children cannot go to the wrong sides.
| Quote: |
Life is not real in the West, material and we have to pay only.
we learn from the west that the life has one face, how to pay !! |
Yes, money means nothing here in Saudi Arabia, or in the Arab world in general. Everyone around me here in KSA focuses on morality rather than materialism. I am so blessed to be here on the Arabian peninsula where there is no greed or corruption as there is in the west.
Now, I have to run get my husband's slippers and make sure my children haven't found any drugs from Thuqbah... oh! that's right!...no drugs here in KSA either. What a bastion of fine, moral, Islamic behavior I live in here. Thank God for saving me from the wicked, wicked western world. |
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MyTrunkshow
Joined: 21 Apr 2007
Posts: 234
Location: One map inch from Iraq
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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Looking forward to making it over to Hail. (Yes, I expect to be fully reprimanded from whatever angle one of the naysayers might take...)
There sure are a lot of ankle biters at your heels.
Watch your words coz around the next post lurks dragons in waiting.
See you in September.
Regards,
mytrunkshow |
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Mia Xanthi
Joined: 13 Mar 2008
Posts: 955
Location: why is my heart still in the Middle East while the rest of me isn't?
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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Mytrunkshow, just wanted to let you know that in all my many years of teaching overseas, I have never once been asked to pay for my own airfare up front.
I know that you don't want to hear anything negative, and in all honesty I have no idea if the job at Hail is a good one or not, but I do think that having to pay for your own airfare is not a positive sign (if that is indeed what the poster intended to say - I'm still not sure). Most good employers will provide you with a pre-paid ticket. Furthermore, most people who are told that they will be "reimbursed" once they are in the Kingdom never see that money again.
The job may be fine, and this may all turn out well. Just go into it with eyes wide open.  |
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MyTrunkshow
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