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groovebliss
Joined: 28 Dec 2014
Posts: 19
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 Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 2:10 am Post subject: Is ISIS Making You Uneasy About Being in the Middle East? |
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| With all of the ISIS atrocities in the news lately, any thoughts I had about teaching English in the Middle East are on hold. Are any of you who are currently teaching in the Middle East starting to feel nervous about your safety given their recent activities and growth? Am I blowing this out of proportion, possibly due to how this is all being presented in the United States media? |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 5:26 am Post subject: |
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Yes...
The "Middle East" covers a lot of area. The places where this organization is causing problems has few or no expat teachers. (Those that were in Libya have left... Syria and Iraq have had none for a few years... except for areas with strong Kurdish populations)
That could possibly change... but life is dangerous everywhere... especially here in the US.
VS |
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MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 8:53 am Post subject: |
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| Closest I've come to ISIS was when I arrived in Paris a few weeks ago on the day of the shootings at Charlie Hebdo's offices. I've mainly been in Oman but also in Kuwait (dump) and the UAE and generally have felt very safe. |
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cnthaiksarok
Joined: 29 Jun 2012
Posts: 288
Location: between a rock and a sandy place
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 4:51 pm Post subject: Re: Is ISIS Making You Uneasy About Being in the Middle East |
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| groovebliss wrote: |
| With all of the ISIS atrocities in the news lately, any thoughts I had about teaching English in the Middle East are on hold. |
No offense intended, but you might want to put those thoughts on hold indefinitely.
I've just started my 8th year in Saudi.
(not sequential years - IE; was here 99' - 02')
...and there's ALWAYS something going on that will deter the nervous nellys (who have every right to be nervous about coming) or keep the over-vigilant preparing. I believe the latter have the same rights, btw.
Anyways, it can make for a bumpy ride if you tend to worry about such things, is all I'm saying....
Everyone certainly thinks about incidences when they're in the news, etc...but over-thinking is only partially destructive - while over-worrying is toxic - imo.
all the best |
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groovebliss
Joined: 28 Dec 2014
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 5:03 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you all for taking the time to reply. veiledsentiments, I didn't know there were few to no expat teachers in the areas where ISIS has been active. I agree that the U.S. is dangerous too as I don't always feel safe here myself.
That is interesting and reassuring, MuscatGary, that you have generally felt safe. That would have been unnerving to land in Paris on the day of the Charlie Hebdo shootings. For what it's worth, I think the shooters were originally thought to be connected to ISIS but identified as being part of Al-Qaeda: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting
cnthaiksarok, no offense taken. I would consider myself an easily deter-able nervous nelly  , so it's true I might not ever have the courage to teach English in the Middle East.
I appreciate all your perspectives as they are quite different from my frightened one and give me food for thought. |
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cartago
Joined: 19 Oct 2005
Posts: 283
Location: Iraq
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 5:55 am Post subject: |
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| I'm in Iraqi Kurdistan and normally don't feel that nervous about it. It does feel a bit strange to see the traffic signs pointing to Mosul. I was here before ISIS took Mosul and the current crisis started and it hasn't really changed day to day life here all that much. I mean, it has changed things in many ways but still feels the same mostly. |
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Dedicated
Joined: 18 May 2007
Posts: 972
Location: UK
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:16 am Post subject: |
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ISIS is making me feel nervous living in north London. Last week, I walked past the gates of the local synagogue in north London. I watched the children practising their terrorist evacuation procedures within the grounds of the building, with its enhanced security systems, high-wire fences and toughened glass. I watched as the police patrol car did its rounds, the Community Security Trust officers in their bulletproof vests did their checks and the synagogue's own hired security did perimeter inspections.
I'm just an ordinary non-Jewish Londoner. Fear, life and death in Europe today. |
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MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 9:50 am Post subject: |
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| Dedicated wrote: |
ISIS is making me feel nervous living in north London. Last week, I walked past the gates of the local synagogue in north London. I watched the children practising their terrorist evacuation procedures within the grounds of the building, with its enhanced security systems, high-wire fences and toughened glass. I watched as the police patrol car did its rounds, the Community Security Trust officers in their bulletproof vests did their checks and the synagogue's own hired security did perimeter inspections.
I'm just an ordinary non-Jewish Londoner. Fear, life and death in Europe today. |
A friend of mine in Paris has told me that, post-Charlie Hebdo, the schools that have a significant number of Jewish children are being guarded by army personnel. |
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caliph
Joined: 05 Jun 2006
Posts: 218
Location: Iceland
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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VS
"but life is dangerous everywhere... especially here in the US"
If you avoid certain urban areas, (and now shopping malls), I think you are pretty safe in the US. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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| caliph wrote: |
VS
"but life is dangerous everywhere... especially here in the US"
If you avoid certain urban areas, (and now shopping malls), I think you are pretty safe in the US. |
Not when any ignorant yahoo with the cash can buy an arsenal... and play open carry a-hole almost anywhere in some states.
VS |
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cnthaiksarok
Joined: 29 Jun 2012
Posts: 288
Location: between a rock and a sandy place
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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| caliph wrote: |
VS
"but life is dangerous everywhere... especially here in the US"
If you avoid certain urban areas, (and now shopping malls), I think you are pretty safe in the US. |
schools (univs).... |
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groovebliss
Joined: 28 Dec 2014
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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| cartago wrote: |
| I'm in Iraqi Kurdistan and normally don't feel that nervous about it. It does feel a bit strange to see the traffic signs pointing to Mosul. I was here before ISIS took Mosul and the current crisis started and it hasn't really changed day to day life here all that much. I mean, it has changed things in many ways but still feels the same mostly. |
Wow. I'm fascinated that you are there. Thank you for posting. Would you be willing to share what types of things have changed? Hopefully they won't be holding Mosul that much longer.
| Dedicated wrote: |
ISIS is making me feel nervous living in north London. Last week, I walked past the gates of the local synagogue in north London. I watched the children practising their terrorist evacuation procedures within the grounds of the building, with its enhanced security systems, high-wire fences and toughened glass. I watched as the police patrol car did its rounds, the Community Security Trust officers in their bulletproof vests did their checks and the synagogue's own hired security did perimeter inspections.
I'm just an ordinary non-Jewish Londoner. Fear, life and death in Europe today. |
I'm sorry to hear the measures synagogues are having to take there. I guess things are changing everywhere due to these extremist groups. The UK is geographically closer to ISIS, which is unnerving. Today Al Shabaab is calling for an attack on the Mall of America. We're already weary of our own American mall shooters, but I wonder if these types of threats might start changing things over here in a different way.
| MuscatGary wrote: |
| A friend of mine in Paris has told me that, post-Charlie Hebdo, the schools that have a significant number of Jewish children are being guarded by army personnel. |
I was saddened and shocked to read this.
Thank you again, everyone, for the conversation. It's been interesting and educational. |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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groovebliss
Joined: 28 Dec 2014
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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That had me choked up because it was so moving and inspirational. I really appreciate you pointing us to this as it provides a healthy balance to the fear and negativity. |
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cartago
Joined: 19 Oct 2005
Posts: 283
Location: Iraq
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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| groovebliss wrote: |
| cartago wrote: |
| I'm in Iraqi Kurdistan and normally don't feel that nervous about it. It does feel a bit strange to see the traffic signs pointing to Mosul. I was here before ISIS took Mosul and the current crisis started and it hasn't really changed day to day life here all that much. I mean, it has changed things in many ways but still feels the same mostly. |
Wow. I'm fascinated that you are there. Thank you for posting. Would you be willing to share what types of things have changed? Hopefully they won't be holding Mosul that much longer.
| Dedicated wrote: |
ISIS is making me feel nervous living in north London. Last week, I walked past the gates of the local synagogue in north London. I watched the children practising their terrorist evacuation procedures within the grounds of the building, with its enhanced security systems, high-wire fences and toughened glass. I watched as the police patrol car did its rounds, the Community Security Trust officers in their bulletproof vests did their checks and the synagogue's own hired security did perimeter inspections.
I'm just an ordinary non-Jewish Londoner. Fear, life and death in Europe today. |
I'm sorry to hear the measures synagogues are having to take there. I guess things are changing everywhere due to these extremist groups. The UK is geographically closer to ISIS, which is unnerving. Today Al Shabaab is calling for an attack on the Mall of America. We're already weary of our own American mall shooters, but I wonder if these types of threats might start changing things over here in a different way.
| MuscatGary wrote: |
| A friend of mine in Paris has told me that, post-Charlie Hebdo, the schools that have a significant number of Jewish children are being guarded by army personnel. |
I was saddened and shocked to read this.
Thank you again, everyone, for the conversation. It's been interesting and educational. |
ISIS has been very bad for the economy. Iraqi Kurdistan was doing pretty well because of its stability compared to the rest of Iraq but now this has caused investors to pull out. There was even a really small scale tourism industry that has basically shut down since almost no one wants to travel here now. I mean, I see on the Lonely Planet message board people asking if it's safe to go to Istanbul or Jordan even. I think there's a lot of potential in Kurdistan because there are many wealthy people and the quality of service and merchandise here is generally low but people won't want to invest in here or open businesses now.
There are less flights into Kurdistan now as well. A lot of people travel across the border and fly from Turkey but I was able to fly to Jordan for vacation recently with a Kurdish airline.
Besides that, I think the biggest effect on people is that the Kurdish Peshmerga are at war with ISIS and many have been killed. People are afraid for their family members fighting.
There's also the great increase in refugees. In my city, there thousands of refugees, mostly Yazidi. This is on top of an already large population of Syrian refugees. This hasn't led to a noticeable increase in crime, at least not that I'm aware of. Some travelers had this concern about Turkey, I'm not sure how it is there. The refugees were living in schools but since then, they've moved most of them to camps. There are still some living in construction sites or in tents.
There's also a lot of hostility towards Arabs but it hasn't led to serious fighting. An Arab friend of mine said he got some threatening messages and I heard about an anti-Arab demonstration in Erbil.
The security level seems to vary. There's times I've traveled between here and Erbil and just breezed through the checkpoints, most recently a couple weeks ago. Other times, it seems like I'm stopped at every one and have to wait while they check out my passport and ask me questions.
Anyway, that's all I can think of now about the situation and there may be other ways things have changed that I haven't noticed. |
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