|
Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
dmb
Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:58 pm Post subject: Re-adjusting |
|
|
I will soon be leaving leaving the Gulf. I was wondering if anyone has done the same(obviously) My question is did you have any work related problems when you took up a new position outside the Arab world? |
|
Back to top |
|
|
johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 13859 Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 9:18 pm Post subject: Love those problems |
|
|
Dear dmb,
Heck, I've "left the Gulf, 4 times (and returned 3). One time I went to Indonesia, the other times I taught in the States (all levels - middle school, junior/senior high, university). I never had any work-related (or other) problems during any of those respites from the Kingdom. Well, let me qualify that just a bit. In Indonesia (after having spent 7 years in Saudi Arabia) I found that I was spending more than I was making. I thought of it as sort of "my last hurrah", and I can't say I regret my prodigality. Lovely ladies in that land and, at the time, I was still imbibing.
Is it any wonder I was such a spendthrift?
Bottom line, I'd say, is it depends on the individual. But most of us are highly adaptable - or we wouldn't stay long in this field. All the best in your next job.
Regards,
John |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Cleopatra
Joined: 28 Jun 2003 Posts: 3657 Location: Tuamago Archipelago
|
Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 2:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I havne't hade any work related difficulties since leaving KSA, but I still suffer the occasional bout of "reverse culture shock' even though it's almost a year since I left. I still do a double-take every time a car pulls up next to me in the street - I fear it's going to be some bored chabab trying to see what's under my abaya...
As John said, we humans are more adaptive than we sometimes give ourselves credit for. Just like you adapaed to the shock of living in the ME, you will adapt to the - in many ways worse - shock of readapting to "home". I say 'worse' because people expect to suffer culture shock when abroad, and usually get support from others who have been through the same thing. However, when you return home, everyone expects you to fit in as though you've never been away - certainly not to somewhere as "Weird" as the gulf. At least tha'ts been my experience. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|