Letter from Saudi Arabia, March 1992, Part One

Written by Aidan O'Rourke
2005-08-19

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday 11th of March 1992

Greetings from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I'm writing this to let you all know how I'm getting on, and I hope that you will reply soon.

It is now just about eight months since I started here (My first day was 15 July 1991), and my contract will finish in about four months, so I'm two thirds the way through. I have a large chart at home on which I count the days and calculate the percentage of time remaining until I fly out.

I was back in England at New Year. At the moment it's the month of Ramadan, so we respect the sensibilities of moslems and don't publicly eat, drink or smoke from sunrise till sunset. I have a bottle of my favourite, Mousy lemon non-alcoholic beer in my desk, and I take a quick swig when no-one's looking!

During Ramadan, the working hours are shorter to enable people to sleep during the day and stay up later at night. We're coming into the office from 10am till 4pm Saturday to Wednesday and 11am till 3pm on Thursday. Normally it's 7.30am -4pm and 10am till 2pm on Thursday. There are no classes here during Ramadan, so it's very pelasant, and we are busying ourselves with essential departmental duties, like writing letters and reading the newspaper.

Mark, our senior instructor and Conal, my fellow instructor, are flying out tonight and will be away for four weeks, leaving only the two new American instructors Gerry and Alan, and myself. Two weeks from now is the two week Eid holiday, then it's back to the normal routine for eight weeks until we have another two week holiday at Haj. Four weeks after that I finish. This is definitely the best time to be in Saudi Arabia, with the two annual holidays following each other closely.

So what do I think of it here? As far as the job is concerned it has its plus and minus points, but on balance it's a big improvement on my previous job in the UK. The money is one of the main benefits and I am earning at least half as much again as I would be earning back home. The facilities here are very good, such as the Apple Macintosh I'm writing this on. Also the trainees are generally very pleasant and appreciative of my teaching. They are all adult men employed at offices around Saudi Arabia. They come here to do courses in general English and English for special purposes.

As well as teaching English, I'm the 'Examinations Officer', and organise all the tests, which take place every two weeks. I find this interesting and fulfilling, as it gives me the opportunity to boss people about!

On the negative side, I miss teaching mixed classes and working in a mixed environment. It's strange working with only male colleagues and male students. Also our contract is not very generous: no medical cover, no contribution to your mid-year flight, no sports facilities, as promised. The management here don't seem to realise the importance of taking care of their employees.

One thing that annoyed me recently was that I had an urgent fax transmission to send to the UK, and when it went to the deputy director for checking, he refused to approve it because it contained an allegedly detrimental comment about the Saudi postal service, and by extension Saudi Arabia. I think I wrote something like 'the letter might be delayed' but I what I meant was that it might be delayed in transit between the UK and Saudi Arabia. He jumped to the conclusion that I was referring to the postal service here, which, I think speaks volumes.

I won't be renewing my contract here. Last December I was offered a job at the Military Hospital teaching English, on 25% better pay and conditions, but I couldn't take it because they wouldn't release me from my present contract. There may be a possibility of working there, or some other better paid contract in Saudi Arabia, or in one of the other Gulf states, when I eventually return. My next contract, starting this autumn will, I hope, be in Prague Czechoslovakia.

As for what I think of Saudi Arabia, well... as far as living here is concerned, I have definitely 'hacked it'. I am no longer perturbed by the bureaucratic formalities, the restrictions, the all-male working environment, the lack of TV from the outside world, the lack of cinemas, bars, night clubs, and other entertainment, apart from 2nd and 3rd generation films from the video rental shop, and hissy cassette tapes from the music shop. These factors contribute to a feeling of 'sensory deprivation' which you adjust to after a while.

On the plus side, I appreciate the fact that I don't have to give away a large portion of my earnings in tax, and apart from car repairs, I have had no bills to pay here for the last eight months. It costs me six pounds to fill up with petrol every week (8p per litre or 41 US cents per gallon). There is no street crime and practically no theft. You can leave your car unlocked more or less anywhere, and nobody will lay a finger on it. The weather is nearly always nice. If you really miss home beverages, if you know what I mean, you can make them yourself, all the ingredients are in the supermarket. There is a black market in that stuff but using that channel is very risky.



Page One | Page Two

2005-08-19