Landing in Jeddah

KAUST in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia - A Little Piece of America!

I do have my Master's degree. Possibly working at a University is an option. I have always wanted to eventually teach at the college level, however, I truly enjoy teaching my Kindergarteners! I came across the King Abdullah Univeristy, which is near to Jeddah. After reading the article below, it seems like the most "western" part of Saudi Arabia. Here is that article: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=408895&c=1

These are some of the perks of working at KAUST
1. All 3 children tuition for schooling will be paid
2. All housing will be paid, and is a stand alone family sized house (so beautiful!)
3. Women can drive inside the gates of the University
4. A Lab school exists on the campus, which houses Early Childhood and Kindergarten classes (I could possibly teach Kindergarten here!)
5. KAUST pays for all the Visa process for the family
6. Airfare is paid for the family
7. Huge parks and family events happen often on campus

Here is a video of the housing:



Here are some other nice blogs from internationals living in Saudi Arabiahttp://thefouldsfamily.com/http://herringtonfamilyksa.blogspot.com/http://evansofarabia.blogspot.com/

*update* I had an interview with this school but was not offered a job. The reason: I was not familiar with and had not taught in the EYP or IB before. Oh, well......

Useful Jeddah websites and blogs

I have come across some amazing websites which have great pictures and information concerning life in Saudi Arabia. This is a comment made about Jeddah, "it is the most liberal and friendly of all Saudi cities." This is good news, right? I think so!

"Welcome to Paris of Arabia. Jeddah is one of the most ancient cities in Arabia going back as far as Adam & Eve. Jeddah is the second largest city of Saudi Arabia."  This is nice to hear because it is probably as close to Paris as I will get!

Virtual Tourist is the website where I found the above information:

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Middle_East/Saudi_Arabia/Mintaqat_Makkah/Jiddah-1806894/TravelGuide-Jiddah.html

Internations is another website that I discovered. It is like a little community. Job postings, furniture sells, housing reviews and local events are posted on this site.
http://www.internations.org/

*update* Since being in Jeddah, this is the website I use the most: www.expatriates.com

Is there a Wal-Mart there? Stores in Jeddah

These are some of the stores in Jeddah, that I could be shopping at. They look so big

This is Hyper-Panda. Another westernerner,
Susie of Arabia blogs from Jeddah and took
this nice picture. She says that this store is fun
to shop in.

This is the inside of the store. It looks big in here
too! I am looking forward to shopping here! It
reminds me of Wal-Mart, kind of.

The Journal of Getting a Teaching Job in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

October 12 - I sent an e-mail to Carly, letting her know my concerns about the Visa. She contacted Samia at the school and here is her response via e-mail:
"Dear Carly,

Regarding Andrea's visa issue,the rules in Saudi Arabia are:

1. In general,the wife and children can benefit from the husband's working visa if the husband has a Master degree and above or if he is a medical doctor.But I'm not sure in case the wife has the degree.
2. Teaching working visa granted by the Saudi Ministry of Education:If the candidate has BA or BS degree ,he or she would come alone at the beginning and after the arrival of the candidate and getting a resident permit(this should take 8-12 weeks),he /she can apply for a visa for the spouse or children to be under the candidate sponsorship and not the school.
3. If Andrea is interested to work with us,we need to ask the Ministry of education to grant us a working visa for American candidate.This is a long process for the following reasons:

• The ministry of education had already granted us our need for this Academic year. Unfortunately,America is not one of them as we did not have American candidate at the time we applied for the working visas.
• We still did not use all the working visas we were granted(Ireland,Newzeland and Australia),so we are not entitle for a new application til the next academic year ,and before applying for new working visas,we have to completely use what all we were granted for this year.

I hope I explained to you the complete situation thoroughly.

Best regards,

Samia "

Yes- I am a bit nervous now. I have looked at other schools online and am making contacts on international community websites and also by contacting teachers at several schools. I also asked Carly if she thinks she will be able to assist me in my efforts or if I need to find help elsewhere. Sohail is worried that I am bothering Carly!

October 9 - E-mail from Carly: "Dear Andrea, Samia has said that they can offer you a total package of $48,000 USD including housing allowance. There will be a % discount on the children’s fee’s (between 10-15%) They can only do this in 2012 (for Visa reasons)."

This is the starting salary-wow-pretty good, I think. My dad thinks I should ask for more. Being that this a country that negotiates salary, I would probably ask for more. However, the issue now is that Sohail's company cannot provide a family Visa. I will need a Visa (usually given by the school) to enter the country. The children would also need a Visa to enter. Many schools just give a Visa to the teacher they are hiring. So, now our first "bump in the road" is here. Can we get a family Visa? Can we join Sohail there? Now I am getting nervous!

September 14 - Sohail had his interview. For about a week, he negotiated his salary, benefits and housing allowance. He was offered the job! So two weeks later, he returned back to Houston, with his job offer in hand! His pay was more than expected-yeah!

September 7 - I had my first Skype interview. I sat in my bedroom with my laptop, wearing a t-shirt and jeans and no makeup. For 40 minutes, I video-conferenced with a lovely HR Representative for "My Little House" School. So, one week before Sohail flew to Jeddah for his interview, I had my interview.

September 6 - These are the 2 e-mail's that I received today. Are things really happening this fast?

Email 1 - "Just wondering if things have changed over the past few weeks as I now have an urgent opening in Saudi and a school requesting to interview you? -Carly"

E-mail 2 - "Dear Andrea,Carly from Synarbor Education send me your CV.We have an immediate opening in both primary and early years .I would like to conduct an interview either by telephone or preferably via skype if available, to go through some of the relevant information mentioned in your CV.Could you please assign a date and time that suit you to do so. Looking forward to hearing from you. - Samia"

August 18 - Carly sent my CV's (a fancy resume used in many places, but not in the US, usually) to some schools.

August 15 - I was using LinkedIn and noticed that jobs in other countries were opening up. I contacted one such recruiter, just to ask, if she placed teachers in Saudi Arabia. I mentioned that my husband, Sohail, would be working in Jeddah soon. Several days later, the recruiter contacted me back and said there was a school interested in interviewing me for a teaching position. I was thinking "But, I am not ready to move, or even think about an interview. I just started the school year, here in Houston. How can a think about another job? I am so happy where I teach now!"

*update* I did not take the above job because they want me sooner than I could come, in the middle of the school year!

Places to Eat in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

So, I have lived a short time in Taipei, Taiwan and also Almaty, Kazakhstan. When I was in Taipei, it was KFC, Domino's and Subway that were my comfort foods. I would travel 3o minutes on the subway to find American food. In Kazakhstan, it was McDonald's that made me happy when I missed home. It looks like in Saudi Arabia, I will have many more choices.

This is the Jeddah Mall McDonald's

Pizza Hut TGI Friday's

Baskin Robbins Fudrucker's

Chili's Hardee's

KFC Drive thru at Burger King

Papa John's Pizza

OMG- Starbuck's.....I am so excited! The building above is right across from Sohail's office building.

Ok-I just asked Sohail, "What is a Singles Section?" This is very interesting. Every restaurant has a singles section and a families section. So instead of being asked "Do you want smoking or non-smoking, you will choose either singles or family section. Why? This is to prevent the mingling of women and men. "So, how do unmarried people meet?" I just asked Sohail. He said, "They really don't. It's arranged through the parents." I guess this will make it more "safe" for me and the kids to go to Starbuck's. I will not have to be worried about another man hitting on me or asking me out. That's good for a married woman.

Where in the World is Saudi Arabia?

Some of you may be wondering- "Where is Saudi Arabia?" Here is a map of the world, with Saudi Arabia shaded green. Jeddah is the city where our family will be moving to.

To the west of Saudi Arabia is the Red Sea. Jeddah is on the coast line of the Red Sea, and that is where we will be moving to. Look how close Egypt is-possibly we will be able to visit the pyramids for a family vacation. I hope so! Well, as you can see, Iraq is to the North, Sudan and Egypt are to the west, Yemen is to the south, Kuwait is northeast along the Persian Gulf and Qatar and Dubai is on the eastern side of Saudi Arabia.

Here is a closer look at Saudi Arabia:

Ok-I am really getting excited about vacation opportunities now: Germany, Italy, Egypt, oh my!