San Migs
- 2012-06-16
I would agree with everything you wrote. Oman is no different, I knew four ex saudi teachers and all of them had their various quirks and eccentricities. But I actually liked 2 of them very much, nice guys, but the others were just creeps and plain weird. Saudi seems to attract a lot of tough it out for one year,get drunk, lock yourself away, take the money and run types, and the plain religious nutters, all types really. A very bizarre place, where I never want to work, and as you say poles apart from the UAE.
What is the deal with Saudi Arabia?? How can a country that borders Bahrain and the UAE be so dull and boring!? It is as though I am trapped in an egg timer! The country is as hot as hell and as dry as a bone! When the wind hits you it feels like someone has packed a hairdryer full of grit, turned it up to full heat and then blasted it into your face! Walking the streets is like running the gauntlet, there are no pavements and the drivers are total maniacs behind the wheel! Everything is so far away, the roads are long and straight and go on for miles and miles. There are no crossings, no flyovers, no subways. You have to literally run into oncoming traffic to cross the roads! All of which are 4 or 8 lanes wide and bumper to bumper with couldn't careless drivers! But I tell you what really gets to me, the boredom is one thing, but what really pisses me off are the schools in this country. All of them, and I mean all of them are run by penny pinching, conning, lying toads! They will do whatever they can to stick a knife as far into a teachers back as they possible can! They will deduct money, lie about accommodation and breach contracts until the cows come home! Added to this they seem to have this policy of hiring the most whacked out, off the dial freaky weirdo teachers they can find!!! I don't get it! Do they actively look for the nuttiest, most socially retarded freaks the world has to offer? It is like bath time at Bedlam! The teachers here have got to be the strangest collection of loons I have ever met! I am lost for words trying to describe the freak show that is the ESL community in Saudi Arabia! If we were put in to compounds that would be one thing, at least we could meet other people, but no! ESL school like to rent apartment blocks in which to shove all the social fuck ups they refer to as their teaching staff. Then, the weekend comes and all of the space cadets lock themselves into their apartments and do what ever it takes to have no interaction with another living soul until the next working day! Do yourself a favor, stay clear of KSA!!!!