Rakah for older kids

We have older and younger kids and may be headed to Rakkah. Living in there, I worry about the amount of time my children would spend on the busses going back and forth to school. Can anyone living in Rakkah provide an honest assessment of how long the kids ride the bus in the morning and afternoon? The recruiter keeps telling us it's only 15-20 mins to the Dhahran elementary school, but with traffic I'm guessing it's much longer.

Also, what about the stay at home moms living on the Rakkah compound? I must admit, being stuck on a 90-acre compound without being able to drive and being subject to intermittent bus times sounds stifling. I'm worried! Any thoughts / honest perspectives from those there? Thanks!

Hope this helps about older kids and Rakah generally: Since being at Rakah my sons aged 10 and 12 have:

Cycled and scooted anywhere they want to on the compound
Had one on one 40 minute swimming lessons for 50SAR
Swum for hours with friends and learnt to dive in unison off both boards
Joined the community kids soccer training
Played games of cricket on the communal grass behind the houses
Played bowls with friends
Played table football and table tennis
Started to learn squash with their father
Watched movies in the theatre
Made many new friends
Been to four different beaches - at one they saw angel fish under the water and dolphins
Dinghy sailed
Dropped in and out of their friends houses under their own steam.
My youngest is about to start playing tennis and is loving the DBGS. The bus journey is around 25 minutes although it can vary between 20 and 35 minutes depending on traffic. It has an excellent bus monitor and careful driver
There are about a dozen children aged 10 to 12 on the compound so far.
They could also have done scouts, Zumbatonic and regular soccer, but I have their noses to the grindstone with music practice so we haven't fitted those in.

Before coming to Rakah I worried that I would be lonely, bored, unfit, claustrophobic and unable to continue my UK work. However in the 2 months since moving to Rakah I have
Learnt to play squash - with an instructor
Attended Zumba and aerobics classes
Started an arabic class
Played tennis with my family
Played pickleball with friends
Done early morning fitness with an instructor
Made good use of the new fitness machines in the gymn
Trained in the lap pool for hours with only the lifeguards for company
Borrowed books from the library and read magazines there to which I would never normally treat myself
Chosen 30 plants for the strip around our patio
Been to four different beaches
Been to brunches, lunches, coffee mornings and other community events including a beach barbeque
Held dinner parties
Tried to get used to my husband coming home in time to play football/squash after years of a miserable, arduous commute in the UK
Continued to work in the UK online - facilitated by the fast internet access

In my view the best things about living in Rakah are:

Lovely houses - large, newly refurbished and soundproof, apparently not all the Dhahran main
camp houses are very soundproof
Brand new beautiful American wood furniture including, deep sleepeezee mattresses
Climate - in August when it was 44 degrees C in Dhahran main camp it was 38 degrees C in Rakah compound. We generally have a breeze because we are right by the sea.
Clean air, again due to coastal proximity
Fast, free internet access
Sweet water - even for clothes washing and bathing - I understand this is not always the norm
Large American appliances - I could fit 2 children in the washing machine...and 4 full size turkeys in the oven
Separate aircon/heating for upstairs and downstairs - very powerful and not too noisy
New and clean exercise facilities - pool, tennis courts, etc..
Quick and comprehensive maintenance support
A pro-active multinational community with western norms
An excellent pre school for 3 and 4 year olds
Proximity to good restaurants in Al Khobar
Onsite laundry/ironing/dry cleaning services. Turn around is 2 days. Cost to iron a mans shirt is 1.50SAR (30p)!

The less ideal things about living in Rakah are:
The current shortage of taxis
One or two unruly big dogs - barking echoes between the houses, and there isn't really anywhere for them to run off the lead
The lack of a big back yard - although we have a good patio and an enclosed area which we use for storing bikes etc.
The snack bar has a limited menu - although the brunch buffet we had on > Saay was excellent

Other comments about Rakah
The commissary offers most things including a reasonable amount of gluten free/dairy free, as you would find in Sainsburys.
There are now regular bus services to all the main malls and supermarkets on different days
The Rakah compound is not big enough to warrant keeping a car to drive around. You can leave a car at Dhahran main camp and take the bus to it.
Ladies can not drive between the camps. Between the new bus services and taxis I generally get where I need to go, but we will also buy a car.
Domestic electricity in KSA is converting from 110v to 220v, but the Rakah houses are still mainly 110v plugs. I haven't been able to find 110v Bayonet bulbs in KSA for our lamps, so imported them from an online company in the UK. We bought a step up voltage converter box for our UK TV and it seems to work fine in a room that has a 110v supply.
There are 220v plugs in the kitchen and utility and they require a proprietary adaptor to a 3 pin plug- you can buy these in the commissary.
Despite some posts suggesting otherwise there are no horses, riding facilities or stabling.

Other comments for those considering moving from the UK to Saudi. If you are interested in good food, the Dammam fruit, veg, fish and meat markets are fabulous although a bus or taxi ride.
I wear an abaya out in the community as is the norm - I got used to it quite quickly
The Saudis that I have met to date have been interested and extremely welcoming - many have lived in the US and speak good English

I sent you an email.

Thank you, CATHARINETE, for posting. It is appreciated.

Hi Westcoast

This is an email that I sent yesterday to two mothers that are due to arrive in Rakah in December.

'You can get pretty much anything for the house - e.g. there is an Ikea, a Lakeland Plastics and a PotteryBarn, a good store called SACO world and many of the supermarkets do have things like bins. The only tricky thing is electrics because of the conversion to 220v. We bought a step up box for our TV because we wanted it in a room that only has 110v. The Aramco houses are in the main 110v so US appliances should be fine. I had to buy sheets in PotteryBarn as there weren't 100% cotton anywhere else to fit our enormous beds with super deep mattresses and that was expensive. Towels you'll find no problem - there's a Debenhams. Anything you can't get here you can get in Bahrain although about 25% more expensive.

There are loads and loads of clothes, shoes and handbag shops. Nurseries for plants, and there are markets for fresh fish and veggies.'

I would also add that I loathe shiny shopping malls and therefore avoid them where possible so other people might be able to give you a better view.

Coming back to main point, will like to know if there are teenagers in the compound ( 14 years +), what they do in weekends, can they take bus by themselves to main compound....
Any info about what they will find will be very usefull.

Great post Catharinete - thanks a lot

We are due to head out to Rakah soon, but like so many others are stuck on the block visa stage. I am assuming that you are British since you reference the DBGS. Considering local british curriculum schools ourselves, I was wondering whether you looked at BISAK as well or did transport options define your decision?

Concerning power sockets: we have been advised that they can be converted to 220V throughout (I think that maintenance flip a switch or something). Have you not found this to be the case - or is it that your appliances are 110V and it's just new items you are finding issue with?