Settling in rakah....not easy!

I wouldn't expect everything to be jumping out at you after 2 days. You have also arrived at the time when a large amount of women and kids leave the country for the summer.

Find out what Facebook groups exist for Rakkah and Im sure you will find something going on

Hi, I am not surprised by your initial reaction. I think you need to take into account a) holidays just started and b) although being filled the compound is not yet full. It was these factors that led us to stall our arrival date as best as we could.

We will be arriving from London now on 1 August with three kids (6, 4 and 16 months) and reckon the compound will still be a bit empty then but, hopefully, be filling up and we will all find some company.

Everything has died down for the summer, unfortunately. Even Storytime at the library is not running until September - bad time to arrive, but there is nothing you can do about that.

I sent you a PM on how to get connected, but expect things to be quiet until mid to late August.

There are three parks in Rakah - the one close to the pre-school (fenced) is perfect for your 18 month old. There are normally outdoor toys there as well, but they might have been put away for the summer.

Hanolu,

Welcome! Indeed you have arrived as the mass exodus has occurred of women and children because school let out on Thursday. There will be some families still here, but with the heat it is tough being outside for those who are new and not used to the heat.

The Dhahran Women's group is still meeting for coffee mornings on Mondays.

Their announcement:
MONDAY, June 30th, 8:30 am onwards
Coffee Morning
Join us for a relaxing morning spent with friends chatting over a steaming cup of tea/coffee. Come over and bring along a friend, too.
Babysitting is usually available.

I sent you an email with contact information.

Hi hanolu, hang in there! I sent you a private message. Lots of women/kids are or will be away for the summer but not everyone is, and I assume new people will keep coming! I suspect there will be more life out and about from the fall, when some people return and if the weather cools....and if the current schedule doesn't change more, more daytime shopper busses, too! Riding the bus, taking classes, and common interest groups are some ways to get to know people in Rakkah and Dhahran. Also...if you want more life among the ladies here on Rakkah, you could talk to the Rakkah recreation association. You could try to be a "champion" of something or maybe help get a women's group going or something if you like. Maybe you're more plugged in by now...Also if you want you can read a book for a discussion that may happen in September. If interested you can message me to check what the le is... That could be a way to meet people as well....little by little, shway shway....hang in there!

We just arrived in Rakah 2 days ago and it was made easy by 2 staff members. One who met us and helped us through Customs and another who met us from Customs and helped us through Immigration. That same individual and his wife took us to our unit and helped us unload. A Wonderful couple to say the least! When we arrived at the home it had been furnished with supplies/foods from the Lulu grocer in the commissary area. We feel very fortunate to have had such good service in coming here by the Aramco Staff, of which we get to be a part of now! So far all the folks at the airport/customs have been very helpful and kind.

Our worse complaint, outside of our pet travel items, is that we didn't think to bring outlet/plug converters, not other-to-english, but english-to-other. The Rakah complex has 110/120/220 English configuration in general, but the appliances sold are 'other'. Just a small thing that we are compensating for by walking one plug converter around until we can get more. I wish we'd have brought 2 phone lines as well. Vonage didn't include the 'required' one to connect their own vonage handsets to their own vonage unit - tsk.

Joy N and VPainter were both right. No one asked us for the prescription for our herbs and supplements and I brought about 30lbs worth. If anyone was going to be asked it would have been us. The most trouble we received on items being brought in was about the dog food. Customs wanted to know why we brought it. Then he saw the dog crate and laughed and said, ' Oh - I see!'.

We were able to bring in hand lotions, cologne and witch hazel along with the herbs/vitamins/supplements - as a 70lb excess baggage - dish barrel. It was so obvious what was in it and they opened it too and didn't bat an eye lash. But if we'd been asked for it, we would have provided a comprehensive list approved for our personal use by our doctor.

We do appreciate the forum and every moderator/contributor here who helped guide us and offer a modicum of a safety net of information to draw upon for us to move forward and arrive safely here in Saudi.

Shammal - My husband, family, and I just arrived last week to Rakah. It is a nice location with nice facilities. The folks are very friendly. :-) We did bring Riyal from the US. We ordered it from a local currency exchange and they had it the next day. Be sure to ask for some small bills for the tip at the airport and other odds and ends.

220 Microwaves are easy to find locally and we purchased our water/water dispenser right here on Rakah camp. We were told to bring a long cable to run the router from downstairs to one upstairs (Assuming you are bringing one)--The wifi signal is intermittent upstairs.

Please free free to message me when you arrive or have other questions. I am new, but it is always nice to have people who are walking the same path to keep your sanity. :-)

Happy Travels!