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Post by NatureBoy75 on Mar 17, 2012 4:08:12 GMT
Hi There,
I just received my offer letter for Aramco and am quite thrilled, moving from Canada with my wife and infant. My wife however is having second thoughts about the whole thing. I recognize a lot of the benefits such as Great Work life Balance, Compensation, Vacation, New Culture, working for a Great Company and such but her concern is that she will be "bored". I understand from her standpoint she will effectively be giving up her career and retiring but beyond changing one's mindset or perception is there anything I can do to sell her on the benefits?
Spouses, what are your thoughts and experiences on moving to KSA? What kind of things do you do to take up your time? Are there any things you regret and such? I don't want to do a sales job on my wife, but rather be completely up front with what are the good and bad people experience and with that help her make the best decision.
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Post by vpainter on Mar 19, 2012 22:52:40 GMT
I sent you an email.
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Post by GroveWanderer on Mar 20, 2012 10:45:46 GMT
If she hasn't already seen it, have her take a look at the "Open Your Eyes" video on the jobsataramco website. I think it does its intended job of (among other things) showcasing the mulude of recreational activities and family life-style benefits that are available. Just be aware that it does tend to paint things in a rather rosy hue.
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Post by Twofeets on Mar 20, 2012 11:24:04 GMT
Honestly, it comes down to personality.
From what Ive seen, if youre in DH or RT you have to want to be bored. There are tons of groups, activities, sports, etc. There are shoppers buses that take you into Khobar for 4-6 hours at a time (Very safe, very reliable, usually packed with Aramco wives). No, this is not the US or Canada, you will find things you miss, but once you get out and meet people there is a lot to do.
Case in point, last week my wife and I caught an Aramco bus from RT to Khobar. We got some coffee and walked around Ikea and another mall next to it. Caught a taxi to the Corniche (beach) for a whopping price of 15SR (about $4). Had lunch at Chilis, browsed through a book store, went grocery shopping at Tamimis (used to be Safeway, lots of US products), then got some ice cream at Baskin 'n Robins before catching the bus back. All 'n all, a nice relaxing day.
Living in RT, today we took our son to the park, took the dog for a long walk along the beach, and just enjoying the weather before summer comes...
There will be things you miss, but once you get settled in, there's a lot to do! (That being said, the first few months can be rough until you get to know people, know the bus routes, etc).
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Post by gareth0127 on Mar 20, 2012 16:59:01 GMT
If your wifes top 'hobbies' are shopping til she drops, visiting quality restaurants and having a drink with your meal or going out in the car for a spin whenever she likes then this place might not be for her.
If these are not high priorities for her then she has got a chance!
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Post by bolishfamily on Mar 24, 2012 20:42:36 GMT
Natureboy75 & spouse, Before moving to Saudi, I had a full-time career (Director Nutrition Services at hospital), mother of two boys who were involved in school & sports activities and had a husband who traveled outside the country to work for 6 weeks at a time. So needless to say I was very busy and was used to being on the go all the time. I too wonder how I was going to handle being a stay at home mom? I've been here 2 years now and some days wonder where did the day go. I stay busy with socializing with the friends that I have met, going to the gym or walking along the beach (we live in RT), playing tennis, involved in school activities or the sports my child is involved with and some crafting hobbies. Some many groups and activities to get involved with especially when you have children. To me having the kids made it easier to meet people through the school & sports. I have days where I just like staying at home & relax. Yes there are frustrating things about living here and they vary depending on the person. It all a matter of how you deal with the frustrations. Yes you could stay inside & be miserable or you can get out and enjoy the experience. But I also wanted to give my boys the opportunity and life lessons about living in another country, to learn about different culture and other things that they could not possibly learn at their school in the U.S. (both my husband & I had lived overseas when we were adults & learned to appreciate the little things-I thought this experience could provide that opportunity to my boys). Within the 2 years of being in Saudi my boys have traveled & visited places that only kids back in their home town will only read about or see on TV. I was offered a part-time community assistant position because of my past career so now I work approximately 4 hours a day. Some days I wonder if I rather not work at all! I enjoy being a stay at home mom. Hopefully that will help coming from a full-time career spouse who never thought she could be a stay at home mom...really enjoys not having the stress of a career right now! Donna Feel free to send me and email if you have any other questions. bolishmom@gmail.com |
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Post by NatureBoy75 on Apr 11, 2012 21:54:31 GMT
Thanks Everyone for your PM's and replies to the thread. I've shared all these views with my wife and we're hoping that when we go to Houston for Orientation, some of her concerns can be addressed as we were told we will get to meet with the Spouse of a Current/Ex-Aramco Employee. Did you all find that the Orientation helped? Is there things we should do to help take advantage of the Orientation?
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Post by vpainter on Apr 11, 2012 22:29:57 GMT
Gather you questions, ask them all. But when you're done, ask here on the forum as well. Orientation is sometimes worse case scenario. Some people think this is outdated. The reality is Aramco doesn't want to officially tell you - you can bring this or that or do this or that and you get here and something gets confiscated, etc. Once you've been to orientation, you can ask questions from those who are current employees, not long time ex-employees and get a reasonable balance of information.
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Post by NatureBoy75 on Apr 23, 2012 21:51:11 GMT
Hi Everyone,
We had our orientation and it went well for the most part. However we missed part of it due to the Medical Exam and there are some open questions I have:
1) Housing: There was discussion along the lines of after 2 years, people receive "points" and can bid on better housing? How do these points work and what other options are there? Is the better housing more expensive?
2) Discrimination: Although I carry a western passport I'm a visible minority. I've heard that there is some discrimination in the work place against visible minorities? I hope this question is outdated and silly, in that nobody has experienced anything of the sort but any comments along these lines?
Thanks!
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Post by henpecked on Apr 27, 2012 5:53:16 GMT
Hey NatureBoy Glad orientation went well for you. The most important thing is to come here with a positive atude. OK - I'll have a go at your questions although others may have different thoughts. 1) Yes, you MAY be able to change housing after 2 years but it is unlikely. Unless you like a house that no one else wants! Many people have been here 10 years and more so have stacked up a lot of points, they obviously then get first pick of houses that they may want. To be fair there are about 5 styles of house, often the type of house you want comes down to personal preference. It is not that some houses are VASTLY superior to others, although a few have pools which would be nice  2) Humm, different people may have different views on this. The community here is EXTREMELY multiethnic. There are people here from all over the world and people, on the whole, are very understanding of the different cultural backgrounds you find here. MUCH more so than in the UK. The only exception I have hear about is from people of Phillipino origin or from the Indian subcontinent. I saw a Phillipino guy a while ago in a T-shirt saying 'I have a degree' which I thought was quite funny. This is because many of the manual labourers here are from the subcontinent and many of the nannies from the Phillipines and, I would say, the culture here, though not racially discriminatory, is very hierarchical. What does everyone else think? |
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Post by GroveWanderer on Apr 28, 2012 8:17:05 GMT
1. You get points from the moment you arrive and accrue them month by month. But yes, you can only bid on a new house after you've been here a while (2 years, I guess, since that's what everyone keeps mentioning on here). There isn't "better" housing as such, except insofar as you personal preference might be for a particular style of house or neighbourhood. All the family houses are fairly much of a muchness, there is size to consider and this does affect rent, but the main factor there is how many people are in your family. You can only bid on a house with more bedrooms if you have enough members in your family.
2. I would have to say that I haven't noticed any much discrimination here in the workplace, at least among expats. I'm not sure what a "visible minority" is but if it's something to do with ethnicity that doesn't seem to be an issue, not that I've noticed anyway.
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Post by vpainter on Apr 29, 2012 17:01:49 GMT
FYI: To get a house with a pool, you are required to pay previous resident for the pool.
Also, the time limit for being on the bid list is 2 years. Be thankful, when we came here it was 5 years, moved to 3 years and now is 2 years.
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Post by azraeil on Apr 30, 2012 4:44:51 GMT
Dhahran housign is extremely limited and there's the bidding process (which is extremely difficult to get the house you want because everyone wants the same house) and the points system is well .... if you are competing with someone who has 400 points while you have 200 and that person with 400 points gets to keep his points and bid again in 2 years time, you know there ain't no way you'll be winning the bid.
A lot of critical skills people (people involved in operations and subsurface people) from Ras Tanura are also being given direct assignment after spending 2 years in RT so that reduces the housing pool for bidding as well.
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Post by NatureBoy75 on Jun 14, 2012 19:24:07 GMT
Hi Everyone,
In terms of timelines, I interviewed in Feb and received an offer the next day. I accepted immediately and went for Orientation in early April with my family. During Orientation we undertook Medical Exam and went through the BI. I've been told I've passed the BI but am still awaiting results for the Medical. Does it take this long? My Relocation Advisor says she is still awaiting word from Aramco Medical but I didnt realize that it could take this long? Any thoughts on this?
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Post by expatwife on Jun 14, 2012 21:29:25 GMT
In our case, our medical was not done in Houston. They said that it may take longer to get the result if not done there. But even with that, we got the results in about 2 wks. So, with yours being done when you're doing the orientation, it seems long. My husband was also on the Feb interview. I read from this forum that they don't always contact you when they got the results. So, this may also be your case.
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