safety

Gina:
Although I have not arrived there yet permanently, I have spent a bit of time in the kingdom as a contractor and have friends there. My impression of "Culture Shock" is that it is dated and does not reflect the reality for an Aramco employee.

If you do not purposefully engage in illegal activity, you will be just fine. If you do get in trouble (very unlikely), both Aramco and your embassy will help you. Aramco is the primary income generator for the nation. The nation cannot afford the publicity caused by an unjust verdict handed down on an employee. It would make it very difficult to attract expat expertise.

I have heard stories about Aramco employees being caught manufacturing and selling certain off-limits bevees. They have spent time in prison. Then they are put on a plane and sent home. Somehow I seriously doubt that you will be engaging in that form of activity.

During my last stay, I had dinner with an employee whose wife is a nurse. She and her nurse friends seem to really like living in KSA. I doubt that they would feel that way if they were constantly in fear of their liberties. Don't let any book scare you away from a big opportunity. Try it for yourself. Be smart and I think you will be just fine.

Best of luck to you!

If you believe the news you will be living in a cave and riding a camel, that is if you're not kidnapped and held hostage.

The simple fact is that there has been an explosion of news channels in the last 10 years, and simply put News is big business. They make money by getting people to watch, and they get people to watch by creating drama. There are about 27 million people living here, close to 7 million of which are not Saudi. Im not going to blow smoke and tell you everything here is Utopia, but most (here in the Eastern Provence) seem to get along just fine.

Most people are very friendly to us, and its common for them to ask where we are from. When we answer America, most smile. They may not be a fan of our government or our politics, but there are a lot of things about our culture and people they seem to appreciate.

On camp is extremely safe. I know female nurses who frequently go for walks in the middle of the night or early morning and have never had a problem. Off camp the biggest fear we've had are the highways. We've been through Rahima, parts of Qatiff, Dammam, Khobar, and Ive been to Riyadh. I've never once felt threatened. In fact its just the opposite, most seem to go out of their way to be friendly. (Maybe this is because I try to smile at everyone?).

There are some problems in a few areas, but just as down town Detroit doesnt consute all of of the US, these places hardly show the norm for Saudi.

As was said, Aramco tries very hard to take care of its employees. It works hard and spends a lot of money to attract us, to bring us here, and to keep us both safe and relatively happy. (You will find unhappy people, but thats anywhere else in the world too). Enjoy your life, make friends, work a bit, and have fun and you'll be fine. Dont do anything overly stupid and you have nothing to worry about (, from what Ive seen even if you do do something overly stupid its not near as bad as the press and stories make it out to be).

Last minute jitters are normal. Take a deep breath, relax... you have a whole new life and a whole new world ahead of you!