I am finally here!
My first couple of weeks in KSA have been interesting and busy. Up until about four days ago, I had plans with the other female teachers here every single day. The teachers so far have been kind, generous, and helpful. I'm lucky to be surrounded by such a wonderful group of people.
My "compound" is nice and it feels like I'm living in a luxury hotel with a swimming pool, two gyms, and elegant furnishings.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Forever and a Day (Or Technically a Bit Over a Year)
This post is typed in extra large font for the visually impaired. It's my public service to you. You're welcome.
So...it's been over a year since I've updated this particular blog. I can't say that nothing of significance has happened but I can say that I've been too preoccupied with other things that required my attention more so than this blog.
A little update on my health: It has been over a year since my thyroid has been removed and my health sucks the testicular package of an Equus africanus asinus. I'll probably make this the subject of a future blog post but for now I'll just sum up the state of my physical health quickly. I'm sick, tired and in pain most days of my life. Consuming about twenty pills a day is neither fun, tasty, nor it is cheap. I have good reasons to mistrust doctors and basically everyone in the health care profession although out of necessity, I still frequent them in order to maintain my status as a living person. In addition to seeing numerous doctors in multiple specialties, I've also seen a naturopath, a faith healer, and a friggin' psychic. I'm desperate. I'm desperate and I'll throw money at any charlatan who claims to be able to help me.
Forgive my digression. The subject of this post is not that of my health; I wanted to talk about my upcoming teaching position overseas.
I'm not the type to sugarcoat things. I'm proud to be a straight shooter and I value others who are also honest and blunt. Life is way to short to piss around with half truths and saying "the right thing" all the time in order to not upset others. Screw that, I say!
I was going to teach in South Korea but my health issues concerned them so they rejected me. I was a liability. A LIE-a-bility. Saudi Arabia doesn't care that I'm sick but they just want to make sure that I don't carry any infectious diseases. I'm way clear on that; I've been tested for freakin' everything. (They even tested for STD's. If you're thinking WTF then you and I are on the same page. Am I there to teach young children or am I there to "service" the Saudi male population? Maybe both.)
In order to obtain a work visa for KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), I had to pass an extensive physical exam (which included but was not limited to a chest x-ray, fecal exam, and blood work), submit a police report, and hand in loads of paperwork to a travel agency which was supposed to take care of the rest of the visa process for me. Among the paperwork that I had to hand in to the travel agency was things such as my degree, a submitted entry for degreeverify.com, my certificates, applications, my passport, college transcripts, a letter from my registrar's office, etc. etc. etc. The school I'll be working for told me to use this specific travel agency located in DC. (Please send me a private message if you would like to know the name of this travel agency.) I had to pay them $310 with a cashier's check for a visa that would have only costed me $50 had I been smart enough to just take care of it myself. Using this travel agency was a huge mistake for myself, other teachers, AND the school. They're so slow with processing the paperwork that even though I submitted my documents four months ago to them, they still haven't obtained my visa for me yet. My school is already on the third week of the school year and my assistant teacher has been taking over my class. A fellow teacher and a woman I'd like to call my friend has just informed me last night that she decided to not go to teach in KSA because the process is taking too long and she MUST start student teaching by October 1st or else it messes up her certifications and masters degree graduation date. The travel agency couldn't even give her a timeline or an estimated date of when she'd get her visa. It's messed up. Our school is short several American teachers because of their delayed paperwork / visas and I'm on my fourth consecutive month of not having a job or a paycheck. I should have been working in KSA around August 10th. I've missed over a month's salary already and I am down to $10.65 in my bank account. Ouch.
The moral of the story is to handle your own visa process if you ever find yourself in a situation where you'll be working abroad. You can pay someone else to do it for you but make sure that they are responsible, legitimate, and trustworthy.
I may or may not be leaving for KSA next week. For some reason there's a part of me that believes that this time it's actually happening. Of course I could be wrong but I feel like the wait is almost over. If I do leave for KSA next week, I'll arrive just in time to start my first long vacation. That's right, I'll hurry up and get there just to sit around in my efficiency apartment alone with nothing to do for three weeks. Fun fun sarcastic fun.
Peace out, my friends.
So...it's been over a year since I've updated this particular blog. I can't say that nothing of significance has happened but I can say that I've been too preoccupied with other things that required my attention more so than this blog.
A little update on my health: It has been over a year since my thyroid has been removed and my health sucks the testicular package of an Equus africanus asinus. I'll probably make this the subject of a future blog post but for now I'll just sum up the state of my physical health quickly. I'm sick, tired and in pain most days of my life. Consuming about twenty pills a day is neither fun, tasty, nor it is cheap. I have good reasons to mistrust doctors and basically everyone in the health care profession although out of necessity, I still frequent them in order to maintain my status as a living person. In addition to seeing numerous doctors in multiple specialties, I've also seen a naturopath, a faith healer, and a friggin' psychic. I'm desperate. I'm desperate and I'll throw money at any charlatan who claims to be able to help me.
Forgive my digression. The subject of this post is not that of my health; I wanted to talk about my upcoming teaching position overseas.
I'm not the type to sugarcoat things. I'm proud to be a straight shooter and I value others who are also honest and blunt. Life is way to short to piss around with half truths and saying "the right thing" all the time in order to not upset others. Screw that, I say!
I was going to teach in South Korea but my health issues concerned them so they rejected me. I was a liability. A LIE-a-bility. Saudi Arabia doesn't care that I'm sick but they just want to make sure that I don't carry any infectious diseases. I'm way clear on that; I've been tested for freakin' everything. (They even tested for STD's. If you're thinking WTF then you and I are on the same page. Am I there to teach young children or am I there to "service" the Saudi male population? Maybe both.)
In order to obtain a work visa for KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), I had to pass an extensive physical exam (which included but was not limited to a chest x-ray, fecal exam, and blood work), submit a police report, and hand in loads of paperwork to a travel agency which was supposed to take care of the rest of the visa process for me. Among the paperwork that I had to hand in to the travel agency was things such as my degree, a submitted entry for degreeverify.com, my certificates, applications, my passport, college transcripts, a letter from my registrar's office, etc. etc. etc. The school I'll be working for told me to use this specific travel agency located in DC. (Please send me a private message if you would like to know the name of this travel agency.) I had to pay them $310 with a cashier's check for a visa that would have only costed me $50 had I been smart enough to just take care of it myself. Using this travel agency was a huge mistake for myself, other teachers, AND the school. They're so slow with processing the paperwork that even though I submitted my documents four months ago to them, they still haven't obtained my visa for me yet. My school is already on the third week of the school year and my assistant teacher has been taking over my class. A fellow teacher and a woman I'd like to call my friend has just informed me last night that she decided to not go to teach in KSA because the process is taking too long and she MUST start student teaching by October 1st or else it messes up her certifications and masters degree graduation date. The travel agency couldn't even give her a timeline or an estimated date of when she'd get her visa. It's messed up. Our school is short several American teachers because of their delayed paperwork / visas and I'm on my fourth consecutive month of not having a job or a paycheck. I should have been working in KSA around August 10th. I've missed over a month's salary already and I am down to $10.65 in my bank account. Ouch.
The moral of the story is to handle your own visa process if you ever find yourself in a situation where you'll be working abroad. You can pay someone else to do it for you but make sure that they are responsible, legitimate, and trustworthy.
I may or may not be leaving for KSA next week. For some reason there's a part of me that believes that this time it's actually happening. Of course I could be wrong but I feel like the wait is almost over. If I do leave for KSA next week, I'll arrive just in time to start my first long vacation. That's right, I'll hurry up and get there just to sit around in my efficiency apartment alone with nothing to do for three weeks. Fun fun sarcastic fun.
Peace out, my friends.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)