Brand new UK family in Riyadh!

Hi All!
I have recently moved with my young family to Riyadh for a 2 year stint. We are from Bromley, Kent (a suburb of London). This is our first time living out of the UK. We live on a compound in Riyadh called Granada Village and would like to meet fellow expats! We like to socialise, have dinner parties and eat out. Our children are 8 and 6 years old. I work for an international bank and we hope my wife will find a teaching job (she has just got her PGCE from Greenwich University).
Best regards,
Khalid.

Hi Khalid and welcome to Expat.com :)
I just moved your topic to Riyadh's forum for a better visibility :)
Your wife might want to insert an ad in Teaching jobs in Riyadh's Classifieds.
Hope this helps
Arlette

Thank you Arlette, clearly I am new to this!!
I'll certainly ask my wife to put an ad in the classified section.

Best regards,
Khalid.

Welcome to KSA :D

there's few things going on from time to time. keep yer eyes open ;)

Salman

Dear Khalid,

Welcome to Riyadh and Ramadan Kareem

Welcome, Im moving from the UK to Riyadh in a few weeks. I hope you have a great time, and meet some nice people. Simon.

Welcome to the Kingdom, and I hope you have a great time, Khalid.

Ramon,

Welcome to KSA Khalid. Hope you and your family enjoy in KSA and have great time.

Anil.

Welcome Khalid,

My visa arrived yesterday so will be out in the next few weeks. Interesting that you are in Granada, I could find no information on the compound or people who lived there so told my company that I was not prepared to consider it.

Out of interest what is it like and how suitable for a family?

Hi MaserMan,
I'm Khalid's wife and i have been here for a week now on Granada compound. So far I like it, the people are friendly and welcoming, I've had random phone calls welcoming us and kids turning up on my doorstep ready to invite mine out to play!
The compound has about 200 residences with about 70% reserved for hospital staff but out of the remaining there is a good mix of Asians, Arabs and Europeans. Facilities wise there is a gym, indoor swmming pool, 5 outdoor pools of varying sizes, a small grocery store, DVD shop and Library.
After a shaky few days when I wasn't sure if I could settle, now I'm getting to like it!

Hope that helps.

welcome to Riyadh. Hope you have a great stay here

Hi Khalid, first i would like to welcome you and your family in Riyadh, I am an Egyptian /British Citizen am working as a Marketing Manager in a newly openned Hotel called Brzeen Hotel close to the Diplomatic quarter, we have various guest nationalites including american and British, please feel free to pay us a visit with your family and i will be more than happy to welcome you at our hotel to socialize and to get to know more people. once again welcome to Riyadh and i hope you will enjoy your stay and your mrs will get the right.

Take care

wael Hassan
Mobile:0554389932
[email protected]
or [email protected]

zara777 wrote:

Hi MaserMan,
I'm Khalid's wife and i have been here for a week now on Granada compound. So far I like it, the people are friendly and welcoming, I've had random phone calls welcoming us and kids turning up on my doorstep ready to invite mine out to play!
The compound has about 200 residences with about 70% reserved for hospital staff but out of the remaining there is a good mix of Asians, Arabs and Europeans. Facilities wise there is a gym, indoor swmming pool, 5 outdoor pools of varying sizes, a small grocery store, DVD shop and Library.
After a shaky few days when I wasn't sure if I could settle, now I'm getting to like it!

Hope that helps.


U r truley in heaven .have fun

Hi Wael,

Please may I give you a call on your mobile. I live in Diplomatic Quaters and have watched your hotel go up over the last few months - it would be great to bring my housemates over for a social. 

Enjoy your job; it looks a HUGE hotel.

Salaams Khalid & Family,

Welcome to Riyadh and I hope you settle down.

We moved here about 10 months ago (originally from Manchester)

Its actually not to bad and we are enjoying it.

Any help required please ask away.

Saeed

Kahlid and Zara777 - Welcome to Riyadh and the Forum!  Im sure you will settle in quickly and enjoy your time here in the country.  Its obviously a bit different from the UK, but coming with and open mind and patience will allow you to assimilate quickly and enjoy the adventure.   

Wael Hassan - Welcome to the forum!  Best of luck with the new hotel and Im sure it will be a huge success!

Thanks everyone for your kind words, Khalid and I really appreciate it!
BTW SaudiUK I was born and grew up in Manchester so it's nice to know there are some Northerners here in Riyadh!

We have been invited to an expats party on the Al hamra compound tonite (22nd) in the restaurant  if any of my fellow bloggers are attending?? We'll be the awkward family of 4 standing in the corner :)

Salaams Khalid & Zara,

Good to know Zara that your from Manchester. Both me and my wife are from Manchester, work brought me also to Riyadh (1st time for me to be away from Manchester)

So how are you coping? hopefully settling in and are now to taken back by the heat. (its ab ig difference from Manchester)

Ws

Looks like all the Manci's are invading town?

musicman wrote:

Looks like all the Manci's are invading town?


Football Crazeeeee :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

anil.soni wrote:
musicman wrote:

Looks like all the Manci's are invading town?


Football Crazeeeee :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:


Cristiano Ronaldo still playing for Man U ?

:lol::lol::lol::lol:
Alliecat you are so far behind the times, Ronaldo has moved on.

Anyway the Mancs, they wear the wrong colour Rose - Red. And they will be glad to get out here, Manchester is the wettest place in England. A bit of warmth to dry out.

It's the White Rose of Yorkshire, that is where the sun shines.

Welcome anyway.

Dave

jillndave wrote:

:lol::lol::lol::lol:
Alliecat you are so far behind the times, Ronaldo has moved on.


:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Hello pussycat, meow to you too. :lol::lol::lol::lol:

Actually it's a well known fact that most Man U fans are from London :) Personally it's Liverpool FC all the way! Pity i can't convince my son to desert Chelsea!!!

But no I do not miss the rain... except when I'm too hot in my abaya!

Hi. We are likely to be coming to live on Granada in the next 2 to 3 months. We will be working at the hospital. We have 2 children aged 9 and 11 and are also living in Bromley!! Could you give us an idea of what the compound is like. This will be my 4th trip to KSA and my wifes 2nd trip. Regards Paul

Sladepa - we left Granada and Saudi Arabia about 4 months ago. Now live in Hong Kong!
Granada was a nice place, we lived in Villa 175. We met some geneuniely nice people. Most of the hospotal staff are non GCC Arabs, South Asian and Filipino. They make up the bulk of the compound population so it is not a 'western' compound. Basic facilities exist; supermarket, indoor pool, 5 outside pools, tennis courts, basketball courts etc. No restaurant, library (that functions), or othr shops.
Shame we could not have met you fellow Bromley people! Alan and Camille in Villa 173 are from Bromley though. Theyre a nice family.

Thank you for this. Hong Kong sounds good. We lived in Singapore for a while..

BromleyKent wrote:

Sladepa - we left Granada and Saudi Arabia about 4 months ago. Now live in Hong Kong!
Granada was a nice place, we lived in Villa 175. We met some geneuniely nice people. Most of the hospotal staff are non GCC Arabs, South Asian and Filipino. They make up the bulk of the compound population so it is not a 'western' compound. Basic facilities exist; supermarket, indoor pool, 5 outside pools, tennis courts, basketball courts etc. No restaurant, library (that functions), or othr shops.
Shame we could not have met you fellow Bromley people! Alan and Camille in Villa 173 are from Bromley though. Theyre a nice family.


Khalid,

Granada nice!!!!!!

Alan and Camille are now looking to move as the place has become even more eastern.

You are right though you did meet some very nice people :D

hey zara and khalid welcum  to dead city riyadh ..we r pakistani young famly with 2 kids ,, we are also easy going and party loving ... we r in a small compound  near granada ,, ur mostwelcom to vist us or any were u want ..

@sage4u1 wrote:

hey zara and khalid welcum  to dead city riyadh ..we r pakistani young famly with 2 kids ,, we are also easy going and party loving ... we r in a small compound  near granada ,, ur mostwelcom to vist us or any were u want ..


You obviously are not the party types if you think Riyadh is dead!

BTW K & U live in Hong Kong