Moving to Riyadh soon

welcome to Riyadh
your question is very general, try to be specific what's your concerns.
if you ask about the weather it is hot most of the year.
financially, it is a good place to save money.
housing is expensive depend where do you want to live.
there is a lot of fun regardless of your definition of fun. just be open mind and patient and you will be ok sister
good look

Thank you that helps believe it or not. As for being specific I did mention education for children for instance. How does that work over there. Do children attend school all day? What's a typical school day like? I've also heard that many people have hired help there seems funny to me but is it true? I don't have concerns per say more lime curiosity about Riyadh and Saudi. Interested in learning from other people's experience.

Hi there

I don't have kids but I'm in my fourth year and third city in Saudi. I have some experience but some others might have better info.

Saudi's an unusual place, be prepared to be flexible - it ain't like back home. I've heard the international schools are good. The social life is not like back home, either. Riyadh, for me, is a nicer city than a lot of others  - leisure, colleagues, food, transport. It isn't a western country, I'm sure you realise, but it has its advantages.

Thank you

Thank you ! I have 3 years old daughter and  I'm a single mom! I'm just wandering how I can find someone to watch my daughter or if they are day care there

Hi everybody,

Please note that some inappropriate posts have been removed from this discussion.

Thank you,

Priscilla 

Nicob31 wrote:

Thank you ! I have 3 years old daughter and  I'm a single mom! I'm just wandering how I can find someone to watch my daughter or if they are day care there

It would be best if you look for a compound with day car/nursery in it. They take kids starting 3 years i guess.

if you are so inclined  to your religion  and  strictly following  it  (noting that your do have same interpretation as they do here), I  guess  you could adjust easily.
for example,  dress  code  specifically for woman   so I guess  that it won't be a problem  for you.

all  establishments  are closed during prayer time.

women  can't drive  here  because they are not allowed  to have  driving license.

Thank you for the advice, indeed i'm not too worried about the dress code or the driving either. I do enjoy driving but as the saying goes, when in Rome do like the Romans hey? Have you been there long? do yo have children? How do you manage?

Hi nicob31
I have a baby of my own and I know how hard it is with children this young, if you were here in jeddah I could have given you names of daycares

@Salsarah

could you please give me contact info for daycare in Jeddah? Although my destination is Riyadh eventually i may have to spend a few month in Jeddah first. I have two boys aged 3 and 4 and a half. Do you know anything suitable? What kind of fees do people pay for afternoon clubs? My boys would go to school/nursery in the morning but i'll need something for the afternoon. How about babysitters? Where to find them and how much do they usually charge?

You may choose to live in a compound or in a regular house and u will find the difference between them all over the internet. Also, There are a lot of international schools here that u might choose the best for u among them and if u decided to put your children in a public school it would be for free and they will get to learn Arabic and socialize with locals in no time.

I don't like international schools. If I wanted to put my kids in a British school I would have stayed in England lol I want a Saudi school or Tunisian school I've been told there may be some. Ideally I'd like a Quran school which also does regular subjects as well. I've hear of dur al thikr for girls in Riyadh is there similar schools for boys? Young boys I mean under 5

hi how r u ?     don't worry about that - firstly you will fined in Riyadh  a schools realeated to your country have a department for children ,- secondly if your accommodation  in  a camp  , you will fined all activities inside , or you can have nursemaid by advertising in a paper called Al-Wasilla , that's all . Happy travel .my  yahoo is( dr_shebl60)  for help

If you care about your children's future, you wouldn't/shouldn't put them in a Saudi school.

@Medo86 that's very useful, i'll start looking into it as soon as i have confirmation of my destination (either Jeddah or Riyadh), the tips about the newspaper is great i'll ask my husband to do it.

@Trapezius, i guess you mean to help but without any kind of explanation your reply is not very helpful... Could you please elaborate?

Saudi education system is terrible, one of the worst there is.  Actually, as a foreigner, you can't put your children in a government school, so the only option is Saudi private schools.  Those have better education as they use American textbooks and curricula, but are very expensive.  You also said Tunisian schools... never heard of such a thing.  I mean, is there something special about Tunisian schools?  Are they for some reason well-known for something and found in other countries?

Your options in Riyadh are:

Western-managed Western-curriculum schools (British, American, French)
Arab/Asian-managed Western-curriculum schools (British, American)
Saudi private schools with American curriculum

I looked up the website of Dar udh Dhikr School in Riyadh, and it is an Islamic school for adult women.  If you were looking at that for your daughter, that's obviously not what you are looking for.

This has been discussed before extensively, just do a search for it on the forum.  Specifically, a school called I believe Al Alameen British Islamic School or something similar, has been talked about a lot on here.  That would probably be the best option for your children.

Good luck.

Thanks for the explanations, now i see what you mean. We do NOT want international schools and are NOT interested in British or American curriculum... if we did we would have stayed in England. We want something different with a strong focus on Qur'anic studies and Arabic language.

As for Dur al dhikr, must be a transliteration problem as there is a school like that for young girls in Riyadh (my friend has been sending her 2 little girls there for years). Since i have only boys it's not appropriate anyway so i need something for boys. In any case i want my children to be taught in Arabic as the main language.

I guess i need a Arab run, Qur'anic/Arabic school, the education might be bad as you said, but there are a lot of very wrong things with Western Education too that i wish to avoid for my kids. Perfection is not of this world...

Regarding Tunisian schools finally not sure if they are well known but i have heard they do exist outside ofTunisia and are supposedly very good. Since my children are Tunisian and they will eventually finish their education in Tunisia it would be good for them to start studying the Tunisian curriculum.

Im in ryiadh how can i help you

romy22, i'm not in Saudi yet i'm still waiting to hear if i've moving to Jeddah or Riyadh in fact. It was supposed to be Riyadh but now they're not sure where they need me the most... will get in touch when things are more clear.

In the meantime i'm looking for anything on life for expats in Saudi... any tips, advice, shared experience, like, dislike.... anything that can help me figure out where i'm going lol

I don't know if this is mentioned but there are new apps to use taxis in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Easy Taxi is one of those apps. I first saw it in Khawater with Ahmad Alshugairi. My wife has been using it lately in Jeddah. It is absolutely safe and efficient. You just download, register, get ready and ask for a taxi. It takes the taxi two to five minutes to reach your destination. I hope this helps because I know how much women suffer because of taxis in Saudi Arabia.