I have a possible job offer in Kuwait, any info would be great.....

Help..... I have a possible job offer in an English school in Kuwait, but know very little about this part of the Middle East. As a 40 something British male abroad what can I expect to find of the lifestyle, culture etc, is it going to be similar to life in Jeddah for instance or a very different experience. Also what about quality of life outside work, and financial comparisons? any advice would be great thanks all.

Well Kuwait's lifestyle is more liberal than it is in Jeddah, It's no Dubai but still more freedom than KSA..
Financially it all depends on your salary and the facilities they give you, Free accommodation and car or transport should solve almost everything..

Many thanks... Jeddah I know, so more liberal sounds good, presume still single sex restaurants etc...?

Yeah almost everything is better.. about being single yeah almost everything can be done with your GF if you find one :D Kinda hard finding nice ladies around

i believe our friend ayman got the Q wrong:

no 1967tazz; retaurants are not single sex, they are not segregated, correction, as segregated as restaurants in jeddah with a door for families and an area for male bachelors.

places do not close ever time the call to prayer comes along, restaurants will not refuse to serve u 30 minutes before prayer time and 30 minutes afterward, restaurants will not turn off their lights during prayer time.

u can go out to lunch in a restaurant and have females around u; whether or not u approach them is up to u, they may reciprocate, or call the police/ guards.

the fine for harassing a lady in a mall could run into 1000KD and a complimentary head-shave.

there are cinemas in kuwait; the seats are segregated by family/ bachelor. but if u take a girl in, ur automatically considered a family.

what else do u want to know?

there are plenty of sports and activities to do in kuwait, not so much live entertainment; i heard riyadh recently hosted the fluffy comedian gabriel iglesias, please tell me how that happened!

for drinks etc u can always pop over to ur embassy, and the embassy also caters music gigs etc.

u'll find rugby, gaelic football, scuba diving, rock climbing, jet skiing etc. as things to do.

there is also a group of cyclists that meet once a week if ur health oriented.
if not, there are bikers if ur road-hog oriented.

the weather is pretty much the same as jeddah, tho without the torrential rainfalls and floods. or it happens maybe once a year, for one day only. heavy rains and gusty winds. they do more dammage to property than to people but it all depends.

last year or so, it was @ 8am on a saturday morning. a few years before that it was roughly 7pm.

like i said, its a rare occurence.

oh yeah, one more thing; rent in Jeddah is SUPER CHEAP compared to kuwait, so do not compare the amounts u pay there for a flat to here. the sizes shall be different and the rents will most likely be expensive. I remember the last time i was in jeddah i asked about the rents and it was almost half what we pay here (annually).

rent here is paid monthly.

yes yes, one more thing, u do not need ur sponsor to go and do all the ministerial work for u. u can get it done urself, altho taking a mandoub around is preferable.

thats about it.

life is easier in Kuwait.

Legacy, many thanks for all your information. It almost sounds a different world to Jeddah! I long since gave up the idea of biking in Jeddah, I like my legs to much! but is it really possible n safe in Kuwait?  Cinema's as well, are you in Kuwait, O one last thing, what are the ex-pat communities like, as in busy or just an occasional event?

yes, i am in kuwait. yes, biking is safe.

visit this site for more info on biking and the cyclists in general: dbck99.blogspot.com/

the majority of the bikers are brits too.

in terms of safety u kno what they say; strength in numbers. the rides are always pre-planned and the group insist on all members wearing helmets (im hard-headed so i refuse to, it would mess up my hair), but yes, it is generally safe.

there was this one accident a while back, a canadian citizen was run over, he was cycling out near remote areas and alone unfortunately.

this is mountain biking i am talking about btw, not road biking.

there is a separate group for that.

theres even a triathlon club in kuwait: the3club.com

if martial arts are ur fancy, theres sidekickacademy.com, where u can learn everythin from self-defense to ju-jitsu.

depending on ur liking, u can join a myriad of groups with a myriad of focuses and can keep a busy schedule. like i said, each group has different timings, different activities and different social events. in the end, u will find that the majority of groups overlap with the certain members, and u will be able to expand your horizons.

i forgot to mention that kuwait also has a theatrical aspect to it; theres theklt.com, where expats also convene to watch plays and take part in auditions, or help out as stage hands, set designers etc.

in a nutshell, kuwait is more liberal than saudi, less liberal than the UK but with quite the attractions and more to come.