Single Women in Saudi

Hi SingleinSaudi!

Welcome to Expat.com

Armand

Hi there

Although I am a single guy, I might be able to give you some idea here as I don't believe there's , really, a big difference.

Being single here ultimately means you are going to spend most of your time with friends of the same sex and coworkers.

Having few good friends is a good way to cope with isolation.

Keeping contacts with family/friends back home & using social media is a good way too.

If you own a pet that would be nice too. Trying to learn the language (Arabic) should keep you busy at some level and it's rewarding and can open up the culture/people to you .

Try to get how locals "enjoy" there time and trying that out like shopping/malls, restaurants etc. as there's no clubs, cineplexes etc.

Most of places here (the fun places) geared toward families like parks & amusements etc. then toward females then lastly guys lol.

So, ya it's not very single friendly here single guys in particular.

You can travel fine, used to be a problem. Just take a taxi to go around within the city, no public transportation available not for women anyways.

Women are not allowed to drive. The other (in the news) day two ladies one in Jeddah and one in Dammam drove alone and cops apprehended etc. them what a non-sense eh! but these are the laws of land.

In your case, you'll have a housing provided by the school.

I have never heard of any single women renting out apartments by themselves (don't think it's allowed) and anyways it's safer in the company housing.

But, you still can go out and have fun if you know how and where

I am in Riyadh right now, but I don't think Hail gonna be any different.

Just remember Canada and Saudi are very different in many ways specially in the way people think (mind set) so try to take things easy and know that you are here for some time only and try to take it as a learning experience.
 
I am here if you need any help or just to chat .


Good luck !

Hi there ITpro - thx for the advice.  And I do have a pet - a cat that I hope to bring with me.  Do you know what all I need to do to bring him into the country?

hi,
dont worry too much , if you are busy at work time flies here. like our friend suggested here keep in touch with your family back home. if you are in an international school you will make a lot of contacts so you need not worry.
all the best.

You're welcome

Yes I do in fact know because I did bring my cat with me here

It might be too much work and costly but it's worth it.

So, take your time and prepare everything in advance and don't wait near your travel date.

If I had someone to show me the way before, it would've been much much easier.

After doing it though, it's actually not that difficult.

Here is a guideline :

1) Check the Saudi embassy in Canada http://www.mofa.gov.sa/sites/mofaen/Pages/Default.aspx

Try to find the requirments, sorry I couldn't locate the info as they changed the website and the best thing is to just call them to tell you where to find the info etc.

2) Get all that's necessary (paper work etc.):

If I remember correctly: health certificate (the vet going to do all shots etc.), ownership certificate, birth certificate, tracking chip.

3) Send the required paper work to the Saudi embassy:

Money order for stamps, money order for FedEx (for return back)

4) Legally authenticate the papers (Canadian legal department):

Sorry forgot which step is before the other 3 or 4, might be 4 before 3 though logically.

Authenticating is not difficult just forgot the details. There’s two steps to it I believe: signature form a legal entity and sending to the legal department.

5) You have to buy a legally accepted kennel, so best thing is to get all accurate measurement of your cat weight, height, length etc. while at the vet and check the Canadian food inspection agency for the details and the airlines.

Don’ forget once everything is done to leave water/dry food with your cat and put a mat or something and prepare your cat before hand by giving him as little as possible because in the flight there's no littering box you know.

You are going to need littering box and more food of course ready when he arrives here.

6) You are going to need to arrange for your cat cargo flight directly with the airlines and for someone to get him here in Saudi.

7) In Saudi, someone has to go to the airport and take the papers that should be with your cat plus some papers that the airport will provide to go and authenticate with some office here.

8) All in all you are going to need to contact a pet travel agency and they will give you more info and help:

I used petflightinc.com, talk to Pat,
email: pat@petflightinc.com, you can do a search though for other service if you like, but they were good.


Hope this helps & good luck, anything else I am here

hi single in Saudia

Really, try to transfer later to Riyadh or jeddah or Dammam. for me i don't like to live in Hail. Because it's nothing there. This is for man, what about you, I hope to spend your contract there and try to transfer if you can. I visited Hail before, no Malls, or big markets.

In Riyadh, jeddah or Dammam are big different.

I've been one day in Hail, in my way travelling to Jordan, I passed through the City and it seems a small town, there is one small mall, no Leisure or Funy places there, ratio of Expat to Citizen is low and the city is far from any big city " 600 Km"

i hope you will enjoy staying in saudi
now about traveling you can travel alone anywhere you want here
my professors travel all over the kingdom alone all the time on the weekends!

Maya Maya

Traviling 4 ladies is not that easy

it is!!!
what are you talking about?
i do it all the time?

Okay Maya Maya

It is,

Take it easy.

looks like youve got all the help you need. looks like this ITpro can write a book on you...ehm i mean on life in saudi. from what ive come to learn, its a living hell. if you ever wondered what hell might be like, well dear, youll get a nice glimpse of it here in saudi! other than that, good luck i hope you enjoy your stay! ;-)

well, on that note, enjoy your stay here in KSA!...hahahahaha

Hi,

Saudi Arabia is very safe and secured place.

The Government is very KIND and the People are very polite and cooperative.

I know single ladies cannot cope with the situation.

Best Regards!

Ghouri

SingleinSaudi wrote:

Hello,

I have a potential job offer to teach English In Hail, Saudi Arabia.  I would like to hear from other unmarried expat women living in Saudi. What's your experience been like?  What's it really like to live in Saudi Arabia as an unmarried woman?  Is it true that you can't travel alone?  How have you coped with isolation?

I might as well right a book about all of this lol

I know what she'll be facing and I am glad to be of help

I try to be specific to the questions in hand and not influence decision here.

borntobemild you say Saudi is hell (I am not disagreeing with you here in general terms) but even so , surprisingly, it can be different from one person to another.


Actually this is a big deal and I might as well write something about it sometime.

ITPro, do you know of any vets in Ha'il?

Hi SingleinSaudi


Unfortunately I don't really know since I live in Riyadh.

However, I tried different vets here and found Egyptians to be the best/experienced ones (even doctors not just vets ).

They really know what they are doing.

My cat recently eat something bad and got really sick vomiting and all that.

Naturally, I went to the "high end" (pets only) vets in Olya and it was just a waste of time and money. The guy gave my cat a general antidote.

There was another one I went to for my cat hair problem and was a waste too.

None of them were Egyptians.

I went to a vet who I didn't care to check at 1st (he was Egyptian) because I thought the "high end" ones will be better and he wasn't a pets only vet (now I clearly see that this is a good sign as it shows more experience).

He diagnosed the problem with all confidence and gave me specific antidotes and everything went well even for the hair problem.

When a vet gives a general antidotes then it's not a good sign or if he/she treats specific type of animal.

It sounds all logical now lol


Hope this helps (just some pointers)

Hello SingleinSaudi!

It would have been better if you start a new topic for other questions on the Saudi Arabia forum.

Thank you,
Harmonie.

this topic is 3 years old!

Your advice is very helpful.  I will be coming to Riyadh soon if I get the visa approved.

Don't come. I am here for a task that will last for 2 months only. Have been here for a week now and dying of boredom.

One more thing to add is that I am getting paid 20,000$ per month + accommodation. and still that doesn't help.

Please let me know if your employer has some vacancies

Thanks for the warning.  I'm hoping I can deal with it there.  I lived in the UAE for almost 18 years and I know that KSA is even harder, but I do have an idea about the life over there.

Lived in the UAE! Saudi Arabia isn't "Harder". It's completely "DIFFERENT" dear.
If you are coming with family then it will be easier but for solo travelers like me......
Wish you good luck and a lot of patience.

Thanks for the warnings.  My daughters tell me the same thing!

Some love it, some hate it .. Generally those that hate it are those that weren't  self-sufficient to begin with ( I.e.  needing constant entertaining, constant babysitting, needing someone or something to constantly amuse them)  the 'don't come' pleads are quite immature, usually baseless and mostly useless for people with goals and self-adequacy.

Thanks for this encouragement.  I am planning on being self-sufficient and making friendships to get me through.  I am determined to do this so I can jump start my career teaching adults in the university and this is a wonderful opportunity.  I taught children in the UAE for many years.

It's funny how you judge someone because he  said "Don't Come" and you don't agree.
I've been to many countries western and muslim and I guarantee Riyadh is one of the most challenging cities specially for people from the west. The idea that women should be Wearing abaya all day in a very hot climate isn't the worst part. A solo woman here can't drive (But she can take a cab with a stranger), travel or even go to the police station to file a case. Naked truth is that Riyadh is very tough for any one from the west and he should avoid it as long as he is good at what he is doing to get a contract somewhere else.