Teaching English in  Saudi Arabia

By John Cutter

1. Teaching

Saudis are great students. You will never have to raise your voice, they will always do what they are told and they love conversing.

The only teachers who have problems here are people who can't respect Islam. I'm an atheist, but I don't have a problem with people who want to pray to God five times a day, refrain from eating pork and make women wear bags on their heads. If you can't handle this, then don't bring it up in the classroom. Any discussion on these subjects will lead to your dismissal.

2. Drinking

I'm a single man living with a Saudi family, but I've managed to find lots of things going on here. You don't have to live on a compound to have a social life. I've been to bars in Jeddah, Riyadh, Yanbu and Jubail - you just need to know which door to knock on. How do know where to go? Ask around. Most westerners will know where to get hammered at the weekend. If you can't find a bar, then it's pretty easy to make your own. A teaspoonful of yeast, 20 liters of grape juice and a couple of kilos of sugar should point you in the right
direction.

3. Sex

As a heterosexual man, it's not difficult to get laid out here. There are loads of nurses who are well up for it. You might need to lower your standards a bit, but generally the women are gagging for it. I  sometimes wish I were gay, because there are loads of batty boys at it. I've never seen so many bandits in my life.

4. Culture

Most westerners, in my opinion, are very disrespectful to Saudis. Quite a common view is "the only good Muslim is a dead one." Personally, I  quite like Saudis and I've found them very friendly and helpful.
I've actually been to a couple of Saudi weddings and been alienated by westerners for it. Read "A passage to India" by E.M.Forster if you want to know what I'm getting at.

Basically, Saudi is easy money. Have you ever worked in China for 7 dollars a day? Have you ever done a 40-hour teaching week? Have you ever worked your butt off without any recognition of your hard
work? This won't happen here. You'll get fantastic money, you'll do at most 20 hours a week in the classroom and the students will respect you. If you can't enjoy yourself in Saudi, then you're a very sad man and you shouldn't have come here in the first place.

John Cutter

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