The most difficult thing about living in Saudi

Every country has its challenges for expats.

In Saudi the greatest challenge is the lack of interesting things to do outside of work.

If you are based in Riyadh there is so little to do outside of work other than visit the malls. Your time is spent working & sleeping.

In Jeddah (on the West Coast) & Dammam/Al Khobar (East Coast) you have the sea where you can fish, walk by, take photos of, or simply sit by and wonder what prompted you to move to Saudi in the 1st place.

So what do I recommend?

• go to as many Embassy parties /events as possible
• get cable tv
• listen to music
• renew your love of reading
• surf the net
• take up photography
• start a blog
• get to know your neighbours
• join expat clubs of ANY sort (just to meet people)

Most important is to mentally set yourself an arbitrary date in the future at which time you will decide whether or not to extend your stay or move to a more "normal" location. I set increments of 2 years. This is important because it means that mentally I am more committed if I know that I have "allowed" myself the opportunity to review my saudi expat status at a defined future point in time.

This country is not an easy one in which expats can live and work. Do not fall into the work & sleep only trap. Try everything you can to meet people. Take up hobbies. And set yourself an exit strategy.

With all this in place you might make it without the need to pop any Xanax.