Three years later, their dreams were becoming a reality. From what Caroline was telling me, things really did seem to be different. The school would offer flexible scheduling to accommodate women, as well as providing a day car facility so they could bring their children to school with them. They were also offering training programs with local businesses who wanted to hire Saudi women, but needed them to have more office based skills, like using computers, basic accounting, and secretarial skills. It seemed like they were really trying to think ahead to all the pitfalls and head them off before they started. It seemed like a project I could get behind.
After the first interview, I had a second interview with the owner of the company. We spent an hour or so lamenting the state of affairs of women's education in Saudi, and trading ideas for solutions. He asked a lot of really good difficult questions about the intersection of theory and practice, and what happens when reality challenges ideals. It was a great interview because it felt like a real conversation instead of an interrogation. At the end of it, he thanked me and told me that there was one final step. They wanted me to take some aptitude and work preferences tests and speak with a workplace consultant from Holland. He explained that this test would confirm if I was the kind of employee that would fit in well with the company, or not. I was both impressed and surprised. Most interviews for teaching positions in Saudi involve an inspection of your passport and a brief look at your resume and that is it. I was impressed that this company was being more careful and selective with who it hired, but I was also a little jaded now about the idea that a company could hire and fire using the "you are very good at your job and highly qualified, but you are just not a good fit" excuse. After all, what should matter most is performance in the classroom, and I think a better test would have been to give a sample lesson. Not that getting along in the workplace isn't important, it's just that 90% of your time is in class, and the other 10% is planning and grading, so it doesn't leave a lot of room for interacting with other staff.
A few days later, I took a series of on-line tests. The first test required you to read a report and pick out the important details. The second test involved reading charts and data. The third and forth tests were pattern finding and problem solving tests. These were actually kind of fun. The next three tests were all Myers-Brigg style personality questions that asked you to choose words that described you or your work habits from a set list of adjectives. I always hate theses since it often depends so much on the situation. I always find myself wishing I could add explanations and qualifiers. At the end of these tests, I had a final one hour skype interview with a Dutch woman from this workplace consulting firm. Mostly we talked about what my test results meant... mainly I was extremely adaptable and independent, maybe even too independent at times. She said she didn't see any red flags and would recommend that they make me an offer. I was excited and thanked her.
Sure enough, on Friday night, the owner called me to arrange a visit to the campus and the housing on Saturday evening. He said If I like what I saw then, he would give me a written offer at the end of the night.
Saturday, they arrived about 15 minutes late, but he had called me to let me know he was running late beforehand (how unSaudi-like!). His driver, himself and his wife, who was 8 months pregnant, were all in the van waiting for me and as we drove off toward the college, we talked about their children and the decisions that led them to want to open the college and what some of their plans were. When we arrived at the building, the owner pointed out some changes that were being made at the request of the Mattawa (religious police) to accommodate women students. The college was actually the top floor of a 3 story building. The bottom floor was a furniture store, the middle floor was empty aside from one lawyers office, and the third floor was for the college. They were in the process of building a privacy wall along the side walk that led to the back of the building where the women's only entrance was located. Once inside the building, the elevator and stairs were completely separate from the rest of the building and only went to the third floor, but this wasn't enough for the Mattawa. They wanted it so that no one could see the women even approaching the door.
The wife and I rode the elevator up together, and then her husband followed on the next lift so we wouldn't be in an enclosed space together. Not that we would have fit. This woman was clearly very very pregnant. Though she was smiling and talking, I could see that she was very tired. I worried about here keeping up as we got the grand tour. There was a lobby with two desk for "administration". There was a computer lab that was clearly being wired for internet as we spoke. There were three or four very small classroom that could hold no more than 20 chairs tops. Some of the rooms had white boards and projectors, but others had only chairs. The "kresh" or kindergarten area was full of bright colours and fun carpet. There were tiny colourful tables and chairs and a whole cabinet of toys and other kid-supplies, including a pint sized restroom. There was even a cafeteria with big glass windows looking out on a patio. He explained that eventually this would be a garden area and there would be a door, but the main goal now was to get the classes ready.
I have to admit I found myself rushing the tour, just because I could see that the wife was really dragging. There were some chairs in the lobby so we sat around and let her rest while discussing ministry requirements and when the college planned to officially open (end of October) and how they would structure the schedules (would depend on student availability) and how they were going to recruit the students and other teachers (don't worry about that). I got the impression that they were only slightly more prepared than the other college had been to open. Fortunately, since the scale of this opening was much smaller than the other college, the road bumps wouldn't be nearly as bad.
After the tour of the college, we headed to the diplomatic quarter. He was especially proud of the accommodations they had secured. The waiting list for a place in the "DQ" can be as long as three years. He said, even though it is very expensive, they know the importance of home life for teacher's happiness, so they decided it was worth it. The security is excellent, and it is a place where you can walk outside without your abaya. There are also lots of activities that you can attend, a sports and recreation centre, two grocery stores, and even a little mall. It was everything you could want, so that you would never even need to leave this little island of non-Saudiness.
They showed me Caroline's apartment, which had 3 bedrooms around a shared kitchen and living room. Each room had it's own bathroom, so that was nice. It was smallish, but standard. It seemed a little empty, but the essentials were all there, table chairs, couch, tv, refrigerator, and yes, washing machine! Caroline wasn't what I expected. She was much younger looking than I thought, and she was very jolly and friendly. She had been much more business like during the interview. We stayed about ten minutes and exchanged pleasantries, then headed out again, I could see that the wife was grateful to have reached the end of the evening.
When we pulled up to my place, he gave me the offer in a neat little presentation binder. He told me he was really excited to offer me the position and that he hoped I would find the offer satisfactory and reminded me of the perks, living in the DQ, insurance, free local flights to Dubai or Bahrain every three months or so, end of year bonuses, etc... All this mention of benefits was making me nervous, it made me feel like the actual salary might be pretty low. He didn't help matters by explaining they arrived at the salary by looking at what competitors were paying and that the offer was not open to negotiation. By this time it was taking all my concentration to pay attention to what he was saying and not look at the offer.
He told me to take it home, look it over and let him know. I thanked him, said goodnight to his wife and practically ran inside so I could get to my room and look at the offer. It was a little less than what the medical and dental college was offering... so now I had to make a decision.
He told me to take it home, look it over and let him know. I thanked him, said goodnight to his wife and practically ran inside so I could get to my room and look at the offer. It was a little less than what the medical and dental college was offering... so now I had to make a decision.
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