Expat Interview With Victor - US Expat In Saudi Arabia

Victor Ho, is a neurosurgeon and father of two great kids who have traveled and worked in countries on different continents and in different hemispheres. They have served as an inspiration. It’s easy and safe to live in one place all of your life. I do not want to look back with regret and I still want to do a couple of things. My blogs are photo journeys of past and present experiences. My profession has opened many wonderful opportunities. Working outside your comfort zone is at once exhilarating and scary. It is akin to being a baseball relief pitcher with two outs in the ninth, bases loaded and a full count. With the next pitch it’s win or lose. And then you play again tomorrow. Could you do it? Victor runs ImagedEvent (see listing here)

Here's the interview with Victor...

Where are you originally from?
New York City, New York. Born in NY and raised in West Virginia.

In which country and city are you living now?
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

How long have you lived here and how long are you planning to stay?
I arrived in June 2012 to head the Neurosurgery Department at the International Medical Center. I plan to build up the neurosurgery service and have no plans to leave in the immediate future. The big joke here is that no one expects the ‘American doctor’ to stay. So they always ask me when I’m leaving. And when I mention vacation, they assume I won’t come back.

Why did you move and what do you do?
The decision to move is complex and based perhaps on my wandering as a child growing up in different places in the US.

Did you bring family with you?
My kids are grown and spent time living in Argentina and Namibia. Perhaps that is what has encouraged me to travel and work.

How did you find the transition to living in a foreign country?
I am still very much in transition. What has helped most is that I made a friend who has smoothed things for me tremendously. As a colleague he has shortened my learning curve.

Was it easy making friends and meeting people; do you mainly socialise with other expats?
I have found that I am the only other non Muslim physician other than my colleague. Making friends and having many acquaintances are two different things. Because of my unique standing, I find that everyone knows me or about me. I have not encountered difficulties.

What are the best things to do in the area; anything to recommend to future expats?
The short time that I have been here makes it difficult to answer this question. I will say that scuba diving in the Red Sea has been an outstanding experience. My blog shows a number of dive images. I am a serious photo hobbyist. And so I have learned to shoot underwater right after I obtained my dive qualifications. That alone has made my first months memorable. Oh, and around here, the Red Sea has been my own. Compared to NY where anything worth seeing or doing is overrun by locals and tourists, you pretty much have the ocean to yourself. It is indeed a very privileged feeling.

What do you enjoy most about living here?
By happenstance, the cost of living is fairly low. I find that I eat out about every night. The budget is sufficient to aupport this rather than cooking. So far transportation has been an issue. Later I will have more range to enable me to explore the city and country. And I hope to travel to the surrounding countries. Despite all the unrest and troubles in the surrounding countries, I have really not felt at risk at any time.

How does the cost of living compare to home?
Well, I guess some of the answer is in the question above. I live in a rarified bubble. The cost of living is low compared to New York. As one might expect there are things comparably priced to what I paid in NY. But the shocker is that gas is $4USD – for a tank!! When I left NY gas was about $3.60USD per gallon. I was completely shocked given that gas has recently gone over $5USD per gallon in California. When I learned to dive, I found that the costs were much lower than I expected. The average working wage is very low. I can’t say much more because these facts are not known to me.

What negatives, if any, are there to living here?
The country right now is a conservative Muslim country. Religion is pervasive in everyday life. The biggest change is in prayer time, which occurs five times a day and always varies by the clock depending on the phase of the moon. What this means is that at any time when you arrive at a store or restaurant you are there shortly before or after prayer time starts. It means you wait. Everything is closed for prayers. I can’t tell you how many times I have arrived at the wrong time.

If you could pick one piece of advice to anyone moving here, what would it be?
Patience. Nothing occurs on time. Nothing finishes on time. Nothing gets done on time. So if you are fairly casual and laid back about schedule, you will be able to survive. Can you imagine that prayer time is listed in a table on the internet? But the storekeepers don’t read the ‘net and they open and close according to their whim and wish.

What has been the hardest aspect to your expat experience so far?
While the culture is so very different, what has made things less foreign is that the internet has maintained connection to everything from home. There is not a single movie theatre in Jeddah. Not one! And yet I have access to movies on the ‘net. I can call home via Skype. I get the news from the NY Times website updated multiple times per day. I get radio via NPR. Cable TV brings me the presidential debates. And the stores and restaurants are familiar. Most American brands are seen. And there is the ubiquitous McD’s and Burger King. Oh, there’s no alcohol. I never did and don’t drink. But there’s also no pork (bacon) and I’d sure like a good BLT. There are bacon cheeseburgers at Friday’s but it’s beef. The flip side is that so far I have not found many typical Saudi products or local art or craft. There are no street fairs or craft co-ops. Everything seems to have come from abroad for the Saudi consumer market. Yes, they currently have winter wear in the stores. Where do you wear the stuff in 100 degree weather?

When you finally return home, how do you think you'll cope with repatriation?
As I’m only planning to visit but not stay, I’d have to say that this is an experience I will not know for some months.

What are your top 5 expat tips for anyone following in your footsteps?
- Prepare for 100 degree weather that is sunny every single day. No worries that weather will affect your plans.
- The Muslim culture is invasive and will influence everyday life. You must adapt to this culture.
- Food is different and the same. There are familiar American chains everywhere. You will find that Dunkin Donuts taste the same as home. But House of Doughnuts (Arabic) is an entirely different taste sensation.
- You needn’t worry about privacy. Everyone seems to live behind high walls and keeps their curtains drawn. So if you don’t, you needn’t worry the neighbors are looking in.
- The number one rule in driving is: “There are no rules!!!” You need to be absolutely cautious about crossing the street. Drivers do drive on the sidewalk in order to pass other cars.
- If you are a woman, you must wear an abaya. Underneath anything goes. They are having a real problem with the religious police right now. They don’t want female ID’s to show women’s faces. And how do you recognize someone all covered except for their eyes? This is a hilarious dilemma.

Tell us a bit about your own expat blog.
My blog is an extension of my photography. I currently use ImagedEvent and sprinkle images from Saudi in my other two blogs PhotoBackStory and PhotoCritical. At the urging of my cousin, who is a professional photographer, I began to blog about a year ago in September 2011. It can be tiring at times. But I’ve also made a lot of friends around the world. I’m old enough to have missed twitter and facebook. Otherwise there would be more hits. So it’s a surprise to still have corresponded with so many folks from around the world. So far there have been more than 31,000 hits on my sites. That’s pretty amazing to me.

How can you be contacted for further advice to future expats coming to your area?
The best way to get in touch is to email or to post a comment on my blog. I have found that local information is better than any you can glean from reading a guide. So feel free to write.

Victor runs his expat website called ImagedEvent http://imagedevent.wordpress.com which is very worthy of a visit. ImagedEvent has an ExpatsBlog.com listing here which is open to a nice comment if you have the a few seconds! If you've appreciated Victor's interview as we have, please do leave him a comment below too.

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