Finnish nurse after one year at KFSH & RC Riyadh

My year in Riyadh has passed by very quickly and comfortably. I would like to stay for another year if my sitatuation at home would allow it. I have now however decided to only extend my cotract by a couple more months and return in the spring all together.

The majority of the nurses that came here at the same time as me have decided to renew their contracts, and they all seem to agree on one thing: time here flies by and it is inconcievable how quickly this one year is coming to an end.

Work is tough; a full day shift still drains you of all your energy. On top of this, the hospital officially became "paperless" two weeks ago, which has introduced a new computer software system that has brought about an entire new sub-source of stress at work. On the other hand having lived here for a year already has allowed me to make new good friends so that free time is rarely spent without something to do. Dinner events and other occassions are arranged as often as possible.

The Finland group here has provided invaluable support and fun, with most of my best friends here being Finns (not to mention my vast array of new international friends as well.) Naturally, with time and learning, work has also become much easier. These days I don't have to nervously stress about everything, and I have even started taking over-time shifts whenever possible. Improving my language skills has also made work much smoother.

My year here has been wonderful and without doubt worth the effort! Now that the end is approaching my eyes have been opened to a new horizon of opportunities... perhaps in a couple years it will be possible for me to once again move abroad, especially now that my language skills have improved enough to even move to the UK. The possibilities in Australia have also started bubbling in my mind. But these are things I will have to think about more carefully when I tire of Finland's salaries and cold temperatures... Nevertheless home-sickness has arised enough for me to want to get back to Finland, at least for some time.

Suvi

Feb 2010