Assalaamaoalaikum everyone.  I hope to travel soon to Saudi in six months to live.    Every since I have been speaking with different people, they told me about how life was for them as a foreignor living in Saudi.  The Americans say that they are paid well there, and treated with respect.  But when I talk to people who lived there that were not Americans at the time of their stay in Saudi, then they say their pay in Saudi was terrible for them if they were not Americans, British, etc.  My question for anyone who is a Sudian is :

I also heard alot that you can smell the arrogance in the air when you arrive in Saudi? The people who I talked to were fifteen in total, and fourteen of them lived in Saudi.  The fourteen people lived in Saudi for 2-8 years.   One lived in Dubai for 4 years., but the response was still the same.  I did not tell any of them what the others discussed with me until they revealed to me about the arrogance coming from the Saudis.  But they still said that they loved living there as well. 

I did have one friend from Saudi, but I lost her her contact information. 

Lady I am not Saudi, but having spent a great deal of time in the Gulf, I think the opinions you've received are common to the region.  With respect to salary, in my opinion, it has little to do with "respect" and more to do with business.  If the Saudi government or private sector knows that a teacher in India makes equivalent to $100 monthly, they will contract that Indian teacher at let's say,  $300 monthly,  to work in Saudi.  The Indian teacher has agreed to this contract and is happy.  Likewise, if an American teachers makes $3,000 monthly in America, her contract in Saudi will likely have a comparable or greater salary, along with housing, transportation allowance and tickets in order to attract the American teacher.  Thus, one would not reasonably expect,  from a business perspective,  for Saudi to pay an Indian teacher from India $3,000, nor an American teacher $300.

With respect to the criticism of arrogance leveled against the Saudi people our Prophet (saw) has defined arrogance as rejection of truth and belittling people - looking down of people, or thinking you are better than people.  This unfortunately is a general problem and characteristic of mankind which we all must struggle against.  Saudi is a tribal society and I often think tribalistic mannerisms are confused or interpreted by outsiders as arrogance.  Anyway, at the end of the day when living in a country that is not our homeland, even though it is a Muslim country, we must prepare ourselves for a cultural awakening and a new experience.  So when packing your bags remember to bring along plenty of patience and forget about how things are done back home in America.  Saudi is not America.  Please remember to make du'a for me when you make umrah, and I wish you all the best.