A Quick October Update

I posted some pictures to the blog, but there are some things that cannot be capture in photos. The past two weekends were busy:

• October 6, 2011 was Octoberfest at the Gulf Hotel in Bahrain. It was a great time for all with a great deal of beer available,  good selection of German food (including great pork), and a oompah band! The ballroom was very full of people, many of whom were in traditional attire such as liederhosen or bavarian style dresses. Such a grand night, but one where I took few pictures. Afterwards I stayed at the Gulf Hotel, which was quite amazing!!
• October 13, 2011 was Canadian Thanksgiving in Bahrain hosted by a Canadian social group. The event was held at Upstairs Downstairs near the Gulf Hotel and a fun time was had by all. A great group of people and a good night out :-)

The last bit of excitement was work related! Today was a lot of fun for me. We had a nice drive to Ras Tanura airport early this morning to catch a helicopter to an offshore facility. The facility was very interesting and we got the added bonus of a boat ride to two other facilities and being hoisted by a rope basket at one point. I felt we should have paid admission! The helicopter was very comfortable with 12 people (plus two pilots). A really nice perspective of the area, although the open was not terribly picturesque ;-)

October Catamaran Regatta at HYMC October 14, 2011

As most of my friends know, I love the water (see previous post for more about my boat which is en route to the Kingdom finally). On Friday I was at Half Moon Bay for the monthly catamaran regatta. While I did not sail in the races (my boat is not here yet), I took some pictures to show what it is like here at the nice beach ;-) I did eventually sail after the races with some folks to help them learn to read the winds a bit better and get me used to a Hobie Cat.

The rules of the beach (#9 is most interesting)

This is the beach .. nothing to say the pictures does not!

The other direction on the beach with nice shelters and grills!

This is actually a shower! Note the shower head  in the dolphins mouth (the hobies are behind it)

One of our racing Hobie Cats

One of our racing Hobie Cats

A nice, colorful Hobie 17

A few boats from the fleet (we had 9 out in total)

A Hobie racing the some decent wind (they were light that day)

Hobies after the first race

All nice Hobie Cats that came out to race after the first race

Subset at Half Moon Bay

The day was a good one and we had a great lunch afterwards and were able to do some socializing later as well. What I learned afterwards is why the road there is so dangerous ... all of the Saudis are driving home to Khobar, usually a high speed ... some with no lights ... 

Stockholm September 2011

Well, I've been a bit remiss in my blog updates and have done a bit of traveling. Rather than a bunch of text, it seems best to show some selected pictures. These are from my trip to Stockholm in September 2011.

The oldest coffee shop in Stockholm. Great location and good coffee!

The royal palace used for ceremonial purposes, right in the heart of the city

A Short Update

I spent a couple of weeks in Houston and it was nice to catch up with some friends and stock up on a few things for Saudi Arabia. One of the things I got was a new camera so now I can take some pictures :-) This is a quick update to show some things about me from here ...

The walk in towards my house

The sidewalk going towards my house

The entrance to my house in the hills

I will soon post some interior pictures of the house but it needs some re-arranging before I can do that. It will give some idea of what the house is really like here. The other items of interest are my ground transportation:

First we have the shot of both of my vehicles

The first vehicle is my 1986 Suzuki Samurai, whic

The second is my Honda Dio scooter, which has been my mainstay in camp

So that is the quick update. this should give some insights to life here on the camp, or at least where I live and what I use to get me around. The Suzuki Samurai is the exciting one; once the work is all done that I am planning, it will be a terrific vehicle for getting around here.

Happiness

In two days I will take my first leave from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and it really feels good! The past couple of weeks were really good and things are falling into place nicely here at long last! As of Wednesday, I am the proud owner of a 1986 Suzuki Samurai that is in fabulous shape (but will become a bit of a project car - which I will be updating as I go):

The other big thing is that by October I should finally have my Hobie Cat which will be named Moxie:

All in all, things seem to be going pretty good ... other than trying to sort out some problems with my house with the Housing Department here at Aramco - they are more than a little on the obstinate/difficult side of things. Hopefully they will address the problems while I am away so I can avoid having to deal further with them when I get back ...

In other exciting news, there will be an HP Touchpad waiting for me in Houston (thanks to Aramis for that one) and there will be a lot of shopping to get done when I am there now that I know what I really need over here (including some Suzuki Samurai parts) ...

Oh! One last thing ... if any of my friends out there with extensive pipeline experience are interested, I can put you in touch with the decision maker for the group - he is actively looking!

A quick update

Last weekend was a lot of fun! I made it to Bahrain and has a nice bacon cheese burger and a couple of hard ciders for lunch at the Dilmun Club, which was a nice, quite break. After that, I made my back to Saudi Arabia since I finally received my membership card for the Half Moon Yacht Club (HMYC) and wanted to check it out and see the launching facilities. There, I met a couple of guys from France and one of them offered to take me out on his Hobie Cat! It was a blast going out there and having some fun seeing how fast we could get it going - we even flew the hull a couple of times! Unfortunately, our tacking was abyssmal so I know what I need to work on when my new boat arrives.

I also went to HMYC on Friday, which was really quiet for sailing and I guess I missed the caramaran fleet captain :-( The visit was worthwhile for me though - there was a dolphin cruising along the water there about 20m off the beach :-) Quite exciting!! I need to be sure to have a camera handy for next time one of the ocean creatures graces our bay!

Other than that, not a lot of excitement ... I may have found a second Hobie Cat that I can get immediately. This Thursday I will go to Jubail to check it out and see what it will cost to get it out of storage - they may be negotiable ... and I have a trailer lined up to move it if I can find someone with a truck to help me. That should not present a problem if the boat is good. If it is good, I hope to acquire on Thursday and bring to HMYC the same day and sail either Thursday or Friday (depending if it needs any new rigging).

The last little tidbit of news is that I agreed to buy a car today! Last night I checked it out and it ran well and the prices was right ... I will get the ownership transferred on Monday and have my own set of four wheels so no more rental car! It also means that I can sell my Honda Dio scooter, which served me so well until I got the rental car. So what did I get for a vehicle? Well it is a 1986 Suzuki Samurai:

My plan is to get a new vehicle, but probably not right away. The first step will be to find exactly what I want and order it. Right now I am considering the Toyota FJ Cruiser, but if I decide the Samurai is enough for me to go offroad then I may just buy a VW Golf GTI for the street and keep the Samurai for the desert :-)

What's new in Dhahran?

Being remiss in my blog has led to one very major oversight - something that is potentially life altering for me! Now what could be life altering for me (or more so than moving to a desert country located almost on the opposite side of the world from my origin) ... ?

Well, that comes in the form of something very near and dear to my heart: the sea. Dhahran is on the sea (the port itself is Dammam) and Aramco has a nice expanse on a place called Half Moon Bay. It is there my fondness for the sea can return in the form of something that will arrive here in late September or early October: my new Hobie Cat 16, which is a small catamaran!

This is the sail color pattern of my boat, which I intend to name after a creature I miss most dearly: Moxie. The boat is coming configured for racing, complete with a spinnaker for when I am in a truly adventurous mood!

The group at Half Moon Yacht Club (HMYC) is quite excited about a new boat coming it - it has been almost 15 years since a new Hobie made it to Dhahran from what I hear. There will be lots of opportunity to have fun out there - particularly with regular regattas. It sounds like a lot of the Hobie's out there are not getting enough use so I hope to rekindle interest in racing across the bay and see how fast a cat can really fly across the water ... In a couple of months I hope to blog about flying the hulls ...

So that is the quick update for now :-)

Qal'at al-Bahrain

It seems I have been more remiss than I thought with my blogging and have not yet added anything about my short excursion into Qal'at al-Bahrain, also known as Fort Bahrain. On July 14, 2011 I make the trip with a person I met on Couch Surfing. Our day started at Ric's (my favorite breakfast place in Bahrain) for some bacon an eggs. After that we made a trip to City Center Mall where I got a terrific GPS (Garmin nuvi 3780T with maps of the entire Middle East). We then decided to check out Bahrain Fort. So I will show a few pictures with some descriptions ...

Bahrain Fort is a remnant of the Dilmuns, early traders who preceded the Roman Empire and traded with many cultures. They had an interesting culture and a lot of trade with other empires; despite their small size, they were quite influential, although they also experienced a few catastrophic defeats.

A date palm above my rental car. Note the size of the dates!

This is the beach area in front of the fort area

A view of the fort from the sea area .. not terribly impressive

... until you see the scale of the walls

And the "moat" area

Arrow slits (there are also murder holes above some passages)

The right wall had openings to dump burning oil

This is the ONLY entrance

which takes you to a cool corridor

Some of the rooms were nice a cool 

My friend Eduardo for some size perspective

One of the cool rooms - a weapon storage

And the Bahrain flat and a view of Manama

A Brief Update (and some photos)

For those who have been curious, I've managed some pictures. They are all from my cell phone camera so their photogenic qualities are not ideal ;-)


I guess it is best to have a reason for the pictures, so I will start with some treats from work. The other day our supervisor brought in some fresh dates and figs from his property in Al Hasa (this is apparently the greatest oasis in the Kingdom). These were yellow dates, red figs, and green fig; apparently the green figs are very rare and difficult to find. These were all really good - the dates are like candy they are so sweet. The figs are more substantial and red ones are fairly large. I don't know how to really describe the taste, other than yummy! Dates grow on date palms

A date palm by the office with several clusters of yellow dates.

These dates grow all around the Dhahran Compound and some trees are really prolific!

The only other decent picture so far is from last weekend while I was driving on the Bahrain Causeway from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain. This is driving over the Arabian Gulf. 

Bahrain causeway

Bahrain!

Last weekend I finally got to escape the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, if only for one day. It was quite a nice change of pace :-) The days events were full of little things and explorations ... and I was given some great tips from some fellow expats on where to go. The first stop was breakfast for some bacon and eggs at Ric's Kountry Kitchen in Jafair, which is just south of Manama. It was a nice little stop with some great  service, decent coffee, and yummy bacon - something I cannot get in Saudi Arabia due to the ban on all port products. The next stop was the City Center Mall, the newest one in Kingdom of Bahrain. It was a nice place where people were far more westernized, although I did hear the call to prayer while I was in the mall. It had plenty of high fashion stores and gave a great opportunity to look at some options for furnishing my cave in Dhahran at some later date - I now call my home a cave since it has virtually no natural light. Anyway, this was all possible thanks to having the car - a nice little Mazda 3 that I rented from Hertz and eventually got the paperwork necessary to travel ... but I am now ahead of myself! I neglected the joys of driving to Bahrain ...

Driving in Saudi Arabia is an experience that many should avoid; you may think you have seen bad drivers, but you have seen nothing! You can be driving along the roads at 100 km/h, which is the speed limit, then have someone pass you like you were standing still - even if they have to use a shoulder to pass. These are crazy drivers, apparently with the highest per capita deaths from traffic accidents!

Now the trip to Bahrain is around 50 km from Dhahran, most of which is at highways speeds. Leaving early has some advantages, particularly since the stores are close to western hours. The last part of the trip is a 26km causeway from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, which is an island. In the middle of this causeway is an island which has customs and immigration for both countries ... the causeway is like this:

1. At the beginning, you stop and pay a toll of 20 Saudi Royals (around US$6) the continue to immigration (12 km down the road)
2. Saudi Arabia customs check. They verify your car can leave the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
3. Saudi Arabia immigration check. They check if you can leave the kingdom then stamp your passport if you can. This is also where the verify and/or validate your exit/entry visa.
4. Saudi customs checkpoint. This is where they check your car to make sure you are not taking anything unauthorized out of the country.
5. Bahrain customs check. This is checks documents to make sure you have a properly licensed vehicle and such.
6. Bahrain immigration check. Here there check your immigration status and any authorizations.
7. Bahrain vehicle check. Here they make sure you are not bringing in anything unwanted.
8. Bahrain insurance check. This is where you buy auto insurance for Bahrain (unless you already have it) at a price of 20 Saudi Riyals per 3 days.

After those steps, you get to travel the rest of the way to Bahrain - it will generally at least 30 minutes but can take upwards of three hours in heavy traffic! You also get the same experience on the return trip, only reversed.

So after all that, I finally made it to Bahrain, ate well, went shopping then wandered the Manama Central Market area for a few hours, then drove back to Saudi Arabia.

It was a good first visit - the architecture was absolutely stunning and very modern! I will get pictures on my next visit :-)

First explorations ...

I finally have a car and it is a wonderful experience! It is a nice little Mazda 3, although when I picked it up at King Fahd International Airport it was nearly empty - and I was not sure it I would make it a gas station ... the first place I stopped at was out of gasoline, the second one stopped filling because it was close to prayer time ... so I drove on for a while into Dammam (an interesting experience I will get back to) and found a station later, but no lights were ... it was still prayer time. So I waited at the pump and finally prayer time ended I the tank was filled from near empty with 95 Octane (Premium) gas for a grand total of 28 Saudi Arabia Riyals (SAR), which is a little more than US$7 ...the price per gallon here (for premium) is approximately US$0.60 (or around CDN$0.165 per Liter for my Canadian friends). That was a nice little experience ...

Prayer time in Saudi Arabia occurs 5 times per day and changes slightly daily according to lunar phases; everything here is based on the lunar calendar so it takes some getting used to, but thanks to modern science this can be known well in advanced with very high accuracy! What makes this interesting is shopping times are generally 9am to 11am (except Friday) and 4pm to 12 midnight daily; the catch is prayer time around 6:30pm and again around 8pm - each for about thirty minutes. During this time all stores have difference policies: some may ask you to leave, others lock you in, and others simply let you wander in and out - but in all cases there are NO services. This means you wait until after prayer time to pay or get any kind of help. There is no deviation from this anywhere in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Back to the car ... the driver who took me to the airport was a fellow named Abu, who was recommended by Arun (someone I met in the same orientation as me - he is from Houston too but with his family). Abu normally works for someone else as a private driver, but has camp access and is free to drive for others when not working for his sponsor. He is the best driver I have had yet (i.e. I was not clutching the seat in fear of his driving - only for the other crazies on the road and our definition of crazies was identical). This got me to the airport where the Hertz agent was really helpful and got me the upgrade to the Mazda 3 (which is an automatic transmission which has some advantages when you are unfamiliar with an area). Speed limits here outside of Dhahran are posted in Arabic, which means I need to be able to read Arabic numbers (which I now can) but most direction signs are both Arabic and English (nearly essential). So due to the low gas, it seemed wiser to go through Dammam because I could not remember how far it was to a gas station on the highway ... so I took a scenic route through all of the construction and traffic - only one true near miss where someone turned on to the main road without stopping at the stop sign then veered into the adjacent lane while another car was on the left side of me at very high speed - good driver training (Smith System) had me looking far enough ahead to plan and see this so it was simply slow down (actually, slam on the brakes - nobody behind me) and honk ... then just continue on. You simply honk at people (politely - not an extended blare ... more of a "hey, get with the program") and you NEVER openly look like you are cursing someone or use hand signals (other than waving someone in). Drivers here are crazy but very predictable ... the scary part is the trucks .... think driving in a 100 km/h or 120 km/h zone with most cars traveling that speed and few crazies considerably faster, then the large trucks on the same road moving at speeds from 40 km/h to no more than about 80 km/h in rather high density (imaging entering and exiting). That is driving in Saudi Arabia. Just be alert and at all costs avoid driving on Friday night (avoid shopping too - that is the big shopping social night which is a substitute for entertainment here).

Now with the car; I had it for one day buy drove the moped (my 125cc Honda Dio) to work the next day because I needed to meet with payroll - and car parking there is an exercise in total futility unless you are driving an Aramco vehicle (I'm not authorized yet) but if you drive a moped or motorcycle, you can park where the bicycles are (i.e. right at the entry gate) without wasting time searching for parking. Very handy! But that morning I read the rental contract and realized I could not drive it to Bahrain ... so a few phone calls later (the only helpful guy was the one at the airport who rented me the car) it seemed best to go back to the airport so they could take copies of my driving licenses, Iqama and visa ... but it will take 2-3 business days to process. I tried talking to their head office in Khobar but it was not very productive. I even asked Ali, a co-worker from Lebanon who speaks Arabic, English and French ... his conclusion about the representative in Khobar was the same as mine - he even said the person not only was unable the speak English but there Arabic was just as bad! So yesterday I drove back to the airport and took care of these details ...

The drive to the airport was pleasant, right after work (actually after I helped Jesus, a new engineer in our group,recharge is mobily USB Internat modem - he does not have an Iqama yet which can be a problem doing this). The drive was nice - highway all the way and the only scary parts were the exits. Once I made the long stretch from the highway to King Fahd International Airport I was passing some sand dunes and in one area I saw a small group of camels (with no people) just wandering. It was quite a sight! The dunes are very beautiful! At the airport I saw the Aramco terminal, which is the hub for the Aramco fleet of jets and back to the airport ... which I am getting to know better now. It is a fabulous airport that I would send pictures of, but it is forbidden to take photographs of it ... such as same because throughout Saudi Arabia there is some incredible architecture which cannot be photographed.

So that is the present adventure. Settling in is happening ... today or tomorrow I will see if I can find transportation from the causeway into Bahrain so I can activate my visa ... plus I would like to see Bahrain.

Shopping Adventures!

Today was my first shopping adventure on the bus! To start with, I thought the bus I wanted left the ball park area at 8:30am so I hopped on my moped and made my way there - a nice 4km run and some fresh but hot (and sand filled) air. Found a great parking spot then asked the driver which bus, since none of them said Al Rashid Mall ... the reason was the Al Rashid Mall bus leaves at 9:00am ... so off to Najir Coffee House for a morning java ... and they don't open until 8:30 so I waited outside for 10 minutes (in the shade) and just enjoyed some quiet. The opened on time, but the espresso machine takes 15 minutes to warm up so I had a nice Turkish Coffee and read a local paper while I waited ... then the bus came and it ended up nearly full! Roads here are big crazy, particularly how to you get to places not being intuitive ... but we got there just as stores were opening ... The mall layout is rather confusing, even for a mall veteran like me (Edmonton, Alberta is lots of malls of various sizes) because the multiple levels were not all directly connected and it was just odd ... but I found my Bose speakers there (they have a Bose store) ... then walked the mall for a while ... and waited for the bus - the back to camp and a nap.

I decided that I needed to go to eXtra for some electronics stuff after my nap so I phoned Akter who called Makther (his brother) to come get me. This was good, except my door lock broke (in the locked position) as I left - I'd deal with that when I got back since I had no phone numbers with me (they were inside and my phone had lost half of my numbers for some reason recently). Anyway, riding with Makher is nice - a good ride to be in and he waits for me at the store ... except my timing was impeccably bad and as I was about to check out, the loudspeakers starting playing some strange sounds which mean it was prayer time and the store would close for about 20 minutes for prayer time. We stayed in the store, but there were no services or help ... so I continued to wander through eXtra. It was a successful trip ... I found a step-up transformer so I can by 220vac stuff here and have it work in the camp which is one 110vac (like America) plus a nice new monitor. Makther came in to find out if I was okay just as prayer time ended and I was paying ... then it as back to Dhahran camp.

We got back to camp but stopped at security so I could get a number for maintenance to unlock the door. I phoned and we drove to my place where Makther left me to wait for the carpenter (I am glad it was night and not daytime so it was cooler). The carpenter showed up after about 15 minutes, but I'd already managed to free the cylinder and unlock the door. This really makes me appreciate my locks in Houston that are key operated but can also operate electronically from a keypad, my computer, cell phone, or iPod touch ... basically impossible to get locked out! The carpenter took the lock apart and found a minor problem and fixed it so I hope this will be the last house incident!

So that was the day for me ... settling in and hoping that next week brings a multiple entry visa so I can go Bahrain next weekend, which is a long weekend, and a drivers license so I can get there easier - and go shopping easier in the future.

Settling In

After four weeks of turmoil, it seems I am finally settling in here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Some milestones have been reached, the most significant of which is that I now have my Iqama, or residence permit. It is much like a green card in the United States; the difference is the Saudi Aramco wants me to be here whereas while the employers I had in the United States were not looking for a permanent employee. The Iqama makes things much easier, especially at traffic stops - like the ones just at the edge of Dhahran where every so often they insist on full documentation in the form of a Saudi National ID Card, Iqama, or Passport. I've only encountered one scenario when they asked for more than my Aramco ID ... which is another milestone - I now have my permanent Saudi Aramco ID. This is as good as an Iqama for identification almost anywhere in the Eastern Province. This means I am finally able to travel easily in the Kingdom! With the Iqama, I also had to go to the bank to convert my account from a temporary to a permanent account, which gives me Internet banking at last, just in time to get paid next week! The other things in the works now are my multiple entry Saudi Visa for exit and re-entry, a Bahrain Causeway Passport Book to avoid filling my passport with stamps (they are apparently very prolific an use a full page each direction of cross, hence the causeway booklets. The other thing in the works is my Saudi Driver's license - the company is translating my Texas driver's license and I have all the other documents ready. Hopefully next weekend I will be in Bahrain for a change in culture!

The other great highlight is having the moped - a cool little Honda Dio with a whopping 125cc two-stroke engine - which is capable of up to 65 km/h, which just happens to be the highest speed limit in Dhahran Camp! This is significant because they take safety very seriously to the point that any traffic violation in the Kingdom is also part of my employment record - and if I get too many safety violations, including minor traffic offenses, this can reduce any annual merit increase. It is a novel approach but it does preserve the suburban hell utopia here which is like the horrific wonderful experience of places like The Woodlands with the insidious  helpful home owners association - which here is the camp security rather than a bunch of crazy homeowners with nothing better to do with there time ... still it is generally good, but it does require transportation.

This week also marked my first time exercising here - the moped made this possible. I went to the nearest pool, which just happens to be a nice facility with two 25 meter pools, one of which is kept cool for competitive swimming. A great pool - so great it showed how awful my fitness is now in a mere 400m (16 lengths). I need to get better at this and exercise ... there is also a gym there and I can ride my bicycle there too (which is now safe enough to ride, except I have no lights for night - yet).

Last night I attended the Dhahran Toastmasters group which was really impressive! One of the largest Toastmasters groups I have seen and some terrific mentors within the group. There are some fabulous speakers there, one of whom did a long speech/presentation for us that was very interesting! The two prepared speeches were also very good, and the feedback to the speakers incredibly targeted to help them improve fast. Very impressive considering most of the people in the room are not native English speakers!

On the topic of language, I am finally working with my Rosetta Stone software for Arabic. It is very slow since everything is totally new - but there are some features in the software that are beyond amazing! While I am still at the early vocabulary stage, there is a module I can load on my iPod touch that will listen and allow me to practice by ensuring that I speak correctly! So I can do this on the PC and iPod ... plus there is some audio stuff I can just listen to. When on the computer, they have some other modules that help practice, but I am nowhere near advanced enough for that yet. It is a great help for me and I hope to be functional within one year. The biggest challenge is writing in Arabic, which apparently is common among Saudis as well ... the language is difficult in many ways.

Work is starting to get interesting now that my role is defining ... more on that in a future post. Wednesday nights are the start of the weekend and tomorrow I hope to wake early enough to get the bus for Rashid Mall to go shopping!

Cultural Advancement

The past week has let to a little more settling in here in Saudi Arabia, and most importantly I was finally able to get a taxi to take me to SACO to get tools to fix up my bicycle for camp transportation! It is now roadworthy and the parts bike has been modified enough that I can be sold now. I also picked up my moped so that I have motorized camp transportation (and ride around and say "ciao" - and I will be impressed with anyone who knows the reference) which needs a bit of work, but the mechanic will pick it up on Saturday from my office and hopefully resolve the transmission issues. I've also decided that once the Iqama arrives I will rent a car and use that for transportation for a month or so - the cost is only around 2600 Riyals per month including insurance! That way I can wait until I find exactly what I want for a car for a fair price; Majed has some good connections in Riyadh so it may be possible to get a nice, small car if I can be patient!

Well the trip to SACO was about what I expected, but the store was a tad underwhelming; once the new location SACO WORLD opens up in Dhahran Mall it will be much better! SACO is basically Ace Hardware in Saudi Arabia and good for most stuff. The store is near the main part of Khobar, meaning traffic is completely insane. I managed to get a taxi from Majestic and they assured me I did not need to book an appointment for the return trip; I figured I would be in the store for about an hour. Well, my timing was about perfect and when I called Majestic I got the usual response of "no taxis available, call back in half an hour". So thanks to some previously intelligent thinking, I called Akter (his number is in my cell phone) who was not available, but his brother was and was close by! So I met Akter's brother who has a car as well and found his car much better than the taxi that is normally used! So Makther brought be back to camp in style and the trip was not a total loss! Goes to show how important it is to keep in touch the people who help you out - and to help them out as much as you can too! I can say that now I pretty much have a driver and will just make an appointment with Makther when I need to make a shopping trip - the only thing is I have to remember to get him a gate pass ahead of time ... the guard was very kind last night and did not hassle us for failing to go into the security office for the gate pass! It seems that as long as the guard is a Saudi there is usually not a problem :-) Most Saudis are nice people, although the police checkpoint prior to the first Aramco gate can be a tad unpredictable ... last week when I was out with Gusai and Rajan, they were impressed I carried all my papers with me (and so was the policeman who stopped us at the gate - he seemed eager to find someone with incorrect documents). It does help to listen!

The house problems all appears to be solved for now and I am starting to focus on work more. We are supposed to move to the new building, Al Mistra (?) next month. This building is quite amazing ... not as pretty as the new R&D building architecturally (the R&D building is absolutely gorgeous - utterly brilliant architecture that is aesthetically incredible, very functional and fits the landscape unbelievably well). The new building is the tallest Aramco building and near the highway so the commute will be around 3km further. The really cool thing about the building is that it has every amenity in the North Park area, like a new dining hall, a huge gym, important vendor services (travel, AMEX, STC cell phone, etc.) ... I'm hoping to take advantage of all of this stuff ... but back to what is incredible ... they will have covered parking, which is not unusual, but the covering will be solar panels that will generate up to 10MW for the company! That is very green for a petrochemical company! It is good to be part of a company with such a vision :-)

I've also finally got back to using my Rosetta Stone software for learning Arabic; actually, I have restarted because it was easier to just start from the beginning again. It will take a while before I am comfortable speaking Arabic, but I will have a better chance of understanding my coworkers in the near future :-) It really is difficult because the writing is completely different and I am simply learning sounds and associating these with pictures. It does work and I am recognizing a few things - but it is slow! I will learn this language and be functional within one year (or less)!

So the plan for today will be to take the moped out and go to the coffee house for a bite to eat, mainly so I escape the hills for a while. I will also search for the pool and gym that is near my house and start on that either today or tomorrow. It has been a difficult transition, but I think that getting exercise will make a world of difference to me ... and I've wanted to swim for a very long time as part of an exercise routine. It is great for cardio!

So that is the news for now ... feel free to ask any questions if you have any!

Trials and Tribulations

At long last I am finally started to settle in here at Saudi Aramco. The group that I work with is fabulous and our mandate is one that will definitely foster a leadership role in the energy industry. That part of the adventure is very exciting! The home front is still developing ... and the latest developments are:

• My dishwasher is broken and will be replaced at some indeterminate date.
• The air conditioning went out last night, making for a rather miserable sleep
• Transportation remains an issue with cabs in short supply (i.e. unable to get when needed) and buses are on limited schedules

Next week I hope to get a 50cc moped for camp transportation, which will make life much easier for me! I also hope to make it to SACO some time this week to get the tools necessary to get my bicycle fully operational by next week too. Then I can start going to the gym - it is simply too far to walk to the gym and the bike ride will be a terrific warm-up and cool down.

In a few months we will move to a new building here for work. It will be quite exciting since it will be an entire complex that has everything close by, including a dining hall, some important services, and a gym! The building is very beautiful and constructed to LEED standards ... and being Aramco they are taking it one step further and are placing solar panels on top of the covered parking, enough to generate 10MW of electricity! Talk about a green energy company.

On my list of "to do" items here are to make some suggestions for energy efficiency based on my experiences in Houston. I think these would significantly reduce their maintenance costs and energy demand.

Two full weeks in the Kingdom

Things seem to be settling into some form of normalcy now. I've been out for dinner with my Saudi co-workers a few times and it is quite an experience! You sit on a large carpet and they, put down a small piece of plastic then bring the food on a large tray they just put on the plastic. From this large tray of rice and meat, you simply use your hands to eat - but there is a technique to make sure you get most of the food into your mouth. This was (fortunately) shown to me. The meat was usually chicken, lamb, or camel; beef is all imported here so it tends to be more expensive. The camel meat is quite good!

Yesterday I finally got a bicycle! Now I have some transportation to get around camp, however, I am in terrible condition and small hills are brutal - but I will correct that problem with time! I also got a second bike for spare parts since it was inexpensive (meaning unsafe to ride but had some good parts on it). The main bike will be good transportation ... and next week, if all goes well, I will also be the proud owner of a 50cc Honda scooter for getting around the camp! I just need to figure out if I need to license or insure it, but that is an issue for another day ;-) It should cost me a total of $2 in gas per month to commute and run any errands around the camp.

Work is going well and I'm slowly getting a better perspective on the scope of work expected of me here in the Kingdom. It will be interesting for sure, but there is a lot of safety training first; Saudi Aramco has a very strong safety culture.

More interesting news is that my dishwasher is broken so they are replacing it in a couple of days and they are moving my shower head up so that it can accommodate someone over 5' tall comfortably. The showing moving has, unfortunately, conflicted with my opportunity for shisha again so it will be a missed social opportunity to get this resolved ... :-(

My First Social Outing

I am slowly starting to settle into the Kingdom here and today at work I was talking with Majed, and mentioned how I felt bad I missed the last outing ... so he invited me out tonight for a social outing. We went to a place in Khobar where I had some turkish coffee and tried hookah (I forget what the Saudi's call it already). It was a strawberry flavor that was quite nice, and I met one of Majed's friends named Rami. We had lots of fun watching some soccer and enjoying the water pipe along with some coffee, tea and water. I will have to do this again - it was a lot of fun!

I've also decided that I really need to experience more of Saudi Arabia and understand the culture. Dhahran Camp is a great place, but it is like suburbia - something I find sterile and boring just about anywhere in the world. I am here to experience life and not simply exist in a model community!

Some more reflections

I'm sitting here on a Saturday evening after a full week here and slowly getting familiar with life in Saudi Arabia, still wondering if I made the right decision. There is a lot to get done still and plenty of uncertainty! Transportation remains an issue for me, in many ways holding me back from doing more here. This is the first move I've made where I kept something where I was out of choice; the house (and car) in Houston remains mine, although I do not know when I will see it next. My bird is in the process of being rehomed (yes I still miss Moxie a lot - she was good company and eager to learn). Mostly I miss having a social life and the opportunity just do things - things in walking distance, or places I could just hop into my car and go. It is truly like starting over here. I wonder how much I will want to stay once I am "settled" here?

Today was a decent day though - I finally got a double bed, which I hope will solve my sleep problems. For this, I also rearranged my room, which should also work better for me. Also stopped by the medical clinic and should be able to sleep a bit better as as result of the visit - something to help reduce the anxiety that has been a little destructive on me. Medical care is simple here: the company covers all costs, including prescriptions, with no deductible; you just make an appointment and show up. Getting to/from the clinic is another challenge though ...

Now the decision is to get a bicycle or not, and how much to spend. I means another trip to the bank to get more money if I want a bike and money is something that is not going to be replenished for another 4 weeks ... and I still need to go to the payroll office to sort out of a few minor details ... argh! Hopefully I will receive the Iqama soon.

Work is really slow still and we will soon meet to decide what our plan forward will be. I doubt we will go to a facility until next year since all of the work for the year is done already.

Reflections on my first week

I have now completed one week of living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It has been a difficult transition in many ways, but it is not my first major move so it is not that traumatic - other than leaving behind Moxie, my house, and a great life in Houston. Things are slowly coming together and this coming week I should have a proper size bed (a double) and Internet (by Wednesday). Right now I am completing a bunch of safety training at work; Saudi Aramco takes safety very seriously to the point it has a profound effect on your annual merit. This includes being responsible for anyone with you (e.g. a taxi driver caught speeding while on camp for you will show up on your safety record). Hopefully I will have my work computer soon so I will no longer be on my laptop; the information technology (IT) team at Saudi Aramco is very efficient and the help desk extremely responsive!

The past week has been interesting. I got a Saudi cell phone (a Samsung Galaxy Mini) and while it worked, I preferred the LG that I got from T-Mobile (for full price as an unlocked phone which was not unlocked). After talking to T-Mobile, they refused to unlock it so I asked Bank of America to reverse all charges and gave an explanation ... after less than one week, T-Mobile sent me the unlock code and instructions - unfortunately I had already paid another organization to provide the unlock codes, which they did (and they worked perfectly). So once I got it unlocked and working (not with the T-Mobile info) It went right on the STC network ... but no data. So the Internet became a source of knowledge and provided the programming details so now my well liked LG phone is now fully on the STC network for voice and data! I will probably sell the Samsung Galaxy Mini ... it is a good phone, but I just like the LG better :-) I is quite amusing that it took intervention from my bank to get T-Mobile to act responsibly ... did I mention that I really like Bank of America?

Last night I went to IKEA again to get a cover for my duvet and a couple of other items. I called Majestic taxi and lo and behold, it is Akter who shows up once again! So we took a small detour to see if we could find a bicycle for me, but the store was closed for prayer time and we did not want to wait ... so on to IKEA. The trip was easy, but it still takes getting used to seeing women in abayas who are fully covered including their face with only their eyes visible. I have decided that shopping is both entertainment and sport in Saudi Arabia and Khobar is main event! So after IKEA it was another trip to the commissary outside of camp to get additional time for my cell phone and Internet device - plus a few other items since I was in there.

Today was a break from routine. I had a good night sleep and decided (eventually) that I should go for a walk. So out to the walking trail that went around the golf course so I could get to the ballpark area and go to the cafe for a bite. Today it was nice and breezy, which really took the edge of the 45C heat, but the walk was still 4km from my house to the cafe where I had a mint lemonade (very yummy), a strawberry smoothie (also yummy) and a chicken quesadilla. I was tempted to have a lebanese (turkish) coffee but decided against it ... the place was full of middle school (and possibly high school) kids, so it was fun to watch the antics. The meal was SAR58, which was quite reasonable ... the next stop was a walk to the Dhahran Commissary, which was another 1km, where I got a few important items, not the least of which was a new broom. Things need to be swept here at least once week!

So that is the extent of my first week. It went well and hopefully over the next week I can adjust a little more and look into some clubs in Dhahran. Getting around is going to be problematic until I get a car ...

Other news is that Moxie is moving to a different home. The place where she was staying that looked hopeful did not work out as well as it could have; the current bird, a Timneh Grey, did not handle a new bird well and it was decided she should go to another place. The people who are caring for Moxie are incredible though! They checked out a few people and found an ideal home which could be good for all :-) More on that later ... I am very hopeful!!

The skateboard park in Dhahran Camp

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The skateboard park in Dhahran Camp

Part of the walking path around the golf course in Dhahran Camp, near the skate park

Part of the walking path around the Golf Course in Dhahran Camp

One of the parks in Dhahran Camp

Walking path in Dhahran Camp

Moxie Bird!