My arrival in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the loneliest times of my life so far. I've met some nice people but have felt very isolated since arriving here; most activity appears to be in the evening and my sleep patterns are a total mess right now. Internet is very slow over the cellular network and DLS will take some time to get ... today I get my orientation but it seems to be coming a few days too late to make settling in easier.
Yesterday I met the people I will be working with. They are all quite nice and eager to have another in the group. They are going to be doing some exciting things that will require some corporate culture shifts which will be challenging to say the least! The end result could be truly amazing - although my role is still not very clear.
Back to the original topic though ... loneliness. I've made many moves in my life, many of which were difficult. The difference with this one is that I am in a truly foreign culture and do not understand this place yet, even though Dhahran Camp looks like many western places. Finding the gathering places has been fruitless so far - getting around is limited to walking or taxis right now - and taxis are a challenge with no cell phone (we'll get to this one in a bit). Communication with the outside world is my main threat to sanity; the cellular Internet I have temporarily is a dial-up service and not very good for anything other than very limited tasks.
My cell phone has been a real frustration. About a month before leaving, I went to T-Mobile and bought a phone for full price that was supposed to be unlocked, with a pay as you go plan. A day before I left, I went to confirm this and found that it was not - in fact, they require a minimum of 60 days service and maintaining a minimum credit of $10 (basically 90 days of service) before they will unlock the device that I paid full price for understanding it was unlocked. Now trying to deal with T-Mobile has been really interesting, especially when I have no phone service here in Saudi Arabia ... I tried getting some resolve while at the Frankfurt airport last week, but found that my US T-Mobile phone does not work on the German T-Mobile network either ... so back to frustration. After some back and forth, I found that T-Mobile is no different than any other cell phone provide so it is now in the hands of Bank of America to reverse all charges. Kinda funny that T-Mobile would rather lose money than unlock a phone that was fully paid for as an unlocked phone ...
Change is something that is always difficult for me, despite having gone through a lot of change in my life. There is usually some stability, or something familiar to grasp on to that helps me get through the turbulence of change. I've not found that here yet - which is making this one even more difficult. Despite what people may think, making friends is very difficult for me; Houston was a very slow process for me to make friends - it took me over a year to find any friends there. I new some people, but nobody seemed interested in knowing me much; I was perceived as bit arrogant and kind of aloof, but I kept with it and slowly met a few people. All of the people were in the dance scene and that was the focus. When I started the Blue Room, things really changed and I was suddenly more accepted. That helped a lot but also caused some turmoil; communicating with people is not always a strong point for me me and most of what I do is learned rather than natural so I have to pay attention to what I do, say and express non-verbally to be normal. Normal is a challenge for me most of the time; I learned to cope with Aspergers syndrome before it was understood.
Yesterday I met the people I will be working with. They are all quite nice and eager to have another in the group. They are going to be doing some exciting things that will require some corporate culture shifts which will be challenging to say the least! The end result could be truly amazing - although my role is still not very clear.
Back to the original topic though ... loneliness. I've made many moves in my life, many of which were difficult. The difference with this one is that I am in a truly foreign culture and do not understand this place yet, even though Dhahran Camp looks like many western places. Finding the gathering places has been fruitless so far - getting around is limited to walking or taxis right now - and taxis are a challenge with no cell phone (we'll get to this one in a bit). Communication with the outside world is my main threat to sanity; the cellular Internet I have temporarily is a dial-up service and not very good for anything other than very limited tasks.
My cell phone has been a real frustration. About a month before leaving, I went to T-Mobile and bought a phone for full price that was supposed to be unlocked, with a pay as you go plan. A day before I left, I went to confirm this and found that it was not - in fact, they require a minimum of 60 days service and maintaining a minimum credit of $10 (basically 90 days of service) before they will unlock the device that I paid full price for understanding it was unlocked. Now trying to deal with T-Mobile has been really interesting, especially when I have no phone service here in Saudi Arabia ... I tried getting some resolve while at the Frankfurt airport last week, but found that my US T-Mobile phone does not work on the German T-Mobile network either ... so back to frustration. After some back and forth, I found that T-Mobile is no different than any other cell phone provide so it is now in the hands of Bank of America to reverse all charges. Kinda funny that T-Mobile would rather lose money than unlock a phone that was fully paid for as an unlocked phone ...
Change is something that is always difficult for me, despite having gone through a lot of change in my life. There is usually some stability, or something familiar to grasp on to that helps me get through the turbulence of change. I've not found that here yet - which is making this one even more difficult. Despite what people may think, making friends is very difficult for me; Houston was a very slow process for me to make friends - it took me over a year to find any friends there. I new some people, but nobody seemed interested in knowing me much; I was perceived as bit arrogant and kind of aloof, but I kept with it and slowly met a few people. All of the people were in the dance scene and that was the focus. When I started the Blue Room, things really changed and I was suddenly more accepted. That helped a lot but also caused some turmoil; communicating with people is not always a strong point for me me and most of what I do is learned rather than natural so I have to pay attention to what I do, say and express non-verbally to be normal. Normal is a challenge for me most of the time; I learned to cope with Aspergers syndrome before it was understood.
Hang in there Derek. Change is always tough, as you say, even if you asked for it. Lots of people are nice but feeling connected will invariably take some time and energy. Nevertheless, I hope things get better fast. Let me know if you want me to send a magic jack to make the phone thing easier. Big hug from Houston. (<3 Ash)
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