It has all begun in earnest finally, with two days of orientation! The first day would have really helped if it had come a day or two earlier - less fumbling around and wondering why did I come to this place. Anyway, it is all making more sense now and I'm adjusting a little bit; the only issue at hand has been transportation on the camp. The buses work provided you are on the same schedule as the buses and understand what is the most efficient route from A to B ... there are significant time differentials between buses due to their slight route variations. Now on to the orientation!
Orientation Day One
Joining Saudi Aramco is not an easy process if you have never been to the Middle East. The Saudi people are very nice and do their utmost to be helpful, however, when arriving in a new place there is not always enough structure. The structure that comes with the orientation is terrific. They come right to your house to pick you up and the bus does a circuit around the camp to get all off the other newcomers. I was the first pickup so I got a good tour of the camp and met all the new hires. Once we were all on board, it was into the building and getting an understanding of what needs to be done, how things will be timed, and some instructions to help keep us from doing things that are frowned upon in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After our morning briefing, we went for lunch at The Meridian Hotel, which is on the Arabian Gulf (and good food) where we were able to socialize with each other and the people there to help us familiarize ourselves with the company and the country. Plus the bus ride gave us a brief tour of Al Khobar. At the end of the orientation, we were able to get SIM cards for our phones, which would be a huge hassle were we not Aramcons given our Iqamas have not been issued yet. This whole process did not take too long and we got a nice tour of the camp afterwards so we would know where the important things are located. The day ended at a reasonable hour and I returned home to catch up on a few things, then call Akter, a cab driver I met my first day here when I had no clue what was going on. Akter was a bit busy, but he was able to come and get me so I could do some important shopping! Some new linen and a cell phone!
Introduction to Shopping
I was told that shopping in Al Khobar could be a rather daunting experience so I took the amateur approach and asked Akter for some help - he knew where to get a good deal on a cell phone ... and he speaks Arabic (despite being from Indonesia). I also knew that Ikea was the best choice for the linens I wanted since every Ikea store is laid out the same and pricing is both fixed and fair. So we headed to Ikea first and it was Akter's first time in the store - so we did a quick whirlwind to find what I needed then off to the next stop ...we made it through the cashiers just before the evening prayer time (most stores close for about 15-20 minutes for this). The off to the next place for a cell phone ... I wanted an Android phone (I like the OS) and the store was very close to Ikea. We found a parking place (crazy parking lot) and went into the mall which was inundated almost exclusively with people wearing white thobes (the men) and black abayas (the women) so Akter and myself really stuck out! Anyway, we made it to the store and the salesperson suggested one Galaxy model (the bigger screen) which was SAR1800, far more than I wanted to spend, so he came out with a smaller version with a much smaller price! Akter spoke with the salesperson and got the price reduced some as well so I walked away quite happy :-) We came back to the camp and I picked up an STC card for my new phone so I could actually use it, then Akter brought me back to my house ... he had a good tip that evening for all of his great help!! Needless to say I slept a bit better with some nice linens ... except for the single bed part :-/
Orientation Day Two: Housing
The second orientation was only a half day, consisting of an overview of Dhahran Camp and our housing. The culmination of this was signing our housing contract. The morning prior to this I finally got my network login, but still needed another authorization to be able to do things like order DSL and change my bed from a single to a double. After the housing orientation there were only three other details: get my new mailbox, which I share (ironically) with Arun from the orientation; all mailboxes are shared and any priority/registered mail is notified via company e-mail. After that I got a second key for my townhouse (I expect to lose or misplace one at some time) then went to the bank to see if my temporary account was ready - and it was so it took some time to sign all the papers then get a cheque cashed so I had some more spending money here - I plan on renting a car to get around camp for the next while. I will probably buy one in July or August.
So that concluded the orientation phase ... now I can finally start to work and be a contributing Aramcon! The people I work with have been great and we do socialize a fair amount during the work day, and things still get done :-)
Orientation Day One
Joining Saudi Aramco is not an easy process if you have never been to the Middle East. The Saudi people are very nice and do their utmost to be helpful, however, when arriving in a new place there is not always enough structure. The structure that comes with the orientation is terrific. They come right to your house to pick you up and the bus does a circuit around the camp to get all off the other newcomers. I was the first pickup so I got a good tour of the camp and met all the new hires. Once we were all on board, it was into the building and getting an understanding of what needs to be done, how things will be timed, and some instructions to help keep us from doing things that are frowned upon in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After our morning briefing, we went for lunch at The Meridian Hotel, which is on the Arabian Gulf (and good food) where we were able to socialize with each other and the people there to help us familiarize ourselves with the company and the country. Plus the bus ride gave us a brief tour of Al Khobar. At the end of the orientation, we were able to get SIM cards for our phones, which would be a huge hassle were we not Aramcons given our Iqamas have not been issued yet. This whole process did not take too long and we got a nice tour of the camp afterwards so we would know where the important things are located. The day ended at a reasonable hour and I returned home to catch up on a few things, then call Akter, a cab driver I met my first day here when I had no clue what was going on. Akter was a bit busy, but he was able to come and get me so I could do some important shopping! Some new linen and a cell phone!
Introduction to Shopping
I was told that shopping in Al Khobar could be a rather daunting experience so I took the amateur approach and asked Akter for some help - he knew where to get a good deal on a cell phone ... and he speaks Arabic (despite being from Indonesia). I also knew that Ikea was the best choice for the linens I wanted since every Ikea store is laid out the same and pricing is both fixed and fair. So we headed to Ikea first and it was Akter's first time in the store - so we did a quick whirlwind to find what I needed then off to the next stop ...we made it through the cashiers just before the evening prayer time (most stores close for about 15-20 minutes for this). The off to the next place for a cell phone ... I wanted an Android phone (I like the OS) and the store was very close to Ikea. We found a parking place (crazy parking lot) and went into the mall which was inundated almost exclusively with people wearing white thobes (the men) and black abayas (the women) so Akter and myself really stuck out! Anyway, we made it to the store and the salesperson suggested one Galaxy model (the bigger screen) which was SAR1800, far more than I wanted to spend, so he came out with a smaller version with a much smaller price! Akter spoke with the salesperson and got the price reduced some as well so I walked away quite happy :-) We came back to the camp and I picked up an STC card for my new phone so I could actually use it, then Akter brought me back to my house ... he had a good tip that evening for all of his great help!! Needless to say I slept a bit better with some nice linens ... except for the single bed part :-/
Orientation Day Two: Housing
The second orientation was only a half day, consisting of an overview of Dhahran Camp and our housing. The culmination of this was signing our housing contract. The morning prior to this I finally got my network login, but still needed another authorization to be able to do things like order DSL and change my bed from a single to a double. After the housing orientation there were only three other details: get my new mailbox, which I share (ironically) with Arun from the orientation; all mailboxes are shared and any priority/registered mail is notified via company e-mail. After that I got a second key for my townhouse (I expect to lose or misplace one at some time) then went to the bank to see if my temporary account was ready - and it was so it took some time to sign all the papers then get a cheque cashed so I had some more spending money here - I plan on renting a car to get around camp for the next while. I will probably buy one in July or August.
So that concluded the orientation phase ... now I can finally start to work and be a contributing Aramcon! The people I work with have been great and we do socialize a fair amount during the work day, and things still get done :-)
So, were you able to meet other Americans? I know in some countries they have ex-pat association type thing so they can do some get-togethers.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're on track...and you have a local driver :)
ReplyDelete