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!