Today is my first full day in Dhahran. I woke up at about 6:00 am, which I hope will put me back on schedule. So far, so good. We’ll see what happens as the day progresses. Coming in last night, I saw the familiar Dining Hall and my hotel/dorm at Steineke Hall. I realized that although I don’t have quite the excitement of being here the first time, I do have that great feeling of being comfortable with something I know. It’s kind of like when we go back to our (rented) cabin in western Minnesota. It’s nice to see the [View Full Entry]

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Here I go again! I can hear you now saying “What the heck? I distinctly remember you saying that this was a one-time thing and you’d never be back to Saudi Arabia. And what has it been since your last trip, like one week? What gives?” Yes, I did say that. My last trip to Saudi Arabia was in the month of February, and I returned in early March. I really did think that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I guess when they said “we really won’t need a PDI administrator again” I mistakenly didn’t know that meant “until [View Full Entry]

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(Uploaded on Friday, March 27, 2009) Amsterdam Coda #2 I flew from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi (that’s fun to say). It was just a short stop, well not quite as short as it was supposed to be. The ramp guy must have been a newbie because he couldn’t steer so that it connected to the plane. After about 15 minutes, they gave up and moved stairs over to the plane. The flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam was not delayed despite the tragic crash of the Turkish jet yesterday. Uncharacteristically, the pilot even talked about the crash in order to reassure [View Full Entry]

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Bahrain I left the center at 5:30. It was strange. All at once, we had the wrap-up session, I changed into travel clothes, and the taxi was waiting. I felt like I hardly had a chance to say goodbye to the people that I have worked and traveled side-by-side with over the past three weeks. All of a sudden I was in the cab and heading away. I hate good-byes and this wasn't any different. The next two hours were, to quote a Minnesotan expression "different." (That's a whole lot more than "interesting." Thinking back on it, "different" isn't nearly enough. [View Full Entry]

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Last Night in Khobar I wanted to visit with Manir one last time, and besides, I owed him dinner. We met in Khobar, but first I needed to do a bit of last minute shopping. It was hysterical because everyone recognized me! First I went to the pharmacy to buy some more of my mystery item (I’ll attach a photo) and the pharmacist remembered me from the other night. Then back to the store where I had purchased my coffee pots and the guy recognized me before I was even side. Apparently my good-neighbor discount was still intact and I got [View Full Entry]

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End of Assessment Center #5 OK, it’s coming down to the wire now. There is one more two-day assessment center, starting tomorrow. In fact, tomorrow evening, I’ll do any early checkout from my room, since I need to head off to the center at my usual time of 6:00 or so. Today went well and was uneventful. I was even able to take a brief walk while one of the presentations was going on. It was sunny and warm today, which I’m glad about because yesterday was a sand storm weather. At the center, there is a large screen TV that [View Full Entry]

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The Days are Getting Normal For perhaps the first time, today just seemed routine and “normal.” Not boring, but normal. Partly this is because we’re coming off of a three day weekend, partly it’s because this is the fifth assessment center and I finally have my routine down, and partly it’s because I am habituating to the environment. It’s an interesting thing when that happens. I didn’t even take any photos today, and that’s a first. After work tonight, the Aramco people took us to a nice Italian restaurant in downtown Khobar. [View Full Entry]

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Power Shopping and a New City - Abqaiq This morning I went into Khobar with a mission: Find an Arabian style coffee pot. I took the 8:35 bus in and had between 9:00 and 10:30 to do a bunch of power shopping. I had scene a shop that looked interesting, but when Glyn and I were in Khobar on Thursday, everything closed at noon. So now was my last opportunity to buy some souvenirs of my trip. The motto in Khobar apparently is “buy more and you get a larger discount.” I figured that if I bought the whole store, the [View Full Entry]

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Relaxing Weekend Today started with the signature breakfast dish of The Dining Hall - a waffle, fresh-squeezed orange juice and coffee. I then headed over to the consultants’ flats (Euro-speak for apartments) and did my final laundry. Some of you will be happy to know that I was able to manage on my own this time. In fact, I used the washer and dryer in each of the two flats - one for colored and one for whites. Is this TMI? Esbjorn satisfied my inner-tourist and we drove to Oil Well #7, which is the first well that struck oil in [View Full Entry]

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Shopping for Computer Cables in Khobar We need a bunch of computer cables for the SAC center including a printer cable, network cables, and some spare mice (mouses?). My idea was for Minneapolis to ship this stuff to me. Their idea was to buy it here. Sure, just tell me what Radio Shack is in Arabic. And I’m pretty sure Mapquest won’t work. Since Glyn had not yet been to Khobar, he wanted to go too. I can’t believe that I seem to know my way around Khobar. I caught myself saying “down this street is the Indian section and markets. [View Full Entry]

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