Coaching Day My friend eve knows what the weird bird is that I photographed! It’s called a Hoopoe. According to Wikepedia, “The Hoopoe is widespread in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It migrates from all but the southernmost part of its range to the tropics in winter. Hoopoes were considered sacred in Ancient Egypt and symbols of virtue in Persia, but were thought of as thieves across much of Europe and harbingers of war in Scandinavia.” Today was the last day in the cycle. In between Assessment Centers, there [View Full Entry]

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First Assessment Center Completed While you were sleeping I was starting Day 2 of the first assessment center. Of course, that’s only fair since I had my weekend on Thursday and Friday. This morning I had a conversation with Kim, who is the caterer. He’s there all day long serving food, cleaning up, etc. He’s from the Philippines and tells me that his dream is to live in the US. I hope he makes it. He’s a great guy, but the only thing is that I can’t get him to stop calling me “sir.” Today I had a bit more time [View Full Entry]

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First day with Saudi Participants I didn’t have time to scout out the route to the Assessment Center last night because Esbjorn and I went to Khobar and it was dark when we got back. So of course, it was even harder to find it this morning - in the dark. Wait, there’s more. So I walk down the three flights of stairs from my room, go outside, and it’s raining! What the heck? It’s Saudi Arabia, for crying out loud. Fortunately, being a good prepared Minnesotan, I had packed a umbrella. (I did leave my snow boots at home, however.) [View Full Entry]

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Shwarma in Al Khobar Today was the second day of the weekend, so it's off to work tomorrow. I'm getting more comfortable by the hour. I mostly worked today, entering GPI scores into Excel spreadsheets (hey Paula, please note that Ted is working hard even on his days off!). But don't cry for me (Argentina). I was able to sit outside in 70 degrees in the sun with my laptop. However to speed things up, I went back to my room and made good time entering scores by using both the desktop in my room next to my laptop (one to [View Full Entry]

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I made it! Dateline: Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Yesterday, the borders were actually very easy to pass through without any hassles. The drive from the country of Bahrain to the Aramco place in Saudi Arabia took about an hour, including getting finger-printed at the border (that's a one time thing), so I got here at about 11 pm (local time) and went to sleep at about midnight. It's very weird seeing people dress in Arab clothing. The women are dressed in a mix of western clothes for westerners and partial or full covering for Middle Eastern women (including the full black dress [View Full Entry]

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Ba ba ba, ba ba Dhahan - Beach Boys The Aramco compound, in Dhahran is about 30 in-land from Al Khobar. This evening I took the bus with another consultant to Al Khobar because two of the consultants are staying there (because of a shortage of apartments here). Al Khobar is a much larger town than Dhahran. It was great to get into the "real" Saudi Arabia, but it's disconcerting to see Applebees in Arabic (it is also in English; otherwise I would have no idea, of course). Applebees in Saudi Arabia is just wrong! They also have Chili's here, but [View Full Entry]

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Amsterdam I’ve arrived in Amsterdam. It’s a little disconcerting because all the signs at the airport are in English, but I’m actually hearing people speak Dutch. I only have an hour before I board, so I can’t “go Dutch” but I took photos of tulips and wooden shoes in the gift shop. My parents bought my sister and me wooden shoes when they went to Europe many years ago. Let me tell you, there aren’t many places a ten-year old boy can wear wooden shoes in New York, but I was the only kid on the block with wooden shoes! However, [View Full Entry]

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Not Too Shabby I'm sitting here in the Northwest airlines lounge at the airport, and it's nice to know how the other half lives! Part of the deal is that you get to fly Business Class and one of the perks in the use of the airport lounge. (Note to PDI'ers: Not to worry, the client pays for the airfare -- your gasoline dollars at work.) There are comfortable chairs and tables, free liquor, chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, but I'm a sucker for the chocolate chip cookies. There appear to be around six employees doing stocking food and drinks, [View Full Entry]

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Before the trip - Minnesota This is the first entry for my blog. And this is my first blog. So this is really the beginning... It's Friday night before my trip and I wonder if I really know what I'm doing. I feel as inexperienced in about what I'm going to do as I am in writing a blog. Yet, here I am writing a blog, so maybe I'll figure out what I'm supposed to do when I get to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia. All I can picture is Lawrence of Arabia. And oil. Lots and lots of sand and [View Full Entry]

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