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 Saudi Arabia in 1938 (if I am remembering correctly). It’s right outside of the main gate. Actually there are three guard gates you have to go through to get in here. And within camp, you ... read more

The Start of the Three Day Weekend Let me start by saying that I’m still having trouble with the concept that we have a Saturday holiday. I think the concept of Saturday and Sunday being the weekend is so ingrained in our heads that it’s hard to conceive that it could be different somewhere else. There is so much that we take for granted as “normal” without realizing that it’s normal for us but not for others. Alternate states of normal is something very hard for most Americans and no doubt this is the source of many misunderstandings we have. I was able to talk a bit with Reem (the first woman at the SAC center since I’ve been here). She’s working out of Aramco’s Houston office. She works with Saudi college students who study abroad. ... read more

Dinner in Khobar Tonight I had dinner in Khobar with a friend I met who is from Bangladesh. He is a professor at the local university and has been in Saudi for about four months now. We ate at a Thai restaurant that was excellent. I was not brave enough to order from the spicy food part of the menu, but perhaps next time. The shrimp soup was really fantastic, but I’m not sure they deliver to Minneapolis. Bummer. It was fun to talk to Manir, whose English is better than mine. We discussed our jobs, families, and experiences in Khobar. His wife and family are still back in Bangladesh, but will hopefully be joining him soon. To me, being away from home and family for three weeks is a very long time indeed. However, there ... read more

Every day, especially in the morning when I’m walking to breakfast or the SAC Center, I hear sounds that sound a lot like an owl. It’s pretty loud and it comes from all over. You can hear these birds at all times of the day, every day. They sound louder in the morning perhaps because it’s quieter. I asked one of the Participants what the sound was and they said it was a desert pigeon (not a dessert pigeon, by the way). See www.drhashimbehbehani.com/desertpigeon.html for a bit more detail. The sand storm has blown away and it was bright and sunny today. The wind that was around during the few sand storm days is also gone. You’ll note of course that the weather returned to nice just when the weekend here ended. The not nice weather ... read more

Did I say Today was a Day Off? It's now almost midnight and today turned out to be a bit more work than I anticipated. I went to the Center to setup for Saturday and do a training session for the Consultants. That lasted from noon to 4 pm. But some technical glitches meant calls to Minneapolis, St. Louis, and work for me until 11 pm. :( But the good news is that it’s all fixed and all is right with the world. Tomorrow I’m going with Esbjorn to the beach. I think that must be on the Persian Gulf (aka Arabian Gulf) since I’m pretty sure they don’t have a whole lot of lakes around here! Oasis anyone? I talked to Lu-Anne today, who is a Canadian working at Aramco. She does a lot of ... read more