Arrival in Saudi Arabia


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Middle East » Saudi Arabia » Dhahran
February 5th 2009
Published: February 5th 2009
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Dining Hall at Saudi AramcoDining Hall at Saudi AramcoDining Hall at Saudi Aramco

Cafeteria food, Middle-East style.

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 with the eye slits). There are many men wearing the white robes. I keep thinking I'm on a movie set! Almost everything is in English and Arabic, so I can read almost all of the signs.

Today I'm a bit more coherent then when I arrived last night. I'm a little groggy, but my strategy of not sleeping on the plane during the day yesterday worked. I'm more or less on schedule even though there is a 9 hour time difference between Minneapolis and Saudi.

They were long flights, but on the plus side, flying business
Stop SignStop SignStop Sign

There are a lot of rules here, but this one is understandable
class (which I think is the same as First Class) is heaven. The chairs have about 52 buttons for adjustments, including two massage modes! The food was excellent and I watched three movies. It’s good I’m not a big drinker because the opportunity to get obliterated is certainly there. However, even I couldn’t eat all of the food they offered. Yes, there is a world of difference between five dollar snack packs and what they get in the front of the plane. On the other hand, it costs about four times the price.

But however nice 15 hours so hours of flying are (Minneapolis to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Bahrain) it still is really, really long.

Today I met up with an Aramco person today who is the registrar for the assessment center and she showed me around (remember it's the weekend) so I have my bearings a bit. I also was able to get my temporary ID, so I can go into various buildings and get into and out of "camp" (as they call it). Pleasantville (as I call it) looks like Phoenix or southern California, except Arabic flavored instead of Spanish. It's about 70 degrees
Steineke HallSteineke HallSteineke Hall

This is where I'm staying
today and sunny, so that's a big plus too. It’s enough to make a Minnesotan cry. Uff-da.



Additional photos below
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Aramco TruckAramco Truck
Aramco Truck

This is an Aramco truck outside of Steineke.


5th February 2009

6 am in Dallas
Glad to hear you arrived safely, Ted, and that the long-haul flight was cushioned (literally and figuratively) by Biz Class! It's fun to see the photos (I've always wondered what the Aramco compound looks like - post more of those!). Who's "in town" from PDI for the program?
5th February 2009

YAY! Glad you made it!
5th February 2009

Dhahran?
So I don't see Dhahran on your blog site's Saudi map. Where is it, geographically? Weather-wise, it looks like a great place to be today. But sunny Missouri is supposed to reach mid-50's today and 60's tomorrow. With all the comforts of home! Glad all is good . . .
5th February 2009

Ba ba ba, ba ba Dhahran
Dhahran is about 30 miles from Al-Khobar, which is the coastal (Persian Gulf) city you drive to from Bahrain. The Aramco compound is in Dhahran. I'll see if I can update the map, but they are pretty close to each other. It was about 70 or so here today and sunny. Of course it's mostly always sunny here. In the summer though, it goes up to 110 or more. Unlike Phoenix, it's humid too. That's why they wear the flowing robes.
5th February 2009

Aramco Life
Heather, I posted a few more photos today of the Aramco compound. One problem is that you can't take photos of women or even have them think you are taking a photo with them in it. That limits opportunities. So far Peng Fu from Shanghai and Wolf Wittwer from Australia are here. Tomorrow brings Pat Smith from the US, Sinclair Stevenson from England, Glyn Lawrence not from Arabia, but from Hungry, and Esbjorn Hansson from Sweden.

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