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Published: April 29th 2009
Today was a really good day. Not only is it the weekend tomorrow (TGIW), but today was a really fun day too. For the first time while here, I conducted two 45-minute training sessions. As Andy Oman will tell you, give a trainer a stage and you give him (or her) the world.
I have to admit that I was a bit nervous standing in front of a group of Saudis talking about “Preparing for Feedback” but it went very well. I felt like I was connecting with them and they were engaged. I know I was! After a long time of conducting training sessions via phone and LiveMeeting it was a real treat standing in front of real live people. LiveMeeting training often has all of the charm of talking to a bulletin board for two hours. So conducting four of these sessions per week will now be added to my agenda.
Tonight a group of us went to Dhahran Hills, which is like a suburb of Dhahran. It’s still in the Aramco compound, but about 10 minutes away. Well, it would be 10 minutes away if we could get there without 15 U turns (make a left
Lou-Anne at the SAC Center
This woman saves my life 10 times a day!
at the sand dune, past the palm tree, go to right of the mosque and toward the mosque that is on the left of the mosque). You take Canyon Blvd to Rolling Hills, to Golf Course Rd, to Riyadh Rd, to Peninsula Blvd in some order or the other and you eventually get there. Poor Pat. There were six of us who wanted to go and the car only (barely) holds five, so there were two of these trips for him. And no two trips are the same! It’s near the Hobby Farm (sort of), but no one knows how to get there either.
Anyway, when I went in February, they had stopped cooking the cheese bread. And, of course, they are known for their cheese bread. And they were also out of Shawarma sandwiches, so what’s the point.
Here’s how it works: You stand on line to order food and pay (this is the first thing you do). I was handed three receipts (one for pop, one for Shawarma sandwiches (sort of like a gyro sandwich), and one for cheese bread). I was also handed one round ticket with a number and one square ticket with a
number. The receipts also had the same numbers on them as the tickets. Except for the receipt without a ticket, which of course didn’t have a number. That one is for pop.
I then stood there looking stupid until someone took pity on me and pointed me to the Shawarma line. I figured I’d keep the receipt and give them the number, or keep the number and give them the receipt. Of course that’s wrong. You just stand there and listen to them call number 32 (I was 86). It’s a long, long, long wait. Finally my number was called and you hand them both the receipt with the number on it, and the square printed number. Why? Who knows.
Then it’s time to go 20 feet back to where the register is and do the same dance at the Cheese Bread station. After waiting since Labor Day at the Shawarma place, I figured I’d be at the head of the line. That myth was shattered when he called 72 and I was 91. So there is lots of time to take some photos (attached). And lots of time to learn how to make cheese bread. Here’s how
you do it. You take a ball of dough and spin it around sort of pizza style. You get that all nice and stretched out. Then you add a square of dough that must be for stability, or perhaps a way to use up yesterday’s dough. Then you add a filling. Apparently “cheese bread” can have minced meat and vegetables, or bananas and honey, or cheese. Or maybe any combination of these.
You then fold it a few times and slap it on a hot metal grill. You then turn down all of the people with the wrong numbers. No cheese bread for you! I swear this guy sounded like and looked like the soup Nazi from the Seinfeld episode. People would hold up their numbers and look pitiful. No cheese bread for you! As each batch disappears, you wonder if that’s the end of the cheese bread (like what happened to me in February). Then he turns to the cashier and says “no cheese bread for anyone.” Some people order cheese bread for an entire village. “I’ll have 4326 cheese breads. To go, please.” But I was lucky. I got the cheese bread!
So now it’s time
Hamour and Sole
The hamour is a very common and good fish. The Dover Sole is stuffed with lobster. No wonder it was so good!
to go to the soda pop line. Fortunately, that’s only an hour wait. I asked for Diet Pepsi and got a can of Coke. I returned to the pop line (Pat warned me that I’d need a return ticket), but once again I was lucky and returned the Coke for a Diet Pepsi. Success.
Attached is photo of the cheese bread, which looks very attractive, as well as me eating it. To tell you the truth, it wasn’t all that great! It’s not the cheese bread, it’s the journey.
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eve
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Just Skip on By the Healthy Food!
Who needs it with all the other fabulous looking stuff! It's just space waster. Totally LOL about the cheese bread. It sure LOOKS good--what a bummer it wasn't worth the wait. OK, I don't know how all of you get any work done after eating all that food, much less how people don't weigh 800 lbs! Great story and pics!