Today was a day for meeting people. Before I left and before I knew I was returning to Saudi, I received an email from a guy who lives in Seattle who had stumbled across my blog. It turns out that his boss asked him in a meeting if you would be willing to go to Saudi Arabia on an assignment at Aramco. Bob thought his boss was putting him on. He wasn’t. Does any of this sound familiar? Bob had never traveled outside of the US, except to Vancouver, Canada and that hardly counts as out of the US (apologies to all Canadians who are reading this). He received no cultural information and was a bit overwhelmed. His wife was a bit worried too. Fortunately a few emails from me put him at ease and the ... read more

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 April.” Two weeks ago I got an email to see if I’d be willing to return and a week ago yesterday, the client’s funding request was approved. So first I checked with Linda (thumbs up) and then ... read more

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. We went at supersonic warp speed until we got near the Saudi/Bahrain border. Then it was your worst highway nightmare. It made driving in New York on Thanksgiving Day look like space shuttle speed. It ... read more

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 always has CNN showing. During a break, I was talking to some of the Participants and CNN was showing the Oscar winners. I mentioned that I had seen and really like Slum Dog Millionaire. I ... read more

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 discount would be 100% and I’d get everything for free. Well, not quite. However, I did find my coffee pot (and bought another one as well). I also bought an Aladdin’s lamp, the kind you ... read more