Advertisement
Published: February 18th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Desert Pigeon in Flight
This one is pretty cool. Double click to enlarge. I like how it's framed between two columns. These are the birds that make the owl-like sound. You always here them. 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. She’s back here for three weeks and it’s the longest she’s been home in a long time. She’s thrilled to have her mother’s home cooking and like most people, what she misses the most is certain dishes (and spices) from home. I told her about Emily’s Lebanese Delicatessen in Minneapolis and we talked about Toubouli and how what foods are unique to Saudi Arabia.
Another Desert Pigeon
Double click this one to make bigger. It's another desert pigeon in flight. Like many of the Participants I’ve talked to, I wish I had time to find out more about their everyday lives.
Today was the end of assessment center number four. It’s always fun to see the look of relief on the faces of the Participants when they realized they are no longer being assessed. This happens before lunch on the second day, and that’s when it’s best to connect with them. They know I’m not assessing them, so that helps break the ice.
Tonight Esbjorn, Wolf, and I went to “Rolling Hills” which is another section of the compound here (they have a rental car and it was about 15 minutes away by car). They have an outside eating area and it was a nice change of pace. There are also two large swimming pools. I came across a few interesting signs, which I’ve attached. I also took a bunch of photos today, so I’m attaching those too.
Tomorrow Glyn and I are off to Khobar. This time my mission is to by six computer mice, a few network cables, and a printer cable. I have the feeling this will make for good blog material!
On
The Noisy Zone
I have no idea what the Noisy Zone is, but I loved the sign. Friday, we were going to go to Bahrain (the island country where the airport is), but that fell apart. Instead we are heading over to Anthea’s house, where she is having a barbeque. She’s the one who showed me the Australian coasters and she is very much an Aussie. Oi. Oi. Oi. as they like to say, right Heather? They have huge prawn (very large shrimp), so she will literally throw some shrimp on the Barbie.
Saturday I’m going with Esbjorn (my travel guide) to Abquiq, which sounds like it would be an ideal Scrabble word. I’ll have to look for it on the map.
And on Sunday, after work, we are going out with the Aramco people to Amici, an Italian restaurant.
So, it’s a busy weekend in The Kingdom (which is how it’s referred to here).
Advertisement
Tot: 0.052s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0241s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Abby
non-member comment
HP
Haha. Thanks for the picture shout-out. :)