Questions and Mellow in Bahrain

Had really mellow weekend in Bahrain and jsut got back this evenining. If ever there, try to stay at hte diplomat and make sure Raja hails your cabs. Taxis there are into quite a racket, as everything is negotiable and they start there fares at 5 or 7 BD (18-24 USD) for a 1-3km trip. Ridiculous. if they give you too much trouble ask to see their watch or cuff links and use that as a bargaining matter, cause they are more than willing to bring up that fact that you are US citizen and assume your rich. Funny thing is they have meters, but won't use them.

All in all a very mellow weekend. Got some sun and some good meals, smoked some sheesha. had a chance to see Bill W in Bahrain too.

My questions are this:

Where to stay in Paris for three days? I was able to get a travel book for London, but do not have any lit or advice on Paris. So, If you have been there, I am open to suggestions. I am trying to stay in a Holiday Inn, but if you know a good area to base out of or a hotel that is a must stay at, let me know.

Also any suggestions from folk on must do's in either of these cities, is greatly appreciated. I have 2 days in London and 3 in Paris.

Thanks everyone for your comments, they really keep me going. I have gotten a little bored with the mundane routine over here and have been missing home a bit. Less than 2 weeks left in Saudi though, then a little adventure before getting back stateside, so I am sure this last couple of days here will fly by.

Ciao!

Want a date!!!!!!!! Plenty in Saudi!!!!!!

Another cloudless sunset from Saudi this evening. I was lucky enough to have fine specimen to photograph this evening as the sun was setting. But we'll get to that below....

BBC and Damman International is reporting 109F but it is 9pm so I think that may be a little delayed, that or I am getting used to the heat. High today was 116F, it really does zap you if you go out in it for a bit. When I came home from work this evening I went to work out and post workout I drank a 1.5 of water in ten minutes, no problem, still thirsty. Tough to keep hydrated for sure. Here's my sell, Certain-Dri, if you don't mind putting mysterious over the counter products under your arms, you will find that this stuff will you dry even in the swimming pool. One noticeable side effect; whereever you don't put the product will sweat, for me, I found out that my legs can sweat pretty profusely, lol. Moderation is key. Now that you are either grossed out or have a grin on your face, let's talk about my sunset silohouette photo shoot with my date.
















Date palm that is. Date Palms are decorative, native and productive around here. They are everywhere in the Middle East. I mean everywhere, probably everyother tree you see is a Date Palm. Take a look at my photo shoot.

The kicker is: its fruit, you can eat, birds can eat, cats, people, shoot anything can eat it. Its food and it everywhere. Its would be like having banana trees growing everywhere you go. Not that you can eat every banana you see, but if you were to find a tree that was riping, game on.


People stop and pick dates on the highway and of course you can buy all sorts of date products, from spread to chocolate covered or pistachio stuffed dates. Good stuff, I'll try to smuggle some back for the Denverites.

First we have a regular shot, then sepia-toned, then B&W and finally a cyanotype. This date palm is on our Compound just down the street from my studio apt.

These are dates that getting ripe. More yellow = more ripe; green, not good.

Another quick update before calling it a night: If you have been keeping up with me lately, you'll know that I was applying to a Graduate Petroleum Business Management Program at Colorado School of Mines. Well, I woke up last night, checked my email and had a lot of trouble getting back to bed, because they sent the acceptance letter. I really didn't think this was possible, like c'mon no way. 5-10 years ago, I would have told you hell no don't want to go and really just didn't think it was possible, not for me. I stand on the other side of the planet (so really, either you or me, one of us, is one our heads relatively speaking) telling you that impossible is an opinion. You can do anything with a little faith, effort and persisitance. Persistance [is the key, it] alone is omnipotent (except from my favourite quote, name the President...????). Dodging the "Peter Principle (I think)" and live from Saudi.

Ciao and thanks for your support, love and time reading my blathering.

Lazy Weekend in Saudi

Not much to write about this past week. I have been doing the work thing and laying low in the evenings. Today is our Sunday and so I went to the pool and read a bit. We are planning on ordering Dominoes for delivery tonight. They have many food chains over here. It seems every city I have been in has: Cinnabon, Chilis, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, "Kentucky"--- Fried Chicken that is, MicD's, BK, Dominoes, Friday's. Still pretty compound bound and that can get draining. We are headed to Bahrain next weekend to get out of the Kingdom.

Its 3pm and here are the weather observations.
Current Nearest Observations:sunny 118°F (8 mph)Relative Humidity (%): 8,Pressure (mB): 998, Steady,Visibility: Good

Just a little update.

World Cup, Hair Dryers and Rhythm

I have been back in Saudi for 4 days now and am back in a rhythm. Things going well at work as we have laid out what needs to happen before we leave and over the next couple of months. This is where the work starts getting fun because you are building deliverables and taking a alot of action torward the larger goal. Basically you get a lot of the talking about the issues out of the way, develop a plan ot target certain isssues and surgically make the change to improve.

Outside of work, there is the pool, excercise, food and tv. The TV has mostly been on World Cup action. Still I am a "Mythbusters" junkie. Suadi has a game tonight; US tied Italy last night and has a game in Thursday against Ghana. Ghana played great in their last game against Croatia, big win for them as it was the first African country to win in Germany's World Cup finals this year. When I went through Frankfurt on the way out the airport was definately in a buzz. Lufthansa has free foosball table set up throughout the airport and I had to pull the trigger on a World Cup golf shirt.

I will say during the midday heat is as if someone is following you around with a hair dryer. Not that I really know too much about using a hair dryer, but I am sure it is similar. It has not been humid, but definately highs of 110 or so. Its supposed to get hotter and more humid, just makes me laugh thinking about it.

Gotta prep some stuff for work tomorrow so thank for reading again.

Ciao!

Pics from Dubai Trip - 6.13-6.15

Photo from the place where we were staying, looking at the Burj Al Arab.

They had hand painted camel statues all over the property.

The 3 most recent Sheiks for UAE: Left to Right: Current Sheik of Dubai, Late Sheik of Dubai with the vision it currently lives out, Sheik that resides over UAE. You see these 3 pictures everywhere, from billboards to behing the entry way of every business or hotel.

Photo taken from the Madinat looking over the Arab motif resort at the Burj Al Arab.

This is a photo of me in front the glass wall at Mall of the Emirates separating the shopping from the skiing. Yes skiing, they have an indoor ski slope to ski on here, even though it is at least 105 degree outside when this was taken.

More to come tomorrow.

In Flight Update

Lufthansa has internet on board their flights. I am flying over the Arabian Pennisula right now. Seems like it is easier to go east than west, less stressful on the bod, I don’t know?

So I lucked out with a couple that gave me their window seat on the 9 hour trans-atlantic. The Frankfurt Bahrain flight maybe has 15 people on it total and this is no small plane, Airbus 330, 2 aisles and 7 seats across. Seriously though 10 people in economy. They are continuing onto Abu Dhabi so maybe they are picking up passengers in Bahrain.

I just remembered that on the flight to Denver I found a fly on the plane which brings to mind how confused that fly was going to be after he got out in Denver. Hehe.

I thought it might help if I gave you an idea of what a typical day looks like schedule-wise.
5:00am – Wake-Up, Shower, Shave, Check Personal Email
5:45am – Eat Breakfast, eggs to order with the eggception of “eggs bene” (bastards) plenty of beef bacon though
6:15am – catch the contracted bus to work with about 20 other employees staying on this compound.
7:00am – Arrive at work, like clockwork, never late
Work till 4:30 with a break for lunch. Lunch is delivered from the compound.
4:30pm – Catch bus back to compound
5:15ishpm – Arrive back at compound
Evening is open: sometimes we all get together for dinner, other times we fend for ourselves. Most of us work out in the evenings. Sounds like World Cup might be the attraction for the remainder of the trip. Usually up till 10:30ish though. b

Gotta run gotta land.

Whirlwind in Denver

I came home to Denver for a little rest and relaxation this past weekend. Fortunetly there were many a friend in town for a bachelor party. The bachelor, Drew Jones, will be marrying the coolest and prettiest gal in all of Washington, DC come November in a destination wedding planned for St. Thomas. The weekend was organized by "A Boy Named Suh", Ben Suh that is, and man was it action packed. Friday- Wakeboarding and barbeque; Saturday- Golf, Pro Lax Game at Mile High with Drew taking the halftime skill challenge (2 for 3), Bar Hopping; Sunday- Advil and Brunch. Below are some pics from the wakeboarding. You will see a couple of the participants: Bachelor Drew Jones, Captain Lorin Ting laying down some serious turns on a single ski, Drew catching air on the wakeboard, Ben Suh carving on the broadcast board in the wake, Andrew Juedes catching some rays, and me on flag duty for Andrew (jk).






































As for me, I am off to Dubai tommorrow for 2 days before getting back to work in Saudi for another month. To those of you I didn't see enough of while here this time, my apologies for being so brief and to those I didn't see at all, I hope to see you when I am back in July.

Thanks for reading and if you know someone who should be reading this, please forward a link to the blog. Thanks!!!

Headed home for a bit - GO Vaidisova!!!

So after 3 weeks of workshops, culminating in the HR workshop which ended today, we are going to take a week break before we begin the implementation portion of our work in Saudi. These workshops are a forum for talking through the ways to improve and then the implentation is where the action to improve actually happens. The HR Workshop was very enlightening for me for this reason: The particpants seems to get caught up in trying to explain how different they are from the rest of the company and this really held them up from discussing a solution. Fact is, every single problem we were presented with on the first day of the workshop has been encountered elsewhere within the organization at one time or another and to an equal or greater degree. So if you can get over the fact that you are different, you can get to the solutions. The funny thing is that many of the solutions that we concluded will be templates or sucessful practices tried elsewhere, so talking about how different you are seems to be a stall tactic or or evidence of the resistance to change. It can be draining.

My challenge to you is to look for the similarities in life, not the difference; relate, not contrast.

Anyway, I leave tomorrow, Wednesday night at like 1:30 in the morning to start back home. Turns out ot be 25+ hours of travel but I arrive in Denver at 3pmish Thusday due to traveling with the sun. I will be home till Monday at 5pm MST and then back to Dubai for some R&R Middle East style. Looking foward to a little break from work. Hope to talk to and see many of you while back for bit.

Clouds, Meals and Certified POV's

I was on the phone with one of my favorite people on the planet the other day when it was mentioned there was some weather moving through, huh, funny. I have not seen a single cloud the entire time I have been here, no lie, not one, none, zero, zilch, no clouds, really. And everyone keeps telling that it isn't hot yet. The pool is about 90 degrees F and its refreshing.

Yesterday was our Sunday. We had plans to meet up with a friend of the team who is a Jordanian born, UK educated, Dubai resident, kind of arabic speaking (a lot better than any of us) consultant at the local college, King Fahad Univ of Petroleum and Minerals, the only english speaking school in the Kingdom, mind you colleges are only for nationals. He picked us up in the University issue Crown Vick with its cushy ride and we headed toward the Gulf to a hotel that is in Khobar. We were going for a lunch buffet, price 115 Saudi Riyal, well worht if seeing as it became a 7 course meal. So after an excercise in glutton we went to Dhahran Mall to see what was happening on a Friday afternoon. Turns out most of hte stores were closed for the morning, rember its Sunday, kind of. But Starbucks was open, so we did that. By now its 3pm and we go to leave the mall......
.... I walked outside and almost lost some of starbucks through my nose it was so freaking hot. I just started laughing, b/c remember its not hot yet. Anyway, went for nap and skipped dinner.

Today we got taken out by our Gov Relations guy, he is a 26 year employee and started with KBR in Khobar in 80, to a kind of touristy restaurant that winds respect from locals as well. Is was great, straight Arabic Cuisine, bu to be honest, still not quite so sure what it was. Well I know the fish was hamour, there was lamb which was great and lots of rice, hte best pita bread I have had since being in teh middle east, a different authetic tasting hummus and some more Saudi Champagne that was more a mix of lots of fruit with carbonated water. Again, skipping dinner.

So onto the Certified POV. POV huh???? Point of View, I will say that my openmindedness has been put to the test and it is just welcome challenge to try and view the world, another couple of customs and all the sights while watching your back simultaneously. It can be adrenalizing and really keep you on your toes.

But that's not the POV I wanted to mention. Dad, as a Certified Pre-Owned Volvo owner I encourage you to take a look their line of 4 door sedans with low mileage. You know I love mine. The sedans I have found have awesome pick up and handling (I should know after my trip in one 2 days ago on the Saudi impromptu grand prix through town), and are great on road trips. Enough of a sales pitch from me, as Volvo hasn't started cutting me checks yet.

Good night ya'll enjoy your weekends. Thanks for reading my babble.

Bass~Master 2007 Champ

Here we have an avid rookie to the sport who is an champ-to-be angler out of Bluffton, South Carolina. He hasn't even gotten to the point of investing in the brand new Triton bass boat with flames down the side, but he is yanking Bass and Blue Gill by the gross out of local lagoons in the Low Country of SC. "Why get a boat when you have your wife's Schwinn", he told us. He has been perfecting his technique after a couple of primarily social fishing trips to Lake George, FL where he learned how to tie knots. After a recent cast when he accidentally hooked "Croc Hunter" legend, Steve Irwin, while he was snorkeling for aligators, Irwin was quoted, "Crikey, look at the hip pack on this four eyed monster, he's ready for anything, gotta Foster's mate?" Our angler didn't have the brew, but asked about Bass spawning to which Irwin was not hesitant in demonstrating knee deep in water his version of the Bass reproductive cycle with a fish he caught bare handed "noodlin style". Our rookie reported, "I am bit disturbed and feel violated, I think I will go home and take a shower" Just then an aligator slid up on the bank and both Irwin and our angler ran like school girls.

Dad, congratulations on your success bass fishing, I want you to teach me your technique sometime. Glad I could create some proganda to kick off your new career, but don't go quitting your day job just yet though.

Thobes, Abayas, Sheesha, Prayer Schedule...

Here you see a close up of where I am. The pen points to Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia and the leatherman to the country of Bahrain which is where we fly into. Note the causeway. Also included is the prayer schedule for the year for the city of Dhahran. Dammam, Dhahran and Al Khobar are all part of a hustling eastern Province that thrives on the oil business (like the rest of KSA doesn't ha). Many expatriots live in this part of the country.
This is a quality shot of me smoking some sheesha before dinner. I talk a bit more in depth about this in the post below this.

On the business side, its funny, a lot of the problems we run into stateside with employees and training are similar. For example, sourcing engineers and people that want to work the oil field operations lifestyle. Aramco, the Saudi National Oil Company gets first pic of engineers from schools, just like all the oil majors in the states. We can't compete and the field ops guys are hard to find b/c no one in their right mind wants to work 80 hour weeks in extreme weather in the middle of no-where. So similar problems, different culture.


On traditional dress. Most national men that are not having a western kind of day tend to sport a thobe and muslim woman an abaya. The thobe is what Mohhamed wore, it is a white robe with a variation of collar depending on the country you are from. Saudi do a 2-3 inch straght neck cuff, Bahrainis tend to an actual collar, Dubaians have shorter straight neck cuff (correct me if you know better). Most thobes have pockets for wallet and other stuff on the side seam and you wear a cloth wrap instead of underwear and sport a undershirt if you like. Very uncommon to see a westerner in a thobe, have heard a rumor that it is illegal for westerner to impersonate a muslim national, but it looks pretty comfortable especially considering temps are regualarly above 100 every day now. Sometime you see sharp looking men with cuff links, mind you gold with fancy jeweled inlay, on their throbes; pretty GQ. With the throbe comesthe headware- the hat, headscarf and rope. This varies by nationality as well, but most Saudis stick with a red and white checker pattern head scarp and black rope. Bahrainis and UAE you tend to find white headscarf and black ropes.

The abaya on the other hand is very simple and black. I have seen a couple with studs or ornate colored trim, but this is definately the exception. The abaya is worn by all women when in public, even western woman. Woman are always accompanied to and fro by a man unless maybe at the mall, so I hear (kind of funny). Women do not drive anywhere in Saudi! not even westerners. And wondering eyes are highly discourage as women are traditionally thought of as property, at least thats the way this westerner sees it (I am going to take some heat for that line for sure). Western women tend to cover up in public but shed the layer upon arrival to private residence as long as it is not Saudi. head and face scarves are worn as well by most traditional Saudi women, these too are also black. Westerners or other women tend to just wear the abaya.

I don't have any pics of traditionl wear, because I think it would be offensive for me to take a picture of someone just to take picture of what they are wearing; I wouldn't want someone to do it to me. I also hear that picture taking of a muslim takes their soul or somehting like that, hence it is invasive and frowned upon.

More later. I hope you all are doing well back in the states, I miss ya.

Saudi Champagne; Cheers!

We made a trip over to the Oasis Compound 2 nights ago, which is about a half mile away or so. This is where there were attacks and casualties 2 years ago, to the weekend, of which we are very conscious of, and have canceled a trip to the town of Hofuf to check the Date Plantations and the market. Too much road time, 3 hours, not worth the exposure this weekend. Anyway went over to the Oasis Compound for a send off party for a 20+ year employee who has been in Saudi making a very positive impact with Aramco for the past year. It was a buffet for about 40 and the food was amazing. A new friend and Saudi national, Abdullah Al-Sherey (eek spelling) who is one our lead Government Relations reps (you don't do anything in Saudi with out the government's blessing) was ordering a Saudi Champagne. I asked what that was seeing as I didn't think muslims drank and that there was no alcohol in the country and he said with a smile that it was Perrier and Apple Juice mixed. My kind of drink, make that 2 please. We are sticking around the compound this weekend for the above reason really, might go out for brunch tomorrow, but I thought I would post a pic.

This is a map of the area with the pen pointing to Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, where we live and the leatherman pointing to Dubai. Laying on top of the map you see a prayer schedule and some Emirates (UAE) currency. Different denominations of currency are bigger or smaller relative to size over here. Most depict a Sheik on oneside and a mosque or other national monument on the other. Holograms and shadow images in the paper are used to prevent counterfitting. The texture is very worn paper almost clothlike and the paper is very durable physically.

Another customary thing we have had while over here is Sheesha. Sheesha is smoked through a water filtered hookah and is extremely smooth, no coughing. It is also a pretty mellow tobacco buzz. You do not put direct flame on sheesha to smoke it, instead you use charcoals placed on top in foil with holes through it and burn it this way. Thanks for visiting.