Mufeed

I am learning how things get done here with help of experienced ex-pats. There is the way the new hire manual says, there is the way things actually happen and then there is the way to get things done. I have been waiting on my application to the Saudi Council of engineers to be approved. This is a requirement before I can obtain my Igama (residency permit). Without the Igama, you can’t leave the country, get a Visa, get a drivers license or buy a car. Gary from the UK hears I am waiting for approval. He works in the same department as me and has been in the Middle East a long time. He takes me on a walk into the hallway and says this is what you do. Go into the main HR office/waiting area. Don’t take a number. Don’t wait in line. Go up to counter and ask for Mufeed. Make up a story why you need approval…leaving for holiday, sick relative, kid graduating from college.
I ask for Mufeed and girl at counter goes into back office area , returns and says Mufeed will see you in 5 minutes. Mufeed comes out wearing a white, orange, and black Harley Davidson jacket. I tell him my story and talk about Harley’s. Mufeed owns two bikes. He then makes a copy of my passport and Visa entry number.

The next morning I am approved for the Saudi Council of Engineers.

Gary also has a guy for taking care of the process of transferring title and registering a car. I will be using him when I purchase a car.

An aside: the Visa entry number is a 10 digit number hand written in Arabic in passport when you go through immigration. When I arrived, I was taken to a Saudi Aramco office in the airport and the visa number was translated into English and recorded. This visa number is entered on all government paperwork. Didn’t know how important it was.

Fire Truck

I got to ride in this.

Fire department was doing an event. I went over to check out this awesome fire truck. One of the fire fighters saw me looking at it and came over and asked if I wanted a ride.

I jumped in and he drove me around the block.

This thing has 2 joy sticks to control the two nozzles on the front of the truck. Truck carries foam, powder and water for fighting fires. Afterwards I got to sit in the driver seat.

This truck is awesome.

First Week of Work

I have been sober for 12 days. I have not watched television in 12 days. I do not even own a television.

I set small goals for myself and I accomplished a lot this week. I know how to ride the bus to and from work. I was able to drive to work today without the GPS. I even discovered Saudi Aramco Studio one radio. It is like American satellite radio with pop, 8Os and classic. Station plays the song Dance Monkey by Tones and I. It is my new favorite.

I learned my Arabic numerals. I can write my numbers from 1 to 9. I have no chance speaking the numbers. I am used to my Arabic and English keyboard.

I was able to cook spicy chicken nuggets in the oven without directions. I don’t own a microwave. The box only had directions on how to deep fry.

I had my first date this week. The date seeds are very hard so you remove it and replace with an almond seed.

In my spare time, I’ve become quite the gourmet cook. I made my own recipe BBQ baked beans. It’s really all about the presentation.

Fun Facts

The pool in community is heated in Winter and cooled in Summer.

At work, parking on or over the lines will result in a fine.

F35 raptors are seen flying over head every day. Air Force base is nearby.

If you loose your residency permit card, it is a $500 fine per card. This goes for your kids cards as well. It is advised to not let your kids carry the cards.

The grocery store is called the commissary. In the 80’s, Germans called it der kommissar.

Muslim woman near me at work Graduated from University of Oklahoma with a petroleum engineering degree. I have been to more Oklahoma football games than her.

The laundry facilities explicitly state they will not was undergarments.

Grocery Store

Grocery store is typical. One in community is open 24 hours. I was there at 1 am because I couldn’t sleep so I was able to get some pictures.

I bought U.S. Ranch because it was born in the USA.

I bought a selection of drinks to try. Apple flavor is very popular. The ginger beer is mixed with apple. The Mountain Dew comes in a cute bottle.

I wanted to buy local laundry detergent, but Charlotte wanted boring Woolite.

I got BBQ sauce sweetened with dates for my chicken nuggets. I hope it is Delicio.

The only thing I could find that even resembled tortilla chips was Pacos Tacos. These were $5 for a tiny bag.

Fifty Riyal Bill

After the mall, I went to hangout in the Costa coffee shop. I passed up the Seattle’s best coffee shop. Starbucks is coming soon.

I paid with a fifty riyal bill. The cashier took the bill, examined it and then started showing it to the other workers. He then handed me the bill back and said you keep this. I asked why and he said it was a very rare bill. I got this bill from exchanging US dollars in Houston. It must have been at the bank for a very long time. I need to check the rest of money to see I have more rare bills.

Mall of Dhahran

I ventured outside the community for the first time today. I took one of the shopping buses to the mall of Dhahran. This is one of the largest malls. 70,000 square meters according to Christian who I met on the bus. Square meters doesn’t register with me, but the mall was huge. There were golf cart like Taxis inside to shuttle people around. If you ignore the burkas and the Arabic, it felt like an upscale mall in the USA.

I met Christian who was from the UK because there were only 2 men on the bus and he was carrying the bag that is given to new hires.
All the Expat women on bus wore the abayas, but did not cover hair. The smell of perfume on the bus was overwhelming. This made sense once I got into the mall because there were perfume stores and kiosks everywhere. Stores selling gold jewelry were also prevalent. I’m talking major bling gold.

Charlotte has the designer purse, but she will need some gold accessories, an Abaya with some bling and a couple bottles of perfume.

I ate lunch at Herfy because I thought the name was funny. It was a burger and fry place. The double burger tasted like a mix of Burger King and big boy.

The IKEA, appliance store, Applebee’s and Papa Johns are all next to the mall. These are a 15 minute drive from my house. The fancy mall is another 5 minutes down the road. Maybe I will go there next weekend. There are 5 shopping bus routes that go to different markets and malls.

First Weekend

The workweek in Saudi Arabia is Sunday-Thursday. Weekends are Friday and Saturday. My coworker invited me to his house for breakfast Friday to see his house and meet his family. He has 5 kids and recently moved into one of the newly built houses. House was beautiful and Charlotte will be jealous. After 2 years we will have opportunity to move to any available house through a bidding process based on grade level and years of service.

Inside the house, my coworker built an indoor climbing/swing set/ American Ninja Warrior play set. This thing was pretty awesome. It allows kids to play Inside during the really hot months.

The 10 year old and 6 year old told of their trips to Rome, Paris, Cyprus, Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain. They have lived here 2 years. The 6th grade class takes an international trip as part of the curriculum.

For breakfast they served bacon which is a huge occasion here since pork is banned. Kids were so excited. Bacon had to be rationed so everyone got their share. I learned of several strategies for acquiring and importing bacon.
The family is big into board games including Catan so I’ll have opportunity to play here.

Orientation

I ended day getting food from the Popeyes Chicken food truck and eating in Kings Park. This is the main park in camp where festivals are held.



Orientation is focused on settling in and getting the residency permit (Iqama). We watched the Saudi Aramco IPO live on TV which occurred yesterday. Stock jumped 10% first day and current employees had chance to invest.

There were 10 in orientation all recently arrived in Kingdom. One from Houston who came on same flight as me. Several from Columbia. One from Angola. Several from London. All have family coming to Kingdom at a later dates.


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