The first few days.....

Well Tuesday morning was a great start, I woke up around 5:30 and knew I needed to get started. I was told that since we got in so late that I was not expected in at the regular start at 6:00 AM. I got up and showered got dressed and walked across the street to the Dinning Hall. I had made arrangements the night before with Ray the Sr. Construction Manager to ride in with him. He was the other passenger we had been waiting on. He had just come off his rotation and was not really in a hurry to get in. Breakfast was nice and cold, almost like it had been sitting out for awhile. Well since it opened at 5:00AM I would imagine, this was like 6:45 or so. Anyway it was a breakfast of scrambled eggs, Beef sausage (of course) coffee and orange juice. I forgot how watered down juice tasted in the Middle East but oh well.

After breakfast I walked over to the room and got my bag and headed back to wait for Ray. He strolled out about 15 minutes later and I was glad because it was beginning to heat up and I could feel the wetness on my skin. Ray wanted some coffee so he headed in for a cup and then we were off. The drive was another typical, through Eastern block buildings to the highway. It took about 30 minutes to get to the site but the scenery, well prety much the same, sand, palm trees, wrecked cars, and oil and chemical refineries in the background. After giving the guard at the gate my drivers license and temporary gate pass, we were there.

As we pulled up to the office complex, I noticed the familiarity of the style, and another typical of the Middle East, canvas covering to park the cars under so they wouldn't burn up in the heat. We went in and I was introduced to a nice chap from the UK. He was the F&A (Finance and Administration) guy and Ray asked him to show me around and find John my new boss. As we walked down the long hallway heads turned to see who the new guy was and I met a few of the people I would be working with. Most seemed to be in a good mood so that was a good start as well. We made it to John's office but he wasn't there so Mick called him on the Cell and told him I was there. He said he would be along shortly he was down at our Superintendents building. It is another complex that is closer to the site where we are building the units. As we waited he introduced me to a couple of the guys that would be working for me, and some chit chat about IT stuff. He eventually left me because John was taking longer than expected. I told him I would be fine I sat down got out my Laptop and started logging in to check email.

After about 10 or 15 minutes John came in and we introduced ourselves and sat and talked for quite awhile about what he expected and what they had been working on. We immediately hit it off and I knew that I had hit a gold mine in a boss he was going to be very easy to work with. You know you never know what to expect when you are going into a new environment but God provided. While we were talking there was noise in the hall and finally he said that he guessed they had finally got my furniture moved in and was I ready to settle in. I said sure and we went into the IT office and talked for a few minutes more. It was a little akward with Ardie my lead who had been there for quite awhile, I wasn't sure how he was going to take having a new boss and all. He is from the Philipines as are one of the two guys that works for me the other is from Napal. I immediately tried to break the ice with him and I think he responded fairly well.

The rest of the day was getting settled in and going through all the emails waiting on me, and the new things I needed to start working on. Around 4:30 Mo our local guy who takes care of getting our clerances, drivers license and Agame (i'll explain this one later), came and got me and said we needed to go to the clinic. I asked him what for becuase I had already done my medical in Houston. He said that it was a new Saudi law that all new Expats (Expatriot)who come into the country must have a Hepititis test, eye test and chest xray before they could submit their paperwork for home status. We stopped by and told John and Mo said he would drop me off at the camp after we were through. We went out to his car and headed to town. The ride was about 20 minutes and we talked about everything, his family, where he lived, how long he had worked for KBR, etc. He even was shocked that we were paying $4 a gallon for gas because they were paying somewhere around 45 cents a gallon here. I was floored I knew it was cheaper but had no idea it was that cheap.

We arrived at the clinic and went inside. Typical Middle Eastern clinic, tile floors, concrete walls, everything painted white. We went upstairs to a waiting room next to the check-in desk where three lovely fully dressed in their buca's including facial veil. He told me to take a seat and he would take care of everything. He knew his way around and he knew EVERYONE. He got us in and out in less than 30 minutes. As we were walking down the stairs he said see I told you it wouldn't take long, ya if I had tried to do that by myself, I would still be sitting there waiting. We got back in the car and headed back to camp. The drive was short considering we had traveled three quarters of the way to town and he dropped me off at the front gate. Before he left, he got in his trunk and handed me a selection of the local fruit, dates. He said you wash these and you will love them, eat them with your coffee and you will have tastes you have never tasted before.

I proceeded to my room and put down my items I had been hauling, my backpack with Laptop and other essentials which weighs in the neighborhood of about 40 lbs. I quickly changed into a pair of shorts and headed across to the dinning room for dinner. To my pleasant surprise, they were serving curry chicken and rice, one of my absolute favorites. They did a good job on it and the green salad and tomatoes with your choice of French, Thousand Island, or Blue Cheese dressing. Now remember we are in the Middle East so they look like what we have at home, but don't nearly taste as good. Anyway I finished up with a quick pice of Apple pie for dessert and a cup of coffee to wash it down with. I headed back to my room and chated with Diane for about an hour before it was time to hit the hay again.

Wednesday and Thursday left nothing to the imagination, pretty much the same ole. Oh we carry a packed lunch everyday because there is no place close to get lunch, usually consist of a couple of sandwhiches, a couple of juice boxes a piece of fruit and a piece of fruit bread. Not bad when you are hungry but I wonder how fast that is going to get old. Well Friday is a day of rest so I will hopefully be able to sleep in and get some much needed rest. Hope you are enjoying, please be sure to leave comments if there is any questions or ideas you have.