Again I shrug...

Before you ask, no, I won’t continue with the ‘dear-diary’ format of day-to-day recording. That would be boring. But for now, it is a little useful.

Day 1: I stumble out of bed the first day in-country at the crack of noon-30. I was obviously knackered. Figured I check out my email and find that I’ve got an email from the HR guy (who I's going on vacation for the rest of the year tomorrow BTW) that he has been trying to call me. Hmmm, phone in the apartment isn’t working. Ominous start to the day. At this point I don’t even remember all that went on the first day – it’s a fog.

Today is the start of the orientations of the departments on the compound. So far so good. Unfortunately, about half the ones I need to complete are with people on break until next year. That is about par for the course given my experience thus far. We’ll adapt.

I get the security overview, fairly stock for an ex-pat but there are some unique requirements due to the nature of this business. For instance, if I want to go on a trip, which I obviously will if you have read my other blog, I have to let them know where, when, how long, etc. Now a lot of this is directly for my safety and I get that, local trips aren’t a problem, but it has not been my MO in the past. I’m more of an impulse traveler.

The vehicle overview is really interesting, not only do I get a vehicle (more on that later) but the company pays for the gas as long as I get a receipt and the mileage. (Why is it still called ‘mileage’ when the units are kilometers and liters instead of miles and gallons?) The motor pool manager is a hoot, we will get along just fine. He does point out that there are some serious consequences to certain infractions on the highway and there are a LOT of cameras for stop lights, speeding, not getting into the correct lane before turning, etc. This has a lot to do with the improvement in traffic I saw earlier. He points out that all the company vehicles have GPS to help find us if there is a problem, break down, etc. (Likely also in the event that one of the vehicles is cited in an accident, etc. they can prove if the car was even in the area. Company vehicles are a common scapegoat in an accident even if it wasn’t that driver’s fault.)

I did notice that it seems some people here have F150 4x4s so I ask my boss o/b (on base/compound) if I can get that instead of a car, he says he’ll see what he can do. So, we walk over to the motor pool office and have a chat with this guy, after a little more back and forth he says he’ll see what he can do, my boss says to us that I should check back every week. I like the way these people here get along. (I spoke with my boss the next day and he told me that the motor pool manager came to him the next day and asked if I would really come in every week, worried like. Haha. Those who know me probably can figure out how I’ll play that.)

The HR guy runs me by the dispensary to pick up the sample bottles for my series of tests to get my Iqama, one for spit, one for pee, and a third for poop – again. After that long trip getting here I have my doubts if they will get the last one in a timely manner if you know what I mean. No pressure!

On to IT for their orientation, this will put the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional! The manager is a really nice guy but he is shocked at the fact that I don’t have any ‘assets’ with me – phone, computer security fob, laptop. Apparently he has been trying since July to make sure that everything is handed out in the U.S., some things must be difficult to get in KSA and they have to find them in Dubai. That’s not the worst though. The good news is that he sets me up with a phone; the bad news is that it is a dumb Nokia from the last millennia. At least it is connection w/in the country. The really bad news? Zero access to my account (w/o a fob or key card) so no laptop. I am truly stuck. Looks like I will be visiting IT on a daily basis for the foreseeable future.

I get to meet the guy who handles paperwork like visas, etc. Nice guy, he tells me that the motor pool guy can be problematic if you take all his advice (did I mention that the guy can’t always keep a straight face when he’s telling you how to act – my kind of people.)

There is a restaurant by the pool and a small convenience store next to that so I’m OK for now. The building and grounds are well kept and the building construction is orders of magnitude better than the accommodations when I was in Jizan. And the weather is beautiful. 

View to the west.

View to the east.

Day 2: Show up at 7:00 a.m. raring to go – nobody is in the office except for Sayeed the office guy. My fault, I didn’t ask what time to show up. No worries, I get some coffee and look at all the pretty pictures on the walls and catch the typos on the company channel showing on the monitor. About 7:30 my HR guy shows up and we head to the dispensary for more lab tests and x-rays that I’m sure weren’t done right in the U.S. or they wouldn’t have to re-do them here. So a driver takes the nurse and me to a local lab/doctor’s office building just down the road a ways. As I fully expected I wasn’t able to give a s**t so we still need that sample. So, I give it the old college try after the x-rays and the rest, as they say, is history. Now they can submit for my Iqama (the official document that lets me stay & work in KSA.)

Not much else for today and since it is Thursday (TAIT) the weekend starts tomorrow. Onward to Panda!