Len gets ready for repat trip

Hello Friends !!

Well I have been here for five paychecks now (five plus months, but the paycheck statement brings a chuckle from my fellow Aramcons). I am getting ready for my trip back to The Woodlands to spend some vacation time at home with Jane and Lauren (and Belle the dog). I thought I would share some random photos with you, and a short story with each before I head back.  I will be in Houston from this Thursday until Lauren's Nutcracker performance (she dances the Waltz Queen on Saturday afternoon, seats are still available :-) ).

With all the Arab Spring stories in this area, I am sure you have heard of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Bahrain is an island nation, and is about 20 miles from the ARAMCO camp in Dhahran. Bahrain is a more liberal Arab nation in that everyone dresses in western clothes, restaurants and nightclubs are plentiful, you can order alcohol in restaurants, etc. To get to Bahrain, we drive across a causeway which has customs, passport control, etc. Naturally, lines on the causeway can be hours to get across when it is busy. I have only gone twice, both times on off-hours and it takes about 45 minutes total. When the causeway was built, the Bahraini oil company paid for most of it and insisted that they have a monument which is in the photo below.

One of the interesting aspects of living in Arabia are the different foods and drinks.  You think coffee is the same the world over?  Well  Arabic coffee is quite different.  It is made from young beans that are 'kind-of' roasted.  The result is a more bitter coffee that needs sugar, and is served in little cups.  Arabic coffee is always served from a specific urn that is represented in the statue below.  In case you are wondering, I am known as the 'Medium Americano' to the coffee guy in our building at work....

At one time I recall, everyone had thier own 'galleria'.  Houston's galleria is one of the biggest with three or four major department stores (Neidmann Marcus, Nordstrom, Macys, Dillards), an ice rink, two hotels and several hundred stores.  I thought I would show a photo of the Galleria in nearby Khubar Saudi Arabia. 

Finally, for those of you who are worried about me getting out of shape while I am in the Kingdom, well, there is an 8 lane, temperature controlled (yes heated in winter and chilled in summer), lap pool about 1/2 mile from my townhouse on the Aramco camp. It is open to all employees and guests. There is also a 'play' pool on the same site, so the life gaurds strictly enforce lap swimming only!  As you can see, I am enjoying this part of the camp.

Take Care!

Len goes on business trip

Hi folks

Last week I got to go on my first business trip for ARAMCO. I went to a conference in Dubai called Middle East Petroleum and Gas conference. Nothing really crazy happened, but I did get some cool photos of Dubai.

The conference was at a vacation hotel in Dubai (Mina A'Salam at Madinat Jumeirah near Jumeirah Beach). I highly recommend it, right on the beach, several hotel types separates by lagoons / boats. Nice beach with all kinds of activities (jet skis, wake boards,etc). I thought I was in Florida when I was walking around.

Dubai is the Jewel of the Middle East. Interestingly, there are 1.2 mln people there, with 1.0 mln expats. It is truly a melting pot city with folks from all over. As a result it is probably the most progressive city in MIddle East (no need to cover up when going out, wine and beer in hotel restaurants, taxis easy to get, etc). Much of Dubai is skyscraper to skyscraper, most of which are flats for the expats to live in. Dubai also is home to the worlds tallest building.

Much like Houston with painted cattle, Dubai has many painted camels which are really cool

Oh yeah, the conference was interesting. Some high hitting speakers. Ex US ambassador to Iran, ex oil minister from Iran (they didn't hit it off), the Emir of Dubai, oil minister of UAE.

Take care!

World tallest building is on left, in background.

Len goes shopping

Hello friends and family

A couple of recent developments here in KSA -

I got a car to help me get around camp and town. I am now the proud owner of a 2002 ML 320 Mercedes. It is tan inside and out. Bought it from another expat who brought it here from Texas. The purchase went well, then it took 2 weeks to get the paperwork done! Anyway, now I am able to easily get out and about so I have been doing what everyone here does - shop!

The city of Khobar starts right outside the camp gates and goes to the Arabian Sea (about 10 miles). There are a couple places to shop. The first is downtown Khobar which has a shopping district much like you see on TV or in the movies for the Middle East. It consists maily of one story small shops that specialize in certain items. For example there is one store for coffee beans, one for nuts, one for trinkets.... There are a few photos of the shopping district to give you a flavor. These were taken at 8:00 am and are not too crowded. By 11:00 it is so crowded the streets fill with people and you can barely walk, yet alone drive.

Gold jewelers are big here, they seem to be all over the place and sell 18, 21 and 24 gold made into anything. most things are sold at gold content value so they are sold per gram. Unfortunately gold reached an all time high last week so I came home empty handed this trip :-)

Driving here is also an experience. Most roads are either under construction or they need to be. Stop signs at cross streets appear to be optional. And apparently it is OK to park a car or delivery truck anywhere on the street. Most expats from ARAMCO only go to town early in the morning and then head back to camp in the afternoon.

The other place to shop is closer to camp and consists of two large malls and an Ikea store. The malls are about the size of The Woodlands Mall times two. The strange thing to me is they don't have anchor stores. No Macy's, Sears, etc. It is a lot like downtown Khobar with lots of smaller shops, but it is air-conditioned! The shops in the mall a more western - forever 21, GAP, American eagle, Zara, etc. And restaurants like Chillies, Tony Roma, etc.

I have upgraded much of my original rental furniture at Ikea. Most of it is in the Hemnes line (for those of you Ikea fans). I am truly impressed with the bed technology. The mattresses are all combined springs and mattress. I bought one that has a memory foam top and have been sleeping great!

Next time will concentrate on more sights and sounds of KSA.

Ramadan Kareem

Welcome from Saudi Arabia during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan

Islam uses the lunar calendar as a basis and this applies to Ramadan as well. The month of fasting begins with a new moon and ends with a 4 day holiday called The Eid. This is my first experience with Ramadan! So I thought I would share some of my learnings. No photos in this blog, sorry for those of you who need visual effects.

Ramadan Kareem is a greeting during this month. Translated it means Ramadan is generous. During this month followers fast during the daylight hours. No food, no water, no nothing! The evening meal is referred to as Iftar and is usually a large family event. All of my Saudi colleagues are fasting at work during the day. We (the expats) do not eat in front of them. For those of you in the corporate world that means no food or coffee during meetings! We do have a 'sin room' where we can have a bite or cup of coffee. But all coffee stands, snack places, etc are closed. Only the main dining hall is open one hour for lunch.

During Ramadan, the Saudi working hours are 0700 to 1:00. The rest of us work to 4:00. This also applies to support functions like HR, passport, etc. So getting things done at work gets to be a real logistical exercise.


We did have a couple of meetings with our strategy team at night to have some time to think with food. We started at 7:30 PM and went to midnight. I was starting to feel like grad school again :-)

Perhaps the most interesting part of Ramadan is the shopping. Since the majority of Saudis are fasting and meditating during daylight hours, most stores have very limited hours during the day. Big stores (like Ikea and the mall stores) are open from 1:00 to 4:00 during the week. Then open up again at 9:00 at night until 2:30 in the morning. Local shops only open up at night. A group of us went once in the evening, we only made it to midnight. I'm not sure I can do that again, it really messed me up for a couple of days.

The other things is how quiet it is around camp! I went to swim laps after work and on weekends, and it's only 2 or 3 of us in an 8 lane pool. Once I went after work and I was only one swimming. A weird sensation, me and 6 lifeguards watching me go back and forth.

One good thing, the golf course keeps the same hours. So if you are looking for me, you know where to find me.

Take care, next post will be during The Eid.

Week 7

Hello again fro KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)

This post is aimed at flowers of the desert. Just to give you an idea of the weather here, I have been here for about two months now and it hasn't rained once. In fact, it hasn't even been cloudy! It is amazing to some degree that things grow, yet alone bloom at this time of year.

The pictures are taken along the desert jogging path. They have been planted, but they are native plants. Some are watered with spot sprinklers. The cacti however don't get a lot of help.

The white and red flowers remind me of magnolia and oleander that we see in the souther US. However the plants have thicker leave and the blooms last for weeks.

The yellow is a cactus. The cactus bush is about 3 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter. It is huge. It does have the thorns like Snoopy's brother found in the comics. These cool looking plants are everywhere.

The final tree. Is actually a date tree. You can see the almost ripe dates hanging from the middle of the tree. People say that they gather them up from thier yards and use the dates!

That brings this post to a close.

Week 3 / 4

I know that the blog week count is only up to 3, but somehow I've been back to work for 4 weeks now. Not sure how that happened, but I did manage to get paid this week so all is well!

I have been learning more and more about Saudi ARAMCO as a corporation and am impressed at where thet have come from and are now headed. Just to give some perspective, the company started in 1930 and was primary a production company for US majors Exxon, Texaco and Chevron. In 1980s the Saudi company bought out the oil majors and began a journey on it's own. In early 90's it started getting into refining and gasoline, and now is getting into Petrochemicals. In each industry the company is #1 in oil, 5 in refining and 12 in chemicals. By 2020 ARAMCO expects to be a leader in each. Along the way of this journey ARAMCO has built several major hospitals, a major university next to the HQ here, a cultural events center and hundreds of miles of highway and rail. Impressive for a company that has bees independent for only 30 years or so.

I included a couple photos of headquarters and the brand new RD center here in Dhahran. My office is in the 'Tower building' on the 9th floor (next to the top). The Tower is the largest building. The RD center is brand new and starting to staff up. I've been to a few meetings in the facility and it is very nice.

On the home front, I was quite excited to buy a microwave, toaster and a tool set this past weekend. Now I feel much more normal as I can heat up some food like it's the 2010 and not the 1980s again and can fix anything that breaks. Next steps will be real furniture. ARAMCO has given me somethings to use rent free, but as one of my colleagues said the other day - so this is where all the uncomfortable disco furniture went! Anyways, Lauren thinks I should get a bright orange couch. We will have to see.

Week two

I've made two weeks on the job here in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). It is amazing to me how hard it is to remember everyone's name that you meet. For example, I've been to three of four meetings this week with 8 - 10 people. Everyone will introduce themselves, then the meeting happens. Every will remember my name (as the 'new guy'), then after the meeting stalkie conversation about something else! I find I can recall about 2 or 3 names! I guess everyone is right that memory is the first thing to go!  Above is one of the desert scenes from the back of camp, it really makes the rest of camp look like an oasis. 

Outside of work I have found the lap pool (quite nice it is chilled at 78 degrees F). A real relief as the high here has been 110 F all week long. I found there is an informal masters swim workout at 5:15 am, but haven't made it over there yet.

Right behind my town home is a lighted jogging / walking path. It makes a loop of about 2 miles of trail next to golf course and 1 mile on sidewalk next to road. Every 1/2 mile there is a water station that is refilled with water and ice twice a day.

One of the big things to do here in the evening is lighted golf. It gets dark here about 7:00 in the evening. Many folks play after the sun goes down because it is cooler and less windy. Oh, I forgot to mention, the wind here blows around a lot of dust, especially through the summer. So it I s quite nice to be out under the lights.

The course here is extremely well lit as the lights are taller than many of the HS fields in The Woodlands.

I am still trying to get used to the work week (weekends are thursday and Friday). Most folks here tell me thy haven't adjusted after 10+ years.

More next week!

Len town home

Len arrived in his town home Friday about 12:30 local time. Luckily he didn't have to work on saturday! The work week here is Saturday through Wednesday!

Sunday was orination where I met 17 other jet lagged friends. Most of whom are also from Houston.(;

Monday through wednesday were normal work days. I learned that the folks here really need my help! ARAMCO wants to get into petrochemicals in a big way, but everyone seems to think that means something different! Well I met with the corporate transition teapm amd this does sound like a lot of fun!

The Bachelor Pad

Bachelor life is rather lame. I have made a few friends at work, in the neighborhood and at the gym/pool. They have a chilled pool here for lap swimming only. I expect to use that facility a lot. I joined the Rolling Hills golf club, and played 18 this morning. It is truly deser golf so you need to drive the ball well.

The Golf Course

This is what happens if you don't hit the ball in the fairway.

The town home is nice, has LR, KIT, DR, BR downstairs and MB, BATH upstairs. Not quite up to The Woodlands town ones in East Shore, but very American. I did just get an HDTV and satellite, so I am settling in slowly. Most things take more time here than in US, so every tells me to be patient

New TV!