Romancing the Commode, or 3 Lessons Learned

Seafood lasgna is evil. In one fail swoop, I was robbed of my pride, dignity, self respect, well being, and social life. I exxagerate - I am not a prideful person. I became the feeble excuse of a man, chained to the commode, which would become my best friend over the ensuing days. The symptons of food poisoning are unpleasant at best. That night was one of the longest nights of my life. I was suffering from a wretched gut and cold sweats. I terribly wanted and needed to sleep, but I dared not, lest the dreaded accident sneaked up and pounced. I was worn ragged by the morning. I survived the first night of battle against an ominous foe. My only casualty was one pair of underware. Under the circumstances and odds, I thought that I had faired well.

It was more than a day since I had eaten, and liquids passed through on what seemed like a shorcut through the system. Drastic circumstances called for drastic measures. I was not getting better, so I decided that my only chance was to make the dash to the pharmacy. I waited for what seemed like an oportune time, and skulked out to my minivan. When I sat down in the driver's seat, I felt a wave of comfort from the solar radiant energy coming through the window. It was soothing against the cold sweat that I was having. I reclined the seat to relax for just a few minutes. The next thing I remember I was gasping for breath as I was slowly cooking in the van. You have probably heard of the frog that does not hop out of the water if it is gradually heated. I stumbled back to my apartment in a daize. It took every once of will that I could muster to struggle up the stairs, where I collapsed and fainted on the toilet. My best friend. I did not venture out again that day. I ate some yoghurt, hoping it would soothe my stomach, but the evil forces prevailed. The second night was a close facsimile to the first, however I did get a little sleep.

I was walking with Jasmine, my faithful Norwegian Elkhound, along the beach. Suddenly an unsuspecting shamal picked up and filled the air with dust. I picked up the pace of our stroll so that we could make it back to the campsite. It became difficult to see Jasmine, then suddenly she vanished. I ran back looking for her. My only orientation was the wet sand on the beach. Visibilty was about 3 feet. I ran around in a frenzy yelling for my dog. I saw another dog and a cat, which gave me brief relief, but no Jasmine. After awhile the wind subsided and I expanded my search. I found Jasmine on the porch of a beachhouse, chewing on a dog bone while the owner of the bone looked on in sullen dismay. When it comes to food, dog etiquette is quite diverse. Then I awoke once more in a cold sweat, at once glad that I found Jasmine, but also dissapointed that it was only a dream.

The morning of day 3 was met with persisting symptoms. I concluded that once again, my only hope was to make the trek to the pharmacy. This time I did not make the mistake of being seduced by the solor energy. I got on the road immediately and drove the 3 miles to the pharmacy. I went inside and proceeded to look on the shelf for some Pepto-bismal, but could not find anything in that genre of medications. After several minutes, the pharmacist approached me and asked what I was looking for. I shared my embarrassing secret with him and he went behind the counter with the nonchalance of a medical professional, and handed me a pack of Imodium. He said take 2 tablets and you will be fine. My best friend was now the pharmacist. He said that would be 6 riyals. I looked at him funny because the amount did not seem right - 6 riyals is about a buck fifty US. He said what is the matter, and I asked if I heard him correctly and he said yes. I remember buying the same thing in the US for about $20. I checked the product info when I got home and it was the real thing, manufactured in Germany.

This is the evening of day 3 and I am feeling a little better, but still not eating food, other than yoghurt. I must be better by tomorrow because I am invited to go digging for sand roses in the sabkha. This is a classic Saudi adventure.

In retrospect over the past few days, I have learned 3 poignant lessons that I will share with you.

1. There are dark and terrible forces lurking in Saudi Arabia, that are eager to invade the sanctity of your temple. They are microbial creatures that have evolved over millions of years, with the single purpose of infecting unsuspecting victims. Can you imagine a more dreadful adversary? There is nowhere to run. There is nowhere to hide. They are waiting for you.
2. The US pharmaceutical industry is pillaging the country (USA). It is amazing that in this glorious information age, that a scam of this magnitude could be perpetrated on the american public, in the open. History will define this as the greatest scam of the 21 century, along with the Bush administration.
3. Dogs always follow their noses, even in dreams.

dlt

Bahrain etc....

It is important to depart for Bahrain early lest you get stuck in the mass exodus. Aftere we crossed the causeway and enjoyed the wonderful view of being surrounded by water, we noticed a large herd of camels on the left. It looked like a camel market. I exclaimed - let's go camel shopping. So my travel companions and I ventured to the entrance to discover a security guard toting a rifle, whom informed us that this was not a public venue, but rather the sheik's private camel farm. We chatted up the guard and convinced him that we were harmless tourists from the US, Canada, Nigeria, Ireland, Sudan, and the Philippines, and he let us in to look at the camels. There were hundreds of camels segregated into groups - females, young males. breeding males, pregnant camels. We then convinced the foreman to let us ride the camels. It turned into quite a coo, gaining access to the sheik's private herd.

Then we ventured on to the Bahrain Fort - an 18th century citadel built by the Portuguese. It was in great condition, and a fabulous archeology experience. Afterwards, we winded around narrow streets in downtown Bahrain to find La Fontaine, a popular restaurant, converted from an old palacial estate.

We finished by going to the Seef Mall to see a movie - Cloverfield, a re-make of Godzilla in Manhatten. Arabs seem to have an infatuation with gargantuan malls, as everyone seems to descend to the mall in the evening. It was a fun day-trip adventure to another country. We got back to Dhahran at about 8pm.

Connected from an Island

The Internet is amazing. Being easily connected to the world, friends, and family when in a remote location is a technology miracle. I don't feel like I am 10,000 miles away. I went for a drive in my minivan today to explore the community. I drove around the camp perimeter. There are a mix of stone walls and wire walls surrounding the camp. It is sort of like a gated community in Houston, but at a larger scale, about 5 miles in diameter. And the gates are more secure. Cars have stickers, and residents have ID badges. People travel in and out freely. Getting proper IDs, stickers, driver's license and registration has been a beaurocratic labyrinth. I think they create extra admin jobs to keep the Saudis employed. I can't drive off camp until my vehicle is registered and I have a driver's license. I am anxious to explore the beaches. I watched an episode of Babylon 5 at a friend's house the other night, and it reminded me of work. B5 is a space station that has a diverse community from across the galaxy. The difference at Aramco is they don't have antennae and scales, and we all breath the same atmosphere.

dlt 1/17/2008

Common Threads

The opportunity to work with folks from so many different cultural backgrounds is priceless. A thread of humanity transcends all cultures. It is truly a joy getting to know people from other places and learning about the traditions that shape their lives and belief systems. I have observed that the family unit has a tighter bond than what is typical in the USA. Respect for elders seems to be more pronounced as well. There are many causes for this erosion of values in the USA - books can and have been written on this topic. I just wanted to point out the value that I see in stepping out of our box of traditions and embracing diversity.
dlt

Denver to SA - Chapter 1

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Adventure may be a strong word to describe the routine life that I have been enjoying in Dhahran for the past 2 weeks. I departed Denver from my beloved family on Dec.28 on a comfortable business class Lufthansa flight thru Frankfurt, and onto Dammam, with a brief layover in Kuwait. The plane flew around Iraq airspace. I arrived in Dammam at 11pm on Dec.29, 10 time zones east, with my life pared down to 6 suitcases and a guitar. My new Bose sound system filled 2 of the suitcases. With my Aramco tag on, I was rubberstamped through customs. My luggage was not searched. The Saudi x-ray guy asked my how long I would be staying. When I told him that this was my new home, he welcomed me with a big smile. And so it has been - one big welcome fest for the past 2 weeks. I was greeted by one of my new expat colleagues at the airport. After waiting almost 2 hours to get a temporary Aramco ID (I was at the end of a long line of new Aramco employees), we ventured about 15 miles through sand rather than snow, to my new abode in Dhahran, an 800 sq.ft. apt, spartan but comfortable. They furnished it and supplied me with kitchen stuff and some food rations to hold me over.

After resting and settling in for a few days I visited the office, a complex of several large modern 7 story buildings. I was taken around to meet everyone in the exploration dept., 3 of whom are friends from prior work and rafting adventures. The demographics in exploration are about 50% Saudi with many N.Americans, and others from India, Europe, Africa, Asia, etc. Pervasive cultural diversity, with the common thread of the English language. The mood is positive, people are gracious, and good humoured. I was assigned to the Arabian(Persian) Gulf exploration team. My team is comprised of Saudis, Americans, and folks from India, Australia, and China. I was invited to 2 operations meetings and met my bosses boss, his boss, and the VP of exploration. They were all very friendly and concerned that I was doing OK.

Rapid assimilation - I was invited to a new years eve party and met a pile of expats from all over the frigging planet. We had a jovial time and imbibed in a variety of liberal libations. I also attended a bday party a few nights later with similar activities. People are very committed to enjoying life here. I have ventured into Khobar several times to go shopping. Khobar is a booming city about 10 miles from Dhahran with several mega malls, N.American style, but also shopping areas that are 3rd worldish. They are building sky scrapers now - over 40 stories. You can get anything here. I bought a PDA/smartphone with Windows apps, media player and GPS. It came with a pre-installed program that sings in Arabic for prayer time notification(5 times a day). It took me several days to figure out how to turn this off. Now I am shopping for a big TV and a car. This morning I joined the running club and ran a 10K race around camp. The temp was 50 F. Competition was fierce and I was humbled, but finished. I am getting in shape with my leisure time. There are 3 huge rec centers with giant outdoor swimming pools. One is walking distance. It is a battle, since the food is quite good and plentiful.

If you were dropped in the middle of Dhahran, you might think you were in a suburb of Orlando with lush vegetation, flowers, ponds, and palm trees everywhere. When you get to the edge of camp it looks more like Moab, arid with sand and some outcrops. My apt is next to a 9 hole grass golf course, that is surrounded by a joggers path. I am temporarily without transpo, but the buses get me to work, around town, and to nearby towns.

My only complaint is that they ran out of bandwidth for residential broadband. I got dial-up working yesterday, and have to wait several months for DSL. It is also weird getting used to Thursday/Friday weekends. In closing, life is routine with much leisure. It still seems like a vacation, considering I was shoveling snow a few weeks back. Everyone is very friendly here, especially the Saudis. Cheers.

dlt - 01/10/08