Apologies to those who've been reading this blog. Unfortunately since leaving Al Khobar on Wednesday morning I've not had access to wifi to upload any more entries.
I'd originally intended not to write anything for the Sunday anyway as it was yet more of exactly what you'd already read about and I'd run out of interesting things to say about the Rashid mall and Starbucks.
Monday, in stark contrast, was my first day in Ras Tanura at the ITC (Industrial Training Centre). I was told on the Sunday that I would be picked up at 6am to be driven there, whist Serban and John were getting picked up at 5:15am to go to Al Mubarraz two hours away in the opposite direction. We made a point of saying our goodbyes and wishing each other luck on the Sunday evening, promising to keep in touch every now and again to compare experiences.
Al Hoty had said the two of them would be moving to a hotel close to their ITC because of it being such a long drive and that I would remain in Khobar until I'd found somewhere in Ras Tanura to live. Despite this I didn't want to be caught out in case the driver turned up and asked me where my cases were or anything so I decided to pack everything up ready to go just in case. As it turned out I needn't had bothered but it gave me peace of mind. It was Ricky who picked me up, one of the Al Hoty drivers who'd ferried us around a number of times already so it was nice to have the company of someone who I vaguely knew for the 45 minute drive given that it was the two of us now. As we made our way along the highway the typically idiotic drivers were as usual living up to expectations. The three lane road occasionally managed to turn into five at some points, the result of impatience but mainly caused by idiots sitting in lanes they ought not to be... (Something that particularly winds me up back in the UK but here it's another level of ignorance and stupidity!) Not two minutes after Ricky had informed me that we would be lucky if we didn't see an accident each time we made this trip (his actual words were we would be unlucky not to see one but I thought that a bit sadistic really and hoped it was a translation thing rather than him enjoying the sight of them) we saw a car on it's roof on the opposite carridgeway. Ricky said it couldn't have been there long because otherwise there'd be queues both ways with people on both sides wanting to take a look. Thankfully we were able to carry on without really slowing down.
As we turned off for Ras Tanura the traffic died down quite considerably. We arrived at the ITC just before 7am and Ricky handed me an envelope with a name and a number on it and said that was who we needed to contact. The building was just what you'd expect of a typical school, not very tall (only two storeys) and spread out over quite an area. There were four reasonably sized columns within a rig to the side which I assumed were for the purposes of practical teaching like I had done myself at TTE all those years ago. On the opposite side of the road was an airfield although when I say 'airfield' what I mean is more like mini airport. Something similar to Mona on Anglesey but with a proper Terminal building. Ricky said this was ARAMCOs private airport, at which point half a dozen helicopters came into view all with ARAMCO decals. My obvious thought was that any company with a private air fleet can't be bad to work for.
*Note: Just to let you know that from here on I'll be intentionally avoiding using the names of any of the personnel I come into contact with to protect them from being associated directly with anything written in this blog that they may not wish to have publicised. Up until now the subjects have been personal contacts and Al-Hoty staff but the vast majority will now be associated with my employment inside ARAMCO and I'm aware that they have confidentiality policies which I do not wish to breach either myself or on anybody elses behalf*
Ricky rang the number of our contact but got no answer. We parked the car and walked through the turnstile. I was expecting to have to get my ARAMCO ID badge out to show to someone but apparently not. We headed for the nearest entrance point of the building we could find. As we entered, all I noticed around me were the typical decorations of any secondary school. Students awards, certificates and photographs for extra curricular activities covered the walls. The building was split into six blocks, A to F. Block B was apparently administration where we were likely to find our contact according to a very helpful man who turned out to be the school principle. As we walked along the corridors trying to find out way around I began to notice the diversity of the people around me. Philipino, English, American, Canadian, South African, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian and of course Saudi men all roamed the halls. Obviously there wasn't a female in sight. Eventually we managed to locate who we were looking for. He was a Philipino who used to be an operator trainer but had moved over to HR. He asked if I'd sorted out my accomodation and was I staying in the Al-Suwaidi camp. I told him no and Ricky explained that we had arrived straight from Khobar. He suggested that I report to the Operations department head and then go and get sorted with accomodation.
He took me down to block A which is for Operations and Heallth & Safety and introduced me to the Senior Trainer at which point Ricky decided he would leave to go and give one of the other trainers their Iqama which he had to deliver before going back to the office in Khobar. He told me to ring him when I was finished and ready to be picked up. The department manager wasn't in yet and wouldn't be arriving until about 10am so for the time being I took a seat and introduced myself to a young Philipino teacher. I had hundreds of questions both about the job and about how to go about getting myself sorted with my accomodation etc but didn't want to come across as burdensome though he was more than happy to help me however he could. After getting me cup of coffee (which was awful) he told me lived in the town with two other Philipinos and shared the rent and bills working out to about $1000SAR a month each (£160). He said that the material wasn't complicated in the slightest and gave me a brief overview of what we was teaching that afternoon. After being here 7 months now he's teaching whats called 'BOC - Basic Operators Course'. The most challenging part of the job, as for any teacher wherever I'd imagine, is the students themselves. Although they are between 17 and 20, they have the mental ages of early teens wanting to spend most their class time playing games on their mobiles or sleeping. There are good and bad pupils he said, but the bad outweigh the good by a significant margin (no doubt this all sounds very familiar to some of you reading this who are teachers elsewhere...).
The day is split up into 40 minute periods with a 50 minute lunch break. Each trainer is scheduled for either a morning or afternoons teaching only with the rest of the day for lesson prep (which is all done for you already). If a teacher has to teach for a whole day (and this bit will undoubtedly wind up any teachers back home) then they get paid and additional 4 hours overtime at time and a half, despite the fact that they haven't actually worked a single extra hour. Even to me that sounds ridiculous but who am I to complain?
Throughout the hour or so I sat talking to my new friend numerous other trainers came up and kindly introduced themselves. Unfortunately I'm not good with names at the best of times but when some are names I can barely pronounce, it's even more difficult. No doubt time will be my ally in getting to remember them. Eventually the department head entered and I was taken to be introduced. He took the form the Al Hoty office had asked me to get signed by him stating I had officially reported for work. He asked me if I had set myself up in Al-Suwaidi and suggested that I take the morning to sort that out. Ringing Ricky to ask him to take me there clearly came as a bit of a suprise and I think may have disrupted his plans at that particular point in time but I got the impression his mandate was to do whatever I needed and he agreed to meet me in the car park.
The Al-Suwaidi camp was only 10 minutes drive away from the ITC. We turned into the entrance where a guard sat in a car on his mobile phone not even glancing up to look at us before we arrived at a barrier. Another guard came out and immediately seeing me, raised it to allow us in. We pulled through and parked the car outside the office. The place was comprised of about 4 rows of about thirty or so reasonable sized static caravans like you'd find on a typical camp site in Rhyl - although none of them had windows bigger than 2 foot square, unusually for statics where you normally have a bay window at the front. Initially the thought of paying the £500 a month I'd been told before I arrived in Saudi for rental of a static caravan seemed a lot especially given their condition on the outside but I decided it best to reserve judgement until I'd seen one from within. Ricky spoke to the man in the office as we went in who confirmed they still had avilability and that the price was $150SAR a night, working out to $4650 for 31 days. Immediately I had to grab my iPhone and use the currency converter to check my maths but sure enough it worked out to £750 a month. I thought for this amount they better be nice inside!
They weren't... As the man opened the door to the 'show home' next to his office we stepped into a small corridor with one door straight ahead and one either end. I immediately assumed the door to the right would be the bedroom, the middle section the bathroom and the front the living area - pretty standard layout for most static caravans. Alas, I was mistaken yet again. It turned out each of the statics has been sectioned off to accommodate three people in each! As we went through the door on the left we entered a room with a single bed, a chest of drawers with a TV on it (the TV does not come with the room) and on the far side, a kitchenette with cooker and fridge in one corner and a tiny bathroom in the other. As if the lack of space was bad enough by itself the dark brown carpet, light brown curtains and sand coloured walls just created one of the most depressing environments you could imagine. I barely managed to nod and give a solemn 'OK' as the office man enquired as to what I thought. I asked about what the amenities on the camp were and if he would show me, thinking that perhaps at least the gym and the swimming pool I'd heard about might be tempting enough to put up with the dire accomodation, however they weren't. The 15 meter pool didn't look inviting at all with its green astro-turf surroundings missing pieces randomly and the gym was in a state of disrepair with the equipment being the cheap end of what you'd find in the Argos catalogue. There was a tennis court that looked ok but having tennis elbow I wouldn't be using it much anyway. The man tried to convince me with one final attempt, showing me the 'resteraunt' which was $15SAR (about £2) a meal but this was just like a school canteen and just made me less inclined. We walked back to the office and I politely asked the man for his contact details out of courtesy and said I would be in touch later after I had looked around at all the options, fully intending never to go back unless desperate!
Ricky took me to the other camp called Tahimi which was just across the road from Al-Suwaidi. This was pretty much the same but was more expensive and didn't have any amenities because of its intention to serve as a family camp for those bringing wives and children here apparently. Consequently the statics I assume must not be segregated and each family has a whole one to themselves although there were only about thirty in total here. There was nobody in the office though and the whole place just seemed like a depressing run-down camp site so I said to Ricky we'll leave and I'll stay in the Khobar hotel until I find something else after talking more with the people in the office. I knew he wouldn't mind the drive because he'd already said that once I moved he wouldn't be getting the overtime for the early mornings anymore.
As we drove away from the camp Ricky pointed out a building with an SABB (Saudi Arabia British Bank - a subsidiary of HSBC) at the bottom. He said the teacher whom he had brought the Iqama for had moved into an apartment at the back last week for $1500SAR a month. We decided to drive around there and saw a 'For Rent' advert. We pulled in and Ricky rang the number. Somebody answered but only to say that the office was now closed until 4pm. Given the likelihood of everything else now being closed and Ricky having other things to do today I suggested he take me back to the ITC for now and we try again later.
Back at the ITC I told the department head that I'd looked at the camps and that I'd decided to try again later. He seemed confused as to why I hadn't just moved in already but thankfully didn't bother questioning me about it. He took me for a tour of the building right the way through all six blocks, introducing me to every person in sight as we went. For the life of me I couldn't remember a single persons name that we came across now. He introduced me to the principle, the two vice-principles, the test administration department and every department head. There are the trade departments (Operations, Health & Safety, Electrical, Instruments, Mechanical and Metallurgy) and there are the academic departments comprising of English, Maths and Science. As you can imagine there were a lot of introductions all in the space of about an hour.
Upon returning to the Operations staff room he instructed an elderly Philipino man in overalls to find me a desk cubicle. The elderly man found me a place next to another trainer from the UK and called me over. This elderly man is basically a departmental caretaker, emptying bins, making sure the tea and coffee doesn't run out and generally doing any menial chores that needs doing - like finding me a desk. He only speaks a few words of English so communication is generally done with gestures but he seems really nice and is always smiling. I sat down at my desk and was given the first unit of the BOC to look through by the department head. He said he didn't really have anything for me to do this week and that if I needed to take any time to sort out accommodation or anything then I should make the most of this week and come and go as needed so that I was ready to begin my orientation the following week.
The senior trainer approached me not 10 minutes later and said he would take me around for a tour. I politely told him that the department head had already done so, at which point he pondered for a moment and then said he'd take me anyway. I got the distinct impression giving me a tour was merely his excuse for something to do. He didn't really take me too far, just up and down the corridor in fact at first, pointing out the posters on the wall which laid out the apprenticehip timetable. To be honest it was quite confusing as it depends on their English ability as to where they start and whether or not they need more time to get it up to scratch. At least this gave me some confidence that their English would actually be comprehendable. We walked upstairs to the staff room of the academic department above ours who have the keys to the non-Arabic bathrooms. I didn't want to ask what the difference was exactly so I just took it as him saying if I need the bathroom I have to come and get the key from here first.
We made it back to the staff room just in time for the head to ask if I had been shown the canteen, which I hadn't. He invited me to join him and the senior trainer which I obviously felt I had no choice in accepting. It was a typical school canteen with two lines converging from either side along a hot food bar followed by cakes, fruits and drinks. I was told that it didn't really matter what you had, the price was always about $15SAR. The head kindly paid for the meals, pointing out that it was a one-off introductory thing and we sat down and ate. I had chosen the chicken, which was quite bland but not bad and came with a mountain of rice. I had a piece of rasberry sponge which was lovely and a banana. Overall it was acceptable but I couldn't see myself going back given the choice.
When we had finished he told me to ring Ricky to ask him to pick me up as soon as he could but unfortuantely he was tied up and wouldn't be able to make it back until half 2 that afternoon. I ended up killing time by browsing through the BOC folder I'd been given as everyone else was out of the office. It was quite a struggle if I'm honest. After getting up at half 5 and having quite a lot go on that morning I could barely keep my eyes open! Needless to say then I didn't really get much of it read and was more conscious of being caught nodding off than I was about taking in what I was studying. Thankfully Ricky eventually rang to say he was outside although by this time the end of the final period had just arrived. I know as a teacher I'm supposed to be some kind of authority figure with the students but being my first day it was definately me who was intimidated. As I approached the mass of bodies all waiting to exit through two turnstiles joined the back of the queue. A couple of the students had lit cigarettes and had become conscious that the smoke was blowing in my direction so moved (I assumed that they were allowed to) but apart from that most were so focused on their own escape they barely paid any attention to mine. Taking my sunglasses out of my bag and opening the case I dropped the cloth, however before I could do anything it made it's way into the masses and I quickly decided it was a lost cause. Making it through the turnstile at last Ricky was stood on the car sill waiving at me. By now though there was an inevitable traffic jam and it was a good 10 minutes before we even managed to reverse out of the space.
Ricky knew where the office was for the accommodation agency so we headed straight there. It was still only half 3 now and it didn't open till 4. We decided to sit and wait in the car. Eventually a Sudanese man came and unlocked the office door. We went in and Ricky spoke to him about the accommodation. I really didn't have the first clue what they were on about. They were speaking in Arabic and even trying to read the body language and gestures I still couldn't work it out. Ricky eventually said he was going to show us the place so we all got in the Al-Hoty car and made our way across town. Driving past the building Ricky had said the other trainer was in, we pulled up outside another similar apartment building. I wasn't particularly keen on the surrounding area, much of it half finished building projects and was immediately put off if I'm honest but the Sudanese man pointed out that there were two other trainers living there currently. As we went up the stairs to the second floor we turned left and into the apartment. It was considerably nicer than I had come to expect of Saudi buildings by now. There was a decent sized bedroom with a kitchen & dining room and a typically average bathroom as you'd expect from a dwelling of this size. I wasn't sure if it was new or just hadn't been lived in for a while but either way there was a lot of dust and it needed a good clean. I asked how much it was and the man said $15,000SAR for the year. Immediately that seemed an attractive price compared with Al-Suwaidi, but Ricky pointed out that the other guy he knew was paying $18,000SAR a year for a two bedroom place. I asked if there was anything closer to the ITC and the man said only two bedroom. Asking how much they were he confirmed that a two bedroom would only be another $3,000SAR a year more so I asked him to show me. We made our way right back across the town again almost to where we had started. Around the corner from the office was another apartment block which we pulled up outside. We got out and entered. This one had an elevator to take us up to the second floor. We entered the apartment which was considerably larger than the first. There were two bedrooms of equal size, each similar dimensions as the bedroom in the first apartment. The bathroom was slightly bigger thought still had the same sink, toilet, bidet and shower, but the kitchen area was huge in comparison and could easily accommodate both a dining room table and a sofa is desired. Looking out of the two bedrooms there was quite a bit of space on each side with no adjacent buildings on either and there was a walled sports complex just over the other side of the road. An intersection between two reasonable sized roads was about 100 yards from the corner of the building but given the layout of the streets here that would be true of almost any building and Khobar had taught me that there is zero consideration given of a night time to those who are sleeping when it comes to noise, especially car horns. All in all then I decided that for a mere £485 more a year this was far better and told the Sudanese man I would take it.
There were a number of outstanding things to be done such as socket covers and bathroom hoses that needed finishing but I was assured they would be put right and we could pick up the keys after I finish work the following day. I paid $240SAR (£38) for 12 months water rates (imagine that back in the UK!) and gave a $500SAR deposit for an electricity meter which apparently I get back once it's installed (the logic was lost on me with that one). With the agencys commission I would have to pay $4500SAR when I collected the keys with an agreement to return and pay another $3000SAR on the 1st Feb totalling $7500SAR covering the setting up and initial 4 months rent.
By this time it was half 5 and Ricky was supposed to be picking some Philipino trainers up from the Dharan training centre so feeling enough was enough for one day we headed back, stopping to collect them on route back to Khobar. By the time I was dropped off it was gone half past 6 and I just wanted to go straight to bed. I dumped my bag in my room and immediately headed straight back out the door for fear of my falling asleep if I sat down. I went over to the mall and ordered a take away to take back to the hotel. I didn't particularly feel like sitting alone at a table to eat surrounded by dozens of other parties. I ate my meal and then decided to ring Serban and John to see how they were getting on. Serban said they had found accommodation for $2500SAR a month after seeing the camp and deciding it wasn't to their liking, much like I had. They had wifi already set up in the building luckily and there was another Romanian who had a car and had agreed to take them to and from their ITC for $250SAR a month so all in all they were doing well. John basically told me what Serban had said but with his amusing Welsh accent it came across a more enigmatic tale. Either way it was nice to hear from them both while I was sat in the hotel again on my own.
Despite the fact it was only half 7 by now I decided to give up fighting and have an early night. Ricky was coming again at 6 meaning another half 5 alarm clock...
