ID-less now ...

My passport is on its way to the goverment affairs to start the Iqama procedure. So, actually right now I don't have any proof of who I am ... well, nothing legal, because I did get a photocopy from it first. Then again, if the police should stop me, I'd most likely end up in jail for not having anything legal as is. Normally I should have a Letter of Conduct or something like that that states that my passport is at the goverment for the Iqama, but it was forgotten. They promised I would get it on saturday.
So I will spend the time inside the compound ... I don't want to push my luck :-)

Finally !!!

Well, I couldn't wait until this evening to put it on the blog, so this one's during working hours ... sorry.
I finally have the results from the bloodtest taken in Mouwasat Hospital the day before. Everything is negative, which means that it is actually positive for my Iqama request.
There's no Hep B in my body (as expected) ! The former test was clearly taken too soon after I had the vaccination.

Now they can start preparing my Iqama and I can get the rest of the paperwork done (yes, there is still more paperwork).

We also got an email informing us that the new cars shall be delivered in 10 days. Probably the same ones as the last shipment : Mitsubishi Pajero Sport. Then we can go to work, Jubail city, Al Khubar,... by ourselves. If by that time I have my drivinglicense ofcourse. Which is very doubtful, but you never know, right ?

Got our PPEs ...

You're not gonna believe it, but today we finally got our PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment). We already had our helmets, shoes and glasses, but no coverall. Now we do and we can go on-sites without having to worry too much about security throwing us out. Gloves and earplugs are not needed yet, because we are not allowed to leave ground floor nor can we come near places where there's work in progress.
But guess what ... it has been raining like crazy here all day and it was soaking wet all over the place, so we decided to postpone our first actual visit.

The Farm ...

This morning we hald our weekly fridaymorning volleyball gathering. The weather was realy nice, there was pratically no wind and the sun was present. Only 7 people showed up though, so that was a little disappointing, but we did have a good time. Us Belgians are getting pretty aquainted to our gameplay and we scored some nice points. We played for 2,5 hours after which we went home for a shower and meet up again in the local restaurant for some lunch, then played some pool.

In the afternoon we went to The Farm, a local supermarket here in Jubail to get some fruits and drinks. I also bought the Arab Herbal coffee which tastes realy good with a dade. Hmmmm ...
And before we realize it, the weekend is almost over again. Turn in early tonight and ready for a fresh start tomorrow.

Shopping in Al Khubar

In the afternoon 4 of us went to Al-Khubar for some "window-licking". Not much to talk about realy. What was striking this day is that the shoppingmall was loaded with Muslimahs ... realy ... a lot of them. Maybe they had a special day, or maybe it was just because I haven't been to this shopping mall before. Dhahran Mall is a big circle and has everything to offer for everyone : books, clothes, toys, perfumes, juwelry, foodstores, name it... they got it. Even iceskating, playgrounds, etc...

On the way back the driver explained the different license-plates that go around here (actually I asked him :-)) : white or the normal plates, the ones with both arab and ABC signs or the new ones, the ones with only arabic on it are the old plates. There's the the blue plates that refer to the car or truck being a company car (allthough I read that blue plates also refer to buses, meaning large numbers of persons transport). Black plates are export plates. Then there are the yellow plates refering to taxis and buses. I also saw red plates but the driver wasn't sure about those, and I couldn't find anything about them either.
When I asked him what has changed most in traffic during his 25 year career, he said the introduction of the speedcamera. Even today in the whole of Saoudi Arabia there's an average of 4 victims per hour (!) in traffic.

Time sheets for trainees ...

We started on the timesheets for training the new people that will arrive at the end of june. We need to make them a schedule for a period of 6 months, during which the people assigned for training need to teach them the units. We also prepared a template for all the manuals that we are writing ... something we learned from previous experiences. It makes it a lot easier for newbies to get aquainted with our way of work.

Now, about my medical ... I will need to go to another hospital to get a new test done, because the doc from the first hospital refuses to do it again. He says there's no way that the vaccination is the cause for the positive Hep B test result. I guess he didn't read wikipedia and some other literature on the subject. It can even take up to 4 months after the vaccin, mine was only 2 days after. Tomorrow I'll go see the other hospital and ask their opinion about the "incubation"-period. I'll keep y'all posted ofcourse...
Cheers !

Redemption ahead ...

Got a phonecall yesterday ... there's some progress concerning my medical. Seems that the time between vaccination and bloodsample was too short, hence the positive test for Hep B. So, I'm happy it's just that and not the cancer returning.
Now hopefully my Iqama application will proceed fast so I can finish all other paperwork aswell.

Internet brake down ...

Here we are again. Sorry it took a while, but I was in the middle of writing another post when suddenly the server decided to take some vacation. Maybe it was because of the dust flying around here.
First time for us new guys here. A dust-fog or whatever you can call this thing is something strange : it looks like a yellowish creamy fog consisting of tiny little sandgrains. They irritate your eyes and give you an asphyxiating feeling. Not something for claustrophobics ... and I'm sur this is nothing compared to what we will get to see the next few months.

At work another 5 extra people came to expand and support the team. All of them Malaysian. Real funny guys, so there's even more laughter. Days are flying by ...

Bahrain closed for expats ...

The weekend starts again for us, but some of us are a bit discouraged. Everybody received an email stating that it is urged not to go there these days. It's exactly 1 year ago since the problems there.
Police are fireing tear gas at protesters in Bahrain's capital after demonstrations on the first anniversary of a forcibly suppressed pro-democracy uprising. Yesterday the Bahraini police also dispersed protesters who made several attempts to mark this anniversary of last year's uprising by marching to the site of the protest, which was brutally crushed.
It also means that the Bahrayn Grand Prix, which should take place this april, will probably be thrown in doubt because of this political unrest.

Let's hope for the best shall we !

Happy Valentine !!!

I know, I know ... it's not a special day for everyone, but for those who care for their loved ones : enjoy it !
Time for some Saoudi Arabian culture : a day like Valentine's Day is not allowed by the strict followers of Islam. Therefor the Mutawa, somekind of informal religious police, forbid all shops that sell anything that's even remotely connected to a possible gift, to be open that day. The real fundamentalists will even check the groceries if they suspect anyone from buying a gift.
But of course, these are the exceptions to the rule.
We see it as a welcome moment to show our affection to our loved ones... but when you think about the origin of the fest, it's not as we think it is. Valentine's Day is a holiday observed on February 14 honoring one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentinus. A martyr was somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious. Not much love in there, is it ?

About Satorp : today we've heard the news that the first adsorbers will be filled with catalyst : those from the PSA unit (Pressure Swing Adsorption), the hydrogen purification unit.
Also, they will build a truckloading facility with a capacity of 400 trucks a day. There's a slight hold-up for the Cokes Recovery Unit concerning the conveyor-belt, but they are working on it.
A shortage of electrical cable ( +/- 100 km) and instrumentation-wiring (+/- 300 km) is what's holding things from progressing like it should be, but the Saoudi Cable Company has bought an extra cable-wrapping machine and they are quickly catching up.

FAT in Singapore...

Half the crew are shipping off to Singapore in the next couple of days. Most of them Malaysian and Indian, a few europeans are going aswell.
FAT is short for Factory Acceptance Test. All kinds of alarms, shutdown procedures, etc. need to be tested and found positive before being implemented. It's very important for the start-up that is normally due December this year. We all agree that it will be short time so they will have their work cut out for them.

Manuals finished ...

Just finished a 1,5 training course of Boxe Francaise with Jean-Michel of security as our teacher. It felt good again.

Today we finished the first drafts of the training manuals. Now it's up to the engineer of operations to evaluate them and, if necessary, adjust them.
As of tomorrow we can all focus on pre-commisioning and commisioning. Some of us went on-sites already and at first sight there'll probably be a lot of work cut out for us. Things are moving progressively. We've also started with blinding-lists, which will most certainly take a lot of our time since we have many nationalities working together and everybody has got their own opinion and workingmethod.
But the atmosphere amoung us is great and gets better by the day. Package 1 seems to hang together well and that prooves itself by the work we deliver. Package 1 is said to be an example for the other packages, so we take pride in what we do.

Iqama ...

Today everybody got their iqama, the ID that allows you to stay (live) in KSA. Except for me, because I'm still waiting for the medical approvement. Maybe this week I'll get an answer.
Here's some info about the Iqama : The permit contains the full name of the worker in both Arabic and English, the number, expiry date, photo, date of birth, nationality, profession, religion and the employer’s full name.
Once received you can apply for a multi exit/re-entree visa that will allow you to go abroad and come back to KSA without having to go through the whole papermill again. A renewal of the Iqama is due every 6 months and takes about 2 weeks to be processed. If you are late, you will loose everything and you'll need to start all over. The Iqama also gives you the possibility to apply for a drivinglicense, open a bankaccount, etc.

As for the rest, nothing much happened. Just the first day of a working-week.
It did get a lot colder though, and more wind aswell.

A good day ...

Yesterday was the first day of our weekend again, so we rented ourselves a taxi (since we are still not allowed to drive) to go shopping in Al Khubar. We left at 09.30am and got to Rashid Mall in about 1 hout and 15 minutes. It was real busy on the highway, it was clear they all had weekend and wanted to get out. We walked aroung a bit, got a coffee, went to eat something and went back to shopping again. We even went to IKEA, yep, they got them here too. I guess we all got intouch with our feminin side because it was 04.00pm when we went back home. That's 6 hours of shopping and wandering around, jeeeez 8-)

This morning we all gathered for the weekly beach-volley (except for last week becoz of the wind) and we held a little tournament. Us belgians had to compeed with the french and the south-americans who were all very well used to eachother in teamplay. We still managed to get 3rd overall so we didn't do to bad for our second time, did we ?
It took about three hours till it was all finished. We all went home, some went to the pool just to hang out. There's 4 of us who went to check out the local hairdresser, they by the way didn't come back yet when I am writing this post so who knows what happened to them, and 2 others who went to the fitness.
A quick shower is mandatory now and in a couple of minutes we're off to get something to eat.
Temperature and weather was terrific today : 27 C and a soft sun covered with cooling clouds when needed.

A closer look ...

I talked about the fire that was actually some kind of ground flare, right ? This evening on the way home, we decided to go get a closer look at it since it was still burning hard and vomitting this thick black smoke.
It actually is a big crate where they seem to throw or pour stuff in they want to get rid of. It is surrounded by big iron fences which I believe to be heatshields. I took some extra pictures.

We also had another trainingsession this morning on HSE (Health, Safety and Environment). Not much of a deal, realy. It took about 1.5 hours and afterwards a little test : 15 questions with multiple choice answers. Tomorrow we can add another ID card to our training-booklet.

Meeting with Total top ...

Last night after work it got a little too busy to put something on here. After work we had to attend a meeting here at the compound with Patrick Pouyanne (President , Refining & Chemicals) and Bernadette Spinoy (SVP of refining-petrochemicals Eastern Hemisphere). SVP means senior vice president btw.
After a one hour speech in which was explained what the future had installed for Total worldwide, there was a brief reception with snack and drinks (non-alcoholic ofcourse). Mss. Spinoy came to talk with everybody, Mr. Pouyanne was occupied with others.
What was clearly mentioned, and what is important for us Belgians, is that they will invest 1 billion euro in Antwerp Refinery. And we got it first hand : they are proud of Antwerp.

This morning we drove to work and suddenly we saw a huge column of black smoke arise from behind one of the factories. We were all convinced there was a major calamity going on, but as it turned out, it was what they call, a ground flare. Those flames must have been 50 meters high. Crazy, realy, the flames came over the buildings and we were atleast a few miles away from it all.Seems they do this regularly. I guess Kyoto doesn't ring a bell here.

First training today ...

Today we got our first training at work. We had to go on-site, despite not having a permit (that's another training we need to follow) and were driven there by Hani. The lesson contained stuff about electricity and substations. After some brief run-over and some gruesome pictures of people who had an encounter with a little too much "juice", they took our pictur and promised us the ID-card that allows us to enter a substation. We'll probably get it tomorrow.
I also gave my first trainingcourse-draft to my fellow collegue from India. I wonder what he will think about it ... it's still 2 different countries with different ideas, so it's a surprise for both of us. And then we didn't consult our Saudi supervisor and -intendant yet ... that makes 3 different cultures and thoughts !
We're not sure what to expect yet, nor what is expected from us, but then again, it's only been two weeks since we are here, right ? Nomatter what, we will do our best anyway.

Lazy ...

Today the weather was even more windy the yesterday, so our weekly volleyballmeeting got blown away this time. I ended up in the fitnesshall and later on enjoyed a sauna treatment with a jacuzzi ending. It is weekend right ? Tomorrow it is our "monday".
Played some pool after lunch and took care of some more paperwork at home.
Nothing more to say except that this lazy day felt good.

Same old, same old,...

Yesterday I said something about the weather, right ? And I also mentioned the weekend starting here, yes ? Well guess what : it's still bad weather today. The wind is coming from the sea-side and is freekin' cold. You can hardly stand straight at some moments.
The title of this post refers to Belgium : every time we got a weekend overthere it always seems to rain.
So I just made it a lazy day, got some paperwork done and played some pool with 2 of my collegues.
In the evenening we went to Al-Huwaylat Panda store, downtown Jubail City, to get some stuff for the household and to fill the enormous american fridge we all have. It can be compaired to the Carrefour we have in Europe, which they also have here btw.
We almost got locked inside, because about 20 minutes before praying time starts, they turn down the lights which means everybody needs to get out. The roller shutters will close and life stops for about 30 minutes untill prayingtime is over.
There are 5 prayers per day of which the hours change a little every day :

Fajr around 05.00am
Ishraq around 06.40 (sunrise, no prayer)
Dhuhr around 12.00am
Asr around 03.50pm
Maghrib around 05.20pm
Isha'a around 06.50pm

The Islamic dating is also different from ours :
Thursday, february 2nd 2012 is Thursday, 12 Rabi Al-Awwal 1433 AH.

Bad weather...

This morning I woke up at 06.00am as usual to prepare for work. Normally it's getting light outside already, but today it kinda stayed dark much longer. Guess what : it had rained ! And there was this strange fogg hanging in the air. It looked like a sandcloud, but it wasn't.
This is our first "bad" weather, but it was still in the 20's (celsius for the foreign people reading this blog). A lot of wind though ...
At work all went okay. We had a small reception with the CEO from SATORP because Package 1 reached 20 000 000 manhours without any injuries. All supervisors and some coworkers got honoured with a little gift and certificate. Afterwards there were some snacks for all of us.
After work we started our trainingsession with Jean-Marie. Again 1,5 hours boxing and kicking : our T-shirts were soaking wet, but it felt good.
Later in the evening we (Gerrit, Paul, Johan, Mark and me) went out for dinner at a seafood restaurant which looked very promising, but turned out to be a one-time-thing. We'll look out for something else this weekend.

Something nice to know about KSA : water here is more expensive then gasoline. It's 15 SAR for 20 liter water, gasoline is only 0.47 SAR for one liter. So you do the math ...
Btw : 5 SAR is about 1 euro. No wonder everybody drives bigblock engine 4x4's and luxury cars.