Our Saudi friends are drifting again ....

Now, we all know how the Saudis drive on the roads (and off-road for that matter), but yesterday they outdone themselves again. Check it out, you'll be amazed.
Oh yeah, I should also mention that it is not me who made this video. It was put of the net by the locals.

btw ... it's not for the faint-hearted, so you've been warned. I've counted three.

Our Saudi friends are drifting again ...

Work permits training

Yes, here we are again ... back at TFO for another training. This time about workpermits.
Now you probably would have thought that a state of the art, brandnew refinery would have a state of the art, fully computerised and practical system for these kind of things. Well, guess again.
The system is old, it's all about paperwork and will take a lot of timeconsuming actions before anything can be put on to paper. And papers they have ! A3 sized ones ... and A4 ones .. and even smaller !
Let's just hope that ATI or some other computerised permit publishing system will make its entry soon.
The permits itself are wonderful, but it is not of this time anymore to have it all in hardcopy. Not in this day of age.
Anyway, another day tomorrow and I'll be certified, along with the other 20 Indians, a couple of French guys and some Malaysians. I just hope they don't have too many questions anymore on things that are not applicable here (ie. how to save someone who's stuck in a mansized hole and virtually unreachable ... this is something for safety and firedepartment, not for workpermits, is it ?)

Just off topic here : yesterday my laptop gave up ... can't find the operating program anymore. So if any computerwizards should read this, any advise is welcome ! If not, I'll need to get a new one, I guess. My Thai family will be happy to hear that, haha !

Fare-well party

On thursday we held a party for our super-intendant who's going to retire after a glorious and colorful career.  Paul Minard, from England, has made quite an impression  on me, eventhough I've only known him for 4 months. He's the kind of boss every one would like to work WITH, because I never got the feeling I had to work FOR him. He always leaves his office-door open and when you stand there and knock on the wall, you surely get the "it's open for some reason : just come in and feel at home" speech.
Even besides work he's one of the gang. He'll be missed by all of us, but for some reason I believe that it will be both ways. Some of the guys know eachother for almost 3 years, so that makes goodbyes a bit more difficult.
It was also Tom Harris' last day at Satorp. He won't be retiring, but he's been offered an office in Paris and Brussels. I didn't know Tom before this evening, but he's a joyful guy as well and it was good having him around.
Anyway, we all had dinner at the Meat House and after went to JJ's, an Irish pub with a live band, which by the way was excellent.

Paul, if you should read this : I'm glad I met you, I wish you a wonderful time during you well deserved retirement and I hope in the future our paths may cross again ! Enjoy !!
I'm sure Karl, Erik, Tom, Lucien, Ray, Leon and the guys who couldn't be there, would wish you the same !

Environmental awareness

Yep, you guessed right ... another cours we had to go to today. This time all the rules and regulations imposed by the Royal Commission were explained.
Nice, no doubt, if it weren't the hypocracy of the whole thing. There are rules for everything ... and the necessary paperwork that comes along with it ... and all this makes you wanna believe what a wonderful world the Saudis must live in.
But the truth isn't even close : everywhere you look you'll find hundreds of tires dumped randomly in the dessert, nicely topped with thousands of plastic bags that fly around until they stick like a fly in a spider's web on the fences along the roads. The landfill we pass daily while going to work is staggering : there are millions and millions of tons of debri and waste that can easily be recycled, but there just doesn't seem anyone to care enough. Just dump it somewhere and wait for a couple of weeks for another sandstorm to cover it all up.
I'll take a few pictures in the next days, because a picture says a thousand words ... and believe me, this will be an understatement !

PADI license ??? Check !

Yesterday we had our tests for the PADI Open Water Diver certificate.
The tests we had learned in the pool the day before had to be repeated in the open sea this time. All of us succeeded and we had a nice dive in the small laguna next to the hotel beach.
We are all fully aware that this short diving course has made us far from experienced divers. It felt like "too easy" and we were very surprised that the instructor said that "this was it, now you are all certified divers". We sure don't feel like that after only one dive in the ocean.
The six of us will schedule other dives with instructors as fast as possible as soon as we recieve the PADI card and license number. Now I guess it is up to us to improve our skills and try to get more aquainted to the under-water-life before we go up to the next level.
Practise makes perfect, and in this kind of hobby you can't afford to make a mistake.