Some more drifting ...

This time we have an on-board camera so you can enjoy the thrill of sliding across the highway going about 180 km/u ...

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=04d_1338729695&p=1

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.

Caught me by surprise ...

After work we went home fast to get a grab to eat. At 18.00pm we were expected at the divingshop for our first lesson in the water.
First there was a little test about the things we were thaught yesterday. Everybody had to get 80% to succeed, which we all did.
Then off we went to the pool. The floor around it was all broken up for restoration so it was kind of a mess to walk around. Anyway, after a few minutes we were al geared-up and ready to jump in ... so far so good.
Then we had to submerge and there I suddenly got a flashback to when I was about 8 or 9 : my breath stopped and I panicked.
Strange ... as I didn't expect that at all. I remember I almost drowned when some-one jumped of a board and landed on my back. I couldn't get to the surface as I was momentarily paralised and I didn't have any air in me anymore. Luckily a man dragged me out of the pool in time. It's been so long ago, but it struck me like it happened yesterday.
I tried submurgeing again but I just couldn't calm down. It took me about 8 to 10 times before I finally got it and started to relax ... up to the emergency-exercises that is ... because #BAM !# and there I was being 8 years old again.
We were in the water for about 3 hours and I must say : I was getting used to breathing under water only in the last hour. Maybe the swimming part relaxed me and put my mind to other things. Anything better then just sitting on the bottom waiting for your turn to remove the goggles and putting them on again, right ?
Again tomorrow, I'm not giving up that easy. I wanna see fish in their habitat, and nothing's gonna stop me. We'll see what happens.

Diving course

A bunch of us guys gathered and decided to go on a diving course this week. All 6 of us have been wanting to do this for a long time, but actually never got to it due to lack of time, other hobbies, etc...
So Jens, one of the german collagues, made an appointment with a diving instructor, Rashid Moqbel, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Jubail. After signing the neccessary documents for insurance we are ready to go. After some exams we will receive a PADI license for open water certified by the UK bureau.

Normally the hotel charges 2000 SAR per person, but groups of minimum 6 get a discount. A short inquiry led up to 6 very fast : 2 germans, 2 french and 2 belgians. The course now costs 1500 SAR per person, which is a nice discount we can use to buy goggles, fins and other scuba-gear.
Yesterday was the first lesson, 6.00pm untill 8.30pm, explaining some physical and biological terms, the dangers that can occur while diving, the signs to make yourself understood, how the breathing apparatus works, what kinds there are, etc.
2.5 hours is a short time, but it was a brief summary of what we will learn during the next couple of days. Tonight we'll get the first lesson in the swimming pool and all of us are looking forward to it.

First Aid training ...

This morning at 08.30am we went to the First Aid training at TFO (Training Facility Offices).
Keeping the previous courses in mind and having been a Red Cross member for over 12 years back home, I wasn't expecting too much of it.
And my thoughts weren't realy that far off. There was a pretty quick overview of CPR (cardio pulmonary resusitation) with hardly any practical exercises and an even more concised summary of typical injuries and what to do to stabilise the victim.
But all of this was done in the morning, so I was looking forward to the practical stuff in the afternoon. It was a course from 08.30am till 03.30pm, so enough time left, right ?

... No ...

There was one Resusci Anne (Annie), as we call the doll, to perfrom CPR and one baby Anne (Annie). The trainer asked groups of 4 to come forward and do the exercise. Some guys only managed to blow air into the lunges once and the trainer found that sufficient enough and sent them back to their chairs.

To be honest, I hope I don't need to be rescued when they are on their shift...
At the end we got a "multiple answer"- test with 24 questions which by most of the group was solved in consultation with one-another.
We did get a nice book though, so hopefully some of them will read it.

Resusci Anne was developed by Norwegian toy maker Asmund Laerdal, based on the research of Peter Safar and James Elam, and was first introduced in 1960. The distinctive face of Resusci Anne was based on l'Inconnu de la Seine (the unknown of the Seine), the death mask of an unidentified young woman reputedly drowned in the Seine River around the late 1880s.

Got the Mitsu !

Today I finally got the car. Date to date it has taken 3 months exactly.
Me and Mark went to Al Khobar after I received an email stating the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport was waiting for me to be picked up.
I like the "color", I like the interior and it smells brand new, so what more can a guy ask for ! Thanks to my employer for the (temporary) gift.