Moving to Saudi Arabia
Training in Texas
Ok, for those of you have been following my Blogs here goes the next bit.
After my trials and tribulations of getting back to Saudi from Texas, which I'm trying to forget, I arrived at my new home, Villa 15 on Jubail Views Compound. At last, I can unpack properly, I've got space I can call my own, If I want to I can walk around naked, I'm not going to but it's nice to have the option again!!
The compound is still a bit of a building site and there is quite a lot of work to be done before it's finished but you can see what it will be like and it's encouraging. Squash and tennis court, gym, shop, outdoor pool and other activities in the recreation centre. I've been here for 3 weeks now and I'm starting to feel like I belong somewhere, I'm regaining a sense of identity that I'd lost living in hotels and apartments that I had to share knowing I was only there temporarily. It's quite strange as I hadn't realised it had happened and in a way I resent Sadara a bit for doing that to me but needs must. Waking up in your own bed, taking a shower in your own bathroom, going downstairs and making breakfast in your own kitchen and sitting on your own sofa watching your own TV is something we all take for granted and if I'm honest the incentive would have to be massive and I would have to think long and hard before doing it again.
The single biggest thing that troubles me more than anything is that I've got used to living without Lindsey and Tilly. We talk, message and Skype on a daily basis but in the 1st few months of this I said that I felt a bit useless as I wasn't there for them, well as time's gone on they've got used to me not being there. Lindsey just gets on with things, things that I would normally do are being done without me. I speak to Tilly but it's not as often, she seems to have grown up so much in the last 7 months and seems to have adapted to Daddy being a face on a computer screen. Married couples and fathers shouldn't have to go through that and it's my biggest regret. Would I have still done this knowing what I know now? I honestly don't know!!!
Getting on with things once I'd arrived here meant going through the site badge and induction process at work but more importantly obtaining my 'Yellow slip' from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which allows me to bring my family here. I submitted all of my documentation to HR on 26th August for various payments to be made and the final authorisation from the government, that arrived back on the 10th September, which I've been told is quick. The final hurdle that I would have to overcome, as you would expect, didn't go smoothly. I set my alarm for 2:30am on Thursday morning to get up and set off on the 54 mile trip to Dammam to the Expatriate Affairs Office arriving just after 4am. The office only see 100 people per day and sometimes if you don't get there early you don't get seen. Chris and I put our names on the list stuck to the wall, we were numbers 20 and 21, all we had to do now was sit and wait until the office opened at 06:30. At 6am a Saudi national took it upon himself to make everyone stand in line according to the number next to your name which prevented the usual scrum when the doors opened, I got to the counter to have my paperwork checked and be assigned my appointment when it all went wrong. The guy behind the counter pointed at my paperwork and said something in Arabic which I didn't understand, he said it again after I shrugged my shoulders and a guy behind me in the queue said I was missing a company stamp on my application, my paperwork was rejected!!! After all I'd been through the last 7 months upon hearing this the sheer fury that I started to feel is indescribable, the same happened to Chris along with another 3 lads from Sadara. It took a few minutes for the red mist to clear before I started thinking straight, ok, it's not a problem. Get a taxi to head office 12 miles away and get them to stamp the form, come back here and get sorted out.
The Saudi national had said if we were quick and got back before 07:30 we should be ok, We jumped in a taxi and set off with Saleh, a Jordanian, in the same position as us ringing the HR emergency number and explaining our situation to be told that someone would meet us at Al Turki in about 20 minutes. In typical Saudi fashion he turned up after about 40 minutes!!!!! We got our stamps and jumped back in the Taxi with the Sat Nav telling us we'd arrive at 07:31 but this was Dhahran rush hour now and we eventually got back at 07:50 after what seemed like the longest taxi ride of my life.
Why is that when you're in a desperate rush everything seems to happen in slow motion, every set of traffic lights turns red as you arrive at them and inevitably there will be a traffic jam due to an accident!!!
We ran up the stairs to reception and handed our freshly stamped paperwork over and were given appointment numbers 87 and 88, I'm not usually a religious person but I admit to thanking God at that point. I sat and waited until about 10am for my appointment, handed over my paperwork and Iqama and sat in silence while the guy tapped away at a computer, after what seemed like another lifetime I heard a printer kick into life and the guy handed me a printout with mine and Lindsey and Tillys names on and some Arabic writing.........on yellow paper. I must admit to having a lump in my throat when he gave me it, this piece of paper meant everything to me at that point, no amount of money or riches could wrestle it from my hands, I'd cleared the final hurdle. The journey from complete dejection to overwhelming elation had 3 and a half hours. I climbed back in the taxi for the journey back to Jubail.
So now to the happy bit. I've got to go into work on Sunday 14th September, I finish at 4pm and that's, I'm finished until the 12th October. My flight leaves Dammam at midnight, I'll be back on Teesside at 09:30 on Monday 15th September for a 2 week holiday. When I return to KSA on 29th September I'll be sitting on the flight next to my wife and daughter, it doesn't get much better than that.
By the time I return to KSA I'll have been though 12 different airports on 3 continents, taken 18 different flights spending nearly 5 days in the air and covered just over 55,000 miles since February, I've had my fill of travelling for a while.
Until the next time............
