Settling In

Now that i'm into my third week in Saudi, I've started to settle into the job, which is nice. I think any culture shock has definitely worn off, since I'm pretty much used to just not seeing women's faces and being sober for weeks on end.  My days start early, usually about 5:30am, where a cold shower is followed by reading the news and eating saudi fruit loops (not nearly as good as the american ones, but better than sand). We get picked up at the housing complex and get to the base by 7, where we are greeted daily by the Saudi military guards, who thoroughly inspect the car. Apparently about 6 years ago, some terrorists attacked a building that SLB people worked in. Since then, security's been way more strict. Don't worry everybody, I haven't felt unsafe yet!

We have a meeting every morning and then it's basically me working in the yard with the operators, in what is essentially a glorified construction worker's role. Doing lifting, cleaning, hammering, fixing, and generally getting involved with all the tools I will be using out in the field. The guys I've been working with are pretty cool and try to be helpful when I ask them questions. They also come from all over. Lots of Saudi's, Egyptians, Syrians and Filipinos, a few Pakistanis, Tunisians and Yemenis, a Canadian, and a couple of people from Russia, Argentina, Sudan, China, Malaysia, and Bahrain. Pretty diverse crew overall. Some days I get stuck behind a computer, which generally sucks because I could be doing that back in the states. It doesn't suck, however, when there's a huge sandstorm outside, such as yesterday when I had my first experience with such a phenomenon. Even though my total time outside was probably no more than 15 minutes, I still managed to get covered with sand and get tremendously chapped lips.

Every day I grab lunch, which usually involves inhaling multiple PB&J's that I packed, and then back to the yard again until about 5, when the van takes us back to the complex. Then it's cooking dinner for myself and doing more online training. The training is actually quite interesting, since just yesterday, I finally learned how a combustion engine works (so much for having an ENGINEering degree). There's a comical amount to learn, so every night I need to study. Just because college is done doesn't mean school's done.

I also found out I'll be going out to jobs soon, which is where the real fun starts. Unfortunately, I still have to wait for an ID from Saudi Aramco, the massive national oil company of the Kingdom that also produces about 75% of the country's revenue. The more exposure I get to the tools and the more confidence people have in me, the more jobs I will see, which can only help.

I also got to participate in some pretty cool training the last 2 Saturdays. First was H2S training. For those of you who don't know, H2S (or hydrogen sulfide) is a gas that is sometimes released from oil wells, especially in the Middle East, and can be deadly at certain concentrations. I learned basically how to operate gas masks, and the masks and tanks that firefighters take into burning buildings. This past Saturday, I did Offshore Survival, the bulk of which involved what to do if your helicopter crashes, along with sea survival. Helicopter is the only way to get to most offshore rigs, so I learned how to survive if our chopper goes down. This was actually pretty awesome. After lectures, they took us to this big indoor pool where they had a helicopter shell (roughly the size of our den, see pic below) attached to a cable.

basically what our 'helicopter' looked like

We climbed into the shell, strapped in, and they proceeded to submerge the tank completely! Count to seven, unbuckle, punch out the window, and get to the surface. Sounds easy, right? Well it gets more difficult when they not only submerge you, but spin the shell completely upside down to simulate capsizing. This was certainly more challenging because you get a lot of water in your nose while upside-down, and you basically have no idea whats going on until you hit the surface off the water and inflate the life jacket. Either way, it was cool, and since I'm not the world's greatest swimmer, I know I can at least probably get out alive.

I've had some interesting conversations the last couple weeks too including hearing the Pakistani viewpoint of Wikileaks, learning every possible way to handle the Saudi toilet situation, and giving a facebook tutorial for one of my Omani friends and trying to explain why he shouldn't put 'Interested in' both Men and Women, even though he put Looking For both 'Friendship' and 'A Relationship.' I guess in the Middle East, some things are just assumed.

Ok, here's a couple pictures of life since my last post. Enjoy!

the cowboy safety shoes might look sweet, but trust me, they're not

Kotwick and the Omani bros experiencing some Arabic pizza (ps. delicious)

BBQ for the dudes at our compound

Thank God the customs dude didn't confiscate my A-1 sauce

apparently they're more comfortable than jeans

(sober) gazebo party

Great view, eh buddy?

Trainees...

view outside the housing

Who can read arabic?......It's Krispy Kreme!

Giant shopping cart outside the Hyperpanda, the Saudi equivalent of Wal-Mart

facial hair after 1 week

Facial hair after 2 weeks. yikes

sandstorm

Look like fog? Nope, it's all sand