Vacations and Visas

Salaam alaykum and jadeed sana ('new year') again to everybody still reading. It's been a while since my last post and I definitely have plenty to update. Let's start with Thanksgiving.

I began my much-needed vacation heading down to Costa Rica to meet up with an old friend. I managed to have quite an airport scare before heading out though, since I was still in the visa control line at the time of our flight's scheduled departure. Luckily I wasn't alone, but the Saudis working at the booths kept randomly just leaving without being replaced. And considering our lines had moved no more than 50 feet in 2 hours, it was among the most frustrating times in my life. It was as if they were trying to keep me there.

Anyway, I did manage to fly first to Atlanta, then down to Liberia, Costa Rica. My friend and I had found some good deals on Groupon for a nice resort to stay at up in the hills. Costa Rica is a beautiful country. It's quite tropic, and very green, with rolling hills everywhere. There's a ton of agriculture as well, so we were treated to fresh fruit every morning for breakfast. We stopped quickly on our drive from the airport to grab some food, some drinks, and a lot of catching up. She had previously worked in Tunisia doing almost the same thing as me, and since we hadn't seen each other in over a year and a half, there were plenty of fantastic stories to share.

Our resort was called the Rio Celeste and considering we went at the end of the rainy season, there weren't very many other people there. It was tucked nicely into the hills very close to the Rio, which made it fairly secluded and extremely stress-free. We got in in the early evening and treated ourselves to some fine wine and as I recall, a lovely steak dinner at the hotel. Day 2 began with a nice hike through the rain forest pretty close to the hotel. It was pretty muddy walking around, but it added to the adventurous side of the trip. We trekked to some gorgeous waterfalls, forded the river Oregon Trail-style, and took a dip in some natural hot springs. There's a lot of geothermal activity there, as there are many volcanoes within driving distance. I also discovered just how comically poor my alcohol tolerance is these days, as one Long Island Iced Tea put me into rare form. Day 3 brought just a touch of sun-tanning as well as some pretty sweet spelunking, which was just about the first time I'd actually done that. Cured up my claustrophobia and one of the guys in our group basically said 'Thanks, but no thanks' about 3 minutes into the cave.

Overall, it was a much-needed adventurous, yet also relaxing vacation after a 3-month hitch in Saudi that included experiencing summer in the Kingdom, Ramadan, and then breaking breaking out as an standalone engineer. Here's a little photo recap:

This little guy made multiple (adorable) appearances



Beginning our hike



Breaking rules left and right

Las Cataratas (muy bonita)



Hot springs

Geothermal river hits normal river

Our spacious accomodation

Pre-sunburn

Spelunkers

Farewell

After Costa Rica, I headed back to the US for some awesome family and football time at Thanksgiving. It was a little strange being back in Bham, considering we no longer had a house there and it was our first holiday without grandma. But considering I missed the holidays the previous year, it was really really awesome being 'home'. I also made a football trifecta, seeing the Lions (lose), the Wolverines (win) and my high school team (win) all in person.  2 out of 3 aint bad, and considering my high school team won the state championship and the Wolverines finally knocked off our arch-rival Ohio State, I was immensely satisfied with the weekend. It was just about a perfect week, outside of the intense 24-hour flu I somehow contracted. It knocked my Tuesday-before-Thanksgiving out cold. I also decided to treat myself just a little, snagging a room at the nicest hotel in my city for the night before Thanksgiving, traditionally the biggest bar night of the year. It didnt disappoint, except for my unfortunate round 2 of the flu.


Annual pre-Lions defeat shotgun



No wonder we lost! Nickelback...



In the words of my brother-in-law: "We'd rather watch nothing!"



Finally! Victory over the Buckeyes! It only took me going through 2 years of high school, 5 years in Ann Arbor, and a year in Saudi to get it done

After a week back in the mitten, I decided it was high time I check out the family's new digs out in the land of unabashed liberalism: San Francisco. It was my first time to the city and I came away very impressed. The bay area is almost unrivaled in its natural splendor. Mountains and hills dominated the landscape, which was just about the exact opposite of our ranch back in Michigan. The weather never got more than spring jacket cold and climbed into the low 70s briefly. Not bad for the end of November. On top of that, there's an absurd amount of outdoor activities within about a 2-hour drive. I look forward to spending some time there in the future. The city itself wasn't quite as eccentric as I was expecting it, although I didnt manage to trek to the epicenter of the 1960's hippie and progressive movement, Haight-Ashbury. I suppose such a trip might've altered my perception. I loved the old trolleys and cable cars that ran through the city, so much so that mom and I grabbed a couple rides and a bus tour of downtown. Couldn't have been more of a tourist. But it worked out well, as I got to see a new part of America. I then hopped on a flight back to the Kingdom, or so I thought...



The Occupy San Fran 'people'



Chinatown



'traz



Not in any way tourists



The lovely San Francisco



Tony Bennett artwork



Atop Mt. Diablo



Landmark



Super earthquake-proof



Lombard St.

So before I left for Costa Rica, I checked with our travel dudes to make sure my Saudi visa was "still good", which I was told it was. The Emirates people at the San Francisco airport didnt really ask many questions about the visa, probably because it was half-Arabic. I flew first to Dubai with no problems, although I was eerily close to the north pole, as commercial planes are now allowed to fly up there. I even flew over Turkey and Iraq before getting to Dubai and saw Mosul, Baghdad, and Irbil from 35,000 feet. Irbil was pretty cool as the whole city, and I mean the WHOLE city, was shaped like a big circle with a huge citadel in the middle of the city.

Anyway, I got to Dubai and headed to my gate to board my flight back to Saudi. As I showed the attendant my ticket and passport, he immediately informed me that my visa was no longer valid. S.H.I.T. I called our government officer who had told me my visa was good. Well apparently it was only good if I hadn't left Saudi. Well, I did. S.H.I.T. The Emirates guys proposed me staying in Dubai and trying to get another one, but both my manager and our visa dude said I needed to proceed to Houston. S.H.I.T. I just flew halfway across the world and now I've gotta fly back. So I managed to book the next flight to Houston, which conveniently was in about 4 hours at 2am. I chilled at one of the airport lounges in Dubai and booked myself a hotel in Houston so I wouldn't have to worry about it when I arrived. And then, once again, I settled up and flew back across the world, this time crossing right over the North Pole. I was conveniently asleep however.

I got to Houston, settled into a hotel that would get me some Starwood Points, and tried to organize myself. I called our visa agent in Houston to get the ball rolling, but I quickly found out I needed to wait for our guys back in Saudi to take care of some paperwork and send it to our agent. That includes a letter of invitation into Saudi from the Saudi government and a contract. Well, considering it was a Friday (a weekend day in Saudi), I knew it wouldnt get done anytime soon, since the visa agent in Houston doesnt work on US weekends. Basically, nothing was getting done for a couple days. Luckily I have a few friends from my previous interning days in Houston that still live there. One of my buddies was nice enough to allow me to crash at his place that first weekend, where we enjoyed a hearty amount of college and NFL football.

Each day got progressively more frustrating as our visa guys back in Saudi originally sent me the files for an entirely different person. The person shared my first name, so I assumed they simply saw that and assumed it was me. That alone delayed the process a couple days. Then the visa system at the Saudi consulate shut down for about a week due to technical difficulties. That kept me in Houston for 2 weeks. Each day I would get an update saying it wouldnt be ready that day, and then would turn right around and book yet another night at the same hotel near the Galleria. When it became apparent that I wouldnt get my visa the next weekend, I took off for a little getaway to Chicago. It was awesome seeing most of my best friends and then attending my cousin's Christmas party for some quality family time as well.

I finally got my visa 2 weeks to the day that I first arrived into Houston. Knowing that I wouldn't be flying out that night (once again, it was the weekend back in Saudi), I flew out to LA to visit my brother and told the company to book me a flight from there. Saudi efficiency was on full display as they managed to first book me for a flight not from Los Angeles, but from Lagos, Nigeria. Yet another delay in my whirlwind return to the Kingdom. It worked out pretty well though as I got to spend a ton of time with my brother, who was just settling into Cali life. Finally a couple days later, I managed to hop on a flight from LA to Dubai and then Dubai to Dammam, finally settling into Saudi just after midnight on Christmas eve. I got back and quickly learned that my role in SLB was about to change.

During my (extended) vacation, I decided I was quite unsatisfied with my current career path. I really wanted to learn more. I mentioned in my year-end review that I would like to possible cross-train into another segment or get involved in some of Coiled Tubing's new technologies. And I decided I was quite sick of Saudi, specifically Khobar. A slight chip was made in that emotion when I received our new field break policy, which guaranteed me more days off. I also learned we would be changing compounds into one that had far better facillities and better management. So when I was able to meet with my manager, he gave me some much-needed good news. I was to train to become an ACTive Specialist, a role that works exclusively with Coiled Tubing's new fiber optic system. It's a big step for me, as this likely means I won't be involved in normal CT operations for our office anymore, but will run our most technical (and priciest) equipment in high-profile jobs for our clients. It was a little surprising, but I got very excited at the prospect of dealing with new equipment with an ever-growing portfolio of services. Basically we use fiber optics to control our downhole tools, which gives us some of the same powers as our wireline segment. The added benefits are that we can still pump and can reach into deeper and more horizontal wells. Pretty sweet stuff.

So as 2011 came to a close, I had to dwell a little bit on what I'd learned and what had happened. I've certainly become pretty comfortable in the Middle East. Daily life is certainly very different (food, language, sights, stresses), but in many ways its still the same. I've gotten better at dealing with people of different cultures and I can manage my time a lot better. I've tried to cut out the bullshit, which has certainly helped. I have a much better picture of where I stand in my career, excelling at our operational school, breaking out as a standalone engineer, and now studying our new technologies.

I managed to travel to 4 new countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Bahrain (sort of), and Costa Rica. Got to meet a lot of cool and interesting people along the way. I managed to climb a mountain for the first time in my life. For the first time I also lost someone who I was really close to (grandma). I've developed far more complex opinions on the world around me and topics like religion, love, and happiness. This year really made me aware of just how much I love my friends and family though. Being away from them for long periods of time apparently was the only way that was going to happen. Their support was vital to me remaining sane (or close) while working abroad, and I can't thank everybody enough.

Looking forward into 2012, I expect a pretty interesting year. I'm currently in Abu Dhabi learning our ACTive technologies and I've got weekend trips to Dubai and Oman planned. I'll be going back to Oklahoma in March for the coiled tubing's technical school. The summer is shaping up to be a big one, with my brother's bachelor party in Vegas and wedding in Chicago, and potentially a trip to Turkey and/or Russia. I think I want to try to actually conquer the 7 summits, which are the highest mountains on each continent. Mount Elbrus in southwestern Russia is generally considered the highest mountain in Europe, although its kind of half-Euro, half-Asian. So we'll see what develops. I should break out as a standalone ACTive Specialist in the first half of this year and then the second half of 2012 is completely open. Whatever happens I'll be sure to try to experience life to the fullest and I look forward to sharing it with all of you!

Ma'salama