I have been distracted

Abu Dhabi is my current location. Long story, after only one night in Riyadh I had to fly to Abu Dhabi to do some work. Yas Island is where I am staying. Great place next to the Formula 1 race circuit. Tonight there is a Guns and Roses Concert and in front of the hotel they are pitching up the background and equipment for the next " Celebsrity Chef" shooting.
What a wonderul place this is, so close to where we are working and yet so far away. I will take more time off and visit the Emirates here.
Tonight I am flying back and next week back to Munich for a few days.

happy holidays for all of you

A little Detour

I thought I would be going to the East Coast on Sunday however, I am in Munich. The weather is miserable and there is only very little of my weekend left. How could this happen? Well on Tuesday my Line Manager grabbed me and asked me if I could fly to Munich and rework a bid for the company. No problem got a business ticket and on the plane that night only to learn that this bid was significantly messed up, it was written by a team of 20 people over several month and now we where three guys to re-work it. Mission impossible. I don't want to go into details but it's a nasty story. So I am stuck in snow covered Munich flying back on Monday and than I hope to join the team on Tuesday at the Arabian Gulf.

Enjoy the x-mas season, I will be working.

The Edge Of The World Tour

This was a 5 hour tour into the desert near Riyadh. The place is called the Edge of the World, And from there you really can't go anywhere but back. Breathtaking views and silence. No tourists and no garbage. You have to drive southwest from Riyadh towards Mekka and after you pass the Check Point on Route 40 you turn off to the north west and drive on dirt and gravel for 1 1/2 hours. All along the cliffs bordering the Acacia Valley. The valley is part of the old Darb al Hjaz. (Darb is the word for way or route) You can find lot's of Camel Trails which where build into the mountains to get the animals up the slopes and up the escarpment. It's at roughly 1000 meters of elevation and on a perfect day like today it was a wonderful tour. I hope there will be many more to come. You just want to take a backpack and a tent and track through this wonderful landscape.

It's confirmed now

We will start the big Site Survey on Saturday. It will bring us around the entire border of Saudi Arabia, this is exciting. I will fly and drive around to inspect the 4 teams we have on the ground. This will take until mid February and is quite an expedition to move everybody into the different locations. M y first trip will take me to the East Coast with short visits to Manama and Doha over the weekend.
We will have to skip x-mas and New Years as the customer expects us to make up for the lost time in the project, fair enough.
In between I am thankful to being invited to the German Embassy here in Riyadh for the weekly Wednesday bar evening. This is a nice closure of the week sipping a Weizenbier with nice people.
I will drive out on 10 December, so look out for a higher frequency of posts here.
If you are snowed in in Europe, be brave it will go away sooner or later. In the meantime we try to avoid sunburn at the pool.

Take care.

Long Time No Entry

I know I am guilty, I did not post a word for quite some time. Where should I start? There are so many things that kept me busy and prevented me from a lot of things I had on my mind. I intended to see more of the surrounding country side, go downtown more often; I missed it all.
On the other hand I had a couple of good things on the agenda. I went to Bonn over the Hajj week and had time to be at the real home. I had some successes on the job which where nice and rewarding.
Still it's very interesting and challenging to work here. I like it a lot. Certainly the wx is much better. No wonder. I am still loosing weight and that is good. Time for pt and sauna is left as well so not too bad after all. I hope that our tour through this country will soon kick off so I can report more of my adventures.
So hang in there and watch out for news.

Getting around in Riyadh

It looks like I will get my own car today. Despite the fact that one must be a bit insane to drive around this city, it is mandatory to get wheels. Taxis are cheap but it's always uncertain if the driver knows what you men and the safetey is just not existing. Unbalanced wheels, worn out suspentions, no mirrors brakes without real performance and drivers who are at war with the other drivers on the road. Bottom line is that you are better of being in control of your own fate. One more reason is that I am not good at car-pooling. I don't want to go down this rabbit hole now.
One more topic to write about then.

Moving In

We had a couple of busy weeks lately. That explains the lack of postings on this blog. As of yesterday we moved into our compound. The Al Ja Whara Village in Al-Dir’iya. It’s located in the north west of Riyadh on the slopes of the Wadi Hanefa. Yes it is a bit remote but it is absolutely quiet here. The pool is great and the villa is ok. It is certainly not high-end luxury homes however; it’s a home away from home. After we moved all our belongings from the Radisson hotel it took a while until I had all my things sorted out and stowed away. As a sort of welcome party I had Klaus over to bake Reibekuchen for the two of us. Freshly out of the pan we even did not fancy to sit down, we stayed in the kitchen and ate the potato pancakes right there. Now I have frequent visits from the maintenance department, every single worker gets a chance to repair my hot water boiler upstairs, 6 of them have been here already, all nice and friendly young boys form India. The first two just flipped switches, as if I had not the same idea before. The next two tried to exchange the indicator lamp; the new lamp did not do the trick. Obviously there is a direct relationship between the lamp not glowing and the heater not heating. This discovery certainly now called for an electrician. He disassembled parts of the heater, left the villa more puzzled than he came and mumbled something like …chief engineer will come…. Since then it is quiet. The guy with the correct key to my back door was supposed to show up in 10 minutes, it’s now one hour later. The taste of Arabia.
Other than that I rearranged the furniture in the living room. Still have to buy some things but it’s pretty much ok now. I attached some pictures to give an impression.
Stay safe, I will try to do the same. So long.

Work in Progress

We are back in full swing. The project picked up speed after the end of Ramadan. We are busy and that is good. I mentioned already that the temperatures are quite moderate now. It's fun and comfortable to walk through the city in the evening. We discovered a few very good restaurants. Excellent food for a reasonable price. I brought a cold back from Germany and happy that this handicap is gone now. I had a few exercises in the gym today and beginning tomorrow I will be back in full swing. The National Day of Saudi Arabia is celebrated on 23 September. In case this day is on a non working day the government will announce a no working day in addition. This is tomorrow. Tough luck we will be in the office anyhow. I start to get used to my new camera so I am able to handle it reasonably well when we start our site survey tour. We got the word that there is a good chance that we can move into the new compound in October, keep fingers crossed.
That should do for now, have fun.

The Quality Time is Over

My quality time at home is over. Martina accompanied me to Herrsching at the Ammersee where we ha our second workshop. Nice weather and a great hotel made the stay enjoyable. All good things will come to an end and I will fly back to Riyadh tomorrow for my next work intensive period until 12.November when I will fly back to Germany again to celebrate the 90th birthday of my mother in Luebeck. Until then we will start our site survey and begin the adventure travel tour through Saudi Arabia. Stay tuned for more.

Short two week trip

Today I arrived in Munich for a short business trip . We will hold two workshops to cover the time when every man and his dog is on holiday during Eid in Saudi. It's a nice and strange experience coming back from a different part of the world which only has a few things in common with the way we live. Last week I experienced a quite interesting and common wx phenomenon, When looking out of the window it appears to be foggy, it looks like there is a lot of moisture in the air. A closer look and the fact that we where in the middle of the desert made humidity a very unlikely explanation. It was sand or better fine dust which filled the air. You only realize it when blowing your nose. Strange feeling. Leaving Riyadh on Monday at 02:30 am is an experience you only need once. I am in for a treat and will have this distinct pleasure more often. NOTHING is organized. a gazillion people crowd in front of a security check point which is a contradiction in terms. Everything gets through there. Your luggage will be taken away by Pakistani boys in green overalls and you have to hurry to keep a visual on your belongings. They push their way trough the crowds using my luggage as a plow. Magically you end up in front of the Lufthansa counter and they demand at least 30 Rial for their service. You give them 20 , they complain and disappear. With a lot of patience you finally make it to your seat. Take off 2:30 am, a horrible time, this brings you back to Frankfurt at about 7 am.
Despite all this, I love it. It's fun, the job is exciting and challenging. Stay tuned.

Another Week is over

This was another week. Time is flying by so fast. The office days are stuffed with work and are certainly not boring. The team still is working to fine tune the work but we are getting there. Yesterday I had a chance to visit the compound which was specifically build for the company. That will be a big step to move there. The houses are very nice and the amenities top notch. A great lap pool and all other pt facilities you need and all brand new. We expect to move there around mid October. The temperatures are getting into a more acceptable range now. Yesterday evening we walked down a nice shopping street in Riyadh and it was 34 C. That was nice and convenient. Window shopping at it's best.
So far I like it very much. In October we will have the chance to travel through all of Saudi Arabia as a part of our site survey. I am very excited to be a part of this adventure to learn more about this country.

Wednesday is our Friday so TGIF

This week is done and we just attended the Iftar party of the company.It is the daily feast breaking . Very good food and dangerously good sweets. This first week was pretty good for me. I learned a lot of things about border control and border management. I translated a few documents and prepared and gave a briefing to our customer the Ministry of the Interior. All went well and I am getting an expert on border control issues. It is an interesting and challenging job. Tomorrow we will hit the malls with the boys to do some shopping. During Ramadan the shops are only open from 9 pm to 4 am. I will look for some suits and shirts. They are cheap here and of good quality. After all this is my new uniform now.
I attached a few pictures as a first impression. There will be more when I have more time to take them.
So Europe enjoy the rest of your week. I will start the new one on Saturday already.

First Week Almost Done

So the first work week is almost done. I had a great time here in Riyadh. Over the week end I will have time to take some pictures and post them here. I promise to write a bit more then.

The First Day At Work

That was a very long but interesting day, learned a lot, that was to be expected. Nice bunch of people I am working with. All highly motivated and competent. We went out for a steak and some alcohol free beer, brrrrrr bad stuff. I rather stick to juice and water.

The Arrival

After a very pleasant flight I arrived in Riyadh at night. Impressive approach over a large city all lit up in the desert. Considering that there are only very few buildings tall buildings, a city like this has to grow in square-mileage. The immigration went almost fast compared to the poor sods who where sitting on the floor already for hours waiting to be let in. Swift drive in a nice big GMC Truck to the hotel. The Radisson Blu is a great place to stay, will be my home for the near future. Today I start working and will see how it is like here. Looking forward.

Munich the first stop

All went well, smooth proceedings. My Notebook was set up, switched on and everything worked right away. I have to admit that I was not used to having a service like this. All friendly people and all very helpful. What a change. My visa is issued I have my passport back and I am good to go for Riyadh on Saturday.

The Dates Are Set

The travel dates have been confirmed. I will fly to Munich on the 19th to receive my in briefing and my IT equipment. Then I will continue to Riyadh on the 21st, provided my visa has arrived by then. If not I will stay a couple of more days in Munich. Bags are packed and I am hot to trot.

The last day

Today is the last day as an Officer of the German Armed Forces, as of midnight I am a civilian again. A good feeling and I am looking forward to my new life.

The beginning

As of 09 August 2010 I will be working for EADS KSA in Riyadh. This blog should serve as a little window into what I will experience during my time in Saudi Arabia. After 35 years in the German Air Force this is my start into a new career. Lets see what is on my way and stay connected.