Getting back to sunset. . .

If you caught the first entry of this blog, you may remember that I started out watching the sunset, so this is a good time to go back that way!  After landing and getting to bed it seemed like a good idea to stay there and since I didn’t have anywhere to be I set my alarm for 7 hours and promptly slept that long! When I got up on Friday I didn’t really feel like going anywhere so I just lounged about my hotel room, sorted through to see what I forgot to bring (amazing the things you plan on for months and then forget in the rush of packing and leaving)!

The work week here is Saturday through Wednesday. This is a more serious mental switch than you think, I’ve found.  We really base a lot of thought processes on that M-F stuff and Sat/Sun off. This is a big switch (but it was kind of cool yesterday to have hump day on Monday!) So off I went Saturday morning for my first day of work in a new role, for a new company, in another country, which by itself is more or less a whole different world!

Work went well, and I was really proud of myself by the end of the day for two things. First, I stayed awake all day. This wasn’t really such a big deal, because I’ve experienced very little in the way of jet lag since arriving.  I think everyone expected me to fall over, but they were being so nice I didn't want to interrupt them!  The other thing is that I have, my whole life, been AWFUL about remembering people when I meet them. Heck, I’ve been walking through an airport and had someone come up and ask me all about how I am and have I been in touch with so and so and I’m going to the reunion, right? Obviously some whacko I knew (apparently very well) in high school, and after chatting gaily and giving them a cheery smile and wave goodbye I walk away wondering who in the world that was. I hate that.

So I was determined that today, tired or not, I was going to know my team by the end of the day. At the Saturday morning meeting I sat quietly and paid attention and made notes, and as each person told what they were working on, problems they were having, etc., I was writing down their name, job, and any small personal feature that would help me recognize them again after they moved from their current configuration in the conference room. And wow, it worked. I couldn’t believe it, but by lunch I had names memorized, and only had to look at my notes twice to confirm my suspicions, and the next morning I came in and greeted everyone by name!

If I don’t do anything else while I’m here I will count this as an accomplishment to be proud of! But I may turn out one or two other successes – we’ll see. For now I know my way around the building, and to the immediate need areas of the camp, which will need explaining.

70 years ago Arabia was populated by a few townspeople living in conditions right out of the 15^th century or so, and Bedouins who were nomadic desert dwellers.  It just so happened that two major clans were battling over control of a large territory. Shortly after the Saud family won this conflict oil was discovered about 3 miles from where I sit right now, and the head of the family, ibn Saud, became King. It’s a lot more involved than that but this will do for now.  Of course the desert dwellers lived in camps, and the name has stuck. Dhahran Camp grew up around the first producing oil well (which is still producing, believe it or not!!) and it is now a fairly modern, western city, and the Saudi Aramco site is still referred to as camp. 

Even so, 5 miles east of camp is the beginning of about 500 miles of desert. The prevailing wind right now is from the east, so the air is full of sand, dust, and grit blown for hundreds of miles. Except for straight up the sky is brown and hazy all the time. Which brings me back to sunset!

At the end of my third day here I realized I hadn’t seen a sunset and very much desired to do so. I got my new travel camera and headed for the deck between the hotel and the pool. Sunset comes early here – 6:03 p.m. with no daily savings – so I went out what I thought would be early. At 5:30 the sun was already just a small bright dot sunk in the haze, which appeared gray at this time of day. The sun looked like the moon setting into a fog bank – it just slowly dimmed until I couldn’t see it, and it was still a big ways above the horizon.

 

Still, it was my first sunset in a place very new to me, and if you know me you know I love sunset. Not sure how well the pictures will show up for you, but it will give you a good idea. And that’s the Dhahran International Hotel behind me – thought I’d get at least a little look at in here.

BTW, I have hopefully found and activated the switch that allows you to subscribe to this and get updates when the blog is updated, so if you would enjoy that please look for the button at the bottom of the page. Thanks for reading! mwg