Trip to Khobar.

Assalamualaikum and Eid Mubarak.

The first day of the long holidays started today. A total of nine days of rest and relax so we, yes, Razman, Nizam, Arif, Cheng and me took a day trip to Al Khobar on our rented car. Razman drove because he has an international licence and so does Arif but Razman drove all the way.

We also took the opportunity to go to the border of Bahrain and of course visit Malaysian kitchen at Khobar. The food was delicious!

Well, pictures speak better. Enjoy!

Thankfully, we arrived home safely.

Wassalam.

3 days later.

Hello and a good evening.

Today Monday, the new guys went for their Malaria test at Deffi. They also reported to their respective superiors and began work as usual.

Waiting for transport.

For me, work is piling up and another task is given. This time for waste management. Then for lunch, the guys at PC (actually I followed because Joe brought me) had lunch at Bukhari at the Industrial area near the plant. Just the usual rice with chicken but not spicy enough for me. Then I went to check my salary payment at finance but again they said to try again tomorrow. This time i’m crossing my fingers!

After work, it was broadband the whole night! Yup, got my braodband running. Just simple, bought the broadband modem with sim card insert so you can also use different networks. Here it is Mobily and STC but there are others too. They say these two are the stronger ones so I got STC. My modem cost me SAR260 and the sim card is the normal card sim for SAR100. Top up 333 and I get 433 but I only use 350 credits for unlimited access. Downloading is fast but you must set the signal to 3G only.

On Tuesday, I got my paycheck afte all the waiting and alhamdulillah I got it. Then cashed the cheque at Banque Saudi Fransi at Jubail Industrial area and I think this bank is French origin. Sent some cash back via online by my friends Riyadh bank account. Charges are SAR80 per transaction, SAR30 at KSA and another 50 deducted from the transfer. (As explained by my friend as he was doing the transfer) Other banks charge differently but Tahweel Al Rajhi only charge SAR20 for 1 transaction but you must queue.

Later at night, Zul from Sipchem brought us to the Al Huwaylat Mall at RC and we had dinner at Applebee’s. It is a western style restaurant and was the food expensive! We had burger, shrimp penne and chicken something with drinks and guess how much it was? SAR274! Just for 3 persons. That mall is basically a posh area so expect things to be a little dear but quality and the cleanliness is there. There was even a cleaner cleaning the outside of the mall. You won’t see that at Jubail town. Bought myself an ironing board and some other items at Panda, which is slightly bigger than the one at Kim’s and the arrangement was nice. They even have a hair salon there and Jarir bookstore, the biggest bookstore (I think) selling laptops and netbooks and computer parts with books too of course.

Hair salon at RC.

After buying what was necessary, it was back home for beddy byes.

Good night.

Day 20.

Assalamualaikum dan ahlan wahsahlan.

Hari ini takde yang menarik tapi mendung je dari Jubail ke SK, nampak macam nak hujan. Mungkin cuaca nak berubah kot. Gambar berikutnya.

Untuk Razman dan Nizam, mereka gembira hari ini sebab dapat dah gaji untuk bulan ni. Gaji bulan ni awal sebab minggu depan adalah Eid Mubarak iaitu Hari Raya Haji di Malaysia. Lepas dapat ‘cheque’ dari bahagian kewangan, mereka pun pergi ‘cash’kan di bank Saudi Fransi di ‘Jubail industrial’ ni. Senyum je 2 orang tu, tapi saya tak dapat lagi sebab nombor ID saya jauh dari nombor mereka yang di sebabkan RR hari tu. Tapi lepas tanya Belal, dan di tuju ke bahagian kewangan, esoklah saya kena pergi lagi. Insyaallah dapat nanti.

Malam pula, Razman pula mengajak kita ke bandar sebab nak cari PSP dan beg untuk anak-anak dia. Dapat gak PSP tu dengan harga SAR940 versi M33. Nizam pulak dapat Levi’s 501 dari kedai yang saya beli tu tapi harga dia SAR180! Kenapa pulak saya beli harga mahal sikit? Dan saya, beli seterika je. SAR70 jenama Philips.

Lepas tu, jumpa dengan Mohd Nor, Shahril dan Sufian di Jubail ‘international centre’. Berborak sampai ke 10mlm di tepi jalan je! Macam orang asing tapi memang orang asing pun! Hahaha. Siap bubur, Shahril pun hantar kita balik. Saya mendoakan perjalan Shahril ke Makkah selamat dan insyaallah di berkati Allah di Eid nanti.

Sekian, assalamualaikum.

Day 19.

Assalamualaikum semua.

Semalam, 21hb November 2009 adalah hari Sabtu iaitu hari yang pertama minggu berkerja. Bermaksud, kerja yang di tangguh dari minggu lepas di bawa ke minggu ini ynag juga berertinya kerja berlambak. (Heh heh, untuk yang dah kerja lama je. Kita yang baru ni baru je mula sibuk)

Saya pun sekarang di minta masuk mesyuarat dengan ‘vendor’ SK untuk meneruskan perbincangan sampai dapat ‘Purchase order’. MOM pun saya yang kena buat. Dan hari ni pula sibuk dengan SHEM ‘training’ di ikuti dengan ‘vendor’ dan lepas tu ‘department’ pulak! Dan di tambah pulak kerja-kerja jurutera yang telah di pindahkan ke bahagian lain dan saya yang mengambil alih kerja itu. Cabaran saya dah mula, tapi insyaallah saya dapat buat semua ni degan terbaik. (Macam akedemi fantasia je?)

Semalam, kita berempat pergi ke kawasan tanki air untuk tengok rumah-rumah disana tapi dapat masuk satu rumah je. Ada 2 yang kosong di mana sebuah rumah di tingkat 1 dan satu lagi di bumbung. Rumah di tingkat 1 tu luas dan yang di bumbung tu kecik sikit tapi mahal dengan harga yang di beri SAR30000 setahun. Yang menarik adalah sebab rumah itu baru disiapkan dan bumbungnya luas. Tak di janji sebab nak cari lagi untuk buat pilihan.

Lepas tu, saya pun pergi beli modem untuk ‘broadband’ menggunakan STC tapi lepas balik ke ‘apartment’, internet tak dapat pulak. Selepas mencuba satu malam dan puasnya menunggu, tidurlah.

Zzzzzzzzzz. Massalamah.

Day 18.

Assalamualaikum dan good evening.

I will not write about Day 17 because nothing happened and it was sleeping in the whole day. Of course in between was breakfast and lunch. But dinner was actually a gathering for the new Saudi Kayan employees from Malaysia. We had beriani rice with lamb and chicken. It was also a question and answer session with Taufiq, Din Kayan and YB. I won’t go into details but just pictures to show you who was present.

Day 18, another rest day with Friday prayers seperating the day. After prayers, we met another Malaysian not from SABIC but with Dailog SA already here for 3 weeks. Tuan started conversation and this guy was wondering where all the Malaysians were as he did not see many of them. Then he offered us a ride back but before heading home, he brought us to where he was staying. It was Nesma Village, a guarded (really guarded) compound with armed security at the entrance and exit of the village. It was a compound with single story bungalows from 1 room to 3 rooms and the rental of his unit is SAR6000 per month! Very nice and cosy with furniture, a television set, washing machine, cooker, blah, blah, blah.......

After that, we invited him back to our apartment where we continued with our conversation. Since I was cooking lunch, we offered him to stay for lunch which he did and again continued. Later, he went down and brought an Arab with him who was his chairman’s nephew. He started conversing with him and he could speak arabic with this Arab! We were so surprised as he was just here for 3 weeks but later we found out that he was from an arabic school back in Malaysia. Maybe it was easier for him to learn as he had the basics and I even picked up a few words from their conversation. (Well, its a start)

Then after Isha, Tuan, Nizam, Cheng and I went into Jubail town. Tuan was looking for a tailor to make a ‘jubah’ for his son and I was there to get my prepaid topped up. We both got what we wanted and I even bought myself a modem for internet access on my laptop. Hopefully it will work but I must get a 3G sim card for internet access. After all the shopping, we stopped at Al Manakh for dinner cum supper and this time we ordered similar to the first kabsah we had. Yum, yum.

We headed home by getting a ‘teksi sapu’ and it was a Mercedes 280. Then it was off to bed as tomorrow is a workday.

Good night.

Day 16.

Assalamualaikum dan selamat sejahtera.

Hari ini bas ke Kayan penuh dengan menyumbatnye 31 orang. Sampai ‘spare’ kerusi pun di buka tapi alhamdulillah semua muat. Drebar malas nak ambil 2 kali kot.

Sampai di Kayan awal, dan mereka terpaksa menunggu si James masuk kerja pukul 7:30 pagi. Proses macam biasa dan muatlah semua kat bilik mesyuarat no 5.

Hari ini saya di beri tugasan oleh ‘Superintendant’ saya dan juga ‘Task’ yang baru di ‘department’ CWS. Cabaran yang pertama untuk saya di KSA atau Saudi Kayan ini. Bermula dengan kerja, dan insyaallah Iqama dan proses yang lain akan berjalan lancar.

Satu pesanan adalah kepada mereka datang ke sini, kena tahu jika Pak Arab tertekan oleh ‘boss’ mereka, bermulalah mereka macam di bursa saham. Ke sana, ke sini, bertanya sana-sini so siapkanlah kerja yang di beri dalam masa yang di tentukan supaya dia tak dapat nak salahkan kita. Kalau takde tekanan, ‘happy’ je mereka.

Malam ni di jemput ke rumah Din Kayan untuk makan malam, jamuan untuk keluarga yang di adakan tiap-tiap Rabu malam. Kali ini ada ketam yang harganya SAR5 sekilo (Nampaknya macam ketam bunga). Ada juga ayam masak kicap, kangkung dan oh ye, kek hari lahir Adam, anak kepada Edira dan Joe. Kek ais krim lagi pulak tu. Terima kasih di ucapkan kepada Din dan Kak Pah untuk makanan yang sedap tu, dapat ‘ta pau’ lagi.

Siap makan, pusing ke bandar untuk cari printer di ‘Ticket computers’ tapi lambat sikit je (dah tutup). Sampai ke apartment kul 10 malam, borak dengan Cheng yang baru sampai. Jumpa jugak dengan Hisham dari Phenol dan katanya kereta yang dibeli di KSA ni boleh di pandu oleh tuannya sahaja sebab dalam kad kereta tu ada nama tuan punya. Anda boleh di tangkap dan di saman jika di dapati membawa kereta bukan kepunyaan anda.

Sekian untuk hari ini, assalamualaikum.