KRMJ Family Day 2010

The KRMJ (Kelab Rakyat Malaysia Jubail) group organized a gathering for all Malaysians in East Saudi Arabia just 2 days ago. It was held at Sasref Beach Camp on the 7th of January 2010. A good day to start the year with.

The committee started preparations just 2 weeks ago so it was kind of a last minute thing but Alhamdulillah all went well. Thanks to the organizers for having this open day and hope there will be more to come.

Arriving at 8:00am from our apartment, there was already breakfast ready in the reception hall. Registering and lingering around as it was the first time I was there, well, the first open day I attended anyway. Then the speech by the chairman and President and let the games begin! As they all say.

After breakfast, it was time for beach soccer where 5 teams would challenge each other. I played for Noname FC as time was short to even think of a name. Completed the round robin stage on the top but lost out in the semis, but we enjoyed the game. Had some sort of exercise instead of just eating and sleeping! The champions was Pukolslow FC.

Then there was games for the children and adults where they had coloring, ping pong ball in spoon, apple peeling, gossiping, filling a bottle with a sponge and beach ball bowling. They all seemed to enjoy their time there, and the food was great. Lunch was Kabsah ordered from the industrial area. There was even performances of Taekwando and Nasyid from the participants children and also lucky draws to top it off. A real enjoyment away from the work and traffic in Jubail town I might say.

The day ended at about 4pm.

Wassalam.

My Iqama and Umrah.

Assalamualaikum, semua. Minta maaf sebab tak update blog ini sebab tak ada berita yang menarik sampai hari ini. Banyak yang telah berlaku dan inilah ceritanya.

Hari ini, 30hb Disember 2009 adalah hari yang saya dapat Iqama. Dan Alhamdulillah, setelah lebih kurang 2 bulan menunggu akhirnya mencapai kegembiraan dengan penerimaan permit tersebut.

E-mail di hantar oleh GR untuk mengambil Iqama di terima pada pagi hari dan oleh kerana ia boleh di ambil dari 1 ke 3 petang je, pada pukul 1 lah saya dah menunggu di sana. Iqama saya adalah dalam bentuk kad. Bukan semua menerima kad selepas bertanya dengan Jelmar, dan jawabnya ini terpulang kepada kerajaan Saudi. Sistem yang baru katanya.

Proses seterusnya adalah untuk membuat ID kad saya, dengan borang yang telah lama di simpan saya pun bawa kertas tu ke Sultan Al-Sultan untuk di masukkan ke dalam SAP berserta dengan tandatangannya. Lepas tu gi ke Belal untuk mengemaskini nombor Iqama dalam sistem dan menuju balik ke GR untuk pengesahan. Siap semua, pergi pulak ke ID department untuk buat kad ID saya tapi kena bawa ‘photocopy’ Iqama dan passport. Sekejap je proses kad ID tu, dengan mengambil gambar dan mencetak kad tu dengan serta merta.

Setelah siap semua, saya pun mencarilah jalan untuk ke Makkah untuk buat Umrah saya. Selepas bertanya kawan-kawan jika ada sesiapa yang akan pergi, jawapannya adalah tiada so pergilah seorang je dengan menaiki kapal terbang. Oleh kerana tiket kat agen penuh, kena pergi kat lapangan terbang untuk mencuba nasib dan alhamdulillah ada jugak tiket untuk pukul 8 pagi. Tapi untuk tiket balik, kelas ekonomi sudah penuh dan terpaksa saya beli tiket ‘Business class’ dengan harga SAR940! Ini disebabkan keinginan untuk pergi ke Makkah dengan sepenuh hati.

Di Masjidil Haram pada waktu malam.

Menurun di Jeddah ‘airport’, saya pun menaiki teksi untuk ke Makkah dengan harga SAR150. Perjalanan lebih kurang 1 jam saja. Setiba di Makkah, saya pun di jemput oleh Joe yang telah sampai pada pagi hari. Umrah saya mengambil lebih kurang 1 jam 30 minit, yang termasuk solat Zohor. Alhamdulillah semua selesai dan meronda lah sikit kat Kota Makkah tu. Buatlah ‘shopping’ sikit.

Di 'upgrade'kan ke First Class.

Balik pada hari Jumaat, saya di jemput oleh En Aris. Terima kasih lah kepada En Aris kita.

Cerita seterusnya adalah untuk persiapan ‘Famly visa’ pada lain hari… Sekian untuk hari ini.

Wassalam.

After a few days absence.

Assalamualaikum and good evening.

Much apologies for the long absence, too many things happening in such a short time. To cut long stories short, we have moved to Dreamhome and work is piling up. We still have not received our Iqama's and it has been raining for 4 days continuously last week.

We bought a semi-auto washing machine for SAR390 and some utensils for the kitchen. We also just installed a new decoder with 1700++ channels for SAR900 inclusive of installations. The wifi on our floor was out for 4 days and today it was replaced. I have been cooking for weekends and the other days, we go for light food at the nearby shops.

Here are some pictures of food found in KSA. Some were not taken, either I was too hungry or I forgot my camera,

Enjoy the yummy pictures!

Massalamah.

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.