Day 7.

Assalamualaikum.

Hari ini adalah hari Isnin iaitu hari yang ke tiga dalam jadual kerja mingguan di KSA ini. Kerja macam biasa serta menghabiskan masa membaca apa yang ada. Yang boleh di puji adalah mat india yang membuat teh di ‘pantry’. Dia buat kopi tarik macam di Malaysia tapi dia panggil ‘Cappucino’. Tak tau kenapa, sebab ada buih kot?

Pada pukul 10 pagi, kita berempat pun telah berjanji unuk ke ofis James untuk bertanya keputusan ‘medical’. Alhamdulillah, semua lulus dan kontrak pun telah di sediakan untuk di tandatangani. Lepas tandatangan, kontrak itu akan di hantar ke Presiden untuk disahkan. Baru boleh digunakan untuk pendaftaran Iqama tapi keputusan malaria pun kena ada sekali. Semua telah dapat ‘ID’ mereka tetapi saya tak dapat sebab RR(Recruitment Requisition) saya belum di luluskan oleh Pengurus saya. Lepas selidik di mana masalahnya, Mr Saad berkata HR memang selalu buat begitu jika ada permintaan yang telah lama di dalam ‘system’. Mereka memadamkan dalam ‘system’ untuk menjaga KPI mereka. Kena buatlah semula. Hari ini saya juga di beritahu tentang skop kerja dan sejarah ‘department’ saya.

Pukul 12 tengahhari, makan kat kantin. SAR10 tapi cukup untuk 2 orang. Tak boleh ambil gambar sebab takut kena buang kerja! Kena jaga lah. Balik kerja hari ini dengan Haji Sabaruddin dari CWS. Saya minta tolong dia sebab nak gi beli madu untuk sakit kerongkong saya yang telah seminggu berkahak. Beli di kedai bernama Hamil Al Musk di ‘Ladies street’ yang ada juga jual minyak wangi dan kayu. Kayu-kayu sini di gunakan untuk mewangikan udara di bilik atau masjid. (Macam kemenyanlah katanya) Di jalan itu terdapat kedai baju, barang solek, kedai kasut, kedai baju dalam dan lain-lain lagi macam jugak di Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman atau Jalan Masjid India. Lepas beli, balik terus sebab sudah nak masuk Maghrib. Terima kasih kepada Haji Sabaruddin sebab sudi membawa saya membeli-belah. Heh Heh. Saya beli juga pengering rambut yang berharga SAR125 selepas menawar harga dari SAR150.

Lepas Maghrib, berSkype sampai masuk Ishak. Balik ke ‘apartment’, mandi dan keluar makan. Malam ini makan di kedai tepi ‘apartment’ kita ini je. Makanan yang di jual ada nasi, dhosai dan phrata (canai di Malaysia). Saya makan dhosai dengan kari ayam dan ada juga kacang kuda di masak macam dhal. Gambar di bawah.

Selesai makan, gi kat kedai untuk cari barang-barang rumah. Ingat nak gi Panda tapi ahkirnya singgah di kedai runcit tak jauh dari ‘apartment’ kita. Balik & tidur.

Selesai. Wassalam.

Day 6.

Salam and sabaah al khair.

Another morning and another day in the land of Saudi Arabia. Today is safety induction day as required for all employees in Saudi Kayan. As usual, the pick up was at 7am and alhamdulillah it was a bus that came. So all of us managed to board and none was left behind. Arriving in time, we then reported to our respective departments going about our daily work. Assignments are already given to some of us making use of our manpower. But as we do not have access to computers and SAP due to not getting the ID number yet, we can only go through manuals and other reading material.

Today was the chance that I had to go into the site with another colleague, to the PP plant. Of course by vehicle and wow!, the plant is so big that the guy got lost lookng for the PP cabins. It took us about 20 minutes to look for the cabins. As the construction is still on going, traffic and human traffic were all over the place. After meeting the relevant people, we then headed back to the maintenance office. Lunch for me was at 12pm and after lunch was our safety induction at Building 3. Person in charge was Mr Basil Al Haqbani. It just took him 15 minutes to complete his presentation and it was back to our office. Talk about fast! Back to work...

At my work desk, borrowed from Mr Khalid as he is away but for only 1 week, I just picked up any books or manuals to read just to pass time. No assignment or objectives yet so I try to occupy myself in any way I can. 4 pm on the dot and it’s going home time, walking to the bus arranged in just a few minutes. Upon arriving at the apartments, I got myself ready to be picked up by Johan for dinner at his place. The cook, his wife of course. Knowing that she cooks delicious servings, I was looking forward to dinner tonight. And was I right! Prawns cooked with chili and cauliflower braised with chicken. Guess how much the prawns were? SAR3.80 per kg! Compared to RM16 per kg at Kuantan. What a difference.

After dinner, it was my time to Skype with the wife as Jo and another friend stuck to the TV set watching EPL matches. The final match I managed to watch was the Chelsea – MU match and I even saw the goal scored by John Terry. With the final whistle blown, it was back home for me. Another thank you to Edira for a wonderfully cooked dinner.

Good night, massalamah.

Pictures Day 4

Day 5 (Medical)

Assalamualaikum dan ahlan wahsahlan.

Hari ini adalah hari yang di rancangkan untuk pergi membuat ‘medical examination’. Tapi pada pagi hari itu, sesuatu peristiwa telah berlaku di mana ‘transport’ yang sepatutnya mengambil pekerja kayan dari ‘apartment’ kita datang dengan ‘van’ sahaja untuk mengambil lebih kurang 20 orang! Bayangkan van sebesar Kia Pregio mengambil 20 orang. Macam ‘sardin’ dan oleh kerana terlalu penuh, 5 orang tidak dapat naik kenderaan tersebut. Selepas drebar menalipon ‘boss’ dia kot, dia berkata van lain akan datang untuk mengambil yang ‘balance’. Lepas 20 minit, ‘transport’ tersebut tidak datang lagi tapi nasib baik ada Hadlynoor untuk memberi tumpang ke 5 orang ini.

Lepas sampai di ‘site’, kita pun membuat kerja masing-masing sebelum menunggu bas yang akan pergi ke Al Lulu Dispensari di mana ‘medical examination’ akan di jalankan. Dengan kertas yang di beri oleh James pada Rabu lepas, kami pun mendaftarkan nama untuk ujian tersebut. Ujian yang akan di jalankan adalah di makmal di mana darah akan di ambil (bekas yang di beri oleh klinik Kayan untuk kencing dan tahi telah di serah ke ‘nurse’ di situ). Dan x-ray, ECG, ujian paru-paru, Spirogram, audiogram, opthamology, internist dan dermatology (tidak ikut susunan). Dari pukul 9:30 pagi sampai ke 10:45 pagi sudah selesai ‘medical examination’ tersebut. Dengan rasa lapar sebab berpuasa malam sebelum yang di wajibkan, kita berempat pun makan di kedai makan yang ada di sebelah hospital tersebut.

Van yang sampai pukul 11:45 pagi membawa kita balik ke ‘site’ dan selepas sholat dan makan tengahhari, kita pun balik ke pejabat masing-masing. Pukul 4 petang, saya dengan Nizam pun bersedia menunggu di pagar depan untuk di bawa ke ‘Deffi centre’ untuk membuat ujian malaria. Terima kasih la kepada En Shahril yang telah sudi mengambil dan menghantar kita berdua ke destinasi tersebut. Selepas menunjuk kertas yang juga di beri oleh klinik di Kayan, orang arab di kaunter itu yang tidak tahu satu ayat inggeris bawa kita ke orang yang berkenaan. Selepas setengah jam, kita pun sudah siap dengan ujian malaria itu. Tak ada apa je, cuma cucuk sikit hujung jari dan ambil 4 titik darah dan di letak di atas kaca makmal.

Habis di ‘Deffi centre’, En Shahril pun bawa kita ke rumah dia untuk menjadi tetamu dan saya pula nak berSkype dengan isteri saya. Ingat nak pergi ‘Cyber’ je lepas Deffi tu tapi di bawa ke rumah kawan kita itu tapi alhamdulillah En Shahril bagi saya pinjam laptop dia dengan broadband dia. Boleh gak berhubung dengan isteri saya yang telah di janji pada awal hari. Kak Neeza pulak siapkan makanan malam dan menjemput kita bermakan malam di sana. Masakan Malaysia pulak tu, susah nak tolak sebab rezeki jangan di tolak kan? Heh Heh. Thank you Kak Neeza. Sedap masakan Kak Neeza. En Shahril pun hantar kita balik ke ‘apartment’ pukul 8 malam sebab telah berjanji dengan En Aris pada pukul 8:30 malam.

Balik, mandi dan siap lah untuk En Aris membawa kita ber3 pulak yang termasuk Tuan Razman untuk ke bandar. Selepas pusing-memusing, kita pun berhenti di sebuah restoran Thailand yang ada di tengah bandar Jubayl ni. Betul-betul depan ‘Jubayl Commercial Port’.

Terima kasih pulak ke En Aris sebab sudi membawa kita ke restoran tersebut. Siap makan, kita pun balik ke ‘apartment’. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.........

Wassalam.

Day 4 (Friday Prayer)

Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, the first Friday prayer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with 2 others.

After a bath and light breakfast, we headed to the mosque about 500metres from our apartment at about 10:15am. We left early as friends were saying that it will be full by the time the call for prayer starts, so we walked slowly and arrived after 10 minutes. True enough, there was only about 30 or so brothers but the crowd came from about 11am onwards. On the way to the Mosque, there were people selling vegetables and fruits just outside the Mosque. Varieties of tomatoes, vegetables and fruits. Did not ask about the price though because we were afraid they did not speak english.

After Friday prayers, we headed fo lunch and we walked down the street. It was quite a walk until we found the restaurant. It was at Al Jalal Street and they served rice just like at AL Manakh but 2 tyoes of chicken, berbecued or roasted. We ordered 1 roasted chicken, of course with rice but it was not as spicy as the one we ate at Al Manakh. But Nizam ate the most as it was not spciy and he was not groggy anymore. (Well, according to him.)

After lunch, we then walked to Panda to buy somemore groceries as I will cook Spagetti tonight. We arrived at the ‘apartment’ at about 2pm and with a little rest, I got up to cook and dinner was ready at 6pm. After dinner, we decided to go to the cyber cafe nearest to our apartment but as we were late, it was fully occupied. The tip is to go in between Maghrib and Isha, then it will be fairly empty and also less smoke. For those who need to communicate with their loved ones must plan the specfic time for communicating. Unless you have network card where you can use the local phone line to surf, I think it is possible. Another colleague is doing it but I have to find out more as I am still going to the cybers’ to surf. Only when I move to either Al Hason or Al Mishal will I have internet access and updating will be much easier. Insyaallah.

We ended up about 1 kilometers from our apartment but they did not have a webcam and worse still, mine did not have Skype installed. So i had to install Skype and it took at least 10minutes but it was all worth it. I managed to communicate with my loved one. After the limited 1 hour, we then walked back to our apartment for a good nights rest to prepare for our medical examination the next day.

Off to bed then, assalamualaikum.

Info: The apartment and transport is provided fo 1 month free of charge but the pick up is only at the give apartment. If you move to another apartment, you will not be able to use the transport. If you rent at Al Hason or Al Mishal, the transport fees is about SAR170 per month. (Special arrangements) I am moving out because it is easier to communicate online and grocery shopping will be more convenient.

Pictures Day 2

Pictures Day 1