Thursday, January 29, 2015

Happy Birthday to Me!



Happy Birthday to me! On last night, a few of my friends in the building got together and hosted a dinner in celebration of my birthday as I will be out of country this weekend – celebrating being among the living and a year wiser. I was elated about the celebration and ready to celebrate the weekend, but it did make me realize I still have a lot to accomplish before my next milestone birthday and that’s not far away at all. Geez!


Monday, January 26, 2015

Day of Rest & The U.S.Consulate

We were out of school on yesterday due to it being the third day of the mourning period for King Abdullah, may God give him rest. So, I took the opportunity to catch up with friends at home in The States, do some cleaning, work on my blog a little bit as I’m trying something new, and simply rest. Yet, I was presently surprised by a knock on my door. I was informed by my neighbors that breakfast was ready in my honor as an early birthday celebration. It was yummy!

On this evening, I attended a Town Hall Meeting hosted by the U.S. Consulate General Dhahran. I must admit, the meeting was very informative and something I’m glad that I attended. You would be surprised to know what rights you do and don’t’ have while living in another country. For instance, if you go to jail while living in Saudi, the U.S. Embassy will be notified. They will come visit you and ascertain the exact charges as to why you are being held in custody. However, they will not get you out. You will be provided with an attorney, they will contact your family, and will come visit you every four to six months. Yes, you read that correctly, every four to six months! Isn’t it great being an American!?


Furthermore, I was quite surprised by the number of individuals present in the audience that didn’t look like me nor the typical fair skinned American. Well, let’s be truthful here, I didn’t expect any at all to look like me, but there were a few. There were also a quite large number of Indians and Arabs who also possessed an American passport. They hold double citizenship in their country and the USA. Isn’t that something? As the saying goes, you are never too old to learn. I wonder…..what do my fellow Americans think about this?

Friday, January 23, 2015

The Things You See...Mall Sighting



I have been in this mall on a few other limited occasions, but on today my observation skill were more in tune. As a result of my awareness, look at what my eyes had the pleasure of gleaming upon. It’s a mall signage banner with its “rules” for entrance into the mall. I guess those with natural hair can’t come to the mall!?! Discrimination or not?


The King has Died

I woke up this morning to news that the King had died. King Abdullah, may God give him rest, was 90 years old and had been sick for quite some time. I had plans to go site seeing on today, but obviously had to council them as the country was in mourning. Three days of mourning is usually allotted when there is a death and the King was no different. During the mourning period of course it is usually sorrowful, but especially since it was Friday, our Sunday in the U.S.A., everything would be closed and if it did open it wouldn’t be until after 4 PM.


As well, by ten Friday morning the mourners had begun to gather in Mecca and Riyadh at the mosques to pray for him. The funeral preparations had already begun and was schedulde for later that afternoon during mid-day prayer.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The Golden Rule


 The Golden Rule – “Treat others the way you want to be treated” is a conceptual framework viewed as the ethic of reciprocity. The ethic of reciprocity effect has roots around the world and is widely seen as the standard method many cultures utilize to resolve conflicts. March George Singer, an American philosopher, believes there are two ways of looking at the Golden Rule. The first way entails one performing specific actions that you desire others to do unto you. The second way involves one managing their behavior in a manner that they would like others to do.

Either way, I am convinced that the Human Resources Director within my organization never received the Golden Rule memorandum nor has anyone referred it to her as a recommended best practice. She reeks of negativity, lacks professionalism, negates basic pastoral care, and eats teachers for lunch. No, seriously! Well, because of this revolting display of behavior one teacher decided that she had had enough of the treatment.

We were in the process of completing our medical exams and one part of the multi-leveled test is a stool sample. If you are unable to “go on demand” then you are provided with a specimen bottle tagged with your identifying number on it to bring back the next day. Instead of this teacher returning the specimen bottle to the lab as instructed she decided to allow our HR Director to do the honors. So, what does the teacher do? She left the bottle of the director’s desk! Yep, she sure did. So, what’s the lesson? People will only take so much mistreat before they are fed – even in a foreign country. Therefore, treat others the way you want to be treated.

#Here’ssomeshitforyou #Nowtakemyshit #TeachersRock




Monday, January 12, 2015

Take a Tour Around Al Khobar, KSA (VIDEO)

The City of Al Khobar, Eastern Province, KSA

I thought you would like to see what the city of Al Khobar, located in the Eastern Province, looks like. Al Khobar, is the city I reside in whereas the college where my office is located is in Dammam, about a 30 minute drive.



Thursday, January 8, 2015

Sand Storm (VIDEO)

I know many of you have heard about a desert sand storm or either wonder why sometimes in the news you see the terrorist and other non-terrorist Arabs wearing cloth material across their face. We had a sand storm here today. It was so significant that a decision was made to release students early so that they could get home safely before it worsened. Here is a glimpse of what a sand storm is like.


Wednesday, January 7, 2015

King Fahd Causeway Bridge - Connects Saudi Arabia & Bahrain (VIDEO)

Video of Border from the Bahrain Tower

An individual filmed the view of the border and the King Fahd Causeway from the Bahrain Tower. This causeway is the connection between the two countries Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The causeway bridge is a little over 15 miles long and contains both passport authorities, a couple of stores, restaurants, and coffee shops.




Drive from One Country to Another - Saudi Arabia to Bahrain


This video is a speed fast view of what it is like to cross the border via land. You will see all of the patrol booths and get a general idea of what it’s like to cross the border outside of the airport process.




Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone’s year is off to a great start and you are excited about the positive potential adventures and experiences to come.

Last night, a few friends and I had a nice dinner and went to bed as we had to go to work on today. So, this evening we celebrated with a nice dinner. I cooked some southern fried chicken which I hadn’t done in a while using a new recipe and it came out well. Everyone liked it. As well, I baked two pecan pies from scratch, including my crust.


Whelp, it’s a new day, and a new year. Now, off to bed I go to start it all over again.