June 17, 2014
OFW is short for Overseas Filipino Workers. The day of my travel towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia arrived and I don't know what will be my life at the other part of the globe. Tomorrow will be the start of something new where I will be working away from my family and friends, that I will fight and work for my future.
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| Plane to Dammam, KSA |
Only my family and few friends know that I will be leaving the Philippines to work abroad. I know that it is hard for me to leave the country where my heart belongs. The mountains, the road I used to run, my friends in my running/ hiking and my family, the memories that I will keep to be a strong person.
It is a long 12 hours of air travel towards the kingdom. We are 10 in our batch that will be going to the Kingdom, 5 drivers, 3 labors and 1 pump operator are my batchmate in going to the Kingdom. We arrive at the Kingdom around 9pm (2am in the Philippines) and there is a long line in the immigration. The person that will fetch us is already at the arrival area waiting for us. I thought that the plant is around the city of Dammam since when I read the details regarding the company, its address is in Dammam but I was wrong. We again travel around 4 hours to reach our destination to the main plant of Al Kifah which is located at Al Hassa, Hofuf. It was a tiring day for all of us and we will be starting a new challenge in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).
My first week in KSA, I was in my adjustment period regarding the culture and language. I have to learn their language since I will be communicatung to the people where their mother language is Arabic. Mixed foreign nationalities are in the compound of the company, there are Nepali, Filipini, Indiani, Pakistani, Egyptian are some nationalities in the compound (They used to end the nationality with a i to indicate a person)
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| Al Kifah, Al Hassa accomodation compound |
I brought a dictionary of the arabic language in order to learn but they say that it is more effective to learn the language by means of communication. One or two word a day help you learn their language, just for the commonly used words. Greetings is also important to them, you must greet them and also respond to their greetings, Assalam Alaikom in greeting person and Wa Alaikom Assalam as respond.
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Sunset in Al Hasa
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In Saudi you can't go out in the road without your identication card which what they call Iqama. If the sulta (police) or muttawa (priest) caught you without your iqama, they will sent you to jail for 3 days. Since I can't go out of the town, I have to stay in the compound until I get my iqama. After 2 weeks of prisonment in the compound, I receive my iqama. Now I can go out to the town to buy things or food. Every Friday, there is a scheduled fish vendor that goes to the company. Every week he bring different kind of fish and you can buythe fish for credit.
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| Al Kifah Ready Mix & Blocks Factory in Al Hasa, Hofuf |
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| Mosque in the Area |
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| Fish selling every Friday |
Then after 2 weeks of no run, I was able to run in front of the company (Just to be safe). I have a 200m straight route and do the repetition until I have done my run, 5k, 3k or 2k run is still good.
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| Train in Saudi |
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| I see camel around during a job site visit |
Before June ended, Ramadan start around June 28, Muslim base their calendar on the new moon. Ramadan is a 1 month fasting by the muslims. They don't eat or drink when the sun is out, they can eat in the evening. It's a month long fasting, therefore we non-muslim must respect their culture, therefore we don't eat or drink in public. You can drink or eat inside your room. After 2 weeks in the Ramadan month, All Kifah gather all employees to celebrate it. We are gathered in the parking area and we eat the food around 6pm.
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| Feast during Ramadan |
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