Arrival at Dammam, then Jubail

We arrived at Dammam airport to a tremendous crowd of migrant workers waiting to get passports examined. A few of us bossy teacher-types found the group of 20 new teachers and herded them together, then the school’s travel agent fortunately had contacts that took us to the front of the queue. Our customs check consisted simply of Xraying all the bags (perhaps seeking bottles of liquor?), thus eliminating our worry about search for religious books or immoral DVDs or vitamins.
Although they had told us they would be waiting for us, it was still a pleasant surprise to be greeted at the airport by so many administrators – the superintendent and the principals and counselors of the two schools that we new teachers would join. The heat and humidity outside the airport was expected, but still wilting. The minibus was pleasantly air-conditioned, so we enjoyed a cushioned ride over superhighways for the hour-long ride to our new homes. We finally relaxed in our new home at midnight local time.

Our body clocks weren’t ready to sleep, so we spent a couple of hours roaming through the 3-bedroom 2-story townhouse, checking the furnishings and the nice initial supply of food in the fridge, and then we made the beds (oops…the sheets didn’t quite fit. And there are no pillows.), and crashed.

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Thomas journals

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