Today (Sunday, a.k.a. Mother's Day) represents the first official day of 'work' in the island kingdom of Bahrain...
I was introduced to the official management structure persons of interest today with a lot of "this is the guy we have been waiting for" and "Pam (Drake) did a happy dance when we told her he was coming aboard" as well as "This is the VMware guru, Commvault guru, Microsoft Guru" and other such claims that I will be struggling to fulfill in the future...
Don't get me wrong... I love the praise but I have a much more practical (read extremely reserved) view of my skills than many of the people with whom I now work...
I am excited about working here and I have already seen things that need to change from a systems standpoint, but change comes slow in this type of environment and I am not going to rock the boat on day 1 or even day 100 without careful and reserved forewarning of potential risks.
I am very optimistic about the residence situation, however. I went with another new co-worker to review some available flats. I don't mind saying they look to be pretty comfortable and convenient to local facilities and easy walking distance to the base. The building is really nice, really new (We will be the first people to live in the unit we are getting), and super clean. We will have 24x7 access to a swimming pool (on the roof of the building) and fitness center on the floor below the pool.
I will be looking into a bicycle tomorrow to see if I can get a relatively inexpensive transportation option to minimize the time spent in the heat. We are not looking to buy a car here, even though gas is only $.78/gallon... YES.... that is less than 1 dollar... :)
The visa process began officially today... hopefully it will not take as long as some here are predicting... and that is just for MY visa... then the process begins to get Deandra and Micah family visas so they can legally be here as well...
I have not been able to see much of the city as of yet, considering the heat and my unwillingness to fork out the taxi fare to go exploring... I am thinking I will be more adventurous when I have a bicycle... and a compass... and a city map... and someone to help me find my way back when I get lost...
I have already been given shopping orders from my baby-girl... "Daddy... buy me some shoes..." lol... I love you Lauren!!! I will see what I can do!
I have also been told I can get really nice shirts made for about $15 each... I am going to explore this very soon and maybe even get my own Thawb and Keffiyeh (Traditional Arab men's clothing and head cover).
Mainly I will be looking for light-weight clothing that is conducive to the pervasive heat that is cooking up and will only get worse since "summer" is just getting started here
Happy Mother's Day!!!