“All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope”

.... and that masterly quotation comes from French historical novel writer Alexandre Dumas Pere of 19th century fame.

How absolutely true those words of wisdom are. It's all you need to do! REALLY it is!!

OK, so I think now I can stop eating my humble pie. Don't want to put on too much weight now. Need to be in good condition for ....

THE GREAT DEPARTURE!!!

Hold on. Did you read correctly? Yup, you sure did. Like the sunshine after the rain, like pudding after yer roast beef, like the weather report after the news, IT IS COMING!!

OK OK, let's get down to reality for a while. No, in fact I don't ACTUALLY know my departure date and no plane ticket is yet in my hot little hand. Yes, there is still the matter of the work visa to be successfully got through the Saudi consulate here in London, which might well go belly-up. In fact, OK, yes you are also right that in actual fact I am at the same position as I was back on 24th December 2008 when I had just had Medical Examination Number One followed by the now infamous Interminable Wait Of Neverending Duration (which is still unchanged).

BUT .... I am still sitting here with a goooooood feeling in my head and a new, renewed, .... hmm .... optimism? Well, yeah in a very tired and battle-weary kind of way. Tomorrow when I wake up at a reasonable hour I will feel more YEEEE-HARRRRHHH than I do right now simply because a 7am wake-up followed by London intoxication isn't the most health-giving experience anyone could ask for. 

In fact, my whole good mood was almost ruined by the crowds and CROWDS of ridiculously slow-moving, stopping and DAWDLING people who seem to think Oxford Street is a fun game for all the family. You know, I wish they HAD brought in that speed limit and those walking lanes that were rumoured down that road a few years ago. I mean, I ask you - WHAT IS IT with people who stand in the middle of the bloody pavement in groups talking or chatting as if they were on a mountain trek? Not to mention those people who you're walking behind fairly quickly trying to get through these stupid crowds who then decide to stop without ANY WARNING right in FRONT OF YOU!! Ohh .... and they're SO OFFENDED when you crash into them like you couldn't actually see they were there. Yeah well where were your BRAKE LIGHTS IDIOT!! And I'm talking about PEDESTRIANS HERE - NOT drivers!! 

Bring back the freezing cold weather I say!! Walking down that same Oxford Street when it was biting cold was a doddle. Even lulled into a false sense of security and I found myself saying, "Ohh, Oxford Street isn't so bad these days!!"

To summarise, I HATE WALKING AROUND IN THE CENTRE OF LONDON!!

OK, nuff said there. Let's get back to the Good Mood of the day .... Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. 

I think I already said in the previous blog entry that I'd had an email from the 'new' guys who deal with the Dhahran job who seemed to be FINALLY getting things moving. So, today I was due to get to their offices to see, sign and discuss the contract followed by the medical. So I was up early, got myself all ready and off I went. Actually I was so well organised that I'd got my passport photos done and was on the bus nearly an hour before I needed to be. Well, better THAT way than the blue-assed fly way!

OK, so got to my destination nice and early, followed my TFL map to the street I needed to be at and there I was at about 10.15am with plenty of time for a coffee. Last time I did the medical exam, I had decided not to "dirty" myself with coffee as it might affect the medical in some way. This time I guess I didn't think about it and had a coffee and very cocoa-rich cookie in a quiet little coffee shop at the end of Goodge Street. Didn't have much of a view outside except a big open space fenced off and the back ends of buildings which were definitely in some need of repair and looked like they really missed the other buildings they were once joined to. Not exactly naked, but it was as if they'd lost a vital other half of their existence and were embarrassed to be in public view for so long.

Coffee over, I wandered about a bit more and then in I went to the offices. As I approached, the enormity of what was about to take place was very much in my mind. Was this to be the most important morning of my 2009 life? A lot has depended on this Saudi experience for way too long now without bearing fruit and I have been numbed by it all. I was trying to tell myself that but instead I was jumping for joy. Something WAS actually happening for a change, someone inside those offices WAS actually doing something to help me. No more excuses, no more BS, THIS was actually gonna be IT!!

In and up the stairs. A nice Polish woman greeted me, showed me to the meeting room and asked if I wanted a coffee. How ironic, I thought, that my final connection to Saudi, my NEW destination should be through Poland, my old one! But how nice too! So, I had some coffee, got my notes out, visited the toilet and when I returned to the room, the recruiter was there to greet me. And again, a Polish man!!

He was prepared in some ways but not in all, but he managed to bluff those areas he didn't know about well enough. Well, I'd made a long list of questions about the job and the teaching which, to be fair, weren't really his area of knowledge. He would forward them to the Head Of Department, he said who would either email or call me back.

He had ready the work visa form, which quite surprised me but at the same time it assured me that things really WERE going to get done today. These last two stages - medical and work visa - were BOTH going to be dealt with in one session. GREAT!

Then the contract. PHEW - that sure WAS a MOUND of paper there! Never seen such a long document in any school I've ever worked, but maybe that's because I've never studied them before. Or maybe because the font size was bigger. Well, I supposed I wouldn't have much time to read it but I started anyway. All fairly standard stuff, but I was running out of time and had to speed up and get it signed before going to the medical.

It was all conducted quite informally, all was signed and work visa form filled in. So off to the medical for which I had to hurry a bit. Wasn't sure if that was such a good idea (blood pressure, heart rate, etc.), but better not be late for Harley Street Appearance Number Two. This one was the other end of the street, and I passed the one I'd been in before at the top end.

Got there a few minutes late, had to wait a bit and then up the stairs. Maybe I looked a bit shagged out, but the receptionist asked if I wanted to use the lift. Cheeky woman! OK, I hadn't shaved and my coat was a bit dirty, but the LIFT?? Ahh, maybe this is what nearly two months of stress has done to my face - that old battle-worn look. 

Well it wasn't so far up. Knocked, and in I went to the doctor. A typical doctor-type I suppose - didn't smile I think even ONCE, instructed me to strip off down to my pants and go lie on the couch, which I did. All he did though was the blood pressure check and a few squeezes from my stomach downwards to see, I suppose, if there were any nasty lumps that shouldn't be. Didn't ask much except had I been in hospital at all and was I in good health generally. Oh, and he remarked that my pulse was a bit high. I explained that I had been under stress recently and that I had also run the length of Harley Street to be on time and he didn't ask more. You never quite know with such people if they don't ask more because they're SATISFIED or because they think you're HIDING something. Anyway, all was done, I dressed up and then it was over the road for the chest X-ray which, after completion, brought me back to that same doctor who looked at the X-ray, said it was OK, took some details and that was IT! Shook my hand again without any emotion and out I went. Nice and easy! But it all took much longer than last time - but it didn't matter. IT WAS DONE!

Out I went, and after another long wander and the Battle Of Oxford Street I mentioned earlier, I was on the bus home. 

So .... all sounds pretty mundane but now it goes like this: my passport is going together with other documents and the work visa form to the Saudi consulate down in Mayfair. That will take a week or so and then I will return to the offices of the recruiter to collect it. It will then have a nice new, shiny SAUDI ARABIA WORK VISA inside it! And then? They get me a plane ticket and OFF I GOOOOOOO!!!!!

I can't believe i have FINALLY reached this point! OK, there is still the next few weeks to get through. But I am safe in the knowledge now that I KNOW what is happening and I KNOW the timescale involved and, lastly, I KNOW that I DO have the future I left my job in Poland for back in December. 

Yes, now it is a different location in Saudi Arabia - the town of Dhahran. Basically it is an oil-producing town having around 95,000 inhabitants and it is on the north-east coast. The job and the contract and package that goes with it is very similar to that I'd been offered before -  a little less money but more holiday days. And, quite frankly, a better location - I will not be stuck in the middle of the desert but will be by the sea!

Better watch the humidity in the summer!! Supposed to be something like 85 to 100 percent humidity at its height ....

“He that can have Patience, can have what he will” 

(Benjamin Franklin, American Statesman)

"Hope never abandons you, you abandon it."

The "wise words" of American psychologist, George Weinberg start us off today.

"WHAT!!??", you say. "Is this going to be a more upbeat and optimistic blog entry today?". Has Pete the Pessimist finally been evicted and the locks changed??

Well, err ..... not quite. But Ollie Optimist is definitely in the building and seems now to be more solid in form than in the past.

"Where there is life, there is hope", some other wise speaker once said. And yes, I suppose in a sense I am slightly more optimistic today.

There have been some developments. A new possibility has been opened up. Not in Riyadh (THAT one is still as unknown as last time I wrote), but in another smaller Saudi city called Dhahran which is over on the north-east side of the country right near the Gulf Sea and quite near the border with UAE and with Qatar. All I know so far is that in summer it is INCREDIBLY hot and humid because of that proximity to the sea. AND the fascinating fact that it holds the world record for the highest 'dew point' ever recorded! Know what that is? Well, you're a better person than I am for sure! Go look it up!!

So the details are this: amongst my many CV sendings way back in late 2008 was one to another Middle East recruiter who recruits for Oman, Saudi Arabia and others in the region. For ages, they had had little contact with me except to do with the Oman job which, in the end, I didn't get after a hastily arranged interview on a Saturday morning a few weeks ago. Yeah, I was unprepared and quite frankly who WOULD BE on a Saturday morning with only a few hours notice. Anyway, they also had this other job which they had submitted my details for at around the same time.

Neither had produced anything until about a month ago with the Oman interview by phone (as mentioned). They told me I had been unsuccessful, and then suggested I fill in this form to be sent to yet ANOTHER prospective employer. 

Now I found THAT extremely annoying. This recruiter who had done almost nothing was NOW, at end January, suggesting I start a whole new process with a whole new application with a whole new Saudi job!! As if I hadn't had enough delays already! WHY would I want to start from scratch? 

Well, I told them this pretty much in my emailed reply. I said too that I wasn't going to say NO to this Dhahran job but I wasn't willing to start anything new at such a late stage. And I thought that would be the last I heard of them.

Not so! A few short days later they replied with something quite positive. I was told that the Head of Department who had been championing my cause and who was keen to get me on board HAD finally got his way with "the Committee" who had finally agreed that my application COULD proceed after all!

A little explanation is needed here. The thing is, Saudi employers like their English teachers to be "pure bred" arts degree graduates. An "infidel" like ME with, of all things, a SCIENCE degree is, for most employers out there, NOT going to get very far with his CV. Never mind the fact that I've been doing this English teaching thing more than 12 years now - no, no! JUST the fact that I have the "wrong" degree is enough for my CV to go to the Trash can.

Tell you what though - this is one thing that surprises me quite a bit. I am now being considered for TWO jobs in that country. And ME with the "wrong degree" too! How did it happen? Well, I don't know. But what I DO wonder is .... are the Riyadh lot reconsidering me now because of THIS fact? Well, with no information, I can only speculate.

Anyway, back to the mainstream. Dhahran, it seems, has opened up for me. According to what I've been told, it is only the medical and work visa which need to be completed. Those could take another 3 or 4 weeks. 

ANOTHER THREE OR FOUR WEEKS??

Yes yes, OK. It IS a heck of a long time to wait. In fact, I can't remember the last time I was in England in a March - let alone a February. Ah, apart from 2007 and 2008. OK, so quite recent then - but those two years were more voluntary .... sort of.

So .... the situation is now this. It's a straight fight to the end between Saudi Employer no.1 (Riyadh) and Saudi Employer no.2 (Dhahran). To put it another way .... it's a battle between an Unknown Amount Of Time and a Possible Three Or Four Weeks More. The "Unknowners" may have the advantage of surprise on their side since, at ANY given time, they may turn up the goods and the phone call/letter/email might come to say that My Contract Has Now Been Received And APPROVED. 

Oh yes, that's one more thing: the Dhahran job doesn't need the Saudi Ministry to be involved. And THAT will cut out all the Unknown Time that the Riyadh job has painfully put me through. WHY should one job require their involvement and the other not?? Anybody's guess I'd say.

I suppose that, as far as optimism goes, it isn't enough to bake a cake. But compared to the unknown amount of time left with Riyadh, it IS at least a finite amount of time left. No, of COURSE I do NOT want to STILL be here in mid March, which I will be. But at least there are signs of a distant spot of light at the end of this VERY long tunnel .....

.... or is that a firefly?

Hope is all I have, though you'd need a microscope to see it. Maybe I've created a micro-organism, a new species. I am TRYING to keep to that which I have quoted in my blog title header. But it is by NO MEANS easy!

Still .... I'm getting a lot of secondhand books in. And I found a nice cheap leather jacket at a charity shop. Oh, and a suit jacket too! THAT will do nicely for Saudi.

But I am yet to find a decent coffee shop in my part of London. Quite a routine I'm getting into - books into a plastic bag, on the bus to the Coffee Shop Of The Day ..... which tomorrow will be a new one. Yes, I am determined to find some good coffee in London. Wish me luck!

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems ....

Yup, here we are .... it's Saturday 31st January. 

The last day of the month that I should only have spent half of here.

WHY THE HELL AM I STILL HERE??

The answer to that lies only, I feel, within the walls of the Saudi "Ministry of Work" (or whatever they call it). 

However, this is an impenetrable wall if ever there was one.

OK, last Friday (23rd January) I decided to phone the people at the UK end of this Saudi operation to see what they could tell me about the situation.

You know how we say, "No News Is Good News". Well this could be true in both ways of the meaning of the expression, ie, no news AT ALL or being told that they don't HAVE any more news.

It was possibly the longest phone call in which I learnt absolutely nothing at all and yet I stayed on the line in the hope that something useful might suddenly make its way into my ears.

What can I say about the phone call I made to them? Well not a lot. I went on and started with the pleasantries - the, "How are you? Nice day!", kind of chat. Then straight to the point - "Any News?". No, there was none. My contract WAS still in the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Work (I forget the word they used but no matter). Could they find out what its progress was and how long it might take? No, they have no access inside those walls. BUT another two weeks .....

Deja vu ...... didn't I hear THAT two weeks ago? Actually it was LONGER than that - 17 days to be precise since I was phoned while walking around in the Kentish Town area looking for an optician's (I didn't find it). Then it was because I'd been sending emails quite consistently the last 4 or 5 days and maybe they got sick of them. I WAS kind of reassured by that call - it showed they WERE concerned (a bit) and they wanted ME to feel a bit better - which I did ..... a bit. But with hindsight it told me nothing positive.

Are we getting a pattern here? "Two Weeks" together with "Properly Knowing Nothing". Well you can't say they're not consistent!

Is it time yet to point any finger of blame? Or to look back and wonder what I did wrong to get myself into this situation?

No. I know what it is.

I WAS CHASING THE BIG BUCKS AGAIN!

"Again?", you ask - you who is reading this now (maybe for the first time). Yes, it happened before about 6 years ago when I foolishly was tempted to go to the P____ L_____ school in  Katowice, Poland. Ohh the money side was GREAT! BUT for that I had to endure the two WORST YEARS of my entire twelve years in teaching. Yeah it was paid well but the pain equalled this financial gain. What would the mathematicians and/or psychologists make of THAT?

But WHOOAAHH! HOLD ON THERE! It WILL work out and soon I WILL be rolling in it and looking back on this blog entry with a "Pah!" in my voice and a, "Huh! WHY did I worry?", tone of voice.

Won't it?

My mood this week has darkened considerably. It's a combination of many things. Not having money, not having anything to do, and being TOO BLOODY LONG in this place I LEAST want to be in more than ANYWHERE ELSE in this world. The place I was happy to be getting out of back in September last year, 2008. And now I appear to have gone in a kind of vicious circle or nasty time warp jump back to the past. I NOW feel just as I did back in the months BEFORE that triumphant exit to the glories of Krakow and my life there (OK OK, there were money probs there too but in the end it came good .... just before I left!)

"So," you are thinking now, "Why not go somewhere else?". Because, oh know-it-all reader, I need to be here so that when the work visa papers DO come I am in a position to instantly react, get them filled in and sent and be OUT OF HERE to the sun and sand.

I have thought that I could be back in my house back in Poland. At least there I WOULD be somewhere I DO want to be and it would ease things and make this delay bearable. But then that would make that 'reaction time' longer and further delay things.

So what can I do?

I found, on one day this week, that I was able to make one day more bearable by listening to my music while skypeing at the same time. That way the time passed more quickly and it kind of felt more productive too. Then the next day my MP3 player's battery needed charging up and that took around three days as I did not have my proper charger here but had to do a charge-by-Mac. So no music then :(

Tomorrow we move into February. Apart from its obvious progression in time, it is MORE of a teeth-grinder because I have to change the calendar in the bedroom. And THAT means looking at the February picture that I assumed/hoped/thought I would never see. Oh yes, I HAVE looked already - just before I hung the calendar on the wall at year-start. But it was in a kind of, "Ah So That's What I'm Going To Miss!", kind of way ..... or a, "So That's What They'll See When I'm Gone!", way of thinking.

Ohh I was going to tell you about the progress of other jobs I've applied to this week. But no point now. It was the week when Plan B came into operation but then became kind of pointless. And in any case WHY replace one dragging bureaucracy with another??

Basically this Saudi job IS that proverbial "Goose That Will Lay The Golden Eggs". Except that this goose doesn't know it's a goose yet. No, but seriously, I HAVE TO believe that it WILL soon come good.

Don't I?