Theo of Arabia: Part 27.1

It's Saturday very early in the morning. It is the beginning of an extremely long journey. There is a lot of movement in the residence. Apart from the project manager and two teachers who stay behind, all are leaving today.

The day before yesterday, on Thursday, the management arranged a small farewell celebration for us. The manager wanted to thank us for the good cooperation. Our project manager learnt about this somehow and didn't want to let us go. We once again didn't listen to him and went to the celebration. The room was festively decorated and was quite nice. There was plenty of coffee, tea, cake, pie, figs, etc. There were speeches held, photos taken and applause. We also received gifts. A beautiful and touching ceremony.

Yesterday I slept through half the day until noon and I crawled out of bed when the prayer time was over. Then I packed and went shopping with one of the Bengali colleagues, We wanted to buy something for our families. For me it was tea and biscuits. In the evening I was invited to dinner at the Bengalis. Our last supper together had something sad. Soon we will all be travelling in different directions and God knows if we ever meet again.

Now we drag suitcases and travel bags down the hall and down the stairs. I look again wistfully into my apartment before I close the door and go downstairs. Outside it is like every day. The sun is shining and it is pleasantly cool. Slowly all come outside with their baggage, and we gather in front of the residence. The security guards are here keeping us company and saying goodbye to us. Today we do not wait for the bus driver, but for the manager of the Polytechnic. He and someone else will drive us to the bus station. We can't be driven by our driver in the bus we used to go to work with, because our contracts expired and we have no more the right to it. Why no taxis have been ordered, I haven't got a clue. In any event, the Manager has agreed to drive us. Our project manager has, as he heard about it, got a tantrum and screamed for a long time. He wanted to prevent it and forbid us to be driven by the manager. He wanted our colleague who stays behind and has an international driving license, to drive us with the car we have at our disposal. Since we are eight people with a lot of luggage, the colleague would have to drive there and back a couple of times.

Well, we have again not listened to the Project Manager and are now waiting for the manager to come, who is just turning around the corner. He comes with a white pick-up with a large load area. We load our luggage and four of us take place in the car. The rest of our colleagues go with the colleague who stays behind.

At the bus station we unload the pick-up and the manager gets us the tickets to Rafha, from where we will board the flight to Riyadh. The bus ride across the Arabian desert is to last 3.5 hours. Then we say goodbye warmly and wait for the bus. The bus arrives late, who knows where it's coming from. As we get on the bus, we see that only a handful of people are on. We spread throughout the bus and make ourselves comfortable. Then comes one of the two bus drivers and asks for our tickets. The British colleague does not understand what he is asked and does not show him his ticket. The bus driver wants to sell him a ticket and that leads to a misunderstanding and the driver / controller gets angry and raises his voice. Not a good start! Since it is still very early in the morning, all float away into the realms of Morpheus. There are two TVs, on which a BBC animal documentary is shown. English original with Arabic subtitles. I look for some time out of the window and feel magically attracted by the desert. As far as the eye can see there is nothing but desert. From time to time we pass by sheep and herds of camels and sometime appears an oil pipeline along the highway. I take some pictures and immerse in deep thoughts.

It has been a beautiful and intense time and experience. Not always beautiful, sometimes difficult and not nice at all, but on the whole a very interesting experience. It has opened up a window into a completely different and new world. An oriental world that differs in so many ways from our world.

I am accustomed to being a foreigner or to being among foreigners, but here I belong to a minority. Sometimes I feel like Nina Hoss in "The White Masai". She is the only white person among the Africans. Here I am one of the very few whites among the Arabs, Africans and Asians. Being among and working with Africans, Arabs and Asians is nothing foreign to me. As a student in Hull, I had colleagues and supervisors of all stripes. I had somehow missed this experience. You can learn so much about other people, countries, traditions, religions, etc. and you learn a lot about yourself.

Beautiful pictures run through my head, and a few sad and less beautiful. All the trouble, arguments and bad moods with our project manager seem to be at once far away. Blown away by the desert wind, blown away right in the heart of the Empty Quarter. This is where it belongs. The anger, the project manager. Desert wind blow all away, away from us, never to return!

Beautiful pictures are those with my colleagues as we were driving through the city, went shopping, strolled around or went for a picnick, cooked and ate together, and had long conversations. My bicycle tours through the city, my solitary walks, the colours at sunrise and sunset, the clear air and the permeability of the Arabs. Without exception, all were friendly and helpful. I was chauffeured by local people in the car through the city, had to pay less or nothing in cafes and restaurants, people who wanted to have a photo with me or a photo of me, people who gave me a warm welcome and the absolute highlight was the wedding reception. An event that will stay with me forever in memory.

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