klj

I had a quick “bow & arrow” session yesterday to give it a go and was very satisfied with the safety, performance, and professional quality of the place. I’ve posted some flyers on prices & packages below. I can already tell I’m going to get addicted to this.

Here’s what you need to know to get started:

• Time required: Takes about 30 minutes to try it out for the first time
• Price: For 30 arrows it will cost $12 per person; you can buy more
• What’s included? For the package above you get the bow, 30 arrows, safety gear, and a quick 5-minute tutorial

If you’re bored after work or in the area of Panda 5 in Kuala Belait, stop by and check out this place. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

My overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars

We ordered 6 large pizzas. The crust, toppings, service, and quality was all top-notch. The experience reminded me of the creative slices you would experience at Cici’s Pizza in America but with a deluxe twist.

Imad told the chef to get creative and serve us whatever he felt like. We were served:

• Seafood mussels pizza
• Mozzarella pesto pizza
• Chicken and pineapple pizza
• 3 other pizzas; they were so good I forgot what’s in them because we ate them so quickly

I have attached the place’s business card for your reference. Next time you’re near Bandar, check out this place and take the whole family. Your taste buds will thank you.

First, it started as a 6-month assignment. I never even got the chance to say goodbye to my friends in the USA. Next thing you know it, I’m here at Brunei Shell Petroleum for nearly 3 years. I’ve set myself up in a house with a car and new life and everything. It all happened very quickly.

I must say alhamdulillah I was very proud of myself for having completed my 1st ever independent consulting contract. Among naysayers of my youth, I prevailed and gained some of the best experience of my life quitting SAIC to start my own company. My dream came true!

What blessings are you thankful for this year?

I know what you want to hear: that I was excited and everything. Well, at first I wasn’t. Keep reading.

When I first heard we were having a baby, I was happy of course. I was kind of sedated though. I was sort of confused. Actually for the first 2 months I didn’t know what to feel. I was like OK. Cool. I guess you can say I was still in shock. Not that it was a surprise, it was all planned for and thank God we couldn’t have picked a better place than Brunei, baby factory of the world.

Anyways, the 6 months that followed turned out to be the most interesting months in Brunei. I have grown to love my baby and grown closer to Noura through this beautiful period of pregnancy. I am now thrilled knowing with my daughter entering this world soon…the kicks and thoughts of her playing in my lap soon is all too much. I can’t wait to see her.

This is definitely, above all, the single blessing that will change my life post-2010 for the better. Here we come, 2011. Come on, daddy – reel in fatherhood!

What blessings are you thankful for this year?

This recommendation is about German Shop Brunei. I was not paid to write this. I’m just a happy customer. As a Syrian-American working in Brunei, it’s very hard to find a place that really pays attention to what the European and Middle Eastern market is looking for and when you do find such a shop, it’s a keeper.

We just bought the following and were really pleased:

• Turkish Coffee
• Olive Oil from Italy
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Various Pickles
• Arabic Cheese
• Shawerma spices
• Zaatar (Syrian grains mix)
• Dibs rumman (pomegranate molasses)
• Maghdoos (pickled eggplants)
• Tahini (sesame seed paste)

Go visit the place if you are fed up with the limited food selection in Brunei and want to try something new at home. Tell them I sent you. Here’s the info…

Store Address:
German Shop Brunei
Unit 25 Ground Florr, Block C
Simpang 440 Jalan Muara
BC 3315 Brunei Darussalam

My overall rating…
5 out of 5 stars

It is really amazing how many different fruits there are here that I never found in America.

I will list some of my favorites here. Another reason to visit us!

Fruits of Borneo:

• Mangosteen – cherry-like banana flavor (favorite above all)
• Rambutan – grape-like flavor (once you start…)
• Snakefruit – tart, sweet taste
• Lychee – syrupy, sweet taste (try it in a drink)
• Durian – in my opinion…nasty. Banned in some hotels, airports, and public spaces due to stink

What fruits did I miss? Let me know if you have any you’d add to your list of favorites and least favorites.

The technologies I embed include real-time collaboration tools and cutting-edge software for better information sharing, analysis, and decision making. This all leads to cost savings and more oil production gains (more money).

So that’s what I do if you ever wondered. Brunei Shell Petroleum has been my client for 2.5 years now and growing. I’m a Digital Oilfield expert so feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about this growing industry trend of digital oilfield transformation.

Anyways, it’s a sit and home and watch movies culture here in Brunei – that kind of defines our nightlife here. During the day, you know there’s sports and all. At night, it’s sit at home and beat the kids…or watch a movie. I was joking about the kids part. Now that I think about it, I have watched so many movies here in Brunei, I feel like my life has become a movie. We watch about 1-2 movies a day. Wow, I don’t have a life and I’m loving it.

For quality Middle Eastern clothing in Brunei Darussalam, you have to visit this shop in Bandar Seri Begawan Darussalam. We just got some headscarves and necklaces from my wife there for spledid prices. The shop is located at Seri Purnama Complex in Kiulap.

There you can find:

• Gamis, jubas, and abayas
• Belly dancing costumes
• Incense and bakhoor
• Islamic items

For Arabic food, conveniently right next to that shop is Sugar & Spice, a cafe & grill operated by my friend Radwan Sbeynati. There you can try the Arabic Starter Set for delicious hummus (chick pea dip), tasty baba ghannooj (eggplant dip), crunchy falafel, fresh pita bread, and oven-baked fatayir bi-sabanikh (spinach pastries).

For Mediterranean food products you can rely on Imad Jandali’s grocery store in Muara. He has everything you need from pickles to grape leaves. Very quality stuff. I tried the peppers and European chocolates and I’m glad I found this rare stuff here. I’m daydreaming of them as I type right now.

You won’t regret trying these places. It’s a must if you’re an Arab living in Brunei.

My top strengths include project management, systems integration, application development, and upstream oilfield management consulting. See resumé for more details…

Click here to download my resumé in PDF format.

After a quick bite, we experienced the Empire Country Club‘s premiere cinema… and let me tell you it was a gorgeous venue to watch the movie 2012. The movie was horrible, but the cinema had the coolest electronic seat chooser ever!

We crashed at a horrible hotel, whose name I will spare. After a water pipe leak and no warm water in the showers (and non-noteworthy breakfast at the hotel), we hiked out and saved our morning by having a lovely traditional Malay breakfast with Roti.

We then made our way to Tutong Beach where we met about 50 zillion Serikandis which was, as always, a pleasant surprise. We ate some marvelous food and soaked in the generosity while having fun and talking about everything from “How to Make a Great Cappuccino” to moving to Bangkok and starting a new life…

So for the play-by-play, let’s go over what we did today at the beach:

• Ate a lot of food…grilled vegetables
• Skidded around in ATVs
• Played beach soccer…fun!
• Ate a lot of food…fried Jackfruit, yummy
• Prayed together
• Uppercut tall waves
• Ate a lot of food…sweet ayam
• Had fun & cracked jokes
• Ate a lot of food…top class lamb
• Snapped great photos…learned how to shoot manual

Speaking of which, Fadilah Ahmad Alhijazi (Señor Pablo) took some amazing pictures of us. It’s this man starting off the Youtube video here. Pablo is a philosopher, an artist, great baker, an adventurer, and a foreign diplomat. My wife and I agree he was the inspiration of the day. Take a hop over to Señor Pablo‘s blog. Can’t wait to meet again.

It was loads of fun. I have to go to bed now because I’m dead tired.

Actually, we had no choice. I’ll tell you the story. The landlord “found out” he was not authorized to rent us the place because it was government property and all of a sudden my agency gives us short notice to move. We didn’t want to get into issues with the government because we had absolutely no time for hassle so we just bit the bullet and did the unusual.

Now it turned out to be quite refreshing. It’s wonderful how things you at first oppose can be blessings in disguise. A fresh new beginning before the end of the year when we have to move again…

Honestly, I’ve never bought a brand new car in my life. It’s really high class and beats the hell out of buying an old car – I mean I know anyone can just say that but it’s a tipper when the decision is close. I was going to buy a Corolla, but we decided why the hell not…get something exciting!

And they were parading right down the area where I’m working! That says a lot. BSP is at the center of the universe with regards to applied oil and gas information technology. After all, BSP received the Shell technology partner of the year award and it has proved to be a successful grounds for digital oilfield world 1sts due to the Sultan’s funding, technology uptake, and because of people’s willingness to take innovative risks to drive business improvement.

Followed by a couple of keynote speeches televised by Radio Television Brunei, the sultan graced the halls as his hands landed on the lips of thousands of employees greeting him with utmost humility. I shook the hand of royalty and that was a nice moment for me. The sultan’s physique reflects peak fitness for a man in his sixties. It was striking in beauty to see a successful empire built on the principles of Islam, led by Muslims from the very top to the working class. I’m really glad to be a part of such a movement.

There was a big buffet of course, then we prayed Maghrib, we continued talking, then we prayed Isha. There were enough people to pray Taraweeh because of the sheer number of people we filled the dedicated room they set up as a masjid next to the dinner hall. We then cooled down to this surprisingly extra delightful chai that was mediocre enough to be fantastic with a nice nutty flavor twist.

You know, I came to this restaurant before and the funny thing is there was nobody eating there. Absolutely not a soul haunting this graveyard. I wondered how does this place make enough money to pay the rent and get way?

My reasoning was all wrong and out of locale. First of all, people don’t rent here, they own. And when they own, they own 100% and there are no extraordinary “holding fees” such as insurance, property tax, etc. like America. Second of all, when you have family…you don’t need outside business. Since the family gets along, they can afford to probably split the expenses and provide all the customers in return, so it’s a full circle of supply and demand.

This is the beauty of family in Islam, most beautifully demonstrated this evening. I am proud to be part Bruneian by geography. Islam is so right here. Simple and balanced in proportion. It fits so natural like eating grapes or drinking water. It’s nice to live in an Islamic state that does things right. This may be the old true Islamic empire left in the world. I’m glad to see the Prophet’s legacy duly appreciated and applied on this remote island. The truth will set you free!

11:30pm decided to go with my Tunisian partner Riadh to supervise the pumping job on the rig in Seria (country of Brunei). Got in full armor PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and rode out into the night like a headless ghost on a horse charging through the unforgiving rain. Men in orange jumpsuits, like aliens from another planet…or janitors attending to work.

On the way in the blur of the globules of rain I squinted my eyes and saw I was dashing through Alief Clodine road in southwest Houston, Texas. There’s Elsik High School, there’s the church, and this is the narrow road humped with a ditch on both sides. It was the most credible déjà vu I have ever slipped into. I was happy for a minute.

After passing the housing complex, the fire station, and the last touches of humanity, we came across a symphony of bright lights piercing the sky like a nebulous of stars in the distance. As we drove nearer, it become clear it was like stumbling upon a great empire in the game Red Alert. A creation of man you feel threatened by its sheer imposing grandeur and visual complexities with silos here, compressors there, and processing plants there too impressive to be humble. It is a major refining terminal dressed from head to toe with infinite pipes and steel workings. It was SCOT: The Seria Crude Oil Terminal where all the oil coming out of the ground gets processed before distribution. Colossal oil silos scattered containing the precious keepsake farmed from the ground; you had kerosene, light crude, and mixed reformates, organized for export. These are storage tanks; gigantic white containers mushroomed around the facility.

Overlooking the munchkins was the Lord of all, the king of the evil bunch, roaring with his flames flaring heat like piping lava on a black canvas of the night. This is the natural gas excess which is burned off before being blown out in the atmosphere. The reason we have flaring in an oilfield is because we are pumping in the ground too much gas and the compressors that are compressing the gas to be injected subsurface cannot handle the overdealt quantities. Flaring is bad and it’s part of every Operation team’s KPIs (key performance indicators) to knock it out. That was a taste of Downstream which is the oil and gas sector that deals with refining, marketing, distribution, and logistics.

That being now in our rear view mirrors, suddenly we slow down and take a turn in the thief of the night to enter the forest. We turn left into nothingness but a dirt road newly forged and as we tread deeper, we are taking lefts and rights guided by our headlights shining through the debris. It’s like passing through a cemetery and the tombstones being the Christmas trees. (Christmas trees are oil well-heads sticking out of the ground with valves and controls. Ask Wikipedia why the funky name.) Like ghostly spirits, the nodding donkeys ploughed the fields like pendulums in a hypnotic fix. Nodding donkeys are the names of the old oil pumps that go up and down literally pumping oil out of the ground. They’re called that because that’s what they look like, with its big “head” bobbing up and down.

At this point, my heart is pulsing like a drum undulating with every foot as we got closer to that big lighthouse in the distance. This was the creation of man to harness the crude creation of God. This was the cause of bloody warfare, the destruction of heritage in Iraq, the foreign policy of a failure Bush administration. This in my eyes like the mega sciences of space exploration; upon us was earth exploration and razing and drilling the earth with fierceness and every country with greed; one reservoir underneath your sultanate and you have airports, a military, and a GDP none to mess with unless you are the Middle East. How man has fought and elbowed and anchored his way so deep in the earth through research, engineering, and the application of chemical, mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering is a feat I am glad to be a part of in this century during my lifetime. It’s a tribute to the genius of mankind with dedication, patience and teamwork by the grace of God’s letting.

The real Ruler of the Universe in this land was high and mighty with his arms crossed breaking the calm horizon. The T-201 Deutag rig summoned slaves like us night and day to attend to its feet. Employing 95% of Brunei and a chunk of expats like ourselves, this was where all the drilling and well completion work came together. This is Upstream world, involving getting oil out of the ground.

We bowed into this facility by signing in to the safety booth giving up our wedding rings and other hazardous personal effects. Then we made our way into the portacabin blast-proof rig site office to check where we are on pumping. I’ll explain. My boots splashing into the cement, mud, or rain, we ushered through until we reached a Halliburton porta-cabin. There’s got to be a better name; instead it was like a steel heavy-duty tank cabin. Deafened by the machines overhead we entered the job control room to speak with the Operators.

Inside I learned we are performing a Gravel Pack sand control job. We were working on a well that was just freshly drilled and doing pre-completion work to set up the tubes and casing underneath the ground as part of the well’s structure. Sorry I cannot give you a visual aide here. The objective of this job is to prevent retrieving sand instead of oil when we turn the well on. The procedure is common and it is one that we pump brine and thick sand into the well casing after applying a sand screen. The sand that is pumped in stops at the filter of the ultra fine micro-porous sand screen. The brine water that is stewarded in courteously exits and is sucked back to the surface to be pumped out of the well.

Rest assured we were 60% done pumping brine and sand in the earth and we were happy with the progress of the job. We signed out and with the mark of putting on our wedding bands, we entered civilian life again. We headed back in the calm of the night each to our own to the treat of a warm shower. That’s a glimpse into my life. Now you can say you’ve been to an oilfield in Brunei.

Not enough web cred/exposure has been given to this little piece of earth so I’m going to spoil it for you. Actually, when I was moving to Brunei I searched Google, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube, and people’s blogs to get the scoop. I got noth. Nothing more than a miser few images of the big golden masjid.

The only thing the world knows about Brunei is from some over-popularized documentary by National Geographic on the sultan’s riches and opulent taste in gold and oil. Zero intel on the web other than that. What a great way to keep people away, ministry of tourism. They have however done a good job keeping people wildly enthused by the myth that the Sultan is the richest man in the world and that everyone here is filthy rich. Well, it’s all relatively true but not exactly.

Where I live, on the quiet Western side of the microscopic country in the District of Belait, you can spend frankly a year here like I did and never hear anything about Obama, the Middle East, or MTV. Completely removed. Suspended in motion. One hundred percent peace and the closest ever conservative social utopia. Politically, geographically, religiously, militarily, socially, and economically amputated from the rest of the world. For all intensive purposes, Brunei is like a small neighborhood within greater Malaysia on the Borneo Island, which is the third largest island in the world.

Brunei is rich, yes, but that’s purely relative to its economic scale and its local GDP. Brunei has a population of a handful 380,000 and the wealth can be spread thickly across this small nation. The infrastructure is simple and easier to manage and the people enjoy luxuries that neighboring countries like Malaysia and Philippines do not, such as maids and grants from the government. Can you believe, once a married couple spend eight years together they are given a house by the Sultan? I asked and the equivalent is about a 3 bedroom house worth roughly $150,000USD. Not bad, American economy.

Altogether the cost of living is a small hike more expensive than Malaysia and the cost of groceries and clothes takes the biggest bites. Singapore is still a lot more pristine and expensive. This economic gap in a small area combined with an expat community creates an economic bubble very strong for price-fixing/gouging where renting a house can easily cost you near $2,000 a month. Ouch! That’s what you get for not getting married and bringing your 3 kids here.

And that’s your secret to happiness here because this safe and green-laden rainforest land is made for families, or so I hear. Ok, let’s talk about the social elements of life here. It seems there is zero western influence here so no bars, no clubs, no chain fast food stores, and no malls save a few multi-story bazaar shops. You open a travel guidebook and it suggests you check out the wet market. So now you get my point. Really not much to do except visit the world-acclaimed 7-star resort in Bandar (The Empire) or trek the jungles and rainforests with consist of 75% of the country’s real estate.

I live on the beach of the South China Sea. It’s beautiful for sunsets but nothing more as its trodden with Jellyfish, crabs, sand-flies, oil tankers, and it altogether possesses some eerie qualities not too appealing to swim in. But hey it’s a beach and just sitting at the peace watching the sky do amazing colors at sunset and hearing the crashing waves still does it for me. Now for me working here I have come to enjoy the expat lifestyle going to the social/recreation club and taking up sports I never tried more than casually before, including soccer and boxing.

For entrepreneurs, the virgin economy is ripe for business venture in even simple service markets. And you can make a killing here if you set up shop.

Brunei is not a good place to visit for tourists at all. Don’t come by choice. But living here can be quite pleasing if you have a position here at an oil company. Actually, the lack of social structure here can be very peaceful for certain personality types and can harness some great creativity for maybe an author writing a book, a freedom seeker looking for asylum, or a thief looking for sanctuary where people wouldn’t bother looking for you or envy you for anything at all. Though infinitely boring, in Brunei I have found true peace and a people void of misconduct and bad intentions. Much like Oman, Brunei is in a world of its own.

Not so cute: 15 minutes into training I am always out of air. Punching takes the life out of you. Every day it is a challenge to get through the hour with an empty windsack. Boxing really teaches you to ignore the coldness of your aching shoulders, the soreness of your overstretched arms, and the piercing pain shot from the arc of your feet to the circle of your hips as you stretch to get that extra inch.

You’re tired? Ding, there goes the bell after 30 seconds of rest. Now get up and kick some ass. Thrilling sensation.

This is the official Southeast Asia Tour. We have some crazy things planned so stay wired for pictures to come. I’m going to be updating this blog now more often to keep my family and friends updated.

I have been doing a good job wasting my time away getting up to speed. Here are the movies I watched this month and enjoyed…

• Father of the Bride, Part I
• Cheaper by the Dozen
• Bowfinger
• Lion of the Desert
• The Mexican
• Mooseport
• Reservoir Dogs
• The Perez Family
• Anger Management
• Shakespeare in Love
• There Will Be Blood
• The Mexican
• West Side Story
• Rush Hour, Part III
• Bowling for Columbine
• Good Will Hunting
• The Godfather, Part I
• The Godfather, Part II
• The Lord of the Rings, Part I
• The Lord of the Rings, Part II
• The Lord of the Rings, Part III
• Ocean’s 11
• Ocean’s 12
• ET
• A Walk to Remember
• The Full Monty
• The Wedding Date
• Trainspotting

The following is only my opinion and I’m usually right

Movies that suck: Things I bought, started watching, and ejected early:

• Police Academy, Part I
• Father of the Bride, Part II
• Beauty Shop
• Balls of Fury
• Sideways

Movies I plan to watch next: I have these and I am waiting to get home from work so I can frickin’ relax and watch these:

• Dirty Pretty Things
• The Godfather, Part III
• The Departed
• Hotel Rwanda
• Glory
• Irreversible
• Dirty Dancing
• Notting Hill
• 8 Millimeter
• Your suggestions?

Movies I need to find: Here are movies I am looking for and can’t find. Let me know if you have them I’ll borrow them from you and never give them back, I promise.

• Irreversible
• Mississippi Burning
• Confidence
• The Lion King
• Star Wars complete series
• Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
• Reqiuem for a Dream
• The Message
• Bye Bye (French)
• A Hope (French)
• Battle of Algiers (Old)
• Indecent Proposal