Job Discussion Forums

[scot47]

Come the weekend ie Thursday and Friday if you are not careful here you will get the Saudi Blues. The only cure is a holiday. Saudi really can be a drag sometimes. What I need is a positive attiutude, but how do I cultivate that ?

I would love to know how that johnslat character up in Riyadh manages to be so CHEERFUL all the time ! Come on John, is oit something you put in your coffee ? Prozac ? A bimbette ?

[johnslat]

Dear scot47,
No big secret - lots of good books to read, lots of exercise resulting in mens sana in corpore sano, 59 more days left to go in the Kingdom ( and you'd better believe THAT makes me wake up each morning with a smile ) and that old stand-by: the comtemplation of the vast numbers of human beings in the world who are worse off - in many cases, much worse off - than I.
Regards,
John
P.S. How WOULD one put a bimbette in one's coffee? And does she improve the flavor?

[ibtisam23]

Such a Nirvana - Enjoy!!!!

[Nomad Dan]

When the weekend rolled around while I was in KSA, I just made the best of it. I was in Al Khobar, so there were lots of expats around...I rode my mountain bike..visited other compounds and often drank too much...that is a real danger there, at least it was for me. I was really into Hashing with the Khobar and Jubail groups with an occasional trip to Ras Tanura to run. If you don't know anything about the Hash House Harriers, I recommend to anyone over there that they look them up. That was just a lot of fun to me because it was a group of people getting together and having fun and making the best of it.

I stayed out of trouble in Saudi. Didn't blow my money....That is another thing that kept me content...the thought of "money in the bank"...It all depends on where you are. In the Eastern Province there was plenty to do...but I have a good friend in Jeddah who is miserable....Lonely and disgusted with the "moronic beliefs" etc. This made me feel really self conscious because I could've care less when I was there...I would Allah akbar with them and everything...show me the money. I think if you go there thinking that you are going to be some positive force in changing beliefs, then you may well go made as a hatter.

I dunno, I just chased the not-so-beautiful women, drank homebrewed beer and sid, hiked jogged swam lifted weights and just basiclly had a good time...
I am easily entertained I am afraid. I don't know that I could have stayed there sober though...and that is sad. I do know that there is solid 12 step (AA) available in the Eastern Province, so I would probably do that.

Take care all,
Nomad Dan

[johnslat]

Dear ibtisam23,
What? The Irony Police still haven't apprehended you, a repeat offender?
Nirvana, by the way, isn't located outside oneself ( and certainly not in Sydney ). As John Milton put it: " The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven. ". OK, calling this place " Heaven " may be pushing it a wee bit too far, but, as Nomad Dan noted,
it all depends on the individual. If you're someone who needs a lot of outside diversions and activities to feel content, then the Kingdom is probably not going to be for you - either that, or you'll be kept busy chasing such things down. But if you're more self-contained, more able to
entertain yourself with your own pursiuits and a more limited social life, then Saudi Arabia can be quite tolerable. To close with yet another quote, Blaise Pascal said, " I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room. ".
Regards,
John

[ibtisam23]

I'm an Islamic lady studying in Sydney. It is my wish to go on Haj and visit Medina and Mekka which I believe are places close to Heaven. So I envy you because you are near there. My lecturer said in class that Nirvana means heaven.All of my friends use the word enjoy everytime so have I used it wrong? Can you explain what you are saying to me? Thank you.

[johnslat]

Dear ibtisam23,
Hmm well - let me begin with yet ANOTHER quotation:
" He ( or she ) who would find the gold of the Indies must take the gold of the Indies with him ( or her ). Having never been to Makkah or Medina, you MAY - on may NOT - have a somewhat idealized notion of what you'll find there. Don't get me wrong - I've known a number of Moslems who have told me they had truly moving, transforming religious experiences there. And I've known some who were disillusioned by it, especially by the behavior of some of the pilgrims - the shoving, the disregard for others, the selfishness. So, what you get from there will depend a lot on what you bring to it. In the Bible, it says, " The Kingdom of Heaven is within you ", and so, I think, is the " Kingdom of Hell ". Nirvana is indeed the word used by Buddhists to describe " Heaven " ( it was " adapted " by the Buddhists from Hinduism ). Here's a good description, off the Net:

" By achieving nirvana, you can escape samsara, the cycle of reincarnation that characterizes both Hinduism and Buddhism. In each life, a soul is punished or rewarded based on its past actions, or karma, from the current life as well as earlier lives (which also include lives as animals). It's important to note that the law of karma isn't due to a god's judgment over a person's behavior; it's closer to Newtons law of motion -- every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It happens automatically, of its own accord.

When you achieve nirvana, you stop accumulating bad karma because you've transcended it. You spend the rest of your life and sometimes future lives "working off" the bad karma you've already accumulated.

Once you have fully escaped the karmic cycle, you achieve parinirvana -- final nirvana -- in the afterlife. As with Hindu nirvana, souls that have achieved parinirvana are free of the cycle of reincarnation. The Buddha never specified what parinirvana was like. In Buddhist thought, it is beyond normal human comprehension. "

So, THAT Nirvana is something that may ( or may not ) await us in the afterlife - assuming there is one. But the " nirvana " that can be achieved here on earth has to begin within, I'd say, and spread outward, not vice-versa. You can't " get there " from the outside, but maybe you can find it within.
Regards,
John

[scot47]

Well I cheered up spontaneously. The Saudi Blues - for me at least - are not a permanent condition.

I find reading is a great blessing here. I am pursuing my interests in Theodor Fontane and other German writers of the Modern Age. And I am blessed in that like the Blessed Johnslat I live a TV-free existence.

Went out with a colleague last and looked at the poor benighted 'eathens in one of the larger Malls in Khobar.

John is right. You have to be able to entertain yourself here. And these monthly pictures of King AbdulAziz (ie the 500-riyal notes) are a GREAT comfort. Hash House Harriers I saw in Jeddah. Too much like the idiocies of an English public (ie private) school for me. A lot of expat "social life" seems to revolve round alcohol, and badmouthing the locals. Not for me.

[johnslat]

Dear scot47,
Papal update: I am no longer " Blessed Johnslat "; I was elevated to sainthood a week ago ( Hey, what can you expect from a Polish Pope? ).
Please change the heading on all further prayers and petitions.
Bless you, my son,
St. Johnslat

[Albulbul]

Well ibtisam23 I cannot coment on Mecca (Makkah to you) or Medina since our hosts will not let us go there,but I am fairly sure you could be in for a shock visiting this country.

Your beliefs and assumptions about your faith will be tested when you visit this country. There is such a gulf (no pun intended) between religious aspirations and the harsh daily reality of life. Come and see.