nationalities personalities

I am in Yemen, thousands of miles from the nearest political correctician, so I get to offer some observations about some of the nationalities that are here, with a disclaimer that these generalizations are based on non-representative cross sections. Everyone knows that all generalizations are incorrect.

Still, there may be something to this notion of a national personality; I kinof think there is. Mostly though, these musings hit on my American funny bone.

Americans: There are only 12 of us, engineers for the most part. Fairly predictable demographic: mostly ex-military, most have spent time in Iraq. Mostly white, although there are a couple of black guys - managers like everyone else, well paid. There is a color blindness here in Asia, and I doubt that the 7,000 Arab Muslim laborers notice that these guys are black so much as they notice the Yemgas shirt which identifies them as ex-pats, which means they're about to be told to do something. As far as acceptance by peers, performance expectations, assignment of accomodations, etc. the racial issue is irrelevant. If the Sharia zealots decide to revolt, the black guys will be subject to scimitar death just like everyone else.

Brits: Except for the lowest levels of Yemeni, Turkish and N. Korean labor, the Brits and Americans are the only monolinguists on this project. Everyone else speaks at least two languages. The reason for this is fairly simple: English is the world language. There isn't really as much need to learn an additional language. If you are French and live in France, which is the size of Oregon, you will eventually want to explore new countries. You may want to learn Dutch so you can visit Amsterdam, but your Dutch would be lame, and everyone would respond to you in English anyway. So if you are French, you learn English, and then condescend on Brits and Americans for not being bilingual.

French: Safe to say that most of the career oil industry folks on this project are politically conservative, but even the most conservative Frenchman on this project is well to the left of the moderate American Republican. It would be nice if the French would adopt George Bush like that zany nincompoop Jerry Lewis, but helas, the overwhelming consensus is "E is stupeed, non?" It would be trite to go into the French stereotype; suffice it that there is a kernal of truth to it. I will cite an example of what may be quintessential french, but may be just a simple case of aro/ignorance: The senior managers on this project are French. There is a level of disorganization from the top which affects everyone on this project. For mid-managers, it manifests itself in the way that they plug into ones' projects - supplementing, countermanding, rejecting, whatever - without bothering to tell the task manager. Example: yesterday there was an epileptic seizure in one of the camps, and when the Yemgas doctor showed up and called the ambulance he was informed that the ambulance contract had been cancelled by the Resident Construction Manager as a cost control measure. As a sidenote: the non-euro mid-managers are treated worse in this regard than euros. It is fairly clear that the French managers have retained a residuum of colonial attitude that shows up in their interactions with non-euros. It is not blatant, but in this theater, devoid external distractions, it is hard not to notice. I hasten to add that this foible is only evident in a select few senior managers. In fact, I tend to associate with the French engineers more than others, even Americans - partially so that I can practive speaking French. Every so occasionally, someone will come up with some bourbon and a few of us will hold talks in a private setting away from the milleu. It's fun to flop between English and French during these moments of detente (c'est a dire: relaxation).

Yemenis: Felix Arab is what the Romans called them - friendly arabs. And they are. Somewhat innocent, really. They are only a generation or so removed from the 14th century. It's fun to observe the learning curve. For example, they still coming to grips with cell phones; there is some posturing when they get a call in a public setting. Also, Arabic does not have a "P" sound; they pronounce "p" as "b." One of my employees is forever informing me that the bump went out. It's like he has a permanent cold. I taught him about Peter Piper, and force him to recite it occasionally - for his benefit, really. There's probably some Muslim stricture against the "p" sound and I'm scarring him for life.

Other Arabs: I have access to a spreadhseet that is updated weekly, which breaks down the nationalities represented on the project. Surprisingly, there are very few other Middle Eastern nationalities represented. There are reasons for this. The Saudis don't need work in Yemen; they have plenty going on back home. Plus I think there is a bit of a condensention thing going on with Yemen's big brother. Some of the other Arab nationalities, for example, Iran, are not allowed because they are Shite. One of the larger Subcontractors - PetroJet - is Egyptian, with 400 employees. There is a national pride among the Egyptians that seems to be missing in other Middle Eastern nations. Not hard to imagine why, when you consider most of them were created over cocktails by some Brit with a map and a magic marker. This detail was lost on Mr. Bush, who thought he could coalesce a nation into a single identity with a shared vision. "E plurabis unim" tatoos would appear in the tonier cafes. Olympic dogsled team. National anthem. A flag.

Lebanese: Essentailly a southern European country as far as I can tell. There are a fair number of Lebanese within Yemgas and among the Subcontractors. Most of them are exceptionally cool. Like the Egyptians, all of them speak glowingly of their country, and seem to accept the political strife as a way of life. One of the hipper guys is Palestianian - he may as well be from LA. He hangs out mostly with a Maronite (Christian) guy and they get along well, although they rib each other ruthlessly for the entertainment of the Euros. If you talk to them separately, you find that their opinions on the hot button issues are polar opposites, for examples the influence of Syria, the ethics of Hezbollah, etc. But it doesn't affect their friendship. They enjoy bourbon, and seem to have access to a supply train.

Indians: Face it; they are square by western standards. Mirth is not part of their makeup. Penchant for bad glasses; like the Koreans, but with the Koreans you get the idea that they aren't hip because they don't want to draw attention to themselves as they quietly learn, accumulate, prepare... The Indians just don't care. Most of them speak a hundred languages, including English. But their English can be a challenge to understand, as their consonant projection comes from somewhere around their back molars. They love to end sentences with "only." Like "They will do what their supervisors say only." Generally speaking, they are competent and quiet. There seems to be an inner peace that they are not interested in explaining unless you press them, and even then you can't quite figure out what makes them tick. Anyway, the Indians are worse drivers than the Yemenis. Neither of them understand driving concepts that are second nature in the west. For example, they will drive up close behind a stopped car that obviously is going to need to back up. The Yemenis don't yield right of way to pedestrians, but the Indians apply a caste system approach whereby an Ex Pat pedestrian is yielded right of way, but a laborer knows better than to walk in front of a Hindu driver. It's a toss up when an Ex-pat and Laborer are walking together. The same curious phenomenon occurs with Indians and Pakistanis as with the Maronite and Palestinian. They hang out together. My theory - I have to have a theory - is that living and working in this environment is kindof a mutual adversary, which is more real than the blood struggle that goes on back home. I'm pretty convinced that Patel and Abdula won't be exchanging Christmas cards once the project is over, but at least while they are here, there's an easy familiarity that glues them together.

Balhaf Recreation

what a motley crew, the Yemgas Globe Trotters. At least the name is accurate. From left to right, we have French, Hong Kong, Austin, College Station and Italian. Not pictured are Venezuelan, Lebanese and a couple more French.
The Yemgas Green team is Yemeni.
The TDD Tankers (they are constructing the cryogenic tanks) are Korean.

Other recreational stuff to do in the very limited off-hours is swim at the beach, jog the perimeter road on the inside of the fenceline. Occasionnally the Euro Ex-pats will organize a Friday afternoon drive to Bir Ali, which is an oasis, literally - you've heard the term, this is really one of them - up the coast to the east. There is nothing there by way of amenities, but the security people have deemed it safe, kindof, and it is an excuse to leave the fenced compound. Actually, as of this writing - Jan 18, 2008 - it is not safe. I have heard rumblings about some kindof of weirdness outside, which has suspended Bir Ali visits for the time being. Didn't pay it much attention, but should have, if only to be more informed-sounding in writing about it. Death was involved, so I'll try to remember to ask the security guys, who work down the hall from me about it. Stay tuned.

Return to Balhaf for Rotation #2

The most profound impression from my three-week Christmas vacation was its brevity. I’m reminded of the old-timey Hollywood depiction of the passing of time where the calendar pages curl and drop to the ground like falling leaves.

I learned something about myself during the time off: although I didn’t really have many demands on my time, I still managed to fall back into that familiar lifestyle of being rushed. I am perpetually rushing whether in Austin or in Yemen: here rushed, there rushed, everywhere rushed rushed. I’m the old MacDonald of poor time management.

I got back to Balhaf in the early hours of New Year’s Day and stopped by my cabin to unpack suitcases and take a shower before heading into the office. The transition from vacation mode to work came while in the shower, when I noticed that the soap did not rinse very well and I made a mental note to check the CaCO3 metering pumps at the RO plant.

The project remains a fascination for me. There are new and different things every day. The human interest stories are enough to keep me engaged. This afternoon, at management’s insistence, I accompanied security in an investigation of an illicit still that was in operation at the Hawk (a heavy equipment contractor) bakery. They made a wine by fermenting fruit and sugar with bread yeast, then they distilled the resultant ferment using a crude but ingenious still, involving double boilers and ice. The word I got was that the moonshine was respectable, but, unfortunately, they had dumped it by the time I got there. The human interest was the fall guy. Hodji or something, from Bangalore. He was shaking in his boots. It was pretty clear he had been set up as the sacrificial lamb. He told the security guy – Keitel, a stern Lebanese ex-military police - that nobody else knew about the operation, and that he drank all of the product himself. Keitel wanted to implicate management for duplicity, but I kindof cooled him down. It is tough for me to see someone punished for something I would have done, if I has thought of it. I kept Keitel from dragging down the kitchen management, even though it was clear they were partners in crime. But I couldn't do anything for Hodj, who was on the next flight to Bangalore. The problem was that by late afternoon, all 3 thousand mostly Yemenis at Hawk knew that Yemgas knew about the still. The Shariat has a problem with alcohol, and consequently under the circumstances, Yemgas/Hawk had to sacrifice someone in order to avert another uprising.