Extraction 1

Leaving the Kingdom is far more difficult than getting into it, in part because of the ridiculous bureaucratic minutiae and in part because we acquire things here that we didn’t have back there (carpets, for example).

Because I have no property in the U.S., I am essentially building a new household from scratch. There isn’t much point in bringing too many things back with me because I won’t see them for at least three months, the typical time it takes shipments of personal goods to travel between KSA and the U.S. (the route apparently includes long stretches where your items are carried by camel). 

If an item is critical, say, dog beds or cat dinner bowls, then I’m going to have to bring it with me when I fly back or ship it myself via very fast camel. I flew out here with two dogs and five suitcases. I will be returning with three dogs, two cats, and at least two suitcases and a dishpack box. The tale of the journey back will be epic. But that’s still in the future (I won’t give any precise dates until closer to departure time).

One of the big steps in the extraction process is selling stuff you don’t want to take back with you. Selling things in Aramco used to be very easy. There was an online classifieds section of the intranet that you could access from home or work. People would list all sorts of junk and treasure and find a buyer for it. But we lost the classifieds after the hacking incident in August 2012 when Aramco shut down all internet connectivity for several weeks. They’ve never brought the classifieds back. Since “community” is something that only gets token lip service here, re-establishing the classifieds is pretty low on Aramco’s list.

You can ask the buffoons in the Community Services office to post 3x4 cards listing an item for sale on a bulletin board in the mail center but each card can only reference one item, there is a limit to the number you can submit, and you can’t list a mobile number (oh my god, there might be something nefarious going on if people are talking on mobiles, right?). This might be more trouble than it's worth.

Somebody tried to set up a craigslist-type of online classifieds service (it’s free and appears to be legit) but I test-posted four items to see what sort of traffic it gets and I think it’s a bust. 

There is of course the tried and true garage sale (more effective if you have a garage or even a yard, of which I have neither). I might go this route but it will take some planning and I’ll need help. I’m going to ask friends to participate, have them do a bit of housecleaning and see if they want to sell a few things. A multi-family sale will draw more people. And I can have the contributors help out for an hour or so.

Finally there is the secretary network. Some of those secretaries send out emails to many hundreds of people at a time. We thought for a while that new internet monitoring policies (our every keystroke is monitored) would end this practice but several of the secretaries said, the hell with Akh Akbar (Big Brother), I’m sending this info around just like I used to. A friend who is leaving sold his car two days after he had the ad sent out by one of the secretaries (it helped that he priced it right). This is really the best option to move large items (car, refrigerator, furniture) and I have already begun to prepare a document with photos, descriptions, and asking prices of all the items I’m selling.

I can't actually send the list of things to the secretaries because I haven't submitted my resignation letter yet. All of these tasks have to occur in the proper order. If I suddenly start selling a bunch of stuff, word will spread like wildfire that something is up. The letter is already written, I only have to print it, sign it, and hand it over to my manager. I plan to do this next week. Then things will begin to get interesting.