Six Months in Saudi

It started with an email. In November 2021, the subject line “Some News to Share” appeared at the top of my inbox. It was sent to, I can only imagine, dozens of colleagues but we were all blank copied.

I’ll save myself the trouble of explaining its origins and just input the email below. Happy reading.

I’m not going to lie, when I first received the email, I didn’t think much of it. I had already accepted another role as Project Coordinator for a small boutique environmental firm and was gearing up to move to Southern California sometime in early 2022. Regardless, I was still doing some work for the CRC Ad-Hoc group and sent an email congratulating Tom on accepting such a wild offer.

It wasn’t until a personal message from him popped up in my emails a few days later that things began to change. The message read something like this: “I have been super impressed with your organizational skills and leadership of this group. I am not sure what your current career plans are but if you're interested in having a conversation about potentially getting involved in the project in the Red Sea I would be interested in chatting with you.”

I mean… wow. It started with an email and next thing you know I’m having a conversation with Tom about joining the initial project management team to help get the project ready for operations and execution.

Just a few days later, I was coordinating with HR to receive my government visit visa and arrange my travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It started with an email in November, and by January, I was on a flight out to Jeddah.

When I first arrived at KAUST, I felt like I had crash-landed onto Planet Mars with intense vertigo. After 15 hours of travel and a drive through the desert highway of Jeddah, we entered the compound. But this “compound” isn’t what you’d expect. After being cleared through two gates with armed guards, you enter a world adorned with date trees, families riding their bicycles, and a Tamimi supermarket at its center. Regardless, I was adamant to get on the first flight back home. Without a proper adapter, sim card, and knowledge of the transportation system at first, I felt stuck and incredibly homesick. The first few weeks were the toughest I’ve ever endured, but still, I endured.

Once the jetlag surpassed and I was in a groove at work, I felt much better. It never got easier, I just got stronger.

February, I took a solo trip to Dubai. March, I drove north to Taif and stayed with a local tribe. April, I met my dad and best friend in Italy. May, I road tripped to Al Ula. And June, I stayed on a live aboard at Shushah Island diving every day.

I came to KAUST on a six-month consultancy contract to help integrate all aspects of the project. I was the fifth person to join the team and the second American. Through my background in environmental engineering, coral restoration, and scientific diving, I was able to assist the coral nursery construction and design team, as well as the reefscape and monitoring teams. Specifically, I coordinated two successful workshops - bringing in industry experts from all over the world to advise our team on the nursery design and reefscape implementation. I also traveled up to NEOM and witnessed the beginning phases of what will become a very ambitious giga-project. My last two weeks were spent on a liveaboard at Shushah Island diving every day to assess the benthic life, identify in-situ nursery locations, spatially plan the reefscape, and deploy hobo loggers to monitor temperature and pH.

While I sit here writing this post back home in Colorado, I can't help but identify the massive amount of growth I've endured in the last six months. I moved to a new country on the opposite side of the world, started a new job with a steep learning curve, and discovered my resiliency and adaptability amidst the daily struggle to adjust to the culture and lifestyle by myself.

And with that, I am still reaching my potential. I am so very humbled and excited to announce I have accepted a one-year contract to continue my work with Shushah Island. I will be returning in the next few weeks after a much-needed reset.

Here's to the growing pains. To taking unexpected chances. To pivoting. To leaning into the uncertainty. To trusting what's to come.