Ras Tanura House Warming Party

13 January 2007
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Before the year ended last year, my friend Ruben told me to mark my calendar on 11th of January. He’s planning a house warming party in his new flat inside Aramco Ras Tanura. We communicated throughout the week on the logistics and on how I could reach his place. I’ve been to Ras Tanura once in Ruben’s former flat but that was outside Aramco. I could hardly contain my excitement since it would be my first time to be in Aramco Ras Tanura.
I was supposed to go with GM but Ruben called me on Thursday at 10:30 AM and told me to meet him at Ramis beside Mc Donalds by 12:30NN. I was there on time and we traveled to Ras Tanura. We reached Ras Tanura at 1:30PM, and Aramco gate at around 1:45PM. Ruben told me that the SOP for security is to register all guest outside. The guard gave me a temporary ID in exchange of my Iqama.
I was very amazed of the beauty of Ruben’s apartment. It’s a detached bachelors flat complete with amenities. It’s has a small garage, garden, receiving area, kitchen, laundry, 2 toilets/bath and a terrace. The décor is American inspired. Ruben told me that his British colleague helped him design his house. While we were looking around, Ruben introduced me to Julie, his 4 month old kitten.
We both grabbed a couple of bite for lunch and then we started cooking. It took us almost four hours to finish cooking. The first batch of Ruben’s guest arrived at around 7:30PM. They were Ruben’s former colleague at Al Hussaini’s. The party was fun because Ruben’s guest brought a guitar and they started singing Visayan novelty songs.
At 10:30PM Aries, a good cook and his wife arrived. They brought Pancit Malabon, Ube Cake, Brownies and Leche Flan. We served another meal and the guest seems to enjoy the ambiance and fun in Ruben’s place. Ruben just warned everyone to minimize their voices because his neighbors are both white American females and might complain to the security. At the same time, GM texted Ruben and said that he couldn’t make it. He also received an unexpected SMS message from Bong. Bong said that he’s coming. Ruben does not expect anything from him though. He’s used to breaking promises that people lose their faith on him. Although we do not expect Bong to arrive, he SMS at around 12:30AM informing us that he’s on his was to Ras Tanura with Arvin. They arrived inside Aramco at 2AM, apparently they lost their way in Safwa.
The guests really enjoyed the party. The first batch of Ruben’s guest left Aramco after Salat. We left later at 6AM and we arrived at Dammam at 7AM. I went with Alex, Aries and his wife. They were kind enough to drive me home. I slept the whole day from 8AM to 6PM.