Chicago, Illinois (exotic, I know)

It's been a while since I last updated. Let's recap: So I took my trip to the US (Atlanta, Miami, and South Carolina) and then came right back to Rotterdam for nearly a month. It was the most uneventful month of June as I just simply lost interest in traveling. I passed the time by taking long runs through the city-center of Rotterdam, getting gawked at by ugly Dutch-Indian women, and being denied from clubs/bars simply because I'm a brown man (more on this below). I did manage to make it to a beerfest with Andrew down in Antwerp one weekend in June (can't remember which). Over 200 beers in one place with a bunch of crazy Belgian and American expats calls for a wild time.

Alas, being in Holland for that time period just made me dislike the aggressive Dutch-folk even more. Andrew visited Rotterdam for a weekend and of course, we head out one night. After hanging out at a bar for a good part of the night, we decide to test some others out in the area. Seeing as how this was the first time I had actually been out in the city, I didn't know what to expect. Fail. Lesson learned: The color of your skin will not grant you access into these establishments very late at night regardless of your sober...or inebriated state.

Finally, I left Rotterdam in the beginning of July. I have been in the US for about two months now awaiting an assignment. UOP made it's employees take a second furlough so I used the week of August 17-23 to visit my parents and attend a wedding reception in Florida. I then took a trip to Philadelphia and New York City for the first time (sad, I know). I didn't want to leave New York. It is definitely a top city to visit as there is so much to see and do.

I have been staffed and re-staffed on a couple of jobs in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and am slated to go to Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia at the end of Ramadan (end of September).

All pics are here: