Second post of the day

Many of my friends have asked me to post some pictures. Well, I'm not in the mood yet to carry around the big bulky camera in the drenching 40C weather... but I snapped few things with my Blackberry. By "few" I mean really few. And by "with my Blackberry" I mean crappy pictures.

This was my bed, the first time I found it on Aug 17 night.

Yeah, I know. It's hugeeee. The room is just awesome. Except there are still this unassembled boxes of desk just sitting around.

Being a student, I guess a desk is kind of important if I ever want to graduate.

A picture from the bazaar last night:

I got my name written in Arabic. And I was sweating like crazy, even though it was 11pm at night.

This is the fountain at the Harbor Square, where the bazaar was held last night. And this isn't the only fountain on campus, of course. Pretty amazing to see fountains in the desert. Especially when water is more expensive than oil...

And of course, food.

This is just one side of the diner... where they have the middle eastern food. I think almost everyone just eats at the diner. Students. Faculty. Staff.

As I mentioned before, they have these "budget meals":

And look how far 14SR (around 3.75 USD or Rp 34,000) can go here at KAUST. Thats a hugeee portion of some sort of fried rice with lamb, vegetable stew, vermicelli soup with bread, salad (I just mixed stuff), a bowl of jello, and a mango juice.

Of course I had to take a to go box. Stereofoam to go box costs 1 SR, so next time I'm being green (and cheap) by bringing my own to go box.... :)

And few things I get asked often:

Q: Is it hot there?

A: Yes. And very very humid.

Q: What time is it right there?

A: I put a clock in this blog to show what time it is in Thuwal (the city where KAUST is at) right now. So... refer to the big green clock on the right side of this page, please... :)

Q: Do you always have to wear the abaya when you go out?

A: Yes if not on campus, but not when I'm on campus. On campus, I've seen guys wear shorts and girls wear dresses, but of course the clothes still have to be modest and not revealing or anything to respect the culture. But when we go outside the campus, for example to Jeddah, then us girls wear the abaya.

Q: What is an abaya?

A: Really right now? Do you want me to Google that for you? :P