Why I haven't posted for so long

I have a problem keeping up with stuff... I get distracted too easily. I'd say it's a mild case of ADD, but my good friend Kev told me there is no such thing as ADD for Asians; it's just me "being lazy". Alright, K...

Well I certainly wasn't being lazy at all the last few months. Taking classes have always been a challenge for me. I like spending time in the laboratory doing things people have never done before rather than spending time with the pencil and paper deriving equations and solving problems thousands of people had derived and solved before... but I understand, this is something everybody has to go through.

At KAUST, when we first arrived and attended the orientation program, there were so many changes to the programs of study and other things in general, such as:

1. I was dropped at my apartment and found out that I'd have to share the apartment with two other girls. They had said we would all get single housing, but apparently the construction wasn't completed yet, so us single MS students had to share the family housing.
2. We would have to complete the MS program within 12 months, not 1.5 years.
3. The minimum credit for each semester is 12, not 9. That means 4 grad level courses each semester. Just because KAUST is a new university doesn't mean the classes aren't as hard as classes in universities in the States, Europe, Singapore, etc., because those are where the professors/lecturers came from.
4. No annual free trip home.

Well, when I came, I knew that I really really wanted to do research. Because, after all, that's what KAUST aims for, right? A research university. I found out that most chemical engineering professors here are doing Membrane Science and Technology. There are few others who do Catalysis, but the Center isn't quite ready yet, I think. Well, the Membrane Center is also still in progress... like most things are at KAUST.

Anyway, I knew that I would only have 1.5 years at most to do an MS with Thesis at KAUST, and I'm an experimental kind of person, which means I depend a lot on my luck when doing my project. So, in case I got unlucky, I wanted to start right away. I was lucky there's a group I can join and do (directed) research in... but see, doing research and taking 4 grad level courses equal to no life. And no blog post. :(

This semester, I'm taking:

1. AMCS 201 -- We reviewed ODE, then learned about PDE and Green's Function... I've always been not so good with Math so this class has been challenging.
2. CBE 201 -- Thermodynamics... the classical stuff has been alright as I've taken Thermo in undergrad and had a really good professor and really good TAs, but now we're learning the statistical stuff, too.... *shudder
3. CBE 202 -- Transport Phenomena. Well, since I (or we, it's more like the whole class) got yelled a lot by Prof. CJR, I was never fond of this subject. I know the importance of transport though, and I wish I could love it... Anyways, let's say it's been so so (because it's so, so hard) but I think things are looking up because I'm doing the project now and Winny and I are trying to do COMSOL! Yay. I miss this program. We've spent hours familiarizing ourselves again with the program because the last time we opened it was in 2008.
4. CBE 336 -- Membrane Science and Technology. KAUST is probably one of the few universities in the world that has a membrane class, and it's because there are so many membrane people here. I like this class a lot, but I just got my midterm back and I was disappointed with myself for not doing better on that midterm... again, I blame the ADD. I had not studied enough. I thought the midterm was the week after! Only like 2 days before the midterm I realized that the midterm was that week. :(

With all those courses and starting up a research project (I think it's gonna be about mesoporous silica, by the way), I've had little time to do fun stuff, or I'm just really bad at time management because clearly there are people who can take sailing lessons and scuba diving trips on this campus. When I first arrived I had thought of picking up golf but the only time I ever came to the golf course was during orientation. I clearly need to do better than this.

I also used to go to the campus gym near the diner, but few weeks ago, things changed there. There was no more staff (pretty much just the receptionists), the lights were dimmer (or was it just my feeling?), there were no hairdryers or towels provided (kinda important when going to the gym in between classes!). So I bought a dumbbell and rolled out my yoga mat (in the space I had in my room ever since they took away my queen-size mattress and replaced it with a single bed) and pumped my gym ball, but clearly that wasn't enough because I didn't feel my clothes getting looser. :(

Anyways. it's not that things at KAUST are bad. We have a Grad Student Council who are working really hard and as a result, we've got our yearly plane ticket and we can stay for 18 months, taking 9 credits minimum per semester. That's a really good start!

So maybe, next semester, when I'm taking just 3 classes, hopefully I can post more stuff in a more timely manner? InshaAllah.

P.S. Btw the reason why I'm able to spend some time typing stuff now is because it's Eid al-Adha break now in Saudi Arabia. I'm planning to go to Lebanon for 3 days. I went to Jordan for the Eid-al Fitr break but I haven't post anything on that... so hopefully soon. :)

Weekend

Probably not everyone knows already that the weekend in the Middle East is different than the rest of the world. The weekend days here are Thursdays and Fridays. I have classes on Saturdays and Sundays (and Tuesdays and Wednesdays) this semester.

Yep... so while in Indonesia, the US, and countries in Asia and Europe the work week is Monday through Friday and people say TGIF (Thanks God it's Friday), in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia included), the work week starts on Saturdays and people say TAIW (Thanks Allah it's Wednesday). Well, they don't really say that... but you get the point.

Friday used to be the only day off, because it's the day where people go to the mosque. Just like Sunday is the day off because people rest and go to church in some countries. Thursday is also a day off, where people do things they usually do on Saturdays. For me, that means something like doing laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning the house, unfortunately. They do have housekeeping service for 19 SR per hour, but I'm a graduate student who has to spend money on buying textbooks, you know? So I'm mopping my own floor.

But, we do have fun on the weekend (Thursday - Friday). Not too much fun, though, because it's Ramadan. Let's see, for the past weekend, I went to Jeddah on Wednesday until 2am, then on Thursday I slept in. I went to the Harbor Library to check out their book collections, and I found many interesting fictions, as well as cookbooks. Too bad it's not all that easy to find the ingredients on campus. Tamimi Supermarket on campus is great, but they don't have everything every time, so when I see that they carry a particular brand of dark brown sugar, I'll stock up on them. Also, there are times when I see something I really like, but when converted to USD, it's really expensive. They do have chocolate chips (only Hershey's kind), but it's almost 16 riyals (about $4.2??) per bag. I remembered I used to get lots of them when they're on sale for $2.00 at Safeway... Ghirardelli ones too. A box of soy milk costs about the same, 16-18 riyals. Oh but what can I do. On some days, I'll just eat some instant noodles to justify my chocolate chips and soy milk purchase. Indomie, an Indonesian brand instant noodle is just a riyal.

Anyways, the Harbor Library also has magazines, fun ones like People or Seventeen and even Runner's World and also more serious ones... things like Time or Newsweek. Starting this weekend, I'm gonna go to the Arabic class taught by a volunteer librarian. Hopefully I'm going to pick up some handy Arabic phrases.... Inshallah :)

KAUST has a cinema on campus which is pretty exciting. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, there are only two cinemas, one in KAUST and another one in the Aramco complex in Dhahran. It used to be free, but per August, the ticket is 5 riyals (±$1.3). Not bad... I've watched Killers, a Hollywood-type drama/romance/action movie starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl. There are subtitles in Arabic (and I heard there's English subtitles for Arabic movie -- I'm gonna go see a Middle Eastern movie sometime soon to prove the rumor :)). Some of the scenes are cut, of course, but not too much that you won't understand the movie plot. Every week they show two movies, normally one Western movie and one Middle Eastern or Hindi movie. Tomorrow, I'm gonna go see Inception again. :)

People also go to the mall on the weekend. In case you haven't seen pics I took with my cellphone on Facebook, let me tell you that globalization is everywhere, including Saudi Arabia. There's Starbucks, KFC, McD, Coach, Sephora, Toys R Us, Chili's, Fuddruckers, Krispy Kreme, and even the Cheesecake Factory... the malls look just like malls anywhere else in the world, except there is no fitting room for female. Yep, the people here would just go shop in their black abaya, then pay for their purchases without trying them on! There is a return period... but still... as a girl, I think one of the fun parts of shopping is trying things on. Well, with time I'll adjust here. Also, there are "single section" and "family section" in restaurants and coffee shops. Single men are not to mingle with ladies and families while dining, I suppose.

In each of the malls in Jeddah, there's always a huge hypermarket. While Tamimi on campus is great, sometimes we still want to go to HyperPanda or Danube for the better selections and sometimes the better price. The hypermarket usually has some imported stuff, and it's just exciting to see miso paste or seaweed sold in Jeddah, although they each cost almost 50 riyals and I ended up not buying them.

Another fun thing to do on the weekend might be bowling at the KAUST Harbor Sports club. Or wall climbing? Or golf? I haven't tried golf... maybe I should sometime. It's just really cool to see the green golf course against the desert sand. KAUST also has a yacht club, marina, and a beach. I'll have plenty of things to do this coming weekend.

Also, classes have started and I think I've found a project to do my Master's thesis on... so, there really are plenty of things to do on the weekend: homework, reading and projects...

Flour price in Saudi Arabia

I missed the bus to Jeddah today because I had to run home to get my abaya, so I ended up just going shopping at the big Tamimi with Winny. We had fun looking at stuff.

Anyway, on my last post I had mentioned how imported goods cost more. Something about Saudi frosted flakes costing 5 riyals while the Kellogg's frosted flakes costs something like 18-19 riyals.

Well, that example is nothing compared to what we found today.

Here's the Safeway brand flour. The price is 17.50 SR for 5lb (2.26 kg).

Here's a Saudi brand flour. The price is 1.75 SR for 2 kg.

Whoa... I mean, like 10 times the price? Flour is flour.... I'm getting the cheap one. Homemade baked goods coming soon...

A little bit of the KAUST campus...

Some of my friends have asked me to post pictures of the campus, and really, the pictures from the internet are way way better than my pictures and trust me, in reality they look that awesome, too.

But, anyways, I guess I'll put up some pictures. I didn't get many good pictures, because as an aspiring, amateur photographer, I did not know what settings to use for the very very bright outdoors. Also, my lens fogs up every time I stepped outside an AC building. Oh well.

This is the Discovery Square. Here, we have the FedEx, 24 hour supermarket, fast food restaurants (such as Burger King, Quiznos, Baskin Robbins, The Coffee Beans and Tea Leaf, etc), the cinema, the pharmacy and the housing office.

This is what it looks like from another angle:

Yes, as you can see, they have many trees. It takes gallons and gallons of water to keep those plants alive, I guess. KAUST has its own water treatment plant. Also, you can see at the picture above, the grand mosque... wayyy behind. It is a beautiful mosque. However, in Saudi Arabia, non Muslims are not allowed inside the mosque, hence I can only wonder what it looks like inside.

Oh, and as you can see, the Discovery Square was decorated with beautiful patterned clothes.

This is just because of Ramadan. Ramadan is a very special month in Saudi Arabia. All shops and services have adjusted their hours. Usually they close at around 3 or 4 pm, and the restaurants don't open until after iftar.

And just for fun, here's a shot of the 24 hour mini market at Discovery Square.

Yep.... Tamimi Markets is owned by the Safeway group from the US. So I could find the exact same Safeway brand flour, brown sugar, etc. But a cereal that looks exactly like the one in the States could cost 3-4 more than the "local" frosted flakes... so I always try to buy "local". :P

Now, some shots of the campus, although there are many of them online.

Let's start with the museum of science and technology in Islam at KAUST.

I had not realized before that there were so many Muslim scientists discovering great things, especially between the golden age of... the 800s - 1800s. I think. Here's some dental stuff from long long time ago. Tonsil scalpel, dental hook, and tongue repressor. I'm just glad I live now instead of 1000 years ago.

Here's a shot of some really cool, obviously very old book at the museum.

And a really cool astronomy stuff....

Geometry stuff....

But they don't only just have old stuff; they have cool, high tech stuff too. In fact, lots of it. Everything is touch screen. I can easily spend an hour there, learning about cool history and feeling like a little kid again.

See this?

If you touch on the sticker on the glass, the speaker above you will actually tell you about the object in the display case. And you have to actually stand at a certain, marked spot to hear the explanations clearly. I think it's pretty darn neat.

Now, let's move on to the another building, shall we? I think it's the most most beautiful building on campus and I'm seeing myself spending hours and hours in it. Donde esta la biblioteca?

It's the library. Which opens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Look at them beautiful Macs, with the view of the Red Sea and the KAUST beacon. Oh, if I haven't mentioned.... KAUST uses LOTSSS of Macs. Even the ones where if you actually look at the screen, it's was running the Windows 7 bootcamp. Funny huh. Nothing "KAUSTs" too much for KAUST. If it's good and pretty, they will get it, whatever it "KAUSTs". (Got what I'm talking about?)

Anyways, the library has very little printed books compared to other universities libraries I have been to. Most of the stuff are online.

But I was very happy to see that they have magazines... (the fun ones are in the Harbor Library, the community library.)

And several newspaper subscriptions... just in case I miss the feeling of reading a real newspaper.

Oh, and since KAUST students love to travel, they have this very cool section of travel books and maps:

There's also a map on the wall, with pins to represents the places in the world KAUST students came from. As you see, KAUST is a very, very global community. Maybe about 70-80% of the community population is international, coming from something like 70 different countries.

Alright, that's all, folks. Whew, this was a long post.

Poolside BBQ and Bowling Night

The official orientation program starts tomorrow, and basically since I arrived until today, I've been doing some pre-orientation activities. They are nice but I really can't wait for the classes to start. It's been a semester that I haven't touched any book to do homework; let's see if I can still remember how to take integrals or do an energy balance.

Anyways, pictures speak more than a thousand words, so here are some more pictures from one of the pre-orientation events.

We had a barbecue event by the poolside at the sports club on Friday night. There was some cool breeze, but the humidity was still really high. Most people just tried to finish their food A.S.A.P. then run inside for the comfort of the AC.

This was the table set up.

Pretty fancy for a poolside bbq, don't you think? There were lots and lots of food and drinks, buffet style.

Here's a shot of the food. Unfortunately, I'm not so artistic with my food arrangement.

After finishing our food, everyone came inside to the sports club to play bowling.

For that night, we could play bowling for free. Normally, a game of bowling costs 2SR, and shoe rental is 3SR. Or the other way around? Anyway... still, those are some pretty reasonable prices.

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

First days in the desert!

I arrived on August 17, 2010 at around 4:15pm at Jeddah International Airport. I flied Garuda Indonesia from Jakarta, Indonesia, and on the last day the flight time was rescheduled to about an hour earlier, so I arrived earlier than scheduled (5:50pm). Well, arriving early is always a good thing, except when you are expecting to be picked up by someone in a foreign country... After the 9-hour flight, I ended up waiting for more than an hour at the airport in my black abaya, struggling to keep my head covered. The abaya isn't as bad as people would imagine... it's just like wearing a coat, on a 40C (~104F) weather, which isn't necessarily what you would love to do every day, but it was alright.

I was picked up around 6pm; immigration and baggage claim was a breeze. The driver and a guy from Argon (the relocation team) drove me to KAUST campus in Thuwal, which is 72km from Jeddah.

Jeddah airport building is small, and I don't think they have gates. When an airplane arrives, the passengers would go down the stairs and be transported to the main building in a big bus. In this main building, there's immigration counters (with very few people who speak english) and immediately after, baggage claims. They have special terminals, only used for Hajj and Umroh during Ramadan.

While going to Thuwal from Jeddah, all I saw was desert.... flat and the most sand I had ever seen in my life. And the sun, was just the most beautiful sun I had ever seen in my life. It was round, and there were some clouds around it, just perfectly positioned so that it was surrounded by the perfect shade of pink and blue. And everything else was so flat and dead. But the sunset was just lovely. It was after 6pm and almost the time for iftar. We were in the car, and the driver kept driving, but the station was turned to the one with the prayer. Then, still in the moving car, the fast that day was broken by eating some dates. Yep, I had come during the month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast between dawn and dusk.

There is no speed limit in Saudi Arabia. Or at least it seems like it. All cars move very, very fast. Soon, I arrived at KAUST campus. As the car entered the gate, I felt like I entered a different world. Date trees were carefully planted along the roads. There was grass... heck, there was even the golf course! Beautiful, green golf course. Since people was having iftar meal around the time I arrived, things probably happened slower than usual.

Finally, I got settled in my apartment at around 8pm. It is more like a house, really. I ended up having two housemates. My room is upstairs, and I have a big window, a big mirror, bedside tables, a big bookcase, a dresser (the wardrobe is outside), and the TV table (with no TV), the unassembled desk, and a king-sized bed. I am sharing the bathroom with another girl; it has a bathtub, a shower, a toilet, and another toilet bowl for just urinating, I suppose. Oh the bathroom has this hugeeee mirror. <3

I went to bed right after I showered, because I wasn't able to check my email that night anyways because I didn't have an ethernet cable (darn, there is no wi-fi in the house. My Macbook Air will be useless for a while).

The next morning I woke up at around 6pm, fixed myself breakfast (the kitchen has all the cutleries, knives, pots, and pans), then called the Student Affairs to be picked up to the Student center. I received my Welcome bag (YES! Ethernet cable!) and started the process for my Iqama, which is the ID in Saudi Arabia. Without Iqama, I can't open a bank account at Samba Bank on campus.

And yes, of course, it's hot outside. And humid... and very, very bright. However, inside just about any building it's nice and cool... and sometimes, even, cold. I still need those cardigans after all. There's two routes of free, AC shuttle buses that run around campus every 15 minutes or so.

The campus is just beautiful. It's really amazing that just about 3 years ago this place was a desert. They just look exactly like the ones on the website. I'll post some pictures of my own some time later.

On Wednesday, I went to:

1. Student Center, where I did all the important stuff

2. KAUST Diner, where for just 14SR (1 USD = 3.75 SR) I could get a meal of rice, 1 entree, soup, salad, dessert, and a drink

3. The membranes lab from the outside, which was still empty.

4. KAUST Library, full of Macs and facing the beautiful KAUST Beacon and the Red Sea

5. Harbor Sport Club i.e. the gym with the different male and female sections... and a nice bowling alley

6. The Yacht Club, with the fine dining restaurant upstairs

7. The Golf Club, which was so... green. Membership costs 2000 SR per year for student.

8. The Discovery Square... where they have the cinema (one of the two in KSA), fast food restaurants, 24hr minimart, and FedEx/post office

9. Harbor Library... the community library which has fiction books, children book, newspapers, magazines... oh I know I'm gonna love that place. There are some comfy chairs there, where you can read, gazing at the Red Sea...

10. Harbor Square, for the bazaar last night at 10pm-1am. There were Middle Eastern food, clothes, and storytelling.

11. Tamimi Supermarket aka Safeway, as in Safeway from the US. Found lots and lots of US products here.

12. The nice park with the jogging track and children playground in the Safaa Garden area

Because it's Ramadan, people do things until really late at night (I suppose they take naps during the day). Last night I slept at 2:30am, and today I still woke up at 7am. Jet lag >.<

More to come later... I better take my naps now. :P