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