This past week marked the passing of Saudi Arabia’s all-time favorite American, Captain Joseph Wade Grant. The first pilot to fly to the Kingdom, Grant ended up staying as the personal pilot to the infamous King Abdul Aziz for two years, and was key in helping Saudi Arabia start the national Saudi Airlines. The amount [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Stockton, California… where Saudi Arabian Legends are Born, obviously
Posted in Uncategorized on May 7, 2010 | 1 Comment »
DT Presents: The 1st Annual Bay to Beacon 1K Swim
Posted in Uncategorized on April 29, 2010 | 4 Comments »
In an event of unprecedented hype and magnitude, ten of KAUST’s fiercest athletes took to the open waters in the first annual Bay to Beacon 1K swim at 9am this morning. Followed closely by Coastlines Search and Rescue and members of the undercover KAUST Security team, the event was a huge success. With calm waters [...]
As real as it gets…
Posted in Uncategorized on April 21, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Still recovering from a spring break for the ages (Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey), I opened the Arab News yesterday to find this… 2 erring young men ask to punished By ARAB NEWS Published: Apr 19, 2010 21:31 Updated: Apr 19, 2010 22:25 JEDDAH: In what is described as an unprecedented occurrence, two young men arrived at a [...]
The Night I Met the KING… and it paid to be a GAUCHO
Posted in Uncategorized on March 18, 2010 | 8 Comments »
From the moment that I signed the two-year contract to go to KAUST, I told everyone who asked, that “Yes I will meet the King.” I honestly thought that I would, but I had no clue it would happen in the manner that it did… Last night, at the 25th anniversary opening of Janadriyah (imagine [...]
A “Legendary” Night
Posted in Uncategorized on February 26, 2010 | 5 Comments »
I’m not well-versed in the subject of hosting a concert by any means, but I like to think that I have a fair estimation of what can be expected by performers ready to take people to another place through their music before the show. Besides what I’ve learned through movies and during my brief stint [...]
Drill Baby Drill!
Posted in Uncategorized on February 16, 2010 | 3 Comments »
(This piece is largely a generalization on my part, based on observations alone. It also has nothing to do with my trip to ARAMCO last weekend, sorry Ernesto) During the fourth and final week of the WEP, I was lucky enough to participate in a class titled “Leadership Training through Improvisation.” Taught by three members [...]
A ‘Kolorful Kingdom’
Posted in Uncategorized on February 8, 2010 | 14 Comments »
In my first four months living in Saudi, I never associated the Kingdom as a “colorful” country. In fact, I was starting to get concerned when by December, everything I saw took on the color white, black, or tan (a side effect of ‘Saudization’ maybe?). Needless to say, my PADI Open Water certification training this [...]
Pon de WEPlay
Posted in Uncategorized on January 29, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Walla! Saudi Arabia in January is unbelievable. Cool breezes replace the sticky humidity, the desert takes on a green hue, and keeping on par with last semester, KAUST decided to give us a four week extended vacation. It’s borderline scary how used to this lifestyle I’m becoming. Upon returning to KAUST after the winter holidays, [...]
Why IS the Red Sea called the “Red Sea?”*
Posted in Uncategorized on January 15, 2010 | 5 Comments »
If there is one way to justify spending half of my KAUST stipend on traveling during my first semester, it’s that I got invaluable experience getting on to an airplane departing for “Saudi Arabia;” a mental accomplishment in itself every time (if you’ve done it, you know what I’m talking about). I don’t know if [...]
Bliss Street
Posted in Uncategorized on December 5, 2009 | 2 Comments »
When you’ve seen a cab driver use a belt as a whip, dined in Hezbolland, drank in a bomb shelter, worshipped a wine God (Baccheus), partied with a “Penguin”, and somehow managed to scratch off a “superficial layer” on your cornea in less than a week’s time; it’s hard to decide what story is worth [...]
