Sober Saudi

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 [...]

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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 as [...]

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(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 of [...]

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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 [...]

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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, the students [...]

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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 it’s [...]

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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 [...]

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I want to preface this post by mentioning that I went to the first “KAUST Wellness” meeting this past week, in which seven somber students sat and shared (no alliteration intended) their struggles to transition to life at KAUST; not necessarily life in Saudi Arabia (since they’re apples and oranges).  In one of the more [...]

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(Contrary to popular belief as a result of the “Sober Saudi” hiatus, a lot has been taking place here at the KAUST Zoo over the past three weeks.  However, as a wise Mother of mine once said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”  So I’m keeping the events [...]

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For the past four years I’ve successfully dodged invitations to climb Half Dome in Yosemite National Park under the stars with friends and family. A combination of fear, disinterest, and a few other good excuses (probably not that good) kept me from discovering the magic that comes with catching the sunrise from atop the [...]

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