Pictures From KAUST

Here are a few images from KAUST taken Friday, February 19 which is my "Sunday".

A view of my apartment looking at the patio.  I have a table and 6 chairs for sitting out.  The sliding doors on the right open from my main living area.  Those on the left open from the downstairs bedroom.  The buildings are quite tall so I have very high ceilings, (over 20') in the main living area and there are still apartments above mine.

This is the entry to my apartment.  The door on the right is the "maid's" entrance to the little tiny maid's room.  The little sign on my door says "Occupied" which is to keep the many laborers from taking their breaks in an occupied unit.  Yesterday I had several guys lounging on my patio.  We were both surprised to see each other when I slid open the drapes.

These homes are right on the Red Sea.  They are for much higher status folks than me!

This is the Red Sea.  Notice the fence with concertina wire.  We can't get to the beautiful beach.  I assume this is because they don't have controls in place to keep unmarried men and women from mingling which is considered "haraam".  (In Islam , haraam is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the faith.  See  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haraam)  Eventually they will have a "men's" beach, a "women's" beach, and a "family" beach.  Westernization, even at KAUST,  can only go so far in the Kingdom.  It doesn't reach beaches or health clubs.

 

I took this self-portrait at a nearby park using the camera timer.  It's really beautiful here but hot!  It was about 90F at 11:00am when I took this.  I am  reluctantly anticipating temperatures regularly between 100F and 115F in the summer.