I’m Losing!
Since the last blog entry I have lost something like 2 kilos. About 50 of us at KAUST have banded together under the guidance of the Health and Wellness group to shed some pounds. It started with a ‘cleanse’ which I would not recommend to anyone… It just about killed me, but I did not quit. For the first 5 days or so I had headaches and the backs of my legs ached so much that it woke me up at night. The diet consisted of lots of water, no coffee, no processed starches, no sugars and LOTS of vegetables. It is hard to be creative when eating such a restricted diet. I wondered down the grocery store’s isles searching for something to buy, anything! During these first days I really was not in condition to do much other than drag my body to work and home. Now that ‘normal’ foods – well, I am still restricting my coffee intake, sugars and starches – are now back in my diet, exercise is being introduced to our group. I can make it to the Tuesday night session but skip the Sunday night as I place a Skype call back to Canada every Sunday evening. We do high intensity ‘resistance’ exercises. The group moves around in a circle, through about 15 stations where pairs of us do different forms of exercises – jumping jacks, pushups, passing a medicine ball, doing steps, sit-ups, crunches, thrusts and a whole lot of other activities. Each set is for 30 seconds and then 30 seconds to move and get ready for the next exercise. This goes on till we reach where we started and then a second round happens with the time between stations reduced to 15 seconds. One would think that a person can do just about anything for 30 seconds! RIGHT!!!! Just try it. We ‘give-er’ for 30 seconds and can hardly catch our breath before starting the next thing. The change is really nice each time but I have found that the next day really tells that I have used all of my 640 muscles in my body --- ohhhh, ouch!
Fishing
The other evening I was out fishing along the shore just in front of the university, which is a bike ride of less than 4 minutes from my door. Other people were catching fish but my gear was too large. I will look for a smaller rod and some spinners when I get back home. It was an interesting experience to see fish that I have seen swimming among coral being pulled out on the end of a line.
Arts Events
The evening of May 12th brought applause and cheering to a large crowd of people sitting appreciatively in the university’s auditorium listening to 13 contestants, sing, dance, play instruments, show their fashion creations and demonstrate Tai Chi, at the first annual KAUST Talent Show – think of something like America’s Got Talent but on a miniature scale and you will get the idea. The 13 contestants represented nine different countries and were a good representation of the cultural mix at this institution. A Chinese won First Prize for his Tai Chi demonstration, a Mexican Second for his solo salsa dance and an American for her original poetry reading. The People’s Choice award went to the very popular salsa dancer who was totally amazing and danced all alone. 8-)
This week also had the first ever KAUST art exhibition. I entered three of my enlarged photos and found when I went to the grand opening event that they were prominently displayed as the first pieces to be seen at the entrance. I have had a number of people come up and comment on how they like them. I think my favorite comment was from an Arab man who said that his small son liked the camel photo so much that he was not interested in any of the other pieces in the show. Heheheh So, I am now on a search for new locations and subjects to inspire me to take photos.
Killer Trigger
I am not sure if you are getting tired of hearing about my scuba exploits but I can tell you, I am not getting tired of going on them. This last weekend we were attached by a triggerfish. This kind of fish is known for its aggressive behavior when it guards its ‘nest’. There were maybe 20 or so divers that passed over to the area where this fish was and of these, the fish bit two divers, on their hands, one on their forehead and cut another diver’s hand when he tried to defend himself as he swam about 15 feet above the fish, without even knowing it was down there. The fish came out of no where and flashed in front of the diver and when he brought up his hand the fish brushed his hand with its sharp fins and delivered about a dozen slashes to his knuckles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEsgLzaa-Dw
A Weekend Away
This weekend, I am going with a group of people from here to some islands known for their wildlife and coral reefs, located about as far south along the West coast of Saudi Arabia as you can go before you reach the boarder with Yemen. I am going down to the Farasan Islands. I hear that there are sea cows (Dugong) there and some kind of rare antelope and many different kinds of birds. I will be snorkeling and taking pictures under and above the water. So you will have something to look forward to reading about in the next blog.
And finally…
Things can become scarce around here for no real reason that I can discern. Take for example that every washroom that I have visited around the university this week, is out of paper hand towels. So, the commodity that is now being used for drying our hands is a role of toilet paper… placed conveniently beside each sink. Nice accent don’t you think? The pearly white looks great against the black marble counter tops.
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