Finding out what we can do around here

When we were biking home from a game of squash and another of bowling at the Rec Center, Garnet came up with this comment: “I am not skilled at anything, I am just lucky,” I assured him that with some practice he would be beating me easily, very soon. The next time we went, he had improved markedly, but then we were kicked off the courts for not having appropriate gym shoes and find ourselves in a bit of a quandary because for the next month, it is 'Ramadan timing here'. You see, for a month, life is turned upside down. Stores in the malls open at 8 pm and close at 3 am or later. For us to get to a mall, we would need to catch one of the shopping busses and travel an hour or so to town, then catch the bus at 1 or 2 am and arrive back here an hour later.  Those times are tough for a working day! One has to be patient, so we will wait out the month or 'till we can share the costs for a taxi ride in and a reasonable return time.
This past week we had pancakes. I made a double batch to finish the flour. The flour is held in a Mason jar with rubber ceil so I find it odd that we had an infestation of very small weevils. I figured that they were so small that they would not be seen in the cooked pancake so just mixed up a batch of batter and cooked them all. Garnet spent a little bit of time picking through his meal trying to find them… Maybe I browned the cakes a little bit more than they should have… on purpose. I texted Donna and she responded that we were having ‘pancakes with a side of weevil.’

It has been hot since I got back here. I do not think that it is particularly the heat, but the rise of humidity that is what makes it so uncomfortable to be outside for very long. A ride to work (10 minutes) or a ride to the grocery store is just about all a person needs in the middle of the day! I pulled up a weather website and compared Jeddah to Edmonton.   If you look closely, you will see that here, the temperature fluctuates about 10 degrees either in the day or night throughout the year.  In Edmonton, the range is more like 30 degrees!

Well, you almost have to be here to get this part of our life, but I will try. I spent a day over at the KAUST schools where Garnet will be going in a few weeks. I was attending some training on use of the interactive whiteboards that are in each of the rooms (Gr. 1 to 12), as well as in a few of the University teaching lecture halls. These interactive boards can be used to move images around on the screen for the whole class to see. The boards are just like chalkboards/whiteboards in a classroom but are a projection of the teacher’s computer screen. Since these screens are touch sensitive, you can move things/draw etc with the tip of your finger. Some of the elementary teachers were commenting on how useful the boards would be to teach making change (currency) – adding and subtracting. The difference here at KAUST, is that change, as in coins, is not used. The smallest bill currency is 1 Saudi Riyal in Saudi Arabia, which is about equal to 25 cents. Like in Canada, products in the stores are priced not as rounded whole numbers but with decimals like 5.45 or 8.99 or so. So, as an example, when everything is run up on the cash register, the price might be 45.73. So now place yourself at the till and you are paying for this food with cash. You would normally hand over a rounded amount of cash such as 50 and expect to get back the exact change. Well not here! You will get four one riyal notes and a bottle of water or pack of chewing gum! This is because they do not use change in the stores on campus for some reason… I know they do in Jeddah, but not here! SO the teachers were laughing and struggling with how to apply real-life examples of how to make change at KAUST while conforming to the ‘real world’.

Garnet and I went on the K-Manta catamaran this past weekend. It was the third time that this boat has been out with KAUST paying patrons and it turned out that they need a bit more practice before things are smooth. Ramadan threw a twist into the schedule as well. We were told to turn up at 8 am to pick up any rental gear we needed and be ready for an 8:30 departure. By 10:30 we were still waiting at the dock for the Coast Guard to respond to our requests to leave and by 12, we were then waiting at the Coast Guard building (15 minute trip there on the boat) for papers which were lodged on the Tuesday before, to be acknowledged that they had been received. By the time we were out on the sea, the wind had picked up and after the hour or so trip to the wreck location where we were intending to dive, most of us were feeling green. Garnet did not enjoy that part of the trip at all.  You can see in the image above, that each person standing is holding onto a pole -- except for Garnet who was still feeling great at the beginning of the trip.  We negotiated with the crew and they agreed that an additional 45 minute trip to a second location was needed because the first site was not sheltered enough and was not appropriate for snorkelers. The second site was good for snorkeling but was very uninspiring for those of us who went diving. We only had time for one dive (had planned on two), and as we had to get back to the Coast Guard again before sun set to sign in again. It was nice to learn that the trip was chalked up to learning and was complimentary for us. I now know that I need to get snorkel equipment for Garnet rather than use rental. Most of what we chose was not well fitted for him. 

We say dolphin twice on the trip. With both of us taking motion sickness pills on the trip, we were totally bagged once we got home.