Nathan Collier's Web Log

Airport Adventures

2010-01-20T07:06:00.000-08:00

I am not sure if it is just because I am traveling more that these things happen to me but I have had some interesting experiences in airports lately. Nothing quite so out there as my fellow KAUST blogger Ben (see Ben's Adventure) but in their own right I felt they merit a post.

First, I reside in Tampa and if you are from anywhere near there you know it has been extremely cold. It actually snowed in Tampa, the first time since the late 70's so things are really bizarre. During this cold, I had a flight to Austin, TX to spend a few days. I caught the extra early flight so as not to miss a working day, so I found myself at my gate by 5am for a 5:30 takeoff. On arrival I found out that we weren't going to be taking off until around 8:30, due to ice on the wings. How uncommon is ice on the wings? TPA doesn't evan have de-icing equipment. So our strategy was to wait for the sun to come up and use its power to melt the wings. Around 7 we boarded and they pushed back from the gate about 100 yards where we sat another hour and a half so we could work on our tans. Apparently this is extremely rare in Tampa, lucky me! The upside of this was that I rode first class on my second leg!

The second adventure is in coming back to Jeddah. I had to rebook my flight from TPA to JED and so the information was given to me over the phone. I was to fly British Airways to Chicago, then London, then Jeddah. I arrived at the aiport 2 hours ahead of time to find the BA counter completely closed, it doesn't even open on Tuesdays. So of course I began panicking, especially since the wait on the customer service line was estimated as 24 minutes. My flight number appeared on the screen, there was just no British Airways help around. Fortunately an American Airlines flight was listed right next to it flying to the same place at the same time so I checked with them and they found me. However, the flight time given me was 30 minutes later than the actual flight time and it took time to rebook me. My two hours ahead of time arrival to the airport was whittled down to almost not making it. I think I was the last person on the plane and they closed the door soon after I found a seat. For those who know me, I do not find such tense situations pleasant. :)

So that was a weird experience, but the flight from Chicago to Heathrow was excellent. I was put in the largest emergency row I have ever sat in--can we say 10 feet of real estate in front of me? To make things more interesting, last night the agent told me there are 22 people out of 205 on my flight from London to Jeddah. She had never seen anything like it. So who knows, maybe I get an upgrade there too!

Any of you have interesting travel stories?

Happy Holidays

2009-12-29T08:48:00.000-08:00

I hope that you all are having a nice holiday season. I am currently away from KAUST and in the US visiting family. I have fallen off of writing so much due to travel and nothing much to say. My main aim of this blog was to keep family informed of what is going on and let them know how I am doing. When I started getting emails from people I realized that probably far more people are doing what I did: searching for KAUST blogs because you are going soon and you want to know more about it.

I left campus mid December so I cannot comment on the current state of things. However, if you are heading to KAUST come January I can suggest a few things that may be helpful. First, there has been a large difficulty in housing the past 4 months. The word was that lots more housing would be done by the end of the year but I am not there to see progress. I know that a large region around the Harbor district was looking more completed by the time I left. If you are coming, be prepared for the possibility that you might first stay in a hotel and commute to campus. It isn't all bad--there are many KAUST people at the hotel and they have been there a while so you get to know a lot by mixing with them. However, I would tend to think that KAUST will have the next wave of housing ready. We are on holiday--they had their holiday the first week of December, so they have had lots of time to work.

I am sure that if you have read many student blogs the picture painted is not terribly positive. In some senses I do not blame these students. The labs that they need to further their careers have not been finished and thus they are stalled and considering other options. If you fall into this category, then I urge you to talk to your advisor/hiring faculty and request the status of things. Be open and frank with them. If your area does not depend so heavily on labs, I encourage you to ignore these criticisms. I am working in the Applied Math department and we are able to be quite productive. Keep a positive attitude, there is little reason to relocate halfway across the world only to arrive and have a bad attitude about things. In addition to not being productive, it causes your friends and family to wonder even more why you have chosen to do this.

My last piece of advice for those coming is not to get sucked into the tendency to complain and get angry. When I got here, I quickly realized that escalating things by making a lot of noise was successful at getting things taken care of. Personally I am not like that and I urge you to resist that urge if you are not like this as well. Also, things are improving all the time, try to notice. It is just that those of us who have been here from the beginning see it less. Remain positive and work hard. KAUST is a great opportunity--don't focus on what is messed up and start taking advantage of the immense resource that the school has provided.

Happy holidays, have a happy New Year, see you on campus :)

Rain: The aftermath

2009-12-03T04:45:00.000-08:00

The whole rain experience here in Saudi Arabia was really interesting. First of all the campus really underwent a trial by water (both literally and figuratively?). I had some Aramco people come by my house after the first rain, and they were perplexed by how the houses leaked. The damage seems to have come from one of the following sources:

through balcony doors because the drains on the balconies were not functioning
dripping from the roof because of improper or hurried roof sealing (and dysfunctional drains)
water backup on the street flooded houses through the front door.

Emergency services were quick to respond and the campus was mostly dry/navigable by that evening. They brought water trucks in to pump the water out of the streets and then take it to drain elsewhere. Some people had their inner ceilings collapse (not the whole roof, but the drop ceilings on the inside) due to water buildup and degradation of the material. Mostly mold is a concern now.

Then there was another storm yesterday although by comparison much less severe. It seems to me that the system for handling storm water is not very developed. Even with light rain there were some flooded streets. The word is that something like this may happen once a year, and then I realized that rain here is like snow was for me growing up. Snow was special because although we lived in Ohio, our area doesn't receive that much snow. And while we have trucks to handle it, if a suddenly strong snow hits us, schools close. Rain here is not so different, they can handle it, but not a lot at once.

While the water on campus has subsided, its effects are still clearly seen. There are several places in the streets where there was standing water that are now big holes. Also, there are nice brick crosswalks and these now are degrading in some places. It is amazing how much damage rain can cause, especially when you are living essentially on sand. This reminds me of a song I sang as a child.

As another blogger pointed out, KAUST's response was a good one. These issues were handled quickly and professionally. The people I dealt with were apologetic and helpful.

The Rain in Spain...

2009-11-24T10:48:00.000-08:00

...falls mainly on the plain, but in Saudi Arabia it hardly falls at all. Yet I heard rumor that just two days ago it rained for 10 minutes here. It was more like a drizzle but the word is that the drops were large. I imagine it like the rain in florida. Then this evening as I was walking back home I noticed lightning from a storm cloud over the Red Sea. The lightning was a dark color, I am guessing a tribute to the dust in the air. So apparently it does rain! I have yet to see it myself though.

EDIT: Apparently I am a prophet or maybe should consider a career in weather forecasting. I woke up early this morning to noise on the roof and went out to observe it pouring!

EDIT: ...and now my house is flooding!

EDIT: So they shut down school for the day, the entire campus. We are all to stay in our houses. The roads are covered in water and neighbors are heaving buckets out of their top floors. I am guessing that I escaped the worst of it. It ended up pouring for about 2 hours which by all accounts exceeds the expected rainfall for the next 3 years. I was looking forward to having some people over for dinner and getting to break in the new pots and pans... well they got a use, but not quite the one I had in mind! :) Here are some pictures of the event.

There and Back Again

2009-11-21T23:39:00.000-08:00

I have always liked this quote yet only now do I fully begin to grasp just how true it is.

It's a dangerous business going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to.

I made it back to KAUST last night after a long trip from Florida. Time away was really great--particularly because I was able to spend time with my wife and loved ones (I am temporarily here without her). While it is hard to be so far away (time zones are often a larger hurdle than distance) I am glad to be here and part of what is going on. The school is a great opportunity to meet and work with a lot of quality people. I hope that time off for everyone else also helps concretize this reality. While here it is easy to focus on what isn't running as good as we would like, but truthfully we should be focusing on the unique opportunities that KAUST offers.

I have been receiving email from many future post-docs and interested students. I am glad that you all feel free to write me, if you are one that hasn't yet I encourage you to ask any question. I will say to those post-docs who are reading that a common question is about our contracts. As of yet, my experience is that we are not given formal contracts. Your letter of offer will serve as a contract and will likely not be very detailed. While for many that is an unsettling feeling, know that KAUST has made good on that letter, I have had no problem nor heard of anyone who has. Also realize that if they are of the opinion that the letter is your contract, then you have no obligations whatsoever, because the letter details none. There is a time period mentioned but no consequences if you decide to leave early.

I look forward to meeting all of you at some point. For those not already planning on coming, keep to your feet. You never know where they may take you.

A House and Home

2009-11-06T21:24:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back now I was given my housing assignment and it has been a good experience. Initially I did not move in, mostly because I was busy with other things, but I am now in and enjoying some space I can call my own. Here are a few pictures...

I have found no major issue with the place yet. My favorite feature is the hyperactive AC in the bedroom. It makes it freezing cold in there which suits me just fine. So far I spend most of my time there so the house functions like a big hotel room. It definitely needs a woman's touch. I went to a party that some friends threw for a couple here who just had a baby girl. They have the same house that I do, but theirs looks lovely compared to mine which is more like a hotel. I guess actually living in it makes a difference. So for now what I have is a house, and I am working on it becoming a home.

In other Nathan-news I am heading home tonight. My flight leaves at 3:30am from Jeddah and I will be flying into to Tampa on Sunday afternoon (EST). The purpose of the trip is to attend a conference in Orlando, but that is very close to my house in Tampa. The trip couldn't have come at a better time for me. The past week has been particularly bad for me in terms of loneliness. There are a lot of interesting people here that I enjoy a great deal, but all of these experiences are a poor substitute for the company of my wife who I miss greatly. So I am sure that this trip will be a great time to reunite and enjoy some family time.

Under the Red Sea

2009-10-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

I have been here two months and finally got around to getting into the Red Sea. The beach at campus looks nice but there is a fence around it and no word on when we will be able to use it. The next best thing is to go to a private expat beach near Jeddah which is very nice. How is the Big Blue? Well, big and blue, really blue. I love that the water looks blue. I am used to the gulf of Mexico which is nice, but pales in comparison.

This private beach features a little island and bay where you can swim and rent boats. There are plenty of places to sit and food stands as well. The swimming is great--the water is a bit warm, but the view is nice.

We heard rumor of a Coral Reef off the shore a bit and that it took about 15 minutes to swim there. So five of us decided to check it out. The beginning of the reef certainly was 15 minutes swim out. However, it went on and on for quite some distance. I was swimming with just a mask so when the water got too shallow, I had to bail. But the others caught a glimpse of the dropoff (think Finding Nemo). They also got knocked into some nasty coral and ended up with not-so-nice rashes.

The coral was not highly colorful at this location but contained a lot of fish and wildlife. It was a nice swim and great views. I have no pictures to show, but will leave you with a link to an album of one of the scientists here who takes pictures of reefs in the area. Enjoy!

Taif

2009-10-18T03:12:00.000-07:00

Last weekend a visiting professor from Texas A&M and his wife invited Victor and myself to check out some of Saudi Arabia. We had heard that the city of Taif was nice--up in the mountains with ruins to see. It sounded like a plan. So we hired a driver and took off to Taif around 9am.

Taif is apparently considered the city in Saudi Arabia with the nicest weather. It is up in the mountains of the country approximately 2000 m high. The notion of cooler temperatures due to elevation differences was tempting in and off itself. Taif is on the far side of Mecca when coming from Thuwal to Jeddah. To give you some idea, see the following map.

From Taif Trip

A trip to a place does much more than give you an idea about the destination, you learn a lot about a place as you go. Many things in this place puzzle me beyond words. The following picture was taken outside of Jeddah as we went under an overpass. How this happened is beyond me.

From Taif Trip

As we passed Jeddah and started east, we saw many camels (sorry about no picture of them), and a lot of, well, to be frank, sand. I am astounded at how much nothing is around. At some points, if the sky had been tinted red I would have thought I was on Mars. Slowly we climbed the foothills until we reached the outskirts of Mecca. Mecca is a special place for Muslims and if you aren't Muslim you aren't welcome. This is made clear to you as you arrive by multiple signs like the following.

From Taif Trip

I will link my entire album from the just below. You will find pictures of the mountains which are beautiful. Still, do not expect anything green. The temperatures were cooler, but this is still a desert and things are very dry. Taif turned out to have nothing to see at all. So we drove all that way to eat in a mall and then drive back. However, leaving was great and seeing so much of Saudi Arabia was nice too. In addition we spent some great time with friends which is a win any day.

The other thing to note are the monkeys. As you ascend the mountains near Taif there are large families of monkeys (baboons?) which sit by the side of the road. They were fun to take pictures of and observe for a few minutes. Here I post the whole album, enjoy!

Update

2009-10-09T05:56:00.000-07:00

I realized that I haven't felt like writing a whole lot lately. It isn't because I don't want people to know how I am doing, but rather it is because things are changing little so I feel redundant to repeat myself. For work I am pressing on and keeping busy doing what I came here to do, but many other things remain unresolved.

The housing situation is still unresolved. I continue to live with the guy I work for--which is a great solution. To be honest I would probably still stay there even if I had a place. He has been a good companion and friend for me and I feel that I have been able to encourage him. The housing issue is more related to bringing my wife here. Also, Victor's family will soon be here and then the house becomes slightly more crowded. I do not mind sleeping anywhere, but I would like to give them space to be there family if at all possible.

The latest development on my housing came last week. I had a housing appointment on September 11th to move into my place. This appointment was canceled for what they said was an issue that facilities found. When I called back, it seems that the problem facilities found was that someone else was living in my residence. This is fine, I have come to expect little. The real problem is that I have heard no news since my failed appointment. I have no idea where I will live or when I might be in. This makes it harder to plan for Maria to come and for us to decide what to bring. Furthermore, we are beginning to want to bring research collaborators here and another one of us with a residence would help this process tremendously.

Last week a friend of mine had his housing appointment. In his case, they actually made it to the place, opened it up to show him and there were people living there. They just have no idea who is where--very poor organization. I feel that much of the way things are working here is due to someone being awarded a contract based on them knowing someone and not based on their ability to do work. Part of that seems to be culturally part of this place.

For example, we were walking back home the other night and roughly 20 workers were standing around a hole, while (I kid you not) 1 guy was digging. I understand that when it is hot they might rotate diggers, but I have a hard time resisting "How many guys does it take to dig a hole" jokes. This reflects poor management. Furthermore, the mosque here is beautiful and seems to have been finished a long time ago. It sits up on a platform about 5 feet above the ground. Apparently they did not install steps while finishing this, so the other day they have bulldozers moving all over finished ground to move dirt to install something next to the mosque. This is typical. Somethings that we would consider finishing they put in before things are ready. The result is that they damage the finished things and have to go back and fix them. They plant flowers at residences where no one is living or will live for months. On one side of the street is a flower bed of dying flowers, the other side of the street is a pile of rubble.

With these kinds of work standards, I am every day more and more amazed that the buildings here even exist. For a while I thought about what was wrong with the laborers here that they don't care about their work. Then I realized that this is backwards. The labor here at KAUST is treated almost like slaves. I am sure they are paid terribly. We had a housekeeping team come to the house yesterday and they ended up charging us $5/hour. That is for maybe 5 guys working for 3 hours... $15. No wonder the workers do not care for their work--they are little more than slaves.

In fact this is reflected in their responses to you. A large number of workers here are from the Philippines and as you pass they say, 'good morning sir'. I am told that many of them come here to work from the Philippines for several years, and when they arrive their passports are kept from them. Yet as poor as the conditions are it is better for them to be here which astounds me.

Hopefully the post indicates why I don't post more information--it is hard to talk about all the positive things going on here since most of them involve negatives. You have to be flexible. This is part of the challenge of building a school in the Middle East that I was previously unaware of.

The place also changes you. I was watching "The Bourne Ultimatum" the other night and their is a scene that takes place in North Africa. The first thing that I noticed is that the scene was pretty accurate--there were few women and the ones that were there had head scarfs. However, these were different colors and then men dressed non-traditionally. The second thing was that I understood a couple of things they were saying (the basic 'thank you' kinds of things). At some point in the movie, the mosque cry sounds in the background. I never noticed it before, but this viewing it was unmistakeable. It is interesting how your perception of things changes.

You want me to put that where?!

2009-09-29T11:32:00.001-07:00

In the evenings we have spent a lot of time playing pickup games of soccer. Sometimes it is a few faculty and post-docs, others many students join in. Some people have never really played, others are veterans. It has been a lot of fun and with things as frustrating as they can be here, it helps to have that release.

The other night the field was wet from being watered and therefore slippery. I recall thinking, 'someone is going to get hurt.' That someone was me. I extended my leg to block a cross and my supporting leg buckled at the knee. I felt it happen and heard it pop! I wasn't in a ton of pain but it was painful to walk on so they took me to the clinic. This was my first experience with the clinic here and I was hesitant given the varying quality of things on campus. It turned out to be just fine.

The doctor examined my knee and had me walk a little around. Certain thing hurt, but he said that what he was seeing is that it was not torn or broken. Then he told me he wanted to give me a shot in the posterior. This took me aback--why do you want to do what?! He then asked me if I prefer an external solution which of course I did. So he handed me some pills and I went home.

Turns out that these 'pills' are more like little bullets and called suppositories. I am not sure why oral medicine was not a possibility but I declined to use these 'pills' also. Fortunately I ended up not in a lot of pain and with little swelling. I dodged a bullet there, actually two!

Discounts!

2009-09-26T02:37:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you, for those of you who like feeling like you got a good deal on a purchase, SA is the place for you. The other evening we went to look at things in a big market in Old Jeddah. A friend wanted to look at the Muslims equivalent of prayer beads and so we went into a nice looking shop. The shopkeeper showed us some and we were talking among ourselves. My friend decided on which one he liked and then asked the price. The shopkeeper said, "The price is 1300 SR but discounted for 900 SR." He didn't even wait for a haggle--the price suddenly dropped by 400 SR in no time. I learned this is typical. There is a price that you will never pay because the price they put is no where near what they even want for the object. But the shopkeeper is quick to let you know he gave you a discount.

Inauguration

2009-09-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

The past week has been filled with events surrounding the official opening of KAUST which was this evening. All of this corresponded with the end of Ramadan and a special holiday week for the Muslims called Eid. The construction workers disappeared--either they were off for Eid or maybe they were all working on the inauguration site. One evening we came out of our building to see huge spotlights lining the road, the kind you see lighting up the skyline at big events. There were maybe 20 of them and they were linked to some kind of controller so that they could be moved simultaneously. It was erie.

The actual ceremony was tonight which I saw on TV. There were lots of important people flown in for the event but very few people actually from the school. I saw it broadcast on TV, all but the fireworks which I could see just outside the house. The fireworks were pretty incredible--they really spare no expense. My entire peripheral vision was filled with fireworks for at least 10 minutes.

On Campus

2009-09-14T01:27:00.000-07:00

This past week was definitely an improvement on other weeks. I think this is largely due to the fact that I was able to stay on campus, thanks to Victor. I have been a guest in his house for the week and some of last week. Classes started last week as well so things are beginning to develop into a routine which always feels nice.

Last weekend, we went back to Jeddah to go and see a marketplace they call the Souk. There is a picture or two in the slideshow below. The Souk is in an older part of Jeddah and so some of the architecture is interesting. I didn't take too many pictures there because of the women: almost all of them were completely veiled and would cover their exposed eyes when I aimed a camera to take a picture of the area.

We have been playing a lot of soccer in the evenings. The weather here is strange: it is hot and humid, worse than Florida. But at the same time the evenings are really nice, you can sit outside comfortably. So around 9 or 10 we have been playing soccer on most evenings. I am fairly out of shape for this kind of activity but it is still a lot of fun. Many faculty come out as well as other post-docs and students. Some of the students are particularly good.

I will be an assistant now for a class which will involve holding a questions session once a week. I am not sure when this starts, but the class is on Linear Algebra and ODE's. The idea is to help some students bridge from their vastly different backgrounds into what is expected of them here.

I had a housing appointment for a couple of days also. I had posted a while back that my housing was given to students. Last week I was informed that a different house was now available for me and that I should make an appointment. When I returned to the hotel there was a message telling me that the appointment was canceled. When I called the reason was that they were working on the place--facilities had found something. When I called a few days later, the reason was now because students were in my house. Unfortunately this is how things are being handled these days. I hope that it all improves, in the meantime there is nothing to do but have patience.

Again, I leave you with a few pictures with more to come in the following weeks.

Arabian Little Engine that Could

2009-09-05T23:36:00.000-07:00

This morning was yet another addition into the life of a worker at KAUST. As you know, we are buses in to school everyday, 1.5 hours each way. Today I was sitting in the back and reading a book when I started to smell burning rubber. I thought, 'his tire is going to burst' and about that time, something struck the underside of the bus which meant my olfactory sense had predicted reality. The bus swerved but the driver kept on. I heard him quietly saying to himself what later I had translated, 'I think I can I think I can.' After a few kilometers of this, he stopped and got out to examine things at which point he came back on and had a solution! 'Please everybody move to the right of the bus.'

This is brilliant. Tired of those late night tire switches in taxing weather? Just move your family to the opposite side of the car and everything will work like normal! Seriously we heard many subsequent noises causing him to stop again and examine the situation, but the result was always the same: he got back in and we kept on keeping on.

At 10 kph we made it to the exit at Thuwal at which point they moved us to another bus. All in all I was grateful as I don't think much of waiting in the desert for help even in morning heat.

Growing Pains

2009-09-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

My silence over the past few days is a testament to how crazy things have been. One of the first things that I did when here is go to my home allotment and take a look at it. The pictures I posted in a previous entry. On a subsequent day I entered the place to discover that our home was absolutely complete down to the sheets on the beds. So I was immediately curious as to why they are wasting money keeping me in a hotel. The beginning of this week came with news that the reason was that they were giving our housing to students because theirs was not completed. On the one hand I agree that it is important to get the students out of hotels and on campus where their security can be controlled. On the other hand I was very discouraged to discover that this would come at the cost of my housing and I was not informed of the change.

I am trying to remain positive about things, but the reality is that post-doc's right now are not important. There are too many other things going on and we just aren't part of the equation. There are small things, like not being given a proper office space. We are in open cubicles with very little desk/book space. This may be acceptable and I may be able to work well in the environment. But I confess that I am not excited about the space in which I am working. Other things are like the following: they moved us into the Applied Math building which is not fully complete. So they are hooking up internet connections on demand. The staff did not inform them to hook up post-doc's cubicles and so they are not being connected. Who knows when they will do this. These things are just constant reminders that only your professor cares that you are here.

I feel that this will be fixed in the future, it just affects my productivity now. I am mostly upset about my housing because I am so tired of not being settled. It has been a long summer in that sense and I am anxious to put things in drawers and get used to a space that I can call home. For now I am moving in with a friend on campus and staying in an extra room that he has. It is much better than commuting 15+ hours per week, and so I am grateful.

I am trying to be a little more optimistic about things. After all, there are families who have come and are stuck in the hotels all day. Imagine a hotel room with small children all day every day for weeks. This is reality for many at KAUST currently.

On a positive note, they had a party last night to celebrate the beginning of classes which was quite nice. They had a open room with booths for each of the nations represented at KAUST (70 in total). All this time they were walking around with juices and arabic coffee. After a while we were directed to a large tent with a stage and couches everywhere. The tent was airconditioned and there were laser lights. They had a nobel prize winner give a speech (which unfortunately was hard to hear) and then gave a nice entertainment. The show was a combination of dancers silhouettes and sand painting. The dancers were really good--they formed different animals and shapes throughout the show. All in all it was impressive. After all of this, they served a massive dinner. I wish they had a picture. I have never seen so much food in all my life.

I will link an album here of a 2 bedroom house at KAUST. They are nice spaces to live in and it gives you some sense of what the community is like.

How hot is hot?

2009-08-30T02:56:00.000-07:00

So the first thing you need to know is that Arabia is hot. If you are accustomed to Tampa in the worst part of summer, then you are close to knowing what it is like. We are directly on the Red Sea so it is roughly 100% humid. I was playing with dashboard a little this morning and found this:

or for the international crowd:

I am sure that somewhere in the world it is worse than here, but it is definitely toasty. Fortunately the Arabs know air conditioning well and so I am quite comfortable. The word is that the school will have an underground corridor connecting buildings so you don't have to go out in the heat.

In other news, I was trying to get to hulu.com for a bit of light entertainment while in my hotel this weekend. I knew that the site only works for people connecting from the US, but I was also aware that there are workarounds. There are programs that you can use to connect to servers in the states so that you appear to be in the US. The hard part is that the sites to download these programs are blocked here by the Saudi Government. I found a download after a little searching only to be faced with the following message:

Based on your IP address, we noticed you are trying to access Hulu through an anonymous proxy tool. Hulu is not currently available outside the U.S. If you're in the U.S. ...

Apparently Hulu is wise to these programs and is actively blocking their effectiveness. I think any public solution will not work. I believe they discovered the IP of the business making the program and just blocked all those IPs. So if you find a new solution and post it, then hulu finds it and blocks your IPs. That is how I understand it. If any of you technical people know how to set up a work around, it would be nice. It would be worth something to me, let me know.

First week in Saudi Arabia

2009-08-28T05:55:00.002-07:00

So many of you who are coming here know me personally and would like to know more details of what is going on with me. I will try to keep this blog updated on a weekly basis so come back to hear and see more.

The first week here in Jeddah-Thuwal has been eventful. The university is beyond amazing. I was quite taken by how large of scope the project is--something the pictures do not show well. My first day they took me for a simple medical exam for my work permit called a Iqama (think Green Card) and after to the school.

The drive from Jeddah to Thuwal is about 1 hour. Some people comment on the crazy traffic, but I don't really see it any more nuts than Bogota. The drive takes you through the desert which borders the Red Sea and is full of nothing. Initially it depressed me a little because I found the area to be devoid of natural beauty.

The school is quite the opposite. The buildings are visible from afar and dominant in the horizon. They are really huge. Upon arrival you notice that the scope of the project is immense. I have heard quoted anywhere between 35 and 50 thousand workers are there at KAUST constructing the facilities. The school buildings are completely up but only some of those buildings are completed on the interior. The design is very corporate, unlike any university I have seen. I am sure we will have to tweak the design a bit to be useful for research.

Off campus is also quickly developing. The housing neighborhood where Maria and I will live is finished, but I don't know of anyone currently living there. There is a push to get the island homes finished so faculty can move to the island. One of the difficult things is that families are not allowed on campus until they have a home ready for them to move in. What this means is that any families which came initially with their working spouse are stuck in the hotel all day. Furthermore, it is Ramadan here so virtually nothing is open. I think it is much better for families to remain away until things are more ready.

The word is that I will move to KAUST next week sometime. I hope so, not that my accommodations are poor by any stretch. I am the Marriott in Jeddah and have all my expenses paid. There is a health club which is very nice, but women are not allowed in the pool. All of these restrictions I think would affect families a great deal. Most spouses I have met that came with their husbands and no children have found jobs on campus and thus can make the trip out each day. The downside to being in Jeddah is that you have a 1.5 hour commute in one direction each day.

Ramadan doesn't affect us too much. The entire month they fast during the day and you will find many stores closed. For example, the malls open at 9pm and close at 3am. This doesn't affect us because the hotel provides us with a meal in a remote corner of the hotel. At KAUST the dining halls are open and free at meal times during the day so this is a non-issue. The hotel also provides a lovely banquet at sundown which beats Crazy Buffet in Tampa if you have ever been.

All in all things are good here. I am adjusting and trying to keep in contact with people as well meet new people here. Here I leave a photo album from my first week.

Leaving the country

2009-08-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

I am starting to write this blog principally because later today I am leaving the USA to work as a postdoctoral fellow at a new University opening up September 5th in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. I find it somewhat pretentious to start a blog about me, but I think it is important for two reasons: (1) I want my family, friends, and loved ones to be able to keep up with me and share in my experiences, and (2) I want other researches who are considering coming to work in Saudi Arabia to have the perspective of one who works there.

The University is called KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) and it the House of Wisdom that the king wishes to give his people. The idea of the University is to be a graduate school only in sciences and mathematics. The goal is to function much like a government lab would, with directed research foci, yet have students come to be part of this also. KAUST has done a fabulous job at attracting great people to its faculty and has taken an aggressive stance to become a significant contributor to the world's scientific knowledge. There is a lot of skepticism about whether the University will succeed, but at this point these discussions are not fruitful. The point now is to work hard to make it a success and help contribute to our understanding of the way our world works.

For now I will leave you with a few of my favorite images of the University and a link to many more if you are interested. Please feel free to email me any questions or concerns that you may have.