Amy's First Day

Traveling on Christmas Day was a good idea since the airports were fairly quiet. Everything went smoothly, and despite all my worrying, Wally and I both made it to Jeddah safely. There was barely a delay, which I was grateful for, considering all of the problems in Europe for holiday travelers. It was a relief to see Wally's big kennel come out on the baggage belt, and other than being a little stressed, he made it, no problem. It was a little funny that after all I went through to get the pet import paperwork completed accurately, no one asked for or looked at my documents. All of the running around to the vet, the USDA, sending paperwork to a visa processing service to go to the US State Department and then to the Saudi Embassy was completely unappreciated. The KAUST representative who met me did all of the explaining to the staff at Immigration and Customs, and Wally got nothing but a cursory check by the inspector. None of my luggage was opened, no one asked me anything special. Frankly it was a relief. I was emotionally drained after imagining Wally's experience in the kennel for 24 hours, so I didn't mind not having to present any paperwork.

Instant coffee is really big here. I was skeptical, but it's not like the Sanka I remember. We have our coffee maker coming in the sea shipment, but I've had instant coffee on 3 occasions now and it really is pretty good. But I wouldn't blame anyone if they didn't believe me because I didn't believe it was true either. I was really surprised how far instant coffee has come. I should be able to survive until the real coffee maker arrives. Bill bought some canned evaporated milk that he says the locals drink in their coffee, and it makes it really rich. I haven't had the opportunity to try Turkish coffee yet, but I'm sure I will.

Villas on campus.

We did a walking tour of part of the campus. I will have to retrace my steps several times and memorize the landmarks before I start feeling really comfortable, but I have a map so I should be able to learn my way around pretty quickly. Only a few wrong turns so far.

Last night we were fortunate enough to enjoy home-cooked Lebanese food. Friends of Bill's who had hosted him previously invited us over for dinner, and we had a fantastic time. It was great to meet engaging and friendly people so soon after my arrival, and our hosts and the other guests were fun to talk to all evening about economics, shopping in Jeddah, travel experiences of being detained at immigration points, as well as other highlights of travel, particularly in this part of the world. My sides hurt from laughing, which was a good feeling, and a relief to learn that I will be able to make friends here. Bill has been telling me that he has met lots of great people, but it is nice to be here and finally meet some of them myself.