What do you do when there is nothing to do.

Life on KAUST's campus consists of going to work, then going to the gym and finally going to sleep (with a few meals interspersed here and there). Basically we are determined to leave KAUST in good fiscal and physical shape.

So when the announcement came out that the pools were going to be opening this past weekend, I was beyond excited! Granted they were separate men and women's pool, but my apartment faces the men's pool and it's nice! Looks like a 25m pool with lounge chairs and umbrellas for laying out. "Lovely!"  I thought, "surely the women's pool will have to be equivalent to that." But, alas, I was wrong.

Where as the men's pool is open, spacious and large, the women's pool is not. It is 10m long at best and is 5ft deep in the shallow end. There are five lounge chairs that fight for the tiny bit of sun that can get through the roof and wall enclosure where the pool is located. And to add insult to injury the pool dress code is one piece suits only! It's all women pool! But the gym staff assured me that is the rule in KSA (I should also add that while she was saying this me a Saudi woman interrupted her and said that this was, in fact, not the case. In the all female pools in Jeddah, the women are allowed to wear whatever they want and that includes two piece bathing suits.)

So, I go to the pool in my one piece bathing suit and attempt to make the best of a less than optimal situation, when suddenly it dawns on me, the women's pool means the mother's pool. Mothers = children and this pool isn't large enough for people who want to swim and children who want to play, and worse the pool is too deep for most children anyway (ok maybe not worse for me who has no children, but you know what I mean).

Oh well, the pool situation was finally resolved when several angry mothers complained (and rightfully so) that the pool was unsafe for young children and that there is a perfectly suitable toddler pool on the men's side. Now the men's pool is a family pool, what that means exactly I'm not sure but it's a good precursor to the beach that is supposed to open this Friday!

You might think that after the pool debacle I would know to curb my enthusiasm about the beach, but again when there isn't much to do or look forward to, you work with what you have. I'll definitely let you know how that works out.