Speaking of diving I finally went scuba diving in the Red Sea. It was a night dive and it was gorgeous. I went with a group of mostly faculty members who all turned out to be guys. So not only was I the only one in the group that does not have a PhD (yet) but I was also the only one who has to wear an abaya to get to the beach. The guys, however, were all great and because I was the only girl there made sure I was all set. Between them they helped me (and by help I mean they did it for me) set up my gear, get in and out of the water and made sure I was always ok during the dive. The dive itself was a lot of fun! But for some reason of five new flashlights that been purchased for the dive, four of them went out ten minutes into the dive (including mine and my dive buddy's) so we all basically had to dive as a large group of eight.
During the dive we noticed bio luminescent plankton, lots of fish, beautiful coral and even cuttle fish. I hadn't been diving in almost five years, so I was a little nervous to get back in the water (and even more because it was at night) but as soon as I was under, it was like I was one with the water once again. I had so much fun.
Here are some pictures of the group, getting ready and what we saw once we were in the water:
In addition to my deep sea adventure I also had the opportunity to visit Abu Dhabi last weekend. This was my first time out of the kingdom since arriving in the Middle East and I must say that after seeing UAE I've realized that KSA is probably as "Middle East" as it gets. Everything else is more the the "light" version.
Let me explain, first off, you don't have to wear an abaya. While I have made my peace with the abaya and can understand why some women find in liberating, I still think of it like a black sack. However, in Abu Dhabi you saw women in shorts! Maybe I've been in KSA for too long, but I was almost shocked to see some of what the people were wearing. Again, this is probably due to the fact that the only thing I knew about the Middle East is what I have experienced here in KSA and at KAUST. And even while KAUST is as liberal as KSA can be, it still pales in comparison to other parts of the region.
The city of Abu Dhabi itself is pretty small, and very clean (especially when compared to Jeddah). We were able to walk everywhere (something you wouldn't necessarily do here) and had a great time. I was surprised to see that everyone there follows the rules. The taxi drivers will not speed or stop in the middle of road and you rarely hear someone honk their horn. After being in Jeddah, which is the worst city to drive in, in the worst country to drive in, in the worst region to drive in, you can only imagine how nice it was to see everything work "as it should be." I don't think the cabs in Philly, New York or San Francisco are that organized.
My favorite part of the weekend however, was seeing a dear friend. She moved to Abu Dhabi in August to take a job as a college counselor at an American School there and like me is having a ball but is definitely working on adjusting to life in the Middle East. It was so nice to talk to someone who was going through some of the same issues I was going through, although she is allowed to drive and there is alcohol in UAE. Speaking of alcohol, I had almost forgotten how lovely a good glass of red wine is... but I digress.
We arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night, and promptly bought all kinds of alcohol at the duty free. I then proceeded to my friends house, where we caught up for a bit but went to bed at a reasonably early hour because she had to go to work the next day (the weekend in UAE is Friday - Saturday unlike KSA's Thursday - Friday). On Thursday I got up after she already left, and so I met up with my KAUST friends (there were a total of nine of us on this trip) and we went to breakfast. We walked along the corniche looking for a place to eat and finally found a place called Colombiano's Coffee (hilarious I know).
After breakfast, we all jumped into cabs and went to see the Abu Dhabi souqs. They were pitiful. I don't know if we have just become accustomed to souqs here in KSA, but the ones in Abu Dhabi were just, well, bad. After the souq, we went to the grand mosque. Wow. It is an absolutely gorgeous place, if you are ever in Abu Dhabi, I would highly recommend visiting. We arrived at the mosque and were told that the women had to wear abayas and head scarfs to get it (they provided us with them, because none of us had thought to bring our own). We walked along the mosque and took pictures (posted below). After the mosque I met up with my friend and we went to dinner. Where my love affair with wine was rekindled and all was right with the world. After dinner we simply chatted for a bit and again went to bed fairly early.
On Friday, I said goodbye to my friend (she was going to a desert resort with her boyfriend) and met up with my friends for breakfast. This time we ended up at a french bakery and were served more food than you can imagine. After breakfast we went to the palace hotel, which is a seven star hotel I think. In order to get on the grounds you have to follow a dress code (no shorts, and no tank tops). The hotel grounds and the hotel itself are really quite something. Then again they should be, the cheapest room is over $1,000 a night! After that we realized that Red Bull was having their air race, so we decided to go the marina mall and watch from there. It was interesting and all, but I guess I'm not much of a plane person so I was an enthralled as others. After the race we stopped at a large supermarket and bought chocolate Easter eggs (you can't find those in KSA). Then dinner and the plane ride home.
This week, was long, as I'm sure you can imagine, but the weekend was delightful. I went windsurfing. I hadn't been windsurfing since I was a kid, but apparently it's like riding a bike, once you learn you never really forget. The wind was pretty negligible, but it was great to relearn how to turn and stand and get the sail to go in the direction I wanted it to. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed on the beach, so you'll just have to take my word for it that I did a pretty good job :)
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