Alright, today was Tuesday, the last day of activity in the Kingdom for our group. Conventional wisdom said that I needed to pack up all my stuff, since upon completion of our day’s activities, we would be flying back to Riyadh. After arriving in Riyadh, we were supposed to stay in a hotel overnight until our flight left from Riyadh for Washington DC at 7:00 am. I had my laundry done the night before so that when it came time to pack, I would only have to role up my clothes and not waste space, since I have a lot of stuff to take home. We had to be ready to leave the hotel by 8:00 am for King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. But after packing in like 20 minutes, since I didn’t get my laundry back until 7:30 am, I was on my way out the door with all my luggage when one of the other members of the delegation told me that we were actually not checking out now, but leaving our stuff in the rooms and coming back later. This excited me a lot, because this meant I wouldn’t have to travel in my suit!
Like I said, our only visit today was to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST. People in Saudi Arabia actually just call it Kaust for short, not bothering with the full name, or the abbreviated letters. Kaust is the new crown jewel university of the Kingdom. It has only been open for one year, and is the size of an entire city. It is HUGE!
We had an official tour guide, and were shown a good deal of the campus’ new technology, including the most high definition computer screens in the world. we didn’t get to meet any officials at the university because the semester had just ended, and all the faculty had left on vacation.
The tour lasted a couple hours, and then we were off. Usually the drive from Jeddah to Kaust was about 2 hours. But when your driver is going about 180 kilometers per hour, you get there a little sooner. We got to the hotel around 12:30, and had the whole afternoon to ourselves. I’m proud to report that for only the 2nd time since the 4th grade, I took a nap that wasn’t related to working overnight. I was tired, and that nap did wonders. It also caused me to wake up very late, at 5:10, with only 20 minutes to pack up my suit and get dressed. I did get packed in time, and was definitely relieved that I would only be in jeans for the rest of my trip. I loved my time in Saudi Arabia, but I hated having to be in a suit literally all the time. I was so overjoyed to be in my jeans in public again.
Well, I’m typing this up from the airport. Our flight, which was supposed to leave at 8:45 pm, never took off. We had to get off the plain, and now we have to wait until 12:30 am to get back on and leave. Then our flight leaves from Riyadh at 7:00 am for the states. So this is the last post guys. Thanks for following me, those of you that did. When I get back, make sure to get a hold of my people, so they can schedule a day where I can give you a more thorough rundown of what it was like over there. Here are some completely random things that I picked up from being here:

Saudi’s like to smoke. A lot… Saudi’s are the nicest people in the world. they love Americans, and they are so happy to see us here… there is a lot of money to be made by investing in Saudi Arabia. There are a lot of opportunities in manufacturing, education, and finance… it is hot as holy hell here… Arabic coffee sucks, and so do dates… penguins are not the way to learn about leadership… Josh is a Mennonite… converse college isn’t that bad, it’s just the people are all psychotic… that’s all for now guys. Hopefully see you very soon.

Oh yeah: FEAR THE ZOMBIE CAMEL!!!!!!!!

Day 8

Monday was a pretty easy day for us. We didn’t have to be ready until 9:30 am, which gave us a little bit of time to sleep in. My sleep schedule is still fairly messed up, even though I take my meds every morning. I don’t think I’ve ever gone to bed before midnight except the very first night we were in Saudi Arabia, and usually it’s around 2:00 am when I go to sleep. It does help that I usually only need about 5 hours of sleep to be fine, but I think it’s something in the air here that keeps me awake until 2:00 am.
Anyways, our first visit was to Effat University, which is the first all female university in the Kingdom, but no longer the only one. It was established by Queen Effat, who was married to the late King Faisal, who reigned in the 1950s and 60s. Effat U is situated in the middle of Jeddah, and it’s inside some massive walls. The compound is fairly large, but nothing compared to anything else we’ve seen. The school is private, getting most of it’s funding from private donors, and through partnerships with various universities around the world, including Duke, Virginia Tech, and UCLA.
We were greeted by the president of the university, Dr. Haifa R. Jamal Al-Lail, and basically all the heads of all the departments. There are a few men teachers now, which apparently caused a fire storm when they joined the teaching ranks a little over 10 years. Not everybody was extremely happy with the choice to bring male teachers in, and the school lost a few major donors, but the school is still going, and it’s actually getting international recognition.
We weren’t allowed a tour of the school because it’s an all women school, and men aren’t allowed around them unless they cover up, which would just burden them. But we were given an incredibly awesome gift: free wireless mouse’s that charge, not use batteries. That’s awesome for me, because my wireless mouse died.
Our next visit was to King Abdul Aziz University. This university is really large, and had a giant medical school. The medical school is one of the best in the world apparently, and is absolutely huge. We didn’t have a long time to meet with anybody, but did meet with quite a few students and one of the deans’. They showed us a movie on the university, and then we were allowed to ask questions and such to all the students and had a great chance to talk with people our own age. That meeting also didn’t last too long, and around 2:00 pm we headed back to the hotel. We had lunch at the buffet upon returning, and didn’t have anything else planned until 4:00 pm, when people from the consulate in Jeddah were supposed to meet with us. I tried to get a bit of nap, but something I ate at lunch really messed with my stomach, and unfortunately I was late to the meeting with the consulate members in our lobby. I did make the last half of the meeting, just in time to hear one of the people who came talk about watching religious trends and such. That’s the exact same kinds of things that I’m interested in, and luckily had a chance to talk to him a little bit afterwards. He was also impressed about my paper’s direction, and said that studying in that area will really help me in my life if I can pass the Foreign Service exam.
After the meeting we had no other official events or meetings planned, and finally got to do some serious shopping. We went to the Red Sea Mall, which was just like any mall in America. Personally, that was a slight disappointment, because I’m not in Saudi Arabia to buy American things that I can purchase for the same price or cheaper in America. I want real Saudi stuff, like camels and thobes. We spent probably an hour at the mall, and then went back to the hotel. The thing I was most excited about was the souk, which apparently is Arabic for marketplace. That’s where one goes to get random Saudi crap and things that you can’t buy in America. I’m not going to go into detail about what the souk is like, because I don’t think I can explain it through blogging, but it’s basically a huge area of town where tons of people have shops set up that are really small and you argue and haggle with them to get the best price. You will always overpay for whatever you buy unless you have a Saudi with you, like our handler Saad, to argue and get our best price for us. This is where I got my beautiful thobe and khafia, the headdress, and a number of other things.
After the souk, we had to get back to the hotel to meet with a reporter from the largest Arab newspaper that is printed in English in the country. He was really cool, but we were all bone tired, as we had been up for a long time. Also, most of us thought we had to pack, which I’ll get into next time. One day left of activities, and then I begin my travels home. Not much more reading left guys. If there are any people reading this, hang in there, I’m almost done. Promise.

Thobe alert

I GOT A THOBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do ya'll think about that?

Day 7

Sunday was a pretty full day for us. We spent the majority of our day in Jubail, the brand new industrial city of Saudi Arabia. Back in the late 1970s, the king wanted to boost the industrial and manufacturing power of Saudi Arabia. So they built a city that is basically comprised of nothing but factories and plants and manufacturing centers. Everything and its mother are produced here, along with the grandmother. It does stink though, not going to lie. The first thing we did was make a visit to the headquarters of the historic and achievement center. There we met with a bunch of very important officials from Jubail, including the leaders of all the different universities and colleges in Jubail.
Jubail has its own neighborhoods, schools, sports facilities, playgrounds, shops, and all that, but it’s not like the ARAMCO compound, because it’s still under Saudi Arabian rule. Nobody lives in Jubail unless they work at the plants though. The sole reason for the city is industry and manufacturing, and that is all that matters. It is amazing, sort of like an overgrown downtown Pittsburgh.
One of the people we met with, Saad Morais al-Harthi, is the ‘Director, Community Service and Continuing Education Center/ Jubail University College,’ was very interested in all of our school exploitations, in particular how we were using this trip to help out what we were working on in school. I gave my take on how it’s going to help my senior thesis paper, which was a follow up on my research methods paper about nations with one single dominant religion and the ability to work towards a democracy. My new paper would be testing how well states with one, single dominant religion can work with democratic state, especially those states that a) have an official state religion, and b) are not democracies themselves. Harthi was very interested in my paper, and told me that I definitely should not keep that paper a secret, but tell everybody I could about it.
After a quick tour of the historic museum and awards hall, we were given a bus tour of the city, but were told we couldn’t take pictures. It was very impressive, and was always expanding. In fact, Jubail was so successful that they were actually building another Jubail right next to it for more companies to come in, and further expansion. The new city will just be named Jubail 2. The only reason that the first city is so small is that in order to protect it from yearly flooding (remember, this is on the coast of the Persian Gulf), they had to lay 2.5 meters worth of sand and dirt to raise the city up. Since they only did a limited amount of land like that, each company had to pay very high prices to get the land. Now that the government has seen how much they can make on companies that produce their good here, the second city is going to be huge, so that each company can have as much space as needed.
After the tour, we were taken onto one of the housing compounds to have lunch with basically the same people we met with earlier. While waiting in what was easily the most opulent waiting room I’ve ever been in, the officials came filtering in among us to talk, and I had another chance to talk with Harthi. It turns out his son had just finished a six month period at UNCC! I can’t believe that I actually met a Saudi official that knew about UNCC. It made my entire day. It was literally 119 Fahrenheit outside, but this made my day all over. We talked a bit about his son’s experience, such as what he thought of the school and the city, and what he did there. Harthi’s son is an engineering major, and he wants to study at a specific school in the UK that specializes in a particular field that almost no university in the world teaches, but his English is crap. So Harthi’s son came to UNCC to learn better English, and now the university in the UK will take him. He said his son loved the school, and that he was never once treated unfairly because he was Saudi. I was very happy to hear that we impressed his son, as that made me look better in his eyes.
Lunch was absolutely amazing. We had a ton of different appetizers, including shrimp and beef pockets, which are my new favorite Saudi Arabian food. The main course was a different fish, chicken, and beef steak dish with rice and humus on the side. It was great, but the servants really made things awkward, because they wouldn’t let us do anything by ourselves. They would insist on pouring our water, even though they left the bottles on the table, and then they would remove our plates almost before we could signal that we were done. Desert was a mango cheesecake, and kiwi slices. It was all amazing.
After lunch, we all went back into the waiting room to talk a bit more, since we didn’t really have much to do, and our flight wasn’t until 6:00 pm. I had another chance to talk with Harthi, this time by myself, and I think I made my most important contact for my senior year at this point. Harthi wanted to know a lot more about my initial research and what I really wanted to prove. After talking for a little bit, he gave me his personal email address, and told me that if I have any questions at all, I should email him, and he would find the expert on my question in the entire country to answer it. I couldn’t believe it; this was the director of the Jubail Industrial College, basically the 2nd in command for the number one industrial university in the entire state of Saudi Arabia, and he wanted to keep a personal relationship going to help me out. These people are just too damn cool.
After lunch we had a chance to go see the Zamil group factory. If any of you guys remember Zamil, he’s the guy we met the first day in Saudi Arabia, and then we went to his house for dinner a couple nights later. Zamil had flown out to Germany the night before, but he let his people know we were coming. Zamil owned the newest and biggest factory in Jubail 1, and his factory was very impressive. Actually, Zamil group had just acquired a different company, Arabian Amines Company, and their merger was creating a new type of factory that produces chemicals for other companies to use in their factories. Delivery time must be quick then, if they only have to deliver within the city. We met with Ahmed Mahmood Khan, the General Manager of the site, and the only Zamil Group member that was actually stationed in that factory. The rest of the people are from AAC, and they were all complete nerds. I’m sorry, I know I probably shouldn’t post something like that, but their pocket protectors had pocket protectors. That’s how nerdy they were. But they were still extremely nice, and tried their hardest to keep things interesting for us.
After a tour of the facilities, and then a drive by of the entire factory outside, we were about to leave when a British man got on our bus to say hi and that he was sorry that he missed us, but his car had broken down. It wasn’t until we got his card and were driving off did we find out that man was president of the board of directors for AAC. I was blown away, because he almost seemed like we were the important people. BP’s CEO could learn a few things from him.
That was the end of our visit to the Eastern Province. After the tour of Jubail, we drove to the airport, and flew on to Jeddah. The flight was awesome, because we had business class seats, and that meant tons of room, and even a meal, even though we were only in the air for about 1:45. Jeddah is the place I’ve been wanting to go since we first arrived in Saudi Arabia. It’s the most progressive town by far, and the coolest in terms of awesome factor. The one thing all of us kept hearing from everybody we met in all the other regions in the country was that after arriving in Jeddah, we had to get Al Baik. Al Baik is a fast food restaurant that serves chicken and fish. Apparently it is the most amazing stuff in the world. We were originally going to wait for Monday to go get some, but none of us could wait, and were ready to get some food now.
OK, so if Al Baik opened in the US, it would be all over for all chicken establishments. All. Over. No joke. There is no way to express how amazing that food was. Seriously, I think I’m going to have to try and smuggle some of it back here. Al Baik is enough to make me want to move to Jeddah, if it wasn’t for the lack of my favorite beverages, the lack of what I call a nightlife, the sun, and no women. You know, I think I could really save some serious money if I went to school in Saudi Arabia. I spend most of my money on women and alcohol, so if I go somewhere that doesn’t have really either, I would probably become rich just from not spending money.
Anyways, Al Baik was everything I thought it was going to be, and that made me happy. I’m posting this on Monday evening, and Tuesday is our last day of travel here in the kingdom. Tuesday night we fly back to Riyadh, and then Wednesday morning we fly to the states. I can’t wait to see you guys, and I think this means only one or 2 more posts, so you don’t have to read that much more.

Day 6

So last night I totally planned on keeping on track with the blog, and write up Saturday’s events on Saturday night. But instead I had to pack up, because we had to leave the hotel at 8:30 am, and didn’t want to rush to pack in only 30 minutes like last time. Plus, I wanted to get to sleep at a decent time, so that I wouldn’t be dead all day. Well, I did get the packing done, but it was about 2:00 am when I finished, so I didn’t get that much sleep. We’re all having problems now from all the free stuff we keep getting from all these visits. Now I know you guys are all going to say that I’m complaining about a good thing, but when you have a severely limited space, and you’re getting literature and books and pamphlets from every place you go, you start to run out of room. It hampers the ability to pack the stuff we want to take, and the things we by with our own money. And the problem is that we’re not allowed to just leave the literature in our rooms when we leave, because the hotels will mail it back to the places that we received it from, and that would make us seem ungracious. Not a good problem to have.
So Saturday began with a trip to the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. We met with a bunch of people from the public relations and international cooperation departments, and learned a lot about how Saudi Arabia is quickly becoming one of the world leaders in engineering and nanotechnology, again. I was amazed when I was told that KFUPM taught exclusively in English, except in the area’s of Islamic studies and those who were taking Arabic. But it’s not like a lot of people came to KFU for Islamic studies, since it was an energy, computer science, engineering, and architecture school. Islamic studies is really only offered as an elective course, since all students in the kingdom must take it no matter what school they attend.
After leaving the initial meeting and introduction to Dr. Khattab G. Al Hinai, Supervisor for Public Relations and International Cooperation, and Muhammad Hayyallah Al-Thabiti, Public Relations Representative/ Public Relations and Information, we were given a tour of the oil research and search department. This is where the brightest minds in the entire country scour the land with digital and thermal imaging to find new sources of oil, and the best ways to access the already found oil. It’s a pretty well known fact that all the major oil fields in Saudi Arabia have been found, but there is always the possibility to find smaller ones, and sometimes you can find a better way to access already found oil wells.
After the tour of the searching department, we left for the Saudi ARAMCO compound. I think a quick history lesson is in order here, because you should know about how oil is done in Saudi Arabia. In 1928(ish), the British basically owned all the oil fields around the kingdom. The way they did this, though, was through colonizing the lands and then basically ruling the people as they drilled for oil and took the resources away. Nobody had access yet to Saudi Arabia, but on the other hand, nobody really knew if they would have it. It wasn’t until Bahrain struck black gold that people thought it could be in Saudi Arabia. All the British oil companies in the region began to put bids in to the king for the concession to explore for oil. Fearing the British would come in and eventually colonize and take over his kingdom, the king granted the concession to an American company, since it was a private organization, and not involved with the government. The original company that began drilling here didn’t find oil until 1938, when “lucky oil well #7” struck a goldmine of wealth. The company was American to start out with, but eventually controlling interest was given over to the Saudi’s, which is how the government became so rich.
The company that was in charge of drilling the oil was called ARAMCO, which stood for Arabian American Oil Company, and today Saudi ARAMCO is the only producer of oil in the country, being state owned. However, it is not really state operated. ARAMCO has it’s own compound, that has different laws and rules than the rest of the country. For instance, women are allowed to drive on the campus, and don’t have to fully cover up. There are housing facilities, schools, hospitals, grocery stores, and everything else that a society needs to survive. Even though it is like another country, you don’t need a visa to get back into Saudi Arabia.
So that’s what Saudi ARAMCO is. It’s a great place, and it has a rich history. The first stop was to the history headquarters of the entire company, where we were showed a movie in their theater in 3D, and then given a private tour of the information exhibit. We were also informed that President Bush Jr was shown the movie in the same seats we were sitting in. The exhibit was really cool and informational, but we unfortunately didn’t have time to really read all the information and such, as we did have a strict schedule to adhere to. After the tour, we were driven to “Lucky #7”, the well that first produced oil for the Kingdom. It wasn’t really special, since they no longer drilled there, as it had been closed for some time now.
We had lunch with the American Consulate General in Dammam at our hotel afterwards. The Consulate General is basically like the ambassador to a country, but in a different region. And he doesn’t have final say as representative of the government. We met with his Excellency and his Public Affairs Officer, Cynthia Cook, for lunch, and the Consulate General gave us the whole spiel we’ve been hearing since the beginning of the trip about the history of Saudi-US relations. Listen people, we read book on the history of our relations. We wrote a book report on it. Then, we wrote a paper on the future of relations between our peoples. We don’t need any more history on how oil came here, and what our peoples have been through. We get it. Just let us get our food, and let us learn new stuff, OK? Thanks.
After lunch, we had a little free time at the hotel until we went to the Prince Sultan Center for Science and Technology. It’s basically a museum for people to learn about the living and mechanical world. For those of you who grew up in Charlotte, and went to public school, you know what the Discovery Place is. This place is the equivalent of that. For those of you who have not made it, go to the DP, and it’s the exact same thing. We even saw an IMAX film, called Journey to Mecca, which is about a 21 year old law student from Morocco who makes the hajj in the 14th century (the hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims must make at least once in their life to Mecca and Medina). It was really cool, but we had already seen the film once the first day here, but this time it was on the big, big screen.
The last event of the day was a visit to Heritage Village. If anybody reading this has seen the South Park episode where the kids visit “Pioneer Village” where the employees never break character, then you know how this goes. It was really cool, and we had a great time looking at random articles, as well as a gift shop, and then had true Saudi Arabian food. It was a really good time, and at the end, we were all stuffed, and wanted nothing more than to see the US-UK game. We made it back to our hotels in time to watch the end of it. You guys already know about how I spent my evening, so I’m going to go ahead and start working on the blog post for today’s activities. After the flight here lands.

Day 5

So you remember how I said that I was planning on waking up at 10:15, to pack? Well, I didn’t wake up until 11:15 am. I basically had to throw my clothes into my suitcase, and then pack up everything in a half hour, and get ready. We were supposed to be at the lobby at 11:45 am to check out, and then depart for the airport for our flight to Dammam. I literally got to the lobby at 11:49 am. Didn’t really matter, because the last member of our delegation didn’t get to the lobby until 12:25, at which time we loaded the SUVs, and rode out. Pretty much none of us had time to actually eat a thing, and I was already really hungry. Didn’t help that the hotel had set up this huge buffet in the lobby for an incoming party of really important Saudi’s that was arriving at 1:00 pm. It looked absolutely delicious, and made me even hungrier.
We arrived at the hotel around 1:00 pm, and waited in a private waiting area with some really comfortable couches. We all asked about the possibility of obtaining some food, but weren’t given the chance. Our flight was at 2:40 pm, and yet we had to just sit around and entertain ourselves. Unfortunately I had finished my book the previous night, and didn’t really have much to do but listen to my music. You guys know how much I can’t stand doing nothing. No need to go into details.
Once we were allowed to actually get into the main level airport, we didn’t have enough time to get any food. Most of you know that I get “hangry.” That is when someone gets hungry, they also become a total grouch. That was already happening to pretty much the entire delegation, and it didn’t get that much prettier. The flight to Dammam was only an hour long, so we barely had time to get drinks before we were already descending into the city. After arriving, we had a bus waiting just for us to take us to our hotel, which was about an hour away from the airport. The Dammam airport is actually in the middle of scenic nowhere, about an hour from the actual city of Dammam, and 35 minutes at the minimum from Al-Khober, the city we’re actually staying in.
After arriving in the hotel, we had to wait for almost an hour before our rooms were ready. This was our first sign that our hotel was going to be less than the Four Seasons. Let’s set the record straight right here: I called it in one of my first blog posts that the Four Seasons’ hotel was going to destroy me for all other hotels afterwards. And it’s already begun. I’m not going to go into details, because I’m trying to stay positive about the fact that we’re here for free and that we have an exciting schedule ahead of us. That being said, the food here isn’t that good, and most of our meals are served at the hotel. Based on how well none of us handled being hungry and interacting with each other, this leg of the trip will definitely be interesting.
I SAW A CAMEL!!!!! On the flight to Dammam, as we were descending there were definitely camel herds in the barren desert, and I was able to see a couple herds. I don’t really have any good photos of the camels, but I will definitely try to find them at some point before I go home.
Soon after arriving at our hotel, most of the group went to an antique shop that had some really cool traditional Arab things. Not much of it was actually made in Saudi Arabia, but as the saying goes “the only thing made in Saudi Arabia is sand.” Of course that isn’t completely true: they do make camels here.
So I know I’m behind in posting, but once this is posted up, I will actually be on the correct day. However, we have to be in the lobby by 8:00 am tomorrow morning, because we have a full day ahead of us, and then are flying to Jeddah in the evening. I can’t wait to go to Jeddah, because that is where I’m going to get my thobe, the traditional dress shirt of the Saudi’s. I’ll try and post tonight, so that I don’t fall behind or anything.

Day 4

So Thursday was basically a nothing day. I was able to sleep in, not having to wake up until about 10:30ish. We had nothing planned until 1:00 pm, at which time we were supposed to all meet up for lunch at the hotel. But I was informed by another member of the delegation that the lunch was cancelled because Dr. Anthony, Pat (the vice president of the Council), and Josh (that really tall kid from the Council that wore Converse’s with his clothes at the national competition) were meeting with a doctor privately. So nothing was planned until 3:45 pm, at which time we were supposed to go to a different doctor’s house, and then go to a party that was being thrown just for us. So we went shopping at the same area from the previous night around 11:00, which was a lovely idea, as it was hot as can be out there. We only walked around for about an hour, then had our private driver take us to what is called a “Pull and Bear”, a shop located mainly in New York, which had pretty decent clothing. I had zero interest in the shop, since a) I wasn’t here to buy American clothing, and b) I was starving. We made it back to the hotel by about 1:00 pm, and were then informed that our activity that was planned for 4:00 had been cancelled, so we didn’t have a thing to go to until 5:00 pm.
I had some pizza from room service, which was ok, and worked with my partner on our assignment- creating an outline to use in interviews and speeches given once we return- and was then informed that we didn’t have a thing planned until 6:15 now. Things were great: I had lots of relax and rest time, got caught up on a blog post, and then took a long shower and got ready for a party.
The party was at Dr. Salwa al-Hazza’s house, and it was a beautiful home. Dr. Salwa grew up in the United States, and she was very proficient in English. She was a very gracious guest, and her children, Hala her daughter, age 17, and Naif her son age 18, were very cool and had extremely good English. The whole delegation got to know them both better, and we all exchanged information and such over dinner and dessert. We stayed out quite late, and didn’t get back to our hotel until around midnight.
The night didn’t really end there, since a few of us planned to meet up at one of the delegation members’ room and watch game four of the NBA finals. I wasn’t really interested in the game too much, but I was interested in seeing some sports and hanging out with the delegation. The game didn’t start until 4:00 am local time, so we took a short nap, and met up around 3:30. We ordered lots of ice cream and coffee, and did watch the game among other things. The game ended right around 6:45 am, which was perfect, because I had to get back to my room by 7:00 am in order to have my suit jacket delivered from dry cleaning. After getting that back, I decided to take a short nap, wake up at 10:15 am, and pack my stuff, as we were leaving for Dammam on Friday afternoon.

Day 3

Today was a pretty good day. I had my suit cleaned last night, and was super stoked to get out there in my freshly pressed shirts. I woke up at a good time, namely to make sure I would be able to get my suit when they delivered it to my room. Shower, like always was nice. They have lighted shaving mirrors here, so that’s always a breeze, and they already provide shaving cream and aftershave. Stuff burns like nothing else, so I don’t know why people use it.
Something that my mother and father and I were extremely upset about during the time leading up to the trip was the lack of information about what to pack, what we were going to actually do over here, and what to expect as far as needs in the money area. I now know the reason. Unlike the trip that I was told about from last year, which was the first time that the National Council on US-Arab Relations (the council that organized all the LAS competitions and is how I’m doing this trip; from here on out, and forever after, to be referred to as the Council) took a delegation to Saudi Arabia comprised of just LAS superstars, this trip is basically organized by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) of Saudi Arabia. All the Council had to do was organize the pre-trip orientation and the travel arrangements to the airport in DC. Once we were at the airport, MOHE took over. They are paying for everything, arranging all of our meetings and trips, and keeping us satisfied beyond belief. It wasn’t a lack of planning on the Americans part, or a deliberate attempt to keep us in the dark.
That being said, our schedule is always being changed. The one I posted was changed 4.2.3 times before we even left the country. Yes, I know, that was 2 decimals. That just happened. Blew your mind away, didn’t it? Anyways, if you really were OCD, and thinking that my trips didn’t coincide with the schedule, you are correct, congratulations, there is no prize. Sorry. This also creates a problem for the delegation, because we have to ask all the time, including several times a day, what’s next. At breakfast we usually try to update the schedule so we know where we have to go and when to be there. It’s not really a problem as far as messing with other planned activities, but when we have to leave a meeting at 3 pm, for instance, and we all have questions, we need to know that we have only 4 minutes before we have to leave and move on, or if we have 30 minutes. Again, this isn’t creating a huge mess, and in most cases, the reason things change is because we are getting more opportunities to meet with more people. But I thought I’d just explain that, so that you know why I didn’t have too much info before the trip, especially when everybody asked exactly what it was that I was going to do over there.
The first event of the day was a meeting at the headquarters of MOHE, the people who are paying for our trip. Like I said earlier, they have the largest budget in the Kingdom, which is why they are putting us up in 5 or 6 star hotels this whole time, and paying for all our needs in the hotels. We met with Dr. Eisa Abdullah Aleisa, who is the International Affairs Advisor in MOHE, which is probably 3rd or 4th on the entire totem pole. I know that doesn’t sound very important, but consider all the facts that I just spit out: The 3rd highest ranking official from the government department with the largest budget in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. That is a huge deal.
He was very informative, and once again, tea and strawberry-banana juice was served along with sandwiches and bread. For once, I was up and ready for breakfast really early, and of course our first visit provided food. Go figure. I’m not getting up early anymore. Anyways, we found out that in the last 10 years, Saudi Arabia has gone from 8 public universities to 24. Tripled. 10 years. Charlotte can match that growth if it tried, I know it can. Also learned that tuition is free in Saudi Arabia, no matter what level of school you are attending, and no matter your nationality. Hear that mother? Remember when I told you I was going to look for grad school applications here? I’m not joking. Not only is it free, but they pay you to come to school here! That’s right: school is free, and then the pay you about 300 to 400 riyals a month to come to school. And that’s not all, people: they also pay for one round trip airfare per school year for you to go home. I’d have to pay to go home and come to school at the beginning and end of school year, but they’d pay for my semester break if I wanted to. Seriously, this is just ridiculous.
After the visit with the doctor, we had got to go to a bookstore. This particular bookstore was the second largest one in the entire kingdom, and it was HUGE. Seriously, I think it was 8 stories. I did by a couple books as gifts for people when I return. Some things I know you can’t get in the states.
After that we were having lunch with King Abdullah’s top advisor. That’s right. The kings’ ear was meeting us for lunch at our hotel. This was a really awesome opportunity, and I was probably more stoked about that meeting than anything else all day. We were not disappointed, because this man was about as vibrant and jovial as they come. He was cracking jokes with us the whole time. Dr. Anthony looked like he was going to have a heart attack when we bashed on Mohammad for being a rich dresser in front of Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Saeed. But then Rahman cracked that all Lebanese are the same: they don’t have a dollar in their pocket, but dress like a million dollars. He was awesome. We all got to ask a ton of questions, and I finally found someone who knew about the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. If you don’t know what it is, Wikipedia is the place to go. I’m sorry, but just read the intro paragraphs or something, because you should know what it is, and I don’t really feel like taking time to explain it. But I was able to ask about the Arab response to the initiative when then-crown prince Abdullah presented it to the LAS, and who the most vocal objectors among the Arabs themselves were. He told me that the Kuwaitis, who have already decided to withdraw their support unofficially for now, and perhaps officially in the very near future, were the main objectors, with Iraq and Sudan being close behind. But he said that KSA, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon basically brought the full weight of their countries’ persuasion on them, and everybody got along great after that. I would have loved to have seen those meetings.
After lunch we had a visit with the Al Waleed Bin Talal (a very low ranking prince) Charity Foundation. Even though he is a low ranking prince, he is a very well respected one, especially since he basically funds this foundation, and it is the most well known, completely private, unbiased charity in the Arab world. They provide charity for every natural disaster in the world, and are one of the quickest responders to every event. Even though it is Waleed’s charity, he doesn’t actually run it, leaving that up to an army of women. Upon arrival, I also discovered that I had somehow gotten chocolate all over my hand, and in turn, my suit jacket. FML. I had just gotten my suit cleaned the night before. Seriously, the night before. I was so pissed off. Now I’m going to have to get it cleaned again. And it’s not like I’m supposed to have it cleaned all the time. But there is no help now- there is chocolate all over a sleeve, and then again on the front.
OK, so since we have been in Saudi Arabia, I have seen a grand total of maybe 12 women’s faces. They are either all covered up, or they aren’t out in the country. So everybody was extremely involved, and seemed more intent on talking than ever before. The ladies didn’t wear burkas, the traditional cover-all apparel, and didn’t put on hijabs until we took photos for the press. And the main talker was really pretty. We watched a video on a delegation of students that visited Saudi Arabia 3 years ago, and their visit was eerily similar to our visit. They did basically all the same crap, and saw all the same places. We were each given a copy of the DVD, and I plan on showing it when I get back to school, because it is very informative, and will allow all of you to see the places that I didn’t get a chance to take photos of.
After the Foundation visit, we had a chance to relax. Some of us decided to go out for a little shopping before we were supposed to visit the house of Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Zamil, the same Zamil that we visited on Monday. I did get a chance to look around, but didn’t really buy much, because our amazing handler, Sa’ad, told us that the best shopping was going to happen in Jeddah. I know that the MOHE is trying to give us a great time here, but keeping our schedule full is tiring the crap out of us. We are loving the whole “just relax at the hotel” time they are giving us now. I’m super cereal. So we walked around a bunch of out door shops, taking in local culture, and I found some really cool little things.
We originally were supposed to be at Zamil’s house at 8:30, but didn’t get there until almost 10:00 pm. The reason: Dr. John Duke Anthony overslept, and then he had to get ready. Don’t even get me started. I had to wait in the car for almost an hour after getting back to the hotel, because we got back from shopping at 8:30, but it wasn’t until almost 9:00 before anybody realized that Dr. Anthony wasn’t downstairs, and wasn’t even awake. Jeez, I seriously was about to flip. Even though our Chevy Tahoe’s are really nice, and have amazing air conditioning, there really isn’t much space involved at all. It’s seriously cramped in there.
Dinner was amazing though. Seriously the first time I’ve had an entirely halal meal and loved every aspect of it. The salad, the spaghetti and chicken dish, the lamb, and then the dessert. It was all amazing. Plus, I got to talk to a lot of saudi’s that were so nice and pro American. I talked a lot with a man that had never been to America, but had the best English I’d heard from a Saudi since coming here. He was awesome, very nice, and grew up on the aramco compound in Dammam, so he was grew up learning English.
After dinner, we came back to the hotel and most of us went to bed. I actually stayed up going over stuff for my assignment and doing other various things like reading and packing up most of my crap so that Friday I am ready to leave as soon as we need to for Dammam.
I didn’t really take to many photos on Wednesday, but I’ll load what I have. Now I’m going to type up our Thursday events.

Day 2

OK, so this is Tuesday’s post, just because I don’t want to fall too far behind on my posting. I should be going to bed, because we start out at 9 am, which means I have to be up by 7 am. I know mom and dad are going to say that I’m being lazy, but these days are really tiring. The heat is extremely oppressive, and just being out in it for 10 minutes and you feel the drain. The lowest high temperature that has occurred so far is 115 Fahrenheit. Seriously. I have not earned a Saudi sunburn yet, and I know this is going to cause my mother to flip the hell out, but I’m trying to get one. But mom, please hear me out. Hotel guests that get sunburned are automatically treated with an aloe massage by a female. There is no other way to get a message with a female in this entire country. It’s for my learning experience. No joke.
Alright, so today started out pretty well. We didn’t have to be out of here until 9:30 am, and breakfast was once again amazing. I’m sorry dad, but I’ve already forgotten how to tie my tie. I’m so ashamed, I don’t know if I can come home. This is a problem, because we’re actually coming home a day early. Sorry mom, I forgot to tell you. We’ll be back on the 16th, not the 17th. Josh has already stated we can stay at his house for the extra day if we can’t get travel arrangements changed, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to come home and have a drink in my parent’s house. Please let me know if there is anything that can be done.
Man, I’m so freaking ADHD in this place. I think it’s the Saudi air. Pretty sure I’m not like this at home. But back to my day. We started out with a trip to the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry. That was an enlightening trip with a look into the diversification of the Saudi economy. All we heard the first day was how the Saudi's know they won’t have oil forever, and that an oil-based economy is doomed to fail. That’s why king Abdullah has put forth his plan to change their economy to a knowledge based economy. There is a problem with this, as pointed out by Dr. John, the economist, who thinks that is a joke, and that the future of Saudi Arabia is in the service and tourism industry. Anyways, the Secretary General, Hussein A. Al-Athel is a wonderful man, who was so overjoyed to meet Americans. I’m not kidding, he was having an orgasm just by hearing us speak. He was so stoked about us taking an interest in his country and the economy that he was actually crying by the time he finished meeting with us. Again, no joke. We had a good conversation with basically the leader of the private sector business industry. The RCCI basically controls the private industries across the country since it’s the largest CCI in the country, and the largest one of the region. They apparently have over 500,000 members, but I think that’s inflated a little bit. Not that they are lying to us.
After that we had time to hit up another museum, which I did take a bunch of pictures of, and then we met probably the most important man in Saudi Arabia that we’ll meet: His Highness Prince Turki Al-Faisal. This is the youngest son of his former Majesty King Faisal bin-Al Aziz. However, don’t get fooled by “young.” He’s easily in his early 60s, and technically 4th in line for the crown. I think I should take a minute to explain here that in actuality the way the crown passes. See, the original king, Abdullah Aziz, had a bunch of sons. Once Aziz passed away, his oldest son assumed the crown. Everybody with me so far? OK, so when his oldest son became a failure as a king, instead of giving the crown to Saud’s son, it went to Faisal, the second oldest son. And then when Faisal was assassinated, instead of going to his son, it went to Khalid, the third son of Aziz. See the pattern? It goes to the next brother in most cases. Well, at some point there won’t be anymore sons of the original king Aziz, and then it will have to move onto the next generation. Turki is the son of Faisal, and therefore 4th in line according to official records. Now the turmoil in this is that there actually isn’t really a line of succession. There is the crown prince, who is the 1st prime minister, and then the 2nd prime minister, which is in most case right after the crown prince. After that, there is no person to be in line for the crown. But if you put all the brothers, sons, and grandsons in order, Turki is number 4.
Anyways, Turki is something of a celebrity to the Saudi’s because he’s been so vital to the relationship with the United States, and he’s been a key figure in Saudi politics for ages. He’s a great person, and he made a joke about the lack of women that were with us, calling it gender discrimination. He gave us a serious history of Saudi Arabia’s exploits in the region since it’s inception in 1932, and how the US fit in with that. He allowed us to ask a bunch of questions, but I was just happy that I got to sit next to him. It was an awesome experience.
After that, we had another, although brief, tour of a museum, and then it was off to the US embassy in Saudi Arabia. That was what everybody was looking forward to. Now there was actually 2 reasons we were looking forward to this: 1) the meeting was at 3, and the embassy was closed at 5, so we knew it was only a short time til we could get back to the hotel, and relax before dinner, since we hadn’t had lunch yet, and 2) the embassy was the largest of all the embassies in the country. We were not disappointed. As soon as you get onto the compound, there are hummers with 50 calibers being manned everywhere. Seriously. I mean, you see that everywhere in Saudi Arabia, but these were marines that were protecting us this time.
The visit didn’t include the actual ambassador to Saudi Arabia, because he was still out of town, but it did include some really cool diplomats, who I warned after the meeting that I was going to be gunning for their position in a year or so. They gave us the low down on what the Saud family was doing to ensure that the people of Saudi Arabia were happy and didn’t want to overthrow them. We also got a few questions in about the Israel-Palestine issue, and I got this golden quote on what the Saudi people thought about the issue: “The Saudi Arabian people do not think about that issue anymore. They only feel.” I think that accurately sums up the whole process right there. We need to act on this issue, and act now.
After the visit with the diplomats, we had a chance to go to the gift shop. I bring this up for two reasons: 1) it was the first time I was going to be able to spend money, and 2) I GOT MY MOTHA FLIPPIN FLASK!!!!!!!!!!!!! I find this extremely ironic: my flask says Riyadh on it. Go figure. That made the heat and desolation of the hour long wait for our car so worth it. I mean, it’s a real size flask, and it’s from Saudi Arabia. How awesome is that? And I got a shot glass. I know, I have a major problem, we don’t need to harp on it, do we?
The rest of my day has been extremely boring, plus its already 1:00 am, and I have to be downstairs at 8:00 am, so I’m going to post this with a couple pictures, and go to bed. Mom, you know my email, please let me know about flights.

Official Day 1

So before I begin on what we did Monday, I have some other stuff that I forgot to post on Sunday. So we are the guests of the Ministry of Higher Education (which we found out has the highest budget in the entire government), and they are letting us have whatever we want. Literally. Anything at all that we want in the hotel, we can do. It’s become a running joke among the delegation, anytime we need to pay for something, we just “charge it to the room.” Laundry, internet, snack bar, power converters, you name it, its free for us. I do feel bad that I am spending money at somebody else’s expense, but then again, I’m pretty sure it would be rude not to take advantage of their hospitality.
We all received a gift as well from the MOHE that was delivered to our rooms. Some of us got some things, and some of us got other things. I received a nice box that had a beautiful pen, which everybody is jealous of, a business card holder, and a 2 gig flash drive. I love my gift. This was all Sunday night still.
So then, on to Monday. We started out the day by having breakfast in the same room we had dinner in the night before: a full buffet, all free to us, but about $85 per person. It was delicious, just like dinner was. Our first visit of the day was to King Saud University, or KSU. It was absolutely beautiful, and with an endowment of 3 billion riyals, it should. I have since learned upon my arrival in Saudi Arabia that the conversion rate is basically 3.75 riyals equals 1 American dollar. I was under the impression that it was the opposite. Anyways, the current endowment is at 3 billion, and is likely to grow to 10 billion in the next five years. Our first tour was of the Riyadh Technology Incubation Center. Dr. Mezyad M. Al-Terkawi was our guide, and he just happens to be the head of the RTIC. He was absolutely hilarious, and was very fluent in English. Probably because he grew up in Texas, attended Texas A&M, and is married to an American woman. Dr. Terkawi showed us a number of inventions that included a way to test air conditioners without having to remove them. Apparently, before this invention, you had to completely remove the air conditioner from the plane before testing it to find out the problem. Another invention was a way to test for oil and electricity leaks in a house from the meter reader, which saves an average Saudi thousands of dollars a year. Another invention that was really cool was a foot long water heater. No joke. It took up about as much room as a yard stick. It works too. The picture of the air plane in my photos loaded up is from the RTIC.
Our next visit at KSU was to the Prince Salman Entrepreneurship Center. This was all about helping Saudi’s to come up with ways to create small businesses. It was only in its fourth year of operations, and already posted a wonderful success rate. One person had gone into business after already inventing a device that you put above the doorway into a library, and upon entering, the device would automatically cause your phone to turn silent. There is already a device that was similar to it, but that device would automatically turn your phone to off. I think my church could definitely use that device.
After the visit to the PSEC, we met with the president of the university. He was really nice, and unfortunately I did not have much time to ask him any questions.
From the beginning of the visit to KSU, we are drilled with the fact that there are over 60,000 students enrolled at this university, which is the largest in the country, and that it is the top of the line. Even though the King Abdullah Scholarship Fund sends out over 25,000 students abroad, mostly to the US, the amount of students that are getting an education in KSA is always growing, and the government could not be happier. By the way, this university covers over 9 million square meters.
The next visit was to Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Zamil’s private office. Zamil group is a Saudi based corporation that got its start in making air conditioners. They are now the #2 producer of air conditioning units in the world, and obviously #1 in the Middle East. He was very informative, and had a lot of insight as to how the country was being run. Apparently, the elites and the rich run the country, and the government is really only responsible for maintaining order in the country and international affairs. This seemed correct based upon all the studying we had to do about the Kingdom prior to our visit.
He was a very easy going individual, telling us at some point that we shouldn’t waste our time taking a flight to Dammam, but rather take a bus so we “can see the whole goddamn desert.” He also showed us a video about a 14th century Moroccan that takes the hajj, which is the sacred pilgrimage that all Muslims must take to Mecca. The one Muslim on this trip with us is going to Mecca, but it won’t count as his hajj, since it has to be done during a certain period of the year. The reason, Aimee, that I’m not going to Mecca is that Saudi Arabia just recently shut the entire city down to non Muslims. We aren’t allowed in anymore period.
He ended up feeding us, and giving us more books. I think I’m going to have to send a package home of just literature that we’ve received since we’ve been here. It’s absolutely insane the amount of literature I have collected. And it’s not like I can leave it here. That would just be insulting.
Zamil let us ask a bunch of questions, which came out to issues about Israel and Palestine, Iraq/Iran, and Afghanistan. Just about anytime we meet with anybody, those questions pop up, mainly at the insistence of Dr. Anthony.
Our next visit was with Dr. John Sfakianakis and Turki A. Al-Hugail. These two worked for Banque Saudi Fransi. This is the largest bank in Saudi Arabia, but it’s more of a corporate bank. Oh yeah, and the King keeps his money with these people. I just happened to be in the same building as the royal family’s treasure. Not the Saudi Treasury though. The location of that treasure is not general knowledge.
Our meeting with these two individuals lasted all afternoon, and trust me, most of the delegation was about to fall asleep if it wasn’t for the mass amounts of coffee served all afternoon. The session was extremely informative, and offered a serious look into how screwed the Kingdom is right now if they don’t come up with a way to give people jobs and find a way to make money once the oil runs out. Dr. John was not very optimistic about the Kingdom’s chances of really surviving once the oil left, because he felt that Saudi Arabia was looking into the wrong areas for future income. Instead of technology and finance, it needs to be in the tourism industry, according to the Greek. In case you’re wondering, he is Greek, but he’s applied for Saudi citizenship numerous times over the past 10 years. He’s a great economist, with Greece asking him for the last 4 years if he’d become their Minister of Finance.
By the way, I’m watching the Daily Show while I’m typing this up, and did you know that his wardrobe is provided by Giorgio Armani? I did not know this. Learn something everyday I guess, huh? I mean, never mind the fact that I’m in Saudi Arabia, learning something every time I turn around.
OK, so after the economist, Dr. John, it was time to visit the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center. That’s where I got all those pictures. Let me explain something right here. First of all, most of our experiences these past two days have been nothing but meetings with high ranking officials, doctors, professors, and economists. We are here to learn about what everybody in the Kingdom are thinking about us. There aren’t many picture opportunities. I’m taking photos of the buildings as we’re being driven around the town. But when we get to go to museums and such like that, I’ll be taking pictures everywhere I can. I promise.
Also, let me explain something about our travel arrangements. Seriously, have you people seen the Kingdom? I’m not joking when I say that our drivers are constantly going about 90 km/h, and while there are 3 lanes usually marked on the roads, there are 7 lanes to the average driver. Our driver is absolutely insane, but the guys who ride in the SUV that I’m always in trust Saadik, our Nigerian driver, and will only put our lives in his hands. Or his car. Every time we get in the car, it’s a new adventure. I’m being super cereal. No joke.
Ok, back to the day. By the time we arrived at the museum, half the guys were falling asleep. Most of them didn’t have a chance to get any real sleep Sunday night, as jet lag and different sleeping schedules didn’t work for them. They were mostly zonked. But I enjoyed the visit, and took over a hundred pictures. It was really eye opening, but the place wasn’t really finished yet, and there were a lot of empty exhibits. That was a little disappointing.
After the museum, we had dinner at a Lebanese restaurant. That was absolutely delicious. Even though we were all falling asleep, and most of us just wanted our beds, the food was great. I think I’ve mentioned we have one Muslim in our midst, and he’s actually Lebanese-American. So every time something made it to the table, we’d all ask him what it was we were eating. I finally had hummus for the first time at that restaurant. I know, I know, I’ve never had it before, but I do think it’s rather good. Also, I had my first bit of honey in the Middle East. That means I finally got the chance to fund terrorism. I’ve been waiting forever for this chance. If you look at it in a certain light, I was actually doing my patriotic duty, as I’m giving the CIA a reason to keep working. Dinner was really just the waiters continually putting appetizer dishes on our table. I couldn’t object, it was all fantastic. And dessert was so amazing. I don’t know what the flip I ate, but I loved it all. We were actually out on the check of Mr. Ron Pump, an American lawyer in the Middle East, and he was a really cool guy. Pretty soft spoken, but still interesting.
Finally, at about 11pm, we made our way back to the hotel. I went straight upstairs, and was intent on hitting the sack, but there was a slight problem. As soon as I turned on the TV, South Park came on. And anybody that knows me, knows I watch South Park no matter what the flip is going on in my life. Seriously. But you should all be glad, because it gave me a chance to load those pictures.
OK, that was my day. Now for some more random observations that I didn’t find time to put in during my day description. First of all, everywhere we go, everybody we meet, there is a custom that is observed. First, a servant or butler or someone of that nature, brings around a little cup with a sip and a half of a liquid that involves ginger and something else. I find that it tastes disgusting, and not just because they put my people in the drink. But then, as soon as that is all served, a little glass cup and saucer is placed in front of you that contains tea. The team is hot, and tastes just like sweet tea. Also, everywhere we go, there is usually a bottle of water or something of that nature waiting at every chair. Now, I realize we are meeting with ministers, economists, and the like, and that they are all rich, well compensated, or both, but the hospitality is beyond nice. I mean, seriously, I don’t think there is anything or anybody in the world that can top this. Everybody we meet is so nice, but also so genuine. They want us to ask the delicate questions. They want us to tell them what we think on every issue. They want us to be there. The reason is that they want us to be partners in all matters of the Saudi-US relationship, and that can only happen if we are completely truthful and honest with each other. They want us to come to their country. They want to be friends. Really, I promise.
I don’t know what it is with these people and orange juice and strawberry-banana juice, but they love to serve it everywhere. And its always fresh squeezed juice. I also found a Budweiser in my fridge as soon as I got here. To bad its non-alcoholic. I don’t understand why they would do that to such a terrible beer, but whatever.
Also, every body wants to talk about the Israeli-Palestine issue. Everybody. And most of us are just too happy to tell the Saudi’s where we stand on the issue. And the best part is, every Saudi we’ve met wants to know what our opinion is, and what we believe the solution should be. Many questions that come up are also things about Iraq, and the response is generally the same: The United States went in and took out Saddam Hussein, and still Iran won.” Everybody knows that as soon as we pull out, Iran is going to invade. Seriously, they know it. Also, the issue of Afghanistan comes up everywhere. The Saudi’s are completely behind us being there. They don’t want us to pull out, because as soon as we do, that means that the Taliban has won, and then the Taliban will come east and take up positions in Saudi Arabia. A lot of my notes are on specific things that I’m willing to bet most of you don’t give a rat’s ass about. Things like politics and Sunni law, and what everybody in Tehran thinks about.
OK, I think that’s everything for Monday. I guess I might as well get started on Tuesday’s activities.

More Day 1 Photos

OK, so I'm going to try and upload all the photos I can from yesterday while I write up yesterdays events and todays events. We got back to the hotel around 6ish, which was really awesome, cause we hadn't eaten all day, and we also haven't had much rest time since we woke up Monday morning.
OK, so this is all I'm posting from day 1. I'll show you guys in person, or put them on facebook or something when I have the leisure. It's time to food, and I'm starving. I'll post my daily experiences tonight sometime. Promise.

Day 1

OK, so I hope you people are happy with what I've posted so far, you have no idea how long it takes to upload photos. I have to do it one at a time. I really hate to do this, but I'm going to have to post about the days events tomorrow, cause it's way after my bed time. A majority of these photos of from the King Fahd Historical Center. Enjoy, and I'll get back to you on what I've been up to.