First Day in Saudi Arabia

So let me just say that the Four Seasons hotel is awesome. And we have our own rooms!!! That’s right, all to ourselves. There are showers and bathtubs in the bathroom. Two separate washing facilities!!! I know I’m flipping out about the hotel, but the fact that I’m actually in Saudi Arabia didn’t hit me until I walked into the heat. You know that feeling you get when you’re outside, and you know you’re getting sunburned? Same thing all the time here, except that you walk outside, and you feel like you’re getting skin cancer right away.

But lets start from the beginning. The flight was 11 hours, and about as moderately horrible as expected. I was in the row the closest to the front out of all of our delegation, and closest to the baby that screamed the entire freaking time. Now that didn’t bother me too much, because I watched movies the whole time, but the lack of leg room, coupled with the fact that my neighbor was basically hanging all over me the entire trip, along with the general poorness of the food didn’t help. I watched Batman Begins (sorry Aimee, I didn’t make a drinking game out of it), Sunshine (I love that movie, and was very excited they had it), Madagascar 2 (not nearly as cool as the first one), and started on the Day After Tomorrow, before realizing I didn’t like that movie, and that I wanted some sleep. I did manage to get an hour or so of sleep, but it was not continuous. The meals were ok, not great. I had a chunk of beef with a barbeque sauce and a salad and piece of cheesecake for dinner. Not going to lie, the cheesecake was really good. Not so much the rest. Breakfast wasn’t amazing, but passable. That consisted of a couple slices of French toast, some fruit, and a little cup of orange juice.

Upon landing in Riyadh, we got off the plain and immediately were met by a man from the Ministry of Higher Education. He took our passports and told us to wait in a very comfortable couched-up area while he retrieved my luggage. Then the man who basically planned our entire stay here (can’t imagine how to spell his name) met with us, and told us about how we were to get to the hotel. If any of you guys have seen the move the Kingdom, you know how transportation goes. We were put in large SUVs, and were driven to our hotel, at close to 90 kilometers/second. We passed quite a few checkpoints in which we were actually allowed to just fly through a special corridor, where we didn’t have to stop.

The hotel we are staying in is in the King Center. If you ever see a picture of the skyline of Riyadh, there is one huge tower, and then a smaller one quite a bit a ways from the bigger one. We are staying in the bigger tower. This room is loaded with amenities, including bathrobes and slippers, and we’re allowed to charge anything to the room, as the Kingdom is paying for our visit. I’m going to try and load my pictures now; I took some of the airport’s innards, as well as on the road to the hotel.

As I mentioned, the Ministry of Higher Education is paying for everything, so I’ve discovered a new candy bar that I’m falling in love with: Mars Bars. I don’t know if you’ve ever had them, but they are like Milky Ways, but they just go down easier. Also, they have Coke in glass bottles!!!! Everybody that knows me knows how much I love glass bottle Cokes. It just makes you feel good. Also, there are 100 channels on the TV, and 5 of them are playing fútbol, and 4 are playing handball matches. Best of all, I’ve found the Colbert Report. It’s awesome. Now I just need the Daily Show, right after I finish watching Glenn Beck.