Arabian Daze

When we first started this ESL caper - leaving the comfortable and the familiar to set off into the unknown for insecurity and adventure ... - I felt that going to China was the closest thing to going to another planet, for those of us who can't afford interplanetary travel but have a yearning for something genuinely different.

So maybe if that was the moon, then this next adventure will feel like Mars!

We've been to the Far East (China), and we've been to the Far West (the UK).

A lot of years ago I enjoyed reading the Dune trilogy (by Frank Herbert), and now I feel like I might be about to experience something close to that.

I guess I won't be able to scuttle around in my very comfortable favourite (Aussie) stretch denim jeans.

In fact, from what I hear, I won't be allowed to wander outdoors alone at all. I won't be allowed to drive a car at all - seem like a pity when I have only just obtained a British drivers' licence! And every time that I go outside, I will be required to wear an abaya. That's the big black (or dark coloured) coverall gown thingy.

Does that sound restrictive and awful? Well, no one will know it's 'me' in there. I'll be anonymous. It might protect me from some of the weather - not that I'm about to go walkabout any distance.

So ... shut me up in an air conditioned apartment with my computer, a fast internet connection, and sattelite TV ... I'll be happy for hours!

If that was all there was, with Peter working and me shut up in an apartment, then I'm sure that I would go mad with loneliness. But I am going to be working as well. I will be teaching at the girls' university. Just girls. And, no, wegirls don't all have to wear our black things when we are inside the university.