I THINK I'm gonna like it here

It was our first day at work today.

We were picked up in a minibus from our hotel and taken to the Dar Al Uloom University.

Dar Al Uloom

I have my very own office! (In our previous university jobs we had to "hot-desk" in an overcrowded staff-room.)

Everything is so big and sumptuous, and brand new. I have a brand new laptop computer, and the phone on my desk still has plastic on it, and they said my printer is coming soon. I have a big empty desk and bookshelf/cupboard with glass doors and a big gold key to lock it with.

My window looks out over the front of the University:

There is the gate where the women come in, and then a courtyard.

Not much greenery because everything is so new, and ...well, this is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia!

And then, when I go out of my office door the corridor stretches away past the other faculty offices ...

There are lots of (big, empty) hallways.

And this impressive skylight that goes down through all floors.

No students yet - not that I would be allowed to take photos of them - and lots of empty hallways.

And then there are the big, echoey classrooms

Bright - no curtains or blinds - and bare.

And then there's a bigger hall.

Actually it's really big! And then there are the other facilities - these are all in the girls' college (a mirror image of the boy's side, I'm told).

Here is one of the three gyms - bear in mind that Saudi girls can't go outside to exercise.

There is a playing court ...

and a lovely big swimming pool,

and a spacious area for billiards and table tennis.

And then there are language laboratories and computer rooms,

a restaurant and a cafe, and, of course, the mosque.

You can see the university mosque past the (men's) car park. There are also prayer rooms in the girls' university because they can't exactly walk across to the mosque.

At this stage it all seems so exciting and full of possibilities, and at the same time a little alarming and overwhelming.

I think it's going to be good. I hope so!