Lift Off!

Finally!

They have fixed the lift in our apartment block. There are shiny doors on the outside, and, naturally, a button to press.

When we press the button, there is a loud whooshing sound, the lift arrives and the doors glide open

revealing this shiny metal box.

It is very squeezy, with room for one person, or two very good friends! I'm glad that the ride is very quick, because I can only hold my breath for a short while.

(Why do I hold my breath? Um, rising sense of panic basically.)

Night Burble

A friend suggested this to us, and I have found it to be very useful.

The air is SO DRY, I was waking up with my tongue all swollen and dry, and gagging with a dry throat.

Our friends have a humidifier running in their main room all the time. So now we have this little fella burbling in our bedroom through the night. It pumps a couple of litres of water into the air every night - and it makes a real difference.

One night I forgot to turn it on. And in the morning I remembered why we bought it!

Rainy Day in Riyadh

I thought I'd better grab a pickie while it's still here.

Definitely rain. Puddles and stuff. It  hasn't had a major impact on our lives, except it's so cooooool! The students are all wearing warm clothes and turning off the air-con and shutting the windows.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now

I never thought I would appreciate clouds SO much!

There have been a few rain showers already, and the weather is beautiful and cool.

Ticked off

We have heard of the "Mutawa'a" - the religious police who (among other things) make sure the women are all modest and safe.

And today I met my first one. Wish I could've taken a picture!

We were sitting on a bench in a shopping mall, waiting for our bus ride back to the apartment, and I noticed first of all a man in khaki uniform - police, I presume. Then I noticed the man next to him wearing unusual dress - over his thobe he had a black cape trimmed with gold.

He came over to us (W and I) and asked us to cover our heads. My colleague apologised, saying she did not have her scarf with her and would remember next time. I obediently reached into my bag for my scarf, but by the time I got it out he was gone, around the corner having a word to M - another one of our teachers.

Lorry what sucks dirty water out of holes?

At first we thought it was a sucky lorry, but of course it wasn't.

This is the lorry that puts the clean water into the hole. This is how they fill our water tanks on the roof.

We came downstairs to get on the bus to go to work this morning and caught them at it!

And here is Sally, one of our teachers (wearing her abaya) getting onto our college bus.

(You'll notice it has no windows. There is no public transport here - no buses, no trains - because men and women cannot travel together unless related. The University doesn't want everyone to see us travelling together.)

Pool Party

We were officially invited to attend a formal dinner party with the Sheikh (DAU owner) and the Minister for Education and various other VIPs.

This being the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we were picked up at 8.30 pm for the 9:00 pm meal, which actually started around 10:00 pm.

Little did we realise it would be a pool party by the college swimming pool (on the men's side).

Not that anyone actually did any swimming.

As always with a formal event, the first question is: what should I wear? The women asked if we would be required to wear our abayas, and the response was: "Yes, you are allowed to wear abayas." We understood that to mean that yes, we had to! After all, we would be entering the Men's Side of the University. You can't see it, but I put on my nicest skirt, just in case we got an opportunity to uncover. I know one of the other women went in her pyjamas by way of protest ...

But you can't tell which one. And the men all scrubbed up pretty well with their suits and ties.

Young 'Tiger' (the future golfer, according to his doting dad) came along too, firmly strapped into his brand new pusher.

As you can see, he's a delightful little chappy, everyone's darling.

Of course, the other guests were wearing their traditional thobes and ghutra - they dress this way all the time, not just on special occasions.

From Howdi Saudi

The food, of course, was absolutely magnificent, and we all went home to bed with uncomfortably full bellies after attempting to have at least a little taste of everything!

We didn't eat any of it, but we were very impressed with the carved watermelon:

There were a couple of carved pumpkins on display too.