KAUST Activities

Greetings,

In the last several weeks here at KAUST, many new places have opened up. After many long months of waiting, we are able to go swimming in the lovely, newly opened pools. There was initially a male pool, which can be seen from the bowling alley and some apartments across the canal, and then a female pool, which is outside but behind a tall wall and so is hidden from view. There is also a children's pool, but it is out by the male pool. After a few days and several comments by community members, the male pool became the family pool during most of the day time hours, allowing women to be able to swim with their children. This has been wonderful for so many people. Often Logan enjoys jumping into the pool for a bit, usually surrounded by friends and classmates, in the afternoon when I pick him up. We are so grateful that our boys are such strong swimmers!

A week later, the beach also opened up. (Photo above is actually from our recent trip to Oman, and, therefore, shows the beach of the Arabian Sea rather than the Red Sea.) Trucks and trucks of sand were brought in to create a sandy beach where there not had been one, and last weekend we headed out there to enjoy a swim, some sunshine, and reggae music. Kayaks and pedal boats are also available to rent, so I am hoping that we get into kayaking - something that we can easily continue when we head home to Seattle. Below the surface of the water at the beach is a dead coral reef, so water shoes are a must, but the water itself is crystal clear and refreshingly cool this time of year. By August? It may feel like a bath. For now, the beach is open only on weekends, which probably works fine since not many people would make it out there during the week.

Hayden has been taking some golf lessons and seems to really be enjoying his time golfing with David. He also gets to drive the golf cart, which is always a thrill. David and I are on a bowling team with two other colleagues. Once a month, all the teams get together and bowl against another teacher/staff member/spouse team of four. As far as I can tell, nearly no one practices much between games, and few of us are fantastic bowlers, so we have a lot of laughs and high-fives for the random strike or spare. (Sadly for me, we are not allowed the gutter barriers during the games, which I benefit from when I bowl with the boys.) Logan loves the pool and the climbing gym and biking up and down our flat quiet street with many other kids in the afternoons.

Tomorrow starts our weekend. David is off to CPR training in Jeddah. Just after the Dec/Jan break, one of our staff members collapsed from a heart attack and was kept alive through CPR given by another colleague. When this teacher eventually was rushed to the KAUST clinic, stabilized and then ultimately transported to the international hospital in Jeddah, no one was sure of his status, but he is now alive and well and back to teaching. Everyone has been so grateful to have this amazing and engaging colleague back at school. As a result, many of us were reminded of our lapsed certification in CPR and are wanting to update. My turn is the following weekend.

Thanks for reading. Jennifer