The only way to explain why they called the original opening the “soft opening,” is to explain the real opening.
From the day we arrived in Saudi Arabia, rumors were spreading about the September 23rd opening of the school. The one that the king was going to be at-and all of his guests. Rumors were spread about who those guests would be (from Obama to the Pope), about who would be able to attend, etc. There was a company here who was in charge of putting on the event, and they had already invited several students to their studio in Dubai to help put together parts of the ceremony. All the students wanted to know if they were going to be able to go to the ceremony. It hadn’t crossed my mind that we might not get to go until rumors started spreading that only 20 or 60 (depending who you asked) students would get to attend. As has been the case with a lot of stuff around here, it was hard to determine who was the actual figure of authority who would know and be able to give a definitive answer.
It was eventually announced that only the students who had been selected by the media company to volunteer at the event would be able to go. I was a little disappointed, but accepted this as final. Many other students would not give up so easily. It was explained to us that everything that could be done had been done to get seats for those volunteers, and that all the other seats were reserved for the kings guests, who included heads of state, heads of major universities, nobel laureates, etc. Never the less, students continued to petition, to request getting to meet the king and thank him, or to try anything they could to get there way in there.
I had given this up as a lost cause (there were only so many seats available) but by time all the rsvps were in, it turned out there were enough seats left over for one person from each country (about 70) to attend the ceremony. They sent out a mass email letting everyone know that there would be a meeting about 4 hours after the email was sent. It didn’t go into specifics, but basically said it would be a time for students to get to know the schools president and ask him questions, as well as to learn about the academic symposium that was going on the day after the ceremony. It is amazing how on such short notice, and with such a vague email half the school showed up. At that meeting they announced that there was a seat for one person from each country. Then they said that that student had to be selected by midnight so that they would have enough time to get the necessary security clearance (this was about a week before the ceremony). They told us that it was up to us to decide who those people were- each country had to submit the names of one male and one female student, and they would chose from these, so as to balance the number of male and females. I was excited just to sit back and watch how this would unfold. There were so many people set on attending that I thought it would result in an interesting social experiment with people trying to fight for the spot. Instead it went pretty smoothly and most countries went the boring route by drawing names out of a hat. Most people somehow felt better after this, even if their names weren’t chosen, because they had been given a chance.
We had the week leading up to the ceremony off from school, because it was the Eid (holiday) celebrating the end of Ramadan. Many people used this time for traveling. People went all over from within Saudi Arabia to Jordan, Spain, Bahrain, and who knows where all else. Others had to stay back to prepare for there roles volunteering at the ceremony. Still others like me were stuck here trying to catch up on there classes after only two weeks of school.
September 22nd - the day before the ceremony, was one of the wildest days of my life - only to be topped by the 23rd. Our school had organized a trip for those of us who were around campus (for the males anyway- there was a separate trip for females) to go snorkeling in the Red Sea. I was very excited about this, especially based on reports I’d heard from other people who had been. One guy who had done a lot of scuba diving in the great barrier reef off Australia said that the diving here was just as good. Anyway, there was room for like 50 people (maybe it was 75), but on a first come first serve basis, so my morning began with waking up for breakfast at 6 and then going and catching the 7am bus. This was followed by an hour plus bus ride into Jeddah. I was wondering how they would fit so many of us on a boat… until I saw the boat. They had reserved a 70 foot yacht- typical KAUST style. We started heading out for the sea, which consisted of having to go pretty slow for 20-30 minutes to get out of this harbor/jetty that was crowded with people on sea-dews, jet skis and every other type of water toy. Right before we got into the open sea we were notified that we had to return to campus immediately. We were told that one: the sea had been closed, and two: they were going to close the road down between us and the campus but were waiting for us to return. I’ve never seen security precautions like that. I didn’t really know you could close down a sea, but I guess thats what they do when their king is on the move.
Obviously we were all a little disappointed, but I tried to keep the perspective that I had still gotten a pretty fun boat ride out of it, and that this was all free. When we got back a lot of us went to get lunch at the cafeteria. Right place, right time. One of the Saudi students, Ibrahim, came up to us telling us that they needed two more people to be in the ceremony- yes THE ceremony. Turns out one part of the ceremony consisted of some Arabic speaking students reciting some poetry, with other students standing behind looking good. Everyone at the table was very diplomatic and selfless and tried to say that people other than themselves should go. For various reasons it ended up just being me and one other kid, Miguel from Mexico, who could go. It was a bit overwhelming to grasp that after all of this, not only was I going to the ceremony, but I was going to be up on stage in the ceremony. First order of business, I needed a suit. Fortunately my friend Nathan, who is pretty similar in size to me, was sitting right there and said that I could borrow one of his. He worked for a year in China and had a few suits custom tailored there for about 100 dollars apiece. Next order of business I had to shave- well, I probably didn’t have to, but I figured that was appropriate. I went to Nathan’s and got his suit, which fit really well, went and bought some razors and cleaned myself up. We had to meet up that evening for a rehearsal run through. When I met up with other people who were going to be in it, I was told that we were going to rehearse in front of the king. It was evident that the king had been on campus by the roads lined with the army and the naval presence in the sea. We waited for about 45 minutes until our bus took us to the ceremony sight (somewhat on campus but a couple miles from everything else). We learned that the king had been there earlier but had already left. Once we got there we waited around for several hours. After waiting for a couple of hours the same guy who had told me they needed people to be on stage, let me know that he wasn’t sure if it was going to work out because I was too tall and would throw off the balance on stage. I wasn’t sure what all of this meant, but I was told to wait around more. They were telling me that they weren’t sure if I was going to be able to be in it at all, but then they sent me over to get an I.D. with a couple other people. I was wondering how this was going to work since everyone else had already had extensive background screenings, but after what seemed like some sketchy stories and dealings they had gotten me and a couple other students the security passes we needed. I still didn’t know if I would be able to attend, but I had the security clearance.
After that we all went into the ceremony tent. It was spectacular. The outside of the tent was covered in thousands of shingles that shimmered with light and wind. The ceremony tent consisted of three separate but connected tents. The first tent was just a display room. There was a scaled model of our campus- probably about ten yards across, but complete with detail down to the car headlights. There were impressive looking displays about the history of this region being a place at the forefront of science and technology and stuff about how they wanted KAUST to be a “house of wisdom.”
There were also people fixing leaks. It was the night before the king’s big party and they were still finishing the tent. That was one of the craziest things about it. For three months thousands of people were working night and day to put together a facility for this event, and it was literally finished the day of. They started deconstructing it the next day, and it is now almost completely gone.
Anyway, that tent connected to the actually theater they had designed for the event. We got to see the end of the show being rehearsed which consisted of the screen (about the size of an imax screen, maybe bigger) sliding open like two giant sliding doors, revealing a view that was right on the sea, displaying a water show/firework show that was spectacularly choreographed with music. As this was going on they had what they called the “academic parade” come onto stage, representing one student from each country. For the rehearsal I was with all of those students, so they sent me up there with everyone else. I asked them after if I could do this again for the real ceremony and they said yes. Once again I was going to get to be on stage in front of world leaders. I was also told that night by one of the guys in charge of putting on the ceremony that both Obama and Sarkozy would be there.
We finally got home by about 1am. I was exhausted, but excited. The next morning I got up and tried to prepare myself for the day. I showered and shaved again, read, got on Nathan’s suit and was ready to go. I checked facebook right as I was leaving and noticed that someone’s status said something about the academic parade being cancelled. I wasn’t sure what to make of this, but I figured I would run into people at the cafeteria who would know so I went there. I saw lots of people there who were supposed to be in the ceremony- who had been selected as the person from their country and had been training all week- just sitting there in normal clothes not looking like they were in any hurry. I asked them and indeed the parade had been canceled. They said that we didn’t get to go either.
Naturally I was disappointed. I can’t say I wasn’t a little upset, but I tried to keep in mind that I was right back to where I had been a day before and I had been perfectly happy with this the day before. On top of that I had homework, which I needed to finish. I went to the computer lab and started working. Surprisingly after such an emotional roller coaster I was able to get a lot done. I think it helped to have something practical to think about and to get my mind off of the ceremony. Three or four hours later it was getting close to the time the ceremony was starting. I had heard that there was going to be somewhere for all the student left on campus to watch from together (via broadcast) so I went looking for this place and for other students. I met up with three a couple other students who were doing the same thing. As we were walking by the front of our school some people approached us and said, “Hey, so you guys have anything to do right now?” We told him that we were just looking for a place to watch together. He asked, “do you want to come to the ceremony?” We were excited but confused. He told us that they had seats they needed to fill and so they were on a quick last minute run picking up students to fill those seats. We hoped on the bus as we were asking our questions.
How can we get in, since we don’t have the security clearance?
We aren’t dressed for this, is that a problem (fortunately I was).
What do I do with my bag? I’ve got my camera in here, they won’t let me bring that in right?
The guy assured us that everything was fine. We made one quick stop to pick up other students- we only got one or two, but one of the girls who had been most vocal about wanting to come got to get on then.) They bused us over to right in front of the tent. They told us to take our bags with us and escorted us into the tent, around the metal detector and into the theater tent and then just told to take a seat somewhere. I couldn’t believe all that had happened in a day and a half, but now I was actually in the room waiting for the ceremony to begin.
After waiting for a while, and after the evening prayer time was over, we watched on the big screen as the king arrived outside and walked into the first tent. They set up a chair for him (I guess a throne) and we watched as some of this more powerful guests arrived one by one and personally greeted him. I was a little disappointed that Obama never arrived (apparently he sent a delegation of 9 people instead) but the guests who we watched greet the king included Prince Andrew, a noble prize winner or two, and the heads of state (kings, presidents, etc.) of Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Djibouti, Sudan, Somalia, the Philippines, and several other countries. It was very exciting to watch all of this, and then watch all these people come into the room that we were in, but to quite honest the excitement dissipated after a few minutes when I realized that the ceremony was almost exclusively in Arabic, and though I could see these people, they were really pretty far away, and all their combined power, wealth and prestige didn’t make them seem any bigger. It’s a lesson that been taught time and time again, but it was a great reminder that people are just people. I would not want to say anything bad about the king, in part because I am very grateful for his generosity and for this scholarship and school, and in part because I don’t think it is wise to say bad stuff about a king in a country that doesn’t have freedom of speech, but watching him sit there waiting to greet his guests, and watching and imax size image of him brush flies from his face, I had to laugh. Here is a man who can put down 10 billion dollars to start a school- a man who Bush kissed and Obama awkwardly half bowed to, and he’s not immune to flies bugging his face- or to aging. It really made me realize that to have people who love me and whom I can love is worth far more than any riches, and to be given health and strength is worth far more than any power. It made me realize that God is the only king with real power- the only one whom I can fully rely on, and in whom I can put my trust. To think how insignificant the worldly kings all seem to the one true King, and to think that this King sacrificed his only Son for me is humbling, and incomprehensible. We are so blessed.
The ceremony proceeded as scheduled, and afterwards we got to go to the third tent, which was the dining tent, and eat some awesome food.
