I’ve come to the conclusion that KAUST is the most diverse small town in the world. It’s really starting to have that feel to it, which is awesome. More and more it’s becoming a community where everyone knows everyone else, and you can usually talk to anyone about anyone else and expect them to know who you are talking about, people know that Abu’s or Ali’s little brothers are here, football games are community events, and going to the city is a big deal. Granted this is limited mostly to the student population, but it is slowly expanding to include the professors and recreational staff and high school students.
The Chinese New Year became a three day festival, with lots of delicious, authentic (well, authentically made from fairly authentic ingredients) Chinese food. Last night some of the students put on a traditional Chinese festival rich with atmosphere including traditional instruments, miniature hot air balloons, and of course lots of food. I helped one of my Chinese friends celebrate by introducing him to the recipe best known as the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He was fascinated asking about what was inside, and was thoroughly impressed that I had made it myself. Oh, and this was one of the students who prepared a feast for us with all sorts of dumplings made from scratch. I told another of my friends that I would have to make some American food for him, to which he replied, “You did. That one time we came over and had that smashed meat between two cakes.”
Another awesome event which took place about a week ago was our first soiree (pronounced swaray) dinner. Some male students had the idea to host a formal dinner for the girls on campus, not as any sort of romantic thing, just as a way to serve them. The organization must have been incredible to pull off a formal dinner in one of the parks here, and it really went well. It was a nice night for the ladies, with a multi-course, international meal complimented by a poetry reading and several musical performances. I believe it was an even better night, and day, for the guys. It was truly uplifting to see so many guys come together to pull off this project. My friend Simon bought a go-cart style vehicle a couple of days before this dinner, and this ended up being extremely useful for transporting people, meals, dishes, cutlery, musical equipment, etc, as well as being pretty fun to ride around in. There were plenty of left overs, and I think I ate better that night, than I have since being here, thanks in a large part to Mac and his spring rolls. Thank you, everyone who came and everyone who helped put it on.
