This is the time of year I really love in admissions- sending decisions! Just like so many universities in the States, we 'mailed' admissions decisions on Wednesday last week to 141 students. It was not without lots of long hours and stress over the last few months but especially leading up to our pushing the button on sending the good news out. Now comes all the clean-up of going through all of the incomplete to ensure they are still incomplete and denying all of the hundreds (okay thousands) of applicants. And, KAUST is unique in that we will now interview all admitted students who accept our offer of admission. So April will be planning, traveling, and interviewing. As of this morning 19 students had already accepted our offer. And we sent another 115 admissions. Such an accomplishment!
On Thursday I went on a snorkling trip- my second since I have been here. The first was on New Year's day and a larger group on a boat just out of campus. Thursday's trip was organized by several divers. There were about 15 of us on a much smaller boat and we went out from a dive shop half way between campus and Jeddah. It was a very early start- 6:45 AM departure so that in and of itself was a challenge. When we arrived at the Dive shop some of us needed to rent equipment- I had borrowed a mask and snorkle but needed flippers. The verdict is still out on whether I would go often enough to invest in my own stuff. Breakfast was waiting for us on the boat and I had baked a banana chocolate chip bread to share. It took about an hour to get to th efirst dive site. Abayas had to be worn until we got out past the coast guard check point- about 15 minutes.
The majority of the group was diving and there were a handful of us snorklers. I can't say I have any real desire to learn to dive. I just don't like the idea of relying on a tank of oxygen and there seems to be a lot of math involved too- leave diving to the scientists and math people I say. We stopped at three different sights so it was also a log day. Typically, from what I hear, there are usually two dives a day. The first sight was a marble ship wreck called Fiona which I can't find anything about on the internet when I google. The coral and fish around the ship were not so spectacular. I think the divers appreciated it more because they could really get down closer to the wreck. The two reefs that were dives two and three were much better- lots of very colorful fish and coral. I do wish I could take a course on the types of fish and coral in the Red Sea so I know what I am looking at. And of course so I know what not to get too close to. Abner, one of the divers is also an amazing photographer so the majority of the pictures are ones he took. And then others that we snorkling amatures (me, Paul, and Jamal) took. There was one small incident at the end of the trip when Jamal and I had borrowed Paul's camera and each thought the other had brought it back on the boat. Luckily we realized it was missing just as the last of the divers were getting back and they actually found the camera at the bottom of the sea!! Talk about a needle in a haystack and some very good luck!
Lunch was also part of the day and was a great big pot of rice and chicken served with a salad- really very good for such a small boat and limited staff! It was an exhausting day but also fun. I got a bit of a sunburn on my back but not so bad it is blistering or anything. I slept more that 12 hours Thursday night and didn't too very much on Friday- a bit of laundry and a manicure/pedicure. I am not sure if I have written about the beauty shop on campus yet but it is no My Nail Salon that I miss so much. Mostly I miss that there is only one chair so you can't go with friends. Half the fun of a mani/pedi is going with friends. Oh and the cleaners came so I have a clean house. I love living in a country where I can afford the $30 a week for someone else to dust and wash my floors and vacuum.
Wednesday I am off for a week of vacation- woo hoo! I am heading to Greece to spend Easter with my friends, the Maniataki's on the island of Mykonos and then in Athens for a couple of nights for some birthday time. Hope you are all having a great weekend! And a PS thank you to Ruthann for showing finding how to caption my photos which I did but when I upload them to my blog the caption does not come with it... will keep working on it!!
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