Eid Mubarek

Some pictures of Al Kharj and a bit about this time of year; the celebration of the Eid.   

Bushra Alshakhly (an English Foundation Faculty Member - from Wisconsin but originally from Baghdad) and I are here together and spending some time exploring Riyadh and now Al Kharj.  She and Amr and I are in pictures together.

We, all the international faculty and administration, are currently living in a furnished apartment hotel which is adequate but we can't get comfortable and make it home.  We will move soon, insha'Allah, into a lovely apartment building which has been finished for us and simply needs the furniture and appliances.  Ikea furniture (each resident will pick out her own couch and chairs and bed etc).  This is Bushra standing outside our new building.

The front door is on the left.  As we enter there will be security to manage building access and handle our transportation support.  Following that, to the left on the first floor, there will be a large exercise room.  On our street, within 2 or 3 blocks, we can walk to a small grocery store, a laundry, a bakery and a fish market.  This is a conservative city and most women are fully covered.  We maintain a standard of covering our heads in public with a scarf called a tarha.  Inside the College, no abaya's or other covering are worn because we are only women together.

Next we went to the market area, the souk for Al Kharj.  Car parts to gold to men's and women's cloths to food to housewares to carpets.  This is the Eid and driving by at 10:30 in the morning, well, almost everyone is asleep, but you can see some of what is possible.  Women can go there to shop and explore but in most places women cannot sit in the restaurants.  There are family restaurants in the city where women can sit.

 

From there we were off to tour the general sites of the city starting with King Faisal's original Palace (immediately adjacent to the souk) which is where pilgrims and visitors are welcomed to the city.

And then the real current palace which I think is more of the residence for the regional governor and the palace on the register of antiquities.

And then we were off to the Birge al Kharj, the watertower which is the known far and wide to mark Al Kharj and is the meeting place for picnickers and for bbq at night.  

And then off to see the landscape surrounding the Al Kharj because this area is considered the breadbasket of Saudi Arabia.  Our good fortune was to stop at a smaller farm which is part of the larger Faisal Palace and Farm (which is gorgeous).   The farm manager was willing to show us around and allow us to see the animals, see how the irrigation system works (which you can see by the lines and ridges of where the alfalfa grows under the date palms), and look at all the plantings.  He sent us off with delicious handfuls of basil.  

  

The following picture is of a one year old date palm field - they are watered every other day from under the ground until their root system is established.

We washed our feet in the irrigation stream - lovely cool water - and thanked the farm manager for his kindness and then went on to see the big fields outside the smaller farm.  This is a big hay field for the cows, horses, camels, and sheep raised in the area and for the Kingdom and then a tomato field.

And the hothouses where plants are started or grown which fill the valley and use surface and well water.

 And, finally, it is the Eid and during the Eid it is appropriate to celebrate with the giving of thanks and sharing with those less fortunate than we are.  Amr and his uncle and Bushra and I went and chose a nice one year old sheep.  Here is the gathering of sheep with Bushra and the sheep we choose in the van.  We watched the preparation of the meat, which we won't share on-line.

Finally, the lovely sheep quickly became a box of bags of meat 

 
which were shared far and wide and have eaten with gusto for bbq tonight with new friends.  Wishing you Eid Mubarek.

We have been open for about two weeks.  Not a perfect two weeks but two weeks.  We started with 121 students and now have 122 students.  The goal was 125 to be registered and attending for the first semester. That might have happened between the 121 and the 122 but some girls decided to delay their attendance until next semester.
  
Some challenges are at hand - our technology will be delivered this week or immediately following the Eid holiday.  For a curriculum which is technology driven, it has taken humor, talent and flexibility from all the faculty to deliver classes and engage the students in learning.  And they are a talented faculty from all over the world.  More on the College as the semester progresses.

Today we went to Riyadh to Ikea and I took pictures along the way.  OK...they are bad pictures because they are from a moving car, but they give you some sights of the area.

First, because I forgot to post it, the architects rendering of the College itself (and this is what it looks like):

So, as you leave Kharj there is one local landmark which is the water tower (Birge Al Kharj) but I don't think it is being used as a water tower.  It was to have a restaurant in it but that is only in the write-ups there isn't really a restaurant there.  At night it is set with lights all over it.  Like a carnival.  And of course there are the other round about sculptures.

 What is interesting about this area is that it is very fertile by comparison to the rest of Saudi.  There is a great deal of water relatively close to the surface used for farming.  The following pictures (again, really bad pictures taken from a car) show you the palm date farms and nurseries which are around Kharj.  Hay is also farmed here and supports the dairy, camel, sheep and horse farms of the Kingdom.  It is a desert and yet it is a farming community.

 
And, finally, our day of shopping was in IKEA.  This is on the southern end of Riyadh, an hour from Kharj, just past the Industrial City.  What I can tell you about shopping in the Kingdom is that you can find anything in the stores (other than alcohol, of course). 

We are waiting for our apartment building to be completed.  Right now we are living in a furnished apartment hotel building which has tolerable apartments.  If I used my GPS correctly the coordinates are N 24 09.885  E 047 19.075  but, I was doing it out the window of the building and I will check it when outside.

cheers,  Betsy


 

We are ramping up for opening.  The building we are gifted (and I do mean gifted because it is stunning) to run the institute out of was constructed 7 years ago and then not used.  As anyone can guess, there are enormous challenges with a building which been closed for that period of time but the good news is that it was well constructed and once it is fully cleaned and the furniture and equipment are in place it will be a palace.  The city seems to recognize this because young women and their mothers/sisters/aunts are coming from far and wide to ask to be considered for admission.  All Admission choices are made in Riyadh at the Corporate Office.  

This is one of the Colleges of Excellence run by Laureate Vocational.  We have defined, based on the number of faculty in place for this opening semester, a population of 125 students for our initial class size. 

Our faculty are primarily from the United States, Canada, the UK and the Middle East.  They have incredible backgrounds, education and many have taught all over the world.  They are bright, talented, energetic and very excited to be participating in this start up.  We are waiting on our laptops and tablets (this is the same in every start up I have ever done, I swear!) but the desktops and smart boards are here so we can teach! Books and workbooks and CDs are here.  Now if the desks are in place and we have water and AC, all will be well with the world!

Let's give you a tour of the spaces and explain what you are seeing.  In order of the pictures below: The administration building, the auditorium, the cafeteria, academic buildings, academic buildings and the library

 
Next it is our neighbors.  If looking out from the main conference room and main gate, is a very large camel farm.  I visited today and one of the owners said he will come have chai (tea) with me.  He is very happy we are starting up operations.  His camels are lovely.    I will send pictures of the city in the next posting.

More on the city of Kharj and life here.  Hard to believe I have only been in Kharj for 6 days.  I am going for a walk to find some lunch/dinner right now.  Cheers,  Betsy

In Kharj, Saudi Arabia and starting to get acclimated.  Trip from the States to Riyadh was long but effortless with a whole bank of seats all for me.  Immigration took forever but that was only a problem because too many international arrivals had occurred at the same time.  Otherwise, easy but long.

Staff is fabulous.  We are a small group to start but full of energy. Young women students are enthusiastic to say the least.  They are excited to begin and more keep showing up each day to register.  I am doing some unpacking and walking to the grocery store tonight; this will be short but here are some pictures of the Institute.....just a few.  Many more coming.