settling down

I have not gotten around exploring the city or the campus yet. The first week was spent more to get some administrative stuff out of the way. I hope soon I get things sorted so that Tuhin can join me here. It will be a strange country for him, maybe. It is amazing to see the level of activity out here. Right now the high activity level is mostly focused on construction, and a constant battle to get all things functional by the opening day. Once we go through this stage, the real fun begins when we have a stable environment and get to focus on our work. One of the rec. centers will also open by early September, or rather that's what all of us are hoping.

Last few months have been all over the globe -- china, hong kong, london, stanford, new orleans, and ofcourse jeddah. What was really nice was the few weeks I spent back in my home town -- after a long long time. It was very relaxing. On the other hand, having not being at the climbing wall for months now, I on some weight. I got myself a new pair of climbing shoes, which I hope to be able to use soon. Meanwhile my calluses are quickly disappearing. I hope the wall on campus turns out to be nice, and I am sufficiently motivated to hang out there often.

Short list of what I got done last week: get all things packed/shipped, apply for iqama, get a first tour of the house, hopefully fixed a place for office, and got a quick meeting with the students. The current commute is long -- 3hrs/day :(