Kids having international week

Thats right! Kids are having an event on school grounds - International week parade of Nations.  You have the chance to show off your culinary skills, wave your country's flag and wear your national costume / dress.  Not only that, we as parents are also invited to participate and savour the moment. 


There's even a makan-makan session, hmmmm, italian day, indian day, middle eastern day, american day and chinese day.  Range of food to taste such as lasagna, chicken korma, lamb kabsa, hot dogs, vegetable chop suey just to mention a few.....

Hopefully the kids will have fun too as the adults fulfill their sttomach desires ... :D

Interesting presentation slides to share ...

Got this from slideshare:

Technology Trends in Libraries - Today & Tomorrow

View more presentations from Rachel Vacek.

Kids new "ECA"

Now, they are taking up new hobby ... golfing ... send them for weekly classes. Hopefully it'll catch up with them. Got a chance to see them in action. perhaps i should also take it up .... looks interesting and maybe get some tips from the instructors ... insha-ALLAH

Kaust has an interesting golfing range .... lots of green in the midst of the desert brown ...we had a visit there once together with some friends.  I'm not too sure of the specs of the range as I'm not into it but i'm sure our community has been taking full advantage of this facility. 

Winter Concert for the kids!

Nab n Naz had their first winter concert for KAUST International school.  Unfortunately, the main 'star' or shall i say host of the evening, Naz was down with suspected stomach flu for that week.  The elder sista who was pretty laid back about the event was handed the chance to take over the role. What a turn-around, Masha-ALLAH.  She did a wonderful job; but i wished both were able to participate the concert. Get well, daughter!!

 The hosts

 Nabilah in action

Online Conference 2010 - London

Alhamdulillah, KAUST has given my manager and myself to attend the Online Conference in London. It was my first time being there; and it was certainly an eventful time! Masha-ALLAH. The conference took 3 days but with the traveling time - flights n connecting flights; the whole affair took almost 1 week.

Arrived at Gatwick Airport, London and discovered that there was a tube strike on that day! Masha-ALLAH, it caused a major transportation nightmare for commuters.  People had to wait for a long time to get to the city and many ended up driving and this caused major traffic jams there.  What a way to start!  Took me almost 2 hours to get from the airport to the hotel.  Usually it'll take abt an 1 or 1.5 hrs max.

The venue and the hotel aint too far away. Walking distance; took me roughly about 10 -15mins. However, because of the heavy snow and treacherous pathways (slippery .. really) we had to tread carefully to avoid falling down.  

One more thing: It was freezing over there. Minus 1 or minus 2 at times .... airports like gatwick was closed.  However, heathrow stayed open and i was able to fly out before more chaos erupted ... like heavy snowing ....

The whole conference was good. The presentation sessions and meeting the vendors; negotiations and getting some understanding from them was enlightening.  Meeting the vendors face to face is a very effective way to open up discussions. Its more than just emailing to one another.  

Here's are some photos i took from the conference:

 

 Just before the walk to venue

its snowing ...

Alhamdulillah, they're here

After being separated for nearly 2 months, Alhamdulillah, the gang is here. Flew in via Abu Dhabi with Singapore Airlines. Heard from my wife about her experience in handling Matin during the long flight. As usual, abdul matin just cannot sit still and he only slept during the last 2 hours of the 14 hour flight, Masha-ALLAH. No wonder my wife was exhausted.

She said that luckily the passenger sitting behind A.Matin was OK and he happily played along to the toys that A.Matin threw in his direction.  I was aghast when i heard about it.

And one stewardess was abit fussy about A.Matin playing in front of his seat; they were seating near the door where there's space in front. So my wife told her that a.matin would be moving around the plane if she didn't create a 'mini playpen' in the plane :D. Anyway, the flight was uneventful despite A.Matin antics. They managed to get thru immigration and customs pretty quick, Alhamdulillah, thanks to KAUST GASC assistance. Syukron to that fella.

Moving into my new abode

Alhamdulillah, after spending almost 3 weeks in Jeddah, I managed to get me a house in the campus. Good for me as i don't have to commute between Jeddah and Thuwal everyday which is very tiring indeed. It's close to the university; well its a university town where all/most of us live, work and play here :D

Here are some shots of the neighbourhood:

:D

the beacon

 houses

 harbor library, the other 'sister'