KAUST WEP

KAUST has introduced its second year of the Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) which is an amazing opportunity not only to the Grad students, but to literally every single person living in KAUST.

The WEP may sound like an intimidating academic program, but it actually holds a variety of lessons, which range from Improv Theatre to Beginner Computer Programming. Furthermore, the WEP also focuses on the healthy side of life at KAUST.

http://wep.kaust.edu.sa/Pages/Home.aspx

The one activity I would like to talk most about in the WEP is the Basketball League.

I'm an avid basketball fan and play all the time at the indoor recreation center on KAUST island, and the WEP has given us an opportunity to sign up teams of 10 and play organised basketball with expert referees against the post-grad students and teachers too. The WEP basketball league is always a great experience, only 1 game a week so it's not time consuming but the fun in playing much older and often much more experienced players is just great.

Other sports leagues the WEP offers: Soccer, Badminton, Squash and others.

Rainy January Exams

Wait what?! Rainy??

Yes, rain definitely isn't a word people would associate with countries like Saudi Arabia. But since I've been here I've experienced 3 downpours and a few other showers.


November 2009 was the very first downpour, through the whole night it thunderstormed, and having lived in HK for 12 years of my life,  this Saudi November thunderstorm, was actually one of the worse ones i've been through. Well, the next morning the entire campus was flooded, as there wasn't a drainage system in KAUST back then, water was knee high, and roofs literally collapsed. Luckily, there was no damage to my house, just a few leaks here and there. Sadly, there were deaths in Saudi Arabia due to this abnormally devastating thunderstorm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mhyww9Mdqs&feature=fvw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Jeddah_floods

The good news is, soon after KAUST realised the lack of drainage system on the roads and on the roofs of houses, they soon installed systems into our houses and onto the roads to prepare for the future.

Which brings us to: January. There was another thunderstorm this time not through the night, but started around 6pm and ended 11pm. It was evident the drainage systems were working because the roads on the Island (where I live) wasn't bad at all, but apparently on the other side of KAUST, the water posed problems to the functionality of the roads.

Most of the water on Island cleared up by the next morning, which coincidentally was the first day of Grade 11 and Grade 12 semester exams. I got up as usual, and biked on the surprisingly dry road to school. Turns out, the rain had cut the power to our school and school was cancelled, a dream come true for many of the students. :)