Dirt World

Tuesday was a LONG day. First we had the Embassy visit, which we met for in the hotel lobby at 7:45. Bus did not show until around 9:00, we were finally seated in the embassy around 10:00 for our briefing. It is a little disconcerting when the windows have plaques next to them saying things like: Glass Kills. In case of an emergency stay away from all windows. Nice.

Though we had a nice little meeting, most of the staff had been sucked over to Jeddah to attend to Karen Hughes, Bush’s new appointee as Under-secretary of State for Public Diplomacy. See, she is supposed to do things overseas like improve the image of the United States. Kind of like what all us college reps are doing, by getting students to come over and check it out. Wonder if she knows we are here at the same time? Fulfilling her mission for her? Perhaps she’d like to come to the college fair and show her support? No? Instead she’ll disrupt all our well-laid plans with the embassy by making impromptu PR visits to posts. I guess she took her cue from Bush himself, who rerouted rescue resources from Katrina so that they could show up in the background of his PR appearances. Style over substance…

So ANYWAY, after the embassy we set up our booths for the fair at Al Yamamah College. This was the opening day of a three-day fair. We even had the new king’s brother come and speak. Yes, I did say in an earlier post that it was supposed to be the King, but he too was pulled away by the visit from Karen Hughes (I’m not bitter). Student-wise, it was all guys (girls cannot visit at the same time – day three is reserved for them). And all these guys were interested in was stuff my school does not offer. One even told me my school’s offerings were “bool-sheet.” I’m trying really hard to like the Saudis, but when I get home I think I’ll sell my car and walk everywhere just to deprive them of a few bucks.

After the fair I packed up, said goodbye to Mike, Joseph, and the other tour members, the cabbed to the airport for my flight to Mumbai. It did not leave until 2:30am. I was packed in to a very old jet with a gaggle of foreign workers. It sucked, big time. But I got there, checked into the hotel, napped, went to the organizational meeting, then pigged out with everyone at a local restaurant, Khyber. Dish after dish after dish – it was an incredible feast. Made the past 48 hours fade out (or maybe that was the Kingfisher). Back to work in the morning…