Internationalism!

KAUST boasts a very diverse and international community, and rightly so.

Last week, the KAUST schools, (ECC, Elementary and Secondary) celebrated a week of internationalism. A variety of events were organised by the Student Council:

 - Initiation of the celebration with a lighting of a candle
 - A compilation movie of students welcoming everyone to their countries
 - International Desserts.
 - PARADE of the nations.

The highlight of the week was definitely the parade on the last day, where all 3 schools + parents + KAUST executives came and participated in this parade. 70+ large flags were set up and people were organised into the country they would like to represent, and marched down the road:

The internationalism represented was quite overwhelming, as people came to school dressed up in traditional clothing wearing large smiles as they got to hold their flags amidst such a diverse community. Certainly, a very large percentage of the population represents Saudi Arabia, but that can only expected and does not affect the bias of our international community:

Only a few of the flags.

The head of the Parade, with students and KAUST executives.

Saudi Arabia Representatives!

Classic Car Show?!?!

Yesterday I found that there was a Classic Car Show in Kaust.

Today, I went to this Classic Car Show. It was amazing.

I'm not a huge car guru, so to an amateur like me the cars on display were definitely pleasing to the eye. In addition to the spectacular display of classic cars the location of the show was at the Marina right at the KAUST pier which sounds a bit odd, but it worked. You get to breathe in the fresh air from the sea while you walk through the cars and occasionally get a glimpse of one of the yachts at the Marina, and when you get tired just walk to the middle of the show and sit down grab a drink with the music.

It really was quite an experience, and a strange one to have in a university... but hey KAUST is so much more than a university :) and I must add that the 'party lights' weren't exactly reflected well in my photos, check them out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55400677@N08/sets/72157626112665316/

SAIKAC

The secondary school here at KAUST is part of the Saudi Arabia Inter Kingdom Actiivites Conference (SAIKAC) which to me is definitely one of the most exciting aspects of the school.

SAIKAC is a conference of MANY schools around Saudi Arabia, it includes schools from Dammam, Dahran, Jeddah, Riyadh, Yanbu and more, and the activities offered by the SAIKAC conference is even more variegated. The activities range from, MUN to soccer to Coed Softball.

The KAUST Schools

I'm going to talk about Secondary School life here at KAUST in this post:

The Kaust Schools consists of 3 schools: kindergarten, primary and secondary. I'm an 11th grader in the secondary school and am part of the IB DP program, a universally recognised academic program, and an extremely rigorous one too.

The Secondary School goes from Grade 6 - 12, and holds around 180 students, which is really quite a small school. The number of students in each grade levels vastly differs, the largest is the 6th grade of around 30 students, and the smallest is the 12th grade, with 10 students. The 11th grade, which is the grade i'm in has approximately 25 students.

Regarding the population of the Student body, the vast majority of students are from a Arab Countries, and are Muslim, again the majority does differ between grades. In my grade, out of 12 boys I am the only non-arab boy which may seem quite 'shocking' for an international school, but really it's not something I even feel, I don't even feel like a 'minority'.

Oh, and I should also point out that within 1 school building, there are actually 2 schools being run at the same time, a Coed school and a girls school. The Girls schools consists of the more conservative Muslim students, most of them wear the abaya, hijab and the face mask and conversation between the boys in the Coed wing and the girls schools' students is very rare, but being part of the Student Council there are a few students I do communicate and work together with.

Academically, the Secondary School teaches the MYP course and then at 11th grade, there is an option of the IBDP or a KAUST diploma, which is essentially the same course as the IB but everything is internal.


I will talk more about the other aspects of my school in later posts.

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. :)

End of 2010

So, it's been exactly 2 months since I started this blog for my CAS project. Not a good start, but I guess this in a way demonstrates the rigorous demands of the IB curriculum, I haven't been slacking I've been preoccupied with a bunch of other work, and as with most curriculums, as it nears the end of term all the big tests and assignments come piling in.

Within these past 2 months there have been quite a few significant events that contribute to defining life in KAUST:

Dec 1st and 2nd - U19 Soccer
KAUST schools being part of the SAIKAC organistaion (Saudi Arabia Inter Kingdom Activities Conference) is expected to host an event every year. Last year it was U16 basketball, this year it was U19 Soccer.

Being part of the wider KAUST community, the U19 soccer tournament hosted here this year was lavish, with sponsors and even a kick-ball-into-car-to-win-prize section. It was really great to see such a number of students, parents and teachers attending the game and cheering on our team, a great demonstration of our the KAUST schools family is unifying.

December 16th - Master's degree graduates & Dec Bash.
There were two significant events on this day, the very first commencement ceremony at KAUST, where 292 students graduated and were awarded their Master's. http://www.kaust.edu.sa/media/features/commencement.html

The other event, the December 16th Bash was a much quieter and less significant to the wider population, but having taken part in it, I was truly affected by the altruism of the KAUST schools.

The December 16th Bash was a lunch where, teachers and a few Student Council Members brought food to share with every single member of the support staff that works in the 3 schools. We set up the tables and lay out the food and served turkey to our gracious support team.

I thought it was such a great day, as we really showed our appreciation to the support staff that works so hard and diligently to keep the schools spotless and organised.

Photos and MORE can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55400677@N08/sets/72157625802013082/



That's all for now, we're currently on winter break and resume school on the 7th.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!


photos coming soon.