....Take a plane to the U.S. But wait...I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning of the day.
Best laid plans aside, we woke when the sun was already streaming way above our heads, beating down upon our black robed bodies. We strode outside anyway, armed with our distinctive bags such that anyone who couldn't tell by the haphazard way our hijabs were cobbled to our heads (or tucked under our shoulder straps) could use to identify us as foreigners.
We set out to the Corniche. We had been thus far thwarted in our attempts to find an infamous fountain that supposedly could not be missed. Knowing that daylight would preclude this discovery, we instead ventured forth into the bespeckeled landscape of over 600 sculptures that had been installed along the Corniche during the 1970s. While others sought shade beneath their towering shapes, it sufficed for us to wander alongst the path, passing by non-Saudi fisherman and Saudi families out on the playground.We made our way to the mosque at our end of the Corniche,
which would soon be filled with men for Friday prayer. We instead opted for the Friday equivalent of Sunday brunch, at the soon to be frequented Teayana. It was the oasis we had been searching for after 45 minutes under the sun had left us pools of parched black robes. We nursed our fruit tea smoothies and then made our way back to our residence to practice our presentations for this coming week's workshop.We then loaded in to the van to head out to the Naseef House,
which was highly anticipated considering (spoiler alert for the quiz below) it was the residence of the women to first plant a tree in Jeddah and that women happens to be the sister in law of the Dean of the college at which we are working. As we got out admist the hustle and bustle of the old part of town, we had no idea the experience we were in for. We were greeted by our host and from the moment we were ushered in to the closed building by ourselves for a slide show, we knew we were in for a treat. After a brief introduction to the house built for one of the most prominent families, we 
strolled around the old neighborhood with its mix of immigrant families from worn torn regions of Africa to its garment shops closed for Friday prayer. We wound our way back to the Naseef House and proceeded up several flights of stairs, across the roof, and up into an enclosed roof sitting high above the surrounding buildings. As we sat down upon the carpets laid from wall to wall, our senses were soon overtaken by the evening call to prayer, which echoed out from loudspeakers on all sides. We sipped our tea and soon feasted on our best ever meal yet as were regalled by our host with entertaining stories about his days avoiding vampires and marriage in Oakland and erudite commentary about Obama's toughest challenges in the Middle East and the emerging status of women in the workplace. And then talk turned to our workshops. It was as we began to describe the VIPs that are to attend our workshop that the not so subtle advice to flee while we still could was issued. Somehow by the end of the evening, we were able to convince our host that we were indeed preped and ready to deliver. We sure hope so (inshallah)....
which was highly anticipated considering (spoiler alert for the quiz below) it was the residence of the women to first plant a tree in Jeddah and that women happens to be the sister in law of the Dean of the college at which we are working. As we got out admist the hustle and bustle of the old part of town, we had no idea the experience we were in for. We were greeted by our host and from the moment we were ushered in to the closed building by ourselves for a slide show, we knew we were in for a treat. After a brief introduction to the house built for one of the most prominent families, we 
strolled around the old neighborhood with its mix of immigrant families from worn torn regions of Africa to its garment shops closed for Friday prayer. We wound our way back to the Naseef House and proceeded up several flights of stairs, across the roof, and up into an enclosed roof sitting high above the surrounding buildings. As we sat down upon the carpets laid from wall to wall, our senses were soon overtaken by the evening call to prayer, which echoed out from loudspeakers on all sides. We sipped our tea and soon feasted on our best ever meal yet as were regalled by our host with entertaining stories about his days avoiding vampires and marriage in Oakland and erudite commentary about Obama's toughest challenges in the Middle East and the emerging status of women in the workplace. And then talk turned to our workshops. It was as we began to describe the VIPs that are to attend our workshop that the not so subtle advice to flee while we still could was issued. Somehow by the end of the evening, we were able to convince our host that we were indeed preped and ready to deliver. We sure hope so (inshallah).... 
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