Can you identify: Minnesota vs. KSA?

Both of these photos were taken within the last 24 hours. One was taken in Minnesota and the other was taken on my way to work this morning in Saudi Arabia. Can you tell which photo goes to which place?

OK, that might not have been the hardest quiz question. While it's been snowing and below freezing in Minnesota, it's been 100 degrees F. (38 C.) here in Dhahran. I think I left at the right time!

This is looking like it's going to be quite a short trip. Since the plan is for me to leave a week from tomorrow, I will only have one weekend, which is this Thursday and Friday. A bunch of us are planning an excursion on Thursday with Hal, an Aramco person. Hal wants to take us to a camel market. So please place your orders now. In case you didn't know, Saudi only have one-hump camels, so that's not an option. Still, you can choose male or female, young or old, Republican or Democrat (no wait, that's just for donkeys and elephants. I get confused.).

The last two days have been work, work, work which is good because that's why they pay us, but boring, boring, boring in terms of blog entries. So the major excitement was Stir Fry night at the Dining Hall. You select a bowl of chicken, beef, or shrimp (or as they say "shrimps") and then fill a bowl with assorted veggies like onions, carrots, shredded cabbage, green peppers, bean sprouts, etc. You need to make sure it's so full that it spills on the floor on the way over to the grill place. They then grill it and add either rice or spaghetti. The spaghetti is called "noodles" but it's really spaghetti. I didn't spend all that time at the Olive Garden and not know the difference between spaghetti and Asian noodles. Anyway, it's grilled and they add "special sauces" along with ginger and garlic. It gets dumped on a plate the size of North Dakota. It's quite good actually.

So there you have it.

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Part of trip: Saudi Arabia - October 2009

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