Charlie--Thanks for the great questions! (At least I think this is Charlie...if not, who is this :-))

Had I considered going "Lawrence in Arabia Style" in the traditional garb?

I really was interested in wearing the thobe and bhutra. However, it can be considered disrespectful, so our group is not wearing them. The women in our group must wear the abaya to follow the laws, which are rooted in hundreds of years of tradition and Islam, some Saudi men find it disrespectful or distasteful for foreign men to wear the national dress.

Define culture trunk

Cutlure trunk--Collection of artifacts--art, music, dolls, food, advertisements, currency, hand crafts, metals, etc.--coompiled in a container to be used for providing a hands-on approach to Saudi culture (picture below--pringles, books, games, currency, Pepsi--a few of the items she had in her culture trunk)

New Friends!

I have been making connections with a lot of interesting teachers (whose names I am still learning!) I am posed here with a few mannequins dressed in the traditional abaya (women's clothing) and thobe (men's). I look forward to shopping in the souqs (markets) and creating culture trunks, which we learned how to make thanks to a program alumni.

Today was spent at Aramco's headquarters in Houston. Aramco is associated with Saudi National Oil, and the sponsor of our trip. We learned some valuable statistics, including that they facilitate the import of 4 million barrels of crude to the US a month! Since 1975, the company has trained five thousand Saudi workers here in the US. We were privileged to meet numerous members of their staff, who were very helpful and excited to send us on.