ANDREW BLISS

Now, we're in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I'm attending Riyadh International School from about grades 2-4. I was knee deep into tetherball, the chess club, the Garbage Pail Kids, Powell and Peralta skateboards with german ball bearings and liquid sticks, Airwalks, horror movies, kung fu, the cub scouts (Troop 007!), and our Atari 800XL computer. My best friend was Wadi from Lebanon. In school, we took field trips out to desert forts where we learned a bit about Arab history. We made little computer games and designed stuff on the school Apple IIGS. We even won a best-of award for a skateboard we designed, and the school made shirts for us!... We were outsiders making community with each other. We craved our own culture from America, but we loved celebrating and living outside of it. Coca Cola, Pork, and American movies (uncensored by the Saudi Government) were the black market. At one point, we hosted our own neighborhood movie rental service. We amassed hundreds of VHS and laserdisc movies..