Since it was my birthday, I finally had good reason to stop and linger at the pastry counter at the market. Billy and the kids helped me pick out a selection of local pastries, most made with honey, pistachios, fried dough or a delicate combination. As I have the naughty but comforting habit of scrounging for a 9pm snack, you can imagine how excited I was as we ordered the sticky, sweet, nest-shaped pistachio filled tarts and chewy cheese pastry topped with fine sweetened strands of dough. We put a candle into one of the nesty things (see photo) and had a perfectly luscious birthday dessert.
Also this week we took the kids to Dreamland Aquapark, in an Emirate called Umm Al Quwain (two emirates from here). Since it is Ramadan, and most families are resting and praying during the day with shortened work schedules and store hours, this month is a particularly nice time to visit tourist venues, since they're mostly empty. It was about 103 degrees that day, so even Billy and I stayed in the water the entire time - we were there for five hours, and when they closed early, due to Ramadan, the kids were bummed that we couldn't make a second round to all of the attractions, slides, luges, lazy river, vortex dump ride, family raft, volcano pool, large covered 12-pooljacuzzi (not hot but cold) and wave pool. We've promised another trip when it gets a bit cooler.
At work today, I had a student ask an interesting question. Consider that the topic in our coursebook right now is culture shock and that her question actually fit into a much larger discussion. Also consider that this is one of the more fluent students in the class. First she told me she had a question but she did not want to bother me, and she was sorry if it was a question that didn't matter and then explained that she was shy about this question but that her classmates all were curious, (this extremely long and hedging intro made me nervous by the way) she said this: 'I hear that Americans are afraid of mid-east people and is that true and then why do you come here'? I was kind of waiting for this question from someone but I was still surprised when I got it. I took my time and first let the student know that she need not apologize for her question. I'd tell her if the question wasn't appropriate. Then I said that some Americans are afraid of mid-east people because of a history of terrorism that people associate with Islam, which brings to mind the Gulf Region. I continued to say that many more Americans are curious about the mid-east, and have more interest than fear regarding the region, more because I felt that this was a necessary answer, whether it was really true or not. I'd love any of y'all's thoughts on this, since I'm sure it's not the first time I'll get this. Looking forward to your comments.
6 comments:
You handled that question really well. You will go a long way towards mending some fences.
The upcoming election is crucial for international relations--time to start repairing our reputation and make ourselves safer by getting over this phase of isolationism and fear.
Yummy looking birthday treats!
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, dear Christina, Happy Birthday to you! Your birthday cakes look great. Wonderful pics. Love, Connie
I LOVE the pictures, and am so excited to read about your adventures. Happy Birthday Christina.
Michelle :) (IEC)
Christina: I thought your answer to the question was right on. If we could just get the media to concentrate on the bigger picture and stop focusing on negative information concerning the Arab world, all of us would be better off.
Al Hummdudalah
Wow that is a tough question. But sounds like you handled it well. I had an interesting conversation with someone here in columbus that I'll share with you on the phone some day...
I can answer only for myself, and would be intimidated attempting to answer on behalf of the rest of you. I am not afraid of Arab people in the abstract. I am not afraid of the individual Arabs I have met (or, for that matter, the Tehran-raised Azeri that is my newest co-worker).
But I understand why Americans in general get the impression that there is unrelenting hatred from the Arab world toward us. That's a lot to do with our own media's portrayal of Arabs and Muslims coupled with a dearth of voices from the Arab and Muslim communities working aggressively to counter that portrayal.
I understand why there would be a large amount of frustration on the part of many Arabs toward Americans, as representatives of our country. That's due to so many things, both recent and historical which suggest that America (as least as represented by the actions of our government) sees the interests of Arabs and Muslims as counter to the interests of the US.
So, given all that, I can also understand the question. I think I (had I made the choice to live there) would feel obligated to point out that the portrayals are never complete or accurate, simply because distilling the attitudes of hundreds of millions of people into a single statement is guaranteed to leave out the opinions of many people.
To the extent that it's possible to have that conversation with someone just learning English, it sounds like your answer is about as good as it gets, though.
Something you may have missed, though, since it would have received its recent, wide distribution after you moved, is the dissemination of a documentary called "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West". This was distributed to subscribers of (at least) the Daily Camera and the New York Times in Colorado (and apparently in other "battleground" states as well). This documentary was funded by (and donations were solicited for) The Clarion Fund (clarionfund.org). It's clearly intended to scare the pants off of you. It spends two hours quoting "experts" concerning the "threat of global jihad", and uses very carefully editted clips from Arab media (and media from other predominantly Muslim countries) to suggest that all Muslims really share this view of the West. Since, with enough money and time, I could create a similarly inflammatory documentary suggesting that all Christians share a desire to destroy the Muslim "infidels," I'd say that the voices of reason have their work cut out for them.
It's not clear to me from what you wrote whether you (or she) feels that you answered her question about why you went there, but maybe that's something worth addressing with the class, once you've gotten them to an adequate level of fluency.
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