A Reason to be Depressed

I went nearly a month and a half without posting, and some of that was because I was in the US and had only limited internet usage. But the other thing was that I was depressed about a lot of things - I can chart my moods here in Al Ain almost exactly by the number of blog posts that I make per month.

Anyway, this comment at The Corner, the National Review's group blog, was the last thing that I tried to blog about before I gave up.

I really don't know what to say about this. It is so very frustrating when people do things like this, especially when it is out of ignorance. I emailed the author, who, evidence here not withstanding, is not a hateful or stupid person, to explain that this was not a reason to be depressed at all, but happy and hopeful. Just look at how Mrs. Bush's trip was covered in the Gulf News, with three articles, all very positive.

Understanding starts with context. One of the first things that I noticed when I came here was that I had a hard time interpreting behavior sometimes. The example that always stands out to me was my first shopping trip to Carrefour. I had only been here a few days and had not met many people outside of the hotel. An Arab kid (about 10 or so) rammed the cart he was pushing into the back of my legs. When I turned around, he and his father were just staring at me blankly. Back home, I would have expected an apology. So I was confused. Was was being slammed into like this just normal behavior that everyone expected and so did not apologize for, or were these two being jerks? In the US, I would have known. Here, I had no cultural context to put the incident into.

Of course, I have also met Ms. Lopez's counterparts here too. I once had a conversation with a co-worker in which I tried (and I'm pretty sure failed) to convince him that there are millions of Americans that dislike the worst excesses of Western culture. He could not believe it. He told me that he might believe that there are a few thousand, but not millions. It was like trying to convince an Islamophobe that most Muslims hate terrorism. And like them, he had no first hand experience with what he was talking about. He had formed his opinion based solely on what he had seen in the media.

Cultural Center

So it looks like Al Ain will be getting more cosmopolitan:

Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage announces the establishment of Art Centre, Music Hall and Data Centre in Al Ain.

H.E. [Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage] mentioned that Al Ain will witness the launching of Art Centre that comprises art workshop, studios for artists, a hall for teaching Arabic calligraphy, photography and exhibitions halls for both professional and amateur artists.

He said that all members of the community will be active and influential in the cultural scene. Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage will provide the appropriate premises to host cultural activities and logistic support to make a crucial change in the intellectual scene in Al Ain.

H.E. revealed also the plans of establishing a Music Hall in the Cultural Compound which will be launched in Al Quatara Oasis. This comes in the framework of reviving the cultural tourist role of Al Ain. The traditional handicrafts market will be renovated...

No mention of a possible public library though.

Coffee

One of my great regrets about living here is that I don't like the taste of coffee or dates, since coffee and dates are the two most prominent symbols of Gulf hospitality. I always feel like I'm insulting Emiratis if I turn them down, since they are so justly proud of their hospitality. I occasionally try a small cup anyway out of courtesy. I especially like the the ceremony involved and love to watch my Emirati co-workers.

If you don't know, the coffee is served in very small cups (فنجان [funjan]). If you want more you hold your cup out to be refilled. When you have had enough, you gently shake the cup.

Today we had a lunch at work, and coffee was served before (and after), so I tried a cup and talked with my co-workers about it. One told me that each cup has a meaning: the first cup is for hospitality, the second is for your well-being, and so on. Also, that when you visit someone to ask for a favor, you don't drink that person's coffee until he has agreed that he can help you.

They also told me a very funny story about what happens if you don't understand the ceremony. Siad Barre, the Somali head of state, came to visit Abu Dhabi, and was of course served coffee. He drank the first cup and held it out to the servant so that it could be taken away. The servant instead refilled it, which is what that motion indicates. So Barre drank that one and again held the cup out, trying to get rid of it. Again it was refilled and emptied and held out. And again. And again. Finally Barre just took the cup and stuck it in his pocket, the the great amusement of his hosts.

Similarities

As a counterpoint to my post about differences, here are some similarities about people here and home:

• People are friendly individually, but get them in groups or behind the wheel of a car, and it suddenly because every man for himself.


• In-laws, especially mother-in-laws, can be problematic.


• Mothers worry (excessively) about their adult children.

Schemes

One of the things that is so fascinating about living here is the wide range of nationalities and cultures. So I have lots of exposure to non-American English speakers, most of whom are either British, from former British colonies of a more recent vintage than America, or influenced by British English speakers. This leads to some confusion and amusement when words don't always mean what I think that they do or more likely just seem old-fashioned or funny. Like seeing pants called "trousers" (trousers just sounds hilarious and old fashioned to me), or lines "queues". You don't get food "to go", you get it to "take away".

The one that always strikes me as the funniest is "scheme". To me, and I would guess most Americans, the word scheme has negative connotations. A plan to steal money would be described as a scheme. A villian in a James Bond movie has a scheme to take over the world. But almost everyone here uses it in the neutral sense of "plan" or "design" though, so I hear or read things that just strike me as hilarious. For example:

Kid Jockey Scheme on Schedule.

Group Medical Insurance Scheme. This is the insurance plan for university employees, but it makes me nervous to hear it described as a scheme.

JK Consultants unveils investment scheme. Makes me want to sign up.

Bank-funded scheme for tsunami victims.

[Added later] Feel free to participate in the British/American English discussion in the comments. As Shaw said "England and America are two countries separated by a common language."

Censoring Profanity on TV

I had been warned before I came that a lot of things are censored here, so I haven't been shocked by anything that has been cut out of things for the most part. But the other night I was watching Independence Day on the TV here (I hope that Ben and Henry can forgive me), and I noticed something strange: they let a lot of words go out that in America would have been bleeped (e.g a**hole), but then they muted "son of a bitch". I understand that different cultures have different standards of what is a profanity (for example, in America 'fanny' is a fairly polite term for a butt, but not in England, where it means something else), and that Arabs in general dislike dogs (because they are unclean). But still, this struck me as really strange.