Ma as-salaamah - that means good-bye

Ah, my students are constantly entertaining me. I got after them at the end of class as we were discussing final topics for their speeches. Quite commonly they speak to one another in Arabic, which has never bothered me at all knowing sometimes it's just easier not to have to translate to English. Today, however, they were being excpetionally ornery, and were conversing quite a bit in their native tongue, and not mine. This led to me giving them a hard time about talking behind my back. Only a few were brave enough to ask why I didn't learn Arabic while I was in Kuwait? Good question, my friends, good question. I guess I would have been open to taking a short-course in the language had it been offered. I apologized to them for not knowing their language and praised them for not only learning English, but allowing themselves to be challenged by being taught in a second language. Again, it's a constant reminder to me on how ethnocentric we can be as Americans and how much attempting to learn or speak another's language goes a long way. Thus, I told them they were required to teach me a new word every day until the end of class (only 3 more days). I definitely think I will ask that, too, of my new students in the next term.

A Trip to the Mall

Not much to report from the weekend, other than a trip to The Avenues Mall (http://www.the-avenues.com/home.html). I know, most of your are probably thinking, a mall? What you might not know is that the mall, in Kuwait, is the ultimate social hot spot and gathering for young, especially our students. It's too hot to do anything outdoors and the are segregated in most other situations, so a mall allows them to feed their retail habit and mingle with others. Consequently, most of our students have been asking and pestering us to go and visit this famed Kuwaiti mall. It boasts as the largest mall in Kuwait and let's be honest, a mall with IKEA is going to be B-I-G. And it was. We managed to spend about 3.5 to 4 hours meandering through crazy-expensive stores and even some American fare, too. Forever 21, Express, Lacoste, H&M, Longchamp, Carolina Herrera, Versace, and many more.

I was shocked (and disappointed) to see that the GAP prices were twice that of what they might be back in the U.S. I wonder if they would accept the Sally Bush or friends and family discount? No worries, though. We didn't need to purchase anything but a snack and a cup of coffee to make our trip complete to the mall. Oh, but I did go ahead and buy my first souvenir. . . a Kuwait Starbucks mug.

A view of one of the numerous Starbucks in Avenues.

Crazy Cab Scare

While our time in the mall was pretty tame, it was a different story on departure. Upon leaving the mall we were able to locate a cab driver before even getting to the street. We gladly followed him to his car and piled in. As we were backing up I turned to see (and hear) a teenage boy pounding on the trunk of the car and yelling loudly in Arabic. Apparently he did not wish to let us back up before continuing on to his car in the parking lot. Our driver proceeded to roll down the passenger window (Cory's window) to yell at the "punk" kid. They started a heated angry exchange in Arabic. Next thing we know the kid is coming over to the driver's side and our driver gets out of the car. They start fighting, pushing, and choking one another. Not a pretty sight. Meanwhile, I notice the car is rolling (not in park) and we decide to make a quick exit. Unfortunately I was a bit panicked knowing that they were fighting right outside my door. Luckily, my ever logical friends encouraged me to climb across the back seat and leave through the other door. We took off quickly trying to get away from the scene. Our hearts pounding and nerves rattled we quickly found a new cab and made it safely home.

I must say that I've never witnessed a physical fight like that between two men. Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think that would happen on a regular day outside of Oak Park Mall. My impression was that the kid was a total, entitled punk who didn't think he should have to wait on us before getting to his car. On the other hand, the driver (being a grown-up and all) should have ignored the punk and maybe he would have gotten his cab fare from us. I can make a lot of judgments and assumptions, but either way, it was a messed up situation we go ourselves into.

An Unconventional Pride and Prejudice

Thankfully, I have my roommate Emily to share in many of my Kuwaiti experiences and reflections. I must give her credit in this case. It was a typical Sunday night as we got home from class, made our dinners, and settled down to watch some random, off-beat American movie. One particulary caught our eye as a modern-day version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. With both Emily and I being fans of the Keira Knightly version, we knew we had to see it. (And, Oprah wasn't going to be on for at least an hour!)

We could quickly tell that this was indeed, a modern version, with its own conservative twist. All female characters were focused on getting married (not too different from the original), the attire was all too completely covering for a modern film, and one scene even featured all of the characters going to church. Hmmmm. . .something wasn't right! We began to ponder if it was not a "special" movie made for a particular set of morals. Thank goodness a quick Google search led us to our conclusion. This particular movie was its own creation of a Latter-Day Comedy, as in Latter-Day Saints. I had no idea the Mormon religion had its own movies! How fascinating! No judgement here, just pure entertainment. Here's the link to the movie's website: http://www.prideprejudice.com/.

The best was Emily's analysis, referring back to one of my earlier posts, she noted that this version of the movie was like the Saudi Arabian Oreo. So close, yet not quite. I think we might be using this similie for many other descriptions of Kuwait in the future.

Class Notes

This is the last week of class for my all-male class of public speaking. I'm glad to be wrapping up the material, but sad to leave the comfort and familiarity of the class. I was telling Andy over the weekend about my teaching and students. I shared with him how I cannot help but draw from my experience in agriculture as I share examples and testimony of my own as part of the content. Let's face it, U.S. politics, fancy cars, and soccer will only get me so far.

Just this Sunday in class I was able to draw from a recent Oprah episode I saw over the weekend on the dangers of smoking. Dr. Oz was at his finest scaring the viewers into the toxins and repricussions of smoking. I was thrilled to be able to draw from this episode as I began to lecture on persuasive speaking. As you may not know, smoking is QUITE COMMON here in Kuwait. (Maybe even more so than in Virginia.) About half of my class admitted to smoking. Consequently, my knowledge from Oprah and Dr. Oz made great fodder for the conversation with my students.

Now, back to Andy and I's conversation. I explained to him that I use examples from my own students at Virginia Tech and try to relate to them as much as possible while trying to teach them new things from U.S. culture. For instance, one day a question was, "What is a dandelion?" and today it was "What is a puppy mill?". (They read from an American textbook that uses a variety of examples, some of which they totally have no comprehension of.) In my teaching experience, I find that I routinely draw from what I know best, and that is agriculture. Talk about a foreign concept to these boys. They are an Agriculture in the Classroom program's dream audience. Always open to learning, I honestly believe they enjoy my examples from my childhood, giving project talks at 4-H, and talking about the specifics of where food comes from and how it is made. Andy has justifiably dubbed me as a, "Global Extension Agent". I will wear that title with pride, my friend. Thanks for the honor.

Dress Code

I get a lot of questions from friends and family about attire here in Kuwait. It's common to see quite a mix here on campus, but for the most part I would say at least 80% of the students I see dress in "Western" attire. No, this does not mean Wranglers and belt buckles, but rather European/U.S. modern clothes that come from large retailers (see section above on shopping in Kuwait). However, across the campus listserv came a rather interesting message regarding the dress code at school. I found it humous for a couple of reasons. First, I was thinking of how such a message would be interpreted at Virginia Tech or at an institution at home. Second, I found the wording of the message to be quite candid and straightforward, unlike any message I've ever received from administration. Here is a sample of the message. Enjoy!

*Note "wolf pack" is the school mascot*

"Good morning Wolf Pack,

It is SUMMER and I need to share some things about the dress code. Ladies, it hits us much harder than the men. Not fair but that is the way of life. Abiding by the values and traditions is also very, very subjective. No two values are exactly the same. Values are developed from background, experiences, influences, etc. As a community of learners, we must respect one another’s freedom and one’s right to interpretation. As a community of learners, we know and understand there are boundaries.

For *the campus* world, I am going to provide some dress code boundaries to keep the drama to a minimum. The campus fashion police (those on campus tasked with pulling you to the side to talk about your outfit of the day) blow their whistle for those who are blatantly over the edge. Students have not been hired to be fashion police! However, we still have rules and you wanted me to give examples. So here goes…

1. No offensive pictures or writing on your t-shirts. Mind you FCUK cuts it really close. That is about as edgy as one should get! When you wear the t-shirts that have explicit sexual references; that is unacceptable.

2. Guys, if you wear short-shorts, that in and of itself is a violation. Please don’t hurt our eyes!

3. Ladies you are wearing low-rise jeans, we do not need to see the G-string (as attractive as it may be in your opinion). This means your t-shirt or blouse must be a bit longer.

4. Guys, when you wear jeans and your Calvin’s are showing, that is unacceptable. Pull ‘em up and get a belt!

5. When you wear those cutie shorts, minis, etc. you must put on leggings. It may be HOT as the dickens and you may have fantastic legs but…

6. If you have on a shrift and when you bend over, your goodies can be seen, that is not good! Get a longer shrift (won’t be as fashionable but get a longer one or wear leggings!)

7. If your blouse is cut so low that the “girls” are noticed before your beautiful smile, it will make others frown!

8. Sleeves! Not sleeveless; tanks must have an over-shirt. Guys this goes for you too. Don’t want your pecks peeking!

The bottom line is to be modest as you define modesty. You know what your conscious (and your parents) would say about your attire. I have asked Campus Security to stop you at the gate if your dress is deemed inappropriate. If you are stopped at the gate, don’t argue or fight. Just go change your clothes!

Have a well-dressed Wolf Pack day!"

There you have it. The most recent take on campus dress code. I wonder how this might go over back at home?

Another post might come at the end of this week, but chances are I'll run out of time or experience nothing noteworthy. Cory and I are headed to Jordan and Egypt on Friday for a week in between our two 4-week blocks of teaching class. The rest of our crew will meet up with us in Amman, Jordan later for some adventures in Petra, Dead Sea, etc. So, it should definitely be a post worth looking forward to!