Blog respite

Due to a more intense period at work, having been drafted to teach one week of a course in HIT on short notice, the blog has been AWOL. Although I've  been teaching for 30+ years, I still had some anxiety about facing a class of Saudi adult learners most of whom are employed in the King Abdulaziz Medical Center. I have always tried to leaven my lectures with humor and would characterize my style (on my best days) as focused, intense but participatory, and somewhat free-wheeling (not always following my own script to follow an interesting digression). So I was not at all confident that this unorthodox approach would work in the Saudi context.   Although I was pleased with the level of interaction and student responsiveness, you would need to ask the students whether it worked for them...

Last weekend I had been invited to the home of a faculty colleague for lunch. Although in a different context this would be welcome and require little preparation, the fact that this would be my first immersion into the Saudi home, a venue that has an almost sacred aura, put me in a state of mid-level alert. The first challenge would be to decide upon an appropriate gift and upon the advice of my closest colleague, a young hip Muslim Canadian, went bearing chocolates...

The key to expat survival in Riyadh is to identify and bond with a limo (taxi) driver who speaks English, is totally dependable and asks a fair price and for whom you develop a possessive attachment. Have arranged for a round trip with my driver, Abdul, a really good and perceptive guy from Pakistsan who has taught me much about Riyadh and Saudi culture, I was ready. My host greeted me as the limo approached his villa - the private homes are almost always behind walls and grouped in compounds, condominium style - and insisted on paying Abdul for the round trip over my protests.

Having entered his home Dr. Shakir welcomed me to sit with him in the living room which reminded me strangely of my maternal grandparent's "sitting room" for guests adjacent to their larger living room.He offered Saudi coffee - which of course I accepted graciously but of which I'm not a great fan (strong earthy tea pretending to be real coffee!) and mahmoul, a date filled pastry. Then Shakir invited his two elementary school children, to sit with us while we talked. The daughter, a 4th grader, proudly showed me her English lit reader, and her father informed me that she was an excellent student who aspired to be a physician. His 2nd grade son was likely more interested in football, i.e., soccer, than his studies but both identified electronic games as their favorite recreation - which they are only allowed to pursue on the weekends. The children were exceptionally well-behaved and patient, a reflection of course of parental training and cultural values. So I spent a very pleasant  hour of family time, however, with one important member of the family missing.

Shakir then invited me into the dining room for a very full lunch, a rich bean soup, chicken with rice as the main course, cucumber and tomato salad, tabouli, and wonderful puffs filled with cheese, chicken or spinach (the name eludes me, but I was given a platter to go!). This was by far the best meal I've had since arriving in the Kingdom as it's hard to beat "home cooking"! The children joined us with their separate menu of chicken fingers and fries but their mother not in sight.

After lunch, Shakir and I returned to the living room to discuss a text book on leadership in the Middle East context that he wants us to develop collaboratively, an exciting prospect. After a round of mint tea and cookies, it was time to leave. Although I caught a glimpse of a woman from behind the dining room door that was left ajar, who I assume was Shakir's wife, we were never introduced nor was she mentioned directly in conversation.

This is the one aspect of Saudi culture that I find most perplexing and difficult to accept. I am a regular reader of the Arab News, the English language edition, which to my surprise often has articles about discrimination of Saudi women in the workplace and editorials supporting women's employment rights and occasionally addressing the debate over the prohibition on women's driving. However, change comes slowly in SA to say the least So I expect that achieving greater gender equality, if it happens at all, will not occur until the current generation of the ruling family passes.

The underlying theme of this vignette, however, was the warm hospitality and graciousness of my host and his family and my experiencing a sense of familiarity with the domestic scene - with the one notable exception... The Saudi people I have met almost without exception have been warm, gracious and generous. However, I also have my eyes open, realizing that in some quarters there is active resentment toward the Western expat community, and perhaps US citizens especially. What is clear is that in my College, US faculty, curricular models and expertise in research are highly prized commodities.

Enough for now, but I plan to be more diligent with my Blog continuity in the future, inshah-allah!

Wes