
Saturday, December 1, 2007
FRIENDS AND KINDNESS

Thursday, November 29, 2007
The Souk and Refreshing Genuineness





Response to Ben
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Rose Colored Glasses?
First some quotes and maybe a little explanation:
One high school boy, Mohammed “I could not live without Aramco” – stated in regards to dating girls. At a visit to a private school where boys and girls are separated a teacher asked how teenagers date or meet women. No students or adults were willing to answer the question. However, Mohammed did tell a fellow teacher that Aramco sets things up and that Facebook is popular. Furthermore, those living on the compound of Aramco get to experience a more open society.
“They say women don’t have any opportunity, but I have an opportunity hear.” This female college student was responding to the popular western perception that women do not have opportunities in Saudi Arabia. The students at Effat College were very adamant in stressing that they have rights and are not oppressed as the western media often reports.
“We are not terrorists. We are not deprived women. We are not deprived men. We need to teach to unite everyone for a better world.” Another woman from Effat College.
“Women have a voice and we are doing something about it” Student from Effat College
“It is not a clash of cultures, but getting the best from both.” Female from Effat College talking about how Saudi Arabia does not have to become like the West and can still modernize. Contrary to pundits who say that we are presently going through a clash of civilizations between the Western Christian world and the Muslim African and Asian world. This woman had lived in the U.S. for 13 years.
“We do and we do not have freedom.” Editor in Chief of the Saudi Gazette commenting on freedom of the press in Saudi Arabia, citing threats from McDonald’s to pull their advertising if the newspaper ran a critical story of the chain’s environmental record. The Editor in chief also said that the government said to tread carefully in reference to the recent events in Pakistan out of fear of inciting the Saudi Arabia’s Pakistani community.
“We will not cover certain things with Islam.” The editor in chief explained that this is largely self censorship and self regulatory.
It was also explained that when a TV and/or video camera crew go out to film they are supposed to have someone from the Ministry of Information and Culture accompanies them to make sure no one harasses them and also to report back on what they did.
The Saudi Arabia government partnered with MIT, rejecting Google’s offer, to restrict internet access to sights the government did not want Saudis to access
At an art gallery a women explained that before any artists exhibited their work the Ministry of Information and Culture must approve it. There is no nudity allowed which would mean showings of many of the Renaissance and Classical works would be prohibited. Why would the government do this?
“You will find magazines with pages ripped out.” An employee at the newspaper explained that certain things would be ripped out as deemed necessary.
I must get some sleep but let explain a few things. There is certainly a great rapid change taking place in Saudi Arabia. Women are getting more rights. The media is discussing more issues.
From my experiences the Saudis feel that they are misunderstood by Americans. The women we have interacted with are eager to assert themselves. More individuals have openly expressed the countries problems. Overall the people have been amazingly kind and generous. The hospitality is unbelievable.
However, ever the skeptic, are we being duped? It feels like we are solely associating with the filthy rich and powerful. What about the majority of Saudis? What about the poor? What about the 25% of Saudis who immigrated to this country?
Could it be that we are drowning in oil. Aramco is putting us up in 5 star hotels and feeding us in the finest restaurants. Oil money, kindness and a desire to break down barriers.
Regardless of any motivations I am coming to better understand, I think, at least some of the ideas of Saudi Arabia. Above all I hope from my experience I will be able to show that people are people, most countries have the same social problems, and overall that we all want to live peacefully. But as I always come back to, if we all want peace then why have we as humans, been killing one another with furious anger.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Where to begin




- Not all abayas are the same - women design them and they have a variety of styles
- Many, if not most (in the areas we have been), do not cover their face
- They are a tradition and I almost equate it to a certain style, they come with different designs similar to how western cloths come in different designs. Think about all the people walking around Spaulding, everyone practically wears the same clothes, What is the difference? Explain your thoughts.
- One young women thought that the abayas empowered girls to focus on the inner self rather than being overly concerned with their outward beauty - Although I am not a women, I believe western girls and women and overly obsessed with physical appearance and that western society places great emphasis on how women physically look. The abaya however, forces people to listen to what a women is rather than simply judging on physical appearance. This is not to say Arabs do not judge, I think everyone judges.
I must get ready for my day but I will try to write more later and address some of the questions and comments. Thank you Shelby for your thoughtful ideas.
Beautiful Jeddah



Monday, November 26, 2007
In Reponse to Your Posts
Also refer to some of the other posts regarding stereotypes and what Michael Eaton and Ben said about one of the Saudi student's comments to my question. Who foments some of the stereotypes? If we are all basically people and that is that then why cannot we reach agreements without blowing up babies and killing thousands and thousands of people?
This relates exactly what you are doing in class.
P.S. I have escaped the compound and am really living large with a water view -Jeddah is cosmopolitan and the gateway city to Mecca
See if you can find any info on the women was raped and the punishments.
Ben - it is sharia law which is based on the Koran but different groups interpret it differently
How do different groups interpret the Koran and Sharia Law
Arabian Nights
Signed, Sealed and Delivered
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Photos, and honestly Aramco is an Amazing Entity, and few links




These are just a few photos of some of the female students, me with some administrators and the group with whom I am travelling
Tomorrow night we head to the other coast on the Red Sea. I may not have time to post anything tomorrow. Jeddah should be very different for a variety of reasons. It is close to Mecca and supposedly a liberal city, I am not sure by which standards, but certainly by Saudi standards. Furthermore, I will no longer by enclosed in a compound.
In response to comment made earlier. Aramco certainly does take all sorts of efforts to care for its employees and attract the best and the brightest from around the world. The compound is incredible in its diversity of ethnicities and the amazing facilities available. They provide so much for those who work for the company. I would be interesting in knowing how other Saudis (not employed by Aramco) view the company. I have also attached a couple links to some other teachers that are blogging. They provide some info that I am certainly neglecting. I am using this similar to a journal and if you would like to comment on my blog about some of the other blogs then please go for it. Enjoy returning to school and enjoy Gandhi.
What do you need for a quality life and happiness?



In the classroom I sat in on a global issues class and the teacher (who was from Texas but moved to Saudi Arabia because of his religion) proposed the question. "What do you need for a quality life and happiness?" Here are the student responses:
education, good place to live, stop the war, public facilities, food, television, transportation, social life, clothes, video games, good grades, friends, personal transportation, high income, getting married, getting sleep, protection, strong economy, no poverty for oneself, family, positively affecting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, health care.
What do you need for a quality life and happiness? Although people in different cultures and different parts of the world may act differently, look different, speak different, etc., how different are we? At the core are we all basically the same? Would a group of 15 year olds in Barre, Vermont agree with many of things above or come up with the same list? If so, then why is there so much conflict? Why is the tension so high between Arabs and Westerners?
The school has nearly 1200 students and is k-12. The students were exceptionally helpful, polite and thoughtful. All of the students who guided us around, about 30 students in grades 9 or 12, planned to attend college outside of the United States. Basketball and soccer are the most popular sports.
Today we also went to the College Preparatory Center. This is a one year program for students after they graduate high school to prepare them to attend universities in the U.S., U.K., or Canada. At the boys school about 10,000 students apply and about 350 students get in. All tuition, books, room and food are paid for plus students get $700 spending money per month. Most of the students have studied and/or lived outside of Saudi Arabia at some point in their lives. And all the students seem to focus on some kind of engineering, science, math or business to apply to the oil industry. The boys must sign a contract that they will not marry while overseas and if they do they must get permission from the King to bring their wife back to Saudi Arabia.
The girls campus is only in its second year. There are about 90 girls in the school and about 800 apply. Many of the girls are studying science, engineering and human resources. This is a huge change for Saudi society.
I have Omar and Sultan's email addresses and plan on emailing them with your questions so if you want to contact me I would be happy to ask them. At the end of my time with them I gave them a photo book of Vermont and they were rather excited. Sultan said he was not going to give it to the library because it would just get torn up. I hope all is well with everyone and keep asking questions.
Some Responses to Ben, Zach and Trevor
I asked, "What are your perceptions and thoughts on Americans and the American government?"
One of the administrators responded suggestively, "Should we just focus on the American people?"
I said, "No, we can also talk about the government."
One student responded by explaining that he thought American people are nice and he has American friends and that they see him as an individual and that we are all people. That is a comment I have heard several times. We are all people. Not one person had anything to say about the government.
I am not sure if individuals can make negative comments about the King. I think what I find disturbing in that regard is that even if it was not technically illegal, there is such an enormous amount of pressure to agree. Similar to the women having to be covered. It may not necessarily be a law but a women wouldn't go out without one.
And no, they did not show snakes on the plane.
Keep the questions and response coming. Thank you Ben, Zach and Trevor, you do not know how excited and happy I was to see your posts. Sorry about the delay. To expedite the process I would suggest posting AND emailing me the post at mstuart42@hotmail.com .
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Thank You, Thank You Thank You
Quit Judging
Now on to the one Saudi with whom I have gotten to ask a variety of questions. Tariq. Again, he has been kind, warm and helpful and I am thankful that he is willing to share his thoughts with me. Here are a few of his comments today.
- When we were at a small museum today he looked at a world map and said that Mecca is the center of the world. I believe he was referring to when all the present day land forms were together as one millions of years ago.
- He said that when the first man landed on the moon he heard prayers for Allah and has consequently converted to Islam
- When discussing women and work, a fellow teacher said that in the U.S. some men stay at home and the wife goes out to work and Tariq's reply was that they are not men.
(there were a few mistakes that I corrected and I provided a link to an article concerning the women who was punished for being out without a relative)
Lets Talk About Oil
The Invasion of the Aramcans
Friday, November 23, 2007
Boys, Fish and Talel
From Compound to Compound
This is an Aramco trip in an Aramco town, allah willing. After 7 hours of coma(esqe) sleeping we blasted off in our bus, no security in sight mind you, and left the fortified Dhahran Compound and made it safely to the Ras Tanura Compound. The one hour passage allowed us to get a quick glimpse of the surrounding area. Lots of sand, new construction and some oil or water pipes.
First the compounds. Aramco has guarded compounds for all of its employees to live. The housing is free as well as a plethora of other amenities within the compound. The Dhahran Compound, the which in presently staying, has over 50 nationalities. The compounds are for all Aramco employees, including Saudis. I am not sure of the different populations but the one we travelled to today had about 7000 inhabitants. The compounds are green and, from first impressions, appear to artificial Pleasantivilles where Aramco can do no wrong. As Talel, a recent college graduate and Aramco employee, proudly explained to me today "Aramco is like a government within a government" and that is why everyone wants to work there.
Our sole destination today was the Ras Tanura Compound where we (don't get mad administrators, parents, et. al.) relaxed in the Arabian Sea, a.k.a. Persian Gulf. The weekend in Saudi Arabia is Thursday and Friday, Friday being the day of prayer and attending the mosque, therefore we were not able to get our official start to the program until tomorrow. As you can tell from the photos aircraft carriers and oil tankers jockied for position on the water. It was certainly a small resort area and if Aramco employees wanted to come here for the weekend, well, that's a fringe benefit. I floated in the heavily salted sea and tossed the Frisbee. The water was warm and sand smooth. Off to the side you could see flames from oil refinery chimney. It was like driving down the New Jersey Turnpike, except not. Women completely covered in black abayas lounged on the beach and went swimming, in full abayas. They even bowled in the compound bowling alley in full abaya. I am not supposed to take photos of them but I will try to give you a sense.I have almost gotten used to it. Men were dresses in causal western dress, shorts and t-shirt, while others sprung out their throbes. The beautiful white linens they were, some with the head piece and others without. I truly cannot wait to get my own throbe.
I had the opportunity to speak with Tariq, our guide, and Talel today. Tariq has 5 children with another due in February, hopefully a male. He would like to have 12 children because he enjoys little children so much. He explained how people often have the wrong impression of Saudis. In regards to his previous comments on Saudi Arabia being a free country, I suppose anyone who loves their country thinks it is free. "Free" is a positive word, "oppression" is negative. Well Tariq qualified his statements today saying that "freedom should be limited." He sounds a little like all you guys in my classes, "We are free, but freedom should be limited". Because of my absolutist ways I have a tough time grasping those 2 seemingly contradictory statements. If any students are out there and are interested in responded, you do not know how thrilled I would be. I digress.
Who is Tarik? Well he is public relations employee for Aramco guiding a group of American teachers around in an effort for Americans to have a better understanding and appreciation for Saudi Arabia and of course Aramco. It is easy for me and for anyone else too judge based on our own form of thinking. As I am trying to constantly remind myself, avoid judgement and try to understand and think. Tarik is a kind, extroverted man who dearly seems to love his country as many of you love your own country.
Tarik On Women.
- Westerners say that there isn't equality here because women cannot drive. Well, women are actually treated like princesses. They have a driver take them around. What would you rather have?
- No women work at some oil refineries. Women may want equality but then you have to have equality on all fronts and some things require muscle. Women wouldn't be able to survive and wouldn't want to stay at some of the refineries.
- (Recently the Associated Press and other major western media outlets discussed a story where a Saudi women received lashings and a punishment after she was gang raped. She received a lashing because she was out accompanied by someone other than a relative or husband. Both she and the man she was with were both raped. The rapists also received punishments. The link is http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/world/middleeast/16saudi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) When Tariq was asked about this event he decided to tell a story about a friend who is a reporter. A hospital (I think) in Mecca recently had burnt and some people died. The reporter was told to write about it. Upon seeing a girl looking around in the ruble, the reporter fabricated a story about the girl searching for the watch of her dead sister. Although fake, this story could get a lot of attention and draw on people's emotions. The moral of the story is that the media makes things up. He said he has not heard about the story mentioned by a teacher but he did not seem to find it credible. He said that just a few people control the media in the West and they present a negative image of Saudis cause that is what sells.
Oh yeah, Tareq also loves his king, he really loves him and when he asked Talel he loved his king, he certainly agreed.