The Third Week

My goodness this has been a crazy week. In terms of preparing lessons for my students it has been much easier, but I have still had class changes so there are still student's names that I don't know, which is kind of sad. I will briefly say that the inner workings of our company are quite interesting, and sometimes I feel like our whole program is on thin ice, and could collapse at any time if the wrong thing were to happen. So who knows, maybe I'll be back sooner than I thought?

We leave for school everyday an hour or so early to prep, although we usually stand around and talk for 40 minutes since we have no resources here to help us yet. This week we passed by a truck with camels on the back which we thought was funny. We managed to get a picture.

Teaching English to my students has been a good experience. I have thought about our language in ways that I never have before. Every time I tell my students how to pronounce certain words they always bring up another word that is spelled similarly but pronounced completely different which makes it difficult. It is hard for them because I think Arabic is more of a phonetic language. Although my students have an extremely hard time with English vowels because Arabic is written without vowels. Englsh sntncs wld lk mr lk ths f w wrt tht wy (English sentences would look more like this if we wrote that way) Whenever they spell words they almost always mess up the vowels. Its almost as if they cannot hear the difference between certain vowels. They also can't hear the difference between P and B very well and Sh and Ch. Some of my students are doing really well, but I have 1 or 2 in each class who aren't moving at a very fast pace. During one of my breaks a student came up to another teacher and myself as we were eating to ask a question about attendance. As he was leaving he gave us both a card and said "this is very very good" We looked at the card and it was a card for us to go and look at a website about Islam. So he was proselytizing to us which I thought was kind of cool. That was the first time that has happened to me here and I thought it was kind of nice of him to show concern for us.

As for other things this week we had a pretty good weekend. I wish food was as cheap in America as it is here. The many restaurants here are a pretty good deal. Last night we went to a pretty good restaurant and I got a nice BBQ fish dinner and hummus for about 6 dollars, which in the states would have cost more like $16. There is one street that has almost entirely all chocolate stores. We went to one bakery (patisserie) where everything made there was by the most acclaimed baker in Saudi Arabia, and that was also pretty cheap and incredible. I only wish electronics were as cheap here, but unfortunately it is about the same as in the states. That is all for now. Hopefully I'll have some more interesting news in the future.

The Second Week

To further continue the chaos and disorganization of our teaching situation here, the powers that be decided to pull me out of a class I had been teaching for over a week and give me a brand new class of students to work with. I was disheartened when I walked up to one of the new students and said "how are you doing?" only to have him stare back at me in complete confusion. So with them, I started from scratch - which is fine because I've actually really warmed up to this new class. But what really lifted my spirits is when I discovered my old class got together and had written a letter to my "academic coordinator" to try and get me back. This is the letter they wrote, and I include all the spelling and grammatical errors they made:

Tus 19/10/2010
To M.r ******
We hope the rturn of happiness to back Mr. Mark to tech English grammar; Mr Mark started with us and we want to complet with us, M.r Roony is good but prefer M.r Mark
Thank you
students class 30

I hate using this word, but isn't that completely adorable!? I laughed when I read it, but really it made my day and made me feel like maybe I'm doing, at the very least, an adequate job at teaching. Also, remember that my students are 20-25. It is a funny thing when you teach adults a language completely foreign to them. Because they are only able to communicate on a very basic level it makes them seem like they are children. In fact, many teachers have referred to them as kids and then corrected themselves remembering that they are actually adults (I myself have done the same thing a few times). I remember taking French classes in college and feeling like a little kid when all I knew was a few adjectives, nouns, and verbs. Oh, and by the way, that letter was actually pretty good considering their current knowledge of the language.

Saudis are a fascinating people. Judging by how things are at my school nobody seems in a rush to get anything done. There is not a lot of organization and the college we work in is so dirty its pretty horrendous. The reason being that the contract they had with the old cleaning crew ran out but they don't seem to be in a rush to hire a new crew. It literally took a week and a half to find a key to open the door to what is now our office, but they have yet to supply a badly needed printer, copier, etc. They say things will be done in a few minutes, but I have learned that could be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour....possibly more.

It is easy to tell who is really commited to learning English in our classes. They are the students asking questions and seem very excited about learning. They come on time and stay through all 6 hours of classes. A very large number of students are frequently late to class, but like I said, I think that is more because of the way their culture works than anything else. Also, many students do not show up on the last day of the week, which is Wednesday for them. They always go places with their families, or go to the football match (or at least that is what they tell us). We literally lost almost half of our student body yesterday because of a football match between the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and Iran. One thing that I discovered only two days ago was that our students are getting paid to go to school! I had no idea. I thought they had all scrimped and saved to have this opportunity. That also explains the attitudes of a smaller portion of our students. The other day I asked one of my students who speaks really well "Abduraman, are all of the students understanding me? there seems to be three or four who just don't understand a word I say" Then he tells me "yes, some students only come here to get a certificate" So basically, show up, get paid, and get a certificate. But really, I feel that is a smaller number of students. Many have genuine interest in learning English so they can qualify to come study in America. I truly hope they are successful. I wish you all could meet them. Many of them are very nice and seem like they would be a lot of fun to hang out with outside of class.

My second week was very smooth compared to my first week. I am able to prepare my lessons a little faster than before and most of the nerves have left. Again, there is still much that I and the rest of the teachers hope to change soon, and I'm hopeful we will be able to do so (for our sakes and the students) That is all for now.

"The Experience"

The weekend was a welcome break. Our weekends are Thursday and Friday because Friday is the Islamic holy day; the day they go to pray at the mosque. It was the perfect weekend really. It was the perfect mix of relaxing and site seeing. I slept in, we went shopping, and then we went to Faisaliah Tower, the second tallest building in the city. We had to pay 35 riyals to go up, and when we got into a very futuristic tube like elevator you had to hit a button labelled "the experience"

which I thought was kind of funny. But the button was telling the truth. The view from up top was pretty incredible. We were able to walk around the tower (underneath a giant globe which contains an expensive restaurant) and view the city which went as far as the eye could see on all sides.

We stayed on top for quite awhile. We got some amazing pictures of the city and watched the Saudi families come up and look around. A group of young boys came up and started dancing and doing Michael Jackson's moonwalk which I thought was pretty awesome. Being on top of the tower was the first time I had actually felt wind since being in Saudi. It was a cool wind too which was even better because it can get pretty hot here. The best part was around sun down when the call to prayer went off. For those of you who don't know, when it is time to pray, a call goes out from the minarets of the mosques in the city. Its hard to explain the sound, but it is like a person singing, but I'm not sure exactly what they say (perhaps someone reading this can comment and enlighten me). Anyway, because we were on top of the tower we could hear the call to prayer from all sides of the city and it just echoed and echoed forever. Those were the types of experiences I wanted to have here - something unexpected and new. Its those moments that engrain themselves in your memory forever. We waited until the sun set and the city lights came on and then we went to the mall located on the bottom floors of the tower.
At the mall we walked into a music store. Last year I started taking piano lessons and unfornately had to stop after 5 months due to my guiding job. I was hoping I would have easy access to a piano here, but no luck. So we walked into a piano store and I asked the man who worked there if it was okay to play a song. He said it was so I sat down and started playing the one song I know. There were some women wearing abayas there with their children listening to me play (abayas are the black robes that women cover their whole body with in public). When I finished I got up and one of the women said to me "don't stop, it was very beautiful." I have to say I was like a deer in the headlights when she said that to me. I had fully expected to never hear a women address me at all for the next year so it was pretty stunning. It kind of made me nervous. Like it was some kind of trap - I thought maybe the Mutawa (religious police) would jump out and arrest us or something. I kindly thanked her and sat down again and started playing. She said a few more things to us, but we were so awkard about it, the conversation didn't last long. It was the first time a woman had spoken to me in over two weeks. It is interesting to me that a small basic conversation with a woman should cause so much nervous feeling in someone. But that is how things are here I suppose. I definitely would never talk to a woman here out of fear. Interestingly enough, when we go to malls we pass a very large number of dress shops. I'm not talking basic modest dresses either, they are sleeveless and very flashy. I wondered what in the world a shop like that was doing in Saudi Arabia. Apparently when women get together with their other women friends they dress up - like REALLY dress up, the whole works. The fanciest colorful dresses you can imagine with a lot of jewelry. Of course, that is something I'll never see here but it is a fascinating part of the culture to me since I only see the eyes of women in public. Sometimes I don't even see that much because some women's eyes are also covered.

There was a lot more to the weekend than just that, but it was very relaxing and very needed. I was able to recharge and get ready for my second week of teaching (which is going well by the way, but still more chaotic than I would like). I will write about this week's teaching in a few days. For now, I'm heading to bed!

My First Week of Teaching

It has been a long exhaustive week. This is our company's first year in Saudi Arabia and due to that and many other reasons there is a great deal of disorganization. The teachers have been left to struggle their way through the process to make all of this work and I have to say that considering our circumstances things have gone quite well. Things could definitely be better, a million things need to be improved, and we hope that we can make that happen throughout the year (If not then heaven help us)

Naturally I was a bit nervous to start teaching this week. Many of our teachers have quite the resume teaching English and other subjects throughout the world. I am most likely the least experienced one here. Most of the teachers are very supportive of me, with the exception of a few (who we lovingly compare to Michael Scott, and Dwight Schrute for all you office fans).

In the past our students have studied English under other Saudi teachers. That has not worked very well for them and so they called us in to continue their studies under a native speaker's guidance. The problem with this is that all of our classes are filled with students from such a wide range of English speaking ability that it makes it difficult to teach some of them. But we do our best and like I said, so far so good.

Let me say that Saudi students are extremely polite and many of them very eager to learn. I am amazed at their ability so far to keep up the pace. We teach these students 6 hours a day 5 days a week from 4:00pm-11:00pm. That is so much English I don't know if I could handle it if I was in their shoes (time will tell if they will be able to continue this pace) I was impressed with one student in particular, he always has a smile on his face and he speaks very well compared to most of the others. He told me that he wakes up early in the morning to go work and then comes to English classes which end at 11:00pm. Then he drives 1.5 hours to get home around 12:30am. Many of my students tell me they want to study English so that they can go and study at a University in England, Canada, or the U.S. They tell me English is so crucial (although they use much simpler words) for many of the different jobs that they want.

One of the most interesting mini conversations I had with a student this week goes as follows:
Student: Teacher, do many people in America think we are terrorists?
Me: Sadly, some of them do.
Student: Why is this?
Me: I think it is because of September 11th. When that happened many people became afraid, and when they watch the news on TV they only see the bad, not the good.
Student: That is not right, there are many good people here, I hate CNN.
Me: Yes, many people don't know of the good in this area because they are only shown the bad.

Anyway, the conversation went a little longer than that, but that was the gist of it. I have a feeling I will learn a lot from my students here. There are many interesting things about them and the way school works. They are often late to class which I think is more cultural than being rude. The students who know English the best learned it from playing video games and watching American movies. I get the feeling they play ALOT of video games.

That is all for now but I get the feeling I will have many more stories for you as the weeks go by. Oh, and don't judge me when I make spelling errors in these posts. I know I'm an English teacher but I'm not perfect!

Tourism is Hard Sometimes!

If you want to be a tourist here in Riyadh, you've really got to do your homework! The first time we went out into the city we were surprised when we got to the mall and things shut down all of a sudden. Apparently all shops and restaurants close during prayer times. This was a surprise to me because things didn't shut down during prayer in Egypt or Jordan. It is Islamic belief that you pray five times a day facing Mecca. One prayer occurs when the sun comes up which is sometime between 5:00am-6:00am, the next around Noon, then about 3:00pm, then sunset, then in between 7:00pm-8:00pm. Prayer is announced from the minarets of the mosques in the city. Even though we now know this we still have managed to have really bad luck getting into the city at the exact wrong time and end up waiting for things to open up again. Not only that, but some shops wont open for a few hours after prayer call so its something we are still getting used to.

The picture above is us walking around killing time until everything opens up again. That is Faisaliah Tower in the back, one of the more well known landmarks in the city. You not only have to time things according to prayers here, but certain tourist sites have specific times and days for single men, for women only, and for families. So if you're thinking about going somewhere, make sure you check available time slots! We have been to a few interesting tourist sites since we've been here. Some of the other teachers and I decided to go to a place called Al Musmak, which is a fortress in old Riyadh when the city was small and surrounded by walls. It was conquered in the early 1900's by the house of Saud, and it was this event that led to the reestablishment of the royal Saudi family's control over the region. Incidently, this fortress is right next to a place called Deera Square where they periodically do public executions. We asked a man nearby who spoke English if they do many executions. He told us they do not do so many these days which is true. They have only had about 19 public executions this year compared to 2007 when they had 190 (I think, it was around that) Our driver said the same "they do not do so much no more, long ago, too much."

That is Al-Musmak fortress above. Unfortunately, after visiting the fort we were extremely hungry and then the prayer call occured and we had to wait to eat! The next day we went decided to go to the National Museum. We headed out in the evening to be there for the single men's time. We took a taxi and we got completely lost. We pointed to the place on the map but it didn't help. We later learned that many Saudi taxi drivers are illiterate and can't read maps anyway. I don't know if that is true but it would explain all the trouble! The price was up to 100 riyals and we were pretty frustrated so we got out at the next populated area we came across. The one consolation we got out of the ride was the cool sunset next to Faisaliah Tower:

Anyway, we went into a building with a few guys to ask for help. They stood around the map talking in Arabic and pointing here and there for a few minutes. We had no idea what was going on. Suddnely they grabbed the map and motioned us to follow to the place next door. They found two or three others to consult with. Once again, more talking in Arabic and pointing for a minute or so. Suddenly one of the guy looks up and says in a really funny way "where are you going?" We say "National Museum" and he says "oh, mataf" which we assumed meant museum and we were all like yeah, mataf! He motions a boy over, probably 18 or 19 years of age over and says he will drive you in his car. It was one of the coolest things ever. I don't know too many people who would do that back home. His name was Yassir and we were extremely grateful to him because before we knew it we were at the museum. We paid him some riyals for his trouble and made it just in time. The museum was extremely cool. They had many ancient artifacts dating back many thousands of years. One of my favorite parts was a stone with petroglyphs of camels and men. It reminded me so much of the many petroglyphs and pictographs I would see during my time on the river in Utah of big horn sheep and hunters. It made me realize how similar people are throughout the world, even in ancient times. I learned a lot about the history of Arabia there including some neat stories of the prophet Muhammed and the spread of Islam. It was a great night despite the taxi troubles. This is the National Museum below.
That probably wont be the last of our trouble getting around the city, but hopefully we'll be wiser in the future and do our homework. There are still a number of places I want to go such as the top of Faisaliah Tower and the Kingdom Tower. There are restaurants at the top of both, but apparently they are kind of expensive. I think it will still be worth it for the view though. I haven't started teaching yet. Its nice that we've had a whole week to just tour the city. We meet our classes tomorrow and actually start teaching officially on Sunday.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

After a month of waiting I've finally arrived in Saudi Arabia. The whole plane ride over I kept thinking "is this really happening? am I really going to Saudi Arabia for a year?" and all sorts of other questions, doutbts, ect. I have to say, so far so good. I have been assigned the capital Riyadh as my teaching destination. When we first arrived at our compound (our rooms by the way, are very nice and big) it seemed as though we were on the outskirts of the city. But the next day when we ventured in I discovered there was much more around us than I originally thought. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I knew from my brief travels in Cairo Egypt and Amman Jordan that the Middle East is much more advanced than many in the U.S. know, and Riyadh is no exception. I believe there is much about this place that would surprise many Americans which I'm sure I will write all about at some later date. Some of the buildings here are quite modern and impressive. One in particular, the Kingdom Tower is quite nice and it is also the tallest building in Saudi Arabia.

The people here are very nice. In public many of the men wear Thaubes (white robes) with Kefias on their heads. The women wear black Abias (I don't know if I'm spelling the clothing names right) and are completely covered although I have seen a few women who do not cover their heads. Contrary to what many believe at home, not all people here hate Americans. If they do they have a funny way of showing it, like going out of their way to have a conversation with us, paying for our meals, or taking their own personal time to drive us to a museum when we are completely lost. I still have a million questions about the people here and their customs. Their entire way of life and thinking I'm sure is very different, although some things, like their love for their families and friends is the same like it is in all cultures. Anyway, I'll end this here. I look forwarrd to getting started with my new job (I start teaching in a few days!) And I'll try to keep everyone posted and enlighten everyone on my life here in Riyadh.