Sabhas, Scorpions, Evil Eyes, and Djinns: Week 12 (my first normal week)

As I was talking with my roommate, I realized that this has been my first normal week in Saudi Arabia, meaning my first week without some ridiculous work drama (seriously, you should see the company I work for) I was extremely pleased with how this week went and inshallah (God willing) I will see many more weeks like it. I have really come to look forward to seeing my students everyday. I feel like I always learn something extremely interesting from them or hear something hilarious. This week one of my old students walked through my classroom door holding some beads. He said, "you know what this is?" while holding up them up. I had seen many older men carrying these beads around in the malls playing with them in their hands. My student told me this was a sabha. My old student then told me I could keep the beads for myself. I said thanks and asked what they were for. He then said, "entertainment" with a smile on his face and then walked out the door. Well, this old student of mine didn't speak a lot of English so when one of my current students came in I asked him what they were all about. He told me that people use them for invocations or after prayers and that they were instituted by the prophet Muhammad. There are 3 sets of 11 beads and you use them to count how many times you say some kind of invocation, Allahuachbar for example, which means God is great. I told my student that the one who gave them to me said they were for entertainment. He said, "yeah, sometimes they are just fun to play with." I thought that was kind of funny. I was also told by a different story that usually the old men are the ones using these (I thought the idea sounded very similar to Catholic prayer beads).

Another day while in class my students taught me about the "evil eye" Apparently if you have envy for someone's success or material wealth you could possibly give them the evil eye which means that some horrible thing will happen to them such as their wealth being stolen, or broken. I was surprised and asked them if this was true. They said yes and I told them that people in America usually don't believe this. One of my students said, "In the past, I didn't believe it, but then I was envious of somebody's health and they got in a car wreck after that." It is for this reason that when something good happens to a person or they come into some kind of wealth you don't say "I'm so jealous!" or "You're so lucky!" You say "Ma Shallah" which means "God has willed it" because if you don't, you risk giving the evil eye.

A few days ago one of my students raised his hands and said "teacher do you marry your cousins in America?" I told them that we don't and they wanted to know why, since marrying your cousin is a common practice in this country. I told them that we don't because it is against the law and that sometimes if you marry your cousin your children can have diseases. The student said "Oh, yes, that is why we have the saying, Relatives are Scorpions" I asked him to explain and he said, "we say this because when you marry, your kids sometimes have diseases, this is why your relative is like a scorpion." I thought that was somewhat humorous. I asked my second class to verify if that was true and they said it really was something they said, although they also used it just because marrying into your family sometimes causes family quarrels. The Saudi government is aware of genetic diseases and so now they have a new law where you have to get a DNA test to make sure that your children aren't at risk for any diseases. If they are then they tell you that you cannot marry that specific individual.

Well, its the weekend now and I spent the day with one of my students. Chris and I got together with him and two of his friends so he could take us to Diryah, on the outskirts on Riyadh. In this area are the ruins of an old fortress where royalty lived hundreds of years ago. The old fortress is pretty run down after hundreds of years, but they are currently trying to rebuild it for tourists and to preserve their history. Below is a picture of the old ruins of Diryah.

Below is a picture of the wall, but its kind of hard to see because of the sun.

My student then took us to another part of Diryah where some rich people are building some places that looked just like the old fortress hundreds of years ago. I wasn't sure if this was to be some kind of hotel or museum in the future, but it was very cool.

Here is a picture from inside one older run down building.

Above is a picture of the surrounding landscape. There were tons of palms as this is a pretty big oasis area.

Here I am with my student in the black t-shirt and his two friends. They like to come here everyweek just to talk and have fun. Its quiet here, and Riyadh is a pretty busy city, so quiet can be difficult to find sometimes without going into the desert.

Chris and my student exiting one of the buildings with the wall in the background.

Here is the inside of one of the unfinished buildings. I'm really not sure what this building is meant to be. But its very cool looking.

Inside one of the rooms.

Chris and I in front of an ornate looking door.

I asked my student why he wasn't smiling in any of the pictures. Its because he said he doesn't like his smile so he looks very serious, but don't be decieved. He is actually pretty fun to be with.

After our exploration of Diryah we went down the road, set down some blankets and waited while my student prepared our dinner kappsa (which is all Saudis ever eat! not really, but they sure love it).

He said he wanted to be a chef. This reminded me of when I worked on the river and I would be chopping the vegetables while our passengers patiently waited to eat.

Washing the dishes before he begins cooking the chicken.

This night was actually somewhat cold. Not by Utah standards, but I can honestly say this was the first time I actually felt cold in Saudi Arabia. Something that I will not likely feel again in this country.

Here is the finished product. Rice and chicken, plus a salad which was incredibly good. Maybe my student really should be a chef. We talked a lot about many things during our dinner. He told us what it is like when someone wants to get married. If a young Saudi man is interested in a girl, you tell your mother, and then your mother talks to the girl's mother and sets up a meeting for you to talk. He said its a pretty nervous time for a young man because you go and meet the girl and she doesn't have her head covered and you talk to each other. In this meeting you decide whether you have things in common and whether you think that you would both make a good match. He didn't say this but I think you can have more than one meeting to decide.

As we ate, we heard a donkey in the distance. My student said this isn't a good thing because it means the donkey saw a Djinn, which are similar to or equivalent to devils. If you hear this or are worried about a chance encounter you say Bismillah (in the name of God) and then you will be okay. I actually want to write more about Djinns in the future because I think its very fascinating. But that will do for now.

My students are incredibly awesome. Oftentimes Saudi's get government scholarships to go and study at a University in Canda or America and that if they do, they will stay with a family. I think it would be so much fun to host some of my students in America. I know that so many of you (my family and friends) would love them if they came and stayed with you. Many of my students are extremely respectful and kind. It is the dream of many of my students to go to Canada or America to study. I keep hinting at Utah as a good place if such an opportunity arrives.