Leaving the Wild West.

In January 2011 I left behind my chapped, winter lips, wearing instead a gold wedding band, and rode in the passenger’s seat to Seattle, where Matt and I would board a plane bound for the Al Gharbia Desert. We didn’t speak Arabic, couldn’t have told you where this desert lay on a map and were not entirely sure the origins of the company we were about to join. As we always do when we embark on these new journeys, we armed ourselves with openness to the culture we would enter, faith in the decision we made together, and three boxes of Annie’s macaroni and cheese. I imagined the entire way to Dubai the modern city, with the tallest building in the world, and sparkling scenes as seen on “Sex and the City II.” When our jet-lagged toes stepped onto this new land however, it wasn’t sky-scrapers and jeweled sheiks I saw, but a vast expanse of camel colored sand.

This stretch of endless sand carries creatures with humped backs, and men who can walk for miles through sun soaked robes. Thoughts of cruising the UAE in a Lamborghini and dining in one futuristic, roof-top restaurant after another were immediately gone, and what was left was a feeling of minuteness, that this land was bigger, older and wiser than us. It was however, in this seemingly hostile environment that we were welcomed into the United Arab Emirates and into the Arabic culture, as teachers, travelers and now residents.

Matt and I have been on numerous adventures since we began our friendship over seven years ago, but the desert remains our wildest to date. I recall my first morning on my one-hour commute through the desert to work. I searched for something in the sand, anything, a landmark, or sign of life. I wondered if I would ever see the rain that I had grown up with in the Pacific Northwest. Nothing breathed, including me that first morning. Luckily the lack of natural life growing in the desert was more than compensated for by the life pouring from the Bedouin children I so gladly taught every morning. I was saved quite literally from the unforgiving jaws of the desert by a group of four year olds who taught me everything you need to know about how to live in a sand castle.

Lesson One: Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

My students were far along in learning the English alphabet when I began working with them, and shortly after I arrived we were already on the letter “W.” We played with W-W-Water, pounded on the W-W-Walls and at the end of the week I brought in W-W-Watermelon. I cut the watermelon into small pieces and then, just to be tidy I passed out plates and forks. The students stared blankly at me, and then the Arabic teacher gave me the same unknowing look. “Miss, why do you give them these?” I thought she was referring to watermelon being a finger food and so I explained that I just thought it would be easier to eat this way because there was no rind on the watermelon for the children to hold on to. “No, no” she explained, “The children have never seen this, this, fork, they do not know how to use it.” It was then that I thought back over my first week of meals shared with the Arabic staff in my school. There was a thorough hand washing session before a meal, including cleaning under fingernails and scrubbing knuckles. Food was ONLY given and taken with the right hand, as the left was used in the bathroom in place of tissue. Everyone then dug into a central dish, tearing pieces of meat, balling rice in their palms and licking their fingers clean. No forks, just clean hands. I ate with my hands when I was young, then a fork, in Korea with chopsticks and now I have come full circle.

Lesson 2: Love thy neighbor, because they are probably your cousin…and you will probably marry them.

Obaid and Sara were fighting again in class. Obaid was the same age as the rest of my students but about a foot taller, and Sara was the only child that would stand up to his bullying. Their arguments were always in Arabic, and if things became violent I would ask for a translation from one of the local teachers so I could better assist in resolving the dispute. On this particular day, it seemed like things were tense between them from the moment they walked in the classroom. Had they gotten into it on the bus ride to school or was this residual from the day before? “Why are they arguing?” I asked my Egyptian co-teacher. She responded “This morning Obaid threw a stone at Sara’s favorite goat on their farm.” I thought for a second, “On THEIR farm?” She replied “Yes, they live together. They are cousins. It is a good thing they will be separated into a boy’s school and a girl’s school after kindergarten next year. Maybe one day they will become married to each other. Enshala (God willing)”. I looked around at my five year old students who played together now regardless of gender, and who would be separated next year to not see each other again until their wedding day. I wondered if they would carry a memory of the little boy or girl they used to build play dough houses with and if Obaid and Sara, first cousins, really would one day be man and wife?

Lesson 3: Patience is a virtue.

I hate waiting. In the UAE we wait for the bus in the hot sun, we wait for the internet to work, we wait for someone to deliver water, we wait to see an English speaking doctor, we will wait all day at the post office to be told our letter has not yet arrived. I was complaining all morning that it took a full two minutes for one email to upload on my ipod! “I mean, who has that kind of time?” I got to school and noticed Al Anood was late again. “Why is this child never here on time???” Again, it was my patient Egyptian co-teacher who explained “Al Anood leaves her home at 5am, she drives with her Father to her cousin’s house an hour away. They take a bus together with their Aunt, and then this bus meets the school bus where they can make the rest of the trip. Some days the city bus is already full, so they must wait an hour or two for the next bus to take them. This is why she is often late.”

Lesson 4: Man’s best friend is not always a dog.

Several of my students would turn up to school with a black eye. The Western teacher in me would automatically assume there was a domestic problem and protocol was to bring in a social worker to talk to the child. I crouched down next to Salem, one of my smallest kindergarteners. “Salem, did someone hit you?” I made a hitting motion with my hand. Salem giggled and covered his face. I immediately went to find a local teacher to report this abuse I was sure was taking place in this child and several other’s homes. Oddly I received the same giggle from the program director. She asked them all something in Arabic and all the students began neighing like little billy goats, with perfect accuracy! Apparently desert children spend little time in their homes with their parents but instead are on the farm playing with their goats. I have seen the backlash of a child pulling a cat’s tail, I can only imagine the result of pulling the tail of a goat.

Lesson 5: You are what you eat, if it is made of pork.

My kindergarteners loved to sing, and so do I, a match well made when I signed on to teach them. We sang about a lot of things that had little relevance to my students and their life in the desert: “Rain, rain, go away”, “The itsy bitsy spider” (their spiders are the size of my head!) “Oh Mr. sun, sun, hiding behind a tree”, and of course “Old McDonald had a farm, and on that farm he had a pig.” Pork is haram according to the Quran, not eaten by Muslims, not sold in grocery stores and not mentioned in conversation, television, story books or Old McDonald. In the kindergarten alphabet P is not for pig, it is for parrot, pirate or purse. On my favorite reality TV show aired in the UAE, when someone wants to make a dish using pork, it is broadcast as “Today I will be making bleep and eggs benedict.” Consequently Old McDonald had horses, goats, cows, but no pigs. It became such a big deal to omit this word from my lessons on letters, vocabulary, when teaching the color pink, I mean what besides a flower and a pig are really only pink, that I finally had to ask, WHY?

“Pigs are dirty.”

“Um, yes, but all animals are pretty dirty.”

“Pigs eat their own feces.”

“Yes, and goats eat everything else.”

“Miss Emily, do you know this saying, you are what you eat? Well if a pig eats its feces, then it is feces, if you eat a pig, so are you.”

Point taken.

My time in the desert has been my wildest adventure to date. Walking along the single highway that connects Al Gharbia to the big city, sand in my shoes, a scarf wrapped loosely around my hair, I feel I have been part of a fleeting culture. As the city moves closer towards the desert the UAE is catapulted into a new era of space age buildings, Western influence and sidewalks replacing sand-walks. I’m ready for our move to the Oasis city of Al Ain, and thankful to a group of four year olds who introduced me to the desert.

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130 Comments on “Leaving the Wild West.”

  2. Wow!
    This sounds like a beautiful adventure. You’re so open minded and respectful, even the tone of your writing is lovely. I am moving to Abu Dhabi (from the UK) and am very excited. A few days left of Britain and off to the desert.

    Good luck in Al Ain – it is supposed to be lovely there.

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  6. I taught for seven years and it was a life changing experience. Thank you for sharing your own experience with teaching and your introduction to another culture with the rest of us. I found this post very enlightening. 🙂

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  7. This is really beautiful! And the images are just gorgeous! Every time I go overseas, I am always reminded of the cultural differences…in a very positive way. Congrats on being FP!

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  8. A magnificent blog entry, may I say. You carry us along thro your encounters and learning process with wonderful pictures. You take us with you. Thank you so much 😉

    [sorry – how can you tell I used to be a teacher?]

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  10. I loved this..!! I live in Qatar, kind of next door, but still this was very educating for me!! I had no idea people lived in the desert in UAE, I thought everyone stayed in the cities! and I love those kids just reading about them ^^..Great post!

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  12. What a wonderful post! I am about to complete a online TESOL course, even though I probably won’t be able to use it anytime soon, although one day i hope to live in Egypt again with my husband and teach there. What wonderful students you have, they’re so cute! Enjoy your lucky experience!

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  14. You are a wonderful writer that has had an amazing adventure. I feel like us Americans take so much for granted and/or are unaware of other cultures (myself included) until I read something like this and understand better 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing!

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  16. The story is great, but those pictures do even more for me. There’s so much color and contrast. What a fun job to teach where you don’t speak the language. I am guessing by noe you have picked up quite a bit.

    I love the photo of the girl with red all over her hands and dressed up. It reminds me of my cousing wh when she was little would dress up like a princess and then insist on following us older children to the forest to play. She would be caked in dirt with a fluffy pink dress underneath.

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  17. Wow! Thanks for posting this. The part about pigs and pork was especially interesting. Our seventh graders study this area of the world, I think of them when I see first hand accounts of living abroad.

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  21. Great shots…….In Egypt once, my husband and daughter joined a camel caravan(I was too slow in mounting the available camels, and so was left behind). Adventurously, I strolled out onto the desert, noticing pretty good sized holes in the desert floor. Within minutes, a small young Bedouin girl was at my side, took my hand, and earnestly motioned for me to follow her…She made a swerving motion with her arm…I knew immediately that she meant we had to scadoodle because I had stumbled upon serpent ground…Whew!!! I am impressed that you have brought such joy and knowledge to these children…The moral about the pig had me in stitches….

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  23. Thank you for sharing your experience. My wife and I were planning a trip to Dubai end of this month but I think it will be sometime next year. Last time I visited Dubai, I was 17. All I can remember is FOOD. The Best Food Ever! :p

    “Miss Emily, do you know this saying, you are what you eat? Well if a pig eats its feces, then it is feces, if you eat a pig, so are you.” — That is pretty funny.

    Enjoy your trip, good luck & be safe.

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  24. This is such an insightful and fascinating post. Thanks for giving a glimpse into a world that is so different, so foreign to the ‘Western world’. Congrats on being freshly pressed!

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  26. I really enjoyed this! im currently teaching english in italy and the children have saved me and taught me more than i have taught then in so many ways! im curious how you came to teach in the UAE? …goodluck with the next chapter in your story 🙂 keep up the great blogs!

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  27. Thank you for the vivid description of your travels and the wonderful photos. It is cold here in Seattle, the desert sounds nice right now. Congrats and happy travels!

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  37. Wow, I felt like I was there! It is always interesting to hear about other cultures….and also is an eye opener. Marrying first cousins? It made me think of all of my first cousins and lets just say I prefer them to remain cousins and not a spouse 😉 They are great…but not that great lol. The pictures that you posted are amazing. They went really well with the writing. Very well written! Thank you for sharing 😀

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  41. This was such an interesting story; I really enjoyed reading it and seeing the pictures of the children.

    If I thought of going on such a trip my first reaction would be fear. But you handled it in a wonderful calm way of seeking a new adventure.

    Ronnie

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  42. I love it. I decided to study abroad last year and loved the culture shock so much that I decided to stay. I’m an intern for a college now, and my goal is to convince students to study / teach abroad.
    Where is “abroad”? For me, the US 🙂 Yes, hard to imagine that our own culture can be a culture shock for someone else, I guess…
    Anyway, your article is wonderful 🙂

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  43. This is a truly beautiful article and really opened my eyes. 🙂 When I am older I want to go abroad and help people as well as learn cultures. It is very fascinating to me.

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  46. Looks that you have fun ! that’s good ^_^ . as for pigs, even western doctors says it’s bad but Muslims already know that from 1400 years ago ! how cool is that 🙂 ! Quran is really a great thing to read and learn from .

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  49. Been in the UAE for the past 6 years, and I commend your efforts to educate. It is always interesting how people embrace different beliefs, including that of pork, too! Write more 🙂

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  50. Hi, I just want to say that your writing is engaging and the photographs shown are beautiful. I especially like the one with the young girl holding up her peace sign. I have a blog too. Its stories and a diary of a teacher who’s on call. However, I must say…I wish I was teaching abroad, just to get that true life experience–you know. Anyhow, keep on writing 🙂
    Amrita

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  51. Your photos are priceless. “sometimes man’s best friend is not a dog” is a wonderful phrase and the photos is wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing with me today. I needed to see something “new” and your perspective is heart warming. Keep writing!

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  53. My husband and I are international teachers in Doha. Reading your post was so interesting because while there are many similarities between your story and ours, it still seems so different! We are teaching in the city of Doha, but we know that 20 years ago, Doha was still mostly a Bedouin culture. I wonder what our experience would be like if we had come to Doha back then!

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  56. What a wonderful post about teaching in a different culture! I am currently teaching in Hungary (slightly less exotic than the UAE!). The picture of your students proudly displaying their panda bears remind me of my students holding their Thanksgiving turkey hands.

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  57. This is awesome. It reminds me of my time (although much too short) in Dubai. How did you land this teaching position there? Something I plan on looking into so that I can go back to the region for a longer period of time.

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  64. I am so glad I found this post! It was such a pleasure to read. The way you included a little humour along side your insightful words really hit home for me :). I thought I’d include two of my favourite quotes from your post that really stuck out to me.

    “Thoughts of cruising the UAE in a Lamborghini and dining in one futuristic, roof-top restaurant after another were immediately gone, and what was left was a feeling of minuteness, that this land was bigger, older and wiser than us.” The last part gave me chills!

    “Lesson 2: Love thy neighbor, because they are probably your cousin…and you will probably marry them.” Hahaha it is very true, especially among close-knit communities.

    Of course there were other parts of your post that I fell in love with. I look forward to reading more from you!

    – Farrah

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  66. What part of the UAE is this? I have been to Dubai and it is beautiful and a sight to behold with all the tall bulidings, hotels, beaches and landmarks. It’s a holiday point for me as i also do a lot of shopping there for my business. It’s like the west to me and your story of the UAE is so different from the story i would tell if i were to tell it. It’s so interesting! Went to Al Ain by taxi by mistake (it’s a loooong story, if i start now, it’s a loooong one).
    Anyways, interesting read! Look forward to reading more!

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  69. Teaching abroad is amazing! I think everyone should get the chance to do it at least once in his/her life. I wish I could experience going more than one year but my husband has a permanent place in America. Guess we all give and take a little. So glad I can read about your adventure to live through. ^_^

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  72. Great post and amazing pictures. What camera do you use?

    I’m currently teaching abroad as well, but the transition from Michigan to Spain has been somewhat less dramatic. (Dramatic, yes. Deserts, no.)

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  73. What a wonderful post! Thank you! I love the part about the kids getting black eyes from goats. I’ve had a few bumps and bruises myself here in the Pacific NW from said creatures!

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  74. Lovely blog….that’s what I love about travel it opens your mind, even if you’re not ready for it. I was visiting Morocco one year during Ramadan. I thought what a strange custom, says a wine drinking Chicago Catholic. So I asked what is Ramadan and soon learned it was a time to reflex and nourish the soul. Basically it is quiet time. I soon realized we all do this at one time or another. It opened my mind to we are the same, just different ways of doing things.

    Thanks for sharing, congrats on FP!

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  77. I love reading a blog post that literally sucks me in, and this did that. Props from the Pacific Northwest. You’re missing an epic amount of…..actually nothing. It’s not snowed enough to do anything but make the Californians excited.

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  80. Wonderful post! thank you for sharing your adventure, your beautiful photos and special insight into a land and people most of us will never experience. – Have a Happy Christmas season! – MoSop

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  88. You have truly captured the lives of these children (and people). May these lessons stay with you and these memories warm you for the rest of your life. It was an honor to read your narrative. Thanks for sharing.

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  89. Great read! I could imagine those giggles when you asked the kids about their black eyes, hehe. And the pics are adorable! =)

    =) Oh and not mentioning the word ‘pig’ in conversation is just because of the cultural taboo surrounding the issue. Islam doesn’t allow consuming pork, because we’ve been commanded not to. That’s all.

    -Hafsa

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    • Thanks for the clarification Hafsa, I have noticed now that I am teaching older students the word ‘pig’ doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue. Thanks for the insight and for reading!

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  91. Love this post! I moved to Atlanta from Cincinnati and am teaching as well. Not quite the same adventure as yours, but you would still be surprised by the amount of things my students have taught me in the past 5 months. Congrats on being pressed!

    arbohl.wordpress.com

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      • Thank you for the good words! Yes, we just had to have our pups with us, and they have certainly made our experience here that much richer! . . . Continue to fully your enjoy your own experience in this region, as I am sure you will!!

  93. hello ! i love your blogs! if u had been working here in Al Gharbia, i bet you had been staying in Madinat Zayed for sure and somewhere sometime, i have seen you here… i too had been living in Al gharbia for 4 years,it was hard at first but came to love the place and embraced the culture as well… Al Ain is greener and nearer the city.. i hope you enjoy your stay there.

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  97. What a great experience.. We are all (can be) brothers, right..??
    Would you tell us how to participate in such kind of teaching experience (abroad). I’m Indonesian, can I and my friend do the same as you were there?
    thank you for your answer..

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  99. What a wonderful adventure in an amazing part of the world. The desert is one of the world’s most beautiful, natural wonders.

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  105. Congratulations on getting out and seeing the world, and being open to learning from other cultures, different perspectives. Everybody should have at least one great foreign experience while they are still young enough to contemplate the differences.

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  106. It looks like you are having a wonderful time teaching abroad – all of my friends that are teaching abroad are as well. It looks like a grand adventure.

    Reply

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