it's just not that different in kuwait. today i told neil i just didn't feel like blogging much lately (you may have noticed.) his response, there's really nothing to blog about. that's the truth. i know there's some biggies i haven't touched yet, and don't worry, i will. but the truth is life here is no different than life where you are. the other night was movie night. how fitting the movie of choice was "syriana." i know we all don't believe everything the media tells us, but if we did, here are some of the messages we would receive from syriana: all muslim women wear a burka and walk five feet behind men, all muslim men wear dishdasha's, the persian gulf is a mass of undistinguishable countries, muslims are religious fanatics, the middle east is not modernized. in other words, the opposite of the united states.
the longer i am in kuwait the more i'm convinced it's the same. different geography, different religion, different politics, same human experience. in class today we talked about how language helps us understand cultures. i decided to "go there" and brought up a study that found israeli students who learned arabic had more favorable attitudes towards arabs than those who did not learn arabic. makes sense, right? did you know the united states is the only country in the world where you can receive a college diploma and not learn another language? you connect the dots.
1 comment:
I guess some of the similarities come from human nature. But some come from globalization and multinational corporations (like starbucks) spreading all over the world. It reminds me a bit of the first chapter of "Fast Food Nation" where they talk about how the suburbs of Colorado Springs are indistinguishable from the suburbs of LA (or Raleigh, for that matter!). It's too bad that our country is homogenizing... the world too?! Oy!
Post a Comment