Tom - Abdul CP # 9, Thursday, October 3

As on Tuesday, my first task with Abdul was to help him with his reading lesson.  We worked on his answers to comprehensions questions about the text.

I next asked him a question about 'critical incidents'.  Instead of answering the question directly, he gave me many examples of differences he noticed between Saudi Arabian culture and American culture.  Interestingly, almost everything that was prominent in his mind has to do with male-female relations.

In Saudi culture, unlike here, men only study with men and women only study with women.  Men and women have different classes, even different school.  (Although it might not be so in Saudi Arabia, my Palestinian friend tells me that only men teach boys in Muslim culture, and only women teach girls.)  No woman drives a car in Saudi Arabia.

The man of the house buys everything for the home; the woman does not buy anything for the home.  The man never prepares food or drink in the kitchen; only women do so.

Men and women never have a girlfriend or a boyfriend.  Fathers give their sons money until they are supporting themselves and their families, then sons gradually become responsible for their parents.  Brothers support their sisters financially if they don't have jobs. A man never takes money from a woman.  This includes a son never asking his mother for money, only his father.

All women in Saudi Arabia must wear the hijab.  This is the choice of both men and women.

When someone visits from somewhere else, the person they visit pays for everything as their host.

Two times a year, after Ramadan ends, and after Haj (pilgrimage), a Muslim man will slaughter a goat or a sheep for a celebration called Al Eid.

Abdul next described his house in Saudi Arabia.  My Palestinian friend says that even in Saudi Arabia, this house is much larger than what the average man would have.  It is an eight bedroom, three bathroom house of two floors, 900 meters square (not 900 square meters); I don't know if he really meant 900 square meters...  Each bedroom would be perhaps six  meters by six meters.  They would hire a domestic worker from the Philippines or from India.  Similarly, they would have a Phillipine or Indian chauffeur.

Abdul and I then had a conversation about understanding the different accents of people from different countries.

Abdul the spoke to me about the Arabic of the Koran and other types of less-intelligible Arabic.  He then demonstrated how good speakers of Arabic sound by playing recordings on his cell phone, first a young American man, then of the Imam in Al Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.  Al Haram is the destination of the pilgrimage that all Muslims are encouraged to make.  Al Kaaba is the black mosque in the middle of Al Haram.

Last, I read a passage to Abdul from his 'Listening and Speaking' book and asked him questions to test his listening comprehension.