Mercedes and Goats.

"Last Post Published on Oct. 28, 2009":  so reads my blog homepage when I signed in.  Gosh it's been a long time since I've posted anything.  Life has gotten busy, but I suppose that's always the way it is.  At the promptings of several friends, I will attempt to make regular posts again.

I noticed something the other day and thought it would make good blog fodder.  The lines between foreign and familiar for me here have dissolved into one another.  Let me explain what I mean by sharing the story which really made me start thinking about this.

I was walking through a neighborhood in a very nice part of town the other day.  Home to large houses, nice to extremely expensive cars, and families probably more well off than I'm used to even in the States.  I walked around a corner to see a Bedouin and his herd of goats walking through someone's yard.  Many of the goats were chomping away at grass, bushes, and anything they could find.  The man was dressed in typical rural-like garb.  I can remember a time when this would've made me think something was odd with this situation.  But somehow over the past year and a half the site of goats being herded next Mercedes and through yards became normal.

This part of the world is so mixed with parts of the old with the new.  So much so that I've managed to compile both old and new into the same working concept in my mind.  Mercedes and goats.  It's just the way it is here.  And it made me realize, this is normal everyday life for me.

No longer is it odd to walk through a neighborhood hung with streamers and full of Arabic graffiti.

No longer is it odd to go for a run and hear shouts in Arabic as the children chase after me.

No longer is it odd to see cats scatter out of trashcans as I throw out garbage.

No longer is it odd to see the dome and minaret of a mosque when I go to the park.

No longer is it odd to see drivers stick their hand out in order to "push" their way through traffic.

No longer is it odd to hear the call to prayer when I'm sitting and reading.

No longer is it a new experience to see a pink and purple sunset over the desert... though it does still amaze me.

No longer is this just some place I live, but it is now my home.  A part of me.  The people.  The food.  The culture.  The language.  The things I love.  The things that I don't love.  The things I still don't understand, but accept because that's the way it is - like Mercedes and Goats.  Who knew?

The Nanny is Sleeping?

I've been searching for a place to live for over the past month and a half. During this time, I've met a lot of interesting people and been privy to some pretty odd experiences. Usually I walk away laughing having gleaned some new bit of information about this culture.

Having called so many different numbers about houses for rent, I've noticed a few patterns. Invariably the person I call will be dumbfounded that I have their phone number. A common question I get is "How did you get my phone number?" To which I simply respond, "Well, it was on a giant banner/sign in front of a building so I called it..."

Then, usually at some point in the conversation they will ask what I do. I explain to them that I'm here working and studying Arabic. This is then followed by, "What country are you from/What nationality are you?" I reply, "I'm American." After which they say, "Oh good, good." This is a curious response to me. Are Americans just seen as good tenants or what? This further begs the question, what nationality response would cause them to unhappily say, "Oh...."

Some places I go to look at are nicer than others, but each person who shows me a house/apt. plays it up like it's wonderful and would enrich my life to live there. They love to point out the nice aspects and pretend the detrimental points are non existent. Now, I'm not looking for an estate home or anything, and I'm content to live in something run down, but I really wish they wouldn't try to pass off a house as something it's not. A typical situation will look like the following:

The owner is saying something like, "Over here is the kitchen and you can see...."

We walk into the kitchen which has a particularly glaring hole in the wall and I interject, "Hey, um, there's a hole in the wall..."

And they say, "Yes but look at this new stove, it is brand new."

I say, "Yeah.... but there's a hole in the wall!"

They divert and say, "Let me show you the new water heater."


Sometimes going to look at a house will result in a hilarious and utterly absurd experience. Recently I went to look at a house that was quite nice. The owner arrives to show me around, and we knock on the door and ring the doorbell since there are currently tenants still living in the house until late January. No one answers even after repeated knocking and ringing, though we can hear a baby crying inside. The owner calls the tenant on his cell phone. The tenant is a french woman who works nearby so she says she is coming to the house. After 15 minutes of this, the french woman arrives and beats on the door. Apparently there is a nanny inside who should be letting us in. The nanny finally opens the door clearly having just woken up, and the french woman becomes irate.

I quite understood her anger at the irresponsible nanny, but I felt kinda uneasy having to stand there and witness it all. The owner proceeds to show me around, and I just smile and nod and do whatever I can to get out of this absurd situation as quickly as possible. While he was showing me around, I almost started laughing at the ridiculousness of the entire situation, but I stifled any laughter for fear of seeming insensitive to the whole situation.

It really is funny how farcical some of these situations have been. I try to take them as learning situations. Like next time I encounter a sleeping nanny and an angry french woman I will just think, "Oh, this again."

Getting the run around

So I knew beforehand that in this part of the world it is common for something simple to take days to accomplish. For example, getting a simple form stamped or checked or okayed through any sort of bureaucratic process will invariably take roughly 10 times longer to accomplish than in the States. That's not saying much since things in the US can take plenty long themselves; DMV anyone? That being said, at least in the US you kinda have an idea of when/if it's gonna get done. There's a consistency to the annoying waiting times. In the Middle East, I guess not.

Knowing this beforehand, and experiencing it firsthand are two different things. Today my visa expires. Knowing this I went to the big police station that I was told would renew my visa for another two months. (Crazy that I've been here for 1 month already!) I arrive at the police station with a friend and I'm asked where I live. My friend explains and then the guard looks at my passport and says "You must go to (such and such place). We cannot do your visa here." We know this to be specious since we both know several people who have had their visa renewed there. Rather than argue, we leave and head for the next police station.

We arrive there and are asked a few questions, after which they warily let us in. We find the office that "supposedly" issues visas and ask if they can help us. We chat for a few minutes, then we are told that the computers are down. Yes, the same computer that I'm pretty sure I just saw them using.... We are informed that we must come back - not tomorrow mind you, but Sunday. Three days after my visa expires at which point I will have to pay late penalties. I asked if there was any way they could do it now because I don't want to pay the penalty; I'm told by the guy behind the counter that I won't have to pay the late penalty. I would love that to be the case, but I seriously doubt that they will care on Sunday that I tried to get it renewed on Thursday. I probably will end up paying.

I wonder how often this happens simply because the people who are responsible for taking care of things like this don't want to deal with it. I think the mindset goes "I don't want to have to do this right now; I will push them onto the next person and he will take care of it." The problem arises when mulitple people do this in succession. Nothing gets done. Eventually someone has to reissue me my visa. I don't wanna be rude or culturally insensitive, but I really must insist that someone help me. If I don't get it done, in the eyes of the government the fault will lie with me and not its own people.

I'm not upset about it, just kinda curious as to how a lot of the world runs this way. I guess its my American mindset that wants things to get done relatively smoothly. I will play their game for the time being; like I said, at this point, I'm not upset or anything. I just don't want to be penalized for someone else's indolence.

To be continued on Sunday....