9/5/2007

Hi Dad!

It was great talking to you too! It was kinda funny: Julie answered when I called the church, and I said, "Hi Julie, it's Lizz, is my dad there?" And she said, "OH!" very surprised. Well, my weekend has begun here; we got off early today--I was home by quarter to 2 pm, and I promptly laid down to take a nap! I was going to go back-to-school shopping with Budoor today, but she's been sick all week and is still feeling pretty bad, so she's going to the hospital (they call clinics hospitals here, so don't worry, hospital doesn't mean it's super-serious) to have some tests run right now. Tomorrow I'm going to go out with Diane, a very sweet teacher who is leaving some time next week. She didn't even make it a year because of all the lousy things some of the other teachers did and said about her. It really worries me because Diane is really a sweetheart, so if she got eaten alive like that and couldn't even make it a year, what will happen to me? And no, it's not Saudi culture or anything like that: Diane was in the military, and before she came here she was teaching in Iraq. She's moving back to Iraq now to teach at a school there. Anyway, so we're going to go shopping tomorrow afternoon (the stores don't open till 4 pm on Thursdays), and then from there I'm meeting up with some of the other teachers to play cards at 7:30. Then Friday a bunch of us are going to do something with Diane as sort of a farewell party for her.

I found out what classes I'm teaching, and I'm rather nervous because I will be teaching 7R (They have C and R classes: C for speaking/listening and R for reading/writing), and the team leader for 7R is the very unpleasant anti-American Irish girl I think I told you about. And I'm teaching 6C. I'm not sure who the team leader is for that, but it doesn't really matter because I really like everyone else there. It's just this girl who is quite openly hostile and notorious for picking fights and complaining about people and about everything for that matter...she's the one I told you about whom almost everyone dislikes, except, of course, for the Director. How does that happen?! I'm bummed also because I requested to work overtime and teach a 3rd class because they need teachers to teach a 3rd class because we don't have enough teachers. Many of the teachers who were here last year have no desire to teach an extra class, and I told them I really wanted to because I like to keep busy (I've found it's the best way to deal with unpleasant circumstances, depression, etc. and I work best under pressure) and if I got the overtime I could afford to fly home for Xmas (we have Dec. 14-29 off) because the overtime would completely cover the cost of a plane ticket. Anyway, they said because I'm new they won't let me.

ALL the teachers who aren't new, regardless of whether they wanted to teach an extra class or not, are teaching an extra class. I understand that they don't know me so it would make sense not to let new people teach an extra class--they gave reasons such as me adjusting to this "major lifestyle change" etc. Thing is, it would be much easier for me to adjust to this "major lifestyle change" and keep my head up if I were busy enough that I don't have time to dwell on it, and had the knowledge that I get to go home and see everyone in a couple months. They said they appreciate my eagerness and will keep it in mind for next term. However, there's no telling if there will be overtime available for next term. So I was pretty upset about that. I haven't cried much since I got here, but I cried in my office today when I got the email where they denied my request to teach an extra class. All the teachers have told me how important it is to leave during the breaks because all the teachers do leave, so there won't be anyone to hang out with. We have a 2 week break in October too. In fact, I'll be on break for my birthday. Anyway, I guess I shouldn't think about it. Hopefully by that time I'll have cable and if nothing else I can watch TV all day. Kate was making all these suggestions to go visit another country because it's pretty cheap to visit other countries in the Middle East. but she forgets I'm not like her; i don't have an appetite for adventure, and i have NO desire whatsoever to visit a foreign country I've never been to all ALONE! No WAY!

I'm pretty sure I told you about the play that was put on last year at the school where protesters and religious police stormed the stage and started beating the actors. we got to see a video of it in training today. Lobat, before showing the video, referred to it as a "scuffle" lol and pre-empted the showing by explaining that the gunshots you here being fired were actually blanks being fired by one of the security people to try to get people to stop, so "it's not as bad as it sounds." Hmmm... It was mentioned in a NY times article:

SAUDI ARABIA, home of Islam's holiest sites, flush with oil revenue, and increasingly the most influential player among Arab countries, has long resisted changing its ultratraditional ways. Now the intrusions of global economics and technology have begun to challenge some traditions in ways that the country's idealists could not. And the strain that this is causing is showing in the form of surprisingly open debate about how much Saudis really want to modernize.

While the notorious religious police still roam this capital city, much is evolving in the way people live. Saudis are suddenly overwhelmed with credit card debt. Thousands have grown rich, and thousands more have lost large sums, in the stock market. Foreigners can now invest in the country's insurance services, mining, railroads, airlines and satellite transmission services, all once off limits.

Much of this economic activity has been driven by the leaders' desire to have Saudi Arabia be more economically competitive, more a part of the modern world beyond its borders. The government is building huge new industrial cities that will have to attract many tens of thousands of foreign professionals; that is expected to bring more changes - in social and legal habits - as a price of admission to a global consumer economy.

"In order for the cities to succeed we have to ease all kinds of regulations and rules in order to compete not only with the world, but with the region," said Jamal Kashoggi, the editor of the daily Al Watan.

One example of adaptation involves the World Trade Organization, which requires members to follow uniform trade policies, including protecting copyrights. When Saudi Arabia asked to join, its religious judges had to be convinced that bootlegging videos and software constituted stealing under Islamic law. So a group of judges was flown to Geneva, where officials participating in the talks said they were, eventually, convinced.

Meanwhile, even as efforts to bring elements of representative democracy to Saudi Arabia have stalled, it has been impossible to shield it from outside sources of information like satellite television and the Internet.

The intrusion of all these temptations and influences has left Saudi rulers caught between two impulses - the drive, which they support, to push their nation toward modernity so it can compete, and the expectations of the country's many conservative and religious citizens that the government will continue to guard Saudi traditions.

So Saudis are engaged in an increasingly public debate over their identity. Should the school curriculum be changed, with English taught before seventh grade? Should women drive? Should stores stay open past 10? What constitutes religion and what is tradition?

The surprisingly open nature of this discussion, itself a rarity in a society where people often do not know their own neighbors, has rattled nerves.

"Whether it is good or not, it is there," said Saleh al-Wohaibi, secretary general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. "It is there for discussion. It is there in the media. It is there in the prayers."

Fifty years ago, Riyadh, the Saudi capital, was a city of mud houses and people who had to make their own shoes. Today, the center of the city is wireless and has Starbucks, Saks Fifth Avenue and Baskin-Robbins.

And the debate over its future can be openly satirized.

One day last month, a young man stood at the center of a stage with long ropes bound around each wrist. One pulled him to the left, the other to the right - one toward secularism, the other toward religious extremism. His father struggled to hold him in the middle, shouting "Enough! Enough!" Looking at the religious side, he said, "From here, there is destruction and zeal." Then looking to the other side, he said, "There, is doom."

The play, "A Moderate With No Moderation," had been performed since last November at Al Yamamah College, one of a new group of private schools that are considered a concession to the reform agenda. During the opening performance, religious zealots attacked the audience and the performers and forced a cancellation of the show. But the next day the show went on.

"It is an unusual circumstance," said Fawziya Abou Khalid, a sociology professor at King Saud University who presses for women's rights. "Five years ago maybe the whole college would be shut down, not just the play."

Saudi cities have traditionally had no central square where people could mix easily and express opinions openly. In many neighborhoods, families build towering walls around their houses to protect privacy and shelter women. The main place for large gatherings outside the family has been the mosque.

But today in Riyadh, shopping malls have become town squares. Air-conditioned against the withering heat, they are often filled until early morning with men and women. A year and a half ago a new television program, "Question of the Day," sent reporters into the malls to ask people, on camera, for their opinions.

At first, people declined, but now the show is so popular, the producers said, that it has spun off a sequel. The questions have covered wide ground - women in the work force, religious attitudes, bird flu. The channel, Al Ekhbariya, for the first time in decades has allowed a woman to read the news.

When King Abdullah assumed the throne two years ago, there was great anticipation he would speed up social and political reform. But he needs consensus among various power bases - notably his extended family, which includes princes in line for the throne who are politically aligned with religious conservatives.

That is one reason the government simultaneously supports the most radical religious elements while also trying to chip away at their efforts.

The leadership, for example, has not pushed to change a public school curriculum loaded with teachings that promote intolerance - even hostility - toward other faiths. But the curriculum often has been criticized as failing to prepare Saudi graduates for the modern world. So, after an international ranking put three Saudi universities among the world's worst, the king announced that $32 billion would go to new education-related projects, including a plan to bring in foreign consultants.

In other words, the signals remain mixed. Ms. Abou Khalid, the sociology professor, said that for 14 years she and a few other women gathered in their homes to debate and discuss issues. A few months ago, the government announced that sites for such gatherings must first get permission, effectively shutting them down.

Muhammad Al Zulfa, a historian and member of the Shoura Council, an advisory body to the king that resembles a parliament but with no legislative authority, said: "The conservatives are not happy to see any change." "The conservatives say they are protecting the values of society," he said. "They are protecting their privileges."

Sheik Ibrahim al-Huqeil, the leader of a community mosque, disagreed, saying the intent was to preserve Islamic identity. His biggest fear, he said, is that Islam might end up like Catholicism, in which, he said, church members do not feel a need to obey their leaders.

"The liberals, if they want to promote Western values, they cannot say they want to deny Islamic values," he said. "The people will not go for that. So they go through the process of changing these things into tradition. But at the end of the day, it is about changing our Islamic identity."

It's not just about the "scuffle" but in general about the struggle here in Saudi to modernize and compete economically with other countries while maintaining their religion and traditions. Also, at the beginning of the article is a picture of a man on the Skybridge I described in one of my emails: it's the thing on the 99th floor of the Kingdom Centre Mall where Budoor took me to look out over the city. I kept the ticket we got to visit it, and read yesterday that the Skybridge is 30 meters above ground level; I just checked the metric conversion, and that's 32.8 yards, or 98 feet, or 2/10 of a mile. I just checked out the height of the Empire State Building for comparison, and wow! The Kingdom Centre is only like 1/10 of the height of the Empire State Building! That makes it seem rather unimpressive, but well, I was impressed!

Please keep Budoor in your prayers--I want her to get well soon, and I'm hoping she doesn't have anything serious! Much Love, Lizz

Elizabeth Alezetes

Al Yamamah College

PO Box 45180

Riyadh 11512 K.S.A.