Dinner with Saudi students

One of my new favorite places to hang out in Murray is Fidalgo Bay, a local coffee shop. Most of the places that serve coffee close at 2pm, except for the gas station. The gas station does not have wireless, or iced mochas, or places to sit outside and people watch. Fidalgo Bay has all of these attributes and more.

The staff is very friendly, too, which can be a bad thing because once I get talking I sort of lose sense that these people actually have jobs to do. How dare those drive through customers interrupt my conversation! To make do, I will strike up a conversation with however happens to be sitting nearby, unless the book I have on hand appears more interesting, then I will read my book.

On one occasion a few weeks ago, rather than read, I noticed two dark complected, dark haired fellows sitting outside chatting at the patio tables. Feeling little shame, I interrupted their conversation to discover from which country they hailed. My suspicions were confirmed when the guessing game they put me through culminated with the revelation of Saudi Arabia.

Over the next few weeks, I talked more with Sammy (Sulaiwe) and also met Sam (Suleiman), Nawaf, Mohammad I & II, Ahmed, Hamad, Nabil, Seid, and Essa. All friendly and very curious about American culture, and very interested in discussing Saudi / Arab culture, though Seid is from the United Arab Emirates (UAE/Dubai).

Last Friday, I was treated to a traditional Arab dinner of Al-Kabsa (kapsa), a mixture of spicy rice with chicken. Mohammad, our chef for the evening, prepared two enormous platters of food. Sitting on the floor, with plastic sheets underneath us to catch our mess, we ate with our hands (right-hands only; remember, the left is the "unclean" hand). Scooping some chicken & rice mixture and swirling it into a small plate of onions, peppers, and tomatoes, and rolling the combined ingrediants into a ball, the concoction was shoveled somewhat ungraciously into the mouth. Great stuff!

To whet our appetites before hand, we ate dates, drank Arab coffee and sage tea, and date cookies (mamoul?). Also, great stuff!

Conversation ran the gamut. American movies (favorite actors were Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson), action movies (they had seen the new Star Trek and Terminator movies) are popular among the students. They were curious as to what religion had to do with geography, providing me an opportunity to give a brief discussion on what I discuss in class relating to Islam. Some were interested in American dating rituals, gift-giving, marriages, divorce, pre-nuptual agreements. Apparently, offering a Saudi girl a few nice gifts is a way to get a girlfriend. Not so here, I had to explain. Do that here and you are just as likely to lose the gifts and not receive any "attention." In Saudi, girls like for you to put minutes on their cell phones as a gift. Don't buy American girls gifts until you are sure they want to be a girlfriend. Then, it is okay. Or, unless you just want to, as a gesture of good will. A few girls I have talked to have been given expensive gifts, and there is some discussion among the Saudi students that these girls are now off-limits due to them being so-and-so's girlfriend.

Being complementary, giving compliments to someone from another culture does bring a level of uncertainty. For example, I once complimented the ring of an Indian student. He then felt compelled to give it to me, as this was the practice at home. Without wanting to offend him, I had to explain that in America this is not the practice and that it would make me feel much better that he should keep his ring. We had to haggle over this for several minutes, though. I felt somewhat embarrassed but I learned a lesson. Be careful what you say, be careful what you accept, and ask questions as you may not be aware of what you are getting yourself involved in.

Take a gift from someone and you may be married!

Movie Review: City of God (Cuidade de Deus)

Please do not judge people or the countries from which they hail based upon books, movies, or TV shows. Remember, these are short vignettes of an overall culture that tell only a part of the complete story. Just as Americans do not like to be judged based on the attitudes of Texans, Americans – and people in general – should not judge others based on the actions or attitudes of a few.

That being said, City of God focuses on the life of two boys growing up in a shantytown (favela) outside Sao Paulo, Brazil. From the 1960s through present-day, we see episodes of the boy’s interactions with their parents, their siblings, the police, and the local community. Struggles for money, for prestige, for recognition, and for power all exhibit themselves throughout the boys lives.

Eventually, the boys paths diverge. Rocket, our narrator, becomes a photographer later in life. His ties to the favelas allow him back inside to chronicle the harshness of the “hood” (criminal) life, the drug culture, and, in particular, the exploits of his childhood friend, Lil’ Dice. Lil’ Dice would later become known as Lil’ Ze and become the de facto lord of Cuidade de Deus.

Lil’ Ze brought a form of peace to the City of God, as no type of commerce escaped his control, coupled with this control, he had the added benefit of having corrupt police under his influence. Rocket was able to capture many images of Lil’ Ze life on film, which allowed the other classes of Brazilian society insight into the life inside these favelas.

Soccer is an important past time, though “past time” is not an effective term, as children seemed to play soccer all day rather than go to school. Homes within the favelas tended to run from cookie-cutter government built housing, tiny single story peaked roof homes lining dirt streets. Electricity ran sometimes, water ran sometimes. All males over the age of 10 carried a working handgun, handguns that were disproportionately large compared to the hand which held the weapon.

Criminal codes were enforced. Robbing someone “cool” was not encouraged. Robberies by children were discouraged by the older “hoods.”

Families of many different cultural ancestries lived within the favelas. Children of obvious African ancestry would run side-by-side with children of mixed ancestry or obvious European ancestry, very light-skinned Caucasians with curly red hair.

“City of God” is inspired by true events with the real favela of Cuidade de Deus. Knowing the ahead of time reinforces many of the themes, plot details, and images portrayed throughout the movie. Much of the movie is spent relating the adolescent life of Rocket, Lil Dice, and Benny. The photography of Rocket, while a topic of conversation early in the movie, does not manifest itself until much later as a series of events culminate in a violent episode.

The movie is best watched when complete attention can be devoted. Don’t try to read a book or grade papers while watching; subtitles are mandatory unless Portuguese has been mastered.

This is a good movie and worth the couple hours.

Technorati Tags: city of god,cuidade de deus,favela,sao paulo,shantytown,brazil,movie review

Book Review: Child-44

My father has always hounded me as to why I do not use the library more often, check out books, then return them when I finish reading them. Would you return a puppy to the animal shelter after playing with it for a while? Do you drop your friendships after three or four weeks?

When I read a good book, I form a relationship with the author, the characters the author develops. I wonder about motivations, what events led them to act out their behaviors; I wonder how the story will play itself out. Good authors conduct copious amounts of research in order to create a realistic atmosphere and characters and personalities.

Child 44 is not an average murder mystery. While Mr. Smith’s first novel, his story is extremely well-crafted, thought-out, and researched. Imagine a country where patriotism controls life status, determines how one lives, where one lives, the employment one has. Patriotism permeates deeply, an undying devotion to the State, even when the truth contradicts the State. In a country that acknowledges no crime, what happens when crime is committed?

Smith explores the State, Soviet Russia, circa 1953. Stalin runs the State, keeping all citizens in a state of fear. Neighbors watch neighbors, strangers watch strangers, people are punished for knowing nothing, and for knowing too much. The reward system is based on not being punished too severely.

Mr. Smith’s attention to the details of Soviet life is so compelling; who can an individual trust when the State has people who encourage citizens to whisper complaints and then arrests them as Western spies? Who can one trust when speaking a lie about a person can have the accused sent to a gulag (prison) in Siberia? No one lies to the State, so what reason would the State have to challenge a person’s veracity, particularly when the accused could be a Cold War spy for the West?

All of these details play themselves out with Mr. Smith’s novel, in cold, cruel images. Murders of dozens of children across Soviet Russia bring out the sordid, demeaning, and psychologically stifling life wrapped around each citizen. Our protagonist, Leo, and his wife, Raisa struggle against the Soviet machine and political apparatus to track down the killer of children in the face of their own death sentence, a death sentence handed down as they refused to recognize that many of these deaths had previously been considered “solved.” Challenging these previous deaths constitute calling the State a liar, challenging the State is tantamount to being a traitor, and traitors are shot on sight.

As Leo and his wife track the killer, they travel much of western Russia. We follow their progress from industrial towns to small villages. History of Russia, of these towns, and of these people unfolds as Leo enlists the help of people. A map at the beginning of the novel assists in helping locate places unfamiliar to the reader.

Developing a relationship with Mr. Smith’s novel would be well-worth the time investment.

Now available in paperback.

Technorati Tags: child 44,tom rob smith,Soviet Union,Stalin,murder,new york times,bestseller,literature,geography,russian police

Movie Review: Australia

Australia presents a formidable landscape. A large island desert, a continent, and the world’s sixth largest country in area. According to the CIA World Factbook, Australia is only slightly smaller than the lower 48 United States with a population of a little more than 21 million people. Not very densely populated.

Australia has been inhabited for at least 40,000 years, populated by sea-faring people of the South Pacific. Ocean levels were much lower 40 millennia ago. While probably not possible to wade from island to island, the water levels were not deep enough to hinder the migration of people. The Aborigines developed cultures and languages well in advance of the European discovery of the continent.

Britain used Australia as a penal colony. However, we may not be talking about hardened criminals. Orphans, people who were unable to pay taxes or debts, general ne’er-do-wells, and yes, some real criminals were relocated to the island. Not long thereafter, Europeans, mostly British, Irish, and Scots were encouraged to relocate. And, as is usually the case when European arrive on a scene anywhere, they immediately announce themselves to be the superior race, and set about passing discriminatory legislation against the indigenous people.

The Commonwealth of Australia was created in 1901. In 1915, the Aborigines Protection Amending Act gave the Australian government the power to forcibly remove Aborigine children from their parents, under the aegis that Aboriginal parents were not capable of raising children properly. Somehow, the fact that the Aborigines had managed to do this for thousands of years escaped the new Australian government. This “Stolen Generation,” which is a misnomer as many generations were “stolen,” would not end until 1973. The Australian Parliament would issue an apology in 2008 for the treatment of Aboriginal families.

To be black in Australia, and by black I mean Aboriginal, or a woman, means different treatment. A “boonga,” (Aborigine man) does not get to drink in a saloon, and Aborigine women are servants. Laborers and servants are the occupations available to Aborigine adults. White women, while able to drink, have their own “lounge” in a space adjacent to the main saloon.

To be a “creamy,” a half-breed child, means a different fate. “Coppers” patrol towns and villages looking for mixed-ancestry children. These children are sent to Christian missions, or to re-education schools scattered in the south.

The Aborigines struggle to maintain their culture vis-a-vis British Imperialism. Many Aborigines choose to remain distant rather than integrate. British who befriend blacks are also marked, and can be treated no differently than if they were Aborigine themselves.

Cattle was, and still is, big business in Australia. Beef cattle were ranched to supply soldiers during World War I and World War II, and in between satisfy the desire for beef across Europe. Thousands of acres are required for ranching and the cattle stations are enormous. In the early 18th century, some cattle stations were well over 300,000 acres, and the closest neighbor might be 200 miles away or more. Children were educated by radio; transportation provided by truck or plane. The workforce and families employed on cattle stations tended to be very isolated.

Lady Sarah Ashley [Nicole Kidman] arrives to support her husband, Maitland. She arrives after his untimely death at the end of spear, wielded by Neil Fletcher [David Wenham], which sets the movie into motion. Unable now to move the cattle her husband had intended to move to Darwin, a drive that would restore their cattle station, Faraway Downs, to prominence, Lady Ashley enlists the aid of a hired hand, known only as The Drover [Hugh Jackman]. With the aid of the young Aboriginal boy, Nullah, the accountant, Kipling Flynn, and the brother of the Drover’s dead wife, Goolaj, the team successfully overcome human and environmental challenges to deliver 1,500 head of cattle to Darwin.

Should children be allowed to wander in the wilderness, especially on a continent loaded with deadly snakes, spiders, crocodiles, and cheecky kangaroos? How else does an Aboriginal boy become a man? Nullah, a “creamy,” fashions himself a mystic, a magic man, a Gulapa. He also feels the pull of walkabout, a journey aided by his grandfather, King George, the end of which will confer the mantle of manhood. The Drover – the British – have horses; the Aborigines have walkabout to prove themselves.

The movie may be troubling to those of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ancestry or culture. Dead are not to be named, not to be mentioned within these cutlures, and dead are mentioned within the movie. The movie begins with this warning.

Cinematically, the film carried the personal and the epic aspects of the film equally well. From the growth of the intimate relationship between Lady Ashley and the Drover, to the cattle drive, and later, the Japanese attack on Darwin, the movie moves well between the grand scope and personal motivations of Ashley, Drover, and Nullah. Initially somewhat campy and follicking, Australia settles in for an enjoyable and poignant tale of historical Australia.

Running time is almost 3hrs but it goes fast.

Rated PG-13 for the some harsh language, violence, the F-word at the end, and some lovey-dovey between Ashley and the Drover.

Technorati Tags: Australia,Hugh Jackman,Nicole Kidman,Bryan Brown,David Wedham,dvd,aborigines,drover,faraway station

Geography on TV: Law & Order (S19/E14:Rapture)

 

I probably watch far too much TV. I am selective about what I watch, though, and the shows that I watch tend to feature geographic themes occasionally.

Law & Order in all of its permutations is one of my favorites. SVU, or Criminal Intent, or the Original Series, it doesn’t matter. They are all great. I haven’t always felt this way; I thought they were boring and routine. Sometimes, they are. But Christopher Peloni and Mariska Hargitay are an awesome team, Jerry Orbach and Benjamin Bratt, or Vincent D’Onofrio and Kathyrn Erbe – a great cast of characters.

Many of these shows have geographic themes that pervade them. Cell phones with GPS, GPS, mapping technology, image analysis, and cultural diversity can be found in almost every episode.

During Episode 14 of Season 19 (is that true?), an episode entitled, “Rapture,” the audience gets gun through the gamut of major world religions, a fundamentalist Christian sect that works to relocate Jews to Israel in hopes of advancing the time of the rapture, and a Zionist facilitator that seeks asylum with Muslim Iran. Sometimes, the plot becomes so woven I loose the threads.

The concept of Extraterritoriality plays an important role in this episode. Extraterritoriality goes back to the days of Britain in China, when the British passed laws that made them and the land they occupy exempt from the local Chinese laws. This concept became the basis for the embassy systems in place today – the idea that once one steps foot inside the border of their embassy the ground is subject to the laws of the homeland and not the laws of the land in which the embassy exists. Consider “The Da Vinci Code” as Robert Langdon tries to reach the U.S, embassy in Paris, in order to elude the French legal system, aka the police.

As you watch TV, watch for geographic themes, they can make a seemingly entertaining show even more so.

 

Technorati Tags: Law & Order,jew,christian,muslim,TV,da vinci code,GPS,mapping