I received an email from a gentleman in Germany no less...in response to my letters in the GDN this past year. He works 2 months out of the year in Al Fateh Mosque and so will be arriving in Bahrain in 2 weeks and would like to have a meeting with me. I sometimes forget that the GDN is online and so can reach the eyes of many many more than just those that reside in Bahrain. I look forward to meeting this man and his wife...its always nice to bring new potential friends into your circle of aquaintences...lets hope its the start of an interesting friendship.
On another note, a second letter in the GDN by one SJM determined I was a "moaning expat" with a "blinkered" view of Bahrain and that maybe I should try and accept other cultures and not complain about them etc...all I can say is, while other cultures can be interesting and life altering...some can be down right oppressing and binding...I am not critisizing Bahrains way of life, arabs are arabs and can be nothing else...I just want to make it plain that I am not an arab...so therefore are not bound by the same restrictions that Muslim female arabs seemed to be confined too...if that makes me a "moany expat" then its not my eyes that are blinkered.
3 comments:
i get people from all over emailing me, from the US and UK, brazil, japan, korea, etc... its nice :)
as for the whole 'moaning expat' thing, i dont think you're that, you're just having trouble adjusting. i know some people can make it real tough, and expect you to adhere to their cultures and habits when you're in their areas.
While there are some areas I do need to "adjust to" as you said(no arguments here)...I would like for my neighbors to attempt to do a little adjusting themselves...after all...not everyone is arab/muslim/bahraini etc...so why must we act like one to "fit" in?
Hey there!
Just happened onto your blog, and I'd like to say "you go girl"! It takes a lot of guts to pack up and go live in a radically different culture. And, it is hard. I know, I am a Canadian who went to live in Egypt. There, I was truly doing my best to understand, adapt, and find my way of being there. At first, I just observed because I was trying to suss things out, but then I started having opinions, strong ones--wow! I heard all sorts of idiocies such as "You look Egyptian, so you should (know how to ) act Egyptian and so on."
My point is that while the person going into a new culture has to do his or her best to understand and adapt, the people of the place might give him or her a bit of a break as he/she is already special for even having considered this challenge and is likely doing his/her best trying to fit in.
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