A bachelor no more

Nicole arrived safely late last night.  I took the Metro to the Dubai airport early to wait for her, which gave me time to study my Arabic lessons and worry.  I was extra anxious about all the little things that my brain told me could go wrong: customs might not approve of one of the entries (Syria? Egypt?) recorded in her passport, passport control might question why she's getting a 30-day entry visa when her return ticket isn't for another two months (she plans to exit and re-enter U.A.E. at least once or twice thereby re-starting the 30 days), etc, etc.  Alas, no problems.  Can't say how great it was to see her making her way past the car rental kiosks!  We grabbed a taxi and made it back to Sharjah by 2:00 a.m., too late for a school night.  Yep, got to my 8:00am class on time today.  Welcome, Nicole.  Three days until Spring Break.  Three days until we leave for Armenia.

Globish 101

Last week Jack Richards gave a lecture on campus.  Professor Richards lectures internationally on foreign language teaching and had some interesting things to say about world Englishes.  Example: globally, most "English teachers" (of course this means different things in different contexts) are non-native speakers of English who have intermediate proficiency in English.  Not surprising when you stop and think about the reach of the language and the increasing amounts of cultural and material capital English has, but kind of interesting, no?  If you're reading this in the U.S., think about that for a minute.  Most English teachers are not from North American, Australia, or the United Kingdom.  Most have not attained what applied linguistics consider "advanced" proficiency.

Advanced competence can be helpful for some facets of language teaching (having a larger vocabulary) but not others (knowing effective teaching methods).  Same goes for being a native speaker, which can mean, for instance, better pronunciation.  However, non-native speakers have a "been there" advantage when it comes to effectively teaching other non-native speakers: non-native speakers know to avoid excessive idioms--in Sharjah, I sometimes catch myself while teaching when I'm about to repeat some little expression or saying--and often can better articulate grammatical concepts since native speakers have internalized those concepts since they were little kids.

Speaking of idioms, Richards also reviewed some of the latest literature on the status of what's sometimes called "English as an International Language," which essentially refers to English as a lingua franca, a shared language among various groups whose first language isn't English.  This concept is familiar to anybody here in Sharjah, where English is the language usually used by Pakistani taxi drivers talking to American teachers and Arab business owners talking to Indian engineers!  As the economy shifts and political changes happen, no single race, ethnic group, or political entity can control the language.  So there are all kinds of interesting, cosmopolitan things happening to Englishes around the globe, aka, Globish, the popular book by Robert McCrum that Professor Richards referenced.  In some countries, EIL textbooks and curriculum are teaching an ultra-neutral form of English, mostly free of idioms and expressions and cultural specificity.  A standard English designed specifically for those "lingua franca" situations in business, scientific, and academic settings. 

Thanks to Richards for visiting campus and giving a nice overview.  Made me wish I had taken more applied linguistics and ESL courses back in grad school.  The "Globish" issues are especially provocative.  When I studied Spanish, learning about the culture was probably the reason it was my favorite class in high school and college.  As I learn Arabic, the language sheds light on assumptions and attitudes and values.  So it's odd to think about these lingua franca versions of English that strip away culture and aim for some kind of neutrality.  And that's the real kicker--there never can be total neutrality, can there?  You'll never fully wipe a language "clean," though I understand why, say, a scientific journal publishing research from around the world might want to.  But doesn't acceptance of English as a lingua franca signify just that: acceptance?  I hope adoption of "English as an International Language" doesn't mean uncritical adoption.  There's a lot of research--both empirical and theoretical--looking at the implications of "lingua franca" moments/contexts, and there needs to be more.  Yet another reason why this book, which brings together my own field (rhetoric and composition) and applied linguistics, strikes me as one of the most interesting and important texts in years.

Taking risks

One of the things I love about spending time in the Middle East is the opportunity to try things outside of my own usual sphere, whether a new food or a new experience.  So on Friday, I jumped on the opportunity to try Extreme Frisbee.  One of my nephews played the sport in college and loved it and he encouraged me to take the inevitable risk involved when trying something wholly new.  My campus hosted a hat tournament in which newbies were welcome.  Extreme frisbee's kind of like soccer meets basketball meets tossing around a frisbee and involves a ton of running.  Two days later, I'm still sore.

Really interesting group of people play "extreme" (see, I know some lingo!) in the UAE.  Mostly expats (80% of the people here are expats so it stands to reason...) from the U.S., or expats from India or elsewhere who went to University in the U.S. and got hooked on the game.  I met a ton of high school teachers from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and even Bahrain and Oman (they flew to UAE for the tournament) who work at private schools--international baccalaureate academies, British secondary schools, and the like.  A few came because the job market is lousy for English and social studies teachers in the U.S., some for the money and perks, some for the challenge and fun of teaching abroad.  A lot of these teaching gigs pay very well (tax-free!) and include one or two flights back home each year, sometimes housing too.

Anyhow, I didn't make too much of a fool of myself on the field and got some great exercise.  Met some interesting people and tried something I definitely would not have tried in the U.S. too.

Global days

This weekend was dominated by Global Day festivities.  Global Day is an elaborate two-day festival on campus where student cultural organizations set up outdoor tents and displays representing their heritage and put on a multi-night performance featuring dances, skits, and music.  The outdoor portion was a lot like Epcot Center.  Each display represented a particular country (The Emirates, Iraq, Iran, India, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Armenia, Russia, Japan, Korea, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Qatar, Bahrain, Somalia, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria...I'm probably forgetting a few) and had historical artifacts, samples of food, and club members dressed in traditional costume.  The students did a great job; the detail alone was amazing.  Qatar, for example, had a World Cup theme (they're hosting in a few years) and their structure was like a soccer field.  In Palestine, you could buy homemade baked goods to benefit an orphanage and, to do so, you exchanged money for laminated Palestinian pounds.  Really creative stuff. 

I only saw the second evening's performances because night #1 was sold out by the time I got to the cashier's office.  So I missed the "non-Arab" shows.  Night #2 featured all the Arab states...so lots of dabkek!  Lebanese dabkeh, Palestinian dabkeh, Jordanian dabkeh.  Good music and dancing all around.  The Syrian club's performance stood out.  They did an interpretive performance piece where all the club members wore flowing white blouses and danced happily before removing the blouses to reveal half wore blue and half wore black t-shirts.  The blue and black sides were at odds and did a dance-fight (kind of like West Side Story) until they had changes of heart, put their white blouses back on, and ceased fighting.  Nicely done.  The crowd response was amazing--chanting "Suryeea" and generally expressing pride.  The Emirates club did a salute to the land's history, acting out sketches "before oil," "after oil," and "present day."  Interesting, and definitely indicative of national pride and the love of technology and economic advancement.

Writing Progress

I had done two research projects in Beirut two years ago: one focused on a community literacy program I studied and one focused on a public memorial as a complicated and troubling symbol of community engagement.  I've given a few conference presentations about both projects, but I'm happy to say that both have become article manuscripts, one submitted to a journal and one for an edited collection my friend/colleague here in Sharjah is editing.  It took the sabbatical for me to tune out other things, compiled and synthesize versions I've given at conferences, rewrite, write, write some more, and get them both sent off.  Now I wait.

Likewise, a long-gestating project about empathy and the teaching of writing had resulted in a revise-and resubmit.  The reviewer comments sat in my inbox and I did some work on the article, but, there too, it took sabbatical to FOCUS on the damn thing.  Sent it off five minutes ago.  Now I wait.

And turn my writing attention toward two projects: a wholly new project looking at Frerian teaching methods in Middle-Eastern contexts, and the collaborative Beirut-Dearborn work.  I want to devote my energies to these two projects, but had to get the other stuff put to bed (for now) first.  Only teaching one class this term is a privilege I don't want to squander.

Campus

I am reasonably sure that I've never walked across campus--something I've done at least once each day since I arrived--without seeing a moped delivering food to a residence.  All full-time faculty must live on campus and about half the student body chooses to live in dorm and we all like to eat.  Fast-food chains (Hardee's, Burger King, Pizza Hut) deliver.  Many mom-and-pop joints deliver.  Good ethnic restaurants deliver.  Beirut was like this too--little mopeds weaving in and out of traffic, bringing burgers and fries, or hummus and falafel, right to your door.  The Palestinian and Afghani places I love in Sharjah City both deliver but I've never used the service before in part because I like the ambience of both and in part because the bus-walk combination seems like a much healthier way to access sustenance.  Maybe when the weather gets too hot, I'll change my philosophy.

Campus is getting a major, temporary facelift right now as student organizations prepare for Global Day, a misnomer, really, because the event stretches across two days of indoor performances and outdoor displays.  It's like a world's fair, or Epcot Center.  Student cultural groups are building (or having built) miniature structures all over the mall on the academic side of campus.  I'll take pictures this Thursday and Friday, when festivities commence.  I got a ticket for Friday's performance (dances, music, etc) but Thursday's was sold out by the time I got to the cashier.  The outdoor displays are free of course.  All the advertisements say this is the University's biggest event, and I believe it.  Most countries that are part of the Arab and/or Islamic worlds are represented (within the student body, and also at the events).  Looking forward.

Wadi Sharka

--Wadi Sharka, in the Ras al Khaima emirate (23 February 2013)

"wanderer there is no road / the road is made by walking" (Antonio Machado)

"Roads?  Where we're going we don't need roads." (Doc Brown)

Two meals

1. Kalha is an amazing Palestinian restaurant in Sharjah, close to Al Majaz park in the Al Buhaira neighborhood.  My Arabic teacher recommended the place enthusiastically, and for good reason.  After several meetings on Wednesday, I took the bus to Sharjah city specifically to find Kalha.  It took some wandering, in part because I'm too cheap to spring for taxis and generally rely on the bus and my feet, and in part because Kalha is tucked into the ground floor of a nondescript office building...but I managed to find the place.  Their three specialties seem to be the foul, hummus, and chicken mussekhan.  You can order foul (fava beans) sixteen different ways--it's like Cincinnati style chili!  Lebanese style, or with garlic, or with mint, or with parsley, or with cumin, and on and on.  Anyway, I didn't get the foul (this time).  The chicken mussekhan is a chicken wrapped in pita bread and served with foul and hummus and is really more for a group, or at least a dinner, and I was just there for a relatively light lunch.

So I got a falafel sandwich, the second best I've had (after the place along the sea in Saida), served on flat bread right from the forn with lot of shredded cabbage, tomato, and tahini).  You've got to love that the falafel sandwich is almost always the cheapest thing on a menu.  And, of course, the hummus.  Mozna my Arabic teacher said she stopped making hummus because she'd rather just get it from Kalha.  That's fair.  This is the freshest hummus you've ever tasted.  They use a lot of lemon and it's almost sweet.  Also, they serve it with much olive oil on top and their olive oil is straight-up green.  You can drink it with a straw.  I pretty much killed a meant-to-be-shared bowl of the stuff (so much for a light lunch).  Luckily, I had a long walk to my bus stop afterward.

2. After class yesterday, I took the metro into Dubai, mainly to wander, and because I wanted to do a lot of research and writing this weekend so I thought I'd get the wanderlust out of my system leading into my Friday/Saturday.  Can I first say that the Metro on Thursday evenings is absolutely crazy?  When passing over roadways, I was amazed at all the traffic below,  because it felt like the whole world was on that Metro.  Commuters, emiratis, tourists, students, kids going home from school, pregnant women, entire Metro cars full of uniformed flight attendants headed toward the airport...as we'd approach a major stop like Burj Khalifa or Mall of the Emirates, I'd think okay, surely a bunch of people are going to get off, but a handful would get off and another two dozen people would get on.

I ended up going to the marina area, which is a nice place to wander along the gulf, watch the fancy boats, and soak up sun without as big a crowd as most of Dubai.  I got some reading done outdoors and spent about three hours just walking (walking's becoming like an addiction--not sure what I'm going to do when it gets too hot--which is imminent!).  I found one of the burger joints which serves camel burgers and sampled one.  Not bad, though I'm not in a huge hurry to go back.  The place has a horrible name--Best Burgers Forever--and a Western-cheesy decor, though eating outside where you can watch fishermen on the marina and wave at passing yachts is pretty cool.  They make a good bar burger (nice fresh bun, good veggies on it, etc), and the camel meat has a lean taste, like a buffalo burger.  I'd opt out of the mayo-based special sauce next time and ask if they have some good mustard.  Overall, pretty good and worth it just for the novelty, but with Iranian, Iraqi, and Afghani joints all over the place, BBF isn't essential fare.