Every culture has its pros and cons, but there are things here that I find downright hilarious. In recent days I have taken particular notice of things that make this island distinctly Arab, and thought it might shed better light on Bahrain and Arab culture in general.
Story #1
Arab culture doesn't value "efficiency" in the sense that Westerners do; they have their own set of values when it comes to business and government.
I had to make a trip to the passport office last week, and it is a miracle anything ever gets done in there. There are dozens of people just milling around behind the big main desk either talking to each other or on their own personal phones. I saw one guy with a desk-phone up to his left ear and his blackberry up to his right. For every one person doing work, there are like four others doing nothing. Many of the women are sitting in groups of three of four around one desk just talking. Also, since my last visit in February, the office has (in light of recent and on-going events) become plastered on every available free space of wall with propaganda and pictures of the three main rulers in their traditional dress. Arabs are not known for their subtle decorating.
I had this exchange with the guy helping me:
man: We have a new procedure (that they had seemingly made up in the last month to keep out journalists). You have to have a letter stating the reason you'd like to remain in the country.
me: A letter from whom? like my employer?
man: No, you can write it. [hands me a blank piece of paper from a printer]
me: So I just write on here why I need to stay?
man: Yes.
me: Do I need to put any other information on it? Who do I write it to?
man: uhhh just sign it and write your passport number.
So I literally go over to a chair, write two sentences on a piece of paper (about staying around for the birth of my friend's baby), hand it back to him, he parades around getting random people to stamp it, then hands me a tiny green card. "So do I have the extension?" "Come back Monday or Thursday."
Story #2
I meet for language exchange three times weekly with a Palestinian woman from Gaza who moved here in December. Her English is much better than my Arabic, but she says my Arabic is improving. She told me a story today that we laughed about because it was "so Arab." Her husbands's co-worker was selling his car and they wanted to buy it. They were discussing it with him, but the man then suddenly said that he couldn't sell it to them because another co-worker had asked him about it, so he now couldn't sell it to either man. He didn't want to appear like he was favoring one friend over another, which would shame him and the friend who didn't get the car. We laughed about it, and even she expressed how frustrating it was. "We could negotiate price and whoever gives him the best deal should get it! And we asked first!" Maybe she is really a Westerner.
Story #1
Arab culture doesn't value "efficiency" in the sense that Westerners do; they have their own set of values when it comes to business and government.
I had to make a trip to the passport office last week, and it is a miracle anything ever gets done in there. There are dozens of people just milling around behind the big main desk either talking to each other or on their own personal phones. I saw one guy with a desk-phone up to his left ear and his blackberry up to his right. For every one person doing work, there are like four others doing nothing. Many of the women are sitting in groups of three of four around one desk just talking. Also, since my last visit in February, the office has (in light of recent and on-going events) become plastered on every available free space of wall with propaganda and pictures of the three main rulers in their traditional dress. Arabs are not known for their subtle decorating.
I had this exchange with the guy helping me:
man: We have a new procedure (that they had seemingly made up in the last month to keep out journalists). You have to have a letter stating the reason you'd like to remain in the country.
me: A letter from whom? like my employer?
man: No, you can write it. [hands me a blank piece of paper from a printer]
me: So I just write on here why I need to stay?
man: Yes.
me: Do I need to put any other information on it? Who do I write it to?
man: uhhh just sign it and write your passport number.
So I literally go over to a chair, write two sentences on a piece of paper (about staying around for the birth of my friend's baby), hand it back to him, he parades around getting random people to stamp it, then hands me a tiny green card. "So do I have the extension?" "Come back Monday or Thursday."
Story #2
I meet for language exchange three times weekly with a Palestinian woman from Gaza who moved here in December. Her English is much better than my Arabic, but she says my Arabic is improving. She told me a story today that we laughed about because it was "so Arab." Her husbands's co-worker was selling his car and they wanted to buy it. They were discussing it with him, but the man then suddenly said that he couldn't sell it to them because another co-worker had asked him about it, so he now couldn't sell it to either man. He didn't want to appear like he was favoring one friend over another, which would shame him and the friend who didn't get the car. We laughed about it, and even she expressed how frustrating it was. "We could negotiate price and whoever gives him the best deal should get it! And we asked first!" Maybe she is really a Westerner.
