The past two nights have been spent visiting this funky new guesthouse and cinema that's opened in Jenin, run by German fellows. (and funded by many, including Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame!). It was like being in another world! They had beer in a vending machine, the only alcohol license in Jenin. I wish it very well but I fear the conservative residents of Jenin won't. They'll have to be very careful about what they show; for any kissing type stuff will be more than frowned upon and locals fear that men and women mixing in the private darkness of the cinema will lead to immorality.
There's a similar progressive place just outside of Jenin camp, The Freedom Theatre. They show plays and make films with foreigners and not enough locals, for they worry on the impropriety of it all as well as the colourful manager. He's half Israeli and half Palestinian, hailing from Tel Aviv and some think he is an an Israeli spy! It was firebombed and robbed initially but think it's doing ok now.
Apparently Jenin used to be more liberal, but following the second Intifada (Uprising against Israeli occupation) in 2000 the place became more 'traditional.' As well as being anti-Israeli the Intifada also served to beat down more progressive traits and hark back to a stricter time. I'm not sure how much the Israeli opression affected this desire to hang on to the 'old' ways, or whether it was just used as an excuse to enforce them. Probably a bit of both.
It's pretty powerful too, for as we've seen the University often has to cowtow to traditionalist views. And although some of the youth drink and attempt illicit affairs, they are terrified of any consequences so I can't really see any sign of change. We shall see. (said the blind man)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Teaching
I haven't written about actual teaching in a while so I guess I should. Well, I don't call it teaching here anymore, we are just processing them really. All they want to know is information to pass the exam (In which they all cheat anyhoo) and extra bonus marks which they don’t deserve.
But! If they know it's bollocks and I know it's bollocks and they know that I know, we can have some fun with it and just look for the productive and good moments. It's also more relaxing because I am reaching the end – only two or three weeks left, readers – and I can be honest with them about the material being badly presented yet important. It's difficult having to use dull material, especially when you don't have the time in the schedule to add supplementary fun stuff. One just has to rely on charm, wit and presence alone! Ahem. As such I think it's going quite well at the moment, I am pushing them through and getting some good stuff done. 'Good humoured yet firm,' that's the ticket!
I'm quite interested as to how far mood affects the vibe of the room – if you appear too relaxed and jokey the students will slide too far to meet you there, and if you are too strict it's no fun at all for anybody, so like everything you have to reach a happy medium. If I'm pissed off then things just slide and they will find it funny, as I'm not really the scary type.
Surprisingly I've found being nervous to be ok – sometimes when a class starts I'm a little nervous and the students don’t pounce, but I'm quite good at hiding it and it soon goes anyhow. I suppose it would be different if I was literally scared, but I've never been so, thank gosh!
But! If they know it's bollocks and I know it's bollocks and they know that I know, we can have some fun with it and just look for the productive and good moments. It's also more relaxing because I am reaching the end – only two or three weeks left, readers – and I can be honest with them about the material being badly presented yet important. It's difficult having to use dull material, especially when you don't have the time in the schedule to add supplementary fun stuff. One just has to rely on charm, wit and presence alone! Ahem. As such I think it's going quite well at the moment, I am pushing them through and getting some good stuff done. 'Good humoured yet firm,' that's the ticket!
I'm quite interested as to how far mood affects the vibe of the room – if you appear too relaxed and jokey the students will slide too far to meet you there, and if you are too strict it's no fun at all for anybody, so like everything you have to reach a happy medium. If I'm pissed off then things just slide and they will find it funny, as I'm not really the scary type.
Surprisingly I've found being nervous to be ok – sometimes when a class starts I'm a little nervous and the students don’t pounce, but I'm quite good at hiding it and it soon goes anyhow. I suppose it would be different if I was literally scared, but I've never been so, thank gosh!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Drinking / Ex-pat teaching
Today I got two Palestinians drunk for the first time. Haram! (that means forbidden by Allah) It was their idea but. Two friends of mine asked me to get them liquor and I was kinda thrilled at the prospect, as well as being keen to show off my knowledge and expertise in this area.
I think part of the appeal of being an ex-pat teacher in a foreign environment is the ‘big fish in a small pond' thing – back home we are nothing special, but we are made to feel important here just for being different and possessing culturally specific knowledge; like what alcohol is good to buy and what pornography and dating is like.
Similarly, going by the characters I have come across, I think that some are running from something or just can't fit into the 'real' world so they take the opportunity to get away from it all for a bit. Or longer, if they can hide away forever. It's kinda tempting in a way, but not too much!
It's also a good place to experiment, career wise. To quote a long-term teacher here, the good thing about teaching in the Middle East is that you can't fuck things up much more than they already are.
Anyways, I bought the booze from the local Christian village (small bottle of Smirnoff and red wine) and we got drunk and that was that. It was quite sweet to see them lounging around and talking the rubbish of first time drunkards worldwide; you might know the kind. ‘Ask me any question! Go on!’ ‘My head feels fine but I can’t quite control my body!’ One had this repugnant habit of tipping the ash from his cigarette into his drink and then drinking it. Maybe he thought it was a madcap thing to do!
I think they enjoyed it but I don’t know if they’ll do it again, just because it's too taboo, different and can't fit into their regular lives unless I am there all the time to buy it for them. (which I'm not). It made me wonder a little about the reason we all do it in the west, probably just because it's part of our culture.
Was funny, when I was filling them in on it (they were quite anxious beforehand - "I don't want to piss in my pants") all I was doing was listing the possible consequences and bad points, so they asked me what the good ones were. I couldn't really think of them, and in the aftermath I still can't really. One of the bad points I mentioned was feeling melancholy afterward, and funnily enough that's how I feel now. Oh well!
I think part of the appeal of being an ex-pat teacher in a foreign environment is the ‘big fish in a small pond' thing – back home we are nothing special, but we are made to feel important here just for being different and possessing culturally specific knowledge; like what alcohol is good to buy and what pornography and dating is like.
Similarly, going by the characters I have come across, I think that some are running from something or just can't fit into the 'real' world so they take the opportunity to get away from it all for a bit. Or longer, if they can hide away forever. It's kinda tempting in a way, but not too much!
It's also a good place to experiment, career wise. To quote a long-term teacher here, the good thing about teaching in the Middle East is that you can't fuck things up much more than they already are.
Anyways, I bought the booze from the local Christian village (small bottle of Smirnoff and red wine) and we got drunk and that was that. It was quite sweet to see them lounging around and talking the rubbish of first time drunkards worldwide; you might know the kind. ‘Ask me any question! Go on!’ ‘My head feels fine but I can’t quite control my body!’ One had this repugnant habit of tipping the ash from his cigarette into his drink and then drinking it. Maybe he thought it was a madcap thing to do!
I think they enjoyed it but I don’t know if they’ll do it again, just because it's too taboo, different and can't fit into their regular lives unless I am there all the time to buy it for them. (which I'm not). It made me wonder a little about the reason we all do it in the west, probably just because it's part of our culture.
Was funny, when I was filling them in on it (they were quite anxious beforehand - "I don't want to piss in my pants") all I was doing was listing the possible consequences and bad points, so they asked me what the good ones were. I couldn't really think of them, and in the aftermath I still can't really. One of the bad points I mentioned was feeling melancholy afterward, and funnily enough that's how I feel now. Oh well!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Children
Palestinians love children. They love families and relatives and neighbours in general, but children especially. However they love them in a way that might intially seem a little unusual to your western eye, dear reader.
It's not unusual for them to keep pictures on their phone or Facebook page of little kids that are or aren't theirs, sometimes they are almost 'glamour' shots. I had a student show me such a pic and say how beautiful it was, as well as trying to search for an also 'beautiful' little girl singer on youtube whilst his friends were around him.
(beautiful is a favourite word here, everyting is beautiful and if it's not beautiful, it's 'not beautiful.')
I'm pretty certain that there's nothing amiss with this adoration. As Westerners we are unfortunately prone to thinking that almost any imagery of children is suspect, but here of course it's very different. A family will on average have about 7-8 children. There's a variety of cultural and relgious reasons for this, as well as the population war with Israel and the fact that life is generally tenuous here anyway. Most families have lost someone in fighting.
I think that because of this especially the children here are very spoilt and venerated, because the adults know that they don't have much to look forward to. And as an unfortunate result, maybe that's why the students at the age of 18-20 at this University are generally lazy and immature. An infantilised and spoon fed culture, waiting for someone to come and save them! Israel's final victory.
PS - yesterday a student solemly played me a recording of a very young kids voice reciting an anti-occupation diatribe. I tried hard to supress my laughter at the cutesy-poo voice whereas the student was deadly serious.
PPS Credit to a good friend of mine for some of the ideas in this post.
It's not unusual for them to keep pictures on their phone or Facebook page of little kids that are or aren't theirs, sometimes they are almost 'glamour' shots. I had a student show me such a pic and say how beautiful it was, as well as trying to search for an also 'beautiful' little girl singer on youtube whilst his friends were around him.
(beautiful is a favourite word here, everyting is beautiful and if it's not beautiful, it's 'not beautiful.')
I'm pretty certain that there's nothing amiss with this adoration. As Westerners we are unfortunately prone to thinking that almost any imagery of children is suspect, but here of course it's very different. A family will on average have about 7-8 children. There's a variety of cultural and relgious reasons for this, as well as the population war with Israel and the fact that life is generally tenuous here anyway. Most families have lost someone in fighting.
I think that because of this especially the children here are very spoilt and venerated, because the adults know that they don't have much to look forward to. And as an unfortunate result, maybe that's why the students at the age of 18-20 at this University are generally lazy and immature. An infantilised and spoon fed culture, waiting for someone to come and save them! Israel's final victory.
PS - yesterday a student solemly played me a recording of a very young kids voice reciting an anti-occupation diatribe. I tried hard to supress my laughter at the cutesy-poo voice whereas the student was deadly serious.
PPS Credit to a good friend of mine for some of the ideas in this post.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Struttin'
The other day the winner of 'Superstar,' the middle East's version of Pop Idol, came to the University to perform. Just what we didn’t need after so many strikes as students will take any pretext to skip classes. (It started at 2 but classes were almost empty from 11).
So having nothing else to do I wandered around campus with a few students from Academic Support. They usually irritate me with their giggling greetings but there was a nice vibe in the air today because of the visit, so I went along.
I rarely walk around campus, because it's like being a D-list celebrity recovering from some kind of embarrassing scandal. Students I know and don't will holler at me, laugh, giggle and come and talk to me. Admittedly some of it is good natured and nice and people tell me I am popular, so sometimes I just plain get off on it and as I say the vibe was good on that day.
So we just walked around somewhat aimlessly before the thing started, but one of our party seemed to be an impatient rush to do so. We sat on a step and he played Eminem from his phone whilst his friend asked me the usual questions about Western culture and all. 'Do they make poronography in Britain? Can you have girlfriends?'
Another thing foreigners are commonly asked by the students here is 'Do you know what happened to us in 1948? Do you know what Israel does?' It's bizarre to me that they would think we would be clueless of their situation. I think this goes alongside the bafflement that they have often expressed as to why I am even here, as if I had just accidently fallen into the place on the way to somewhere 'better.' When I have told people that I am here to teach and to show support for Palestine they seem a little nonplussed. Maybe they just see it as futile. Foriegners motives, perhaps even everyhing about them seem somewhat of a mystery to them, especially since they see very little of us around Jenin way.
Similarly, I am always intrigued by the matter of fact, dispassionate way they discuss dead or imprisoned relatives. This student was telling me how four years ago his brother was shot and killed by Israeli troops for no apparent reason. I suppose such events are so commonplace that the horrific becomes almost banal, every family has a similar story.
So anyway we went and had lunch and argila, which they paid for. I always feel bad about this because they have no money, but they won't hear of it. We listened to more from the students phone and I managed to get some Johnny Cash on, because students here listen to terrible western music: Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion, Westlife, or 50 Cent, Akon etc.
Then all of a sudden it was time to rush off and see the Superstar. He'd been derided as a 'motherfucker' and Israeli conspirator by people I had spoken to but the place was full of people shouting, dancing and (guys) giving the singer kisses and flowers. It was very boring for me because it was all in arabic, and I thought I had better leave because all I was doing was staring at the Christian girls who had dolled themselves up for the occasion.
So having nothing else to do I wandered around campus with a few students from Academic Support. They usually irritate me with their giggling greetings but there was a nice vibe in the air today because of the visit, so I went along.
I rarely walk around campus, because it's like being a D-list celebrity recovering from some kind of embarrassing scandal. Students I know and don't will holler at me, laugh, giggle and come and talk to me. Admittedly some of it is good natured and nice and people tell me I am popular, so sometimes I just plain get off on it and as I say the vibe was good on that day.
So we just walked around somewhat aimlessly before the thing started, but one of our party seemed to be an impatient rush to do so. We sat on a step and he played Eminem from his phone whilst his friend asked me the usual questions about Western culture and all. 'Do they make poronography in Britain? Can you have girlfriends?'
Another thing foreigners are commonly asked by the students here is 'Do you know what happened to us in 1948? Do you know what Israel does?' It's bizarre to me that they would think we would be clueless of their situation. I think this goes alongside the bafflement that they have often expressed as to why I am even here, as if I had just accidently fallen into the place on the way to somewhere 'better.' When I have told people that I am here to teach and to show support for Palestine they seem a little nonplussed. Maybe they just see it as futile. Foriegners motives, perhaps even everyhing about them seem somewhat of a mystery to them, especially since they see very little of us around Jenin way.
Similarly, I am always intrigued by the matter of fact, dispassionate way they discuss dead or imprisoned relatives. This student was telling me how four years ago his brother was shot and killed by Israeli troops for no apparent reason. I suppose such events are so commonplace that the horrific becomes almost banal, every family has a similar story.
So anyway we went and had lunch and argila, which they paid for. I always feel bad about this because they have no money, but they won't hear of it. We listened to more from the students phone and I managed to get some Johnny Cash on, because students here listen to terrible western music: Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion, Westlife, or 50 Cent, Akon etc.
Then all of a sudden it was time to rush off and see the Superstar. He'd been derided as a 'motherfucker' and Israeli conspirator by people I had spoken to but the place was full of people shouting, dancing and (guys) giving the singer kisses and flowers. It was very boring for me because it was all in arabic, and I thought I had better leave because all I was doing was staring at the Christian girls who had dolled themselves up for the occasion.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Cheating
Cheating is institutionalised here. You have to get used to it or vainly struggle to find a way around it. I had six classes sit their exams this week and I only caught two examples of flagrant cheating, but I had a few goombas get implausibly high marks, so hmmmm. Hmm indeed. I felt I was being hyper-strict and vigilant too.
Well when I say 'cheat' it's perhaps a tad unfair, a big part of this is 'helping.' Generosity and helping thy neighbour is so much of a natural, done thing here that if a student asks another for 'help' during an exam s/he can't really turn them down. I've seen lovely kids struggling with the compulsion to help others during exams.
Anyhoo, the flagrant cheaters - helper and helpee - after being given many chances were punished by having their exams taken away there and then and told they were getting zero. The helper got all teary - 'Teacher, consider me your brother, I am sorry, my father is poor and cannot put me through another semester etc' It was kinda unsettling but I stuck to me guns. (The helpee's English was too poor for him to be able to appeal to me, thankfully).
The fact that students can cheat to pass, are spoon fed and treated leniently can be depressing because it feels like what you are doing is pointless. The undeserving usually pass and lots of them know this. They always ask for 'help' and 'bonus marks' - both mean marks for nothing, and there is an undercurrent here at the English Language Centre administration that everyone, regardless of ability should pass into the next level. It's quite disheartening, but I'm trying to look at the small picture and the good moments of genuine learning and fun, rather than getting bogged down with the wider injustice of it all. Just like Palestine itself!
(And of course I become part of the problem - I later reduced the cheaters zeros to a ten point reduction. They still aren't satisfied and are trying to creep around it. I must not bend further!)
Well when I say 'cheat' it's perhaps a tad unfair, a big part of this is 'helping.' Generosity and helping thy neighbour is so much of a natural, done thing here that if a student asks another for 'help' during an exam s/he can't really turn them down. I've seen lovely kids struggling with the compulsion to help others during exams.
Anyhoo, the flagrant cheaters - helper and helpee - after being given many chances were punished by having their exams taken away there and then and told they were getting zero. The helper got all teary - 'Teacher, consider me your brother, I am sorry, my father is poor and cannot put me through another semester etc' It was kinda unsettling but I stuck to me guns. (The helpee's English was too poor for him to be able to appeal to me, thankfully).
The fact that students can cheat to pass, are spoon fed and treated leniently can be depressing because it feels like what you are doing is pointless. The undeserving usually pass and lots of them know this. They always ask for 'help' and 'bonus marks' - both mean marks for nothing, and there is an undercurrent here at the English Language Centre administration that everyone, regardless of ability should pass into the next level. It's quite disheartening, but I'm trying to look at the small picture and the good moments of genuine learning and fun, rather than getting bogged down with the wider injustice of it all. Just like Palestine itself!
(And of course I become part of the problem - I later reduced the cheaters zeros to a ten point reduction. They still aren't satisfied and are trying to creep around it. I must not bend further!)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Recklessness and Women
Cracks are starting to show…I'm finding it harder and harder to turn down invitations from my female students, and my mouth is going to get me in trouble. My pretty Arabic teaching friend asked me why I didn’t go to church over Easter and I thought ‘Fuck it, lets see what happens if I tell her I have no religious belief.’ Not a good idea.
She was aghast, and proclaimed at length that how could I not believe when everything comes from God. It was disappointing and worrying, but I think I was stupid to expect any other reaction. Pretty sure she thinks I am a ridiculous and decadent heathen now. Oh well!
Similar foolishness led to a tense atmosphere in the conversation class when I bought up the subject of honour killings. Subjects have ranged from nature to love to equality, and it can just get so frustrating here to sit and listen to girls proclaiming that they are totally free and life for them in Palestine is wonderful, when they and I both know that this is bullshit. Everything always comes back to God and the Koran and there is no argument against this, so end of story.
One particularly pious and arrogant girl claimed that women’s organizations in Palestine were ‘absurd’ because there is nothing for them to do here, and this almost enraged me so I asked her about honour killings and perhaps they might be able to help there.
Everything got a little tense and she said she didn’t want to talk about it, and the consensus was that these matters should be kept within the family. Most of them didn’t really think the girl should be killed if she ‘shames’ her family, apart from the pious girl who said that stoning was permitted. (It isn’t mentioned in the Koran - just one hundred lashes - but is in the Hadith, Mohammed’s supplementary writings).
I find it hard to believe that she honestly feels this is acceptable, and would like to find a way to bring it up again. I also need to find a way to circumvent God in conversation classes. Or maybe I should just shut the hell up and nod sagely to everything.
She was aghast, and proclaimed at length that how could I not believe when everything comes from God. It was disappointing and worrying, but I think I was stupid to expect any other reaction. Pretty sure she thinks I am a ridiculous and decadent heathen now. Oh well!
Similar foolishness led to a tense atmosphere in the conversation class when I bought up the subject of honour killings. Subjects have ranged from nature to love to equality, and it can just get so frustrating here to sit and listen to girls proclaiming that they are totally free and life for them in Palestine is wonderful, when they and I both know that this is bullshit. Everything always comes back to God and the Koran and there is no argument against this, so end of story.
One particularly pious and arrogant girl claimed that women’s organizations in Palestine were ‘absurd’ because there is nothing for them to do here, and this almost enraged me so I asked her about honour killings and perhaps they might be able to help there.
Everything got a little tense and she said she didn’t want to talk about it, and the consensus was that these matters should be kept within the family. Most of them didn’t really think the girl should be killed if she ‘shames’ her family, apart from the pious girl who said that stoning was permitted. (It isn’t mentioned in the Koran - just one hundred lashes - but is in the Hadith, Mohammed’s supplementary writings).
I find it hard to believe that she honestly feels this is acceptable, and would like to find a way to bring it up again. I also need to find a way to circumvent God in conversation classes. Or maybe I should just shut the hell up and nod sagely to everything.
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