The Qatar Blog: The Moorman's Experiences in Qatar

My class is working on a new assignment. This is an off-shoot of a previous assignment in which they wrote children's books and put them into powerpoint presentations. That went really well; I've been trying to figure out how to post these on this blog, but so far have not figured it out. The new assignment is for them to translate children's books from Arabic to English; they are working in groups of three. The books are from Scholastic, and are basically translations of trade books and children's literature from English. The media librarian here thought it would be great to have English versions; an authentic task a whole language person would say. This is a really challenging task for them. Small details become problems. For example, what is the word for a baby bat? Turns out they are called "bat pups." I didn't know this!! The talk that surrounds the translating is very rich, and the students are really benefiting in their language acquisition. Last week they scanned the books, and will put the pictures and English text into powerpoints (no copyright issues in Qatar!). The Dean of the College told me today that the other section of this class is jealous because of the interesting assignments my students have, a great compliment to me. Thanks again to Amy Williams for the basic idea.

Andy Fishman's response to the Arabic statement I posted on March 19 makes me want to talk a little more about Islam. The very conservative highly modest values reflected in women covering and in being highly protected is not universal in the Arab world. It actually appears to be more recent, probably in the last 200 years according to a friend here. Certainly the predominantly black abayas (robes) and shalas (head coverings) are recent in Qatar. And it is much less conservative here than in other Islamic countries, notably Saudia Arabia and Iran. Many women here, both Muslims and others, never cover or wear traditional robes.

The prophet Muhammed lived from 570 to 632 AD. Islam traces its roots through both Judaeism and Christianity. Most Muslims are familiar with both old and new testament writings, and both the nativity and crucifixition from Christianity. Most will follow the spoken word "Jesus" with "blessed be his name." He is considered a prophet. I've found most Muslims peace loving and highly hospitable, a part of Islamic teachings and tradition they say. They are also extemely devout; they pray five times a day. Islamic communities are marked by the "call to prayer", a chant or song that comes (in modern times through loudspeakers) from the mosque. The first call is around 4 a.m. and is sometimes not well received by non-believers.

For those of you who are really into literacy, the first word in the Qu'ran, the Islamic holy text, is READ, a command to Muhammed from Allah, delivered through the Angel Gabriel. Interestingly, he never learned to read and write.

Yesterday I introduced my students to this blog. There is now a link to the blog from the Appalachain State RCOE homepage (http://www.ced.appstate.edu/) that includes a picture of our class in the media lab at Qatar University. They are thrilled. I have invited them to post messages and I really hope they do. They have a lot to say and interesting perspectives. So, Eman, Enass, Hwaida, Kamila, Majida, Nada, Ranya, Siham and Sumaia, I hope you will add to our conversation.

Yesterday our friend Nancy said she was feeling a little homesick so we went to T.G.I.Friday's for burgers and fries. After our American dinner we went to the Iranian Souqs to look at fabrics. It was a seamstresses dream...shop after shop with shelves stacked to the ceiling with a rainbow of materials. I wish I sewed. Nancy is getting fabric to have a mother-of-the bride dress tailored for her son's wedding. We never did find the Bombay Silk shop she wanted so we went to an Indian store that sold carpets from India, Pakistan, and Iran. The shop owner was so interesting telling us about the tribes that made each carpet and the meanings of the various symbols. Nancy bought a carpet for her son's wedding gift. The shop owner gave us each a beautifully painted little box as a thankyou. I'll have to take Gary there. The shop also carried beautiful carved boxes and Silk and Pashmina shawls.

One of the best experiences so far: During our spring break here last week Kathy and I went to Cairo. A life-long dream for me has been to visit the pyramids. They are even more spectacular than I thought. A couple of years ago I was in Rome and was in awe of the Collesium, 2000 years old. At that time the Romans would travel to Egypt to see the pyramids, which were 3000 years old. In other words, they were looking at artifacts that were the equivelent of us viewing artifacts from 1000 BC. The pyramids themselves are so massive that it's hard to imagine how they could be built without modern technology. And as a reading professional, to view the hyrogliphic texts, so spiritual and rich with meaning (if a bit obsessed with death) was humbling. In addition, there is far more than I thought, just around Cairo. And from what I now know, the better antiquities are in Luxor and Aswan. More to see, I'll just have to take some additional trips.

I too found Egypt fascinating. The pyramids at Giza were truly awe inspiring, but the crowd of tourists and the people hawking trinkets detracted some from the feeling of mystery. The next day we went to the pyramids at Saqaara. It was a more spiritual experience as there were fewer tourists and the carnival atmosphere was absent. The Egyptian museum was full of statues, sarcophoguses, and other antiquities from 3000-5000 years ago. The King Tut exhibit was stunning especially considering that he was not a very important pharoah. However his tomb was the only one that had been found intact. During our tours we went to shops where we saw how papyrus was made, how rugs were made, and how perfume was made. Of course we were given the opportunity to buy at all of these places. One evening we had a dinner cruise on the Nile. The entertainment included Egyptian music, whirling dervishes, and a belly dancer.

Though the tours were fascinating, Cairo was overwhelming. When we flew in we could see tall buildings packed tightly together from horizon to horizon. The traffic on the ground was packed together just as tightly. Our driver Mohamad had nerves of steele. Cairo will not be my retirement home of choice though all of the people we met were incredibly friendly and hospitable.