When I Had My Cultural Shock
The day I came to this country is still vivid in my memory in all its minute details. Friday, the 17th of October 1997. Prior to that date, I have not traveled much except to some neighboring GCC states. The World was a completely alien place to me. I did some reading in the preparation stage of course but purely by random probability, I picked the back-then more-abundant right winged authors to read for. Everybody was on about how corrupted the western mentality and the western culture is. How people threw out their sons and daughters as soon as they were 18 and how children awaited eagerly to throw their parents in nursing homes. How families took each other to court and ripped each other off. How no one visited anyone and how people are drunk 24/7 – all of them, and how extra marital sex was so abundant it is likely I will see people having sex on the street as soon as I step out of the plane.
A security personal in Heathrow airport stopped me and I was so angry and frustrated about it. Remembering the incident now, I must have looked uncomfortable and unnatural in my suit – probably even peculiar looking left and right, waiting for someone to jump at me and steal my belongings.
The embassy sent an Egyptian guy to pick us up from the airport and it was such an amusement listening to him shout at the top of his voice in Heathrow: “medd reglak,, yallah yabni.. MEDDDD!!” He looked and acted so much like the Egyptian character in “Shams El Gwayel”. I sometimes can not bring myself to think it is not the same guy. He was not without his contacts in the airport and in less than 10 minutes we were outside, crammed in a small van, loose in the streets of London.
We then made our way to Glasgow where we were to settle for few months before moving again to Edinburgh. I guess I did have a cultural shock where I went through a short phase of hating this culture, then looking at it with curiosity, then being part of it, then getting bored with it, then back to the culture and believes I brought with me, then finally settling to moderation and being the person I am now. The cycle took me two years to complete and my life between the ages of 17 and 19 was an adventure of mixed discoveries and feelings. In away, I am glad I went through it all back then. Not that I recommend it to others but despite all its negatives, It did give me a feel of what the west is all about. I do not feel the urge to indulge in it, like some of my friends do now at this much later stage and I really, out of trial and convention, not habitués, not advise, prefer the my own culture and my own people’s way with things.
It quickly became obvious before the turn of 1997 that what I was taught about the west was half truths. Like every culture, they do have their negatives and bad sides, but let’s be honest, don’t we all? People did not really have sex in the streets and the percentage of those who seriously fall out with their families is not much higher than where we come from. Nursing homes have a great positive side to them and at times elderly people chose to be admitted themselves.
To me, the great lesson I learnt very soon after leaving my EK plane at Heathrow is to question the facts and half facts everyone attempts to feed my brain decorated with big Islamic words in the background to make them more appealing and acceptable to the mind.
May 26th, 2005 at 10:32 pm
you’ve mentioned about your expectations of the west before you went and lived their .. i hope that u write how did they think of our world back at that time ..
it is really the experience and incidence in our lives that shape our personality, even though i know the online version of sultan that is e3ashig i believe in real life you have more than what u offer for your efriends in here ..
your egyptian guide sound really funny .. and i pictured that egyptian actress lol
what i wanted to emphasise on is the part where u mentioned
” I do not feel the urge to indulge in it, like some of my friends do now at this much later stage and I really, out of trial and convention, not habitués, not advise, prefer the my own culture and my own people’s way with things.”
even though there are minority who indulge themselves in other’s cultures and i totally agree with you on this .. but from the people i met, dealt, and lived with .. majority and most of them prefer our culture and the way things happen and organized here .. which is sometimes annoyin lol .. its good .. but having the stiff headedness in some aspecst that never change make me *sometimes* believe there’s something in our genes !
May 26th, 2005 at 11:27 pm
Cultural shock ? tell me about it LOL
I’m still whirling in the tornado.
May 27th, 2005 at 7:50 am
lol brill update.. but the irony of the matter is..experiencing so called “culture shock” @ home with such a hodge podge of nationalities walking by the beach at 8am not only makes me feel conciouss its the look i get from them. its no longer .the oh shes’s a local…but rather oh shes a native.. and i just want to wake up from this reality!
May 27th, 2005 at 9:53 am
I heard you’re back. I am glad you are, welcome back! This place is sort of dry, but at least it’s alive and still interesting. =)
May 27th, 2005 at 10:18 am
Fashionista that is a very very interesting observation. I too suspect that the term “Local” is going to fade out in the coming years to be replaced by “Native” for better or worse.
Sugar, there is nothing wrong with our genes. Its education that is the problem. I suspect once the majority of our people are educated to an acceptable limits, we will look within to our traditions and systematically fix the many of them that are wrong.
Vintage, as long as you keep yoru head together, it will all go away in time. I never though’t I’d survive what I have been through but it all passed.
Angel Thanks. :) dry as in (doesnt have as many pictures) ?
May 27th, 2005 at 1:54 pm
Well, lovely update sultan… i really enjoy reading your articles…
May 27th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
Interesting read ^_^ .. Keep em comin’!
May 27th, 2005 at 6:38 pm
beautiful sometimes i seriously question how it is for local females studying abroad i honestly feel that if accepted that opportunity to live alone id never be the person i am today, al7amdullilah 3ala kel shai , amazing post truly envisioned u stepping off that plane all clad in a suit awaiting a whole new stage of ur life and best of all U DID IT :)
May 27th, 2005 at 11:52 pm
Ya 7alailek ya e3ashig. I can visualise you the first time that you stepped in this country at a very young age.
I have been through almost the same things. For me, it was definitly a big step but I don’t think I will ever regret
the dicession that i made of studying abroad. And i would infact recommend it but only to the people who realy do appreciate the value of their religion and culture.
May 28th, 2005 at 8:42 am
WOW.. I still do remember that egyption guy shouting ^^ MEED MEEED^ .. and will never forget our first meal in the bed and breakfast ^ rqaq + honey ^ …
always make the best of today and keep memories since yesterday never comes back ..
May 28th, 2005 at 8:51 am
One of ur Flight’s mates, dr Abdulla that must be you. We not only shared Waleed’s rgaag and honey that day, but also shared the same room and had the forbidden breakfast ;P. Look how time passes. I have not seen you for years and years, since we were both at the beggining of this journey.
May 28th, 2005 at 11:00 am
Yah each one has his/her experience that ppl like to share
But why the Egyptian guy said MED MED !! were u ppl very slow?? :S I didn’t get it!
May 28th, 2005 at 5:56 pm
Wow, what an interesting read! It’s fascinating for me, as a westerner, to see how we are viewed by people in other cultures.
And just for the record, I have never, ever seen people having sex on the street. ;)
May 29th, 2005 at 10:20 am
Raw3h, we were not slow at all, but he had legs that somehow manage to make 2 meter’s astep and we could not catch up with that. Humans are not desinged to make 2 meter’s steps while walking.
Quas, only by learning and undersanding of each other that we can build a better world my friend. : ) I am yet to see people having sex in the street, although a visitor to this website have told me yesterday they did. It would be much like living at the end of times. : p
July 20th, 2005 at 7:12 pm
I am so proud of u…
-We arabs hardly ever admit “Bad” …We are always the “Best”. it’s about time for an arab to go beyond his ego and admit that the whole world is equal.And all has his/her own culture to follow…that what makes the world more exciting….
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