Half way house

I arrived in Saudi Arabia on the 7th February. Today is the 7th of August. 6 months baby! Half way through my contract, and what better way to celebrate than to play this track, from the greatest hip hop album ever, Illmatic.
"It's still half time"

Those who can

“I would prefer even to fail with honour than to win cheating”

I’m not sure students in the Kingdom have read much Sophocles, but if they have they certainly haven’t paid much attention to the above quote.

Cheating is rife in the KSA educational system. It is ingrained in the culture and extremely widespread. In the final exams the students took last May, seven out of the twelve students in my class were caught cheating. Some were caught with cheat sheets on them, others because they had written identical essays to other students. When illiterate students who can barely string a sentence together write an essay in perfect English, it’s not because they’ve studied hard the night before. Quite a few of them get away with it, if they’re lucky enough not to have written the same thing as their friend.

In the case of the town I work in, the man profiting from this culture is known as “The Egyptian Tutor”. This enterprising figure lends his services to over 300 of the 400 students in attendance. He pockets 1000 Riyals per student, per term. There are three terms (if you include summer school), so he’s making around 900,000 Riyals a year (£150,000), tax free of course. I’m in the wrong job! Somehow he manages to find out, or figure out, the essay questions that will be in the future tests, and he gives his students a model answer, with the Arabic translation written on another sheet. The students either take this into class on a tiny cheat sheet, or memorize it if they have the capacity.

There was a clampdown on this kind of behaviour last term, but it didn’t stop the cheating. Far from it, the students just found new ways of beating the system. We checked their palms before the exams started, so they wrote in between their fingers. We moved their chairs around so they couldn’t see each other’s work, but they came up with a system of tapping their chairs and coughing to give each other the answers to the multiple choice questions. You have to admire their invention!

Not all students cheat; some of the students here are excellent, hardworking, and very intelligent. However, these good students are definitely in the minority, and from what I hear this problem isn’t confined to the University I work in. It is frustrating, and I try to stop it, but there's only so much you can do. Our boss reminded us (teachers) why we're here, a few weeks ago, and it's advice I'd give anyone coming to work in the Kingdom (although I'm not American enough to say the following quote out loud):

"Guys, you gotta keep your mind on your money, and your money on your mind"

If I sound like I'm complaining sometimes, I don't mean to, I'm just trying to give an honest account of my time in Saudi. Despite the restrictions I'm delighted to be here, because I'm here on a short term basis to save for my future, and in that respect I certainly can't complain. Every day spent here increases the happiness of my wallet, and is a day closer to England and Brazil. Masha'Allah.

Striking gold

Alhamdulillah for YouTube. Sometimes you'll be a bit bored at home, on the internet, listening to random songs, and you'll come across an absolute gem, from a band or singer you've never heard of, who you'll then obsess over for the next fortnight (or even longer). Here are three tracks that I've happened to stumble across on the dusty road of procrastination.

1. Claudia - Deixa Eu Dizer

This song is sampled on Marcelo D2 - Desabafo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGgrb2-x70g), a great tune in it's own right, and the YouTube vid which linked me to this classic Brazilian rhythm. Tranquilissimo.

2. CYNE - Paradise

I loved this song from the minute I heard it, and still listen to it a lot, one year on. CYNE are a hip-hop collective from Florida, and for some reason not very well known, even though almost all of their stuff is amazing. If you like this then check out some of their other stuff, such as - Haze, Arrow of God, Feather (ft. Nujabes), Soapbox, Pretty Apollo.

3. Buddy Guy - Stone Crazy

I was looking at Jimi Hendrix videos when I came across this on YouTube, then later downloaded it from the Rolling Stone Magazine 100 greatest guitar songs. Face your speakers outside, then sit on a big chair in your garden and listen to this whilst smoking a pipe; you will be happy.

The fast show

Welcome to Ramadan

Day 1 of Ramadan. Skies are clear, mood is upbeat, restaurants are empty and mouths are getting drier. I stupidly didn't leave enough time to eat breakfast, and don't go home until 1:30pm, so I'm currently on my own reluctant fast. Feel like a Muslim, and I haven't shaved in a week so I'm starting to look like one too.

I've been teaching a new class today. They are special, in one sense of the word. They each chose a celebrity to write about, here are some highlights:

"Wayne Rooney is fat because he play football everyday"

"Akon is 125cm tall"

"Shakira, he is beautiful and have hair crazy"

They then played twenty questions. I split the class in half and organised two teams. One team called themselves "Team Interesting", the other team called themselves "Morning Breeze". Extremely random.

Since we're on the topic of inspirational education, I'll leave you with an Arabic proverb.

العلم في الصغر كالنقش في الحجر

"What is learned in youth is carved in stone"

I am honoured to be sculpting the great minds of Sakaka, Saudi Arabia!

Sun day

You walk out of your air-conditioned house and you're greeted by a wall of heat. Anytime of day or night. It's currently 11pm and it's 40 degrees. I've just played football, I felt like a pregnant lady who hadn't slept for a week running round chasing Olympic athletes. In reality I played a gentle game of football with barefoot Saudi teenagers. I thought I had acclimatized! The weather report says it was 46 degrees today, I think it might have been hotter. They have a rule here that if it reaches 50 degrees celcius, construction workers don't have to work (like doing manual labour in 49 degrees isn't dangerous), and I've heard to get round this they doctor the weather reports to say it's a couple of degrees cooler than it actually is. Sweaty rumours.

Eck: "You know when you walk past an open door in England, in the winter, and you get a draft of cold air? It's the opposite here, when you walk past an open door it's like walking past an oven"

The swimming pool has become a close Allie of ours. We treat it well, clean it thoroughly, make sure it's always nice and full, and spend a lot of time in it. Another cactus in our desert is the TMS cricket coverage of England vs India, blasting out of the speakers. Whoever knew Stuart Broad, Henry Blofeld, Geoff Boycott and a hole full of water could bring such happiness. Ramadan, I'm ready for you.

Verdade

Supplying that knowledge

Since I've got back to the sandy paradise that is Sakaka, Al Jouf, Saudi Arabia, I've been fortunate enough to fulfill the challenging role of supply (substitute) teacher. Everyone already had their classes by the time I returned from my European break, and alas there were none left for me to take, so anytime someone is ill I fill in for them. So far I've taught a grand total of three classes, spanning a back-breaking four hours. Believe it or not, despite this grueling Bangladeshi-sweat-shop-esque schedule, I've managed to use my free time to advance my Brazilian Portuguese. So to celebrate this, here's a classic from my boy Jorge Ben Jor, meu cantor favorito do Brasil. Enjoy x