Today, the focus of this blog and the accompanying podcast will be the foods of the Middle East, but before we begin, I should comment on an event you may have seen in the news.

At about 3pm today, an oil production facility at Abqaiq (about 45 miles south of Dammam) was attacked by two cars carrying explosives.  The guards of the facility opened fire on the vehicles and prevented them from gaining access to the production facilities.  It appears that this is getting steady news coverage, but if you haven't checked it out yet, try the following links:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/24/saudi.refinery/index.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D14508DD-5D4E-41CD-BB7C-1E27B88A0C56.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4747488.stm

This afternoon, the Aramco officials explained the situation and offered to answer any questions or concerns that we may have had.  As you know, we are on the western coast of Saudi Arabia and this occured on the Eastern coast--and don't forget Saudi Arabia is the size of Western Europe.  Like I said, it appears that protective measures the Saudis took prevented the plan from being carried out to complete success.

Changing Gears...

The Food of the Middle East
First, let it be known that I do not always know what ingredients go into every dish or the exact names, but I will provide pictures and as many names as I can here on the blog as well and take you through a typical dining experience on the podcast today.  Note: There may be variations on spelling because of the nature of tranlitterating Arabic to our alphabet.

Upon receiving a guest in your home...
"greeting"
Arabic coffee with cardamom, sweets with honey, dates, nuts, and chocolates

For appetizers or mezzah...

Flatbread, cheese and meat pastries, vegetables, hummus, babaganush, tehina, yogurt and cucumber dip, grape leaf wraps

For the main course...
, ,
Kebabs-grilled chicken, beef, and kofta (spiced lamb), chicken livers, falafel, rice

For a very special guest, especially the first time in your home...

A whole lamb on a bed of rice w/assorted mezzah

For dessert...

Kinafa and Atayef, fruit, Um Ali, cake, chocolate mouse

I hope this gives you some idea of the Middle Eastern diet.  If you have specific questions about a dish, you might want to check online for ingredients and preparation instruction.

Be sure to listen to the podcast as you look at the pictures, and I will catch you up with my daily activities tomorrow!




# - Kevin Witte - 2/24/06; 4:22:25 PM - Discuss
Enclosure: KWitte-num5.m4a -

Today was our last day in Riyadh and we spent most of it touring the King Adbul Aziz Historical Center and the National Museum. This was a fabulous complex that chronicled the development of the Arabian Peninsula and reinforced much of the history that I have already shared with you. We are heading to Jeddah this afternoon and so I thought that since this is a day of transition, i would share with you my observations about Saudi schools

First, by no means do I claim to understand the entire system of Saudi education. However, my exposure to the Aramco compound school in Dhahran, and private schools in both Dhahran and Riyadh has allowed me to gain at least some insight into the Saudi system of education.

Starting with the school in the Aramco compound, it should be noted that there really is very little difference between this school and what you find in the United States. It is a school for ex-Pats and includes large numbers of American teachers and students as well as people from many other countries of the world. They follow an American curriculum and boys and girls attend the same classes. Many of the students have traveled all over the world as their families are expected to take vacations outside of the country as part of their time off from work during each year. This school included grades K-9th, but not 10th, 11th, and 12th. The reason for not including a senior high school is a bit complicated, but as a general rule, most students enroll in private school somewhere in the States or Europe after their 9th grade year and the company pays the majority of the expenses.

While the Aramco compound school for ex-Pats seems to be very similar to schools found in the U.S., the Saudi private schools operate a bit differently. First and foremost, boys and girls are separated. There is a girl's facility and a boys facility. As a result of this, I was only able to visit the boy portions of the two schools. However, curriculum and instruction are supposed to be largely the same and include Arabic, English, Math, Science, Religious Instruction, and Physical Education, etc.

In terms of curriculum, there is a huge focus within these schools on math and science. Clearly, future careers in the medical, engineering, and scientific fields are the most sought after in the Kingdom and therefore instruction reflects this. Curiously, social studies courses do not seem to be a major point of emphasis, and are integrated within a study of literature. In the schools I visited, specific world history or world geography courses did not exist. Saudi Arabian history is addressed and other aspects of social studies curriculum come out in other courses. However, just yesterday at our visit to the Al Shura council, we were told that social studies instruction is being revised and expanded.

The two private schools that I visited were very impressive institutions of learning. The students seemed to be very engaged in their learning and had high goals for themselves. Many plan to study in the United States or Europe after high school and speak excellent English. English instruction in the private schools often begins as early as first grade and within a few years they are capable of carrying on conversations in at least basic English.

We were very fortunate to have opportunities to visit with some of the students in each school. This revealed a great deal about how they viewed their schools, country, and the world. Many of them had traveled to many parts of the world, including the United States. They loved American movies, books, music, etc. They recognized that their nation is different culturally than the U.S., but that really there was little difference between them and American students. They liked to have fun, play Playstation and XBox, hang out with friends, and do well in school in order to prepare themselves for bright successful futures. They sincerely hoped that our group would go back to the States and explain to people who the Saudi people really are. There is a concern among them that the media inaccurately portrays the situation in the Middle East and that Islam is not shown as the religion of peace that it truly is. They made very clear that despite the fact that many Saudis do not always agree with American government policy, they very much like the American people and want bridges to be built between the two cultures.

These are just a few of the observations I came up with as I visited these schools. One component lacking within this discussion is that I have been unable to visit a public school. The curriculum is supposed to be similar, but other than that I have no clear idea about those schools. This would be helpful to more fully complete the picture of the Saudi school system, but access to such schools was a bit more difficult to achieve.

The following pictures show just a little bit of the facilities and students the school. Enjoy and if you have any questions about them drop me a message. Tomorrow, I hope to cover foods and put together a long overdue podcast.

# - Kevin Witte - 2/24/06; 8:26:14 AM - Discuss
Enclosure: -