The people you meet in new places

I swear, if I could take a picture of every person I meet in a day and profile them on a blog it would be remarkable.

For those who don't know me, I tend to attract oddest, most interesting people in any group. For those that do know me, you can attest to the fact that somehow people feel free to open up to me and express any mix of strange emotions and thoughts.

I could go into tons of examples like this Palestinian stalker I picked up with my roommate Andrea while living in Al Menzah 6 in Tunis, or the Indian guy I met in Dubai at the Australian Counsel General's house with Jen who forced us into loads of drinks and an eventual Indian "strip club."

But my spark for writing this entry came from a more normal guy I just met while making my daily Pakistani Chapati (bread) run in my neighborhood here.

He is some guy who apparently has Omani citizenship but doesn't speak Arabic well. He studied in Canada and works for IBM but he apparently can't let go of his decade old Diesel shirt with Curry stains all over the front. He has an opinion on everything you bring up, but doesn't belong in any situation.

Here is my "recap" of the afternoon just when he came in :).

I was talking to my Pakistani friends at the shop, as is the usual. I go in ask for 2 pieces of bread, he makes me 3 and I have to force some money down his throat. The bring me tea and we try to talk in Arabic for 10-15 minutes before I leave.

Only this time these two guys came in that I hadn't ever seen before. One was Omani and he asked me some questions in Arabic, to which I replied, "Eric, from America." Then the other guy turned to me and said, "Which state" in perfect American English. I told him Michigan and he went into his spell about how he studied in Minnesota and knows the US well.

Then I went back to talking to my friends for a bit about Bahrain and different Gulf countries (when your Arabic is still basic you have to work on words you know and learn from the situation, thus countries, food, and general greetings are sometimes the extent of my conversations). He heard my rant about Bahrain and the price differences between Dubai, Bahrain and Oman for telecommunications or something and he said, "You had better not go to Bahrain, there is violence there you know."

I replied, "Sure, there is a little more violence there than here, but it really isn't bad."

He interrupted, "Fine, but you had better not tell them you are American or they will hurt you."

To which I said, "No, actually I have been in the middle of many gatherings with many people in Bahrain and have told each and every one of them I was American. I never once had a problem."

Not to be proven wrong he said, "Well you had better not try that in Afghanistan, they will kill you there."

I conceded, "Yes, you are right but that is an entirely different situation in Afghanistan. They don't have any sort of strong government to..."

He interrupted again, "Yah, they would kill you in Iraq of Afghanistan. You know what Bush is doing...."

You get the point. He was someone that no matter what everyone was speaking about, no matter what anyone else was doing, he wanted to come in and demand attention, to prove his intellect, and to voice his opinions at an opportune time.

Some other important traits of his were his lack of positivity, his hatred for Oman (despite apparently having a great job and a great side business), his lack of care for life, and his desire to move to Canada apparently. I guess the world sees Canada as one of the few 1st world countries that is still pure of environment, spirit, and government.

Anyway, my point is that as an American especially when I travel or move around I often meet people that fit precisely into this generalization. They are fed up and bored with their life, want to push some buttons and test any American they find, and don't care about any social manners or have any respect for a social situation.

As an example, the Pakistani baker after awhile said sometime in Urdu to the man. His reaction was to mimic the poor guy and translate it into English, "He says 'Why don't you talk about something I can be a part of too.'"

The new guy laughed and continued to give me his number and say if I ever need any connections at a bank, or in Gold or anything to call him. I took his number but wouldn't want anything to do with such a person if I could help it. I have learned that lesson before (see the Palestinian guy in Tunis if you must....scary stalker).

My reaction most probably spoke worlds to him. After he interrupted me once I let him continue and tried to add on to where his conversation was taking me. After he interrupted me rudely twice, I fell silent and decided to not amuse him any further. He fell into an endless ramble and decided to offer me professional services as a way of ending the conversation on a high note, thus being the good guy, and calling it a night.

In the past I would have picked a new bakery to get my bread, but I really like the guys there. This time around I think I'll just converse with them in Arabic instead and he can either join our conversations or leave :).

The Drake

Yes, I am in Oman and yes I just got back from a great trip to Dubai that finally made me feel like a shopping tourist amazed by the new stuff and yes I must visit Bahrain ASAP (Ala and others, it was my intention to come to Oman and fly to Bahrain the same day to surprise everyone, so don't spread the word I am in the region and others will get their surprise), but first and foremost I was watching Seinfeld the other day and something caught my attention. So now my long overdue shout out to a dear friend chilling back in the States.

"George: I don’t like Drake
Jerry: You don’t like the Drake?
George: Hate the Drake.
Elaine: I love the drake
Jerry: How could you not like the drake?

George: Who’s the Drake?
Elaine: Who’s the Drake?
Jerry: The Drake is good!
…
Elaine: Hi, hey have you gotten a present yet for the Drake?
Kramer: No No, Not yet
Jerry: Do you like the Drake?
Kramer: I love the Drake, I’m looking forward to meeting the Drake-et"

And yes, once there is a "Drake-et" I have to meet her. Until then, keep sampling soil till you find the fertile....well I won't go there.

Eric

Who's that white boy?

Oman, unlike many other countries I have lived (primarily in the Middle East), is perhaps the best country at playing “Name the country of origin of that white boy.” I of course know from first hand as I am “that white Boy.”

The odd thing is that in Oman there are far fewer white people than say the UAE or Bahrain, and in most areas I frequent in Oman (when compared with the touristic areas in Tunisia), they have more white people than Tunis. So why do they come up to me when wearing 100% European and Middle Eastern clothes and doing very Arab things and say, “Ameriki?”

I am used to be called French or British or even Syrian, Persian or Bosnian (Thanks to the beard of course and my limited knowledge of Arabic), but never since being in Europe have so many people gotten me pegged correctly on their first try.

I know this seems mundane, but I base a lot of how I fit in on the fact that people cannot accurately place me ☺. So now for my take on it…

Since they don’t interact with very many white people on a daily basis, and the ones they do aren’t 90% from any one country, they probably have no idea what to assume at first glance. They are then going on what they know best, and that is the US from media, music, and movies.

So, khalas, it isn’t me, its them ☺.

My Oman(real)ization

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am now in Oman. My position here is to do continuing research and logistical setup for a pending AIESEC expansion. The main reason I took this opportunity is because it gives us the chance to go over all of our past mistakes and what we have learned and to do it better this time.

While I have been to Oman before and had quite the cultural experience, I am learning a lot more about the country this time around.

With the promise of much cultural understanding to come, I will leave you with a quick generalization and question to ponder.

Generalization: Omanis are of the nicest people in the Gulf, quite possibly in the world.

Question: If the above is true, why is it that in Muscat the drivers are so rude? It is of note that I have driven in both the UAE and Bahrain and wasn't shocked by the same thing there).

Yalla.