Nice (& bad) things about the Arab culture
One of the first things people often ask me about living here is how is the culture, or how are the people?
To put it simply, I love the culture here.
Often times, upon returning to the States I feel completely out of place for atleast a week or two. The Middle Eastern culture, to put it simply is just more friendly.
To give a few examples. . .
The other day, I was sitting at the Bible table (a table we have setup to pass out Bibles) one of the vendors that works there, walked by and just started rubbing my shoulders. Although, this would have scared me a bit when I first came out to the middle east, now it is nice way of someone just being kind. It really made my day.
Another example, would be that yesterday I was out at the table when my bike wouldn’t start up. It is about 20 to 30 minutes away from my mechanic. I called him, and he drove all the way out and towed me back to his garage. I told him that I didn’t have any money to pay for repairs right now. He simply said “No problem”. I can pay for it when I can, no big deal!
in the States, it is rude to invite oneself over for dinner or lunch. Here, if I do not show up at various places for lunch I will get asked if there is anything wrong.
Not to say that there are not some things that I would disagree with culturally here. There are some things that are difficult to get used to. Racism is something that is heavily tolerated. In Lebanon there exists a cast system that becomes more evident to the onlooker with time.
It is culturally common to throw trash wherever. Yesterday I saw a woman drive over to the ocean and throw her bottles out into the water, right next to a trash can. When you look out into the water you can see lots of trash bags just floating along. In the south there exists a mountain of trash that leaks off into the ocean. The sewage is simply pumped out into the ocean…
Tags: culture, cultureshock, missions, missiontrips
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