Tag: Living overseas

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20 – Cultural Identity: The Expat Experience Explained

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

Everyone in the Gulf is introduced by their name, which is immediately followed by their nationality.  Rather than remain simply American, I decided to use my heritage to bridge the communication gap with other ex-patriates.  A friend explained that Caledonia wasn’t an island some mercenaries were fighting over, but the old name for Scotland, so I attended a Caledonian party. I badgered everyone to educate me about my heritage.  I learned about “haggis”:  a big rat which limps on Scottish mountains and is cooked  in a sheep’s stomach.  I thought people had ceased eating rats after the Black Death.  I … Continue reading 20 – Cultural Identity: The Expat Experience Explained

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19 – Cultural Souvenirs from Arabia

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

Leaving a country is traumatic. What’s worse is being back home and thinking, “I should have bought that when I was there!”  What stops me? I have this silly feeling that anything that costs more than 100 of any denomination is too expensive.  Before I left Saudi Arabia, I went on a jewelry binge. This is not healthy shopping. It’s less painful to take a few weeks and buy a souvenir (French for “to remember”) here and there, carefully and selectively.       I love rugs, however, I’m not a doctor or an oil executive.  I’ll invest in fake Chinese rugs … Continue reading 19 – Cultural Souvenirs from Arabia

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Hunting from Animals to Clothing and Food – 15

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

A student who had written about hawking in Pakistan presented me with a few close-ups of hawks as their claws stilled their living prey. The hawks’ I’ve-killed-and-won eyes were self-satisfied, arrogant, proud and powerful. All I saw was the joy of killing. I mentioned it to my student who smiled happily, “Of course. He can eat now.” I don’t look like that when I leave Safeway.  Nor when I receive my monthly salary.   In the States, one of my Cambodian students told me how he had daily hunted for food. I imagined my muscles tuned to the jungle heat, eyes … Continue reading Hunting from Animals to Clothing and Food – 15

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Guns and Generosity: Eid Celebrations in UAE

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

I had helped a student who was partially blind last year and he invited me to join his family on the Eid holiday. I couldn’t so he telephoned and told me about the day.   “We go to the mosque and everyone brings their most valuable possession….” he said. “What do they bring?” I asked He tried to avoid answering. I repeated the question.  I could almost see him lower his face, “Their guns.  Some have old ones, some have machine guns.” “Machine guns?” I shouted.  “Men carry machine guns to the mosque!” I have to remind myself that tribal disputes … Continue reading Guns and Generosity: Eid Celebrations in UAE

Aunt AliceLeave a comment

First Times – Part 2

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

The first time in a Las Vegas casino, I was shocked at the shorts, t-shirts, jeans and cheap dresses of the gamblers. It didn’t look like “Dallas – worldwide popular American TV show about wealthy Texans.”   I was also surprised by the free food and drinks, discounted hotel bills. Rather than gamble, I played Pac Man for the first time. The first time I was in a Monte Carlo gambling casino, I was astonished at the artistry and plushness of every square inch of the place.  I was also shocked at the whole idea of gambling, and gambling such lush … Continue reading First Times – Part 2

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Engaging Students with ‘First Time’ Writing Prompts

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

      It’s difficult as a teacher to get students to write interesting compositions.  Over the years, I’ve invented bizarre topics to force my students to think.  However, transplanting American topics to the Gulf just doesn’t work culturally.  Gulf students are more private than Americans and don’t indulge in discussing the same topics which per-occupy Westerners:  for example, families. I blush.  High school and college nights were an endless dissection of my parents’ bizarre behavior and my six sisters’ endless cruelty and misunderstandings.  Even to this day, confidences both direct and dreadful escape my lips about my family.  Religion … Continue reading Engaging Students with ‘First Time’ Writing Prompts

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Women Drivers – 11

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

   Only women should be allowed to drive.  Men’s biological urge for speed, their quest to overcome all obstacles on the road and their passionate self-absorption once in front of the wheel has littered the road with blood, heartache and years of pain which only a faith in God can heal. “Write about something wonderful or terrible,” I suggested to my students. I received paper after paper describing bloody car accidents.  Never had I known so many young people to have witnessed such carnage. The first time I seriously sat in the driver’s seat, the instructor described all the things … Continue reading Women Drivers – 11

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Cultural Reflections: Life in the Gulf vs. America

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

So there I was in college last summer, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Everything was normal.  No separation of the sexes, easily availability for any and all shopping.  No problem communicating in English. No foreign-currency conversion although I found myself doing it backwards a few times to compare American and Gulf prices. I even got used to everyone wearing shorts, although I didn’t wear them. I also realized American men wear baseball hats for the same reason Arabian men and women cover their heads:  protection from the sun. It was a relief to sit in the student desk and not at the … Continue reading Cultural Reflections: Life in the Gulf vs. America

Arabia, Aunt Alice, EFL Teacher BlogLeave a comment

Embracing Reverse Culture Shock in America – 9

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

Last summer I returned to the States.  The Midwestern oaks, maples and elm trees were in glorious green-leaf flower on streets and surrounding unwalled houses while grass was everywhere. No wonder American money is green!  Most everyone spoke English. I loved the overflow of conversations on airplanes, in stores and while standing in movie lines but I soon tired of eavesdropping after hearing one too many, “He don’t….”  Companies have 1-800 telephone numbers:  free long-distance phone calls to sort out plane reservations or to order products.  Summer school registration with computers was quick and easy. Dormitory living became tolerable.  I … Continue reading Embracing Reverse Culture Shock in America – 9

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75-Day Summer Break – 7

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

    March 8, 1990   Remember planning last year’s summer holiday?  We teachers have the lavish leisure of a 75-day paid summer holiday. But wait!  Like swamp lots sold in Florida or some property in India, such a lengthy holiday may be a golden time to destroy one’s finances and wreck one’s nerves. Staying home in the Gulf isn’t my first choice. My friends leave town and there aren’t any movies playing at wide-screen theatres.  Bicycling, jogging, camping or Hashing don’t seem inviting. One summer I spent a month on the French Riviera. The franc was nine to a … Continue reading 75-Day Summer Break – 7