Oliver, the Arab

Every once in a while at Red Cross Nordic, we all drop everything we have in our busy hands and do a PBL. I generally try to avoid the use of Cryptic acronyms here on my blog, but I think this one requires an explanation. A PBL (or Project Based Learning) week is when we all stop what we are doing (yes, that includes homework) and spend a week doing some project. Any project. Actually, our PBLs span all the way from climbing over learning guitar and geopolitical debates to horseback riding in Dream Vally. I did a glacier trip, an MUN and a first aid course last year, so now I figured that it was time for a more cultural approach. Hence, Arabic PBL.

Our two volunteers from Western Sahara had the task of teaching us how to live, speak and eat like proper Arabs in just one week. They did a great job! I especially liked the big dinner on the last night, where we all dressed up for a classical Saharawi feast. I think the most challenging thing about Arabic culture for me was eating with my fingers. Not that I am particularly hysterical about hygiene, but eating with my hands is something that I connect with pizza and a movie; and not with eating a rice stew in a dangerously white Saharawi national dress. Never the less, I overcame.

The PBL also contained an introduction to the Arabic language. While taking a break from calculus, Camus and Cepheid variables, sitting in a circle and singing the alphabet song was quite a nice contrast. By the end of the week, I put together a song of the various phrases that I had learned. Not exactly Shakespeare, it went something in the lines of: "Hello. How are you? How much is the butter? You are very pretty." I call it my One Week of Arabic Arab Love Song.

Another very important part of the weak was learning about the situation in Western Sahara. Both of the girls who conducted the week are Saharawis living in the Algerian refugee camps. It was an amazing experience to hear them telling the stories of their lives and their country. It is worth your time. Learning about the Arab world in general is actually something that is worth anyone's time. Especially now when so much is happening in a part of the world that so many of us know so little about. In fact, I think everyone needs to be an Arab from time to time, even if it is only for a week.