Would you ever consider employing a visually challenged person to work as a cashier in a busy supermarket? Well, some may argue it is not exactly the case but consider this: a Muslim woman, fully covered, long dress, headscarf covering her whole head and in the place where normally you have the opening for the eyes she has a black net sewn in so absolutely nothing of her body is exposed. She is working all day long looking at a checkout monitor and handling money looking through something that is rather opaque! Now that for me is a joke.
I am told covering women’s face serves a modesty purpose. But then why would any women above a certain age (I don’t want to arbitrarily assign a number here) still cover their faces?
Another joke: all you see is the statuesque female bodies all around you so you get the idea that private things remain private. However, when you go to a local market for your daily supplies, the only shop assistants are males! So, if you need a pair of knickers, tights or a bra you need to speak to a male! How does this make sense is beyond me. I consider myself a fairly liberated person but I do not want to buy my underwear from a man! And a Muslim man even less so!
At the stalls you see underwear piled up high and you also see bikinis, or stuff made with lace so this whole modesty is just a front. I have to say I do not mind not being exposed to girls’ midriffs or their cracks due to low sitting pants. however, this level of covering your body is too much to take especially in the oppressive heat of a desert climate.
In the Science office when another class was due a colleague said to me: “I Really don’t feel like covering the reproduction topic with my year 13s…” When I questioned him a little he said he just wasn’t ready for their inquisitiveness which he worried would be similar to that of last year when he was covering sexually transmitted diseases. He said that last year after very detailed questions pertaining to how STDs are transmitted he came out of that class with quite a vivid image of their sexual experiences and they are in Y13 in an Islamic country!
To be fair every school I have been at had stories about sexual escapades of the students either at school or on school activities, so I am not surprised that it happens. Rumour has it that here it also happens even though the general public is somehow naively led to perceive the Islamic countries as ones where this would not be occurring. Another example of being fooled by the image created by superficial media reports…
At the end of my second week, and even in my first week people were asking me how I am liking it here. There has not been much chance for me to explore the place at all. I have a car, but I am a lousy driver, and driving here can be unnerving. Plus the signage is nearly non-existent and maps out of date. Google maps is probably only available on VPN but it is hard to get your data to work on the phone. The roads are dirt tracks most of the time. It is a little too hot for leisurely walks and I am slightly intimidated here.
You can not really see that many people on the streets, but when you do see them they are either women walking with a purpose or groups of men loitering underneath low trees. The kids can be seen playing football barefoot in dusty, unused empty spaces. The women here quite often wear colourful clothes, many choose saris with wild, African pattern giving the place its unique flair. It is not just the dark tones of typical Islamic hijabs, but more of African heritage is seen in their clothes. They often carry heavy loads on their heads as if gliding along the dusty paths. The men either don their whitish robes and scullcaps or just wear typical western clothes. You often see them in groups just sitting under trees or walking aimlessly.
The one big difference between living in China and here is the wildlife and domestic animals. In China you would see dogs. Loads of them. Usually tiny ones. There is a law there that in cities dogs larger than a certain height cannot be registered. Some breeds are completely banned because they are seen as dangerous. So the Chinese usually have what I call little anklefuckers. U see them wearing clothes. Wearing shoes. Straight out of grooming salons with their manes and tails dyed. Utter canine abominations. You could see cats sometimes. Sneaking around and scampering away when spotted. Few birds. Once I saw a hedgehog! It was quite a sight so I just watched the poor creature patter away. Some mosquitoes, but not many because all greenery is sprayed with DDT. No moths, few butterflies. That was it.
Here the whole area, as barren and arid as it is, is teeming with life! I had the chicks on my own balcony. Then there are the donkeys pulling carts everywhere. One mud brick household downstairs from me has one so I see and hear it every day and every night. In another household there are goats and chickens. I see them from my windows. Just outside our perimeter wall there is a whole litter of kittens playing around. I have a little wall lizard in one of the rooms. Birds chirp all the time and there are many species of many sizes. So you do not see a lot of foliage but there is life all around you. Only now do I realise how much I like having animals around just to look at them. With the exception of flies! The flies here are something else. It seems the sole purpose of their existence is purely to annoy you. This is true of all the flies all over the world, but the ones here are particularly persistent. They are rather small and partly lethargic but with enough wits about them to almost always escape the swatter.