12/23/2005 - Saudi student gets yearlong dose of U.S. culture
Brodhead, Wisconsin, USA – Many students look forward to their first high school dance with excitement and a bit of trepidation, but for one Brodhead sophomore, his first dance was more than a traditional rite of passage.
Ahmad Algouaiz is a 15-year-old exchange student from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In his culture, co-ed dances are forbidden. “In our country, the boys and girls are separated,” Ahmad said. “Women cover their heads and don’t drive cars – they have drivers. Everybody is together here [in the U.S.], and people can hang out with girls.”
Ahmad explained that males and females are separated at a very young age in Saudi Arabia, attending gender-specific schools and not mingling for social functions, even within the extended family.
“I hang around with my brother and sisters, but not my female cousins,” Ahmad said.
The family’s home has separate living rooms for men and women to entertain guests, and marriages usually are arranged by the parents. Once a young couple becomes engaged, they may be allowed to become acquainted before the wedding, although the level of interaction is usually governed by their families’ beliefs.
Ahmad is the son of Mohammad Algouaiz and Johar Almurshed. He has a brother, Abdullah, and two sisters, Fahda and Anoud. His father is a manager in an electrical company and his mother is the principal of a middle school.
He is part of a group of fifteen boys and two girls in the Partnership for Learning Youth Exchange and Study Program who are studying in the U.S. through the AFS intercultural program.
“I like to see other countries’ cultures,” Ahmad said.
The young traveler has visited France, Austria, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain and Orlando, Fla. on vacations with his family and has studied English since he was born, attending an American school in Saudi Arabia for kindergarten.
Jonathan and Wendy Heise and their 17-year-old son, Josh, are hosting Ahmad and said they have learned much about the Muslim faith and culture since welcoming him into their home. The Heises have a 19-year-old son, Zachary, who is a sophomore at UW-Madison.
“I was an AFS student in Argentina, and we wanted to host a student while we still had a child in school,” Wendy said. “Ahmad started in Madison with a temporary host family, and it seemed like an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up. Josh always wanted to be a big brother.”
Besides the adjustment to a co-ed lifestyle, there are other differences that Ahmad has observed. It rarely gets below 30 degrees in Saudi Arabia and their summers reach more than 121 degrees – but it’s a dry heat. The majority of Saudi homes, including Ahmad’s, have swimming pools for relief from the high temperatures. What has been relatively warm fall here has proven a challenge for Ahmad as he adjusts to lower temperatures, and Wendy reported that their guest is “already needing lots of blankets.” Another cultural difference is that Ahmad is accustomed to having two maids at his home, where there is a clear segregation of household duties. In the Heise household, Jon cooks and the family cherishes their two dogs, which occupy places of honor in their home. In Saudi Arabia, pets are rare and fathers who cook even rarer.
Saudi homes are also constructed of concrete, with high privacy walls surrounding each house. Families are more likely to buy half a camel than half a beef, and pork and alcohol are forbidden under the tenets of the Muslim religion.
Boys are strongly encouraged to keep their hair closely shorn, and Ahmad plans to stretch his wings a little by growing out his black curls until it’s time to return home.
The devout Sunni is remaining true to his faith, however, and fasted during Ramadan, eschewing food from sunrise until sunset. The Heises hope to take him to visit a mosque in Madison while he is here, and Ahmad will also experience a Heise family wedding in Maine, where he looks forward to observing the American tradition of exchanging marriage vows.
Ahmad does share many interests with American boys, playing video games and watching some of the same television shows in Saudi Arabia that are available here. He hopes to wrestle and has started weight lifting with a strength coach in preparation for the wrestling season.
“He likes to keep busy,” Jon said. “Our lawn has never looked better – he doesn’t get to drive a lawn mower at home.”
When asked if his family was concerned that the lifestyle in the United States might be too abrupt a cultural change for him, Ahmad said his family believes in exposing their children to the world.
“They encouraged me to come here,” Ahmad said. “I like small towns better than Madison, though.”
Story by Ellen Williams-Masson, reprinted with permission from The Monroe Times, Monroe, Wisconsin, USA, November 6, 2005
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