Question Two

What have been the major differences you have seen in the relationships between people through your experience ? Men and women ? Within families ? Between friends ? What has been something that has stood out to you, that you have learnt from and taken with you ? Has there been anything which has surprised you or challenged you ? How did you react ?

-- Post your answers on your blog or comment here.

First Salaamer in the UAE

"To welcome our first US Salaam trainee arriving in the UAE, we set up a little fun and games for her arrival. Here is the look on her face after she figured out what was going on :)."

-- Check out what happened to Alicia in the UAE when she arrived !

Religion and society

With that said, it makes no difference to me what religion someone is and I respect their value of it. I did a lot of searching and found some fish and a shisha. In no way am I an expert. I still have a lot of learning to do and perhaps someday my thoughts will change. For me a lot of it comes down to a big scheme to keep people healthy, happy, and acting in a noble way. I can do that on my own.

-- Mike's thoughts on religion are very interesting.

Question : What impact do you think religion has on the society you are in right now ?

Best email ... ever :)

"About me I'm going very good, enjoying the work with Rachel (She is a VERY nice person). The Human Resources Dep. at the college has chosen me to be interviewed in addition to other students and the interview will be taken in video as a guide for the new professors at Edmonds college (the interview will be about culture in Arabia) and I am in contact with the International students center at the college to participate in their activities. Moreover, I have a presentation about the UAE and the Culture there in 2 weeks and that will be for the stuff at the Buss. and Fin. dep. at Edmonds.

Jen, I'm not only meeting the AIESECers! I am living with them!! I just moved in the weekend to Barbra’s place, she has a nice flat mates and I'm enjoying the company! I introduced them to smoking Sheesha at part of the Arabic culture and they introduced me to different aspects of the American culture!! :-)

The weekend with them was amazing! I will be leaving to Dubai by the end of this week through NY,maybe, and I might have the chance to meet you guys! I will let you now if that happens. I apologize for my long email, I realized that it's long when I finished it!! Love, Aqeel"

Aqeel from AIESEC UAE, orginally from Saudi Arabia.

Cultural shock ?

Check out what Jessica has to say and read her story and experiences on her blog.

I applied to Salaam with the express interess of expanding my knowledge of the world, with all things included. I expected the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. I have seen all of these things in the past two weeks. I am almost thankful to have experienced all of the bad things that I have so far. These experiences truly show me why I am here.I will not run away, I will not hide, and I will not disallow myself fun in the life I lead. I will be brave, and not back down in the face of hardship. I was brought to Egypt to help increase positive relations, and that is what I will do.

Experiences like mine are a test of character. I am strong and I will do all I can to break down stereotypes, violence, misunderstanding, and hatred. I will work to understand better why sints like these happen and I will actively work to prevent them for others.

I will serve my purpose as a Salaam Trainee.

I know that my experiences in Attaba do not accurately reflect the Egyptian people. And the Egyptians I have told about this are the most angry about it. Egyptians are warm and caring and willing to help. So we must simply increase our understanding of these incidents and find the right way to address them in future and to eventually stop them.

---

Anyone else have interesting experiences of culture shock ? And what it taught you ?

FIRST QUESTION

What has been your greatest cultural experience so far (positive or negative) ? What did you learn from this and what impact has it had on you ? If you went through that experience again what would you do differently ?

This question is open to anyone however we ask that Salaam trainees answer the question on their own blogs and we can compile the answers here.

17 Camels

Welcome Rachel our newest blogger :

Today I visited the NGO in Bahary, where I will be teaching English and playing with babyhaats for three days a week. The area the NGO is in is quite different from anywhere else in Alex I’ve visited. I got out of the cab and found myself in the middle of yet another crowded street, but this time instead of just people there were goats and chickens too. There were food and tea and juice vendors, as well as butchers’ shops and car/machine/shoe repair places.

What Nisrin loves about Egypt ...

I love meeting Egyptians especially the shopkeepers and strangers on the street. And interacting with them has helped me to improve my Arabic, well at least practice. There are only a few people I speak Arabic with one of which is Tamer and the other Mae. My boss told everyone at work that after my first week that they all should start speaking with me in Arabic all the time, in order to improve my Arabic. I think once I start to speak to him in Arabic he’ll be surprised by how much I know. I understand about 70% of things people say. Hopefully by the end of my traineeship, I will understand everything. When most people hear me speak Arabic, the first question they usually ask is if I’m Lebanese. Oh and my favorite Egyptian Arabic word is wala’a.

Check out the links on the side to see what people are up to on their traineeships !

Salaam comes to Madison

Hello all my fellow partners in exchange!

Hope the summer is treating everyone well- whether you are here or in another country (which I'll be very jealous of) I needed to take a moment and brag, i mean share my excitement about what WE'VE been doing up in Madison (mooooo)!

Well, yesterday our first trainee in over 2 years came! Her name is Hind and she is from Morocco and she is AWESOME ! We had quite the festivities at Kelly's house with icecream cake and all (my idea)! There were 15 AIESECers and Hind and we did 'get to know each other' type icebreakers. It was awesome. I'm pumped . Our other Salaam trainee is coming next Friday and Madison is super thrilled to be able to show these fine individuals the Midwest (and yes there is a lot to do out here!)

In any case, I will be sending out our calendar of events and trips that we have planned for the trainees throughout the summer and if ANYONE is interested in joining us, or bringing your Salaam trainees or other trainees (ahem Chicago!) PLEASE feel free to email me and we will arrange it all! I have a car and I'm ready to drive this summer!

In addition, Schneider Trucking is very close to picking a trainee (they are currently interviewing) so yeah for that. AND Tanja (who's a rockstar if you don't know her yet) and I met with JCI on Wednesday and there ready to take up to three trainees this year!

So bottom line, Madison is rocking hardcore this summer. I'm telling you all- Bay Area, Austin.. whoever you are, we're coming and Madison is ready for exchange! Oh, and YOU KNOW who's gonna bring the party at SSC- (hmm who had the largest delegation at WSC??) SO y'all better be ready for a rockin SSC!!!!

Okay, keep on exchanging and impacting everyone around you! And share other success stories- it gets me AMPED!

Yours truly,
The one and only Ali G