In the 10th grade at Anzar High School, students are asked to
ponder the concept of the United States being a melting pot. Many
are the days when sophomores sit under Mr. Braithwaite’s careful
eye and read packet after packet on the subject. By the end of the
unit, students are asked to write an in-class essay stating their
opinion on whether or not the U.S. is in fact a melting pot.
Fortunately, during this winter break, I got a real eye-opener on
the subject. Believe it or not, I spent Christmas in the Middle
East.
In the 10th grade at Anzar High School, students are asked to ponder the concept of the United States being a melting pot. Many are the days when sophomores sit under Mr. Braithwaite’s careful eye and read packet after packet on the subject. By the end of the unit, students are asked to write an in-class essay stating their opinion on whether or not the U.S. is in fact a melting pot. Fortunately, during this winter break, I got a real eye-opener on the subject. Believe it or not, I spent Christmas in the Middle East.
I arrived in the “safety hazard” zone of the United Arab Emirates on Christmas Eve after a plane ride that set me back more hours than I would choose to recount, and there I was, in Dubai.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is like the United States of the Arab World. On Dec. 2, 1971, the UAE was founded by the seven rulers of the once English “Trucial States” that made up the area. Among the city-states that now make up the UAE are Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman and many others.
The UAE is the newest country in the Arab world and therefore is one of the freshest and most striking places to visit. Dubai in particular is a very modern city and it grows every day. It is home to some very amazing sights, such as the Burj Al Arab (The Arabian Tower) – which changes colors at night and is a seven-star hotel – the many malls, and the growing towers of the main city of Dubai. Right now, Dubai is in the process of building the Medina Jumierah (a huge resort), the Global Village and Palm Island (shaped like they are named), the biggest mall in the world (shaped like the Babylonian Gardens) and the biggest tower in the world. Luckily, I came during tourist season.
Dubai was nothing as I had supposed or as my friends had supposed. When I left, the first thing my friend Cheyenne Monde asked me when I contacted him was, “Is there sand?” I found that most people in our area of California have no clue about the Middle East, but yes, there is sand, and lots of it. Being a Middle Eastern country and all, I had expected more of the conservatism of Saudi Arabia, but it was nothing like that. If any country in the world were a fast-paced, well educated, well jumbled mixing pot, it would be Dubai.
People in Dubai don’t hold much stock in petty disagreements, or even huge clashes like religious preference. Well, at least not outwardly. Muslims and Christians alike celebrate Christmas. I was shocked to see Christmas trees and ornaments everywhere I went, especially next to the “Pork Section: No Muslims Allowed” sign in the Choithram grocery story. When I asked a local Muslim in the store why he celebrated Christmas, he simply smiled and told me that Jesus was a prophet to the Muslims too, so it didn’t matter if Muslims and Christians practice most of their religious beliefs differently.
Dubai is one of the only places in the world where locals make up about 20 percent of the country’s population. Everyone else in Dubai are foreigners. Most are from India and Pakistan and a good amount are from Afghanistan as well, but Europeans flock here, too. I have never seen such a multicultural area, and that is saying something considering the extent of my international travel. Most of the older generations here dress in their old nation’s traditional clothing, but the new wave of teenagers look almost exactly like most Californian teenagers do.
Even with the wonders that my eyes have seen while out here, Dubai isn’t a perfect place. According to a new friend of mine, Sarah Al-Ramadan, who is now a citizen of Dubai (although I originally met her in Hong Kong) and is a student at a local high school, the schools are very self-segregated and social status is normally pre-determined by your ethnicity.
“If you are an Arab, you’re a gangster. If you are European, you are hot stuff. If you are Indian, you are an automatic dork, and if you are mixed like me, you don’t fit in,” she said.
Sarah is originally half Arab, half Japanese, so fitting in used to be a real challenge for her. Now she has found her place with a group the local teenagers have dubbed the “half kids.” The education system in Dubai is rigorous by any standards so the social order isn’t set primarily by one’s intelligence as it is in most American high schools. Everyone takes the higher classes. Maybe the next generation of Dubai will be a lot less peaceful than the current one.
As Dubai is now, everyone speaks several languages and the crime rate is non-existent. You wouldn’t find that in the United States as much as you would in the UAE. The United States is a vastly multicultural area as well, but from what I’ve seen, Dubai beats the United States on several levels. The UAE has an incredible ability to cope, even through all of the trials they have been through. The United States has definitely had an effect on Dubai because of the modern era that we live in, and Dubai is also an hour flight from Baghdad, so they are in the Middle Eastern mess as well, but they don’t have mass terror everywhere. The level of fear in the UAE is much lower than in the United States, which might explain the racial tolerance. The UAE never had segregation problems like the United States did. People are racially accepting in the UAE, no doubt about it. This place that is now a “hazard zone” is a lot more peaceful than most Americans would believe, and I would know, because I have lived it.
So is the United States really a melting pot? Maybe so, but look out America. Here comes the Middle East.
Sarah Al-Ahmed is a junior at Anzar High School.
