Alexa Straker is a new assistant classroom educator at Springs’ Magnolia Student Center (her husband, Geoffrey, is beginning his 4th year as the visual arts teacher at Magnolia). From grades K-7 she lived in and went to schools in the Middle East. She recently shared about her experiences there.
Photo: Geoffrey and Alexa Straker go on a summer trip to Japan.
How is it that you came to attend school K-7th grade in the Middle East?
In 1992, my dad transferred to the Dhahran office in Saudi Arabia for the company he worked with as a project manager. The majority of the projects he worked on were oil related—oil refineries, offshore oil drilling and collection and crude oil storage—though he also worked on projects in conjunction with the military bases in the area. My family and I spent three and a half years in Saudi Arabia, one year in Kuwait, and three in a half years in Dubai before returning to the United States in 2001.
What did you learn from this experience?
The schools I attended while overseas were all private American schools, but the student body was made up of a combination of expat kids of different nationalities, and local children of more affluent families. With the student population being made up of primarily expats, every year there were new faces in each class, new people to get to know and new cultures to explore, not just the local culture and customs by which we were surrounded. Additionally, living in the area afforded me and my family the opportunity to travel extensively to different parts of Europe, Africa and Asia where we immersed ourselves in other cultures and history for one to two weeks every year. That was one of the biggest takeaways I had from my time living overseas: tolerance and acceptance of that which makes us unique, but also recognizing the ways in which we are all the same.
Are there any common misconceptions Americans have about the Middle East you’d like to help us clear up?
I think the one thing that most people think of when they think about the Middle East is Radical Islam, but in reality, those who practice Radical Islam make up a very small portion of the population. One of the Five Pillars of Islam, the basic tenets that govern the religion as a whole, is Charity, which most prevalently manifests in Middle Eastern tradition of hospitality. In the Middle East hospitality does not begin and end in welcoming guests in to one’s home, but permeates every aspect of daily interaction with those outside your familial group.
One the things I remember most vividly was shopping in the souqs—which are comparable to Western shopping centers, but they deal mostly in traditional goods and wares. Upon entering a shop in one of the souqs you were greeted, offered something to drink and often times a snack. It was then customary to engage in small talk with the owner before eventually bringing the conversation around to the items you were interested in purchasing, or asking about the item that had caught your eye.
In Islamic culture, the guest is considered the most important person, but hospitality extends beyond how a guest is welcomed in to one’s home or business. Being hospitable also means aiding others in their travels and endeavors. Another instance I remember very clearly was a man dressed in traditional garb running full tilt after my mom as she pulled away from a gas station to let her know that she had left the gas cap off. He then put the gas cap back on for her so she wouldn’t have to get out of the car herself and could continue on her way.
There were a few times I can remember bomb threats being called in to the school, or school trips or events being canceled due to circumstances occurring in the area, like the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen that cut the swim season short three weeks. These types of things were the exception rather than the norm. Radical Islam was something I was aware of growing up, but never encountered personally. In my experience, people in the Middle East had the same day-to-day lives and concerns as those everywhere else; how well their kids were doing in school, whether they were happy with their job and what they were going to have for dinner that night. This has been my experience with the people in all of the 21 countries I’ve visited in my life. People are people.
