Last night I attended my first university graduation here. It was definitely unlike anything I have ever been to or seen in my life- but fun.
Everything here takes time. One of my roomies is house and truck sitting for some friends that are out of the country right now. So, we took the truck to meet our friend. Then we went to the university and meet up with some more people, who might I add were really excited to meet 2 white girls, haha. We drank some REALLY strong, black, sugary coffee and then had to rush out of there to meet some more of our friend's friends. These friends were at a photo studio having their grad pics taken. We get there and these girls are decked out- I mean bangin'! Me and my roomie felt so out of place because we didn't realize that this was such a dressy event. We ended up in the pictures anyways, though we had just met the girls that were graduating.
Once the pictures were done we all loaded in the truck and drove back to the university. There we sat around in a room for a while, met tons more of our friend's friends (turns out she is very popular and knows just about everyone). They were all very sweet. It was almost time for the ceremony so we all gather our things and go out to the truck to move it not very far at all, I think our friend really likes that we have a car, at least for the time being :-) The graduates are all line up about 4 or 5 across and then in long lines (about 70 of them) complete with a band- drums, trumpets, etc. They had like a mini-parade type thing all over the small campus and then were going to get into all of the cars waiting for them to convoy over the the hall for the other ceremony and party.
While we were waiting a bunch of men crowded around our truck and started talking to our friend. Turns out they wanted the camera men to ride in the back of our truck to film the convoy and for us to be the lead car behind the cop on the motorcycle. My roomie and I could not stop laughing- and of course we jumped at the opportunity. The only problem was, we happened to be the very last car in the long line. The guys got us settled up at the front behind the cop and ready to go. Once the cop had jimmy-rigged his siren so it would actually work we started off- the horn was honking and all the women in the back seat, my roomie, and I started of the "eeeww-eeee, eeeewww-eeee" I can't remember the real name of this but at any celebration, especially weddings, the women do this sound at a VERY high pitch- very fun actually. Of course our friends were laughing at the 2 white girls trying to do it. We continued on with this and leading the convoy for about 15-20 minutes when we finally arrived at our destination where we were treated like VIPs- I think because of our truck, which is not really ours.
We get to the door and they wave us through without having tickets, like the VIPs they thought we were. Then take us all the way up to the front to the head table- you know, the nice one that actually has a table cloth, nice covered and comfy chairs. My roomie and I looked and felt very out of place but our friend told us to just sit there. Once seated she told us that they thought we were doctors, probably due to the fact that we had the nice truck and we were the only 2 white foreigners there, haha! As we sat they kept bringing out all kinds of sodas and bottled water.
Then the ceremony began. The graduates came in and sat up stairs surrounding the hall and looking down on us. Each graduate came down the aisle with their family and friends to a song of their own choosing (mostly Arabic songs but there was one Celine Dion song- they adore her here). The cameras are on them the entire time which is spotlighted on the tv screens up front. Once they reach the front they leave their family, or at least they are supposed to, and go up to the stage to shake hands and get their certificate. Imagine this process about 70 times, for at least 3 and a half hours, plus the music and annoucer all in Arabic and louder than loud. That was the ceremony.
We left right at the end of the ceremony because it was a school night and we had to get up early to teach. Our friends were disappointed because there was to be a party at that same hall afterwards and they wanted us to stay. I would have but there was no way we could. All morning I was fighting sleep and the ringing in my ears finally went away around lunch time. In all it was an excellent adventure though :-)
Everything here takes time. One of my roomies is house and truck sitting for some friends that are out of the country right now. So, we took the truck to meet our friend. Then we went to the university and meet up with some more people, who might I add were really excited to meet 2 white girls, haha. We drank some REALLY strong, black, sugary coffee and then had to rush out of there to meet some more of our friend's friends. These friends were at a photo studio having their grad pics taken. We get there and these girls are decked out- I mean bangin'! Me and my roomie felt so out of place because we didn't realize that this was such a dressy event. We ended up in the pictures anyways, though we had just met the girls that were graduating.
Once the pictures were done we all loaded in the truck and drove back to the university. There we sat around in a room for a while, met tons more of our friend's friends (turns out she is very popular and knows just about everyone). They were all very sweet. It was almost time for the ceremony so we all gather our things and go out to the truck to move it not very far at all, I think our friend really likes that we have a car, at least for the time being :-) The graduates are all line up about 4 or 5 across and then in long lines (about 70 of them) complete with a band- drums, trumpets, etc. They had like a mini-parade type thing all over the small campus and then were going to get into all of the cars waiting for them to convoy over the the hall for the other ceremony and party.
While we were waiting a bunch of men crowded around our truck and started talking to our friend. Turns out they wanted the camera men to ride in the back of our truck to film the convoy and for us to be the lead car behind the cop on the motorcycle. My roomie and I could not stop laughing- and of course we jumped at the opportunity. The only problem was, we happened to be the very last car in the long line. The guys got us settled up at the front behind the cop and ready to go. Once the cop had jimmy-rigged his siren so it would actually work we started off- the horn was honking and all the women in the back seat, my roomie, and I started of the "eeeww-eeee, eeeewww-eeee" I can't remember the real name of this but at any celebration, especially weddings, the women do this sound at a VERY high pitch- very fun actually. Of course our friends were laughing at the 2 white girls trying to do it. We continued on with this and leading the convoy for about 15-20 minutes when we finally arrived at our destination where we were treated like VIPs- I think because of our truck, which is not really ours.We get to the door and they wave us through without having tickets, like the VIPs they thought we were. Then take us all the way up to the front to the head table- you know, the nice one that actually has a table cloth, nice covered and comfy chairs. My roomie and I looked and felt very out of place but our friend told us to just sit there. Once seated she told us that they thought we were doctors, probably due to the fact that we had the nice truck and we were the only 2 white foreigners there, haha! As we sat they kept bringing out all kinds of sodas and bottled water.
Then the ceremony began. The graduates came in and sat up stairs surrounding the hall and looking down on us. Each graduate came down the aisle with their family and friends to a song of their own choosing (mostly Arabic songs but there was one Celine Dion song- they adore her here). The cameras are on them the entire time which is spotlighted on the tv screens up front. Once they reach the front they leave their family, or at least they are supposed to, and go up to the stage to shake hands and get their certificate. Imagine this process about 70 times, for at least 3 and a half hours, plus the music and annoucer all in Arabic and louder than loud. That was the ceremony.
We left right at the end of the ceremony because it was a school night and we had to get up early to teach. Our friends were disappointed because there was to be a party at that same hall afterwards and they wanted us to stay. I would have but there was no way we could. All morning I was fighting sleep and the ringing in my ears finally went away around lunch time. In all it was an excellent adventure though :-)
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