Adnan on mothers, emotions, crime and....

Adnan and I cover some territory that I had suspected.  Yes, Arab boys ADORE their mothers, more so than their fathers.  Not that they don’t love the father, but mother gets a special attachment.  The role of the mother (UAE) is exclusively to mold her boys into men.  He had a word he was searching for.  The words mother, rock, inscribe were floating around and I think what he was getting at was that like a sculptor, the mother forms her boys out of rock by chiseling them into existence.  Mothers and sisters don’t work, unless they want to.  The mother creates the new generation.  She respects the children and listens to her children closely.  Families look out for each other and assisted living arrangements for ailing parents are only if needed medically.   

Adnan, unlike most that I’ve talked to was in Saudi Arabia for three years, in medina.  He had a a very favorable view so perhaps they connect well with each other.  He found them easy to connect to.

Are Arabs emotional?  YESSSSS!  In fact, he finds, say, folks from Argentina easier to connect to.  They seemed to him to be just regular folk.  I’m not sure who exactly he was talking about but I will guess that just the average Saudi citizen.  Americans, British, not so easy – not so emotional.  It was clear that hanging out and bonding over a meal was very important.  You talk, you eat, you smile.  I would have expected all of this.   Connecting has a connotation of what the Saudi thinks, what he wants.  Curse him, ok.  He can shrug this off.  Curse his family and you have a fight!  “I don’t care about me, but my family is worth fighting for.” 

I mention that Saudi’s have a reputation of going to Morocco to drink and fuck.  He agrees that Morocco would be such a place, along with Thailand (though some go there for medical reasons.) 

I had the notion that Dubai was also on this list, Tahir certainly seems to think so.  Not Adnan who is in police work along with his brother and father.  He is unhappy with sex trade and prostitution but it is a hard crime to tackle. Nonetheless, he feels crime is under control in Dubai.  Yes, many girls come to Dubai along with many cultures, but there are many surveillance cameras.  Adnan thinks Dubai is an amazing city. 

Do Arab men see each other without clothes at the gym? Or in the shower stalls?  NEVER. They like privacy. 

UAE in the economic downturn poured money into the economy and he thinks this worked. 

He hears his father call him to prayer so we end the conversation.  He shows me a clock.  Who made this?  GOD made this! 

We talked for an hour and he was very animated in his delivery as before.  Adnan is full of youthful vigor and very social.