Parties !!

Each culture has it is own way to enjoy their free-time, their vacation and their holiday. It's hard to say which way is better since everyone has his own way to look at things. Some of them are too quiet while the others are too loudly. Some of them required a lot of money to be enjoyable. On the other hand, some of them could be enjoyable without spending anything.

In Saudi Arabia, if we want to party, we just get together in a big beautiful place, such as a beach or the desert. We talk a lot, and we try to be funny with showing some respect to each other. Also we play video games, and when I was there, I and my friends used to make a championship in a soccer video game every weekend.

Here in the United States of America, I saw parties in a whole new light. Almost all the parties are not private; just knock the door and ask for a blender, and they will invite you directly. I remember when I walked into my first party in United States of America; I was going to ask them to turn down the music, but I didn't because they invited me first. Drinks is the most important thing for the parties here. It's usually beers, but in some occasion they buy expensive drinks, such as Vodka and Wine. Also they do a lot of dance and they turn the music very loudly. The parties should contain boys and girls to consider as a good party. What I have observed is they can't have fun without alcohol, and if you didn't join one of them you would consider them as a madness. Nevertheless, if you've join one of them, you would think about considering them as a madness or not.

Money !!

I came from a rich country which is Saudi Arabia to another rich country which is United States of America. Most of the people in these two country are living a good life, and they get good salaries. The economy of both country are pretty good. In United States of America, there are a lot of sources to gain money. However, Saudi Arabia is mostly depends on oil and industries. The big difference is that people in United States of America are trying not to spend a lot of money. On the other hand, people in Saudi Arabia consider money as a minor interest in this life.

In Saudi Arabia, people are really generous; even with themselves. As a result, if they see a thing that they like, they buy it and they don't care about how much it costs. Most of the people in Saudi Arabia believe that there is no point from saving money without purpose. Also the people in Saudi Arabia like to invite each other a lot! For example, when I was their, I used to invite my friends to have a dinner or a lunch once every two or three months. We believe that this strengthens our friendship, and it make us too happy.

Here in America I believe it's totally different. People don't like to spend their money. Also when they go to a restaurant, it's not common at all that someone pay for another. I remember one time I went to a restaurant with an American guy, and I payed for him. What I remember is that he said "thanks" three or four times, and I believe that he will never forget it.

It's a fact that Arab are famous of their generous from long time ago. My father told me a story about a man called "Hatem" who cooked his own horse to feed his guests since he doesn't have another thing to give them although his horse was one of the best horses in the history!!

Morals in Public

One of the things which I loved about United States of America is the morals of people in public. It's almost the opposite of the morals in Saudi Arabia. People in America are really nice and kind with everyone especially with foreign people since they want to make a good impression about their country. This is so beneficial and intelligent because it helps the economy of the country by bringing a lot of tourists.

In Saudi Arabia it's weird to speak to someone who you don't know asking for help or discussing any topic, and even if you do that, the other guy would show no interest. In shops and grocery stores, you would not see any smile in the casher's face. All what they want is take your money and leave the place without hearing anything from you , such as questions and opinions. Also when you want to return something to the store, they are going to investigate you by asking a lot of questions, such as why do you want to return it?, did you use it a lot? and is it still in a good condition?. Also when you call an internet service or mobile service, they really don't want to help you, so I really hate to talk to them. Nevertheless, we became familiar with these morals and they don't annoy us anymore.

In my first days in United States of America, there was a big exclamation mark above my head since people were greeting me every day. I was greeted by "good morning, hi, how are you? what's up." Also when I walk in the street, everyone smiles at me, and that makes me starts my days with happiness. Also in the grocery stores, the cashers help you with a big smile and they ask you if you need any help, and it's so easy to return anything. For example, I have bought an umbrella, yet I realized that it can't help in Austin since it rains strongly. After two days, I went to the store to return it, and I returned it without any questions or investigation. Another example for the good morals in United States of America is that I called an internet service to fix a problem, but my English wasn't sufficient. However, the server was so nice and patient with me. As a result, we fixed the problem after a long time, and he didn't show any anger. I have been in Austin TX for seven months, and I started acquiring these good morals.

I have asked myself several times why the people in Saudi Arabia are not as friendly as American people. There was several possible answers for this question. One of them is the weather in Saudi Arabia is too hot. As a result, people become angry too fast. Another possible reason is that Saudi Arabia doesn't have a lot of green views, and I think that this is playing a major rule in their morals and behaviors. I hope I could change that when I go back.

Intoduction

In this big world, a lot of civilizations have existed. Each civilization had its own concepts about life, moral, relationship, friendship, body language.....etc. That was long time ago. However, people all over the world still have differences in some of these concepts. There are different cultures between the countries; Some of these cultures are easy to recognize, such as music, food, celebrations, and visual arts. These are the surface culture. However, there are deep cultures which are hard to recognize or to understand, such as courtesy, rules of conduct, touching, concept of beauty... etc. It's required to spend a lot of time with a new culture to know about it, and you can the people about the deep cultures.

I am here in USA since January 2010 in order to complete my education, and during this period, I have joined the community, and I have made a lot of friendships with the citizens. I have observed a lot of deep cultures which were weird for me, but now I wish Saudi Arabia had the same. Also I have figured out some concepts which are different because of the environment, and I can't say which one is correct and which one is wrong because they are like opinions. I am going to mention some of these deep cultures in this blog.