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[nomad soul]

Psychedelicacy:

My comment about Arab students being aware of diversity in other parts of world had nothing to do with them being book smart. Given this digital age, they're quite familiar with pop culture (sports and music and film industries), especially from the US. My students told me they watched "House," "Oprah," "Desperate Housewives," and other TV shows and movies out of the US. They know the latest tunes by Pharrell Williams ("Happy"), Beyonce, Adele, Gaga, Usher, Super Junior (Korean boy band), and a bunch of others I'd never heard of.

When it comes to understanding diversity and tolerating cultural ambiguity, I'm no slouch in that department. I've posted in a couple of other threads that I'd lived in 5 countries by the time I was 14---one of those countries is in Europe and is my birthplace. I'm a US citizen born abroad as well as a third-culture kid (AKA cultural chameleon). I became used to stares and even strangers touching me as a young child while living in Asia because I looked "different." In terms of being mixed, I'm a racial hodge-podge---a mutt---and can blend into a variety of countries, especially developing ones. However, I definitely don't look "European."

You're correct in your explanation about people asking about ethnicity, nationality, and heritage. However, this is nothing new to those of us who have been answering those types of questions since we were kids; it's something we're used to. When I travel, I'm always asked about my nationality and family background (some people don't believe I'm from the US), and when I'm stateside, my fellow Americans have often asked "What are you?" Or "Is your mother Japanese or Filipina?" (Not even close.) Or "Were you adopted?" Or "Where did you learn to speak English so well?" Seriously. I've been asked these questions and more throughout my life, and I'm sure the OP has gotten the cultural heritage question from other Americans during her lifetime. It's so commonplace that it's a non-issue for many of us. (I can sometimes predict when I'm about to be asked such a question based on the way the person is looking at me.)

With my Saudi students, I played "guess my nationality" with them. They quickly recognized my accent as American and subsequently, we moved on to some cool learning activities. No sweat. Anyway, the position that Arabs associate English with white people doesn't take into consideration my Swiss, Russian, and the Albanian teaching colleagues with their obviously-accented English. That led to some disappointment.

Khalas. The OP will be fine if she keeps her expectations low (realistic), is patient, and maintains a healthy sense of humor.

[psychedelicacy]

[nomad soul]

[water rat]

[veiledsentiments]

[scot47]

"Brits" are not a homogeneous group. Some can be quite civilised. The same might even be said of our cousins from over the Pond.

[lcanupp1964]

***Warning*** Hitch hiking of thread will began in three...
two...
one...

Cousin Scot, I agree. I am always reminded of the Japanese when I read the word. "homogeneous". I have never met a more homogeneous group than the Japanese. They have to work very hard to find the "oneness" within themselves. They will even separate themselves on some matters (employment, for example) with those that were from the group of people that were native to the islands and those who's family came over from the mainland of Asia thousands of years ago.

O-genki desu ka?

[Gulezar]

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