My Standard Arabic teacher told us yesterday how in Saudi Arabia it’s possible that a couple may get married without the husband seeing the wife’s face until the morning after the wedding…in which he says “Ahlan wa sahalan” or “welcome!” I responded with the story of Jacob from the Bible and how Rachel and Leah’s father pulls a fast one on him. So, she asked me to bring my Arabic Bible in and I showed her the story from Jacob to Joseph. Apparently she owns the “injil” or New Testament but had never read the Hebrew Bible. So, I’m sure some interesting discussions will come out of that. She was quick to ask me if I trusted the English versions of the Bible, to which I responded that I generally read both testaments in their respective languages. 🙂 That seems to be a common argument against Christians, that we use a translation of the Bible.
On a side note, I’ve stayed healthy since I’ve been here, but I can’t say the same for most of the other people on the trip. Most have had intestinal issues, some parasites, and a variety of other conditions. That’s encouraging considering my experience in Ethiopia.
Learning Arabic 
Hmm. I wonder what a cross-cultural marriage in this context would look like? Even my cultures standard norms would be shockingly liberal in comparison. Im all about cross-cultural mixing and marriages and such–but paying the freight on this one is pretty steep for most.
That’s understandable. I finished Kite Runner, in which an Afgahni Sunni marriage is performed. In the described version, it was understood that the man and woman could not be alone until the night of their wedding. They were chapperoned constantly and it was considered a grave embarrasment and shame if they were conversing alone before then. I just did a quick search and it appears that Saudi is also mostly Sunni, but I would gather that there are different cultural traditions within that sect of Islam. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t surprise me that there would be a possibility that the man couldn’t see the face of his wife until the morning after. Interesting… now that I think about it, Kite Runner didn’t mention if she had a veil on for the night, but there was certainly one during the ceremony. Ah the middle east, how mysterious you present yourself. Chenqui!