My day in the kandura

Despite my fears yesterday, it went pretty well.  The toughest part? Under the kandura is a t-shirt and something close to a flat bed sheet tied around the waist.  It's supposed to go around twice and the ends are tied off.  My tailor didn't give me the "fat American" size so mine only went around 1 3/4.  

The sheet - called a wizar - is supposed to be worn like a kilt, with nothing underneath.  I chose to be prudent and keep my underwear on.  As it dropped while walking across campus I was glad I was able to preserve a bit of dignity.  Had it dropped during class (and I wasn't wearing underwear) I'm not sure I could have faced that class again!

I tried stapling the sheet.  It didn't work.  What finally worked?  I stapled the sheet to my underwear.  Basically, the elasticity of my underwear kept it from falling again.  

Here I am with one of my classes.  A few things to note:  1.  I am the only one wearing the black bands on my head, called the egal.  As a professor it is more appropriate for me to wear this... also, learning how to tie up the gutra (headscarf) like my students was more than I could handle.  2.  Standing next to me is the one Japanese student at my university.  Every one else in the picture (as far as I know) are Arab Muslims.  Most of the students not wearing a kandura are non-Emirati.  Notice the guy wearing the jacket?  The temperature at the time of this pic was 85 degrees and I was sweating.

 A student in my first class wrote on the board, "One photo with me 10 Dh - Dr. Steve."

If I had done this I would have made a lot of money.  For each class I did a group photo and after that pretty much every student wanted a picture with me.  I had more pictures taken of me today than any day I can think of.

Abdulkarim was a student in my class last year.  He took me to his tailor and, in typical Emirati style, wouldn't let me buy any of it.  I'm pretty sure he spent about 250 Dh (about $70).  Now I have to think of a way to repay him that he can't simply give it back to me.    Probably bringing something back from the US that is uniquely US would be cool, but really, most cool things in the US are sold here.  Hmm.

He told the tailor that my wizar was not designed for me.  (He was too polite to say, "too small for the fat American.") but the tailor insisted it was the right size.

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Thoughts:  I am glad I did it.   Yes, I freaked out last night, but it was worth it.  Will I have the balls to wear it in the US?  Very, very doubtful.