Today, Alya and I met again in the
1873 Café and Grill; I imagine this will be our meeting spot for the rest of
the year. Anyway, after some awkward banter and handshaking, we successfully
picked up where we left off. Last time, we had pretty much finished talking
about the video Saudis in Audis, but we watched it again anyway just for
laughs. I don’t remember exactly how, but we got onto the topic of what she
called the envy eye. If you go to my previous conversation blog, watch the
video and, around 2:02, you will see the emblem of the envy eye. I’ll attach a
picture just in case you are too lazy. Here you go:
Alya
told me what it was called but I couldn’t even pronounce the words, so she told
it was called the envy eye. She translated it to English online as accurately
as she could. Later, through my research, I found it is called ʿayn al-ḥasūd (عين
الحسود) in Arabic. I researched the topic more and found it is commonly
referred to as the evil eye also. Alya told me all about the eye, its history, and why it is
used as an ornament. Basically, it is a commonly held belief in
the Middle East that people possess the power to look at people and do them
harm by wishing bad things happened to them or being envious. People hang these
ornaments of the eye places to negate this effect and ward off the consequences
of onlookers’ evil eye.
In the video, the Saudis in the Audi
hang it off the rear view mirror, so when people see them driving and are
envious of their car, nothing bad will happen because of their looks. At first,
I thought this was sort of one of those folklore things, kind of like how we
jinx stuff if we talk about it or how we have to knock on wood to cancel the
jinx. However, as Alya talked more about it and its grip on Saudi Arabian
culture, I realized I was wrong. Alya told me that her relative traveled to
Thailand, I believe, for vacation sometime in the past year or two. She left
without telling any of her friends or family because she was worried that the
might envy her, and consequently, bad things would happen to her on the trip.
Only once she got back she told her loved ones where she went. Alya explained
that this was an extreme example, but that people in the Middle East take
similar actions all of the time. When Alya and her husband decided to come to
the United States to study English, they naturally began telling friends and
family of their plans. Either Alya’s mother or grandmother, I can’t remember
exactly who, told her to not tell many people because otherwise they might
envy her and some harm would come to them. Alya told me she does not believe in
the envy, or evil, eye, and asked if we had anything like that in the US. I
tried to explain the concept of jinxing things, but I was not good.
This meeting, Alya really opened up
and shared more about her culture and family. I’m happy I was partnered
with Alya; she is enjoyable and easy to relate to. We also talked briefly about
her own family, husband, and plans for her academic future. After she completes
her classes and passes the TOEFL, she said she wants to study information
systems at Carnegie Mellon. I always feel better
about my own workload and responsibilities after meeting with Alya. It was
obvious from the beginning how Alya would benefit from our meetings, but I think I am starting to
understand how I might also benefit from my time with her. Alya continually inspires me.
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