Let it be known that Arab teenage boys like Twilight, too

The new Twilight movie opens in the UAE today. I know this because almost every one of my students informed me of that fact as s/he walked in the classroom door this morning. Most of them are going to see it sometime this weekend, and that includes the boys. In fact, the boys were more excited about it than the girls. One of my students is going to see it with his two brothers. Another is going with a group of male friends. It's not like there are a lot of co-ed activities going on among Arab youth in the UAE or anything, so it's not unexpected that the men are going with other men instead of being dragged along by significant others. But I have to admit I was surprised to learn that it wasn't just hordes of teenage girls who were interested in Breaking Dawn.

As long as we're on the subject, did I tell the story on my blog a month ago about when I was asking my students about their weekend activities? One of my (female) students said she went to see a movie. I asked her which one. She said she didn't remember the name, but that it was the movie with "that very handsome actor." I told her that there were a lot of handsome actors. She said, "no, miss, the REALLY REALLY very handsome actor." Can you guess who she meant? The movie was Abduction, and the actor was - wait for it - Taylor Lautner. The funny thing is that most of the girls in the class knew exactly who she meant after the first "very handsome actor" bit.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I don't think I will go see Breaking Dawn in the theater. I can't even get through the trailer. Something about it really bothers me. I'm sure I will see it on video but in the meantime I bet my students will be able to fill the whole class period on Sunday morning with descriptions of how good/bad it was...and how handsome Taylor Lautner is, I guess.

ps - you are free to share whatever sentiments you have about the Twilight series in the comments. There is no judgement here.