Archive for October, 2004

October 21, 2004

Men from Mars

October 21st 2004 Posted to

Yup… it is 2:00 Am… and I am very awake… but it is Ramadan and I usually turn into a nocturne creature during Ramadan…mostly conformity with how days change during Ramadan.

The ladies came to visit me few days ago, and as usual we had an interesting conversation. What women talk about in this country is men (I guess that is what women do all over the world anyway!) but here, these “women sessions” are the most interesting. They show off about all the tricks they use to have their men in line! I am not kidding! And they give advises…

This conversation made me think of a contradictory comment said by Natasha few days ago about that could not leave my mind…about how men have their own anxieties as well.. how Arab women expect perfection from their men… they have to be strong, rich, self confident and always on top of everything…no room for mistakes, or hesitance or any sort of weakness what so ever… and that brought to my mind yet another comment said by Tareq (another friend) few weeks ago about how when Arab women get married they leave the house of their old father to the house of their new father!!! Obviously this comment has several sides, but really what he meant was that we have very high expectations from our husbands… the “Standard” that we have lived in all our lives can NOT be compromised for any reason!

I hate to be quoted saying this, but there is some truth in all this..I mean honestly thinking about it a man’s life in the Middle East is like the minesweeper game, there is always a trick, a game an expectation…it is never simple. He has to have every move calculated or else… boom! Ok this is a bit exaggerated (but I tend to do that). No wonder no one wants to get married these days!

Anyway… I just finished another book by Paul Auster, and like all his books it is dark, smart and unpredictable. It is called Oracle Night but if anyone wants to read Paul Auster I recommend Leviathan (Which happens to be my favorite) and Book of Illusions which I thought was very good. My next book would be Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho. I am not a fan, but Nassim insisted I should read it. So far this is the third book he recommends (Memnoch the devil and the invalids of hot climates) it took me years to convince myself to read them, but they were both not that bad 

And by the way Nassim if you read this, I have your copies for both books, if you want them email me!

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October 13, 2004

Um kolthoum!

October 13th 2004 Posted to

I know that is a weird song to hear on a wednesday afternoon! but i was working the whole day, and then felt like listening to something light! (Um kalthoum is everything but light) and my eyes fell on this CD, it reminded me of university days. Once we were studying for a stupid exam,( i say stupid, because no one opened a book for the exam, so we decided to sit and study few hours before the time) I can't remember what was the class maybe social science or something like that. But instead of studying, one of our school mates started explaining to us the words.. anything was better than studying for that profssor!he was boring and boring and boring his name is ghali something! the words say (( your eyes reminded me of my old days and made me regret the past and its sadness, everything that i have seen before my eyes were set on you is a lost time, how could they count me alive before meeting you) Now thinking back i am wondering who were these words meant for? but everyone i know from those days is married to someone else, so it is better to leave the past burried in peace as my cousin Fouad likes to say!

Actually I like um kulthoum a lot. My favorite, is a song called al Atlal, a very sad song but so passionate. Al Atlal, starts by talking to her heart and tells her heart not to ask her about her love, because it was a castle that was built in the air so it fell down! she asks her heart to remind her and to drink with her to the rests of that castle, and try to make it easy on her as long as the tears could satisfy the thurst! :) isn't that amazing?!

But my favorite part is actually the last verses, after she goes through a journey of two lovers who were together and had a mad love story and then were separated despite of everything.
the verses say: My lover, everything is destined to be, it was not our choice to be created unhappy. Maybe one day our paths will put us together, after we lost hope of meeting again. If then one of us denies the other, and our meeting is of two strangers instead of the two lovers we were, dont say we chose, because it was not us who chose it was destiny!

I believe in free choice, but i also believe in destiny…and that is why i like this song… it is talking about two people who fought to be together, but despite of all their effort destiny separated them.

Anyway, I need to stop now, I am invited to a birthday of a girl who is 3 years old today. I wonder if she knows what is destiny all about!

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