Archive for
August 27th, 2007
Stories
Arabeyes: Just a Pretty Face
Miss South Carolina was asked why a fifth of students in the US couldn't locate their country on a map. This is how she responded:
Her mumbles were the butt of jokes on blogs from the Middle East and here's a quick review:
Mohamed Nanabhay, who lives in Qatar, simply stopped laughing after watching the video for the fifth time.
“After watching this video for the fifth time it stops being funny and starts becoming very worrying …,” he writes.
Of course, we shouldn’t be too worried, though — it’s not like beauty-pageant contestants run the most powerful country on the face of the planet (even if they can’t quite place themselves on a map). Surely American presidents congressmen know a bit more about the region where they are waging war. Right?
“Nanabhay goes on to show us how some congressmen don't fare any better than the teen contestant, even when they wage a war on another country.
The chairman of the United States House intelligence committee (which is charged with oversight of the intelligence community) must surely understand all of this complicated geography, history and religious stuff. Well, luckily for us, Jeff Stein decided to interview Congressman Reyes just before he became chairman:
Al-Qaeda is what, I asked: Sunni or Shia?
“Al-Qaeda, they have both,” Reyes said. “You’re talking about predominately?”
“Sure,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
“Predominantly — probably Shi’ite,” he ventured.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Al-Qaeda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shi’ite showed up at an al-Qaeda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball …
And Hezbollah? I asked him. What are they?
“Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah …”
He laughed again, shifting in his seat.
“Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?”
“Poquito,” I said — a little.
“Poquito?!” He laughed again.
“Go ahead,” I said, talk to me about Sunnis and Shia in Spanish.
Reyes: “Well, I, uh …”
I apologised for putting him “on the spot a little”. But I reminded him that the people who have killed thousands of Americans on US soil and in the Middle East have been front-page news for a long time now …
“Yeah,” Reyes said, rightly observing, “but … it’s not like the Hatfields and the McCoys. It’s a heck of a lot more complex.
“And I agree with you — we ought to expend some effort into understanding them. But speaking only for myself, it’s hard to keep things in perspective and in the categories.”
Alrighty. Well I guess it’s time to start praying that the good folks at the Pentagon have a better sense of the world and don’t mistake Boksburg for Baghdad …
Egyptian D. B. Shobrawy weighs in, entitling his post: You're so Dumb, It Hurts!
“There are things in this world that boggle the mind, things that have no answers and things that entice the mind with curiosity. Among them is the overwhelming ignorance towards geography and world affairs in the U.S. It can be even more mind boggling when someone asks the question, “why dont Americans excel in Geography?” A shortage of maps perhaps? Miss South Carolina, your thoughts?” he notes.
Oooh, you poor fragile little thing! If only America had maps like “the Iraq”. And who will save South Africa?
Palestinian-Jordanian Soul Blossom, who is based in Texas, US, says the joke cracked by Miss Carolina was “priceless.”
“HAHAHA priceless! What was she thinking, or should I say, was she thinking at all?
…
Bored, I was flipping channels when I stumbled across it. Luckily for me, it was the funny part when the contestants are asked questions and their answers are then evaluated. The ironic thing is, I bet if she were asked to locate the US, she would point at Africa. Does what you see in the video give an idea -even if a vague one- about the US high school educational system? Something to ponder about! Enjoy a good laugh,” she explains.
From Jordan, Naseem Tarawnah, takes the opportunity to poke fun at beauty pageants. He writes:
And to think that once upon a time, American educational institutions were hotbeds for political dissent. Suffice to say, students protesting the war on Iraq in the same manner their grandparent’s did in the 60’s, is, well, way off. To be fair, the US is full of very intelligent and articulate individuals; graduates of some of the best universities in the world in fact. Some of those people even end up becoming President.
In any case, I’ve been told that I shouldn’t be so hard on Mini Miss South Carolina. It is, after all, called a beauty pageant (’drool-in-cup-and-look-hot contest’ came in second) and not a brains and beauty pageant. So I don’t know why they insist on testing the mental capabilities of contestants at these things just to show they’re looking for well-rounded figures (pun intended). Seriously, finding knowledge during one of these contests is as slim as a porn star finding religion at a sci-fi convention.
Ironically, her answer reminded me of practically every single time Bush has ever stood behind a podium and opened his mouth. Maybe the judges should start asking contestants if they have an exit strategy for Iraq.
Anyways, while most of the people living in the Arab world can find their own country on a map (and probably a few others as well), our region has a whole other set of problems when it comes to education.
Greece: On Fire
We've probably all heard it in the news by now: Greece is ablaze. Today the fires reached the ancient city of Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympics and home of the Olympia Museum, which houses one of Greece's greatest archaeological collections.
Athens in Flames (From flickr user alefbetac)
While the fires are still burning in the outskirts of Athens itself, this is what the Greek blogsphere had to say about this. EllasDevil wrote nothing but the headline of a prominent Greek paper, Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia.
The headline simply reads: “there are no words”.
CaliforniaKat, an American living in Greece, published a comprehensive post about what is taking place, a lists of major fires, the events leading up to it, and what can people do to help.
1. Don’t flick cigarettes out the car window while driving or on the ground near dried grass, paper or plants — Many forest fires are started this way2. Don’t burn garbage3. Make certain that roasting/cooking fires are controlled — Keep an eye on burning ashes, coals or kindling that can fly away or make contact with grass, brush, etc.4. Request or lodge a complaint that your municipality trim trees away from power lines or remove dried brush that pose a fire hazard5. Face mirrors away from direct sunlight6. Homes in rural and remote areas should be armed with fire extinguishers, a water reserve with hose/pump, wool blankets, ladder, rakes, brooms, boots and a first aid kit. Some people also put important documents, photos and other valuables in a fireproof safe, just in case.
Loaded Russian helicopter (From flickr user nkdx)
Tina, of Athena, says that Global Warming and arsonists are to blame for this disaster.
The last two days I follow as all Greeks the wild fires in Greece. My feelings are pain and anger. I feel pain for the loss of human lives, for the forests, for the ecosystems that have been lost for ever. This is an unprecedented ecological disaster not only for Greece but for whole Mediterranean area.I feel angry and surprised the same time. The last few days I have heard a lot of possible causes for this disaster: arsonists seem to be the main and usual suspects. It seems that a lot of people have as main scope to destroy Greece. I don’t object the possibility that many of the fires have been initiated by arsonists.But I am surprised because I didn’t manage to find nowhere another simpler and more logical cause. CLIMATE CHANGE or global warming
betabug reports his own first hand observations on the fires, from his house in Athens.
Forest fires are burning in the immediate surroundings of Athens again. Firefighter planes drone on over our building. We went up to the terrace and watched a couple of Canadair planes, a russian Beriev, and a helicopter. There's lots of smoke and appart from the fire on Ymittos (which we can clearly locate) there is a big yellowish cloud which we don't know if it's smoke or a normal cloud.
Smoke from forest fires in Evia (From flickr user nkdx)
Uganda: Bloggers Respond to Controversial Daily Monitor Articles
Uganda's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community has gotten a lot of press recently in the form of a number of articles written by Katherine Roubos, a 22-year-old Stanford student from the United States. Most recently, Roubos covered the first ever LGBTI press conference, a story that prompted an anti-gay rally in Kampala.
Blogger Samantha wonders, “Is Holding Rallies the Wisest Option?”:
Today, we are holding a rally against homosexuality because it does not comply with Uganda’s morals. We say, “Homosexuality is abnormal according to God’s laws and nature of creation in the Bible. It is against our faith and our society moral values. That is why we are against it and its practitioners.” Why do we think homosexuality is different from corruption, stealing from the poor, despising the poor, lying, defilement and murder?
Scarlett Lion and Jackfruity (full disclosure: that's me) both posted pictures from the event, during which protesters called upon the owner of the Daily Monitor to fire Roubos:
Another Daily Monitor article provoked even more online controversy as several bloggers responded to Glenna Gordon's piece on the achievements of Uganda's women writers.
Iwaya was up in arms:
Did it occur to you that yes while many talented men who are writers are often consumed with chasing the buck, they do so because they are the heads of their families? They have responsibilities they will not abandon, cannot abandon and that while they may not get immediate recognition, are perhaps struggling against as great odds as the women?
While Ernest Bazanye called for simple equality in the Ugandan literary world:
What we need isn’t a men’s equivalent of Femrite [the Uganda Women Writers' Association]. We need to just not listen to these Gordons and go back to what we were doing before: making art and getting it out there, regardless of the sex, religion, age, height or hairstyle of the artist.
In a different part of the country, Pernille compiles a glossary of Ugandan greetings:
How are you? This is such an all-round standard greeting (which the South Africans shortened to ‘howzit?’) that when I sometimes greet by saying ‘hello’, the person I greeted answers ‘fine’….
The funniest greetings are the ones you get when you arrive somewhere with a male friend or colleague; - ‘Oh, you are here with a new face!’
Finally, The Mundu writes about what it feels like to be the product of three cultures:
A year ago, in a period of frustration, I sat down with a pencil and wrote down that I was the product of three distinct “cultures”, and accordingly I had three distinct personalities which I adopted and dropped at will. Or rather, I am the product, and I have three.
Obviously those are (and just imagine the cute little diagram I drew):
A third “Western”: ie, a Canadian teenager.
A third “TCK”: third culture person/missionary kid.
And a third Ugandan/African.…
So I call myself “the mundu”, but avoid questions about Africa. I sing the Canadian anthem with pride and draw a Ugandan flag on my name tag. I lash out, vindictively, over someone’s careless comment, and then am silently blasé. They are so ignorant – I think – and fall prey to arrogance. Nobody understands me – but that’s escapist. I understand nobody – but that’s … an inferiority complex. I eagerly share anecdotes, but later feel bitter when all they cared about was lions and bugs.
I hide my identity or flaunt it.
I am chameleon.
But - *shrugs* - chameleons don't have a problem with being chameleons.
UK, Caribbean: Colours of Notting Hill Carnival
Girls in costume resting at the side of the street during the Notting Hill Carnival children's parade, Sunday 26 August, 2007. Photo by Cristiano Betta
Today is the August Bank Holiday in the United Kingdom, which means sunny weather, fun outdoors — and Notting Hill Carnival, the largest Caribbean-style carnival in Europe and one of the largest summer festivals anywhere. (In 2006, up to a million people may have participated, either as masqueraders or as spectators.)
Since 1965, the west London neighbourhood of Notting Hill has been home to this event, which is based on the traditions of various Caribbean carnivals (especially Trinidad's), but has also been influenced by festivals and music from the many parts of the world to which today's Londoners trace their heritage. Costumed masqueraders dance along a three-mile parade route to the throb of music from sound systems and live bands, while hundreds of thousands look on, enjoying the spectacle and the food prepared by streetside vendors (looks like you can even get an ice-cold coconut). The carnival now extends over two days, with children's bands parading on the Sunday before the Bank Holiday and adults on the holiday itself.
Meanwhile, hundreds of photographers, pros and amateurs, capture the colour and energy of the revelry, and some of them even post their images online where we can all enjoy them. Here is a selection of photos from this year's Notting Hill Carnival posted on Flickr.
As in J'Ouvert, the pre-dawn event that opens many Caribbean carnivals, these masqueraders have covered themselves in mud; Notting Hill Carnival, Sunday 26 August, 2007. Photo by Robert P. Byrne. (See more of his Notting Hill photos here.)
Children in costume — the girl at left has her whistle to keep time with the music; Sunday 26 August, 2007. Photo by virgorama. (See her full Notting Hill photoset here.)
Looking down the parade route on Ladbroke Grove; Sunday 26 August, 2007. Photo by london emigre. (See his Notting Hill photoset here.)
Basking in the sun — or in the glow of her own costume? Sunday 26 August, 2007. Photo by sallylondon. (See her Notting Hill photoset here.)
The Trinidadian influence may be strongest in Notting Hill Carnival, but the festival has always been celebrated by Londoners with roots in many other Caribbean territories. This woman dances with the national flag of St. Kitts and Nevis; Sunday 26 August, 2007. Photo by virgorama. Masqueraders with the flags of other Caribbean countries: Guyanese, photographed by Tim Fearn; a Trinidadian woman, photographed by Cristiano Betta; a Grenadian, photographed by P*E*T*A.
The Dame Lorraine is a traditional burlesque character in Trinidad Carnival. This Notting Hill version looks comfortable in decorated Crocs. Monday 27 August, 2007. Photo by Cristiano Betta. (See more of his Notting Hill photos here.)
A treat for the eyes and the ears: a costumed drum band livelies things up; Monday 27 August, 2007. Photo by margaritanitz. (See more of her Notting Hill photos here.)
Notting Hill Carnival was long known as a Caribbean festival, but today Londoners from many cultural backgrounds participate. These dancers are costumed in Chinese dresses, complete with fans; Monday 27 August, 2007. Photo by Cristiano Betta.
Those masks, those powdered wigs, those feathers? Venetian, Caribbean, Aztec? No, it's just Notting Hill; Monday 27 August, 2007. Photo by Cristiano Betta.
For more photos by these and other photographers, see Flickr's Notting Hill Carnival 2007 pool.
Syria: How Can Expats Help?
This month's topic of Creative Syria's Blogger Forum was solely dedicated to the Syrian expatriate community.
“What role could expatriates play in building a better Syria? Are you satisfied with the government legislations concerning them? Are you satisfied with the performance of the Minister of Expatriates' Affairs Dr. Buthayna Shaaban?” were the questions waiting to be answered.
Syria's expatriate community, albeit dispersed, counts for almost 16 million, with a very high percentage of highly educated individuals. This makes the topic ever more relevant, as their contributions can help speed up the social and economic changes in the country and help rebuild it .
Abu Kareem of Levantine Dreamhouse, an M.D. living in New York where he himself has been an expat for many years, wrote a very interesting critique of the efforts the government has been putting to attract “the expatriates’ money rather than the expatriates themselves.”
But perhaps the single most important thing that the Ministry of Expatriate affairs can do for all expatriates is to facilitate their ability to visit or return to their homeland. It is preposterous that I can visit just about any country in the world with more ease than I can the country of my birth. The recent amendment of the military service law was not helpful and needs to be radically overhauled.
While, Naji Arwashan, who is the Syrian honorary consul general in Detroit, Michigan, and a long term expat also, brought out the idea of pioneering an online newsletter that can be sent to the whole of the Syrian expat community, communicating issues of interest to them, and helping them to promote their country, Syria.
I would suggest here to the Ministry of Expatriates to commission to an NGO the task of starting an electronic newsletter dedicated to the affairs and news of the expatriates. The Ministry should put a big effort distributing such newsletter to all Syrian expatriates in the world (with the definite understanding that unsubscribing can be done by a click of a mouse). This certainly requires also an effort from our diplomatic missions to build and share their email lists. The newsletter would focus solely on expatriate’s news and would be a forum to address their questions and concerns, and also to explain new legislatives of interest to them.
Naim Nazha, also an M.D. who lives in the U.S., listed some examples of the many things that expats can do for their country without much effort.
It is difficult to mention all the things that the Syrian immigrants can do for Syria. The first simple thing they can do is to be good examples to people in their adoptive countries, I mean to have a good reputation and be proud to declare their Syrian background when asked, our positions and reputation in our new countries reflect on Syria and how the public view it.
And finally, Camille Alexandre Otrakji, also a long term expat, and the founder of Creative Syria and MidEast Image, seems very optimistic about the future return of many of the high achievers back to Syria - even noting a trend in that lately.
Things changed. Now it seems that those who want to go back to Syria are not entirely made of the ones who gave up on making it in Montreal. Some highly successful individuals are seriously planning to examine their future prospects in Syria during their next summer visit.
Bahrain: Getting Into Gear and Going All the Way…
Our topics range from the highbrow to the lowlife this week, with an exhortation to read more books from across the Arab world, a child’s misunderstanding of a word in a cartoon, and an encounter with a prostitute. A new blogger has just arrived in Bahrain, and another blogger has just returned from a holiday in Iran – where he experienced rather more than he had bargained on during a taxi ride…
Widening horizons
We start this week with Layal, who recently read some books published in Yemen, and wants to encourage others to read more widely from around the Arab world:
For more of Layal's thoughts see here.
Keep on talking
A number of bloggers have posted interesting conversations this week. We start with a conversation between a young Yagoob and his father Salman, just after Yagoob has watched a cartoon in which the main character, Sinan, has been told to take some rest after exerting himself. However, the word used to indicate 'some' rest or literally ‘a measure of' is the same word used for ‘an instalment' – and young Yagoob has got confused:
سلمان: نعم يبه
يعقوب: شنو يعني قسطاً
سلمان: القسط بابا شي مال كبار بس مب زين
يعقوب: ليش بابا مب زين؟
سلمان:لأنه هم و نكد
يعقوب: ما فهمت بابا شنو يعني قسط؟؟
سلمان: هههههههههه انزين بابا بشرح لك,,, انا اشتغل وايد و اتعب بس معاشي اشوي ما يكفينا فاروح البنك أخذ منهم فلوس بس بشرط اني ارجع الفلوس كل شهر حق جمن سنة
يعقوب: انزين.. شنو القسط؟
سلمان: القسط هم و نكد يا ولدي, و هو البيزات اللي لازم ارجعها كل شهر حق البنك عقب ما خذيت منهم
يعقوب (و هو حزين): ياخذون كل بيزاتك بابا ما يصير!
سلمان: لا بابا ما ياخذون بيزاتي كامل بس النص لكن هالقسط ما يخليني انام و لا احلم و لا ارتاح!
يعقوب: بس بابا ابو سنان يقول حق سنان عليك أن تأخذ قسطا من الراحة, يعني لازم يروح البنك ؟؟ بس هو تعبان ما فيه شدة!
سلمان يضحك إلى حد البكاء على كلام ابنه البريء
سلمان: والله بابا جان زين البنوك تعطي أقساط من الراحة! جان زين جان زين…
Salman: Yes, son?
Yagoob: What does ‘qist‘ mean?
Salman: A ‘qist‘ (instalment) is something for grown-ups, but it's not good.
Yagoob: Why isn't it good?
Salman: Because it's worry and trouble.
Yagoob: Dad, I don’t understand, what's an instalment?
Salman: Aaagh…OK, I'll explain. I work hard and I exhaust myself but my salary isn't quite enough, so I go to the bank to take some money from them. But that's on condition that I return the money each month over several years.
Yagoob: OK…But what is an instalment?
Salman: An instalment is worry and trouble, son, it's the money that I have to pay the bank every month after I've taken some from them.
Yagoob (who is sad): They take all your money, Dad? That's no good!
Salman: No, son, they don't take all my money, just half, but that instalment doesn't let me sleep or dream or relax!
Yagoob: But Dad, Sinan's father told Sinan that he had to take an instalment of rest, does that mean he has to go to the bank?? But he's tired and has no strength!
Hearing the words of his innocent son, Salman laughs until he cries…
Salman: Really, son, it would be great if the banks gave instalments of rest! It would great, so great…
Our second conversation comes from one of the bloggers from the group blog Word on the street, who describes a ‘red-light’ night on the town with his colleague. After they have entered a bar for a drink, and his colleague has overcome his worry about being seen by someone he knows, our blogger decides to call over an attractive and scantily-clad prostitute to sit with them:
أنا: تعرفني انا مو مال هالسوالف بس نضحك عليها.
زميلي: (مبتسماً) يالله راوينا شطارتك!
الآسيوية: إسمي ليلي، كيف حالكم يا شباب.
أنا: حالنا أفضل بعد أن رأيناك يا عسل.
الآسيوية: (ضاحكةً) توقف أنت تحرجني.
أنا: تعملين هنا؟
الآسيوية: نعم.
أنا: (ملوحاً للنادلة) ماذا تشربين ياعزيزتي؟
الآسيوية: فودكا بلو لوسمحت.
أنا: أتردد كثيراً على هذه الحانة ولكنها المرة الأولى التي اراك فيها. اانت جديدة هنا؟
الآسيوية: نعم. وصلت للبحرين الأسبوع الماضي.
أنا: وما رأيك في البحرين؟
الآسيوية: أفضل بكثير من بلدي.
أنا: لماذا ذلك؟
الآسيوية: ما أكسبه في البحرين في الشهر الواحد يعادل ما أكسبه عاماً كاملاً في بلدي.
أنا: أعرف شعورك. عملت في اوروبا لفترة من الزمن و كنت أكسب ما يعادل مرتب وزير في البحرين لكن إلتزاماتي العائلية حتمت عليي الرجوع.
زميلي: (مبتسماً و بصوت خافت) بل! وصارت عندك إلتزامات عائلية بعد! بروحك اتدور شغل برة و تبي اتهاجر من الوضع التعبان.
أنا: (ضاحكاً) اسكت لاتطلع تفهم عربي!
الآسيوية: (بوجه عابس) لدي ابن مريض و عملي يغطي تكاليف علاجه. لا أنوي البقاء هنا بعد علاجه.
زميلي: مسكينة.
أنا: يمكن اتقول الصدق و يمكن تبي تكسر خاطرنا. أغلب الظن تبي تكسر خاطري حق اراعيها في المقسوم بعدين، وحتى لو صدق هالشي ما ابرر العمل في مهنة خطرة مثل هذي.
Me: You know me, I’m not that type, let’s just have a laugh at her.
My colleague: (smiling) Wow, show us how smart you are!
Asian girl: My name’s Laila, how are you, lads?
Me: We’re better now we’ve seen you, sweetheart.
Asian girl: (laughing) Stop it, you’re embarrassing me!
Me: Do you work here?
Asian girl: Yes.
Me: (signalling to waitress) What are you drinking, love?
Asian girl: Vodka Blue, please.
Me: I come to this bar a lot, but this is the first time I’ve seen you. Are you new here?
Asian girl: Yes – I arrived in Bahrain last week.
Me: What do you think of Bahrain?
Asian girl: Much better than my country.
Me: Why’s that?
Asian girl: What I earn in Bahrain in one month is the same as what I earn in a whole year in my country.
Me: I know what you mean. I worked in Europe for a while and I earned the equivalent of a minister’s salary in Bahrain – but my family commitments forced me to come back.
My colleague: (smiling, and in a low voice) Right! And you even have family commitments! You are already looking for work abroad, wanting to escape from the difficult situation here…
Me: (laughing) Shut up, she might understand Arabic!
Asian girl: (with a gloomy face) I have a sick son, and by working I cover the expense of his treatment. I don’t plan to stay here after he’s been treated.
My colleague: Poor thing…
Me: Maybe she’s telling the truth, and maybe she’s wants us to feel sorry for her. I think she probably wants me to feel sorry, so I’ll take care of her with the tip later. And even if it’s all true, it doesn’t justify working in a dangerous job like this.
For the rest of the conversation see here…
Ali has a more general point to make about conversations, phone conversations in particular:
- أطول مما يجب ..
- ليست ممتعة أبداً ..
- عليك استخدام تعبير مختلف للرد في كل مرة (اي ، صح ، صدق ، فعلاً ، أها ، اي والله ، عجيب ….الخ) ..
- عليك أن تبقى مستمعاً إذ ليس لديك ما تضيفه في الحوار الممل ..
و يترتب على ذلك :
- إضاعة وقتك و إن كان غير ثمين
- احساسك بالاستغراب لعدم انتباه محدثك لكل الاشارات السلبية التي أطلقتها و التي تصر و بوضوح على رغبتك في إنهاء المكالمة ..
- إحساسك بالذنب كونك ستكذب في النهاية لاخراج نفسك من دوامة الاتصال..
-it’s longer than it need be
-it’s not at all interesting
-you have to use a different expression to answer every time (yes, that’s right, seriously?, aha, really?, great, etc)
-you have to keep listening even if you have nothing to add to the boring conversation
And the result of all that:
-the loss of your time even if it was not valuable
-your feeling of astonishment that the person talking to you didn’t pick up on all the negative signs you gave and which clearly insisted on your desire to end the conversation
-your feeling of guilt at lying in the end to extract yourself from the vortex of the conversation…
Glad to have moved to Bahrain…
Sous is a Swedish woman who recently moved from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, and is happy to be here:
Came here yesterday and I must say it feels pretty fine even though I am still tired. … I am so pleased I am not in Saudi (no offence Saudis) but I might still pop over there sometime to run some errands. What I really like about Bahrain is the mix of people and that the society is alive. People dress how they want and all people I have ever met here so far (from my visits from before) have all been friendly. I know it’s a country with all kinds of people rude, nice, friendly and whatever but I just feel it’s a “real and normal” country unlike Saudi. Just to see people smile here makes my heart happy. Women smiling and looking at my little daughter today, who excitedly ran through the Geant Mall (I don’t know the name of the mall), well it is just so nice to see their faces and smiles. Talk about enjoying the little things in life..
…and glad to be home in Bahrain!
We finish this week with a post by Concerned Citizen X, recently returned from a holiday in Iran, who entertains us with an account of an uncomfortable journey he undertook in a shared taxi – that he calls ‘My Date with a Stick Shift‘:
So we got a cab, me and an acquaintance sat in the front. Yes, the both of us sat on one seat, we had to squeeze in though and there in lay the problem. The other four sat in the back.
NOW, 99.99999 % of all cars in IRAN are manual, so the driver has one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the Stick shift, forcefully guiding the stick from one gear to the next.
Unfortunately, since I was sitting on the inside, gears one and two were, well let’s just say they really got acquainted to my thigh and left cheek, and I'm not talking about my face here.
As I felt the driver change into third gear, yes I say felt, not saw but felt, because now the stick shift was touching the under parts of my left thigh.
He then looked at me, and with an embarrassed grin asks if I would give him permission to shift into fourth gear.
I got the message and had to take it like a mannnnnnn, fourth gear was right under my bottom and no matter how much I squeezed and squirmed, twisted and turned, I just could not shift it, the goods I mean, away from the inevitable, so I gave in and took it like a man.
During the trip, all I could think of was, STOP, NO TRESPASSING, DO NOT ENTER, PRIVATE PROPERTY, and for the love of god, pleeeeeeeeeeeeesseeee nooooooooooo BUMPY ROAaaDDDS!
By the end of the trip I had gone to third base and back with the stick shift gear box, at least three times that come to mind, but fourth base was safe, cause I had my cheeks shut iron tight, and when I pounced out of the cab as it stopped at our final destination, and pushing my acquaintance during my rush, I could have sworn I saw the gear box wink at me……
Ouch…More from Bahrain's bloggers next week!
Links for Mon, 2007-08
Ten unnamed people have been arrested in connection with last year's slaying of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Sean's Russia Blog writes that she “as ‘political football' has been dusted off and re-inflated just in time for a new season.” Robert Amsterdam doesn't think Russian prosecutors are capable of getting their jobs done.
Albania is selling arms to Armenia - and more links to media coverage of Albania - at Our Man in Tirana.
Hamed Talebi in his blog,Moslem Reporter, writes[Fa] that Ghodratollah Alikhani, a deputy in Iranian Parliament, told people in a village that “Pray God that Ahmadinejad (Iranian president) dies, then your problems will be solved.”
Alireza Shirazi says[Fa] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won presidential election thanks to his economic promises but in the last two years, inflation and economic crisis have made life very difficult for many Iranians.The blogger says people are more afraid of economic problems than miltary threats [by USA].
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