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Chinese New Year

One of the Modern Standard Arabic teachers asked if we would be interested in attending the Chinese New Year party.

The Romanian woman was not interested, but I was.

However, I expressed my concern that perhaps the Chinese might have a problem with a British person attending (perhaps I still remembered the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Serbia or perhaps it was the Opium Wars that bothered me).  I was reassured by the teacher that my attendance would result in the opposite effect.

She was right!  From that point onwards I never felt alone in the centre and I enjoyed practicing MSA with them 🙂

The most significant contact I made was a Chinese student from the Faculty of Arts (Literature).

After the party, some of the Chinese took me outside with them (to the corniche).
I was nervous, but I had no other friends in Alexandria and wanted to exploit every opportunity.

I got to know some of them a little better. They seemed so soft, friendly, open-minded and attractive.

During our walk-around, I noticed some Egyptian boys talking about us, but I was not certain.  As we walked by, one of them asked if I was Egyptian, so I told them that I was not.

Continue reading “Chinese New Year”

Sociopath

The first day I met this fellow student I was a little excited.
I sensed she might be older than me and thought that might be more interesting.
She asked about my background and then insisted that I am a first generation immigrant!
Then she shouted at me as she informed me that Muslims kill Christians in Egypt (as if I’m responsible).

At that point I raised my voice and asked whether she was blaming me!  (Blaming me was like me blaming her for the murder of hundreds of Jews in Romania during the Second World War).

She then shut her mouth.  However, not for long, as she then suggested I live with her friends in Sidr Bishr or Jaabir and that it’s right next to the university.  She told me she had done the same and her Arabic was tops now (she never stopped using English, inside and outside class, right up to the end of term).  I replied that I was not interested in teaching the locals English and that I just want to learn Arabic and go home.

Could not understand why she was learning Arabic.  She often complained that it was written using Arabic script.

Perhaps all she needed was a dose of dopamine.

Most of the less useless conversations I had with her was with reference to how beautiful her country is, her suffering, her conversion (from Orthodox to Protestant), how smart her people are (and that she does not need grammar), how God talks to her, etc.

It’s strange how so many travel to the Middle East in order to learn English!

There is one thing I could perhaps admire her for: she would fight for what she wanted.  For instance, when the director wanted to film and interview us for a television channel, she flatly refused arguing that the students should not be expected to take risks.  Last thing we wanted was to be made famous during an unstable political period.

Before I left Alexandria, she gave me a copy of the Bible in Arabic.  However, due to her rude and abusive behaviour towards me (throughout the whole term), I just did not see the point.

Business misventure

It was during the financial crisis of late 2008 that I had to search for a new job.

I was tired of working for directors that made bad decisions and were still rewarded.  Meanwhile the rest of us worked very hard and were asked to be patient regarding the lack of career development as well as pay increases.

For many years previously, a friend of mine who had settled in United Arab Emirates often invited me to do the same.  Finally, I could resist the temptation no longer and the idea of doing a business with friends really appealed to me.  So off I flew!

My first time (almost five years before) in Dubai I saw the other side – the not as glittery holiday/vacation part.

For instance, in the construction industry, the labourers – they were usually imported from South Asia (mainly India) – were often working in the hottest (and I mean burning hot) conditions and would be staying in a work camp (with a fence around it).

On top of this it was not uncommon, I was told, that their low wage/salary be withheld/delayed.  However, this is experienced by many expats and is not job/industry specific.

To be fair, I’ve read more recently (think it was Gulf News) that the rulers/government want to change things, from above if need be, to ensure that foreign employees are no longer oppressed like this.

There was no shortage of building construction here.  There was more and more plans for yet a taller building; to the extent that some property developers, I was told, have kept silent (secret) on how high their tower shall be.

Some people quote the following tradition:
‘…that you will find barefooted, destitute goat-herders vying with one another in the construction of magnificent buildings..’ (Translation of Sahih Muslim, The Book of Faith (Kitab Al-Iman), Book 001, Number 0001).

During the most recent visits my perception of UAE changed somewhat.  It is not just about money or the enticement to do-buy.  The Emirates is one of the most stable countries in the Middle East and daily life is easy going except that in recent years there has been rising prices and an issue with the rush hour for some commuters (four hours one-way), but perhaps with the new train system and other developments the situation will improve.

Also, the summer is uncomfortable here, but perhaps no more difficult than the winter in Northern Europe.

Once I arrived in UAE, nothing ever happened, except that we talked and talked and talked.  I then fell back to auto-pilot mode and decided to complete my Arabic studies in Jordan (from the outside, it looked like a professional and stable place to study).  Learning the language, I thought, would be useful to living and doing business in UAE.  Plus, back in London, somebody had suggested that in UAE I could work as a middle-man between technology and management.

Unfortunately for me, my friends in UAE turned out to be fraudsters and I had chosen possibly the worse place on earth to study Arabic.

Demoralised and confused, I returned home.