Monday, November 27, 2006

The Language Exchange














So you've arrived in the country of choice but you are less than fluent in the local language. You have several options;

You could pay for language lessons. It does help especially if you are a low beginner. However, language lessons can be expensive and have inconvenient hours if you are working everyday.

You could decide to do nothing, with the attitude that the language will just come as, after all, you do live there. This option is very possible but know that language acquisition does not come without active participation. That means you actually have to talk... a lot to reach your language speaking goals.

One way that encourages the activity of speaking is a "language exchange". Here you meet with a native of the country where you live who would like to improve their English. You do an hour of English conversation and an hour of the native language. This method is two-fold; You are increasing your exposure to the native language and culture of your new home but also you are meeting people. One of the struggles of living in a foreign country is making friends who are natives as opposed to your fellow English teachers. Regularly meeting with people for the purpose of exchanging language automatically puts us in a potential social situation. You can meet at a cafe, go to an art exhibit together... anything that promotes conversation. Chances are your language exchange friends have other native friends who would like to meet you as well. What could be better?

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Speaking Arabic in public; or: don't say Yallah

You may have heard about the imams who got taken off a plane in the US (Minneapolis) because some passenger thought they were suspicious. Apparently:
Before passengers boarded, one became alarmed by an overheard discussion. "They seemed angry," he wrote in a police statement. "Mentioned 'U.S.' and 'killing Saddam.' Two men then swore slightly under their breath/mumbled. They spoke Arabic again. The gate called boarding for the flight. The men then chanted 'Allah, Allah, Allah.'"
It's bizarre the way that "They spoke Arabic again" seems to be characterised as somehow suspicious in itself - but the part that really makes me think "duhhhh!" is "The gate called boarding for the flight. The men then chanted 'Allah, Allah, Allah.'" It's obvious what they must really have been saying (although I haven't seen any paper point this out): Yallah, yallah, meaning "come on! let's go!". If even the use of the word "Allah" alarms some paranoid passengers, then Arabs will be hard-pressed to speak at all - between inshallah, hamdulillah, and bismillah alone (let alone yallah or wallah) you could easily reach at least one mention of "Allah" every couple of sentences in a completely mundane conversation! I hope this is an isolated instance rather than a trend.

In related news, speaking Yan-Nhangu is apparently suspicious as well...

In unrelated news, I thought Tulugaq's Google Map of Inupiaq was pretty cool, as is Sydney Place Names - I hope this is a trend.

Pease Pudding Hot, Pease Pudding Cold

Hands up, how many of you have ever experienced the delights of Pease Pudding? It's a peasant dish from the North East of England, and I like to think of it as 'Geordie hummous'. I used to hate it when I was a kid, but after I'd lived away from home for a few years I actually tasted some that my mother had made, announced that I quite liked it, and for every trip home thereafter there was a huge bowl of freshly-made pease pudding.

It's amazingly simple to make. The finished article should set to a spreadable consistency. Take a couple of handfuls of yellow split peas (chana dal, in these parts). Soak them in water for a few hours. Chop an onion into smallish bits, chuck 'em into a pan containing two or three litres of salted water, rinse and drain the peas and hurl them into the pan from a height of eight feet*. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for a couple of hours. That's basically it. The peas and onion will disintegrate and you'll be left with a thickish goo - you might need to let the goo reduce over a high heat for a bit to get the consistency right. At this point you can either stir in a big blob of butter and transfer it to a bowl to set, or you can tie it in a piece of cheesecloth and hang it over a sink for the excess moisture to drain away (I've never used this method but my mother always did).

Another variation is to add the knuckle of a haraminal at the start of cooking. This releases gelatin which helps the setting. When it's all cooked you can strip the meat from the bone, shred it into, well, shreds, and stir them into the goo.

Oh, by the way, the title of this post refers to a bit of an old English nursery rhyme:

Pease pudding hot,
Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot,
Nine days old.

It really does improve over time, but nine days is pushing it a bit!

*made-up instruction, ignore.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Aramex

Never let it be said that I don't give credit where credit is due.

I received a package from Aramex this morning. No fuss, no hassle, no phone calls asking 'where is your location', no confusion about where I would be at what time. The guy just turned up at my house and gave me the package.

Cool.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Uncivil War in UAE

I've been thinking about writing this post for a while, but it took me reading a few posts on other blogs to push me into it. I'll be up all night writing this, but I feel it has to be done. So here goes.

The true value of any post on any blog is to be found in the comments for that post. It'll take you a while, but read the original posts and then read all of the comments. It won't make you feel good, but it will give you the background to what I'm going to witter on about. Here are the posts:

Local papers upset by 7Days article

How do you get UAE nationality?

Expats to blame for 90% of their problems

Reading these things, you might get the idea that there is open warfare on the streets between locals and expats. It's not actually happening yet although it might explain some of the driving on Sheikh Zayed Road.

I am probably as unhappy about the demographic imbalance in the UAE as any local. In case you don't know, the population of the UAE comprises something like 80% expat to 20% local. If I was a local here I would be seriously irritated by that. But as an expat, all I can say is 'it's not my fault, I have a perfect right to be here, as do most of the others. And I'm leaving next summer.'

If locals are feeling swamped by foreigners then I suggest they take it up with 'the concerned authorities'. But here's the thing. As far as I can make out, the plans for the future of Dubai suggest even more foreigners arriving. Anyone who wants to buy property in the UAE will be made quite welcome. Although not to the extent of having guaranteed right of residency or anything like that.

The problem lies in the fact that there are so few actual locals. The post on Balushi's blog indicates some kind of a problem. If the authorities will not give passports to huge numbers of people who clearly are entitled, then the expat:local ratio can do nothing but go down.

I worry about the quality of the gene pool. The UAE discourages marriage with foreigners, but it does not object to you marrying your cousin. Consequently there is a high risk of children being born with genetic defects such as thallasaemia.

I personally have no desire whatsoever to become a UAE national, but there are plenty of expats who do. Grown-ups and trailing spouses generally know what they are getting into, but their kids who are born here have no say in the issue. They grow up here and know no other place as 'home'. This really bugs me. I know a lot of kids in that situation, and I feel that something should be done.

The UAE has this idea that it is building a nation, and for that it needs imported labour. It also needs architects, designers, engineers, project managers etc, to design and build these projects. These senior people need housing and schooling and healthcare for themselves and their children (the labourers don't, they are here as 'bachelors'). They will do their jobs and leave. But if we ever get to a stage where there is no more building, there will still be a huge need for people to do the menial jobs - the bus and truck drivers, shopworkers, garbage collectors, street cleaners, domestic helpers etc. If an Emirati would stoop so low as to do any of those jobs then good luck to them. Otherwise you are stuck with these expat workers forever, so quit whinging about it.

Where I part ways with some locals (especially the younger ones) is when they say 'we built this country, we don't need you foreigners, kindly go away'. They did not build this country in any way, shape or form. 35 years ago, possibly more, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum realised that there was this thing called 'oilandgas' out there in the Gulf, and that it would make his emirate rich. He envisaged setting up all kinds of things that a proper town/city needs and so he brought in Seven Wise Men from the UK to help him build the required infrastructure: hospital, port, airport, water, electricity, police and army. Those guys (and I knew a few of them) were treated like princes during Rashid's lifetime, and were given houses to live in and residency until they died.

Now, I see a lot of things written by locals complaining that expats do not respect the Emirati culture. And I'm really sorry that I have to ask this, having lived here for twelve years, but what exactly is 'Emirati' culture? If you strip out anything that is part of Islam? Or common to other GCC countries (falcons, horses, henna, that thing you do when you don't want any more coffee, buying cars you can't afford on credit, crippling yourself with bank loans and credit cards, etc)?

The UAE seems to have some kind of obsession with 'racial purity'. The truth is that there is no such thing as a 'pure race', and especially not in the UAE. If there was, it would die out pretty quickly because you must have genetic diversity to keep your gene pool strong. UAE nationals can trace their roots back to Iran, Iraq, anywhere on the Arabian peninsula, India, Zanzibar, Sudan, wherever. I doubt that you could find one person who could say that they had three generations of forbears who lived in this part of the world. And even if you could, it's such a tiny group of folk that it would be most unwise to restrict your nationality based on that.

And that's nothing to be ashamed about. If you look at the history of Western countries, you will see wave after wave of invaders, intermarriage, more invaders, etc. This kind of stuff enriches civilizations, deepens the gene pool and is generally a good thing.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is 'don't blame the foreigners'. We are here for various purposes, mostly to work and try to make money. We get a fairly rotten deal these days with stagnant salaries, rampant inflation and a worsening quality of life. It is not in the nature of Westerners to sit back and accept these things without making some kind of comment. To get back to the original starting point of this post: 7Days will continue to say what it wants to say. If that upsets journos working for the more restricted Arabic-language press then don't blame 7Days, blame whoever it is that puts restrictions on what you can write about.

At the end of the day, the UAE is joining every international club going. It has to allow freedom of speech. It is inching its way towards democracy. It is the key link between the Arab world and the West.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Linked post: You owe it to yourself:

now, first of all, i'll point your attention to this experiment in virtue, proposed by KyuBei, in it, he says that instead of talking on and on about good things, why not try DOING them for a change?

now, doing good, is the hardest thing in the world, and its also the most natural thing in the world.

its easier to watch tv than go pray
its easier to hoot and cat-call instead of respecting someone's feelings.
its easier to take 100$ than to give 10$.
its easier to rant blindly than to consider the other's point of view.

yet, have you actually tried doing something good?
you know how it feels?
how do one recognizes a good thing? hah! are you kidding me?

"Do unto others as you wish others do unto you."

i say this over and over and over, but, its sooo much easier to ignore and wave this away as lunatic ravings, than to actually look inside.

You DON'T have to go shout it out in the streets, you DON'T have to go preaching to others, no sir/ma'am! before thinking about telling others, why not tell it to yourself?

what can we do? hmm. so many things, so little time:
1. stop being dishonest.
2. respect yourself, in order to respect others.
3. heyyyy.. you KNOW what to do, you dont need me to tell you!

now, i'm not such a goody-goody two-shoes as i wish i'd be, hell no!
You know you're better than me, right?
ok, then please, show me how!
but more importantly, show yourself how.

give it a shot, you will NOT lose anything, if at the end you still wanna blow it, you will be your old self again, happy and content as you are.

for iraqis (and everyone else as well):
just how many of us, belonging to (group X), have said over and over "i have many friends in (group Y)" but deep down inside, you feel they are not the same?

"oh those rotten Sunnis"
"oh those rotten Shi'as"
"oh those rotten _____"

how many of us have said it in private?

"oh screw you, what do you know? dreamer! they're trying to kills us, you know"

- fine, pick up a weapon (or a pen, your choice), fight back those who fight you.
but let me ask you first: are ALL people in the other group out to get you?

learn to seperate between a rotten apple and a healthy apple-tree.
we have become the very same thing we fear.

"this is fine and dandy on paper, let me see you try it!"

- well, here's the thing: have you tried talking to a wall?
it wont work, i assure you.
i'm not saying go tell it to the next militia-member/zarqawi-boy/power-ranger you meet, cuz you and i both know the result.
i'm not even saying start a chain-letter!

i'm just saying, tell it to YOURself, to YOUR family, YOUR friends.
believe me, every person counts.
and without support, any wall crumbles.

"scoff scoff! you idjut! you're trying to patch a sinking ship!"

- well, its better than just jump overboard and hope for the best.
this way i'm doing something. You're doing something.


hell, don't we all want to become better?
i'm NOT gonna make you better, Kyubei's NOT gonna make you better.
YOU are gonna make yourself better.

this is not going to cost you anything, not money, not effort (physical or mental), not even time. (except maybe time to read it, but hey, if your time was so bloody important, you wouldn't have been browsing blogs in the first place, would you?)

:)

try it.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

bug-code

call @f
@@:
sub dword ptr [esp],5 ;where call @f takes five bytes!
invoke Sleep,1000
ret
This is the funniest way I have seen to create an infinite loop in a long time. I thought I was a real programmer until I read bug-code. Buggycoder is a geek's geek. So, if you were secretly wondering how to handle structured exceptions in machine code or enjoy hacking the desktop.scf file or get depressed (yes, seriously) using the stack for data storage, this is the blog for you.

Buggycoder says:
this blog will be dedicated to publish my daily experience in computers ,as you will notice most of the things I discover was just a hobby nothing less nothing more ...

So get thrilled cos I am planning to post things varies from security news,asm,c,scripts,OS tweaks...and alot other stuff some of them will be crucially lame others will be 1337 :lol: .
I can't wait!

Monday, November 20, 2006

Middle Finger Crime

The getting-worse-by-the-day Emirates Toady reports on the case of a British gentleman in court for allegedly flashing his middle finger at a local. I couldn't believe this story. Apparently this is the fifth 'middle-finger crime' incident to hit the courts in Dubai this year. People have been jailed and one was even deported for doing something that most people would not give a second thought to.

The Toady explains, for the benefit of us decency-challenged readers: 'Showing the middle finger - a Western gesture of insult and rejection - is considered tantamount to slander in the UAE.' Actually I did not know that. How can it be slander? Slander is a groundless or downright wrong verbal accusation made against someone. If what you said can be proved to be true, then no offence has been committed. In the case of middle-finger-waving, what are they presuming the finger-waver is saying? Something bad, no doubt. But what if it was justified by the actions of the other person? Sadly, the Emirates Toady report is lacking in detail: it states that the accused was asked whether he had any witnesses to support his claim that he was not waving his finger, but merely gesturing at his head to indicate to the other party that thinking about what he was doing would be a good idea. There is no mention of whether the 18-year-old local in his car with tinted windows had any witnesses.

Grrr...what a waste of time and money.

Also in today's Toady, Managing Editor Eudore R Chand makes a bid to take over where KT's Galadari left off. He's written a leader in which he claims that road tolls will make all our lives better. He seriously seems to think that the dhs 4 toll on part of Sheikh Zayed Road and the Garhoud Bridge will actually make a big difference to driving on these roads. Maybe it will, but it will be at the expense of total and utter gridlock on alternative routes like Al Wasl and Beach Roads, Emirates Road and the Maktoum Bridge and Shindagah Tunnel. For those who cannot or will not pay the toll, life will become even more of a nightmare than it already is.

Oops, that wasn't very positive was it? I hope the RTA will think again about this plan: Dubai needs serious alternative public transport infrastructure up and running before using tolls to drive people off the roads.

"An elaborate series of grunts and gestures"

More in the weird colonial-era language books series - this time "The Siwi Language", by W. Seymour Walker, F.R.G.S (Late Royal Artillery), with a foreword by His Excellency Wilson Pasha (Governor, Western Desert Province of Egypt), 1921:
There are no interjections in Siwi which are sufficiently constant to be worth committing to paper.
Their meaning is expressed by an elaborate series of grunts and gestures which can only be acquired by practice.

And:
There is only one noun-adj. in Siwi in which the masc. and fem. forms are identical:
zlèta, naked, bare
Note 30. This exception is a good example of the construction of the Siwi vocabulary, and illustrates one of the reasons for its paucity. Amongst the women a naked female is quite a possibility, but to the general Siwani mind, it is so inconceivable, and so contrary to all established customs, that no special word-form has been evolved to cope with such an obvious phenomenon.


If you want to hear what Siwi is really like, the indefatigable Madi has put a Siwi audio file up on Tawalt: the Story of Prince Sayf. With a bit of help from books like Walker's (and more usefully Laoust's), I can make out a fair bit of it. Remarkably, Siwi has borrowed Arabic's comparative form, as you can hear in the second sentence.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Why, Dubai?

Rejected tells us her story of an Iraqi woman as it develops. From starting work in multinational companies in Baghdad after the war to life as a skilled Iraqi exile seeking work in Dubai. The comma in the title is significant. She not answering the question "Why Dubai?", she is asking Dubai "Why?". Why do you reject me? She writes:
Had I been a gypsy dancer, Pilipino escort or Russian club singer, I would have been received in open arms and granted residency in UAE.
Why?
being a decent Iraqi hard worker female made me lose my job in UAE and my future.
Why? Maybe we will find the answer maybe not. Its the journey that counts.

I Aint'nt Dead

Just TBTB again.

However, I know you're all on tenterhooks to know how does my garden grow. Well, the spuds are massive and the peas are hurtling skywards. I have some coriander shoots that are very slowly not doing much.

Fresh this morning I noticed six teeny onion shoots and two carrots. The carrots are such a dark green that you can barely spot them against the soil.

And what of the Basil Babies? Well, I think they are cress. Having shot up at an alarming rate, they haven't showed any signs of growing any more, and they certainly don't look like basil. Ah well.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Semi-Death


Semi-Death is an Iraqi Heavy Metal/Progressive Metal band currently based in Amman, Jordan. Band members are Ahmed, Ali and Sultan. Their official website is here, and their myspace page is here.

They may be among the last members of the underground heavy metal scene in Iraq to leave the country.

Another Iraqi heavy metal band is Saddam's Family (no blog). They are moderately successful in Finland.

New today: 1
Total: 223

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Aljazeera in English - hmmm. interesting

Here it is folks: http://english.aljazeera.net/News Aljazeera in English. I think it will be most interesting to see what happens with this development.

It will be fun to see how they translate certain terms. For example, I noticed that Aljazeera used the term "Palestinian fighter" when the BBC used "Palestinian militant" to describe the same event in the news today.

I understand that Aljazeera has different politics, but why did they choose the term "fighter"? It sounds so unnatural and odd. I know they are looking for a more neutral word...but "fighter"? غريب. How about something like "combatant"?

This is going to be most interesting.

Article about learning Gulf Arabic

Click on the title of this post to read an article about learning Gulf Arabic. The Article is from gulfnews.com and includes a general introduction of Arabic and some resources for learning the Gulf dialect.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Setting up in a Foreign Country

How to go about setting up in a foreign country all depends on the country of choice and the desired job. Assuming you want to teach English, it's possible to get practically all the setting up done before you arrive if you want to teach in Japan, Korea or China assuming you have at the minimum a college degree of any discipline. Jobs can be arranged via internet and often jobs locate housing for you. As for the rest of the world, the best jobs are not on the internet, it's often better to go there and search for work.

South-east Asia is probably one of the easiest regions to "show up" and "set up" simply because there is a high demand for English and there is a low cost of living. More specifically, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

While there is a strong demand for English in Central and South America, know that the pay is very low. It is , however, relatively affordable, as well, to show up, locate housing and start up. In fact you should do just that simply because caution should be used when selecting an employer. See the school, try to speak with some of the other teachers and make sure expectations on both sides are clear. More and more, a TEFL/TESOL Certificate will be required.

Speaking of expectations, North African countries such as Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt have a solid demand for English. All the comments mentioned above for the Americas apply here. However, in this region, it is necessary to be even more scrutinizing when it comes to choosing a school. Definitely go online before arrival to find out which schools have good/bad reputations. Secure a contract before you begin working. Promises, in this region, that are too good to be true probably are. Lastly trust your instincts. Using caution in the begining when selecting a school will pay off in the end as this is one of the most exciting regions in the world to spend time.

Western Europe poses the most challenges because the start- up expenses and cost of living are higher as opposed to other countries mentioned above as well as the visa restrictions that apply for Non- EU residents. Despite these obstacles, this part of the world maintains a strong demand for English teachers, however here more than anywhere else it requires you to be active when searching (for both housing and employment)and have TEFL certified to secure employment.

Lastly, Eastern Europe aggresively seeks English teachers and there is support for locating housing. Despite the fact that many Eastern European countries have been added to the EU, currently there are no restrictions on Non-EU residents seeking work. Turkey which balances between Europe and the Middle-east promises university jobs, housing assistance and very good pay for those who posess a TEFL/TESOL Certificate.

Monday, November 13, 2006

One Upmanship

SalamsIt’s the Monday before I get married and I’ve been meaning to write up something on my experiences with all the weddings I’ve had through summer and before. Now seems like a good time to do it because I’ve got an insider perspective to add to it as well.One of the root evils, in my humble opinion, connected to the subject of weddings is ‘One upmanship.’ By one upmanship, I mean one person

Road Stuff

The Government Of Dubai is launching an intensive campaign aimed at transforming Dubai from one the world's most dangerous places for road users to one of the safest within five years. Huzzah!

It can't be done, of course, not in five years, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of ambition. Why can't it be done? Well, it's all down to driver education, respect for the law (and other road users) and effective enforcement. And getting drivers to realise that they are in charge of a potentially highly-lethal weapon.

Deporting truck drivers doesn't help - they just get replaced by new truck drivers who have even less clue about the local driving 'culture' than the previous incumbents. But yes, I'd love to see proper driver education - and I'm gonna piss some of you off now by saying: on a par with Western standards. Drivers from most Western countries are able to get a UAE driving licence simply by passing an eye test and paying money. People with licences from other countries have to pass a test. If there was to be a more advanced driving test brought in (and I've seen things in the press that suggest it is in the offing), then those with licences acquired before the new test is brought in will have to undergo extra training and sit the new test. And we need to see an end to the use of wasta in acquiring licences and in dealing with accidents.

The UK ran some brilliant TV campaigns on road safety about 20-30 years ago. One showed a hammer smashing into a peach - guess who won. Another showed what happened to crash test dummies if they were not wearing seat belts.

Gulf News did a survey on seat belt use and attitudes a few weeks ago. One commenter said he never wore a seat belt while travelling in the back seat, because 'the front seat will protect me'. Sorry pal, the front seat has a steel frame and, in a crash at even modest speed, it will smash you to bits. So, seat belts for all, and proper child seats for toddlers. And no exceptions.

Respect other road users. I remember a phrase from the UK Highway Code 'never do anything that would cause another driver to slow down or change direction'. If all drivers here just thought about that every time they made a manouevre, especially entering roads from a side street or changing lanes on a highway, we would see an immediate reduction in the number of accidents.

So that's road safety sorted out.

On to road tolls. Most of the local papers carried a leaked story from the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) last week. We are to expect an announcement from the RTA concerning the introduction of road tolls from next July on dozens of major roads throughout the Emirate of Dubai. Notwithstanding the fact that I am leaving next July, this is madness. In the absence of a realistic public transport alternative, and the continuing illegality of car-pooling (because it takes revenue away from the taxis), this amounts to nothing more than another tax on motorists. It will have minimal impact on car use. It may force a number of Echo and the Sunnymen to leave, but guess what, they'll be replaced by more of same. It may force people to consider using a minibus service (there are dozens of these that run from Sharjah/Bur Dubai/Karama to TECOM/Jebel Ali). But that's about it.

Maybe the leak was a strategic move by the RTA to see what kind of response it got. If so, and if the RTA are reading this, my response is, don't even think about tolls until you have provided serious, viable alternatives to using cars. That means 2010 really. By then the first phase of the Metro will be operational, you will have figured out how to run a bus service (and this must include bus lanes and dedicated bus roads with the magic bollards featured in my previous post) on time, we'll have some ferries and hovercraft running up and down the coast, and, most importantly, you will have fixed the climate so that people can actually walk to the access points for these facilities without dying of heat stoke. Quite an easy job really. Go for it.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Bollards!

There's been some half-hearted talk of bus lanes in Dubai of late, but of course you then have the problem of how to stop unauthorised vehicles from using these lanes. Manchester in the UK has the answer - retractable bollards.

My car is a bus - really!

Many thanks to Sickboy for finding this gem: it really made my day.

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Episodes of Rahmat

The similitude of these episodes is like the rain. Not only these episodes, but even Nusoos (Quranic verses and Ahadith) bear the same similitude. Rain in itself is highly beneficial and life-giving. However, its effect on different substrata varies. If the ground is fertile, the beneficial effect is manifested in the luxurious growth. If the ground is arid and barren, then the more the rainfall,

Gulf Arabic (and Hindi?) Pidgin

It should be unsurprising that a pidgin trade-Arabic has evolved in the Gulf, given the incredibly large proportion of the population from non-Arabic-speaking countries. But this is the first info I've seen on it online. Not much actual detail (I would add the word siida "straight ahead"), but it also mentions a pidgin Hindi, which is more surprising. Sounds worth investigating...

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Borat Banned

image hosted by BloggerooniI know this is old news, but our wise and tolerant movie censors have decided that Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan will not be showing in cinemas in the UAE. I am so pleased they made that decision on my behalf, because I am too stupid to make it for myself.

And what's with Kazakhstan anyway? Before this movie happened I had heard the name, but couldn't place it accurately on a map, didn't know that it is bigger than Western Europe, had no clue that the capital was called Almaty, and was quite unaware that some of it is very pretty and they want tourists to go there. I think Sacha Baron Cohen has done them a great favour in the 'there ain't no such thing as bad publicity' department.

Maybe the movie was banned so we could cuddle up to Kazakhstan and get some cheap oil and gas from them? Just a thought.

Meanwhile, if the Chinese DVD Lady is reading this, please swing by, my dirhams are waiting.

Iraqi Blogs on Maktoob

Another unknown community of Iraqi bloggers can be found at Maktoob. There are 477 Iraqi blogs in Arabic on that site.

Maktoob Blogs.

Search for "Iraq" under countries.

Iraqi Atheist

With religious politics creating havoc in Iraq maybe there is another way. Cue Iraqi Atheist. I'll let him introduce himself in his own words:
I will be writing mainly about Religion and Politics but I may sometimes write about current events, my friends and family. I know there will be some communist old generation atheists, but, with all due respect, I don't believe they are authentic atheists, there might be some, but the majority of them, from what I have seen, was simply practicing social hypocrisy "Mujamala in Iraqi". Their time was different and frantically better that this time. I believe that I have achieved a huge thing not getting dragged into the abyss of religion, and I would love to hear from someone like me....

Arabic – the language of peace اللغة العربية - لغة السلام

Arabic could be the language of peace.

If Americans were able to speak Arabic, we just might be able to bridge the gaping cultural abyss that currently divides us.

If Americans could speak Arabic, we would be able to converse with friends and reason with enemies in real time and with real emotion.

In both Jordan and Syria I, at times, agreed with and, at other times, argued with storeowners, taxi drivers, university students, university professors, policemen, soldiers and many government officials in their own language. It was quite a “trip” for them to hear someone defending (and sometimes criticizing) America. Many have never heard any human being speak such sentiments in their own language. We often disagreed radically on many issues and sometimes the debates were quite heated. At the end of these arguments, however, we usually became friends and respected one another much more than could have ever happened via an interpreter or any other means of communication or interaction.

If Americans could speak Arabic, we could more easily influence Arab media. There are some Americans who appear on Aljazeera, but it is a rare occurrence - especially Americans who learned Arabic in school and not at home as children of native speakers.

What happens when Americans can really speak Arabic? Here is a name for you to research: Hume Horan. He recently passed away. He was a career diplomat and Arabic speaker in the United States government. He learned Arabic in Lebanon and Tunisia (I believe). His Arabic was so good that it scared Arab government officials. The Saudis did not want an American who could speak Arabic so well (and understand the culture) on their streets mixing with the locals! Ha! They were afraid that he might give them a second opinion and cause them to really consider other viewpoints.

If Americans could speak Arabic, so much would be different. But let’s not focus on the woulds and coulds. We need Arabic learning and teaching in the United Sates and the world from a young age.

If we must talk about the war on terrorism, let’s consider that it is also a war against cultural misunderstandings and lack of communication in real time with real people. There is so much good to be exchanged between all cultures. Understanding one another might just prevent future wars.

Monday, November 6, 2006

Mega Taters

image hosted by Bloggerooni This is a potato plant only four days after the first shoots popped out of the ground. Unbelievable!

And I have no idea what the things in the other picture are - they just grew. But they're very pretty and I'm sure I'll work out what they are eventually.




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Sunday, November 5, 2006

Ten Reasons For Not Blogging

OK fans, here how it is: I haven't seriously blogged for a while for a number of reasons.

1) Too Bloody Busy

2) Chronic Ideas Shortage

3) MamaDuck keeps you updated with the gardening, cooking and thespian activities

4) Nobody's upset me enough lately to provoke a blog

5) I'm trying not to highlight any bad crap about Dubai

6) I'm trying to think positive thoughts about Dubai

7) My head's full of goats, cheese and doing manly things for Amazon warriors (blame my panto character!)

8) There is no number eight

9) Or nine

10) Or ten

So now you know. Normal service will be restored as soon as I get an idea!

Friday, November 3, 2006

Darbouna دربونه

Karim is a multilingual Iraqi in Switzerland. He posts artistic and journalistic reviews and reflections in Arabic, French and English.

His blog is called Darbouna, an Iraqi name for 'small back alley.'

New: 1
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Iraqi Mojo

Iraqi Mojo is an Iraqi American posting his memories of Iraq and the U.S.

New: 1
Total: 219

Thursday, November 2, 2006

Purification through Salaah

Hazrat Esa (alaihis salaam) once passed by a river. There he saw a beautiful and elegant looking bird lying in a puddle of mud and dirt. The bird's entire body was covered with filth. He then noticed this bird come out of the mud and then dive into the river until it was clean and beautiful again. Thereafter, the bird once again flew into the dirt and mud and became covered with filth. Once more,

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Onomatopoeia in Arabic

I love onomatopoeia in English. Zap, Bang! Arabic has this linguistic phenomenon as well. Here is an example: غمغم /ghamghama/, which means to mutter or murmur (murmur is onomatopoeia in English!). The verb تمتم /tamtama/means the same and I think it is also an example of onomatopoeia.

Just an FYI...