Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Some absurdities

So near, yet so far ...

- So you’re from Lebanon
- Yeah
- You speak Arabic there?
- Yeah
- Do you speak Hebrew too?
- No!
- How come?
- …

Looking Away ...

- You haven’t been yourself?
- How so?
- You’ve been standoffish
- Oh God, this is how I come off?
- No, I mean, I’m used to you being more bubbly
- Yeah, well.. The war.. You know?
- Why? Was your family affected?

Frontiers of Dreams and Fears ...

- So you say you want to go back home?
- Yes
- And where is home for you?
- Lebanon
- May I ask
- Sure
- Is this the safest place to go to?
- …

Scratching the Surface ...

- Is your family alright?
- Yes… Yes they are, thank you for asking
- It must be quite difficult being here
- Yes it’s difficult being away from them
- No I meant being in a country that has the potential to interfere for the sake of peace and chose to stay out of it.
- *smile* oh so this is what we’re telling ourselves?
- What do you mean?
- ….

Light at the End of the Tunnel ...

- So what does Hizb Allah mean?
- The party of God
- And Nasr Allah?
- The victory of God
- And Allah..
- GOD!!!!.....
- Oh so your Allah is the same as our God?
- Ouff 7atdallo bajam
- What was that?
- Nothing ...

Fake hopes ...

- You have to go back
- I will… I’m trying to decide on when will be the best time.
- You have to build your country
- Yeah
- This is what we did after the world war
- Sure
- And look at Japan now

Nightfall ...

- Would you teach me Arabic?
- Why do you want to learn?
- I want to go to Iraq and become a soldier
- You know what you’re asking me?
- Yes but keep an open mind, soldiers are there anyway, what’s another one, they’ll write off my student’s loans. Just translate this sentence for me.
- Attack the enemy… who exactly is the enemy? Do you see now what you’re asking me? And why do you need Arabic anyway?
- I don’t know. This is what they ask for Arabic for people in higher ranks.
- Fuck off ...

‘Attention whore’
I have yet to meet the person who willingly and purposely wants to go in life unnoticed

‘Still looking for himself’
I don’t think he’ll ever find himself if he’s still looking.

‘Soul searching’
Civilizations and philosophies throughout history searched… nothing was found.

‘Born-again’
Why call it that? … The pre-religion life was not worth lumping into the same path with this one... Isn’t the path to religious awakening part of life for these people?

‘Intellectuals’
All the rest of the people are non-intellectuals? So they don’t use their intellect? So they’re all stupid?

‘Of a certain age’
Aren’t we all of a certain age?

‘Can I ask you an easy question?’
What if I can’t answer it, then what? You set me up for a big embarrassment. Why not ask a difficult question? Why waste my time?

‘All smart people carry themselves with humility’
Is that why you keep saying you're very modest?

‘The more we know the less we know’
Why bother then?

21 comments:

FZ said...

o mirvat... this is great, and sad, and funny...

R.Zee. said...

I truely enjoyed this post. Well crafted and powerful.

Anonymous said...

Ditto. Excellent post.

I especially liked:

I have yet to meet the person who willingly and purposely wants to go in life unnoticed

If you do meet them, tell them I'm looking for them.

Maya@NYC said...

wow ya mirvat!!! extremely well said... i guess we all had something similar to some of the dialogues. today i was "caught" saying ya allah...they jumped at me:"what? what? what? did you say allah?"...
Oh so your Allah is the same as our God?
- Ouff 7atdallo bajam

hahahahahhaha.... so well said!

gitanes legeres said...

so true, so funny, so familiar.. (entre nous, they r so pathetic..)

Andrey said...

Excelent post!

Lirun said...

i have no idea what you're on.. have any more?

:D

ps i enjoyed our chat the other night.. yalla bye

Anonymous said...

LOL! Very funny....on the other hand:

In Beirut's downtown (last year's demo against syria).

Me: Fa inti a3da wayn fi beirut?
Lebanese Girl: (confused stare)
Me: (repeat)
Lebanese Girl: Pardon? Je ne comprende pas.
Me: Eih da?!?!? Mish fahma....I mean you don't understand?? You're Lebanese huh?
Girl: Yeh but why do you speak to me in Arabic?
Me: coz you're arab- I'm arab...well i just thought...
girl: I don't really know arabic, speak to me in french or english.
EL HURIYA LI AJL LUBNAN!

_z. said...

what was that!
that was super hot mirvat! nice sketches.

Hashem said...

Mirvat,
very well put....the irony of living in this country.
A colleague asked me yesterday..."so, what is it exactly you over there fight for?"
huh?

Eve said...

touché! excellent post mirvat

Anonymous said...

you made me smile - thanks M.

Ghassan said...

so true and funny. (ps. ma fi allah)

Lirun said...

ha ana anza

hia tithak aleki..

Hilal CHOUMAN said...

mirvat,
this is one of my favourite posts. really. great work!

so true, mirvat.

you drew a smile on my face, despite the nature of some of the content.

Laila K said...

:)

yes yes chloe, get used to it..this or mono, choose :)

Unknown said...

thanks fz, i laugh at some of these comments but mostly they make me sad..

thank you rewa

sayyed, hi thanks and yes i'll let you know

maya, this one in particular will never get through it seems!

gitanes, yes some are..

thanks andrey

lirun, a shot of nostalgia and a glass of realism

ha ana za, is this for real? was she phoenician? eih dah? hahaha

thanks zouzou

hashem eh illon we fight because we seem to be natural born trouble makers..

eve, zee gus and hilal thanks

Unknown said...

hahaha... wlak ehdi
chloe eh.. i like it.. i hated mono
what about princess chloe, it has a ring to it

Lirun said...

mirvat.. a slice of cheese and a shoe box with photos and a sea gull flying over head

hahahahahahha - u r such a lyrical gangstaaaa

Unknown said...

back to surfing lingo?
:)

Anonymous said...

No full on...no shit! we had a massive conversation about it afterwards. She'd been brought up til she was 10 in France and then never really bothered to learn arabic when she came back. I was shocked and horrified! Lebanese and thier bloody phonecia! Just be arabs and khalas! ;)