Tuesday, May 08, 2007
creative, eh?
been doing not very much
sleeping, eating, being lazy- and yet the time flies.
I'm leaving in less than a week.
for the remainder of the summer, find me at:
confusedpalestinianchick.blogspot.com
sleeping, eating, being lazy- and yet the time flies.
I'm leaving in less than a week.
for the remainder of the summer, find me at:
confusedpalestinianchick.blogspot.com
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Politcal Correctness
Being the most un-politically correct person in all of Canada is not a great achievement, I do it quite easily.
Dry sarcasm coupled with raw, in your face honesty had led me to believe that I was quite the offensive person, with many a person gasping in horror at some of the things I sometimes let slip.
Then there is what one overhears in Doha.
I won't bother recounting the exact ignorant, racist, un-pc details of what I heard at a cafe today, but it was along the lines of "The Nepali waiter is ignoring us because he cannot see us because they have small eyes. They should hire Indian waiters. Oh, and why do they get upset when we call them Rafig? Rafig means friend. I guess we'll call him Sadiq- what do they want us to do? Look them up in the phonebook to find out their names?!".
I suppose I did just recount it.
Canada has softened me up. I was bowing my head down in the shame, rolling them up in disgust, and simultaneously shaking my head furiously in rage.
I'm glad.
Dry sarcasm coupled with raw, in your face honesty had led me to believe that I was quite the offensive person, with many a person gasping in horror at some of the things I sometimes let slip.
Then there is what one overhears in Doha.
I won't bother recounting the exact ignorant, racist, un-pc details of what I heard at a cafe today, but it was along the lines of "The Nepali waiter is ignoring us because he cannot see us because they have small eyes. They should hire Indian waiters. Oh, and why do they get upset when we call them Rafig? Rafig means friend. I guess we'll call him Sadiq- what do they want us to do? Look them up in the phonebook to find out their names?!".
I suppose I did just recount it.
Canada has softened me up. I was bowing my head down in the shame, rolling them up in disgust, and simultaneously shaking my head furiously in rage.
I'm glad.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Doha
is good.
it took soo long to get here!
after 24 hrs and many anecdotes (all of which I have forgotten), I finally arrived in Doha. Having forgotten my Qatari SIM card (along with license, IDs and all other things Doha), I tried to use my Montreal phone to call my mommy from the airport. Fido does not recognise Qatar as a place worth having roaming service for, and so after 20 odd minutes of standing around outside, I approached an old Qatari man, called my mom and got in her car.
In the four months that I have been gone, the gossip that she had to tell me was...
that there was a robbery at Wafi centre in Dubai.
Ahh, Doha- so exciting.
*********
Me? I've been actually getting some sleep, and some sun. Taking it easy in order not to burn but trying to get a fair daily dose.
Also hanging with my 16 year old sister and her 16 year old friends.
God, they make me feel sooooo old. Like, ancient.
Apart from that, beginning to get anxious about upcoming internship.
I will be in Ramallah from May 15th to August 5th, working at a Palestinian NGO.
I will have to get around to setting up another blog for the duration of my time there, because many acquaintances want to read about my "feelings", and although I'll gladly pour my heart out with respect to politics and the question of Palestine, I don't particularly want them reading the rest of my drama.
Peace.
it took soo long to get here!
after 24 hrs and many anecdotes (all of which I have forgotten), I finally arrived in Doha. Having forgotten my Qatari SIM card (along with license, IDs and all other things Doha), I tried to use my Montreal phone to call my mommy from the airport. Fido does not recognise Qatar as a place worth having roaming service for, and so after 20 odd minutes of standing around outside, I approached an old Qatari man, called my mom and got in her car.
In the four months that I have been gone, the gossip that she had to tell me was...
that there was a robbery at Wafi centre in Dubai.
Ahh, Doha- so exciting.
*********
Me? I've been actually getting some sleep, and some sun. Taking it easy in order not to burn but trying to get a fair daily dose.
Also hanging with my 16 year old sister and her 16 year old friends.
God, they make me feel sooooo old. Like, ancient.
Apart from that, beginning to get anxious about upcoming internship.
I will be in Ramallah from May 15th to August 5th, working at a Palestinian NGO.
I will have to get around to setting up another blog for the duration of my time there, because many acquaintances want to read about my "feelings", and although I'll gladly pour my heart out with respect to politics and the question of Palestine, I don't particularly want them reading the rest of my drama.
Peace.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Munich
So I dropped off mz bags, got in the underground and decided to explore Munich. I had between 4-6 hrs to play and was (am still) running on exactly 22 minutes of sleep.
I could have been an ass, booked a dayroom and slept through the day. But I'd alreadz decided that this will be the summer of travel and exploration, if I had done that things would not be off to a good start.
Munich is gorgeous. The city was very sunny and so I just walked around the "city centre". I ended the day having a conversation with a strange German man who
a) did not believe I could possibly be Arab or Muslim (not that I think he thought there was a distinction.) Then he explained it to me by telling me I was Canadian, despite my yelling PALESTINIAN at the top of my lungs repeatedly.
*side note: have zou ever been ignored when telling someone you are Palestinian? They just pretend like they never asked that question and brush over it and move on. Beautiful.
b) asked me for 100 euros for a train ticket to Berlin
c) ranted about the petition of law in Germany
and d) told me I was a liar and could not possibly only be in Munich for 8 hrs- no one comes for only 8 hrs.
The kezboards here mess up the Y and the Z. Thez are in one anothers place and it is making quite the mess. Thought I'd mention it.
Anzwaz, I got back here and check-in was still not open, so I spent some more time in the sun.
In a way, todaz was the perfect transition from Winter (a la Montreal) to Summer (a la scorching desert). The sun was out, the skz was blue, the trees were green and there were flowers everzwhere.
I ennded up walking along the river- my entire exploration of the downtown core centered around me finding this river. There is something about water in the middle of big cities that is just so sexy.
Think about it, all the great cities have lots of nature right smack in the middle, totallz out of place, totallz perfect.
Montreal, New York, London, Paris- It adds... character.
I could have been an ass, booked a dayroom and slept through the day. But I'd alreadz decided that this will be the summer of travel and exploration, if I had done that things would not be off to a good start.
Munich is gorgeous. The city was very sunny and so I just walked around the "city centre". I ended the day having a conversation with a strange German man who
a) did not believe I could possibly be Arab or Muslim (not that I think he thought there was a distinction.) Then he explained it to me by telling me I was Canadian, despite my yelling PALESTINIAN at the top of my lungs repeatedly.
*side note: have zou ever been ignored when telling someone you are Palestinian? They just pretend like they never asked that question and brush over it and move on. Beautiful.
b) asked me for 100 euros for a train ticket to Berlin
c) ranted about the petition of law in Germany
and d) told me I was a liar and could not possibly only be in Munich for 8 hrs- no one comes for only 8 hrs.
The kezboards here mess up the Y and the Z. Thez are in one anothers place and it is making quite the mess. Thought I'd mention it.
Anzwaz, I got back here and check-in was still not open, so I spent some more time in the sun.
In a way, todaz was the perfect transition from Winter (a la Montreal) to Summer (a la scorching desert). The sun was out, the skz was blue, the trees were green and there were flowers everzwhere.
I ennded up walking along the river- my entire exploration of the downtown core centered around me finding this river. There is something about water in the middle of big cities that is just so sexy.
Think about it, all the great cities have lots of nature right smack in the middle, totallz out of place, totallz perfect.
Montreal, New York, London, Paris- It adds... character.
