I have never been to Dubai. I would like to visit it but I don't think I would like it. I imagine that I would find it artificial and the weather too hot to be healthy. One of our sister students Dee is British and grew up in Dubai. She doesn't particularly like the UK... Continue Reading →
How to go about Californication and other naughtiness
If you’re from the Lowlands or London censorship is a very alien concept. I don’t watch a lot of telly, but I love films and now and again Anna and I watch a film or two on a lazy evening on MBC which is a satellite channel . The films are broadcast in the original... Continue Reading →
Do Mingle
I wonder what life would be like if you’re used to a separation of the sexes, if you don’t really socialize with members of the opposite sex unless they are close family, which is quite normal in the Arabic world. I wonder how you would perceive men (when you’re a woman). What makes them different... Continue Reading →
Sister is doing it for herself?
There are probably just as many pre-assumptions made on Arab women in the West as there are prejudices on Western women in the Arab world. Arabs very much like to change western prejudice on Arab women. I studied several text on this matter at uni in London and Egyptians are very keen to point out... Continue Reading →
Cracking the Code
A few days ago I'd seen the light, I felt the force, I had an epiphany. I would not say that Arabic is a difficult language to learn. I would say that Arabic was 'invented' to discourage the non-native speaker as much as possible from learning it. If one wants to learn or master Arabic... Continue Reading →
The Wall and Ageing
There comes a certain time in ones life when one starts realizing that one is ageing. A few days ago it really hit me. This month it is exactly 20 years ago when the Berlin Wall fell, an event of which I did not understand the implications but which I vividly remember, and here I am studying... Continue Reading →
the Fight for Food
I am a bit of a foodist and get rather moody when my cupboards and fridge are empty and I only have boring stuff to eat, so it was high time that Anna and I made a trip to Carrefour. Those of you who are used to holidaying in France will know that Carrefour is... Continue Reading →
The Challenge of Living up to your Goals
I am wondering whether I want too much out of life, or if I am just not organized enough to do all the things I want to do. I am here in Alexandria to crack the Arabic language. I see Arabic as a code. Once you have learned the alphabet you can decipher it bit... Continue Reading →
How To Do One’s Thing
I do not believe that people are being born with or a lack of discipline. I believe discipline to be a state of mind that can be acquired. Although I am not sure if I am lazy by nature and taught myself to be fairly disciplined, since it seems that that is what brings you... Continue Reading →
Expat forever; going out without drowning
I wonder why in some places it is or seems rather easy to become part of that particular place and in others you always seem to remain an outsider no matter how long you live there. My father, who is from the Motherland had been living in the Lowlands for almost 25 years and has... Continue Reading →
Dark Fairy Adventures 