
Right now I’m just happy I’ve got someone who can help my daughter with her Arabic homework.
The reason why I need an Arabic Exemption paper is because my son has reached grade 9 this year; the year when Lebanese students must sit for their ‘Brevet’; a very demanding Arabic state exam. My son speaks Arabic well, but that is the ‘lougha ammi ( العامية), or what we call the ‘street Arabic’. As far as I know, it does not really have an (official) written version, it is spoken, or colloquial Arabic only. It is the Arabic we use in our daily lives. The exam however, is in (and about) classical Arabic, or (الفصحى) fushah; The Arabic that is used for official documents, newspapers, books etc. Now although both languages overlap each other in some areas, they are totally different in many others. The Arabic program in school, or its teachers, or its methodology/pedagogy, or all of the above are however, horrendously outdated, and as such, not a very appealing/child-friendly subject matter. It entails for instance that parents sit with their children every evening and wrestle their way through vast amounts of homework. My Arabic is pitiful, and hubbie’s classical Arabic is, well, let’s say it’s been a while since he was in school.
The lovely couple, Sarah & Hisham, and the 3 Dutch bridesmaids.
Yes, the Dutch were out in force, thanks to the lovely mother of the bride, a fellow Dutchie. Of course no one can party like the Lebanese, but we showed them last night that you can’t ignore the Dutch either.
The mother of the bride; A Dutchie (of course)
A busload of Dutch came over all the way from Holland, as this was the wedding of the daughter of one of our Dutch in Lebanon. And I think that after tonight they are all going to stay. They’re all figuring out ways to rent an apartment here, so they can live the way the Lebanese live. Or the way they think the Lebanese live. Because all of this glitter and glam is of course just a layer of gild on top of a not so beautiful society.
Some of theDutch mail contingent, Rick, Sharif & Theo
A not-so-beautiful society because the absolutely lovely couple, who have been together now for a long time, was not allowed to marry inside Lebanon, because of their different religion. They had to fly abroad (Cyprus it is these days, for most Lebanese civil marriages. You get a complete package deal these days for under $900), to tie the knot, because our own government does not recognize them as a couple within their own religions.The bride & groom with a certain Nancy something
Both of them – luckily – couldn’t care less, but it is sad to see that so many of our most beautiful and brightest, who couldn’t care less about the confessional divide(s) that slowly but surely wrecks this society, have to go abroad in order to get married.
"Miss, Amsterdam is mispelled; it should be an m, not an n," says a gentleman.
"No," says Anne, "I'm Anne, from Ansterdam."
Sister in law at the beach; 8.5 months pregnant.