Let me start by saying that I am truly overwhelmed right now, and I am trying so hard to organize my daily life. I never had a job like this where I am completely busy for 8.5 hours a day. I even eat at my desk, because I am always thinking! No wonder computer programmers’ keyboards are always filled with tiny chips and bread crumbs.
For those who are still wondering and never read the About Me page to know, I am a Computer Science graduate, and I am a programmer! I code stuff. Complicated stuff. Stuff that makes your experience using an application much easier. I make things user friendly. Aren’t I nice? I demand a cookie for being a girly-girly selfless geek!
Anyways, this constant thinking at work makes me extremely tired every day, and has been hindering my blogging time! I am so behind, and I don’t want to disappoint anyone with my lack of daily updates. I am going to start using those to-do task tool thingies that some other geek fellows created, and start being an organized Rebellious Arab Girl.
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Understanding my Culture
I have gotten some great e-mails the past couple of days from people asking very good questions that I never addressed. So, what if you are a non-Arab and want to get acquainted with the Arab culture? How do you go about doing that? What do you need to know?
First off, let me introduce you to an Arab. Let me find one first! Wait, that’s me!!
1. I am 100% Arab. I speak Arabic. I was raised by an Arab family, and brought up in a conservative culture.
There is the magic word, conservative.
2. Not all Arabs are Muslims. Only around 80% – 85% of Arabic speaking people are Muslims. The rest are Christians, Jews, or other. Although different religions, but same culture and attitude towards life and family.
3. Arabs are very family oriented. They respect their family a lot, even distant cousins that they barely know.
4. Arabs have utter respect to their elders. Even if someone is a year older, they give them all the respect they deserve.
5. Arabs love to brag about their kids or anyone in their family that has excelled in “anything.”
Don’t think that I am using the word “anything” loosely here. I mean it, anything!
6. Arabs come in all shades of human skin color. The reason for that because the Arab world was under various European and Turkish rule. Also, the Arab world extends two continents with different climates. However, the original Arabs have a dark shade of olive skin or tan and dark eyes.
7. Not all Arabs wear turbans and live in tents in the desert. Who ever still does that are nomads living in the Arabian desert or other desert areas in the Arab world. The modern Arab world has malls and air conditioning, and even pizza delivery!
8. Arabs love their food! Oh the good tasty food! If you don’t feed us a good filling meal, we will mock you to eternity! So start learning to cook now! Hehehe!
Those are some of the positives I think that portray us Arabs as a great civilization. There are obviously a lot more that maybe my daily readers can point out in more detail in the comments area. However, point 3 and 4 above are the most important ones. That’s what makes our civilization so great!
