Syracuse. Chapter 1

I've been meaning to write since I arrived here to Syracuse. It's been 3 whole months that I've left Jordan and I've had no time to sit and write! I decided that I'll have multiple short posts to make it easier to blog and read and to also make it more interesting (I hope)


Being in the states is a whole different life, I don't know how I feel about it yet but it changes day by day.


I'll only give 2 short stories about how different.......

#1 In economics class we were discussing GDP and how it is not a real reflection of the nations money flow because some businesses are not taxed and accounted for such as drug dealing and prostitution!


#2 while reading a marketing article there was a statement that said: 

Viviana Zelizer, a sociologist at Princeton University, noted that a similar phenomenon even affects how prostitutes think about their income. She cited a study of the Oslo prostitution market, which showed that prostitutes tend to spend money acquired through welfare checks and health benefits on essentials such as rent and bills and are far more likely to spend their income acquired from selling sex on drugs and alcohol, even if it means they have no money left over to pay for essentials.

(Vedantam,Mental Accounting,2007) 

I have to cite it coz here it's a big deal not to cite, probably worse than killing!


Law b 3amman I'd hear someone in class say : wal 3yathu billah! :)

Coming soon........

I'll be back soon with my new posts as I am leaving the country and will be living in the US & A for 2 years :)

ترقبوا عودة لارا

   

Crap

I don't get guys! I don't know if I want to understand them. Could it be that some people's destiny is to stay single?

During a conversation with a friend who lives in Lebanon

Me: " :S come on, do you honestly say that to your lebanese girl friends and they laugh?"
Him: " yes :) it only leads to coffee"
Me: thinking ' what the heck! are you telling me a sexual joke that I as a girl should laugh about?'
Me: "not funny"

Honestly, do guys think of me as their male buddy who joke around with? Some of my friends think I'm conservative, I tend to disagree since they're mixing up conservative with 'of dignity'.

At the office

Shady: "uff, Juliana, shiklek qawi il yome lazem dayman tilbisi haik"
Me thinking 'what the heck? (lazem dayman what the heck :) ) is he being turned on by her looks AND saying it out loud AND telling her to always please his fantasies? emmm sorry bas this goes under sexual harrassment in my dictionary'

The fact that a guy smiles and says "go on" when a girl tells him about a lesbian couple is beyond me.


Sentences that bug me and I find insulting and offending as a female:

"3indek sa7bat? tab 3arfeena"
to me it's sounds like: "you have friends bni2dar nitsarsar 3alaihom? 3arfeen, coz you girls are stupid enough to do that and please us"

"my friend's going out with this girl and he's hoping to hit 2nd base"
to me it sound like "i'm telling you what we really think of you, sex toys and you should be happy".

Conversation
XY "Shagfe hay lazem azabbet-ha"
ME: "she's an idiot you won't know how to have a decent conversation"
XY: "mish muhim"
to me it sounds like " i don't care if she's an idiot, or even bittaftef o hiyyeh bti7ki, she looks hot and I want to show off, and if I can get her into bed mish ghalat".

A married couple watching TV with friends
Husband: "ittalla3 3alaiha, saroukh, ya 3ammi niyyalo"
Wife: "heheheheh"
Me thinking 'what the heck?! what are you laughing about? kharjek, ma inti 3aha zayyo!'

Yes, i know guys fool around, o better infront of the wife than behind her back, bas yamm! sar funny il mawdoo3?

"Za3lane minni, I'll buy her a gift and she'll be fine"
to me it sounds like : " i'll buy her OFF with a gift coz girls are stupid and like guys who buys them stuff. That will make me look considerate while I don't really remember why we fought....... and I don't care".
  
What bugs me is not the fact that guys say these things, it's that girls just laugh along. Tab su2al, aren't you offended by the opennessand the implications? To me it's demeaning and insulting to all women when a guy talks about other girls in a materialistic way and expects me to laugh or agree. ma buzbot ma3i

I know boys will be boys but they don't need to share these thoughts with me, really. It's not macho it's demeaning.
And girls, stop being stupid and stand up for your dignity.

I think girls are putting themselves down by accepting this kind of talk from guys. They are afraid to disagree with guys so that guys don't perceive them as boring or closed minded or conservative or fun. This is apparent all over the world by the way, it is not an Arabic thing. Girls are always afraid to say no.
Taking the music videos for example, male directors materialize girls to fit their fantasies. Girls don't really want to be dancing around a hip hop singer fighting over his dollars, or sing while rolling over on a bed, or dress like a hooker but they know that this is what turns guys on and this is what sells, so they do it.

So girls, are we tools for drooling or human beings?

The below pictures are not funny, they're demeaning