'01

• Having tea first thing in the morning, the afternoon, evening, night and whenever you have nothing to do and whenever you have everything to do
• Practicing calligraphy, hoarding calligraphy pens and quills like a dragon hoards its jewels
• Youre now a calligragon btw
• Pretentious hand written letters
• Fragments of poetry and prose on the wall
• In Egypt you can buy a vintage gramophone (as far as I remember)
• Wrinkling your nose at orientalists who have clearly never been anywhere near the culture they're trying to portray.
• Appreciating the orientalists who have in fact been there and paint like it. (Sorry to disappoint but there were never sexy slave babes roaming the streets)
• Mourning for the scholars of Al Andaluas and times when Arabic was the language of science
• Arguing over e'arab (the value of a word with regard to others in the sentence) and balagha (it translates to "eloquence" but is more like a complex version of figures of speech) of words
• Arabic being such a complex language you get carried away sometimes
• Passing the allotted wordcount so you start going over your paper and compressing a whole sentence, consisting of a conjunction, a subject, a verb and two objects into a word in desperation
• Words like فأسقيناكموه (faa'skainakumooh) meaning "and so we have let you drink it" being an example.
• Tea over burning coal. Over logs (hatab) tea over bokhour/oud hits different and you know it.
• Brewing coffee over low heat and humming to Layali Al Ouns
• "No offense but I like real coffee" when someone mentions starbucks
• Um Kulthoum and Asmahan are superior you cant change my mind.
• NO I DID NOT FORGET ABDUL HALIM HAFEZ I WANTED HIM A BULLET OF HIS OWN.
• Fareed al atrash concerts at 3 am.
• Nothing you ever cook will be under seasoned.
• Reciting poetry to yourself in the mirror
• Big chunks of jewelry (usually gold) engraved or woven through with intricate patterns and swirls. Wearing four bracelets in one hand is absolutely fine and under dressing is a myth
• Owning swords is not out of fashion (ancient arabs were well known for their swordsmanship) but using them is, unfortunately <3
• Wondering how they won wars with these swords. I couldn't even lift it enough to stab myself if I wanted
• Extra names. People called شهد honey (shahd), جمال beauty (jamal), زهرة flower (zahra), ليلى night (laila), سماء sky (samaa), مهند/سيف sword (mohanad/saif) and صفاء purity (safaa) like it's the most normal thing in the world (which it should be, along with names of ancient gods)
• Poetry from the abbasid era describing palaces and fountains and music so eloquently your heart skips several beats and you wonder how it is still beating at all and if, after all, you have been born in the wrong era.
• Classic poetry from the school of Apollo brimming with romance and yearning you have never seen matched.
• Poems that tear at your heart and stitch it whole with every bayt (verse? The equivalent for it) and you keep coming back for more.
• Stories so well told that you swear you can see the princes and charmers and musicians and dancers all flicker to life in the flames before you
• Historical masjids and churches.
• Going to the palaces and shrines and towers from the ancient days of yore
• Not exclusively (as neither is anything on this list) arabic but BRAIDS and braid jewellery that clinks when you shake your head
• The unwavering belief that poetry is meant to be sung.
• Singing poetry because it is meant to be sung
• Thick eyebrows
• Lining already lash lined eyes with kohl.
• Beautiful brown eyes. Honey eyes. Chocolate eyes. Freshly turned earth eyes. Eyes that hold all the ethereal beauty of the world.
• Hair styled in dark, thick curls or braids
• Savouring the way the words move around from your throat to your chest to the tip of your tongue, like liquid gold,
• The sweet music from the strings of a qitharah (string instrument)
• Scented candles are cute, but have you ever heard of oud (perfume infused wood)? Anyhow one of my Sudanese friends make it AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL.
• Wanting to study with the scholars of baghdad and azhar so bad
• Recognizing that for all your culture, some of it is inspired by others and that's okay.

“Everyone says love hurts, but that is not true. Loneliness hurts,rejection hurts. Losing someone hurts. Envy hurts. Everyone gets these things confused with love, but in reality love is the only thing in this world that covers up all the pain and makes someone feel wonderful again. Love is the only thing in this world that does not hurt.”

“Aunque llorando no se logra nada. Nos quitamos emocionalmente un peso enorme que ya no podemos seguir cargando, al menos desahogarnos hasta formar ríos.”

“Nada más violento que un abrazo de despedida. Ese que se lleva un poco de ti, que sin piedad te deja inmóvil sin pedir permiso te abre las manos, sin mucha cortesía te roba latidos. Te descose las promesas y sin anestesia se lleva tu corazón. Dejándote vacío ahí lleno de ruidos, sin saber donde estás, ni por donde empezar.”