W Halla’ La Wein?

(Seriously, if you haven’t seen the movie and are planning to, then don’t read this post.)

It will make you laugh, cry, think…it will inspire you, depress you, and then lift you up… that’s Nadine Labaki’s new movie: W Halla’ La Wein?

It takes place in a distant and isolated Lebanese village during the Lebanese civil war, during the time of conflict between Muslims and Christians. The villagers are a mixture of both religions determined to live in harmony while trying to ignore the war going on around them; well at least the women are.

This movie is full of hidden meanings, and each scene or situation could be interpreted differently.

It shows how the Lebanese community doesn’t really have any problems within it except those that come from the outside; be it politics or regional conflicts. On the other hand the same scene could really be an indication of how fragile the Lebanese community is. It shows that religious figures such as a sheikh and a priest struggle to calm the people within their ranks because both religions are about peace and love not hate and bloodshed. It shows how women are greatly impacted by the war; especially on an emotional level either by losing their husbands or children, thus making them more eager to preserve the peace. Or it can reflect how women have a very significant role in calming angry hearts and distracting the men from the conflict. The movie even addresses forbidden love between two people from different religions, and how silence is better than stirring the hidden intolerance.

Nadine was very careful in keeping the balance between both sides. She was clear in portraying how both sides lost, and could continue to lose. She shows how both sides are equally intolerant, and equally savage and ill-tempered. Call it feminist or not, the movie really puts men in the bad seat, since they are more reluctant to thinking before acting even if their actions have deadly consequences.

When it comes to the actors, none are really famous, except for Nadine Labaky and Adel Karam (who has a small role in the movie) however, all played their roles extremely well. Unlike those Lebanese series were actors seem to be reading their scripts while the cameras are rolling, Nadine’s cast is really able to immerse the audience into the center of their everyday lives, make them feel what they feel and go through what they are going through.

Amid the current critical political and social situation in the country, the movie came as a wake up call to those who act before thinking, who play with the social balance, and who think that civil war is easy.

I discovered cooking!

New restaurants, new foods, new flavors, and presentation appeal to me. I enjoy going to restaurants, surveying the details in décor, trying new dishes from different parts of the world and how they r served. In Lebanon of course!

In Lebanon, dishes are cooked with a twist…a Lebanese twist that appeals to the Lebanese’s tastes. Chinese food doesn’t include bugs, Indian food isn’t too spicy, and American food isn’t too fatty; it captures the tastes, minus the cons.

Recently, I have taken all my restaurant experiences (including my mom’s extra delicious cooking methods) and put them to the test in my own kitchen.

And I love it!

Lasagna, Chicken Tortellini, Romano Bread, Fajitas, Chicken rice and yogurt… are some of the foods I have mastered. (Grin)

Cooking is creating… creating with delicious art. Colored peppers just shine, and the texture of an avocado is so soft and squishy, and the small of butter at it melts in the pot raises guilt feelings in a way nothing can.

I can’t wait to create more, something new and yummy!

Things that no one tells you about the first month of marriage!

(I’m enjoying the “things that no one tells you” blogs; they are my new window to sarcasm)

Marriage… the mark of a new life, a new house, and newly found independence with “the one”! Some of it truly is a fairytale, and the other part is so reality that you can feel it in your aching muscles and cracked nails.

Being used to everything being done for me by my spoiling/ protective parents, loving brothers, and enduring maid, the experience of having my own house was bitter-sweet.  I was used to having my meals hot, my clothes ironed, and my room clean and tidy and all I had to do was give the order.

Things change…

Doing the dishes is new age torture. It combines chemicals, glass and metal utensils, water, and yucky. It gives you back pain, shoulder pain, cracked nails, an itchy nose, and stinky hands.

You turn up on every plant’s wanted list because you become the dictator that deprives them from water and sun.

You do the laundry twice, not because you’re super clean, it’s because you forgot to put detergent the first time.

You leave the house, only to return one minute later because you forgot a sock in your hand.

Dust becomes the neighbor that never leaves, because no matter how many times you dust that TV unit a day, dust needs to watch its programs.

On the other hand,

There is nothing like watching a DVD while curled up on you cozy couch with your hubby, getting kudos on the delicious dinner you just cooked, and “I’m the happiest man on earth” you get at the end of the day.

Mixing Marriage with Friendship

Many of you have definitely heard something along the lines of “When you’re married, you will have less time for friends”, or “When you’re married, your priorities will change”, or “Marriage is your social death sentence in disguise”…

Being married for only 26 days so far, I can’t completely disagree with that; or completely agree for that matter.  It’s never too soon to realize that your BBMs have reduced, you no longer understand the jokes, you get back in half through the conversation, and there are a bunch of pictures on facebook you know nothing about. You start to feel left out.

Then come the excuses.

“Ahh, I’m sorry, I can’t make it today because I have visitors coming over”, or “Are we going to be late? Because I have to be home early”, or “I’ll try to make it if I have time” (and you know you won’t have time).

Then come the mixed feelings.

“I miss my girls” but “I haven’t seen my husband all day”, or “I really want to go shopping with the girls”, but “I haven’t seen my mom in a week”, or “I need to call my best friend”, but “I need both hands to do the dishes”, or “I wish I could go for lunch with my colleagues”, but “I need the lunch break for a bit of grocery shopping”. And the list continues.

Regardless of all that, at the end of the day you know that real friends will always understand, keep you updated even if they have to wait for hours for you to read the BBMs, try to bend their schedules for you because they want to count you in no matter what, and that your ultimate/ eternal best friend is in the next room.

Thank you for the support Joe, Love you!

Things that no one tells you about travelling to Europe!

Our honeymoon in Spain marked our first landing on European soil. I had already been to London, but the British Island is a whole different thing to me.  I knew that Spain would be the optimal trip, but words are nothing close to being there and experiencing it first hand. 

Our tour took us from Madrid to Cordoba, then to Sevilla, then to Granada, then to Valencia, then to Barcelona, then we passed in Zaragoza, then finally back to Madrid; a hectic 10 days, but worth every minute.

However, there are a few heads up worth mentioning.

Never, and a mean never travel to Europe with a 500 Euro bill because no one will give you change for it; not even shops, Western Union, Restaurants, or even the Hotel. And good luck trying to get a bank to give you change. Let’s face it; no one walks around with about US$ 700 in their pocket, it’s a lot of money. Locals call the 500 Euro “the Binladen Bill”, because no one sees it. Haha, Classic.

Public bathrooms are every girl’s nightmare! Toilet seat covers and sanitizer sprays become an invention worth a Gairdner Foundation International Award or a Nobel Prize. They are an absolute must… I can’t stress their importance enough!

Beer and Pork…Blekh!  Yes, beer is cheaper than water (a 0.5 L water bottle costs around 2.50 Euros), and pork is the favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner… and snack and desert. I wonder why Europeans haven’t started oinking* yet.

No price is unified.  You can pay 1.60 Euros for a Sneakers bar in one convenient store, and then pay 1.20 Euros for the same bar in another.

You have to double what ever budget you set for the trip, because you just can’t practice any control when it comes to shopping, restaurants, and souvenirs.

In Canada, there are night shelters that offer soup and a bed for Homeless people… I don’t think they have that in Europe (or maybe not in Madrid).

On the other hand…

The history, the culture, the monuments, the nature, the weather, the greatness, the clean streets, the organization, the shopping, the lifestyle, and the beautiful people make you wish to turn your visit into residency.

*Oinking: From the word “Oink”, is the sound a pig makes – according to nursery rhymes.