Once again... the Cedar is falling.

Middle east is burning... I'm not talking about the temperature outside, that daily reaches 45°C and more. Just about sad events that give us all the creeps. The Gulf is shaking... It seems that a civil war in Irak, failures to make the non-proliferation law (about Uranium modification) survive in Iran and the neverending Gaza conflict were not sufficient elements to provoke a slight reaction in the International Community. Yes... We hear that "This country and that one merely condemned the events and asked for their immediate interruption"... And then??! This speech is tasteless now, and has no more effect... We wouldn't even swallow those false condemnations as "placebo medicine", just to have the illusion that everything is going well. No one can believe this now, any more. Middle east has become like a sad widow... Desperately looking for a partner, a neighbour with whom she would get along well, and maybe expect some bright days. Sometimes she hears some voices... "Heeey, look at me... I want to help you!" But when this partner comes and tries to know her better, he rapidly realizes that her body is covered with scarves, among which some are still not sown. Then, Miss Middle-east has no other choice but to accept to be left alone again, against her destiny. And lacking any wilful surgeon, her pains gets worse and her wounds, infected. On the 14th of July, a tree fell on the ground. It was a Cedar... A big green tree that needs many many...many years to grow and which had already fallen before. Who wanted to put it down? Just some falcons flying around. This kind of devil bird which wings are made of steel, and that could kill any child within a distance of 40km. Those birds are blue and covered with stars... They were bred in the nearby country, a country where they teach you how to forget mercy... For the reason that in the past, people had no mercy towards them.

Filled with the desire of eradicating terrorism - which is a necessary quest, Israëli govt eradicates civilians. Israëli govt bombs the airport. Israëli govt destroys bridges, Israëli govt destroys roads, Israëli govt destroys factories that clean water, and no wonder if Israëli govt soon destroys some powerplants. Because Israëli govt is on the side of war against terrorism..... is it? YES IT IS !! and don't ever say the contrary, if you don't want to be labelled as anti-semitic. Do you know what a syllogism is? Let's consider the famous syllogism of Socrates. "The human is mortal. Besides, Socrates is human. Then, Socrates is mortal." Now let's implement this syllogism to Middle East : Hezbollah is a terrorist group. Besides, Hezbollah's location is in Lebanon. Then, Lebanon is a terrorist country. You got it ? Don't try to find any complexity in Israel's foreign policy : it's very simple!! The best way to eradicate a terrorist group is to bomb the whole country : then you can be sure that you'll have reached your target! One thing that is left to be understood by Israël, I think... It's that terrorism is not a correct reply to terrorism. It seems that they still have this grudge against History and Humanity. Maybe one day we will realize that people who have undoubtedly suffered along History (facts and statistics are not to be questioned at all) can certainly be victims, that's right... But let's not have any bad conscience in thinking that they can also behave bloodily. That's exactly what's happening. What I'm dealing with is not politics, but just some mere questions. I don't give a damn about religion in this case, it's meaningless. I'm just worried about the fact that the situation is already excessively unfair, but there is still not any strong action against a government that considers itself as almighty in its legitimate quest against terrorism.... Please answer me : between a terrorist and a terrorist? which one do you choose? Easy, uhhh....

Now, I'd just like to show some sympathy, without any self-interest, to people who were forced to leave their school, their job, their house behind them.... at least, what is left of these buildings. There is a justice for everything, in the History Lebanon managed to stand up again after many hardships, I wish this could happen again.

With all my heart and respect.

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Hi… Many of my « regular readers » asked me why I haven’t updated the blog since the 20th of June. I don’t have the answer myself. It’s not that I’m not interested anymore in writing on this website, it’s just that I can’t find much time for myself. There are moments when I’m at work, at the office, preparing some courses, at some other moments i’m teaching, and once I completed those 2 things, I try to rest a little... which means that I merely want to do nothing special. My “biological rythm” is being changed, I didn’t feel it much at the beginning of my staying here, but it’s true that when the sun rises at 4.30AM in the morning and sets at 6.30PM, your behaviour is a little bit modified. I don’t have enough distance to know “how” this behaviour changes, as far as I’m concerned, but it influences much the way i’m scheduling each day.

First, I have to say that my attitude about the country is changing, as well. First, I had the impression to be in the middle of nowhere. Amelie Nothomb – who is not my favourite writer, but still, I remembered how she called China in “Biographie de la Faim” – called those strange places “nowhere” and “never”. A strange calling that simultaneously involves the idea of space, and the one of time. About space, and particularly because of the climate, I was wondering what I was doing there. The temperature outside, that reaches an average of 45 – 47 °C in the afternoon, is quite difficult to stand. However, I will not complain : at the office we have a very efficient air cooling system, the “A.C.”. So, inside, it’s constantly 22°C. Mild, isn’t it? And for those who will tell me that my skin is still very clear, I just remind them that I haven’t come there to sell donuts on the beach! :D
As far as the topic of Time is concerned, let’s say that I have the impression to find objects as they were in France 6 or 7 years ago. About “junk food”, for example : I remember when SEVEN UP had still a “not too much acid” taste, it was some years ago in France, before they change the recipe... that I’ve liked much less since then. Here, I find again this sweet taste of sevenup. There are such examples with many other products, it wouldn’t be interesting to list them individually. It’s not a bad critique, to say that I’m feeling as if it was 6 years before. In reality, according to “Egire” calendar, the current century is the 15th. This explains that.

Let’s talk about the job itself, now... It’s getting very interesting now, because my group of beginners become more and more able to produce a “correct” french. By evaluating them, I actually evaluate myself. Many of them come to see me after class, to ask me some more vocabulary about very common things, “everyday expressions” for which they’d like to know the translation.

It was days ago that I realized how much English is useful in teaching. Knowing very few things about Arabic (definitely not enough to use this language in a teaching context). It gives a very special dimension to the language you teach. Not only do you analyse your mother language by teaching (and by answering the students’ questions) but you also examine the language that serves you for the teaching, which is not the “target” language but the “instrument” language. It requires – and provokes, in the same time – a double metalinguistical analysis, and I think this is an aspect that I wouldn’t have discovered if I had remained in France for my internship, in a company or association. Here, I am certainly the teacher, but first and foremost a learner because the person who faces a situation of immersion in a “foreign context” is not any of my student but myself. Peculiar situation, to be both a teacher and a foreigner. I know the topic that I have to teach, to transmit, but it’s connected to a knowledge that is geographically speaking far from there. And that’s the difficult point : to make that knowledge closer, as much as possible. Before leaving – and wholly speaking “in my curriculum of a language learner” – I realized very rapidly that the one who teaches learns a lot, and the one who learns indirectly teaches, through his positive and negative reactions during the process of receiving Linguistical data and general knowledge.

Last day, I helped one of my students, Hamed (36 y.o, surgeon) in enriching his application for Schengen VISA, as he considers going to France from the 31st of July. At the Embassy of S.A. in Paris, they advised him to attend a FR school in Toulouse, as he will be studying surgery (for specialization) in Paris. I advised him to get closer to Paris, and finally they found a school for him in Tours. He will spend 3 years there, for his specialization. I’m very glad that he is going to fulfill one of his dreams, which is to get an higher education in medical sciences, in France.

Now, it’s the weekend, I’ll try to rest a little bit. My next projects are to get my Iqama (residence permit), my Passport (with the Multi-entry mention) and my Saudi driver licence, which was just converted at the Embassy. With those documents, I’ll be able to purchase a car... and travel around when I got spare time. Raed was very nice to drive me back home everyday after work, now it’s time to get some more independence and show some gratefulness.
And some other project.. to decide about my holidays of September which include some days in Orleans, some other days at home and, I hope so, a week with Aurelija in Vilnius. Days are passing quite fastly here, I hope it will be the same for the whole summer... and rapidly we should reach September. Until this date, I will have to write my 25-paged report for University, and another one for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I’ll try to give some news quite soon! See you, take care.