MAID IN LEBANON!

In October 2009 alone, eight foreign domestic helpers have died in Lebanon. Six of whom “fell” or jumped from high places.

In August 2008, Human Rights Watch reported that at least one foreign maid was dying every week (Source: Naharnet)

What a shameful and embarrassing report for a country that considers itself to be civilized, and for people who believe to be cultured and educated.

Dear Lebanese women, it is not going to the hair salon every day and wearing the most expensive brands that make you sophisticated, and dear Lebanese men, it’s not the huge cigar that you stuck up your mouth that makes you classy and refined.
Just stand in front of the mirror, look at yourself and say out loud: my employees prefer jumping from a high rise building rather than having to live one more day under my cruelty and tyranny and with my oh so pampered children.

If I were you, I would have jumped myself…

WEEK END / WEEK START

I’m living in Dubai for almost a year now and I still couldn’t digest the fact that my weekend ends by Saturday.

I still feel so grumpy and pissed when I go to the office on Saturday morning, and call up my friends and family in Lebanon, and they will be preparing for the weekend which will be just starting...

And don’t let me even start talking about Sunday.

I’m trying to find some excuses to leave Dubai and go back to Lebanon. Can this be considered as a relevant one?

*By the way, I look much hotter than the guy in the cartoon

TILL THE LAST PUFF DO US PART

Lighting up the cigarette, inhaling the smoke, feeling the nicotine infiltrating through the blood and increasing the heartbeat… this practice is a ritual for a huge number of people throughout the world in order to start their day.

This blog is not to discuss the detriment of smoking, nor to encourage people to smoke less. This topic has already been so over consumed. Plus, I am a casual smoker myself, and I do enjoy this ritual from time to time, especially after a heavy meal or while having a drink. To be honest with you I am smoking right now, and this is what initiated me to write this blog.

Another thing that kicked me off to write this blog as well is that I read in an article today that Syria has banned smoking in public places.

Syria, really?

Well I know that Dubai is one of the pioneers that banned smoking in public places in the Arab world. But this kind of regulation, you expect it from Dubai. This city is so wannabe. I’m sure that she thinks that in a previous world, or on a previous planet it used to be a European city, and now she’s trying to do her best to hide the Arab identity and shadow it with the heights of her skyscrapers.

But I was a bit surprised and somehow jealous that Syria was ahead of Lebanon in this smart initiative. While we are still battling to form a decent government, and still couldn’t make our mind whether Gebran Bassil should be a minister of telecommunication or not, countries that we used to contempt are starting to outdo us.

Yes, I think this is a clever idea. It doesn’t make people quit smoking whatsoever, but it surely decreases the number of cigarettes consumed and make the atmosphere much more pleasant and healthier, especially for the non smokers.

Do you see any day soon that this law will be implemented in Lebanon? What do you think?

OPRAH WINFREY: QUEEN OF TALK SHOW OR DRAMA QUEEN???

I’ve heard somewhere on the TV that Oprah Winfrey is organizing a show about the famous people around the world and she will be interviewing Nancy Ajram as a celebrity from Lebanon. I was intrigued to watch the show or at least to see the part of Nancy Ajram since I am always interested in seeing how international media display the image of Lebanon, and what if that show was THE Oprah Winfrey show which is seen by an estimated 50 million viewers each week.
Even though I am not a big fan of her or her show, but I have to admit that Winfrey is one of the most influential woman in the history of television and I can only think of all the hard work she and her staff have to endure each week in order to get enough research and study and concrete data about her guests and stories.

And to my surprise!!!

I was astonished when I YouTubed the episode to see that the main idea of the clip was to show Nancy wearing western clothes (like any Lebanese women) and to compare it with photos of women from Afghanistan or Iran or any country ending with an AN (well, obviously except LibAN) and portraying them as the other Lebanese women, and saying, quote: Nancy’s sexy dance move, has caused quite the controversy in this “Deeply Conservative” country!

I am not sure whether Oprah’s depiction of Lebanon as a Deeply Conservative country is due to some lack of research done by her team, or just to make her story a bit more interesting, but it surely reinforce the idea that she has the same stale stereotypes as most of her idiotic compatriots!