This is the answer of the word search game.
Now, can you translate these sentences in which the words are used?
.يعمل الكاتب في جريدة كبيرة
.أحب قراءة القصص القصيرة
. أقرأ الصحف والمجلات كل يوم
. أحب الكتابة والقراءة
هناك ورق أبيض على المكتب.
أكتب في مجلة الجامعة.
هذه قصة حزينة جداً.
In this post, I have created an Arabic word search game for you. Can you find the 10 words below in the table? If you are not sure about the meaning of any word, look at the bottom of the page for the translation.
The answer of this word search puzzle will be in the next post.
This is the first post in a monthly series featuring Arab artists from across the Arab World. As we go forward I will introduce one or more artists from each Arab country along with some of their music or their respective art.
To begin this series I decided to feature Nouhad Haddad, more commonly known as Fairouz (Turquoise), perhaps my favorite Arab artist and singer. Fairouz was born in Cedar Mountain, Lebanon, on November 21, 1935. She is one of the most popular artists in the Arab world, and is widely considered the most famous living Arab artist today. If I had to compare her to a western artist in terms of stature, I would say she is to the Arab world what Frank Sinatra is to western culture. Fairouz was married to Assi Rahbani, a playwright and composer who shaped much of her musical career. Fairouz and Assi had four children: sons Ziad and Hali, and daughters Layal and Rima. Her son, Ziad, who also became a playwright and composer, later took the role of his father and composed for Fairouz. Her daughter Rima is a director and photographer.
As well as a famous and renowned artist, Fairouz is also considered a cultural icon and a symbol of Lebanese pride. This image owes in part to her musical style, which is very traditional and folkloric. For a lengthy period of time Fairouz’s music was considered melancholic and political, especially works that were written and recorded during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1991). One such song presented below is titled Shady, the name of a boy who goes missing during the war. The story is recounted through the eyes of a little girl who was Shady’s playmate.
من زمان وأنا صغيرة كان فى صبي
يجي من الأحراش
نلعب انا وياه
كان اسمه شادي
انا وشادي غنينا سوى
لعبنا على التلج ركضنا بالهوى
كتبنا ع الحجار قصص صغار
ولوحنا الهوى
ويوم من الايام ولعت الدنى
ناس ضد ناس علقوا بها الدنى
وصار القتال يقرب
عالتلال والدنى دنى
وعلقت على أطراف الوادي
شادي ركض يتفرج
خفت وصرت اندهله
وينك رايح يا شادي
اندهله وما يسمعني
ويبعد يبعد بالوادي
و من يومتها ما عدت شفت
ضاع شادي
والتلج اجى و راح التلج
عشرين مرة اجى و راح التلج
وانا صرت اكبر
و شادي بعد صغير
عم يلعب عالتلج
Long ago when I was young there was a boy
who would come from the woods
We played he and I
His name was Shady
Me and Shady sang together
We played on the snow and ran through the wind
We wrote little stories on the rocks
And we waved our arms in the air
Then one day the world became smothered in flames
People against people, they fought in this world
And the fighting started to get near the hills
And the world… what a world
And the fighting started on the edge of the valley
Shady ran to watch
I became frightened and called out to him
“Where are you going Shady?”
I called out for him but her never heard me
Only he went further and further into the valley
And since that day I no longer saw him
Shady become lost
And the snow has come and gone
Twenty times it’s come and gone
And I’ve gotten older
While Shady is still small
Playing on the snow
Cartoons (الكاريكاتير) are a very important feature of Arab newspapers (الصحف) and magazines (المجلات). They appear in each and every issue in a large number of publications. They are not always used for entertainment; instead, they are used to criticize political, economic and social conditions. They include very little or no text, but the meaning is very easy to infer from them. Below are some cartoons taken from recent Arab publications. Can you understand them?
From Al-Dustor Newspaper (Jordan)
From Al-Arab newspaper (Qatar)
From Al-Watan Newspaper (KSA)
From Al-Bayan Newspaper (UAE)
You can see the daily cartoons in most Arab publications on the following website (http://www.arabcartoon.net/)
On a recent visit to my brother in Windsor, Ontario, we decided to have lunch at an Iraqi restaurant (مطعم عراقي). Windsor has a very large and diverse Arab population, and one can find many Arabic restaurants (مطاعم), stores, and other businesses whose owners are mostly from Lebanon (لبنان), Syria (سوريا), Iraq (العراق), Palestine (فلسطين) and Jordan (الأردن). Our lunch (غداء) at the Windsor Palace restaurant (مطعم قصر وندسور) was my first experience with Iraqi food (طعام), and I found it rich in flavors (النكهات) and absolutely delicious (لذيذ). I tend to think that the core of levantine food as being different variations of what is essentially the same food, and to some extent I found this true during my lunch. However, while the core ideas and ingredients (المكونات) may be the same, the preparation (تحضير), flavor, and presentation (تقديم) where vastly different.
Windsor Palace Restaurant – مطعم قصر وندسور
We started our lunch with cardamon (الهيل) flavored tea (شاي). My personal experience with cardamon was its use in food and dessert, and perhaps more commonly in Turkish coffee (Turkish coffee is the name we give to the coffee we drink in the Arab world, which is very similar to espresso). Usually, cardamon seeds are roasted and finely ground with the coffee beans. It seems only natural to use with tea, so I’m a little surprised that this was my first taste of cardamon flavored tea.
Cardamon flavored tea – شاي بنكهة الهيل
Our appetizers were a dish called Tarshe and a traditional Iraqi salad (سلاطة عراقية). Tarshe is pickled cabbage (ملفوف) leaves and sliced carrots slightly flavored with cumin (كمون) and curry (كاري) powder. It’s not unusual to use curry powder in Arabic cuisine, but I have never seen it used with pickled dishes. Pickled (مخلل) appetizers (مقبلات) are very common in Arabic food and they’re especially served with mezze dishes, or appetizer dishes, including humous (حمص), baba ghanoug, kebbe (كبة), and many more. After Tarshe we moved on to a traditional Iraqi salad which had chopped purple and romaine lettuce (خس), sliced tomatoes (طماطم) and cucumbers (خيار), finely chopped parsley (بقدونس), black olives (زيتون أسود), and boiled chick peas (حمص), all marinated in olive oil (زيت الزيتون), lemon juice (عصير الليمون), salt (ملح) and crushed garlic (ثوم).
Iraqi Salad – سلاطة عراقية
Our main course was two plates called Dolma and Qoozi. Dolma is a plate of hollowed oinions (بصل), courgettes (الكوسة), and grape leaves (ورق العنب), stuffed with rice (الأرز), ground beef (لحم بقر), and spices (توابل), slow cooked in a tomato garlic sauce with herbs and spices. It’s a flavor rich and smooth dish, and naturally heavy. Qoozi is a grilled (مشوي), whole lamb (خروف) leg served with a bed of rice with thin noodles (شعيرية). To compliment that we had a stew of Fasoolia (فاصوليا), which is white kidney beans stewed in an aromatic, thick tomato sauce (صلصة الطماطم) with herbs and spices.
Dolma, stuffed onions, grape leaves, and courgettes, cooked in tomato sauce – دولما: ورق العنب ، الكوسة ، والبصل المطبوخ في صلصة الطماطم
Qoozi, lamb thigh with rice – قوزي, فخذ الخروف مع الأرز
White kidney beans cooked in tomato sauce – فاصوليا مطبوخة في صلصة الطماطم
After enjoying all this delightful food we, unfortunately, had no room for dessert. But we did get a cinnamon and a strawberry flavored Chiclets to enjoy.
Cinnamon flavored chewing gum – علكة بنكهة القرفة
Strawberry flavored gum – علكة بنكهة الفراولة
