One of the predicaments of changing places a lot is that knowledge whether that of movies, songs, jokes, food, etiquette, and whether tomatoes are fruits or vegetables, differs. Yes, I have been taught through out my agriculture (zira3eh) classes in Iraq that Tomatoes are vegetables and are not fruits, and before, I could not imagine a salad without tomatoes.
Last week my coworker, an old lady was chitchatting about her garden, and how she had to deal with the excess amount of tomatoes she planted, luckily she made all the excess tomatoes - salsa, a pretty good option, and especially good for making real good margas.
While she was telling me all this, I exclaimed with great admiration for her efforts “wow, it is really good that you plant your own vegetables”
She glimpsed at me, for a second, she gave me a stupid look, and yes, thanx for my memory, I recalled that in here, in Canada, tomatoes are actual FRUITS. Oh wow, I just gave the impression that I was actually stupid, I could have rephrased my sentence and said “wow, it is really good that you plant your own tomatoes”, but oh well, that is the price I am paying for living in different countries, and I have always loved my agricultural class back home, the teacher name was Najla, we used to nick name her, Fijla, and no we did not grow any fijil in that class, and sorry, I do not know what is the name for fijil in English, oh I just miss the Iraqi fijil, it used to be hot, yam yam!
She seemed not caring to correct me, she wanted to talk about whatever to pass time, then our next conversation, after some customers of ours cleared out, was about schools somehow, and apparently I leaked some personal information, that I went to six high schools.
She was “oh, busy shopping for schools, I hate kids when they do that”
It hurts, really hurts, I mean, it hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts. Since, when I had the stupid choice, my life dictated me changing SCHOOLS, and it was an emotionally draining experience anways!
I replied laughingly, masking my sadness, “No, you know what, I will tell you how that happens” , I gave her a brief review of the countries I lived in, and the real reason why my family changed places a lot.
We bonded, she was a nice lady, but she did think I was a bit misinformed about the tomatoes being vegetables. :D
مكتوب # 25
12 years ago
2 comments:
Zira3eh and the oral test of zira3eh we had to go through at the mid year and final year exams. I still remember the importance of 'il sa8i bil tan8ee6' and how it increases the efficiency of water usage. ( The technique was first used in Israel, and doroos il zira3eh were all about promoting that technique, lol).
And I corrected my aunt today but telling her that the tomatoes are fruits.
Most Iraqis had to move,move and move. It hurts and I am currently feeling the consequences of such moving. I am still trying to settle into this new place and start making another set of friends. I just think sometimes, why bother, I will be moving again soon for another stupid reason that has to be related to my origin.
I think 'fijil' is turnip. Maybe shal3'am is turnip, I am not sure really, lol.
il sa8i bil tan8ee6, i dont think we had that in our curriculum.
I remember, we used to go outdoors and collect different types of plants and stick them on our notebooks, in Iraq we really had some lovely plants, it is a shame alot of people think that our country is just a desert, i swear if we had the proper irrigation system, we would be self-sustainable, but thank goodness the marshes are back on track :)
as for it is a fruits or vegetables, for me its fruits and for you its veg. big deal! :D
And about moving alot........u know what, just make friends, have a good time, and do not worry about the future, thinking about the furutre alot, can really hinder how u feel and how u feel about others, i do not know what to tell u, bcz this moving alot thing did really hurt me alot at one point in my life, just toughen upa and remember good friends stay until the end, others, are just bunch of ppl u pass time with.
and turnip is not fijil, its shal3'am.
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