Who don't media outlets highlight what must be highlighted? 

On my 30th birthday, July 30th ...

   After spending three decades in this life, life is only remarkable when you taste the successful tangible efforts you have been making. It gives you a feeling and stirs everything inside you to move on. What makes the matter even more cheerful is the fantastic people or friends cheering you up at every step you take.

Life isn't only a matter of earning money; a big part must be occupied by morality in all walks of life. For instance, I can't just be garnering financial assets while passing by a homeless or needy without handing out some pennies to draw a genuine smile on his face.  A further instance is when you run into somebody who comes up to talk to you, showing that he aspires to achieve something in this life, which might lead to great success. Then, you ignore him without paying a little encouragement or doing something regardless of how pointless his idea is for you. At that moment, that guy is subordinated to a sometimes inescapable psychological situation, and his dream is holding him back. Certain obstacles in this situation might be financial, the environment where this person resides isn't encouraging, and people aren't positive. 

When you encounter such a person, remember they are not giving up. They are tirelessly seeking a way out, a moral boost to keep going. The road to success is not always smooth; it's full of bumps and requires continuous struggle. So, if you meet such a person, be generous and help them in any way you can. Your support can make a significant difference in their journey.

That's how I see my life, so I must keep going. Watching yourself succeed and helping others succeed is a potent strategy for gaining hope in this life. 

My 30th birthday passed usually; I spent it looking back over the past and assessing what has been accomplished thus far, paying close attention to the weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and strengths. We inevitably go through this; their circumstances also shape our lifestyle, the nature of success, and the accomplishments we look forward to. As life doesn't always give us whatever we point out, it depends on how we can stand up against these circumstances to divert them in the right direction.

  My experience has certainly had its ups and downs. Sometimes, hope overwhelms the scene, while other times, certain conditions swiftly melt away this hope. Thus, I can only escape from a reality where nothing comes out with strenuous efforts. Believe me! I have had enough to highlight it's a prolonged experience of struggle to get whatever I'm looking forward to, and this struggle hasn't ended yet. What I could say, and without shedding light on the conflict-ridden area where I have been living under the Israeli military occupation that hardened our life. Thus, this contributes to obliterating a lot of horizons. Not to mention our social conflict, many people who belong to this new generation are fighting to eliminate the so-called anachronistic social dogma. It's time to tackle many of its components. I could touch upon women's issues that are still looming, people with special needs haven't had their needs fulfilled ... etc.   

Enough is enough! Let's find a solution to these issues and keep our minds focused on scientific accomplishments and entrepreneurship. It's futile just to stay busy with the problems of "women, headscarves, inventing fears from nothing just to keep women wrapped up in coverage that robs them of their creativity. 

It's time to change our perspective. Let's not judge others based on their appearance or beliefs. Instead, let's appreciate the beauty of diversity. Whether someone wears a headscarf or not is their choice, and we should respect it. Let's embrace diversity and create a more inclusive society. 

   Most importantly, it is essential to think well of the future of our generation, who need much attention and far-sighted strategies. Based on this, we need writers, like-minded and open-minded people to modernity in all fields, knowledge seekers striving to build on what was invented previously, strong cultural ties with the outside world to bring in modern knowledge, etc.

Furthermore, I assert on this point that we need hope makers whose job is reviving the inward noble components by bringing them into reality to make the hypothetical ideas real life-making projects. Those people are much counted on to help fend off fears and liberate minds from these fears. Those fear-makers don't avoid using utterances and expressions, making this generation afraid of adventures in any field to bring up new applicable thoughts. 

In addition, the multicultural and linguistic aspects gave me a different perspective on many societies and made me eager to explore more of what's yet to be explored. At this point, I repeat what Nelson Mandela once said: "Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world."

   Let's unleash our minds! Let's be critical and keep pondering in this world, wondering about many things: how and why they were done, how they could be developed, and how we could do the same and better! Let's make this society better off!

Finally, on my 30th birthday, I recommend you do your best, not give up on your dreams, pay close attention to your language and literature (e.g., Arabic), and be proud of the geniuses who invented its stunning legacy!

Just to highlight a fact. (Arabic language اللغة العربية in the first comment) 

Do you know that we in the Arab World from the Gulf in the East to the Ocean in the West have never experienced a growing phenomenon massively against the existence of foreign languages despite the fact that some of these languages were forcefully imposed by former colonizers? 

Do you know that a lot of people here feel comfortable speaking foreign languages even they tend to show these languages off? I have never seen or heard about a populist campaign calling for eradicating any foreign languages either. On the contrary, most recently our educational systems are increasingly doubling their efforts to turn the language of studies (Arabic اللغة العربية) into foreign ones as of kindergarten. Of course, this being organized in cooperation with western cultural channels. This is amazing! I love diversity and pluralism. 

Seriously though, we are really glad to coexist with foreign languages here. This is what I found out during my linguistic experience and teaching my language as a second language. Indeed, many Arabs take the pride in showing the capacities of speaking French, German, English, Chinese, Spanish ... etc. It's a long list. 

Come in to see that our language became mixed up with terms and concepts derived from foreign languages. For instance, because we live under Israeli occupation, many Palestinians in their conversation use Hebrew terms. A further example, we Middle Easterns, still don't always understand spoken Arabic of Morrocans and Algerians due to the French dialect. Okay, it's up to the speakers. For me, it's fine, too. Let's learn whatever provides us with knowledge. 

Meanwhile, our language (Arabic اللغة العربية) should have its prestigious place. I can't miss out on any chance without showing off my native language too. Look at the latest Israeli nationalist bill, it totally discredits Arabic as a formally recognized language besides Hebrew, turning a blind eye to the fact that there are about 1.5 million of Palestinians Arabic native speakers. In Canada, the government there closely pays a big attention to the language of the French speakers' minority. It's a bilingual country in its official discourse along with English. 

In this regard, I would say, Arabic is really an amazing language to learn and go through its rich literature produced by genius writers, poets, and authors. Arabic language, if learned, there would be another image other than the image that is clarified not by the original sources. 

Let's learn Arabic!

Let's taste its amazing production!

فقد لتسليط الضوء على بعض الحقائق

هل تعلم بأننا في العالم العربي من الخليج شرقاً وحتى المحيذ غرباً لم نشهد ظاهرة مُتنامية على نحو جماهيري ضد وجود اللغات الأجنبية رغم حقيقة أن بعض هه اللغات فُرِضَت إجباراياً من قبل مُستعمرين سابقين؟

هل تعلم بأن الكثير من الناس يميلون للتباهي هنا به`ه اللغات؟

لم يسبق لي وسمعت أو رأيت أي حملة شعبوية تدعو لإزالة أية لغة أجنبية حتى.

على النقيض من `لك، مؤخراً ضاعفت أنظمتنا التعليمية بشكل متزايد جهودها لتحويل لغة الدراسة (اللغة العربية) إلى لغات أجنبية اعتباراً من روضات الأطفال.

بالطبع، يتم ذلك بالتعاون مع قنوات ثقافية غربية. ذلك مدهشاً! أحب التنوع والتعددِّية.

نحن بجد سُعداء بالتعايش مع اللغات الأجنبية هنا. هذا ما اكتشفته من خلال تجربتي اللُغوية وتدريس لُغتي كلُغة ثانية.

بالفعل العديد من العرب يفتخرون بعرض قدراتهم بالتحدث بالفرنسية، الألمانية، الإنجليزية، الصينية، الإسبانية ... الخ إنها قائمة طويلة.

تعالوا لتروا بأن لغتنا أصبحت مختلطة مع مصطلحات ومفاهيم مُستمدة من لُغات أجنبية. على سبيل المثال، نحن نعيش تحت الإحتلال الإسرائيلي، الكثير من الفلسطينيين يستخدمون مصطلحات عبرية في حواراتهم. مثال آخر، نحن الشرق أوسطيون لا زال الكثير منا لا يفهم العربية التي يتكلم بها المَغربيون والجَزائريون نظراً للكنة الفرنسية المُهيمنة. 

حسناً، ذلك يعود للمتحدثين ولا بأس بالنسبة لي أيضاً.

لنتعلم أي شيء طالما يُزودنا بالمعرفة. في ذات الوقت يجبُ أن يكون لِلُغَتُنا العربية مكانَتُها المَرموقة. فلا أضيع أية فرصة دون التباهي بلغتي الأصلية.

بالنظر للمشروع القرار القومي الإسرائيلي الأخير، نجد بأنه يُقلِل من شأن العربية كلغة مُعترف بها رسمياً بجانب العبرية غاضاً الطرف عن حقيقة أن هناك مليون ونصف المليون فلسطيني من المتحدثون بالعربية الأصليين. الحكومة في كندا تولي اهتماماً كبيراً للغة أقلية المُتحدين بالفرنسية حتى غدا خطاب الدولة الرسمي ثنائي اللغة بجانب الإنجليزية.

سأقول بأن العربية هي حقاً لغةٌ مدهشة لتعلمها والخوض في أدبها الغني الذي أنتجته مجموعة من الكُتّاب والمُؤلفون والشُعراء العباقرة. إذا تم تعلم اللغة العربية، ستكون هناك صورة عدا عن الصورة المُوَضحة من قبل المصادر الغير أصلية.

لنتعلم العربية!

لنتذوق انتاجها المُدهِش! 

My father is also very frustrated because of the University of Hamburg's decision on my Ph.D. application.

My father one of some close people who like to see me successful .... to be continued  

Dear friends and readers,

I beg your pardon! Recently, I haven't been very active on my blogging corner, I just left many titled posts without writing the contents under due to lots of tasks I'm preoccupied with. Hopefully, I'll come back to write under the left titles and other topics whenever I have free time for writing and editing.

Best wishes,

Nasser

Liebe Freunde und Leser,

Entschuldigung! Vor kurzem war ich noch nicht sehr aktiv auf meiner Blog-Ecke. Ich habe viele Beiträge mit Titeln hinterlassen, ohne den Inhalt zu schreiben, da ich viele Aufgaben habe, mit denen ich mich beschäftige. Hoffentlich komme ich zurück wann immer ich freie Zeit zum Schreiben und Bearbeiten habe, um unter den Titeln und über andere Themen zu schreiben. 

Liebe grüße

Nasser

أعزائي القُراء والأصدقاء،

أستسمِحُكُم عذراً! لم أَكُن نشيطاً مُؤَخَراً على مُدونتي هنا، لقد تَرَكتُ الكثير من العناوين للمُدونات بدون المُحتويات تحتها نظراً للكثير من المَهمات التي تشغلني. على أمل الرجوع للكتابة مُجدداً تحت العناوين المَتروكة ومواضيع أخرى حالما يكون لدي وقت فراغ للكتابة والتحرير.

أجمل التحيات

ناصر 

There is still hope hovering over

I used to say that the Arabic culture and language don't receive remarkable attention from its native peoples to be highlighted globally. However, a paradigm like A. M. Qattan Foundation made me hopeful.

Last year, I wrote an essay expressing my frustration that Arabic language and culture, in general, haven't been receiving remarkable attention from their natives at their different levels although the possibilities and attempts to do so. Because speaking the language isn't always enough, it's a matter of showing an attractive image of this language and its culture. 
I had felt so after a protracted multicultural experience outside the Arab world. This gave me lots of insights that our culture is also valuable and it's incumbent upon us to show how valuable it is within our frontiers and abroad. These efforts are supposedly made at a magnificent cultural and linguistic representative institute might be titled "Arabic Cultural Institute" to be like a global network where many interested people can resort to understanding us and our civilization.

A. M. Qattan Foundation at the inauguration/ Ramallah

Furthermore, this experience made me very impressed by the cultural efforts are being exerted by foreign institutes like French-German "Goethe Institute" that shows German and French landscapes in all walks of life. 
Americans take the pride in showing their culture at AMIDEAST Institute, where I had an experience, too, the British at British Council, Spain, Denmark at the Danish House ... etc. Not to mention other informal channels that work for different purposes. Meanwhile, they play a certain role in introducing their culture in the field of interest. 
These cultural channels, through immensely published materials in their native languages, aren't set up abroad just for the linguistic purpose, but also, they spread out the meanings of their traditions, culture, so on and so forth. They show the aesthetics, the accomplishments they've done, which reflect their successes. This makes us feel that they want to get a message across to us is "This is how we built our civilization!"
Of course, this significantly bridges understanding which I encourage all the time. 
At this inauguration event in Ramallah in Ramallah, a groundbreaking A. M. Qattan Foundation cheered me up when I explored the great job it has been doing over the past two decades. It's a cultural and educational channel that shows the meaning of all sorts of the Arabic culture, and the Palestinian culture, in particular. It attempts its best to reach out and create a potent ground of the values it works on. Then, after this visit, I realized that there is still a viable hope hovering over.

لا يزال هناك أملٌ يلوحُ في الأفق

لقد اعتدتُ القَول بأَن اللغة والثقافةِ العربية لا تَتلَقيان اهتماماً مَلحوظاً من شُعوبِهما الأصليين لِيتم تَسليط الضوء عَليهما عالمياً. لكن نموذج مثل مُؤسسة عبد المحسن القطّان جَعلني على أَمل

 كَتَبتُ مَقالاً العام الماضي مُعبِراً فيه عن إحباطي كون اللُغةِ العربيةِ والثقافة العربية بشكل عام لم يتلقيان اهتماماً ملحوظاً من روادهم الأصليين على اختلاف مُستوياتهم، بالرغم من الإمكانيات و المُحاولات لفعل ذلك. لأن التحدثَ باللغة ليس دائماً كافياً، إنها مسألة عرض صورة جذابة لهذه الثقافة. فقد شَعَرتُ بذلك بعد تَجربةً طويلةً مُتعددةِ الثقافات خارج العالم العربي، فقد مَنَحَتني هذهِ الفُرصةِ الكثير من الرُؤى الثاقِبة بأَنَ ثقافتُنا هي أيضا قَيّمةّّ! ويقع على عاتِقنا إيضاح كم هي قيّمة ضمن حدودنا وفي الخارج أيضاً من خلال ما يُفترض بأن تكونَ جهوداً لغويةً وثقافيةً مُهيبة يجري القيامُ بها في معهد تَمثيلي قد يكون مُعنوناً "مَعهدُ الثقافة العربية" ليكون كشبكة عالمية حيث يمكن للكثير من الناس المُهتمين اللُّجوء إِليها لِفهمنا وفهم حَضارتنا.

عَلاوة على ذلك، جَعلَتني هذه التجربة مُعجباً جداً بالجهود الثقافيةِ التي تُبذَلُ في معاهد ومؤسسات غربية والتي لدي تجاربُ مثمرةٌ في بعضها، كالمعهد الألماني-الفرنسي (غوتة) الذي يَعرض المَشهد الألماني الفرنسي في كافة مَناحي الحياة، هناك أيضا معهد (الأميديست) الذي يفتخر من خلالِه الأمريكيين بعرض ثقافتُهم، وفي المجلس الثقافي البريطاني الذي يعرض فيه البريطانيين لُغتهم وثقافتُهم، المعهد الإسباني، البيت الدنماركي الذي يَبرزُ الطيف الثقافي الدنماركي في فلسطين ... ألخ. 

مُؤسسة عبد المحسن القطان اثناء حفل التدشين\ رام الله

لا داعي لِذكر القَنوات الغير رَسمية الأُخرى التي تعملُ لأَغراض مُختلفة، وفي ذات الوقت تلعب دور معين في تقديم ثقافتُهم في مجال الإهتمام. 

هذِهِ القنواتُ الثقافية ومن خلال المواد المَنشورة بلغتهم الأصلية بشكل هائل لسيت فقط لغرض نشر اللغة في الخارج، بل لنشر معاني تقاليدهم، ثقافتهم ... ألخ حيث يَعرضون الجماليات والإِنجازات التي قاموا بها فتعكس نجاحاتهم. ذلك يَجعَلُنا ذلك نشعر بأَن رِسالتهم التي يريدون إيصالها لنا هي "هكذا بَنينا حضارَتُنا!"

بالطبع، هذا يَعمل على تَجسير التَفاهم بشكلٍ فَعَّال والذي أُشجِعَهُ كُلَ الوقت. ففي هذا الحدث التدشيني في رام الله، أَبهَجَتني مُؤسسة عبد المحسن القطَّان عند رُؤية العملُ الرائعَ التي كانت تقومُ به على مدى العِقدَين الماضِيَين ولا زالت مُستمرةً في العطاء. إنها مُؤسسةٌ ثَقافيةٌ تَعليميةٌ تَعرضُ معنى كل صُنوف الثقافة العربية والفلسطينية بشكلٍ خاص. تُحاول ما بوسعها الوصول للخارج لإنشاء قاعدة مَتينة لترسيخ القيم الفِكرية والإِنسانية التي تَعملُ عليها. فَبعد هذه الزيارة أدركتُ بَأَن هناك أملٌ قابلاً للحياة لا يزال يَلوحُ في الأفق.

Hamburg, the city of Harbor

    It was a week-long academic trip to the city of Hamburg, 'the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg' or 'Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg.' This trip marked the beginning of a significant academic and novel project, designed by a sociologist on staff at the University of Hamburg, that aims to address a pressing contemporary issue: the transnational change in the Palestinian family across three distinct communities: the West Bank, the Palestinian minority within the occupied 1948 borders, and Germany.

Project staff at Uni Hamburg hanging out at the harbor

Hamburg caught my attention in July last year when it headlined international media outlets. Thousands of protestors went onto the streets across the city during the ceremony of the G8 summit in 2017 that was held there. The main reason behind the riots was protesting against President Trump's global policies and the summit that embraced these policies.

At arrival, the city speaks for itself with its various manifestations: streets, gardens, and distinguished architecture, which insinuate a long history of civilizational buildings that have passed through different phases to end up as such. This architecture reminds me of many things that portray Europe; it's not only the field of interests that had highlighted Europe on specific occasions when I learned about its history, but also, I used to watch cartoons during childhood designed by cartoon makers who objectified the historical European landscape on their long episodes. For instance, the Three Musketeers by Alexandre Duma. These episodes left an image that Europe is a place that should be explored one day. 

The city is harmonized with diverse cultures; people from multiethnic backgrounds coexist in serenity. I couldn't touch upon any fissures among these diverse groups, nor have I ever heard that Hamburg has attested to ethnocentrism negatively, which led to vindictive reactions. 

On the contrary, the city of Harbour, or as I could name it, showed a role model of diversity. It's the way of life that I constantly call on people to slip into all walks of life. How wonderful this paradigm is! How wonderful to wake up every morning and see a colorful landscape around you and integrate into multiculturalism!

In Hamburg, colliding with individualism is inevitable, which means a lot to people there. I felt  those people would have said to me, had I asked why this individualism, "It's our absolute free choice to do whatever in this life as long as it doesn't violate the law or encroach on others' rights."

As we arrived in the city, the Palestinian group went through Jordan, and the first day was spent touring around.  In the following days, we discussed the following steps to be carried out to get our long academic project done. How are we going to carry it out by organizing interviews? A session captured our reflections on the interviews we conducted experimentally to familiarize ourselves with the atmosphere. What we did outside the workshops was unforgettable; we enjoyed the amazement of the city; it's a cosmopolitan city that reflects all colors of life in terms of the availability it provides its multiethnic citizens with. It's possible to pass by a convenience store or restaurant owned by Chinese, Italians, Latinos, Asians, Russians, Africans, Arabs, etc.

A statue in Hamburg

Therefore, in Hamburg, you can indulge in almost all life tastes to the degree that you feel nothing is missing regarding food, outfits, fine arts, and other affinities.

The Elbe River gives the city another charming scene. We enjoyed a tour on the boat there, and we could see how it divides the city into several areas from the north, making wide fissures flooded by water. This constitutes a water passageway to ships and the international commercial shipping movement. Indeed, its existence opens up more diversity to the city through touristic and industrial activities. From this point, Hamburg can be named the city of Harbor.

Historical sites, like ancient buildings, embellish the city; churches have a lion's share in these buildings. Also, many of their art pieces are erected in different public places; these pieces are randomly shaped to reflect meaningful messages that artists try to convey to the audience or their fans. This kind of art in the street isn't only in Hamburg but also typical in Germany. It amazes me to stop by and start pondering the meaning behind such art, which is unfamiliar to us in the Middle East!

Street art, acrobatics in Hamburg

Despite the hardship of fasting Ramadan there, I didn't spare time to explore the city from all walks of life to relieve myself as much as possible. I had a small, adorable adventure to add to our commemoration with my colleague in the project; we went out of the classroom to roam the campus as we didn't join the lunch due to our fasting. At that moment, we suddenly passed by a huge tree with lots of yellow fruits dangling down, but at first glance, we didn't figure out what sort of fruit it was. We approached to explore; it was like clusters of fruit shining under the sunrise; it attracted us to check it out; it was finally a cherry tree. I told my colleague, let's pick up some, but let's get permission from those in charge of it first who permitted to pick up some mouth-watering cherries to have them at fast-breaking.