The Nomad

A friend of mine replied to my home at last with this story of hers:

“When I came home recantly to Bosnia after 6 years to see my parents, my father told me: ” Welcome back home my nomad”. The word ‘nomad’ has made me realised of what my life was about. I thouth there are two types of nomads, the ones who move to warmer places where there is more sun and the ones who are looking for warmer places in human internity.”

I say yes yes yes

Well, if I’m learing… thank you Maja.

That is what i will do. If the Israelis will not let me stay… then at least i now know where is home… and i will go back to sydney as a forced nomad… an exile… and i will do my best to spread the warmth of Palestine in the hearts of Australians…

And maybe oneday i can live in my homeland.

Question questions…

well, i’m in ramallah for now… till august.

Home At Last

Well, it’s exactly 79 days since I left Sydney looking for a new life, somewhere warmer (weather wise and heart wise). True, I haven’t written for long. True I could have. My only excuse is that I was on a solo journey.

A journey that took me to trendy Soho in New York, to the magic of Andalusia to Granada, to the power of architecture and money in Dubai, to the enchanted old city in Damascus, and finally to my beloved Jerusalem. Not many people will relate to what I have to say next, for any who will it is worth to read on…

All my life (the life of the writer of this email), from Living in Libya the first few years of my life (I was borne there) to living in Jordan, to Europe, to spending 15 years in Australia (exactly to the date!), to traveling around the world to hundreds of cities… all my life I never felt home.

Today, I sit here at the Jerusalem hotel, listening to Fairoz, writing this email on my notebook, wirelessly connected to these hundreds of cities I visited/lived in, I can say truly that at last I’m home. As I said for many people it is very hard to imagine not feeling home, but I have not felt home (in fact not known what that means) until I came here with my backpack and nothing left behind in Australia with the intention of living here in Palestine, I now know what it means to feel at home among your people.

At the risk of repeating myself, I want to say this: for 35 years (36 in 16 days) this writer had not ever ever ever known what it means to be in a place and not want to be somewhere else, not need to justify “his” being in this or that place; I’m here because this is my home, the land of my ancestors, the place where when I say I’m from here there is no further questions “but where are you from originally?”, I’m still trying to come to terms with it, trying to understand how I feel and why.

It’s not easy to say this but how is it possible that I live all these years, be me, exist, without ever feeling that I’m part of a place, part of the land?

No it’s not the now that I don’t understand, it’s the last 35 years or so, that I’m trying to come to terms with.

Well, I’m now repeating myself and better stop here for words are escaping me faster than my fingers can type.

Now I have a question. Not to you the reader but to no one in particular: “What can I do to stay here?” The Israelis will not give me more than 3 months visa, while a total stranger can come and live here for ever – in my home. What to do?

Are you a PLU?

These days there seems to be a great emphasis on where are you from? What do you do? What is you background? Uh, I see, but where is your accent from? Interesting, where you born there?

I was actually asked these questions in a party last week, all by the same person, and in the same sequence!

This situation poses a dilemma for me: What happens if I am born in Africa to Christian Palestinian parents, and now live in Australia, I have an accent in English (not Australian), and I have an accent in Arabic (not Palestinian)?

Who am I?

Let me answer this question:
Country of Origin: Palestine (Not that there is such a country!)

Country of Birth: Libya (not that I ever lived there we left when I was too young to remember)

Nationality: Australian, but I also feel Palestinian, and lets forget the whole issue around Arab nationalism, that's another story

Original Nationality: I was holding a Jordanian passport, but was considered Palestinian (again refer to Arab nationalism issues). Confusing?

1st Language: None (but I'm thinking about mastering Spanish and making it my first language)

2nd Language: Arabic (with an Australian accent), English (with an Arabic accent)

Ethnicity: Of Middle Eastern Appearance (although a taxi driver told me last night that I look Italian or of Mediterranean Appearance, when I asked him, why not Middle Eastern he said I smile too much to be Middle Eastern!)

Culture: Hmmm, this is a tough one: I like poetry, the desert, mountains, and the moon, I read lots, and love soccer too, I like Salsa… and the beach

Religion: Christian (not really practicing, and most people think I'm Muslim being of Arabic background)

Sexuality: Heterosexual, but being gentle, soft spoken and considering, people always think I’m gay, and sometime I’m called Metrosexual, again having a hairy chest (and not interested in shaving it) I might not entirely qualify to be Metro, is there such a things as gentle manly man?
 
Confused?

Me too.

I'm beyond confused, I'm fed up, I want to celebrate who I am without having to define exactly that I belong to this group or the other, I think the tribal mentality is really, really hard to sustain these days. Having said that, and knowing very well that we are heading to an era of even more emphasis on "US" and them "Them", I propose that if you (the receiver of this email) feel fed up too, and can't think of one single group that represents "YOU"  wholly then join me in calling for:

a PLU  "People Like Us"

This will be (Yes,yet another group) all of us that don't feel like we simply can be grouped as this or that, we are the fringes, we are not the war on terror, nor are we the terrorist, we are not the masses, nor we are the elite, we don't just spend the day watching footy, nor do we live in the library. We don't work 9-5 same job for ever, nor do we live in a commune, smoking hash.

Are you a PLU?