Can I help you to a mixed bag? Here’s are some random thoughts from me to you. To start with, if you want to say ‘Hi’ in Arabic, you say Salam, and if you want to say ‘Welcome’ as a greeting, you say Marhaban. (I can’t be much help with pronunciation I’m afraid. I learnt Arabic for a year back in 1875 or something, when thinking of a job in Egypt, but that’s all gone out of the نافذة (window). Here are some more useful phrases you might need if visiting the old post office on Symi:
How are you Kaifa haloka/ haloki (female)
Thank you Shokran (thank you very much: Shokran jazeelan)
Hey! Ahlan (sounds a bit like a-helenne)
Friend Sadiqi
See you later Araka (araki if female)
Good bye Ma’a salama
What’s your name Ma esmouk? Ma esmouki?
My name is… Esmee
Good luck Bettawfeeq
For more go to http://www.linguanaut.com/english_arabic.htm which is where I cribbed that lot from.
Meanwhile… We were treated to a feel good factor in the village on Tuesday evening. We’d popped out for shopping but you know what that means, so we were having a glass at the Rainbow when a group of Australians came up with their guide. They were heading for the Lemonitisa road and the view, and so off they went. A little while later the sound of the kids playing football in the square suddenly became louder. Turns out the young Australians, on a sailing holiday around the area, had decided to play too, so an impromptu game of football started up. I think they lost 3-2 to the Symi boys, but everyone had a great time for half an hour or so. And it also gave them a thirst for large beers at the Rainbow, which went down well on all fronts.
Elsewhere, the number of refugees arriving at Symi continues to climb on a regular basis, though many have now left on the next leg of their journey. The navy boat was out on the bay yesterday, circling around and waiting for some kind of action. The coast guard boat had also been out, I saw it coming back in around 7.30, and it stayed in the harbour all morning.
The charity, and us, and everyone here I guess, is still receiving offers of help from all over the place which is great. A lot of people are asking what they can bring and are making the most of their 20kg luggage allowance – bring donations and then use the extra space to fill up on Symi Christmas gifts; great idea. Everything is needed but what seems to be most needed at the moment are men’s shorts (as a lot of the guys have nothing to bathe in, or wash in the sea in), and toiletries. So, if you are doing a stop-over at a hotel on your way to Symi and you notice those handy, small, shower gels and soaps and shampoos, well, I’m not inciting you to theftery or course but they are the perfect size for individuals needing to wash after being in the sea for 12 hours. That’s better than dishing out big bottles to one person.
That’s just a thought. Here’s another one. You can check out more news about what’s happening with the refugees (please note, BBC and others, not everyone in this mass migration is a migrant or illegal immigrant – Euronews use the term Refugee, to their credit) then check out Adriana’s blog page http://adrianas-symi.blogspot.gr/ where you will get more Symi news and updates direct from Symi Visitor, one of the main organisers of the charity.
