Author: CaBuReRa

Sometimes the most beautiful things are the hardest to describe. There is something about Palermo, or I would have called it “The city of Love and Tenderness”, that separates you from the rest of the world to reflect, act, learn and have fun. “Buongiorno signorina, Benvenuti in Italia”, the hostess said. At that relieving moment I knew that my journey towards the thousand miles will begin with this step.

My internship experience in Palermo is an opportunity that I will forever be grateful for and is the time that I cherish most from my work experience thus far. During the first two months in Palermo, I was immersed in a culture that is very different than my own which allowed me to open up and expand my formerly limited world view. It exposed me to challenging moments and a plethora of adventures which led me to become a more confident person and thinker, and opened up an infinite amount of opportunities for me to grow as an individual.

As a Palestinian living under the Israeli occupation, where Palestinians have to bargain to gain their simplest human rights and living resources, I had the eager to use this mobility to help me help other disprivileged immigrants in Palermo. Luckily, I was able to work in three different precious organizations: HRYO (Human Rights Youth Organization), Santa Chiara (Kindergarden for Immigrant kids) and Cesie (the host organization, to help Youth).

Moreover, throughout the years I have travelled to many different countries in Europe. However, I never found this support for the Palestinian case as I found among the people here in Palermo; I was thrilled with the recognition and the eligibility of the land to the Palestinian among the Italians in general which made me even in love with this country as a whole package. In Palermo, you are accepted the way you are whatever was your religion, color, political point of view or even the football team you support. There, you are free to express your ideas, political views or religion the way you want without judging.

I am eternally grateful for the time to thoroughly explore and discover so much about what it means to appreciate a world different than what I am used to and interact with people that gave me a positively dynamic perspective on life. While the memories will always be with me, with the passing of time, some of those vivid details that I hold so close to my heart may fade. However, when I look at the hundreds of pictures that I took in Palermo; when I gaze fondly at those huge smiles, bright, shining faces, and dazzling eyes, the old building, the amazing churches, the “arancina”, the “brioscia”, the beautiful sea and mostly the loving people I will remember that forever.

Even though my abroad experience has come and almost done, my outlook and approach to life today is greatly influenced by my time in Palermo and I know that one day I will return to the “City of Love” again.

I am Nairouz  Al-Ghishan , I’ve studied interior design and visual art and I’m now participating in the CaBuReRa (Capacity Building Relay Race) project, which is funded by ENPI. It takes place in six Euro-Mediterranean countries: Italy, Greece, Portugal, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon. The project is aimed to provide us an international and local work experience, so finding a job later could be easier. I’m spending 3 months in Palermo-Italy, then I’ll spend 3 months in Jordan.

At the beginning, when I applied for the project, I wished to be placed in Portugal. My second choice was Italy, so after the interview when I was told that I would be doing my internship in Italy, after feeling a little bit of disappointment I became excited. But before moving to Sicily, I had some fears concerning my flat mates and my roommates because they would be total strangers to me and I didn’t know how I would handle different cultures. Only after one day, I discovered that my fears were unfounded and I got along well with all types of people and I immediately felt at home.

The experience is really nice: meeting people from around the world, working and living with them, learning their cultures and learning Italian. Through this experience I’m really improving myself in many ways.

I’m really happy and thankful for this mobility, and I would apply for it again and again and again if I could, because I’m learning a lot. I feel like I’m getting closer to my goals and I’m getting to know myself more during this mobility by understanding many things I didn’t know before, things that sometimes were already inside of me; at the same time I’m discovering new things I’m able to do.

Well, about my expectations from this experience:

• Learn Italian
• Improve my English
• Meet new people, learn new things and know more about their culture
• Be more serious and accurate in my work
• Write projects, because I always have a problem with writing. To find the right words and put them together, it’s really hard to start something like that but I’m trying.
• Know about other training courses I can take in the future, to improve myself more and more through experiences.
• Work on giving my work experience back to my country.

I also joined this program so I could have more experience in dealing with different kind of people,because someday I would like to be able to teach other people in being more self confident, helping them to improve their ability of public speaking.

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As much as you know about how an orientalist called Ahmad Al Shugairi becomes when he compares different nations, taking all of his observations out of their contexts and using, as subjects of comparison, shallow observations with small or no search about the discourse in which they happen within, just like him you can always be fooled into becoming an orientalist.

As soon as I landed in Italy I started convincing myself that I have enough knowledge and research skills to learn about the culture, but as soon as I stepped out of the plane I started making the same mistakes. I developed stereotypes, prejudices blinded me, I sugar-coated and romanticized what I liked, and kept myself away by prejudice from things that I would have loved.

The key for solving this problem is simple: acknowledge the problem, be empathetic, ask and question, listen carefully, search, learn then repeat the whole circle. Being afraid of making mistakes will get you into more mistakes, and a false information or a false observation will create stereotypes. It’s really simple as long as you start practicing it.

When I first came to Palermo I found myself trying to be the Mr. Know-It-All, trying to impress myself with my knowledge of the new culture, but later I realized I was fooled by myself and became the Ahmad Al Shugairi of my trip to Italy. The way to get out of it was to embrace the little hidden tourist inside of me, accepting the lack of knowledge and experience and listening to others, experiencing their same journey in a tourist’s shoes; who am I to fool? I had only 3 months and limited resources, I could not really learn everything. And so, I had to make a good use of it.

I tried many types of food with almost no limits, lost my MasterCard and went through the process to get a new one, went out with friends all night till the sun rises up and then went to the flee market, got burned by the sun on the beach and almost broke my leg on the rocks, got eaten alive by mosquitoes in Baida, got lost twice in the city for a short time because I have GPS which ruined the experience of getting lost for everyone, I travelled and slept for 12 hours in the airport, I got sick and went to the doctor, missed out on many things I could have done or seen in my home country, felt nostalgic to the point where I cried, missed people, said goodbye to many people and cried again, I got caught in the routine of life and work, got bored and did so many other things like a tourist and owned the title.

But every time I look back to the experience I had between these little events, I see hundreds of conversations in between where I leaned about the different cultures, and more experiments by which I learned about myself, and more yet to come. And even if I’m no more in Palermo, I shall not stop being the foolish tourist, because that was the best and the most entertaining experience I’ve ever had.

It already passed a year since the beginning of my adventure in Jordan, since the so much awaited November 9, that had become an utopian goal. It’s been a year since the responsible of the CaBuReRa project in Jordan, Rami, was waiting for me at the airport; a year since I rang the bell of my new future house in Al Fuhais and I met the first of my travelling companions, Catarina. A year since the beginning of four intense months of work, sharing, travelling, of Arabic language classes, of empathy and understanding, knowledge, discoveries, study.

And after one year, I am here now with tears on my eyes for laughing and crying, reading the list of our adventures in Jordan, a list made with such discipline, written every day, so we won’t forget all the amazing moments shared together. After one year social networks have become really important to maintaining contacts and to know day by day what is going on. After one year I do not miss possibility to read and look at everything that has to deal with Jordan, from international to local news, from tourist video sponsorship to documentaries filmed in the streets of Amman or in the refugee camps.

After one year, I am facing a new adventure in a new continent, totally different from Jordan but in some ways similar. And so everything becomes a comparison: “well, instead in Jordan…”, “You know that in Jordan”, “but people in Jordan”, “Oh let me talk about food in Jordan…”; and are rare the times when Jordan lost the comparison.

After one year, memories are not yet blurry but are much milder, more tender, more intimate: I imagine floating on the Dead Sea, to ride a camel in Wadi Rum. I feel the taste of breakfast with humus and falafel, I remember the first time I tasted pomegranate juice or the enthusiasm to be in line waiting for a hot slice of knafe. Chatting with the workers of souvenir shops, living Amman and Jordan through the eyes of a local, feeling part of something I won’t never truly understand but that makes me feel at home.

Because after all, I am far away physically but Jordan never let me down and I relive it every time I am holding something that reminds me of its places and its people, its history and its present. I think back to the first time I got in the adventure of preparing the most typical Jordanian dish, or when I got in front of the treasury of Petra, or when I got in contact to the fascinating world of Bedouins; I relive Jordan when I watch the photos I took by myself and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to spend four months in this amazing Country. With a smile on my face I think back to the mornings when I was trying to wake up my companions, to the crazy drives around Jordan, to the despair because of taxi drivers, to the last minute shopping among shops filled with colours, smells and sounds.

I think back to the sweetness and kindness of people who always gave you a warm welcome in their Country, offering you a tea or a coffee.

A whirlwind of emotions, a stream of moments and a lot of flavours. And Jordan in the heart and mind, always, because somehow I also feel it a bit my Country.

Alice

Beginning of September, Palermo shows its beauties on a shining sunlight. A soft breeze coming from the sea cool down the heat and suddenly everything looks just perfect. It’s our rendezvous. We left each other only few weeks before but it seems so far ago, another life perhaps, another place for sure. Beirut, Amman, Birzeit used to be our homes and now Palermo is going to replace them for the next three months.

We look funny with our big luggage, perfectly mixed up with the dozens of tourists surrounding us. But we’re not tourists, not today. Among clothes, shoes and other personal effects, we also brought ‘nduja, taralli and other basic supplies we missed abroad and that we now need as fresh air. Each one of us had chosen something typical from its region with the clear idea of sharing it with the others. That’s us, there are no mistakes. We just look somehow different. Maybe it’s our clothes: eventually we had the chance to make a renewal of our wardrobe and we’re not used to see each other with a new shirt or a different pair of jeans. Some of us went to the barber shop and now are showing a new haircut too. Yet, we still look different, you would tell there’s something on our faces this time we didn’t have that day we said “see you soon” one month earlier.

“How are you? What did you do back home? It’s nice to see you again!”

That’s us, pretending nothing has changed. Same old jokes, same old laughs, but they’re just a little less funnier and spontaneous than they used to be. And an embarrassing silence suddenly comes by, a silence we had never experienced before. It seems we know each other so well that we don’t have anything new to say. But our eyes speak for us, and they tell  things only we can understand: they speak about the places we have been, our experiences, the people we have met. It’s the way we look at us that is changed. “Do you remember when… ?”

That’s it. Of course we remember, our memories are still fresh, our old routines are still vivid in our minds, but they’re over and we can’t resign to this basic, simple truth. We left each other with the pledge of keep going and now we find ourselves lost in this melancholic state we just can’t let go.

“Let’s go for a coffee”, Mario says. He was in Jordan with Alessia and Antea and he has a talent for saying always the right thing at the right moment. A coffee and a relaxed chat in a nice and not-so-crowded bar are all we were longing to let ourselves loose that much we needed. And the river starts flowing again as it used to: “What have you planned to do in the next months? Have you heard that news? What do you think about it?”

If there’s something we truly love that is chatting: we could speak about everything for ages, no matter the topic. Once we got stuck discussing about “shaving” for about a couple of hours (and our unfair balance with the girls-to-boys ratio helped a lot); with “food” or “music” we usually go even beyond that limit, but most of the time what we talk about are work related topics or opinions on general life subjects. For as many jokes we would ever do to each other, the truth is that we have a really high mutual esteem and we take into deep account our different views. Even when we don’t agree on something, which happens often, we usually dig enough (that means we waste that much time needed) to reach a common point after that nobody has nothing more to say.

From an outer point of view we might seem sick, and we would also agree on that. One of our colleague at work once said: “You guys are amazing, you are kind of a guild: no matter what you are doing, no matter to whom you are speaking with, whenever you find some of you ‘Cabureri’, you move toward him, or most likely her, almost unconsciously, as if there is a special gravity at work only for you”. And we all know it’s true.

Our base is in via Sampolo, intercom “Liberty House”. This is the place where those of us who are not from Palermo live. It’s a nice old style building and we are five (we used to be six but Rosa had to go back to Napoli earlier due to hers university commitments). Even though we are all different, with different life cycles and interests, astonishingly we get along very well and we’ve hardly had any serious quarrel, so far. From time to time, usually on Friday, we organize a big dinner open to friends that normally shifts close to a cooking competition: we are all really proud of our cooking skills and we can’t wait to prove it every time we can (except for Dario, he’s not even able to boil a potato). Those nights often ends with laughs and empty glasses of wine. Sometimes our neighbour appear at the door to share some of her complaints, we apologize and life keeps flowing as if nothing happened.

At home we have our rites. We follow a strict schedule on who has to put some music on and you will hardly listen to the same song twice: we move from Arabic to Latin music and from Italian songs to Electronic or Jazz sometimes. Garbage is a male thing and a late night briscola decides who between Mario and Dario is going to throw it away, even though recently Luisa brought some new games saving us from this vicious circle. Alessia needs hugs, don’t ask why while Federica has a thing with cactus and tea, so we all started collecting both. Rosa was the kitchen coordinator and since she left our meals are a bit messed up, but luckily, every now and then, Valentina goes to Catania and she brings back a lot of food: those are happy days. To express this harmony we chose the Guayabita as our anthem (an old Colombian traditional melody) which instantly loose our daily stress and put us in a happy mood.

La Guayabita

Days pass by, seasons as well. Now Palermo is getting colder, rainy and nights come earlier, but its beauty still remains. We already know this feeling, it’s the same we experienced last summer: our time is almost over, once again. What will remain of this experience? Of our relationship? Will our neighbours miss us?

We know what will never change: that glance in our eyes every time we will meet again in the future. Those eyes will always make you understand that there has been a story our lips would never be able to tell. And we already apologize because of this but it’s not our fault, that’s what we are: a family.

Alessia, Dario, Federica, Luisa, Mario, Rosa, Valentina