She gets off the plane and is greeted by a very tall muscular and very dark handsome man
He smiles
His puffy lips stretch out to reveal perfect giant bleach white teeth
The contrast is appealing to her
He hugs her and tells her
welcome welcome
I am jabari
They travel for hours in a rugged off-road jeep down dirt roads
Until finally they come across a wall of stones
There
He says as he points
In the distance are a few huts and some logs set up like maybe they're building something
It was too far away to tell
Once they get to a hut he says
This will be yours
Damu omari and I are in the next hut
You are the first woman to be on this site
It is very exciting
...
We should get to work
You will need to be able to have at least the most basic conversation
Do you know any Arabic?
She says
Assalamualaikum
He smiles and says
alsalam ealaykum
She continues
Good morning
Sabah al-kheir
Morning of light
Sabah al-noor
Good evening
Masaa al-kheir
Evening of flowers
Masaa al-ward
Good good jabari says
He tells her to repeat after him
How are you?
Kaefa haaluk?
She repeats poorly and he winces
This continues to happen
Good thanks (religious)
Bekheir alhamdulilah
Good thanks (non-religious)
Bekheir shukran
And you?
Wa ant? (masculine)
Wa anti? (feminine)
How’s it going?
Keefak?
I’m fine
Mneeh (m)
Mneeha (f)
Thank you
Shukran
You’re welcome
Afwan
Thank you very much
Shukran jazeelan
May god reward you (religious)
Jazakallah kheir
And you
Wa iyak kheir
She continues to struggle
He begins to think that she only knew those phrases
Excuse me / pardon me
Afwan / lo samaht
Forgiveness
Al-afuw
Sorry
Asif
No worries
Hasal kheir
Forgive me
Samahni
Where is the bathroom?
'ayn alhamami?
Where is
'ayn
Bathroom
Hamami
The bathroom
Al-ham-ami
Where is the market?
'ayn alsuwqu?
Market
Suwqu
Where is
'ayn
The teacher went to the school
dhahab almuealim 'iilaa almadrasa
Teacher
Muealim
The teacher
Almuealim
School
madrasa
The school
Almadrasa
She looked confused
Ok well what is dhaha?
Dhahab
It is dh-a-ha-b
This means went or had gone
I don't understand
She puts her hand on her hip
Ok let's back up
He starts drawing symbols and telling her how to pronounce them
ا aa
ب b
ت t
ث th
ج j
خ H
د d
خ kh
ذ dh
ر r
ز z
س s
ش sh
ص S
ض D
ط T
ظ DH
ع 3
غ gh
ف f
ق q
ك k
ل l
م m
ن n
ه h
و uu/w
ي ii/y
ى aa
ة a/at
After a few days it went smoother
What’s your name?
Ma huwa ismuk?
Shu ismuk? (informal)
ما هو اسمك؟
شو اسمك؟
My name is…
Ismee… [name]
Ana…[name]
إسمي…
أنا …
Where are you from?
Min aina ant?
Inta min ween? (informal)
من أين أنت؟
إنت من وين؟
I am from…
Ana min…
أنا من…
Do you speak another language?
Hel tatakalum lugha ukhra?
هل تتكلم لغة أخرى؟
Yes, I speak…
No, sorry.
Na’am, itakalam…
La, asif.
نعم، أتكلم…
لا، أسف.
Pardon me, where is the restroom?
Lo samaht, ain al hamam?
لو سمحت، أين الحمام؟
There
Hunak
هناك
How much is this?
Bikam hatha?
بكم هذا؟
`
Bye (religious)
Fi aman illa
Allah ma’ik
في أمان الله
الله معك
Bye (non-religious)
Ma’assalama
Illa al-liqaa
مع السلامة
إلا اللقاء
Goodnight
Tisbah ‘ala kheir
تصبح على خير
Please
Min fadlek / lo samaht
من فضلك / لو سمحت
Welcome
Ahlan wa sahlan
أهلاً وسهلاً
Please come in / please help yourself
Tfadel (m)
Tfadelee (f)
تفضل
تفضلي
Mother of… / Father of…
Umm… (f) / Abo…(m)
أم… / أبو…
Auntie / uncle
Khala (f), Amo (m)
خالة / عام
Formal pronoun
Hadartik
حضرتك
In between their language lessons he taught her how to dress properly and the laws
He started with how she should look
Standards of dress and behaviour are conservative Cover your shoulders and knees and avoid wearing shorts or tight clothing
Take particular care in areas like Jahra and Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh
It's important
Jabari continues
It is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government
About 85% of Kuwait's population are Muslims
According to the United Nations Kuwait's legal system is a mix of British common law
French civil law
Egyptian civil law and Islamic law
The Kuwaiti Constitution states that Islam is the main official religion of Kuwait
Islam and the Islamic Sharia are the main sources of the Kuwaiti Laws and Legislations
Kuwait has strict laws regarding its head of state
He is called the Emir
It's illegal to challenge or insult the Emir in any way
It's also illegal to use social media to criticise regional political matters and figures
including the Emir
Kuwait prohibits importing of things that are prohibited such as pork alcohol gambling machines pornographic materials and narcotics
However
Firearms and explosives require special import procedures
He explains for hours
This did indeed go on for days but it felt much longer
Finally
She asks to stop for a moment
It's a lot to take in
Yes yes
I know it can be confusing
Why don't I see omari and damu much
This is because they have much work to do
They are building a training corse
and they are not used to being around a woman
Especially a pretty one like you
She blushes
And giggles
Well I think we should have a day to relax
Jabari suddenly looks scary serious
No!
We cannot waste an hour let alone a day
Our time is short and we must get this right
She didn't even know what her backstory should be or if someone already thought of one for her
Learning the basics of a language and laws in just over one week (1 week 2 days) is extremely hard
And what was the training corse jabari was talking about
She just wanted a rest
She was getting burnt out
And she only had about 5 days left