If you were a kid who called Syria home in the 80s or 90s, then you probably relate to these 25 things.
1. You learned all about hierarchy at school
- An orange foulard: you are still a baby
- A green foulard: you are almost cool
- A red foulard: you are officially a person and congratulation on your first wave of acne!
2. You couldn't wait to transform from a “Tala2e3” into a “Shabibah”!
3. Friday = Fatteh coma
Fatteh coma, “7ettin” vs “Al Wa7da” football match and another ridiculously boring episode of a “mosalsal badawi”
4. Bananas were a rare commodity in the 80s!
5. Being glued to the TV when Fawaz Jaber’s commercials were on.
“Ana Tarazan” and “marawe7 Hendiko” anyone?
6. Feeling betrayed when you discovered that almost all of his ads were Western cop-outs
But you didn’t have a satellite dish back then, so how could you have known?!
7. Which brings us to the moment when your parents finally bought a “dish”
And you proudly told your friends at school how you watched Ehab Twfik’s new clip on ART!
8. Bassem, Rabab, Maysoon and Mazen were your superheroes
...that or you couldn't stand the sight of them.
9. You finished every primary school rhyme with “Sulaiman Al Eissa”
10. When you thought Captain Majed was the coolest dude on the planet,
but then came Captain Rabe7… and Rami Al Sayyad Al Saghir!!
11. When you binged on “Derby” chips at age 5…
And you still binge on it at age 50!
12. When life’s biggest dilemma was choosing between “3elket Tout” or “3elket Sindibad”
13. When Jazirat al Kanz’s theme song was (and still is) your favourite song OF ALL TIMES!
14. You know you stayed up way too late when you hear the “Ghadan Naltaqi” music on TV
15. When you see your mom buying “Shampoo Sinan”
16. When almost every Syrian house you visited with your family had one of these two awful paintings:
- The sad looking kid with a tear rolling down his cheek
- The toothless old man with a pint in his hand
17. Going back to school meant:
a full evening of “tajleed”, cutting duct tape and choosing cool stickers for your “nahari” and “layli” notebooks.
18. You felt like a boss when your parents gave you a full “25 Liras” as masroof
and you splurged on Topsi and Rolino chips instead of Smaroot!
19. When you had an empty Nido or Nivea can full of glass beads or دحاحل
20. When you carefully chose who you want to hold hands with while playing “Salwa ya Salway” or “fatta7i ya warda”
21. When your whole future depended on deciding between “3elmi” and “adabi”
22. And your whole life depended on your Bacalaureat grades
23. When “Al Maktaba Al Khadra’a” stories were what you read as a child,
“Rewayat 3abeer” were what you read as a hopeless romantic teenager