The Tall and Short of it

I've always been fairly tall. Not a giant, especially since I went to school with a bunch of other Dutch people, but tall. I especially notice this in Egypt, since although it's not Korea where I think I'd be a female Gulliver, I can still see over the head of the average Egyptian. I have quite a few friends who are shorter than me, and lately I've been observing what people say about us when I walk around with these friends. The other day when I was with Martina, a couple of guys walked past us and casually remarked to eachother, "izazzat w cubaya" which means "bottle and cup." Since I'm a good four inches taller than Martina, I'm sure you can guess what they meant.


When my Arabic teacher, Hoda, saw me with my friend Abigail - who barely hits five feet - she started laughing uncontrollably and kept saying "roccquam ashara", which means "number 10," in between her giggling fits. I could only sit and stare, and finally had to tell her that I had no idea why she was hyperventilating. Turns out I wasn't visualizing quite well enough, since once she drew it on the blackboard to remind me, I got it right away. This is what the number 10 looks like in Arabic:



Ha. Funny. Yeah. Sigh. Once, just once, I would like to be the cup or the zero. Maybe I should move to Friesland.