16 March, 2009

Improving Middle East relations, one Skype-ing at a time

A Skype conversation with someone who randomly messaged me, during the Gaza War

hi
hi
I AHMAD FROM SYRIA
hi Ahmad. I'm Daniel from the US
IAM 24YEARS
i'm almost 28
what do you do in Syria?
I student in medical school
wow! that's great! hard?
thank you
i'm in school to by a psychologist
do you see children in GAGA KILL BY TANK AND F16
only in newspapers
WHY
WATCH TV ALGAZIRA OR ALMNAR
i can't see those where i live
just pictures on the internet
it's TERRIBLE
very, very sad
ARE YOU ISRAEL
yes, i am in Jerusalem
where are you in Syria?
DO YOU LIKE ARAB
yes
i work with many arabs
DO YOU HAVE FRIEND ARAB
yes
ARE YOU SOLIDER NOW
no, i am not a soldier
REALLY I NOW ALL ISRAIL IS IN ARM
there are many soliders, but many many people are not soldiers. they are not fighting.
DID YOU KILL ANY ARABIAN
no, never
and i don't want to
THANK YOU WE CAN TO LIVE TOGETHER
i really really want that
many many people here want that too
WHICH ONE WILL WIN
i hope the war stops and there is peace. then we all win.
THANK YOU
you are very welcome
NICE TO MEET YOU
you too, Ahmad
ARE YOU MARRIDE
no, i am not
are you?
NO IAM LOKINK FOR
well, i'm sure school is keeping you with a lot of work also
DO YOU VISITED ARAB
i visited Jordan and Tunisia
i want to visit Egypt too
have you visited the US?
I invide you to vist syria
thank you
a friend told me that Damascus is very beautiful
i am interested to visit there
yes it is
no IDIDNT AND I DONT WANT VIST US
i invite you to Israel, but it is hard for Arabs to come here sadly
I NOW

2 comments:

Duckrabbit said...

I admire his use of capitalization. It may seem that he employs it haphazardly, but if you look carefully, you can see just how discerning he is.

DANIEL said...

I noticed that too, especially when he originally switched from lower-case to caps. I've noticed that Israelis do that too, sometimes. Because there are no capital letters in Hebrew (or Arabic...right?) they sometimes use them interchangeably, especially after proper nouns (Gaza becomes GAZA). But you're right. It's definitely interesting to see where the changes take place.

Of course, I typed the whole thing in lower-case, so what does that say about me? :)