Growing up between USA and Lebanon
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Questions and Answers about the book:
Where and when does the story take place? What is the narrator’s name, age, gender, and background? What is the name of the tutoring center and what subjects does the narrator teach? How long has the narrator been teaching there and how does he or she feel about it?
The story takes place between the US and Lebanon. My name is Sajida. I’m a female. I was 22 at the time I wrote this book, but I’m 32 now. The name of the tutoring center is Rayan and I taught math, physics, chemistry, and biology. I taught there for 6 months, and I loved it, although some of the students were difficult. Then I got married and got pregnant and stopped teaching there, partly because I dont want my husband to be my boss, too.
What is the main problem or challenge that the narrator faces? How does he or she overcome it or learn from it? What are the consequences or implications of his or her actions or decisions? How does the story end and what message or theme does the narrator want to convey?
The main problem I face is fitting into Lebanese culture and society. I learned that Lebanese have a certain mindset, especially the traditional ones, like my husband and in-laws. I also realized later that even the friends I had at school and university were aware of all these social rules that I am now learning. It feels like everyone is in on a secret that im not privy to. The consequence of my inability to internalize Lebanese social rules was social alienation. My friends at university used to call me an alien. None of the people I used to be friends with are friends with me now, except those who were socially outcast as well. The story ends when my son was 1 year old when I moved to my new house. It continues in my next book “Life After Freedom Ends”, which is about life after marriage. The message I want to convey is that being binational is hard and that it’s important for one to be integrated into society as a child and to learn the customs sooner rather than later because learning them as an adult is next to impossible. It’s also a good thing when you have people around you who will point out your social mistakes to you in a nice way so you can better navigate social situations.
What are the personality traits, goals, and values of the narrator and the other characters? What are their strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears, likes and dislikes? What are the reasons behind their behavior and choices? How do they change or grow throughout the story?
I think at the time of writing this book, i hadnt started my self improvement journey yet. I began trying to improve myself in 2016 by reading self help books, filling out worksheets, doing quizzes, watching youtube videos, and listening to podcasts. I have learned a lot about myself over the past 9 years. It’s evident in the books i wrote later, like “We all have a dark side”, and “The Best Advice for Self Improvement and Relationships” and I uncover my childhood trauma in “How to find your voice in the middle of the noise”. I can tell you now that I have many positive and negative personality traits. Im talkative, hot headed, and sometimes lazy, but I’m also empathetic, passionate, and helpful. My ultimate goal is to motivate and inspire, and i do that through creating. For years i would express myself in poetry, then i started writing different styles. I also have been creating designs for the past 2 years. My values are honesty, integrity, and trust. I think it would take forever for me to describe my strengths and weaknesses, but rather i will tell you my MBTI personality is ISFJ and I’m an enneagram 4. That on it’s own tells you a lot about me. My hope is to be understood and accepted by the people around me. My fear is being abandoned by everyone. I like a lot of things, such as coffee and wild flowers. I dislike double standards and controlling behavior. The reason behind my behavior and choices depends on what the behavior was. Ofte, though, i function in a state of fight of flight, despite all the growth i’ve gone through over the years. In this book, though, i hadnt undergone any growth yet. I’d like to think i matured throughout the events of this book, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.
What are the main events and actions that move the story forward? How are they connected and sequenced? What are the causes and effects of each event and action? How do they create suspense, tension, or surprise? How do they relate to the conflict and resolution of the story?
There are several main events in this story. There is traveling from the US to Lebanon, switching schools, going to university in a different city, graduating, getting engaged, getting dumped, working at a pharmacy, and teaching at an education center. My dad moved us from the US to Lebanon so we could be near our paternal grandparents, and so that we could grow up in an Arabic and religious environment. However, he ended up isolating us from Lebanese society, including relatives, except for our grandparents and school. This resulted in us being very naive. How I was raised shaped who I am, but I’ve been spending the past 8 years trying to grow and heal.
What is the tone and mood of the story? How does the narrator express his or her emotions, thoughts, and opinions? What is the point of view and perspective of the story? How does the narrator use language, dialogue, and description to create a vivid and engaging story?
The tone and mood of the story oscillates between gloomy, nostalgic, pessimistic, hopeful, and serious. I express my emotions, thoughts, and opinions without a filter. I reveal things about my childhood, explain how the people around me were, criticize my family, praise my friends, and wonder about the future. The point of view and perspective of the story is first person, limited, subjective, and biased. I am the narrator, therefore my narration is unreliable. I write from memory, which may be inaccurate. I write from my feelings, which may have been exaggerated at the time I wrote this. As this is all a recollection of the past, I dont use dialogue, imagery, or figurative language. I use long sentences and no exclamations.
Where and when does the story take place? What is the narrator’s name, age, gender, and background? What is the name of the tutoring center and what subjects does the narrator teach? How long has the narrator been teaching there and how does he or she feel about it?
The story takes place between the US and Lebanon. My name is Sajida. I’m a female. I was 22 at the time I wrote this book, but I’m 32 now. The name of the tutoring center is Rayan and I taught math, physics, chemistry, and biology. I taught there for 6 months, and I loved it, although some of the students were difficult. Then I got married and got pregnant and stopped teaching there, partly because I dont want my husband to be my boss, too.
What is the main problem or challenge that the narrator faces? How does he or she overcome it or learn from it? What are the consequences or implications of his or her actions or decisions? How does the story end and what message or theme does the narrator want to convey?
The main problem I face is fitting into Lebanese culture and society. I learned that Lebanese have a certain mindset, especially the traditional ones, like my husband and in-laws. I also realized later that even the friends I had at school and university were aware of all these social rules that I am now learning. It feels like everyone is in on a secret that im not privy to. The consequence of my inability to internalize Lebanese social rules was social alienation. My friends at university used to call me an alien. None of the people I used to be friends with are friends with me now, except those who were socially outcast as well. The story ends when my son was 1 year old when I moved to my new house. It continues in my next book “Life After Freedom Ends”, which is about life after marriage. The message I want to convey is that being binational is hard and that it’s important for one to be integrated into society as a child and to learn the customs sooner rather than later because learning them as an adult is next to impossible. It’s also a good thing when you have people around you who will point out your social mistakes to you in a nice way so you can better navigate social situations.
What are the personality traits, goals, and values of the narrator and the other characters? What are their strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears, likes and dislikes? What are the reasons behind their behavior and choices? How do they change or grow throughout the story?
I think at the time of writing this book, i hadnt started my self improvement journey yet. I began trying to improve myself in 2016 by reading self help books, filling out worksheets, doing quizzes, watching youtube videos, and listening to podcasts. I have learned a lot about myself over the past 9 years. It’s evident in the books i wrote later, like “We all have a dark side”, and “The Best Advice for Self Improvement and Relationships” and I uncover my childhood trauma in “How to find your voice in the middle of the noise”. I can tell you now that I have many positive and negative personality traits. Im talkative, hot headed, and sometimes lazy, but I’m also empathetic, passionate, and helpful. My ultimate goal is to motivate and inspire, and i do that through creating. For years i would express myself in poetry, then i started writing different styles. I also have been creating designs for the past 2 years. My values are honesty, integrity, and trust. I think it would take forever for me to describe my strengths and weaknesses, but rather i will tell you my MBTI personality is ISFJ and I’m an enneagram 4. That on it’s own tells you a lot about me. My hope is to be understood and accepted by the people around me. My fear is being abandoned by everyone. I like a lot of things, such as coffee and wild flowers. I dislike double standards and controlling behavior. The reason behind my behavior and choices depends on what the behavior was. Ofte, though, i function in a state of fight of flight, despite all the growth i’ve gone through over the years. In this book, though, i hadnt undergone any growth yet. I’d like to think i matured throughout the events of this book, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.
What are the main events and actions that move the story forward? How are they connected and sequenced? What are the causes and effects of each event and action? How do they create suspense, tension, or surprise? How do they relate to the conflict and resolution of the story?
There are several main events in this story. There is traveling from the US to Lebanon, switching schools, going to university in a different city, graduating, getting engaged, getting dumped, working at a pharmacy, and teaching at an education center. My dad moved us from the US to Lebanon so we could be near our paternal grandparents, and so that we could grow up in an Arabic and religious environment. However, he ended up isolating us from Lebanese society, including relatives, except for our grandparents and school. This resulted in us being very naive. How I was raised shaped who I am, but I’ve been spending the past 8 years trying to grow and heal.
What is the tone and mood of the story? How does the narrator express his or her emotions, thoughts, and opinions? What is the point of view and perspective of the story? How does the narrator use language, dialogue, and description to create a vivid and engaging story?
The tone and mood of the story oscillates between gloomy, nostalgic, pessimistic, hopeful, and serious. I express my emotions, thoughts, and opinions without a filter. I reveal things about my childhood, explain how the people around me were, criticize my family, praise my friends, and wonder about the future. The point of view and perspective of the story is first person, limited, subjective, and biased. I am the narrator, therefore my narration is unreliable. I write from memory, which may be inaccurate. I write from my feelings, which may have been exaggerated at the time I wrote this. As this is all a recollection of the past, I dont use dialogue, imagery, or figurative language. I use long sentences and no exclamations.
