Half-half

My favourite taxi driver’s name is Abu Majeed. He’s a Kingdom native, and as I’ve mentioned before, has been very helpful for my Arabic as he refuses to take me anywhere or acknowledge my comments if I speak in English. Last week, he collected me after an Arabic class and I told him that I’d been learning about food, ordering items in a restaurant and describing thin and not-so-thin people. Abu Majeed calls me Ko-haela. I’m not sure why – I think he misheard me the first time I said my name, but it’s now become a running joke, and any of my friends that travel with me think it’s hilarious.

On the way back from class, Abu Majeed was testing my Arabic and asking me about different people and their size. Then he said Ko-haela mafi thaqil, mafi khafif, Ko-haela half-half. It means I’m not heavy, I’m not light, I’m half-half ☺. He then went onto sing a song about me being half-half and jameela (beautiful). What a treasure.