So today I want to explain why I love this place. For those of you who don’t know, my mother is German. My siblings and I grew up spending our summers in Germany. It was such a huge contrast to life in Saudi and later in Bahrain (I lived in Riyadh until the age of 12 and then we moved to Bahrain.)

Life in Riyadh and Bahrain was fairly isolated. I never played in the “neighbourhood”, mainly because we didn’t live in a neighbourhood per se. We’d be driven everywhere by car and spent spare time with friends and family. But there was very little independence.

In Germany however we’d live in a real neighbourhood with real kids (if you know what I mean). There was a playground near my grandparents’ house and we’d spend hours and hours there. We’d also go out on our bikes and ride all over town. Sometimes we’d even ride to the neighbouring towns or into the surrounding forests. It was wonderful! Something I could never do back home.

And we did it all without adult supervision -not necessarily something I would recommend, but wonderful nonetheless. Life in Seligenstadt was one big adventure. I’d speak German with the local kids and you probably couldn’t tell I was a foreign kid. I sounded just like a German kid.

At the end of summer we’d go back to school in Riyadh and I want back to acting and sounding like a Saudi kid. It was a bizarre dual existence, but I loved it!

I feel privileged to come back to Seligenstadt and take my kids to the same places I used to play at. And they love it too. They’re overwhelmed with the greenery and natural beauty here (sadly, our natural beauty in Bahrain is slowly being murdered by overzealous property developers). Today for example, my wife and I took the kids for a walk in the forest, and then a walk through corn and wheat fields that are just 5 minutes away from where we live. They loved it! Laith kept running and running through the fields. It’s a great refreshing feeling.

I love the fact that my kids get to spend time with my grandparents. It’s so nice to see that both generations can be part of this. My grandfather is 90 and my grandmother is 87. Mashallah tabarakallah.

But I guess the biggest reason I love coming here is the nostalgia. Everything here reminds me of my childhood. Even the food here has special memories for me. I guess I’m one of few non-Germans who likes German food

Here are some photos. Talk to you soon!

Selma in a the garden of the local monastery.

Selma and Laith with their great-grandmother, Liesel Presser.

The other day my wife, my mother, my cousin Anna and I, took Selma and Laith to a circus. Zirkus Bromach was the name I think. It was one of these -really, really- small, family circuses.

The performers were also the people who sold the overpriced popcorn, who were also the ushers who were also the animal attendants. Speaking of animals, the circus boasted several “exotic” animals, including a donkey, a pony, some goats, a llama, and a camel! This wasn’t exactly Vegas quality, but the kids enjoyed it, and that’s what counts.

At one point during the show “Banane” (meaning Banana) the Clown called some people from the audience on to the stage. It was a tiny audience. Among others he called me, my cousin Anna, and my mother! We had to do some silly acts, but it was lots of fun and we had a really good laugh. Here’s a video of my bit. I had to act like Tarzan. Enjoy

I thanked him and was waiting for him to hand me a copy of the book so I could autograph it, then I realised he didn’t have one. So I asked him if he was going to buy one, and he said something like “Oh I want to lose some weight first and then inshallah I’ll buy the book and learn the techniques in it.” I said no problem, shook hands and off he went.

I then turned to my wife and told her that I thought that that was strange. The guy came all the way to Seef to shake hands but didn’t buy the book. It occurred to me then that he probably thought that the book was about martial arts. You see, many people use the words martial arts and self-defence interchangeably, but they shouldn’t. Let me explain, martial arts (martial means ‘war’, or ‘of warfare’) generally refers to a fighting system like karate, Tae Kwon Do, Judo, Zen-Do etc. There’s usually an artistic element like forms or katas, a code of some sort, uniforms, belts etc. And not all martial arts are good for self-defence, as some, I’m sorry to say, teach things that do not work in real life.

Self-Defence on the other hand, refers to anything you do (physical or non-physical) to defend yourself. The moves don’t need to be flashy or complex. In fact, as I teach in my book, 90% of self-defence is non-physical. But I’m pretty sure that the guy in the book store felt he needed to lose weight and be fitter before he can learn what’s in the book. So, just to reiterate, self-defence and martial arts are not the same, even though of course there can be some convergence.

Anyway, back to the book launch. It was supposed to be between 11 am and 1 pm. But around 12:30 pm it got really quiet, and there weren’t many people in the store, so I decided to leave early. I went to pray and then my family and I walked around the Seef for a bit. As we were walking a another person approached me saying that he and his family came to the bookstore to have my book autographed, but they were disappointed they missed me. He handed me a copy of the book and I autographed it. I apologised for leaving early, but the man was okay with it and he told me he was just happy to have caught up with me later.

This morning I got an email from another person saying she went to the book launch at 12:45 pm and was really disappointed that she missed me. She wanted me to write something motivational in her book. Oops, sorry

It’s funny, because when I decided to leave it really was quiet and didn’t think anymore people would come. Anyway, if anyone else came that I missed I’m really sorry. I guess next time I need to stay the full two hours.

Talk to you soon.