Mishaps of a Sanfuur

Sanfuur is a derogatory term given to university freshman. According to Jordan's paradigm, Sanfuur-Hood is characterized by naive thoughts and silly questions. The drivel comments that are usually made by sanfuurs are looked upon with pity and the clever remarks they come up with are intentionally neglected and if the sanfuur insists on his idea he is scornfully frowned upon. I once heard the word "sanfuur" traces its origins back to some cartoon show.
A Somali proverb goes "Geel laba Jir soo wada mar" which loosely translates to "every camel was once a suckling" 5 years ago, I myself - the senior – was a sanfuur, I was at the very bottom of the food chain, luckily I was one of the few sanfuurs that survived with no circulating funny anecdotes o

f their sanfuur-hood, How was that possible , well ""The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."~Einstein

We have many friends with riposte tales, Start with Hassan who fell for the cliché of "Fadal macaana"(فضل معانا) and followed our Omani neighbors ,with their bewilderment they served him a cold tea from the night before. On another occasion with the company of Mohamoud they went to the grocery store and they fell for another cliché "Khaliiha caleena"(خليها علينا) and they left without paying for what they have purchased.
But Kainun tops them all; He 'borrowed' a spoon from university, rubbed on a girl's hair with the watch of her mother and briefly stole a water bottle from some lady in the university cafeteria and many others. For a complete year I thought falafel contained meat Hence I was known to ingest and even gobble large quantities of falafel.

There are other apocryphal stories with anonymous protagonists like the guys who went to buy food seasonings (بهارات) and they didn't know what it was called therefore they went all the way to literally draw food seasonings on a piece of paper for the shopkeeper. How would you draw Seasonings! it beats me...

There are two ways to survive sanfuur-hood, first by being an obedient lackey "dhiidh" or by being fiercely independent anarchist and never hang around other sanfuurs, in order to prevail you should rub shoulders with the elite. Another important trick is to never ever share your mishaps with anyone "Hadal intuu afkaaga ku jiro ayuu amaano yahay" "thy words are yours, till you open thy mouth". ...

My Jordan Memoirs

It was a freezing day in the month of February, Me and  what was merely my travel companions back then -but later on turned out to be great friends- were enthusiastically wondering what lies ahead of us. 

With the strength of an ox and the gusto of recently wedded groom, I pushed my cart and never looked back.  Ahmed; an older student who has been there for  a semester earlier coincidently happened to be on our same flight - a real raconteur who made the trip last only a second-  called at me "slow down and wait Adnan" 

Marching together like a Soviet army parading in front of an oppressive dictator we made our way through the narrow corridor and suddenly we appeared to a throng of people , They were of all shades but the Somali visage can never be missed.

A group of Somali students were waiting to welcome us in this strange man's land, we started hugging and handshaking in the Somali way, the amicable feelings that they depicted was in someway soothing and it lowered the discontent I was feeling which was mainly from the pealing laughter of a receptionist after I said "Anaa uriidu" Two words I never used again.

My companions, Hassan and Mohamoud each started to get busy, Mohamoud a very pious man was griping about his lack of sleep and there was dark halo around his eyes suggestive of accumulated fatigue he endured for the 30 hours journey, in addition his insides were in the monsoon season and to him it was sounding like the gale-forced winds that accompanies an equatorial rain. Hassan on the other hand was a jocular man and suddenly started entertaining the crowd and they listened like a jealous wife   lends an ear to the words of a soothsayer, he was sitting near sh. Mohamed to whom they were acquainted back in Borama. I retreated to an inherent silence only answering in short sentences and I took a window seat when we departed the airport.

At this time of the year, Jordan is cold but rainy; everywhere I look it was green, endless meadows with lush grasses which oneself can wallow carelessly like a nubile girl that is thunderstruck by the arrows of cupid!

I was cognizant to the Mediterranean climate only through geography books but experiencing it first hand was a whole different thing.