Listening to the song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" on the radio sucks, especially when it's been a couple of days since your last breakup. The name is Felicia Ewaingham-Saleh, and I have a story to share with you. How I got over my ex-boyfriend Maher Mahmoud. Seriously, I don't mean to disparage my own ethnicity but Arab guys can be such hypocrites sometimes. They date whoever they damn well please yet frown when they see us Arab ladies with men from other communities. Ugh, how is that frigging fair? Seriously, it's time for a change.
I was born in the City of Edmonton, Alberta, to a Yemeni immigrant father, Karim Saleh and an Aboriginal Canadian mother, Christina Ewainghan of the Dogrib tribe of the First Nations people of provincial Alberta. Being half Arab and half Aboriginal is definitely a unique experience, but I won't dwell on it. Aren't we all unique at the end of the day regardless of ethnicity? I've always felt like the daughter of two worlds. My mother raised me Christian after divorcing my father, though I've always felt equally drawn to my Arabian/Muslim and Aboriginal heritage. That's why I have a double major in Criminology and Arabic studies at the University of Calgary.
While taking introduction to Arabic at the University of Calgary freshman year I met a tall, gorgeous young Arab guy named Maher Mahmoud. He's a newcomer to Canada from Saudi Arabia, and I guess sparks flew between us the first time we met. I've always had a thing for Arab guys, and Maher was definitely one handsome Middle-Eastern stud. We began going out, and for a while things were wonderful between us. After about six months together, Maher began to change.
The cool, smooth and laidback, charming and generous guy I'd fallen for turned into a control freak. Maher began pressuring me to dress more conservatively. Hmmm. I was fond of wearing tight shirts and short skirts along with leather boots when he met me and none of that seemed to bother him so why ask me to change now? Maher also began pressuring me to attend Muslim community events with him. Understand that I've always been very involved in the Muslim community at school, and I'm friends with lots of students from places like Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal, Turkey, Tunisia, Yemen and many other Muslim-majority countries. For the most part, the Muslim students at the University of Calgary were a friendly bunch. I liked hanging out with them. Hell, one of my good friends, a hijab-wearing Somali chick named Yasmina Hussein is a Muslim women's group leader. The moment Maher began pressuring me to do stuff, I began to feel uncomfortable. I tried explaining to him that I didn't like the turn our relationship had recently taken.
That's the weird thing about a lot of these otherwise charming Arab guys. They love to drink and party and sleep around with chicks but at their core, most of them are deeply conservative. Even though Maher enjoyed walking into night clubs with me dressed sexily, and he liked partying with my friends and I inside Calgary's hottest night spots, deep down he hadn't changed a bit. He was still a citizen of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a country where women cannot even fart without male permission, ( alright I'm exaggerating but you get the idea ) and that's all he would ever be.
I've always had an independent streak and that hasn't changed now that I'm in a relationship. I didn't like dating a guy who would tell me how to dress, and I wished Maher would go back to his old self. Too late I realized that the charming, friendly and open-minded guy I thought loved me didn't exist, and the conservative-minded creep who wanted me to cover my hair and wear longer skirts was the real Maher. The day I realized that was an eerie one. It's creepy, when you realize that the person you thought loved you isn't who you thought they were. Maher Mahmoud was a consummate actor, wow! I finally decided to confront him about all the weirdness and went to his dorm one Thursday night. I knew he'd be home because he wasn't at the library or the gym, his favorite places to be on campus.