The Famous "Arabic Night"
One late afternoon myself and Mark were lounging around in the union, wondering what we were going to do with ourselves that evening. Superbly all the fun came to us. Without really having to move an entire Arabic experience seemed to spring up around us, and it ended up as one of the best nights at the Union I've ever had (maybe Mark too). Anyway, the times might be wrong and I'm not totally sure even about the date (I think it was the 3rd February 2000, but can't be sure), but regardless these are some of my favourite night out type of pictures ever.
Back to John's Pictures.
19:34:01 It's clearly to dark to see what is going on here... |
19:34:28 Ahhhh... It's the scary hypnotist bloke. In reality, he probably wasn't a hypnotist, and certainly wasn't scary, but both myself and Mark had seen him around campus and come to the same conclusion. |
19:37:25 Here he is again. What a guy! He also apparently looks like my Dad's lawyer. |
19:41:26 Me wearing a fez. It had to be done. |
19:41:48 Mark wearing a Fez, and engaging in the Ancient Egyptian hobby of pointing. |
19:44:19 Can't remember this chap's name, but I'm sure he's very nice, and I may well have supervised his practicals. |
19:45:50 We didn't spend long eyeing up other people's Nargilas before we decided we ought to have a go ourselves. |
19:46:42 Look, Mark seems to have made a friend and developed a wet patch on his right knee. Good work sir! |
20:00:22 Lots of people enjoying the Nargila, creating a smokey haze. |
20:09:50 Judging by the amount of pictures of myself and Mark with Nargila, we must have really enjoyed it. |
20:10:21 Although if I recall my throat was a little rough the next day. |
20:10:27 I think this is me forgetting how my nose works. |
20:11:13 This excellently bearded chap clearly knows how his nose works. |
20:12:25 Now I think we actually talked to this charming young lady for a while, although I can't now remember anything about her. |
20:13:14 Mark must be doing something interesting out of shot here. |
20:13:38 The appeal definitely hasn't worn off yet! |
20:14:27 It's that girl again. Jolly nice too. |
20:15:20 Mark, Nargila. A pattern is emmerging I feel. |
20:16:28 Look! It's Mohammed, who was on my course, absolutely smashing bloke. |
20:17:11 Our friendly stranger woman seems to have drawn in yet more nice people for us to chat with. |
20:19:11 I guess our new friend took this picture of us. Mark didn't seem prepared to detach himself from the Nargila though. |
20:20:36 Clearly it's my turn again already. |
20:25:28 There's Mohammed again. He was somewhat more adept than myself and Mark in the ways of Nargila, and stepped in on several occassions during the evening to help us out. |
20:27:17 Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Hamdan Dammag! Another smashing bloke. |
20:29:58 Me and Mohammed. Marvellous! |
20:30:35 Mark beginnning to look a little feint. |
20:30:51 Mohammed, and (I assume) his girlfriend, who was lovely. |
20:31:17 The two of them again. Don't they make a wonderfully photogenic couple? |
20:32:32 Mark still at it. Over his left shoulder, I think there's another of my former students. |
20:33:24 Ah yes, there she is, unfortunately again I don't recall her name. |
20:35:33 We (perhaps mainly Mark) talked to this lovely young lady for a while too. I think Mark owned the same jumper or something. |
20:36:36 The novelty just never seems to wear off! |
20:38:20 Mohammed endulging us by trying on a Fez. |
20:38:46 Whether it's the alcohol or the Nargila, we both look pretty gone by this point. Thinking about it now, given the evening largely muslim attendance, we may have been amongst the only people drinking there. |
20:39:44 We seem to have secured a second Fez. Marvellous. |
21:14:12 This here is Mark, going through the process we came to call "beating the brick". |
21:39:24 A close-up of that wonderful contraption. |
21:39:31 Yes that brick looks well and truly beaten there. |
21:59:08 I think Mark may have been telling me off for some inappropriate behaviour here, but I have no memory of what it was. Probably for the best! |
22:13:27 Clearly something was happening on the dancefloor here. |
22:16:24 A couple of charming middle-eastern ladies. |
22:18:16 This was probably an attempt to get an idea of the "action" on the dancefloor. It clearly failed. |
22:22:58 Fantastic, on the right hand side here we have Ib (short for Ibrahim I think). Smashing bloke. |
22:25:03 Can't remember this guy's name, but he was another one of my students and an utterly great guy. |
22:32:14 Not sure why a picture of his shoulder was required. |
22:48:09 If I recall correctly, around this time there was a kind of group Arabic dance going on, which I mistakenly tried to join in, depsite barely being able to stand properly. I was politely but firmly removed. |
22:48:51 Still, the people that did know how to do it carried on quite expertly. (I guess the people here are watching them). |
23:11:20 A bizarre picture to end on. We wanted a shot of "the piggy little security guard woman". Probably a bit harsh, I'm sure deep down she's a really nice human being. |