Guys & Girls; Greetings & Hello's

I was sleeping.

*ring ring*

Who could be calling me at this ungodly hour (ahem, 10am)? I picked up..

- الو؟‎
Hello?

- ها، ليلحين راقد؟
Ha.. You're still sleeping?

- شرايك يعني، شتبي؟
What does it sound like? What‏‎'s up?

- تعال خذني من يورو موترز بعد عشر دقايق
Pick me up from the EuroMotors showroom in 10 mins

- ثلث ساعة
20 mins.

- اوكي
Ok.
*‏تووووت*
*Hangs up*

This was a guy i've been friends with for years, but haven't seen in ages. It's amazing being a guy; things are just so straightforward and simple, no headaches with feelings and make-believe emotions etc.

I can picture the same conversation with two girls;

*ring ring*

- الو؟‎
Hello?

- امووون! وي صج صج من زمااااان!! شلونج شخبارج؟!
Amoon! Wowwwwww it's been sooooo long!! How are youuu how's everything?!

- فطومووو وينج انتي وااايد وحشتيني!!!
Fatooommooo! Nooo, where have you been!! I missed you so muchhh!!

- ... اي والله! شلون ابوج و امج و اخوج و اختج و ربعج و قطوتج و
Yeah I know! Hows your dad? And mom? And brother and sister and your friends and cat and...

...and so the conversation goes on for half an hour discussing the most pointless issues, not evening getting to the point which is 'come pick me up'. No no no. That's not how it works for girls; this has to be a preliminary conversation a week prior to calling another girl to ask her to pick you up (otherwise, it's considered rude). All this and the girls haven't seen each other since last weekend.

Funny stuff. Another thing I notice is when girls meet each other in a restaurant/shop/mall/etc and greet each other (this is more specifically true of Middle-Eastern girls, I dunno about outside this region). The greeting is composed of different stages; the first is the one where they spot each other and act totally amazed (hence the big eyes, running to each other, usually screaming), then comes the second stage of greetings which is made of up of endless kissing and hugging, then the post-greeting stage, where they sit and ask each other everything from how they're doing, how their family and friends are, what they've been up to at work/college, to what perfume they're wearing and whether they got fatter/thinner.

You might think it's a bit of an exaggeration but it's not. It becomes more clear that these greeting rituals are ridiculous especially when you find out they haven't seen each other since... Again, about last weekend.

I prefer the guy greetings; you're walking down the road, you spot a friend you haven't in YEARS on the other side of the road, and he spots you too. You raise a thumbs up:

- Hey.

- Hey.

Done, end of story; move on, nothing to see here, no endless streams of fake emotions or hugging. And this is an extreme greeting; on a normal day, a simple head nod would do; no need for words or thumbs up.

It's great to be a guy.

Bluh.