3Ghassan and I built up a close relationship in the month I spent in his little flat, where I felt so claustrophobic. I wasn’t used to living like that. In Cheng’s flat, although it was tiny and quiet, I at least had the window overlooking the Seng Guan Temple. But from among the windows in Ghassan’s flat, although there were plenty of them, I never found one that looked out on anything interesting, other than that bitter feeling of alienation towards the country and the people.
Ghassan went to work every morning while I stayed at home looking for ways to kill time. All the books on the shelves on the wall were in Arabic. The newspapers and magazines that Ghassan kept were also in Arabic. One morning I started browsing through them, looking at the pictures. In every magazine and every new
