International


09/29/2006
 

United Arab Emirates

Poems in a Shoe

Yasser, 38, works in the development department of a bank and Rodaina, 34, is a housewife. They have been married for 15 years and have three children.

Yasser and Rodaina are happy in their arranged marriage.
Zoom
Dörthe Engelcke

Yasser and Rodaina are happy in their arranged marriage.

How did you meet?

Yasser: Well, that was a long time ago, but I remember it exactly. Rodaina is my cousin. We had already seen each other at family get-togethers and then one day I noticed her pretty smile.

Rodaina: At first I thought Yasser was a little odd. He used to leave love poems in my shoes. But somewhere along the line I found that I liked the way he wooed me.

What do you love about him / her?

Rodaina: His warm-heartedness, his honesty and the fact that, after all these years, I still find something in my shoe occasionally.

Yasser: We often compliment each other and show that we care about each other. I especially love her caring manner.

What does love mean for you?

Yasser: Most of all trust. The feeling that you are there for each other in every situation -- that's what love is to me.

Rodaina: Ours was an arranged marriage. But we were lucky, because we actually had feelings for one another. To me, love doesn't mean stormy emotions, but rather a sense of connectedness that develops over time.

What was the longest time that you were separated from one another?

Yasser: Three days in all of 15 years.

Rodaina: Yasser spent a month in the United States for work-related reasons. We originally planned that I would stay in Dubai, but after three days we couldn't stand it anymore and I joined him.

What do you wish for?

Yasser: It's simple, really: We want to grow old together.

Rodaina: Well, and maybe a nice house with a garden and a trip every now and again…

Article...

For reasons of data protection and privacy, your IP address will only be stored if you are a registered user of Facebook and you are currently logged in to the service. For more detailed information, please click on the "i" symbol.

Post to other social networks:

Keep track of the news

Stay informed with our free news services:

All news from SPIEGEL International
All news from Under the Scope section

© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2006
All Rights Reserved
Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH




European Partners

Global Partners

Facebook

Twitter

Follow SPIEGEL_English on Twitter now:






TOP



TOP