Chai & Chats: Recent Episodes
Sara Abdulmagid
Chai and Chats is all about being Arab and growing up in the West. I’m Sara, the host - I’m Palestinian and I grew up in Cyprus before moving to Ireland when I was 15. I bring on a new guest each week to chat about our experiences of growing up Arab and usually being the odd one out. The episodes vary from hilarious childhood stories to some deeper chats, and we talk about the ambiguity of our identity as Arabs in the West. The show is live every week on belfieldfm.com, UCD's radio station, on Mondays at 6pm, and are then uploaded on Spotify & Belfield FM's Mixcloud.
A late start to the second instalment of Chai & Chats, we’re back for another set of episodes! This week I’m joined by a returning guest, from episode 2, its Ahmed, and a new guest, Nikita! Nikita is from India and she is the first non-Arab guest I’ve had on the show, which meant that the conversation was doubly interesting because we got to compare 2 different cultures. We talked about what our chai vs Indian chai is, Indian vs Arab traditions with weddings and strict parents - time flew by during this episode! Look forward to some more non-Arab guests in the future, this was a good one!
Our FINAL episode before the Christmas season! This is a special siblings episode, and we really got into it. I was joined by Mohammed, who was the first guest on the show, and Mona, my 13 year old sister. Lots of arguments and funny stories were shared in this episode. Fair warning, if you’re wearing headphones, I recommend turning it down, there’s a lot of shouting. One of the funniest episodes yet, you’re in for a treat!
In this episode, I was joined by Jana, who is an Omani final year medicine student in Trinity. Jana and I reminisce about the days of Arabesque, and we talk about her experience as a hijabi in Ireland, and also as an Arab abroad. We talk about why she chose to study in Ireland and what her future plans look like. We also chatted about what it’s like being Omani who lives abroad and going back to Oman. Apparently they’re called chicken nuggets, cause I guess McDonald’s and America and being foreign = chicken nugget lmao. A really interesting episode!
My guest this week is Salem, who grew up in the UAE and moved to Ireland for college 5 years ago. We talk about how Salem feels like Ireland is home, and how he feels accepted for who he is in Ireland. We chat about expectations of doing well in school, why he chose Ireland specifically, and the song he needs to be played at his wedding. We also get into how we define the word ‘immigrant’ and why expats call themselves that because they think ‘immigrant’ is a negative word, but really, they all mean the same thing. We also chat a little bit about Salem’s views on gay culture and dating in Ireland. One of my favourite episodes so far!
This episode’s guest is my bestie Samah, who is one of the craziest people I know. Not sure where this calm side was hidden but it came out during this episode.
This one was a bit more chill, Samah and I relived our childhood days, particular her spending her summers in Jordan with her cousins every year and how that helped her love her Arab side. We reminisced about all the great things Jordan has to offer too (mostly food tbh). We also talk about finding the right Arab crowd for us, as well as the importance of hospitality within your home as an Arab and how we need to make sure we offer people food even if they say no because otherwise we’ll disappoint our parents. We also briefly chatted about Samah living away from home and how that has impacted her as a person. A chill, conversational episode!
My guest this week was Lana; she’s a Syrian Law Student at Trinity and the current President of the Arabesque Society in Trinity - pretty iconic because I was also a Law student at Trinity and also the President of the Arabesque Society.
This time Lana was actually drinking tea (chai) so she’s right on theme! We talked about the expectations of an Arab woman and the eldest sibling simultaneously, like the types of things we should study and always having to consider our future non-existent children within the careers we choose to go into. We also talked about the image that Western people and the media have of countries like Syria, Palestine and Iraq vs the reality of these countries - they are not just full of rubble and ruins. Finally we delve into the world of plastic surgery and the Eurocentric ‘ideal’ of beauty and how that impacts the Arab world.
I am also becoming a love match radio station so if you want a husband or wife, leave Muzmatch and come to me (for legal reasons this is a joke please don’t expect me to set you up)
The second guest on Chai & Chats is Ahmed, a fellow Palestinian friend of mine. We got a bit deeper in this one, chatting about Ahmed’s experience of moving to Kerry at 14 after growing up in Iraq and the UAE - it was bit of a culture shock to say the least. We also talk about being Muslim in the West and finding the balance between staying true to our culture whilst being the odd one out in our friend groups. A really interesting episode!
The first guest position for Chai & Chats was so generously taken up by my younger brother Mohammed. A light-hearted one to kick us off, we talk (laugh) about our experiences of growing up in Cyprus as the only Arabs in our school, our bullying experiences (no crying here, we deserved it tbh) and the most iconic bit of the episode is our accidental experiences (kind-of) eating pork. Lots of laughter in this one, you’ll probably be making fun of us by the end of it. I don’t blame you.