Wild cows don’t graze in Nova Scotia (nor do they come from Europe)

My parents had intended to name me ‘Nuha’. When I was born, all my parents could see were a set of eyes with what appeared to be two arms and two legs.

Maha, in Arabic, is a type of gazelle that is renowned for her eyes. In Arabic poetry, a very common turn of prose is ‘uyoon el-maha’ (transliteration: ‘the eyes of the Maha’).

In African, it means ‘beautiful eyes’.

I've also been told that, depending on the language, the definition of my name varies from:
- Water
to
- The ultimate state of 'being'
to
- The Seductress (capital 'T', please)
to
- The Virgin (capital 'V', please)

When I was younger, I used to tell people my name meant ’wilderness cow’ until my mother overheard me and got really angry with me. At that time, I had a warped sense of ‘exotic’.

It was then that I used to tell people I was European (Palestine is so close to Europe, no?!) because I had no sense of geography.

I believe that a part of me is still royally pissed that am not the exotic European wilderness cow.

And…that’ll never be half as bad as T who used to run around declaring how she was Pilipino (she's as pale as they come, has wicked blue eyes and blonde hair). She cried when her mother told her she was from Nova Scotia. Is it a wonder that she’s one of my best friends?