German magazine wants to know about your first kiss
We decided to accept an offer of collaborating with an online-based German magazine (belonging to ZEIT online, which is the online section of the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit.) The journalists working there want to include our experiences, opinions, and information concerning youth culture in the Middle East – things very rarely discussed! Every week, we will include a question for you to answer. Ideally it would be 4-5 sentences summarizing your thoughts.
Why get involved? Because it’s a great way for us to interact with foreign media and Western readers who are curious about our lives and culture here.
So, without further ado, here is the first question they wanted us to pose to you!
The first question does not touch a political topic, but rather a cultural phenomenon, an experience every young person makes sooner or later: Your first kiss. It is not meant as an offend or an attempt to compromise people in any way. If you don’t want to write about it, simply tell us why. To all those willing to talk about their first kisses, feel free to do so: When did you have it? Where did it happen? Did it have to happen in secret? Who knew about it? There are hundreds of questions on this, answer them all if you want to. Or simply tell us a short story.
Please try to get your answers in by Monday, where the information will be gathered and included (write anonymously if you would not like to share your full name or identity.) And remember that if you are not comfortable with the question, you can also choose to write why you’d rather not discuss this.
Join the Conversation
Arabs and Muslims kiss and have a social life? WTF!!! I thought you guys are preprogrammed to kill things and that’s all you do.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!! Jina you funny ass retard. LOL! Hilarious!
Man, I’m still laughing. LOL!
Esra’a I’ll write mine if you write yours.
Me? I’ve never been kissed. I have virgin lips. I’m saving them until marriage. I’m a good boy. :p
I’m only answering this question because no one here knows who I am
otherwise I wouldn’t do it.
My first kiss in 4 words: frightening, secret, comforting, sexy. I was 20, she was 19, both 2nd year of University at Kuwait.
Kissing for me is acceptable, even in public. At independent/private parties you will find a lot of young couples kissing, or holding hands in malls and cafes. It’s normal. It is innocent and romantic. For sex then like Drima I prefer to wait until marriage! But most of my friends had pre marital sex. It is their choice, but for me it is better to wait.
At independent parties, you will also find homosexuals kissing. It is never public, but it still happens a lot! I used to be shocked, but now for me it is nothing new.
Nice topic! Respond, people!
Alright, me gona share.
First tiny quick kiss on the lips:
I was 13, she was 14. It was in an isolated corner of the park next to my school. Didn’t enjoy it at all as I was scared like f*ck someone would see us.
First French kiss.
I was 15, she was 14. It was secret – very very secret -, frightening, comforting, heated, intense, and slightly weird. It was at a friend’s birthday party.
The only people who knew later on about it were close friends. We went and bragged to each other everytime something cool happened.
Sex:
I was 18, she was 18. It was secret and really romantic, in a hotel room which I filled with candles and flowers. We were so in love. It didn’t last very long though. She had to leave the country. I was a virgin, she wasn’t. If she was I would have never had sex with her. I don’t want to be responsible for breaking a girl’s virginity. It’s a huge sin.
Now I abstain from sex. I realize I should not do to girls what I would hate and kick other guys for doing to my own sister. Karma can be a b*tch and I dun wana be a hipocrite.
BTW Bobobo wants to stay anonymous.
Alrighty!!, this is going to be awkward Esra’a, but you asked for it!!, and that’s why I choose to use my nickname instead of my real full name!!
Well, it was 10 years ago, in Kuwait, where I grew up, I was 15 at that time and so was she, as we were in the same class, she was English of Hispanic origin, and we had dated for about 2 weeks!!. It took place at an old indian lady’s apartment!!, how did we end up there??, that’s the awkward part…
We were sitting on the sidewalk after school drinking juice in the middle of the day,thinking what to do for the rest of the day, when she-out of the blue- said ” You know, I’ve been thinking about getting my belly button pierced so that I can wear a ring in it.., what do you think, would you like it??!!
Being a teenager at that time, the idea of my girlfriend wearing a ring in her belly button was rather very tempting even seductive, so I responded ” I wouldn’t like it, I would looove it!!”
So she said “I heard of an indian lady that lives in a nearby neighbourhood that does such kind a things without parental permission, as any authorised clinic or hospital would ask for parental permission before doing such a thing to a teenager!!
We walked to the indian lady’s apartment, it was quite a long walk, it took us more than an hour to get there, we knocked on the door, she opened the door, she didn’t speak English , yet, she spoke broken Arabic, for that I had to handle the weird conversation of telling her to pierce my girlfriend’s belly button so she could wear a ring in it!
She said ok, give me second please, make yourselves at home, she went to another room leaving me and my girlfriend in the guest room, I looked around me, the apartment looked so shady,and I felt so uncomfortable with her doing it in such an unsanitary condition!!
I got anxious and said: “let’s get the F out a here, we shouldn’t be here”, she said : “calm down, it will be fine, everything is going to be alright”
I stood up and said “I’m leaving”, she stood up and kissed me, it was quite a long kiss, and it really calmed me down!!, then we noticed the lady approaching, so we stopped, she asked my girlfriend to come with her to the room inside to “perform the operation” , they went in there and left me alone in the guest room , worried like shit, asking myself “what if something wrong went in there that deformed her body, or endangered her life??!!, how could I live with myself knowing that I agreed with her and supported her, and even went with her to do it!!
So I shouted ” let’s go, you don’t need to do this, I’m really worried”, she replied from that room ” don’t worry , it will be fine, calm down”, time passed by until she came out and showed it to me, to prove to me it was fine, then I felt relaxed, whew!!
And that was my awkward little story of my first kiss, to be honest ,I after I had known that she was fine, I really enjoyed touching that ring in her belly button every once in a while throughout the period during which we have dated!!
Blue, that’s a great story!
I also kind of like the sound of a “billy button”, instead of a belly button.
My first kiss reads like a Hallmark greeting card. No, really. It’s funny how you remember moments as if they were sepia toned photographs. I’m not that old *grin* but there is nothing more touching than black and white photographs of people and places close to your heart.
I was 6 years old. Maybe 7. I remember him being a year or two older than me. We lived in an apartment complex with overgrown greenery all around us. There were flowers, trees of all sizes and lots of places to play and hide. I remember playing tag with him out near the boundary wall, farther from the building than usual. On hindsight, it seemed somewhat preplanned on his part. He did finally catch up to me and kissed me on the cheek. I was flabbergasted. Remembered feeling hot and oddly betrayed. Eventually I did the only thing a girl my age would do. I kicked him in the shin. Let’s just say, his first kiss (or maybe not) is far more memorable than my own. After that, we didn’t have the same kind of rapport as before. Something had changed and I found other children to play with.
For those wondering, no, I don’t kick random men. But if y’ll with sticky fingers do make any unprecedented moves, maybe I won’t be so nice this time and kick you where the sun don’t shine.
And no, I’ve never been kissed. Like *that*. I’m still waiting for that one.
These are all great stories! Blue and Meka, I was laughing throughout yours!! Thanks all for sharing.
I grew up in a very religious family. Kissing or dating was never an option for me so I never gave it much thought. Thus there aren’t many kissing or dating incidents in my life… there are some though, and here’s the story of my first kiss:
When I was 12 years old, I got really close to this nerd in 7th grade who was helping me with science tests. I was always awful in science, and was complaining that I was failing the course (failing a course means repeating the whole school year.) Since we were already good friends, he said he’d help me. I accepted the offer. We met every day after school in empty class rooms studying for our science final. Both were studying very seriously, so nothing happened, but when we were done with the exam I went up to him and said “I got an A! How could I ever thank you?” and he said “how about a kiss?” and that was my first kiss. I kissed him and he kissed me back and for some reason, we both cracked up after that. It was his first real kiss too. We are still really good friends.
Wow, I feel like a geek kissing nerds. But I do have a thing for nerds. There is nothing more beautiful than helpful and intelligent people, especially if they are funny and not arrogant or boring (he was neither.) So I think he deserved the kiss, and I’m happy that he was my first. Usually for many of my female friends first kisses involve stories about assholes or cheating boyfriends (my sister never shuts up about these experiences) and it’s good that my story doesn’t fall into that category. Mine involved a good guy who is now a bio chemist, engaged to another mutual friend who went to our same school, and they are the happiest couple I know.
In any case I never told anyone else about this, usually because it’s never the topic of discussion with my friends who are all geeky and like to discuss politics instead of sex or relationship lives.
loooool.. this thread is turning into a kiss and the city..
It is strange having to read this blog between the rest of the serious political blogs in MEY.
I guess it’s my turn to confess about my 1st kiss
I was 8 and he was 12, we went to summer school in the UK together.
I had a secret crush on him (come to think of it.. I really don’t know how an 8 year old could think about boys!!)
The school was taking us on a trip to a butterfly garden.. I was walking with the group, there he was walking next to me.. I used to be so shy, he held my hand and asked to talk to me in private.. we walked slowly, waiting for the rest of the group to pass.. he took a ring with a butterfly on it out of his pocket and put it on my finger and sealed that moment with a kiss!
I still remember it so clearly more than 20 years later
Rasha that’s priceless!!
For me first kiss stories are the most interesting when they take place in societies which categorize kissing as “haram” (forbidden.)
Hmm, okay. Unlike most of you, my first kiss was a gay one. Literally.
I was fourteen. She was twenty-one.
We were sitting in my room, and she was lying next to me on the bed. We were talking and stuff, and then we started laughing and somehow I became on top of her, and my lips crossed hers. She then kissed me, like a real light peck, and I kissed back. We kissed for like three minutes. It was a french kiss. She then suggested that we should take fotos, so we did. And we kept on kissing for a while.
Some people might think it would be awkward for us to to see each other again, but amazingly it’s not. We don’t even speak of it. And if it comes up sometimes, we giggle. Heh.
I guess I’m kinda late since this is Tuesday, but I just wanted to share this. I agree with Esra’a. First kiss stories are real interesting because of our society. So yeah. That’s my story.
My first kiss? A rainy november night on a bridge in a park in my city. It was dark and cold and the wind blew leaves trough the clouds of mist. We both were about 16 or 17 and had been walking this place for hours every night since june or july. All the time we only talked, held hands and as it got colder we used to warm each other on a bench.
This certain day we were already set to say good-bye as she kissed me. Well not exactly, she held my head with both her hands and pressed her lips against my throat. I didn’t know what to do, it hurt. Is it love? I thought. We must have stood like this for a minute although it felt like an hour.
As she ceased and let me go, she had left a huge mark on my left side which grew and took sooo many colors – people at school were asking about my scarf all week.
Later on, with some excercise, we had a very fond relationship which lasted for four more years.
I was 24, he 30… Although I had fallen in love with a few guys before I was still an “absolute beginner” in terms of sexual experience.
We met for the 2nd time, and I was incredibly nervous when I saw him there, standing and waiting for me. He gave me a tight hug and softly pressed his lips against mine – everything felt so surprising and new that I didn’t even really kiss him back.
Well, I made up for that later
Thanks for sharing your stories, it is very interesting to read them and I’m looking forward to the next topics!
Layal to be honest that is a brave story to share here!
Sleepy and raindrop, both of your stories are very romantic. Thanks a lot for posting it here
My first kiss was quite confusing – on the one hand I couldn’t wait for it to happen, on the other hand I was mortally afraid of it. He was ten years older than me (I was 17), and still he was very delicate about it – we had already sat through the most romantic of sunsets without anything happening. I was in a lot of doubt and very insecure. And then he invited me over to his place where we watched a movie. Very soon after the beginning, I found myself pressed against his shoulder, and then we kissed – it was somewhat different from what I had imagined it, at the same time more technical and less tender. At the end of the day, this was entirely in my own head: I was really more curious than in love – and I found this to make all the difference later on.
It wasn’t my real first kiss, but actually all before were kinda unpersonal…
I was after the party when we finished school … Some friends were sleeping at my home and we alle were somehow excited, sad in fact of saying goodbye because all were going away, maybe still a bit drunk and hilarious.
We all slept next to each other on the floor and when I woke up the next morning all of the others were away except that one guy and I …
We just were fightin a bit around ’till he suddenly held me on the floor…
That moment was strange … so intensive and in a way ardent…
That friendship has been protracted so long and never happend anything, we discussed at midnight about wine and lyining on a wall in Madrid, travelling, values, talked about the most private thoughts and all was in a moment of awaiting ….. but in this special moment he kissed me out of nothing and I heard a quiet whisper ‘i love you’ …
and even in fact that we had to say goodbye at the end of this summer- it was the most impressing, influencing and most wonderful experience…
I love reading other stories… it has somezimes something of a fairytale in a world that shows us most of the time its grey side.
nothing black or white … just a fading color between…
these are the moments, that will remain, no matter what happens.
it’s these moments that make a bit of our lives immortal.
Thanks for reminding me.
My first kiss: I always thought it would take me awhile before kissing someone. But it happend on a carneval party when I met the brother of one of my best friends for the first time. I dont know – he didn’t talk a lot, we all danced together but I felt some sort of connection. Then I found my self kissing with him. It all happened like in a dream. We kissed all the way home. It was like I’ve been kissed to life: Normally shy, I came together with my boyfriend three month later whom I cherished already before my first kiss and we’re still together.
Hey,
funny, funny to read all this storys. And interesting.
My first kiss was in the theater. I looked at the actors and suddenlyI looked at me kissing her. I dont’ now how it happend but it happend, and it was nice…
my first kiss happened in a lift hall.
when the lights went out he kissed me.
i loved him and it was wonderful.
Rosana from Brasilien
he kissed in the lift hall when the lights went out.
i loved him then and it was wonderful.
i was the happiest person on earth.
My first kiss was in on summer vacation in France. It was a windsurfer’s-camp and it was all freaky anyway. So when one of the younger girls (she was 14 then, I was 16) obviously flirted with me, I did the same and we ended up sitting at the beach late one night and I just started to kiss her. We didn’t have to hide or something, as half the camp was hanging around kissing…
Well, I didn’t see her again after the camp, I never really tried though. She lives to far away. But it was one of the best things I ever did, definitely!
What a great thing to talk about!!! It really shows the differences between our cultures! My first kiss happened in a club when I was 17. Until that day I had always been waiting for “Mr. Right” and then it suddenly came to my minde that I’ll might never meet him so I took the next best one in the club and we kissed each other for the rest of the night. Afterwards I felt guilty cause I wanted my first kiss to be romantic, unforgettable and stuff like that, but know I’m quite happy about that, because I could build up my self-esteem and I’m more open to boys know.
my first kiss was not a very special, a girl in a bar kissed me when i was 17. i never met her again.
so I was for a year in the US as an exchange student. and this girl was asking me all these questions about Germany and differences in culture and stuff. So then she asked whether I had ever kissed an American girl before and was wiping her mouth at the same time. and it was a total coincidence but I made fun of her for that a lot, because it totally looked like she was preparing to kiss me. Well and then when I left for Germany and said goodbye she kissed me saying that I had to have kissed an American girl before I’d leave.
My parents were living in Austria, and when I was almost 5 years old, we were supposed to move to Germany. So I had a big party with some of my friends from the Austrian kindergarden, among them about three or four boys I really liked. We played in the garden and had a very good time. When it was time to say goobbye, I kissed these three or four male friends one by one and promised to every one of them to marry him when I would come back…
My first “real” kiss I had at age of 17, with a boy who became my first boyfriend. We had been walking a lot in the woods and were talking a lot about life, God and politics and one day, when we sat on a bench to have a rest, we kissed – but I was too nervous to enjoy it really.
These stories are all so cute… They remind me of my first love which was the first I kissed aswell:
It was in 2000 in a summer camp in France (don’t know, perhaps the same Matthias went to
) and we walked around the camp during a party and sat down at an abandoned table a bit hidden and further away from the dancefloor. We talked and it got colder and colder so that he put his arms around me. I leaned my head on his shoulder and suddenly we kissed… It was a tender, innocent kiss (he was 15, I was 14 years old) and while we were kissing, we could hear music from the dance floor. They played “So schmeckt der Sommer” (literally translated: This is how summer tastes) and I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true and although I never saw him again after the holidays, we still write each other emails occasionally and everytime I hear this song I think of the light-hearted and happy days we had together…
Wow, all of these stories are great!
Looks like lots of first kisses happened during summer camps.
Me too Summer camp. I was 12 she was 15. Oh yah…It was the result of some silly game, spin the bottle or something. But, after the game was over and other people had left. She came back to the cabin and we kissed again. Pretty cool. She was really nice, and taller too. Very cute, I heard she called her boyfriend while we at camp and broke up with him. She wrote a letter to me, a letter not email, and I never wrote back. Hmm…I feel bad now =-(
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What a charming topic to talk about! In a world where you have the impression that everything is about sex and that there isn’t anything connected to this you didn’t see and don’t know yet, this topic is soo romantic and innocent!
My first kiss happened during summer vacation as well – not in France, but in England
. I was 16 and most of my friends weren’t even virgins anymore and me, I hadn’t even had my first kiss yet and was feeling rather weird. It’s not that I hadn’t had any offers or that there weren’t any guys who would fall in love with me but somehow I always imagined my first kiss to be very special and I was actually pretty shy too. And than there were these holidays in a language school and the second evening was kind of a party to get to know each other. After some time, many people were dancing and I really love dancing and there wasn’t anybody who’d know me yet so I wasn’t dancing very shyly this time 
and suddenly one guy took me and pulled me into the circle of all the people dancing and so we danced some time together and he didn’t stop to tell me how beautiful I was, etc. After some time, we went out in a group and I really found it interesting to talk to all of them, they were Russians and I always love to get to know different cultures. Later, it was about midnight, we went to the beach and sat there, a little apart from all the others, me on his knies, everything absolutely dark, just the full moon shining over the water, bathing it into a glistening light, hearing nothing but the sound of sea lapping the shore and the wind whispering in the trees. And then I just felt his mouth near my ear and him whispering “Can I kiss you?”. Well, I have to admit that I really didn’t have a crush on him, I didn’t really think about what I was doing so far. But than I thought that even if the guy wasn’t the man of my dreams – who cares? It was a perfect opportunity in any case, far away from home 
and an absolutely perfect ambiance. So I turned around and kissed him.
.
It wasn’t really that exciting, he wasn’t such a good kisser and I didn’t really know what I was doing, and after a few days of “being together” I got fed up and turned him down. It was so much better when I kissed my first boyfriend three or four months later – but nevertheless, I was glad than having already gained at least some experience
Other cars were beeping and after our car, borrowed from a friend, he was 18 and i was 17 and we were not in love, we were a confused bride and groom, he was shy, driving and not looking at me and I liked the dress I was wearing, he looked good as well, no matter I didn’t like him much, it was not bad to get married, that was on my mind. At certain time and place we pulled aside and kissed. it didn’t taste good. I did realise the marriage was a failor. That was te first ime, but later on, I understood I should be so stupidly innocent. Being innocent means being the target of the meanest of opportunists, and that is how I define innocence. Well, having a freedom skeeing bahvior would also put some one into risk if not restricted in a way.
My first kiss was when i was 8 and he was too. It was all the time in my backyard it was a secret at first then my cuzins knew.