I think having to flee to Syria and not being able to go back to Kuwait has helped Salah finally grow the fuck up.
Kuwait was comfortable and safe enough, but there was nothing for him there, and as a Syrian with no particular brains, talent, or ability, his options were limited, and he was never going to make much money. Plus, there was always the chance Kuwait would simply boot him out just because.
So pre-Chantal, Salah was pretty much drifting along, living his bachelor life, and hoping to snag a foreign woman who might help him leave. He had almost nothing, was going nowhere, and knew it, so why bother doing more than the bare minimum?
As hard as being forced to go to Syria was, and as depressed and angry as he was after Chantal's arrival, I think that experience finally lit a fire under Salah's ass, giving him a purpose andlll a future to work toward, and thus an impetus to grow up.
Was it going to be easy or fun? No, but he had plenty of family who welcomed him, he had money thanks to Chantal (seriously, I wonder how much he skimmed off her without her being any the wiser), and he had a house that was still left standing to refurbish. His marriage prospects, pretty much nonexistent in Kuwait, suddenly became real.
Chantal was easy enough to explain away from day one: a disgusting, fat, stupid Canadian sharmuta who spoke no Arabic, fancied herself in love with him, who had promised to get him into Canada, and who made very good money on YouTube. You can't tell me he ever tried to make his family or friends think she was anything but a paypig and possible spousal visa. She's disgusting, rude, and thoroughly contemptible, and I doubt anybody thought that milking her for money was beyond the pale—they just didn't want to be around her, were embarrassed by her presence in Salah's life, and no doubt made it clear to everyone who knew about her that she was strictly Salah's folly.
And I think Salah intentionally made Chantal's life in Syria as miserable and difficult as possible, to get her to go back to Canada, because we know he didn't want her there in the first place. Shitty infrastructure helped a lot, but I have a suspicion there were things he could have done and choices he could have made while spending her money that would have made her life there more bearable—but he just didn't. It finally took leaving her alone in the run-down family home with limited food for days on end to break her, and even then she still had to stage a fainting spell at the airport, but finally, he's rid of her.
I think Chantal's still been sending Salah money, even after demonitization, and he still keeps her on the line because every little bit helps, and because he's going to extract every last dollar he possibly can out of her as payment for three years in her foul, stinking presence, the embarrassment of it to himself and his family, and her role in getting him booted from Kuwait. When there is nothing left, and Chantal is of no further use to him, he'll finally end it, and it makes no difference to him if she's fucking Nader or wearing hijab or eating every haram thing under the sun in the meantime. And since she can't send very much any more, his mask of what he really thinks of her is slipping because he can't be bothered to keep it in place.
Ten years from now, Salah will have a wife and a bunch of kids and a nice house and a business, and be the man the only son of Daddy Al Rafae is supposed to be, even if he got there a bit late. Chantal will be a joke some of his relatives still laugh about when they can be bothered to remember her (even as Salah wishes they wouldn't)—and she'll also be long dead. But if she hadn't fucked up and got him kicked out of Kuwait? Where would he be? Probably not as well-off as he's going to be, inshallah.
. Then they asked why doesn't she look for someone in Canada so she doesn't have to deal with visa issues, Cutie doesn't seem interested in that idea.
