Hello Again, And sorry for the delay in writing... Busy, busy!
Anyway, no big events to talk about... Well, there are actually two good things, not here, but on TV!
First, there is the African Soccer Cup 2006, held in Egypt these days. Of course, the TV channels that carry it to the Arab World are all scrambled (=encoded, you need to pay to watch) channels.
Having a moving satellite dish that rcvs 17 satellites, turns out as very useful in events like these! After not seeing the first set of 5-6 matches, and not getting any hint from the many websites that address the sat rcv'ing issue, I decided to run a check on the potential channels that might carry this championship free to air, and voala! There was it! on a sat called Eutelsat W3A, there was Senegal TV! RTS is the name of the channel. Oh, God bless Senegal!
The 2nd thingy on TV, was a beautiful Saudi comedy series on mbc1, it was called "My siblings" or "My brothers and sisters". It was very funny. And quite interesting for addressing issues I haven't thought that a Saudi series produced by the state-run Saudi TV would address it. Anyway, it was a definitely don't-miss cracker-up segment of the day.
They were 2 brothers and 2 sisters, older brother had a 21-seater bus, which was the airplane of his dreams, he even had a loudspeaker thru which he talks to the passengers, and he played one song all the time, and his cell phone ring tone was a bunch of baaaaa'ing sheep! The other brother was a musician who chased his dream everywhere; one of the sisters used to sell watches to tourists and foreign workers, while the other lived in the US for more than a decade and came with mostly the good effects of living there, more than the bad effects.
Anyway, as a thunderstorm passes by, making it "a dark and stormy night", I say good-bye, and see you next time here!
25 January 2006
18 January 2006
The Car That Broke, The Shooting That Broke, …
Hmmm, lots of things break these days, eh?
Hello! Well, as I was driving along the Baghdad Airport Highway, I saw a police convoy in the mirror, in the highway horizon, so I decided to give the car a thrust, but ooops... The car's gaskit cover decided otherwise, and it sounded as if it was turned into a tarazeena (= Iraqi for train's engine) right away, luckily there was an exit, so I took it out of the highway, as the convoy vroomed a couple of hundred meters (yards) away.
My father was with me, so we took the car to the industrial district in Baya', where dad sent me home, and he stayed hoping the maintenance would end somewhat early. It took longer then expected so by 3 pm, it was decided that the car spends the night there.
Meanwhile from about 2:15, gun (Kalashnikov) fighting broke out heavily so close to home, as close as 100 meters (yards) at some points; the thing is, you cannot tell who is shooting (who). You just hear gun shots, without being able to tell whether they are in the air or on targets.
What worried me the most is that dad was expected to come around this time, and he didn't have his cell phone with him so that I warn him of the fight going around the neighborhood. Luckily enough again, he and the taxi driver have seen the soldiers move around from afar, and heard the shopkeepers' warning, so they took a side road and arrived home; and that was about the time the fighting got calmer and further.
That was all yesterday. As I am typing these words now, I also hear some shooting in the background, I think on the Airport Highway, about a mile away.
One noticeable thing about today's entry though... Did you ever know that "tarazeena" consists of two girls' names: Tara and Zeena (Xena)... :)
Now I go away, before anybody hits me with an e-tomato ;)
Hello! Well, as I was driving along the Baghdad Airport Highway, I saw a police convoy in the mirror, in the highway horizon, so I decided to give the car a thrust, but ooops... The car's gaskit cover decided otherwise, and it sounded as if it was turned into a tarazeena (= Iraqi for train's engine) right away, luckily there was an exit, so I took it out of the highway, as the convoy vroomed a couple of hundred meters (yards) away.
My father was with me, so we took the car to the industrial district in Baya', where dad sent me home, and he stayed hoping the maintenance would end somewhat early. It took longer then expected so by 3 pm, it was decided that the car spends the night there.
Meanwhile from about 2:15, gun (Kalashnikov) fighting broke out heavily so close to home, as close as 100 meters (yards) at some points; the thing is, you cannot tell who is shooting (who). You just hear gun shots, without being able to tell whether they are in the air or on targets.
What worried me the most is that dad was expected to come around this time, and he didn't have his cell phone with him so that I warn him of the fight going around the neighborhood. Luckily enough again, he and the taxi driver have seen the soldiers move around from afar, and heard the shopkeepers' warning, so they took a side road and arrived home; and that was about the time the fighting got calmer and further.
That was all yesterday. As I am typing these words now, I also hear some shooting in the background, I think on the Airport Highway, about a mile away.
One noticeable thing about today's entry though... Did you ever know that "tarazeena" consists of two girls' names: Tara and Zeena (Xena)... :)
Now I go away, before anybody hits me with an e-tomato ;)
12 January 2006
Iraqi Terminology
Hi everyone,
An Iraqi website, wrote the words that are most commonly-used either by Iraqis, or by those talking about Iraq, and they are as follows:
- electricity,
- generator,
- went off,
- went on,
- occupation,
- no water,
- traffic jam,
- elections,
- list,
- 555 (= one electoral list),
- 618 (= another electoral list),
- 731 (= a third electoral list),
- results,
- burglar,
- 20 liters,
- 20 grand (US$ of course),
- ration,
- fight (n.),
- died,
- kidnapped,
- assassinated,
- Iranian,
- rocket-propelled,
- hummer (=humvee),
- American(s),
- constitution,
- yes,
- no,
- hocus-pocus,
- wedding parade,
- mourning ceremony,
- federalism,
- account balance (re: mobile phones),
- no network (re: mobile phones too),
- bear (= Nokia 6600 device),
- brick (= Nokia 3310 device),
- bodyguard, - police,
- National Guards,
- manifest (= post-war imported cars),
- benzene,
- gas,
- arrest,
- arrested (v. & adj.),
- may he rest in peace,
- explosion,
- poor guy,
- Sayyid (Shiite religious man),
- Sheikh (Sunni religious man),
- suicidal,
- check point,
- they (it could mean anybody),
- allas (spying for insurgents),
- spy (spying for the army),
And finally, the famous: - shaku maku?! which is equivalent to Bugs Bunny's "what's up doc"... the accompanying carrot is optional...
We live in a Democracy now, remember?!
Talk to you soon, if nothing happens!
An Iraqi website, wrote the words that are most commonly-used either by Iraqis, or by those talking about Iraq, and they are as follows:
- electricity,
- generator,
- went off,
- went on,
- occupation,
- no water,
- traffic jam,
- elections,
- list,
- 555 (= one electoral list),
- 618 (= another electoral list),
- 731 (= a third electoral list),
- results,
- burglar,
- 20 liters,
- 20 grand (US$ of course),
- ration,
- fight (n.),
- died,
- kidnapped,
- assassinated,
- Iranian,
- rocket-propelled,
- hummer (=humvee),
- American(s),
- constitution,
- yes,
- no,
- hocus-pocus,
- wedding parade,
- mourning ceremony,
- federalism,
- account balance (re: mobile phones),
- no network (re: mobile phones too),
- bear (= Nokia 6600 device),
- brick (= Nokia 3310 device),
- bodyguard, - police,
- National Guards,
- manifest (= post-war imported cars),
- benzene,
- gas,
- arrest,
- arrested (v. & adj.),
- may he rest in peace,
- explosion,
- poor guy,
- Sayyid (Shiite religious man),
- Sheikh (Sunni religious man),
- suicidal,
- check point,
- they (it could mean anybody),
- allas (spying for insurgents),
- spy (spying for the army),
And finally, the famous: - shaku maku?! which is equivalent to Bugs Bunny's "what's up doc"... the accompanying carrot is optional...
We live in a Democracy now, remember?!
Talk to you soon, if nothing happens!
10 January 2006
Eid Mubarek (=Blessed Feast)
So, today is the 1st of 4 days that Eid Al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice / Greater Eid) consists of. And today's daylight was bothersome, and the reason was not this army or that helicopter, this bomb or that bomber; it was the kids!
The kids, I hear wonder and astonishment, and maybe someone would get Al-Jazeera'tic and give me a share of shouts! Yes, the kids... As it seems, all of them all over, have decided to buy one thing with their Eidiya (Eid money), which is, fireworks, for hours and hours, since the sun rose over this neck of the woods, the voice of bang-bangs have not stopped...
I could hear the Al-Jazeera'tic dude blabbing this: "Well, those poor kids, they need some nice time, with all their suffering from the 'occupation' and violence and...".
Hmmm, how nice, so they take a break from violence and "occupation" by blowing sound bombs, right?
This reminds me of the story I once heard about a policeman who took a leave-of-absence to chill down and relax, a couple of hours after it began, he went out to chill out, stood outside his police station chatting with the colleagues!
If that made any sense, then the kids' sound bombs, and fake weapons, I may confidently add, would make sense!
More later, my friends!
The kids, I hear wonder and astonishment, and maybe someone would get Al-Jazeera'tic and give me a share of shouts! Yes, the kids... As it seems, all of them all over, have decided to buy one thing with their Eidiya (Eid money), which is, fireworks, for hours and hours, since the sun rose over this neck of the woods, the voice of bang-bangs have not stopped...
I could hear the Al-Jazeera'tic dude blabbing this: "Well, those poor kids, they need some nice time, with all their suffering from the 'occupation' and violence and...".
Hmmm, how nice, so they take a break from violence and "occupation" by blowing sound bombs, right?
This reminds me of the story I once heard about a policeman who took a leave-of-absence to chill down and relax, a couple of hours after it began, he went out to chill out, stood outside his police station chatting with the colleagues!
If that made any sense, then the kids' sound bombs, and fake weapons, I may confidently add, would make sense!
More later, my friends!
08 January 2006
A Tribute to Gibran
Gibran Khalil Gibran, or as Westerners call him (Kahlil Gibran), was born on these days in 1883 (6 Jan.), is one of my favorite all-time writers.
As a tribute to his memory, and his birthday, here are some of his quotes, I hope you like them.
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.
God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them.
I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.
If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.
Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'
The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reach us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the radiations of their personalities.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.
Let your best be for your friend...
It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship.
Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.
A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand.
Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.
Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your friend is your needs answered.
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Life is indeed darkness save when there is urge, and all urge is blind save when there is knowledge, and all knowledge is vain save when there is work, and all work is empty save when there is love.
Faith is knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.
In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls .
Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution .
To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice .
Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.
Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.
Yesterday is but today's memory, tomorrow is today's dream.
You may forget the one with whom you have laughed, but never the one with whom you have wept.
Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart .
a man's true wealth is the good he does in the world.
One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.
Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.
The just is close to the people's heart, but the merciful is close to the heart of God.
Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you, or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert .
The things which the child loves remain in the domain of the heart until old age. The most beautiful thing in life is that our souls remaining over the places where we once enjoyed ourselves
And finally,
I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.
As a tribute to his memory, and his birthday, here are some of his quotes, I hope you like them.
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.
God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them.
I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.
If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.
Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'
The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reach us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the radiations of their personalities.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.
Let your best be for your friend...
It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship.
Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.
A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand.
Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.
Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your friend is your needs answered.
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Life is indeed darkness save when there is urge, and all urge is blind save when there is knowledge, and all knowledge is vain save when there is work, and all work is empty save when there is love.
Faith is knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.
In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls .
Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution .
To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice .
Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.
Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.
Yesterday is but today's memory, tomorrow is today's dream.
You may forget the one with whom you have laughed, but never the one with whom you have wept.
Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart .
a man's true wealth is the good he does in the world.
One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.
Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.
The just is close to the people's heart, but the merciful is close to the heart of God.
Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you, or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert .
The things which the child loves remain in the domain of the heart until old age. The most beautiful thing in life is that our souls remaining over the places where we once enjoyed ourselves
And finally,
I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.
Of Rain & Bang-Bangs
Hello All,
It has been raining for the past 24 hours or so, so there was no (national) electricity, and there was no internet even when the local generator electricity came... Auuugh!
Also, there were a couple of rockets shot from a 1-mile diameter from us towards the airport I guess, sometime in the early evening, helicopters followed in search for the shooters.
Gunshots also echoed across the region, especially before the rain, no shots were heard however since it rained sometime yesterday's afternoon.
People usually, elsewhere in this part of the world, merrily prepare for the Eid Al-Adha (Sacrifice Feast) or the Greater Feast Muslims celebrate this time of the lunar year. Right here, right now, it is just a 4-day long sit-at-home watch TV holiday, with no place to go... No parks, no car fuel to drive around to visit relatives, no mood for the relatives to visit each other... Thus, the remaining thing from the feast is the prayers and cookies...
Two things nothing would probably take away from us; yet, the cookies may be problematic if you run low on cooking gas... Remember, this is Iraq, the richest oil and gas reserve owning country on this planet Eayth!
Growl, here we go back to square zero!
So, I wrap up, as rain cleans the trees, and muds the dusty roads.
It has been raining for the past 24 hours or so, so there was no (national) electricity, and there was no internet even when the local generator electricity came... Auuugh!
Also, there were a couple of rockets shot from a 1-mile diameter from us towards the airport I guess, sometime in the early evening, helicopters followed in search for the shooters.
Gunshots also echoed across the region, especially before the rain, no shots were heard however since it rained sometime yesterday's afternoon.
People usually, elsewhere in this part of the world, merrily prepare for the Eid Al-Adha (Sacrifice Feast) or the Greater Feast Muslims celebrate this time of the lunar year. Right here, right now, it is just a 4-day long sit-at-home watch TV holiday, with no place to go... No parks, no car fuel to drive around to visit relatives, no mood for the relatives to visit each other... Thus, the remaining thing from the feast is the prayers and cookies...
Two things nothing would probably take away from us; yet, the cookies may be problematic if you run low on cooking gas... Remember, this is Iraq, the richest oil and gas reserve owning country on this planet Eayth!
Growl, here we go back to square zero!
So, I wrap up, as rain cleans the trees, and muds the dusty roads.
05 January 2006
The Return
Hiya!
And soooooo sorry for the delay in writing... But just to let you know, I have been somewhat busy... and now it's home tweet home, and back to Baghdad.
It is amazing that on 4 Jan. 2004, it was the first time I enter Sulaimaniya city in the north, and on 4 Jan. 2006, I left it maybe for the last time. Oh, how things change in 2 years' time... The places I've been, and the things I've seen :)
Last week's main event, however, was the Iraqi Army's inspections in our region... As told by my family, it was done with high moral actions that combine with Iraqi tradition, such as asking for permission to go in the house, and speaking respectfully to elders.
As for the present, boom-booms and bang-bangs continued, 100 Iraqis died today, a close number yesterday; why?
There is something very important that nobody realizes, which is that we as Iraqis are ALL suffering from this, whatever we may be ethnically/sectarian speaking. Neither a bomb nor a bullet would ask you about your name or your city when it decides to blow up your way. As long as you are an Iraqi, then you are a target.
If the inside people doesn't really stick together and unite themselves; nobody from the outside will.
= = = = = =
Story of the Day: Ginny: The Dog Who Rescues Cats http://cats.about.com/library/weekly/aa032798.htm
After you finish reading the page, click "Next" to continue. Ginny, the Dog Who Rescues Cats by Philip Gonzalez and Leonore Fleischer Harper Collins Publisher ISBN 0060927801
= = = = = =
These Days in "my" History: 5 Jan. 1993: It rained "cats and dogs" for two days in Baghdad. Streets flooded, some houses along with its gardens. Our houses garden was a big lake for 3 days. "Water World" it is.
And soooooo sorry for the delay in writing... But just to let you know, I have been somewhat busy... and now it's home tweet home, and back to Baghdad.
It is amazing that on 4 Jan. 2004, it was the first time I enter Sulaimaniya city in the north, and on 4 Jan. 2006, I left it maybe for the last time. Oh, how things change in 2 years' time... The places I've been, and the things I've seen :)
Last week's main event, however, was the Iraqi Army's inspections in our region... As told by my family, it was done with high moral actions that combine with Iraqi tradition, such as asking for permission to go in the house, and speaking respectfully to elders.
As for the present, boom-booms and bang-bangs continued, 100 Iraqis died today, a close number yesterday; why?
There is something very important that nobody realizes, which is that we as Iraqis are ALL suffering from this, whatever we may be ethnically/sectarian speaking. Neither a bomb nor a bullet would ask you about your name or your city when it decides to blow up your way. As long as you are an Iraqi, then you are a target.
If the inside people doesn't really stick together and unite themselves; nobody from the outside will.
= = = = = =
Story of the Day: Ginny: The Dog Who Rescues Cats http://cats.about.com/library/weekly/aa032798.htm
After you finish reading the page, click "Next" to continue. Ginny, the Dog Who Rescues Cats by Philip Gonzalez and Leonore Fleischer Harper Collins Publisher ISBN 0060927801
= = = = = =
These Days in "my" History: 5 Jan. 1993: It rained "cats and dogs" for two days in Baghdad. Streets flooded, some houses along with its gardens. Our houses garden was a big lake for 3 days. "Water World" it is.
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