Ramadan

We're in Ramadan now, the fasting season. College will officially start after Eid Al-Fitr and thus I'm trying to exploit the free time I have left.
Going to college and studying in Ramadan had always been very hard, I'd be too tired, and there would barely be any time left to study because of all the activities. But from now and till after my graduation and probably higher studies, Ramadan would be during the vacation, making it much easier.

Beside the usual activities of prayer and reading Quran, I am watching an Islamic show on the stories in the Quran, and some snippets from a series about Antarah ibn Shaddad. I use the rest of the time surfing the net, doing some house work and reading about Java.

The curfew hours have changed to 12AM - 4AM as opposed to 10PM - 6AM, and this time the people are actually exploiting the change and going out instead of locking themselves in as soon as it's dark. Hopefully this will lead to canceling the curfew.
It's a positive step and we really need it to lead to more!

رمضان كريـــــــــم لجميع المسلمين.. أعاده الله علينا و عليكم بالخير و السلام و الصحة و العافية ان شاء الله.

The Roller Coaster

I came back from Turkey on Thursday, had the internet connection back yesterday, but didn't have the time or the energy to post.

Our trip to Turkey has been so enjoyable, so tiring and sometimes even nerve racking. Some moments were so great I didn't want them to end, other times I just wanted to give up and come back home.

The Turkey tourism company that was in charge of our trip assigned another Syrian company to do the job, the latter turned out to be quite a newbie and we like to call it Tulip Company for torturing tourists.

Turkey was great, a piece of heaven, so dreamy and unreal.. but the bus that transferred our group had a habit of breaking down every now and then that we spent about an hour of waiting for every quarter an hour of fun. Out of the 15 days in Turkey at least 5 were spent on the road all in all. The schedule was very busy and we spent so much time on the road that we barely had time to walk in the cities we visited.. I really needed more time in Ankara for example, I loved its streets looking very GREAT and foreign. Oh I really really wanted to walk on them and feel them, but I had to settle for watching them from the window.

I met so many nice people, made friends with some really great girls from our group..

We were 185 persons with the medical association, four buses, anywhere we went it became crowded, rows of people waiting for food, rows of people waiting in front of the WC, rows of people waiting for their turn in whatever.. waiting all the time.

We had so many problems with and because of the tourism company it's unbelievable, I don't think any other group had to call the police for their tourism company like we did; they were about to run away and leave us alone on day 10! Twice we checked into the hotels past 6 AM while we should arrive at noon the day before! Once it was because our bus broke and they didn't call another bus to transfer us until they lost all hope in getting the first one fixed (trying to cut the expenses of transfer), even then they brought a small bus and most of the men in our group had to spend 6 hours in another of the four buses with no seats, either standing or sitting on the floor. I had to sit in a very crowded place that I soon became nauseous and was quite happy to spend the rest of the road sitting on the floor with the luggage that didn't fit in the luggage area of the small truck. I spent the night talking with another unfortunate girl and though it wasn't very bad my back wasn't happy with the situation at all.
The other time our bus broke, we've just had called the police on the company for trying to run away, the governor of the city saw the crowds of Iraqis frustrated and he called two small buses for us.. By the time we arrived the company has canceled the reservation and we had to wait in the street with the luggage for over six hours.. That was an unforgettable night.

It was like an Indian movie, so many unfortunate surprises it was unbelievable. However, as I said, there were some great moments, and amazing sights to see.. Crossing the amazing Bosphorous bridge to the European side felt incredible. Seeing the night and the city lights for the first time was also great.. Watching Ankara from Ankara tower, walking in the beautiful gardens of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia, the sea trip along the shores of Istanbul, the green amazing road from Ankara to Istanbul, going up Uludag mountain at night with our crappy bus (I lost breath from laughing at the jokes then, dad ended up sitting beside me and didn't let me take a look at the road!), those were all moments to remember.. It all passed so quickly, like a roller coaster ride with so many ups and downs. Reaching Iraq we could see the drastic difference in everything. Mosul has become so unbearable, the streets are destroyed and there's a heart-breaking sight in every direction you look, but that's just our life. Now we're left with the friends we've made, the photos and videos we've taken, and the many memories and pictures in my head.

There's so much more to say but I've grown tired from talking about the trip. I may write more about the program and the places we visited soon.

Here are some photos I have taken.

Hello Turkia :)

By the time you're reading this, and if all goes as scheduled, I should be in Turkey! I know because this is a scheduled post and we're leaving on the 31st :)

We're going with a group of physicians and their families, the date of departure was kept a secret for security reasons.. See how secretive I am?! I'm so proud of myself and it's so cool to use scheduled posts and actually need it ;)

The trip is supposed to last 15 days, 7 different hotels in 7 different cities! We're going to try to stay longer if it wasn't too tedious because we all need a serious rest after all this tension at home. We'll see!
In the meanwhile, I wish every one is enjoying and making the best of his/her time, myself included :)

What's happening?

Between 2006 and today, we've had so many events and a whole lot of visitors.
Ayman was born.
I finished my sixth year at school.
Grandma and grandpa came to live with us thus we had the most busy Eids for two years.
Grandpa died.
Anas was born.
HNK finished her sixth year at school .
Dad had two operations (people come before the operation and after the operation) .
Grandma left to the UAE .
Mom's uncle died few days ago.
and today my aunt is coming from Baghdad to attend my cousin's wedding but she's staying at our house thus people are visiting her here.
Thousands of visitors, and no, I'm NOT exaggerating! I am likely to throw a tantrum if any more events happen soon.

Mom has noticed that we've had little to no freedom these two years, herself too, especially under grandma's dictatorial regime.. and since we've already been to Syria three times the plan was to visit Turkey this year.. 15 days in Turkey inshallah, early next month, finally. We had planned to visit Turkey 3 years ago, paid the money and were all ready but then the tourism company had problems and all was canceled. We'll see how it goes this year.

This vacation has been, nonetheless, very good for me.. I have been enjoying my time and I don't think I ever got bored. I got myself busy with reading novels and learning Visual Basic .NET and both were enjoyable. Few days ago however, my uncle lured me into learning Java instead of Visual Basic .NET, he said if I get really good then next year he'd give me work. /*See uncle I've already documented that so you wouldn't forget :) */ Today is day 4 of reading Java (I started the very next day he told me to learn Java, successfully overcoming what I think was separation anxiety!) but I'm not sure I'll be able to read anything today. I have stopped reading novels and devoted all my attention to learning Java and I really don't want to go to Turkey until I have some decent knowledge of the language.