Every time I go to a new place, I take my camera and just take pictures of
whatever my eyes see.
Today, I feel like writing in Arabic, although I'm not very good at Arabic.
I apologise to my English readers, can you Google translate this? :)
اني عراقيه. اني عندي كاميره, و اني استعمله.
اني عندي درس مال صوار. اني اعيش في بغداد, فى اصور بيتي
هايه الصوره مال نخله يم بيتي. كانت اكو عجى. كلينه سمك. بس مانكدر نتنفس ليعن الجو كوله تراب
يالله شنسوي؟ سحلوحه و حيتا تتسحا
هاثه ال كورنيش مالتنه. دجله. حلو مو؟
Okay, that took me forever to write! I'm sure that I have many typos and words
which don't make sense. I'm not great at Arabic, but I'll get there... eventually. Let's face it; my English spelling isn't too posh
either! If you read my other posts, you would notice typos and words which
don't make sense because I made them up :)
This cover of Just a Dream by Sam Tsui & Christina Grimmie and
Kurt originally by Nelly, FANTASTIC! Really, I recommend you check out their
stuff! I love covers like this but the other covers that I found on their
channels will surely blow your mind, like my mind did just then: p
On my way to Ishtar Hotel, I expected to find a wreck. I
came dressed ready for a wreck. How do you dress for a wreck? I don’t know,
maybe dress like me.
My hair was tied back and my shoes were muddy from the Iraqi
soil. My jeans were tiered from the dirty wind and my shirt, well my shirt is
brand new. I got it for only $15 in Slamani last week. What a bargain!
We passed through
1,2,3,4,5,6 maybe 7, not sure about 7, checkpoints, and then a last one which
really annoyed me. They kept asking dim questions like the ones I ask when get
really tiered at 2:00am in the morning/night, I think you call it hallucinating,
but anyway, questions like
“What are you going to do?”
“I have a meeting.”
“What are you going to do in the meeting?”
“Meet with people.”
But I guess they have to ask questions for our and their safety.
Thank you angry guy, although I don’t blame him for being angry, it was like 38oC
that hour and we were fortunate to go from air coned car to semi- air coned
lobby.
I liked the lobby: it
was nice. It had the atmosphere of a Hotel in it but lacked little bits and
bots. It took us some time to find the front door which was full of police cars
all the way to the main street. Good security.
Nascafe. I wanted something with chocolate in it. Ah well :)
When you walk in, there is a big fountain of a lady
extending her arms in welcome. Her hands are spitting water and the palms have
gone black with fungi. But before that,
a man welcomed us inside with a smile and a helping point of the hands to the
Lobby.
Not much more to say about Ishtar hotel, I never thought I’d
say this but it’s a normal hotel.
Although the ride back home is much more interesting.
The cab driver, who stopped nearby to drop of an elderly
couple, was thrilled to get another pair of passengers in the same hour. The excessive
amount of cab drivers in one square kilometre in any area is all of Baghdad is
probably more than the sand grains in all the playgrounds in the world. You see
something yellow swishing past you every minute and beeps of horns and shouts
of de Yallah 3ad! Come on already!
This cab driver had two jobs: One as an important person with
a job I will not name and the other as a cab driver.
“How embarrassing it is to be a cab driver with that degree.”
It saddened me when he said this but reassured him,
“shinsawy la3ad?” “What are we to do?”
What I noticed about Baghdadis and maybe other people from
other parts of Iraq, is that they have more than one job only to support their
families. One job doesn’t bring food to the table. Although food is quire
cheap, Baghdadi’s worry about electricity and the power cuts in summer. Baghdadi’s
worry about the safety of their kids. A girl that looks my age walks past cab
and begs us to buy chewing gum.
“5atia.” “Poor you.” (I don’t like using that word: poor,
but I didn’t know what to say. I was speechless.)
I smile at her. She smiles back. That’s all I could give
her.
I grew up learning that Iraq was a rich country. I’m
speechless these days.
Iraq was beautiful
with straight roads and streets. The war made the streets bumpy and nothing we
can do about the past. But why do you build on top of the past? There is still
rubbish from the war that you have not cleaned up. Why do you build an entire
future on top of that? It’s like sweeping the ground and hiding the dirt under
the carpet. It’s still there. It’s not going anywhere. Iraq used to have a
foundation with a brand called Beauty. Now the only brand is rubbish and dirt. Dirt
swept under the Arabian carpet that you used to play with. The same Arabian carpet
that you, as a kid, would pretend that the lines and arches where roads and
follow the roads with your eyes to see where it ends.
Why does nobody listen? Can you please listen? Pick up a can
or a wrapper or a plastic bag or a bottle cap or a cigarette butt and put it in
the bin. No matter where you are in the whole wide world, can you do that,
please? Make the world’s foundation a brand of Beauty and build the future
using the brand of Brilliance and Hope and Love and Peace and everything nice
and sweet. Don’t ignore an Iraqi girls
dreams.
Yemima who sings this cover of Beyonce's Listen, is from Taiwan! Suscribe, like and share her and her brother's YouTube!
Yay! I
figured out how to put the video on the blog! anywayss
What's
the weather where you live? Is it too hot? Or too cold? Maybe just right. What?
How's the weather where I live, I hear you ask? It’s okay... considering that I
am very fortunate to have electricity, air con and a cooler. Not everyone is as
fortunate as I am.
NOT complaining :)
The poor
have no choice but to beg. There's not much we can do to change the
government's mind, but instead let's donate at least the minimum. Maybe spare change
or even a small prayer might do the trick.
Why
should you help Iraqi's? Well why not? Humans are humans and giving to Iraqi's
is the same as giving to Mexicans or maybe Albanians or maybe Egyptians or maybe YOUR country :) You can CHANGE THE WORLD :) no seriously
you can.
I took
the time to gather some sites that you might and SHOULD have a look at.
This is a
group that I came across on Facebook. They do some really great stuff to get
the word around and they have great success stories. You should HAVE A LOOK.
Most of
you may be familiar with TED and TEDx. I absolutely LOVEEE TEDx and the founder
Richard Saul Wurman (Click his name for Facebook
page). TEDx isn't necessarily for poor people, but it is an organization to
spread ideas to make a better country. There is also TEDxErbil,
TEDxWoman
and soooo much more. You should HAVE A LOOK.
This campaign
involves only your name to be signed in a petition to show the support for a
better future. It is run by a group of Volunteer Students who I am sure are
very dedicated to bringing hope to children of Kurdistan. I think I was the
243rd person to sign, now there are 371 signatures, how about YOU make it 372? soooo
you should HAVE A LOOK.
WOW I
only got 3 sites. There are more trust me, but in each of these three sites, I
couldn't help but flip through the taps and stories. They are so inspirational
and if I'm inspired then so will you when you finish reading this post and
click the links (if you hadn't already) and SAVE THE WORLD :)
* * *
The song
that I added for today is another cover by a lovely girl by the name of Natalie
Ahmed from beautiful Jordan who happens to live in Malaysia! I liked this cover because you can see her love for singing
through her voice. I feel like she would be singing even if nobody liked her
videos. (Which is never because PLENTY of people LOVE her videos and me included)
Before I started being homeschooled, I woke up at 8am, caught the bus at 8:45am and started school at 9:10am. I thought that was too early. I hated it.
Now that I am homeschooled, I wake up at 5:00am, eat breakfast at 5:45am and start school at 6am. I think that this life's way of saying "So you hate 8am starts to the day? What about 5am? What do you think of that?" nahhh I love it. really. Every sunrise of it.
Before year 11, I thought that my class was the hardest class in the whole world. "Year 10 is so hard", I would complain. "What's the point of school?" I would complain.
Now that I am in year 11, WACE is introduced. My life is over!!! hahaha no no no I'm only joking :) WACE has helped me to take my learning into the fast lane and has forced me to deal with it! No, I think my teachers taught me that. I successfully stopped complaining thanks to my teachers who tell me forget the past and focus on my studies in the present :)
This is a photo I took on my dad's Iphone. Tigris River.
Baghdad. Iraq.
Quite the photographer aren't I? ;)
Before moving to Iraq, I thought "Australia is just a country, like any other." Normal streets. Normal stores and malls and shops. Normal people. Normal weather. Normal living conditions. Normal food. Normal. Normal. Normal.
Now that I live in Iraq, I think Australia is NOT just a country and certainly not like any other. The streets are straight and bumpless. The stores and malls and shops are neat and in order The people have smiles on their faces Electricity and water is available Health and well being is put first The food is clean. BUT! Although I have seen the what I have taken for granted, I certainly do NOT take for granted what I have here in my Iraq. The streets might be a bit bumpy, but Kurdistan's streets are very straight, while in Baghdad you get a work out! The stores and malls and shops might be a bit messy but Kurdistan has very neat shelves, while in Baghdad at least you are forced to look at the whole store in case you have forgotten something :) I believe that there are 'good' and 'bad' people ALL over the world, wherever you go. Of course if you are friendly and have a big smile on your face, you will get along with everyone and won't encounter any 'bad' people. The weather is not in anybodies hands so don't complain! Not everyone is fortunate enough to have great living conditions, so always give at least the minimum, even if it's just a smile :) The food is yummy all over the world if you allow yourself to love it. Trust me. If you love something, it will love you back. If not, don't expect a hug back :) And so that is life. life. life.
I put 2 songs from the greatest cover band on the planet: Boyce Avenue <3
I don't know about you but I always want to know what the author of a book looks like, and yeah, this is what I look like :D
Have a Good Day everybody :)
I'll leave you with an Iraqi song :) Pretty good song I must admit and this is my favourite song from the band: Melodic Band. It's in Arabic and English. I wish them the best and am certain they will go far in their musicness.
At the end of each year, I tend to revisit some of the things I did the past 12 months. Some good memories and some bad. And then there are some years where I feel like I didn't do anything. I try so hard to remember something, anything! Nothing.
That's really annoying given the fact that life is short and my life is boring :(
So I guess that's my reason for starting a blog: to go back and read my life at the end of the year. I feel like it's too late starting a blog in the middle of June, but I guess I can go back to any memories that I might remember.
If you know me, you'd know that I LOVE music and I have no limits to the type of music I love. Sooo, I'll put a link to a song at the TOP of the page and we could be listing to the same song and be reading the same text :) ENJOY
P.S
This is one of my favourite covers of 'Thinking About You'. I have it on rewind every time I feel down and I swear it just lightens my day :)
