A Star from Mosul

Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan.. But as usual, I was too lazy to write on time.

For me, Ramadan started at 4:30 AM when mom woke me for suhoor.. I went to bed early the day before so I can wake up, but still when mom rang the bells, I was just starting to sleep.. I let myself sleep a bit more, but then mom started to ring the bells continuously and it was so loud that I ran downstairs shouting : I'M AWAKE...

Half asleep I waited for HNK to finish frying her egg.. Mom asked us yesterday what we wanted to eat, and we both told her that we'll fry our own eggs. It was one unfortunate morning when mom almost burnt our eggs and we decided we'll never have to go through this experience again. By the time I fried my egg and sat to eat, the family has almost finished.

Then I washed my hands and face and all as we always do before praying, and brushed my teeth preparing for the fasting, and started reading the Quran from the beginning, determined to finish it at least once before Ramadan ends.. Of course, every now and then I realize I'm day dreaming and get back to reading.

Then we heard the Azan announcing the morning prayer and the sunrise, and realized I hadn't drank water but.. too late.

Dad stood in the front. Me, mom, HNK and grandma stood behind to pray together after each prayed the sunna prayer (not a must, we do it because the prophet used to do it), then dad announced the start of the prayer, and those two little me-s inside (The evil me and the good one) started to fight: one urging the real me to pray and concentrate, and one thinking of what me'll do next, what me'll have at futoor tomorrow, how nice Ramadan is, and what me should write in me's post about Ramadan.. then suddenly the prayer ended.. (on a second thought, I think I should replace me with I, but alas.. I'm too lazy to change it).

So I think you all noticed that one of the things I should really work on is teaching the little evil me inside to listen to the good one..

I read a little (The Joy Luck Club) before I could sleep again, set the alarm on 10 AM and closed my eyes.. At about 9:30 there was heavy knocking in my dream, then I realized it was heavy shooting.. I was determined to sleep till 10, I covered my ears and tried to sleep, but the shooting didn't stop and there were explosions too.. I had the crazy idea of recording the shooting, as soon as I hit record the shooting stopped, then it started again but so heavy, grandma and HNK started to shout for me to get down, and so I crawled to the stairs and ran down. It took about half an hour for the shooting to stop but still no one knows what it was all about..

I spent the time till futoor reading and experimenting with cinema 4D.

We had futoor outside in the garden, dad grilled the kebab, grandma's made the 3adas (a kind of soup made a lot in Ramadan in out family) and m7allabeya (a kind of sweets also made a lot in ..), mom's prepared the dates and stuffed them with nuts for us to eat as soon as the Azan announces sunset.. We also had sharbat zabeeb (grape juice, fresh, not alcoholic).. We gathered round the table and waited and then was futoor, and food was so delicious, but I couldn't eat much. Usually as the time of futoor approaches I get less and less hungry, not sure why.

After the meal, we prayed together and then drank Noom Basrah (looks like tea, tastes and smells differently, I love it).

In Ramadan, a whole lot of series are broad-casted on TV for the first time, but we decided to only watch one, Bab Al-7ara 2 (The door of the district), a very nice Syrian series.. We all, except grandma, love Syrian series and not so with Egyptian and those of the gulf.

At night before I slept, I prayed a long prayer called the prayer of tarawee7, and read Quran, then some more of the Joy luck club... a bizarre combination. And when mom asked me what to have on Suhoor, I gladly accepted that she fries the eggs herself this time..

Ramadan Kareem to all the Muslims in the world.. and may we have peace next year.

Labels: family, Ramadan, vacation

I've finally found something to occupy myself with. I'm no longer bored or depressed..

The key was to quit chatting; it takes a lot of time and I end up depressed because of the amount of time I waste telling things people do not really need to hear and hearing things I'm really going to forget.

So, I switched to reading.. I started with The Two Towers, right from where I've left last year! Read and finished The Alchemist, then to some novel by Agatha Christie, then Hitchhikers' guide to the galaxy.. reached halfway through The Restaurant at The End of The Universe and then found my new passion: 3D design! Well, it looks really interesting, and takes much of my free-would've-been-wasted time.. I'm using Cinema 4D (My laptop is BEGGING me for memory) and will post something of my work as soon as I can manage to do something worth mentioning :)

I finished [Edit: The Two towers] -an accomplishment I'm very proud of- and have already started with The Return of The King. The key to finishing that one was watching the movie first, it got me motivated to know more, and get into more details.

Moving to another subject.. I have an aunt who used to teach at the communication college in Baghdad, she had plenty of books, and have now moved to Jordan with her family.. Being the good girl I am, she decided to give me the books.. She sent me 23 books that I can use now in my undergraduate studies, and saved much more in a box at grandma's house in Baghdad, for me to use in my postgraduate studies.. It made me really excited, now I can start the new year armed with more books than I've ever dreamed of having.

Okay, now, to a more interesting subject.. More than a week ago, I went to college to help some of my friends study, and so I and my other friend can check about our average of marks (I already knew mine, but she didn't). We paid the associate dean a visit, after checking our marks and some of our classmates', he told us to keep it up and encouraged us to do more of the same next year.. then he turned to me and asked:

-So, how's your site? !??
Me -being programmed to deny it, having run through this scene over and over in my head, with everyone perhaps, except for the associate dean- immediately responded:
-What site??
-YOUR site, or have you stopped writing??
I haven't even told my friend, I was so embarrassed, so surprised, and even more, really confused about how I can deny it further.. so I surrendered..
-How did you know?
It turned out that his brother has called him from Australia, told him about that girl with high grades, fluent English and who writes on a website.. He guessed it was me!
What he said after that isn't really clear to me, I was in total shock, and trying real hard not to show it, and thinking of how badly my friend must be thinking of me now..

I got away with it, my friend didn't really mind me not telling her, not much at least.. I gave her the address and she took a look and that was all I think.. But I'm not sure how many (if any more) of my lecturers know about my blog, and if they've read through it.. I've already been busted by a classmate, and he's told one other though the one other didn't really seem to care.

Am I ready to be an open book? And is the Moslawi society ready to accept the idea that a girl writes about her life online..
Is it really worth risking?
Do I have the courage to move all this to another address where no one can find it..? Can I?
These are questions I keep asking myself, and I wonder if I will HAVE to make a move and do it one day..