Days of My Life

Talk about daily life of a teenage girl in Iraq, and days of suffering and success. My nick name will be Sunshine..

Saturday, May 28, 2005

I am in Baghdad

Hello friends. I arrived Baghdad last Monday in 23\52005 after an acceptable journey. The way from Mosul to Baghdad is about 420 kilometers, and it took 4 hours by car. We spent 5 and half hours, but we were lucky. Some times the travelers spend very long time to arrive Baghdad, (my friend’s mother had heart problem and they have an appointment with a doctor in Baghdad, they spent 13 hours in their way to Baghdad and 12 hours back to Mosul).
We realized how lucky we were, when we stopped in a restaurant near Beegee city we saw the widows broken, & the cars in the park were damaged. We knew that a car was exploded near the restaurant early in the morning.
When we passed the restaurant the road was closed, so we had to drive through unpaved rode.
I am very happy here. My grandparents & all the relatives are ok.
In Baghdad I spend a great time I have many relatives.
But I miss my aunt (rose Baghdad), She left Baghdad to live in Dubai because of the bad situation here.
We used to visit her, she is my only aunt.
In the past we used to go to the parks, restaurants, shops, & spend very good time, but now we enjoy being at home with my grandparents(I am giving them lessons about internet & computer, they like it ) & with their neighbors, & the nearby relatives.
Good bye see you .but may be not so soon … …

Sunday, May 22, 2005

my diary of the two last days

Hi friends. Yesterday, I had French exam, the questions was so hard , and the weather was so hot, anyhow I did good enough, when we left the school three bombs were left in the middle of the street , every one was panicked ,then explosives experts came and took them away . Today early in the morning heave shooting awaked us, the terrorists attacked the checkpoint, which is just behind our house, as I ran in a hurry from my bed I felt dizzy, but we are all safe.
Tomorrow my mother, brother , sister & me are leaving to Baghdad to visit my grandparents, we miss them a lot , I didn’t see them since last August , usually we feel so happy & excited to go to my grandparents house ,but this time we fell afraid because of the unsafe road ,& we might be tracked for hours in the hot weather because of an accident against the police , the army or a bomb in the street.
Wish me a safe trip.
I may not be able to write for you in the couple coming weeks, but I will try.
Good bye …

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

The sun will shine again ...

Hi, friends how are you? I hope you are all Fine. I will stop writing for few days, because I have geography test in Wednesday , and French test in Saturday , and I want to study hard to take good marks as I hope , see you soon . Remember the sun will shine again.
Wish me luck ..

Saturday, May 14, 2005

At relatives house...

Hi, every body you remember the reason behind leaving the house, and now I will till you how we spent the day distant our home:
When my father asked us to be ready and to leave the house, we started to prepare ourselves rapidly. I went to my room and started to prepare my clothes & other things, my mother was responsible for taking the medicaments and the important papers, our money & jewelers. We also took chargable lights and our dosses.
Our relatives were surprised when we arrived with our pyjamas coming early with our stuffs (may be they thought we would have a pyjama party!!!!!!!!!). However, they welcomed us.
Their family consist of parents , five boys (THEY ARE : A, 25 YEARS old, E 24, M 15, B 13, W 1.)& one girl (she is 6 years old).
We were invited to take one of the boys room (B & M they are my best friends), they left their room and slept in the living room.
We spent the dark nights to gather playing cards, monopoly, & telling jokes. We cooked & made housework to gather, we spent a good time in spite of every thing.
In the next day guided missiles fell in the neighborhood near our house , 3 neighbors were wounded (two of them are brothers) ,& the fourth one was killed he left behind him three kids , a wife ,& parents .
The wounded guys stayed at home bleeding with no chance to be transformed to hospital, because of errantry bans, & the fights in the streets.
They were first aid by a neighbor doctor.
We remained in contact with my Dad & his parents by the mobile phone.
We remained in our relatives house for 9 days , But because of the very cold weather , no oil , no electricity ,the house was very cold .And no enough warm water to take daily bath for every one ,to wash the dishes , clothes , particularly there are two babies , we felt embarrassed to stay any more .As well as the boys might need their room . My mother insisted to go back home, they tried so hard to persuade her to stay, But she refused.
In the next day the condition became worse, we had to go back a gain to them.
We spent another 10 days in there house then the situation became a little bit better (because additional forces arrived to Mosul) & we had to go back to school, so we went home, But, this time permanently!
In that eed, we did some thing different; we ware the new clothes at home!!!!!!!
We had eed in a new way!!
The terrorists could not make us miss the eed and they will never do….

Sunshine ..

Friday, May 13, 2005

Leaving the house ..

In Last November, it was (eed_alfutur) feast, we usually wake up in eed to exchange congratulations with each other & then after breakfast we wear new clothes & go to felicitate our relatives, friends & neighbors. This eed usually last for 3 days. In that eed I waked up and felicitated my family ,after we had breakfast, I went up stairs to my room ,while I took off my clothes , loud and many explosions accrued , I wore my robe and ran out of my room shoeless to avoid the windows in case they break ,all the family hide in one safe room downstairs . We remained like that for six and a half hours. I felt so cold, my brother-felt hungry (he was 6 months old) he kept screaming and whenever he get tired and sleep ,the loud gun firing and explosions awake him . Our windows were broken even their metal handles, our water tank and our car were damaged.
The splints filled the garden. Bullets entered the walls of my room, the kitchen, & in the roof, .The neighborhood’s power transformer was damaged.
When helicopter came at 5 o’clock, the terrorists ran away from the police station to an unihabited building, just then the helicopter cast off missile .every thing became silent, the tribulation was over.
At 6 o'clock we left the room to have lunch, we were tired, hungry, upset & terrified.
We knew that Mosul became out of the government control and the terrorists attacked all the police stations in the city and that only the governorate unflinching. We decided to leave the house to my father’s uncle house, but we couldn’t because of the inhibiting the errantry by the governor .at night we all slept in one room.
At midnight, the mosques gave announcement in the microphone that the terrorists are attacking the houses, we didn’t have a gun and it was dark, we were scared from the unknown .we stayed awake until the morning.
At 8 o’clock, my Dad saw a couple of cars in the neighborhood ,he asked us to get ready as quickly as possible and to take only the important stuffs , we also took the important papers , money ,& jewelries , we left the house wearing our pyjamas . we left behind us my father , my grandparents ,& our old grandmother (she was 100 years old, she past a way last December), they couldn’t come with us because our old grandmother need special care , special bed against bed sore & her wheeled chair .
We went to my father’s uncle house he is nearby, but at least they are three streets away from the police station, which is a target to the terrorists.
To be continued ….

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Bad day in my memory

Hi, friends how are you? Fine? , today I will tell you about misfortune happened in my sister’s primary school a month a go .terrorists attacked the Iraqi and American soldiers and ran away, the soldiers tried to chase them they entered the school to take places on the roof and in the upstairs class rooms, they shoot the terrorists from the school toward the road .the soldiers brought their wounded buddies to the school yard to be first aid.
All the pupils became panicked, many of them were fainted.
The worse thing that happened that they released the children to go home, my sister (seven years old ) didn’t know the way home alone , she went to our nearby friend’s house .
When my mother knew that there was a fight near my sister’s School she phoned my dad in his job asking to do some thing.
My father couldn’t pass his way to the school, he went to his uncle’s house (which is near the school) and waited.
My mom was sooooooo worried but an hour later our friends phoned to tell us she was there.
When we were able to bring her home, she was terrified, crying and dirty.
We called the doctor, he prescribed a sedative for her, and she
Had a bath and my mom took her to bed.
Since then she feel afraid from school, my grandmother take her and bring her from school walking, and many times gun shoots tracked them during their way and make them run or enter any house in their way ..

Sunday, May 08, 2005

My American Relative

Hello friends,
Today I will tell you about my American relative, he is my parents’ uncle ( my parents are cousins ) he lives in America since 1964 , he is a professor civil engineer .he cares a lot about his family in Iraq ,he calls his brothers every Sunday ,he never missed a call if he could . The life in America did not make him forget his family, and as life in Iraq was filled with troubles, I think his care about his family had a great effect on his health, life and his joy with his family.
Once I read an article about an interview with him , he said that he feel half his body fight the other half , because he is half American and half Iraqi, he mentioned how he worried a lot about us during the war when there was no phone connections, and how he suffered and his blood pressure got high ,
He kept trying and trying for long hours to hear any thing to assure him .When I read that, I was very amazed, he is so close to his family in spite of the great distance between him and the family , I think the relatives here don’t care about each other in the way he dose, because they are busy with their life troubles. We wish that we will get a peaceful life to make it possible to put together all family, we really hope to meet our cousins and their children .this is a dream we wish one day would become true .

Friday, May 06, 2005

a letter to oprah.

Hi, friends I sent a letter to Oprah, and I wont you to share it with me Dear Oprah:
This is sunshine from Mosul in Iraq, I am a teenager in the second class in secondary school; I admire you and your show a lot, I do not miss any show. You are really a good helpful person, you give me strength and hope that life could become better for us, now we have difficult and scary days but it could become tolerable with hope, I created a blog and name it www.livesstrong.blogspot.com you inspired me the name through one of your show when you made an interview with a mondial bicycle rider (Lans Armstrong) and his wonderful idea (the Livesstrong wristlet). If you read my blog, which is an honor for me, you may find how I passed my tribulation when I had eye problem in the midyear exam. With strength and insistence. Since, last July my neighborhood almost every day witness a battle between terrors against the Iraqi policemen and the American soldier, which is a very terrifying, and some times sudden explosions break the windows of our house, once a bullet entered through the window of our kitchen, and many other bullets penetrate the walls of the house from the out side. If you come to the neighborhood, you will see the destruction in houses, bullets entered in the walls and doors (of course after what I am telling you, it will be wise if you don’t think to come).
So we always have surprises but not the good once.
My family, my friends and I are against terrors and we hope that one day we may live in peace .some times I feel hopeless, but your show come in the evening with more hope and joy, thank you.
Sincerely,
Sunshine

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Meeting the French eye doctor .

Hello again, you remember a bout my eyes problem that I wrote about in the last post, I remained with the same eye problem for 59 days, every thing is doubled, can not read nor write. The examination started the teachers agreed to examine me by choosing a teacher in every exam. To read the questions for me and I answer them blindly and the teacher write the answers. Can you imagine I had the algebra, English, Arabia, French, geography, history examination etc. in that way? That was very hard because some times I found it difficult to concentrate or might feel embarrassed. But I did so well and I got high marks, I had 97, 7 mean marks. in February we saw the French eyes doctor he asked for some tests, we wade the testes, the results was that I had eye muscles fatigue, and it is a matter of time to get better, and I need to do eye exercises for ever . Now my eyes are fine and my vision is perfect.