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..

Friday, September 29, 2006

So many events in the last two weeks …

Hello friends
As you know my grandparents visited us tow weeks ago, I spent the most beautiful time ever, we visited our relatives that I didn’t see for almost a year ( as you know we don’t go out often because of the dire situation) .
we also went to the north, my mom’s uncle and his family came with us .we had so much fun and visited a gorgeous cave in Kurdistan called Anishkiy , there we celebrated my mom’s cousin graduation , he graduated from electric engineering collage .
I am so happy that we were allowed to enter Kurdistan , because many times the Kurds don’t allow Arabs to inter their city Dhook , for security reasons.
























On Thursday we had a nice breakfast and celebrated my grandma’s birthday in a casino near the Tigris river , I had so much fun in the water motorcycle , and my brother and sister also had a fascinating time , but in the casino I fell down , and hurt my left arm and shoulder badly , I couldn’t use it for a week.



























We also took my grandma with us to my mom friend’s Nishan , where I saw one of my school teacher’s there , both of us were from the bride side..
I also was invited to a party in my friend’s house , I arrived after one hour delay, as the roads were locked by US Troops , because of a bombing car , I had so much fun and wonderful time , I took my mom’s musical keyboard with me , we took so many pics ..
I went to school last Sunday , the Arabic teacher was not good , and I didn’t like her , the geography and history teacher was very edgy , but she is good in teaching, the English teacher was so lovely , the mathematics and the rest of the teachers are ok..
The headmistress’s assistant is HORRIBLE , she keep yelling with or without reasons , her name is roses !!! whenever I look at her , my heart start to pant so fast , I feel terrified when I see her , not only me, all the girls even the teachers feel that way , I guess!!.
On Tuesday , I came back from school so tired and slept for 3 hours , I had very bad flu , and when I woke up , my mom took my body temperature , it was high 38.5C , I didn’t go to school in the next day , and I couldn’t fast for two days .
On Thursday my way to school was terrible , all the bridges and roads were locked, and we were stuck in the street for an hour , I didn’t feel comfortable with being near many tanks knowing that someone may attack them in every minute . & I didn’t have a mobile phone to call my worried mom. I lost the hope of arriving school , and thought that I will miss the chemistry quiz , but suddenly our national guards opened the bridge and I arrived school , I was late and missed the first class , I wanted to call my family to tell them that I was ok , but MS.Roses shouted and said “ we don’t have a phone , go “ , a man drove his daughter to school heard her shouting allowed me to use his phone , what a generous man he was !.
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the situation in my neighborhood isn’t good as usual , we hear many explosions specially at night ( usually mines ), we had three inspections in the same week!!!.
3 days ago , at midnight I was asleep when I heard very loud explosion , I put my head under the pillow , I got fearful awake and my heart was like a drum , the night was very calm and that changed in a sec . I heard the sound of shrapnels falling on the roof . in the next day , my grandma found many shrapnels in the garden , among them a big shrapnel , bigger than a hand palm ..
what baffle me is that who exploded the car at midnight while there is A STROLL BANS?..
The day before yesterday at midnight , I was awaked by a limelight , I put my head under the pillow , and waited to hear the sound of explosion ,( I know that the light speed is faster than the sound in few seconds ), but I kept waiting , and I didn’t hear anything , then I realized that it is a projector light of the police on national guards and not a bombing car !!!.
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My interview with NHK TV was viewed few days ago , I felt so happy when I checked my inbox , I had 50 letters , most of them were from Japanese , in the next day I sent thanks E-cards to all of them , I hope they enjoyed them..
Anyway , my friends in NHK TV will send me the DVD soon.
Sunshine ..

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Good and Bad news ..

The day before yesterday at afternoon I felt so happy when I knew that my grandparents will visit us next week , as you know they live in Baghdad , and we didn’t see them for 8 months because the road to Baghdad is very dangerous and most of the time locked by US troops , and I can’t spend long time in the car in such hot weather because I have asthma , I talked to my grandma few days ago by internet as there is no phone services between us , and I told her about my mom , and how she misses them ,and that she became very frustrated and angry person , in the same day grandpa decided to risk and come to Mosul next week .
We made a good program to them , they will stay only 5 days in Mosul, in the first day they will rest, then in the next day we will visit the uncles and relatives , the next day in the morning we will go to Kurdistan ( YES , I am sooooo excited, we will go to Dhook which is about 30 minutes by car , and we will visit a near by summer resort ) , next morning we will have our breakfast in a Casino near the Tigris river , (I went there few days ago , and took pictures and video to show you ) , then in the next day we will celebrate my grandma’s birthday . please pray that they will arrive Mosul safely and have a comfortable and quick journey.
yesterday my mom and I began to prepare and clean the house , windows and everything , and I wanted to organize my room , it was in a horrible condition ( but now it is organized) , as my room very very hot I didn’t enter it or organize it since 4 months , I have only a fan , and the air-cooler doesn’t work !! ,anyway at 10:30 am while I was cleaning the floor and my mom was organizing the library, heavy shooting began , I told my mom to go downstairs , because there are big windows in our living room, but she replied “ no , just stay away from the windows “ suddenly many near by explosions were heard , without any word, I carried my brother and ran , my mom and sister ran too , we hide downstairs for an hour , the sound of the explosions and shootings were so high , my brother was very scared , he hold my mom so tight , my grandma’s face looked pale, and everyone was tired from the uncomfortable sit !!!! I remembered the old days when we used to hide under the stairs or stand near the corner for 5 and 6 hours , everyone was praying for the policemen, national guards, and the neighbors safety, and that the good guys win the fight against the bad, and that’s what happened , after an hour our policemen and national guards with the help of the US troops who came after an hour with many helicopters defeated the terrorists.
My family members didn’t injure ( thank god ) , but bullets entered the walls and hit a neon ( small losses ) , but a woman and boy were killed when a mortar fall on their house , & the dad was badly injured , in the same time another neighborhood witnessed a fight , 8 citizens were injured , and one man was killed .
We were happy in the day before , then we became upset and scared in the next day, we kept hearing shootings and explosions all the day , my brother couldn’t sleep at night , he was very frightened.
In the same day I was checking my E-mails , and I found an offline message from my grandma says “ yesterday your grandpa went to the market , and while he was shopping, the US soldiers started to walk in the street , they were many , your grandpa asked a soldier gently whether he can depart , and do you know what the soldier answered ? he said “shut up”. ! grandpa turned to another soldier and asked him the same question – son , can I go of please ?- and the soldier replied “ we are leaving, in a moment “.
“ I chatted with grandma I was so angry , that soldier’s attitude ,affected my respect to the military so badly, because the soldiers should represent their country’s ethics and leave a good impression , this bad soldier was so impolite and rude , I told my grandma ( relax grandma , the soldier’s parents didn’t behave him well , that’s in case he has parents , I am sure that he lives in a box under the bridge ,and he is blessed to sleep in a tank ! ) and I still mean what I said , my grandpa is very educated wise respectful man , and he is loved by everyone, , my grandpa is a civil engineer , studied in USA , he traveled round the world because he worked for the “Arab organization for the industrial development” , that soldier SHOULDN’T talk to grandpa like that.
Sunshine .

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

The 3rd time is the best ...

Hello friends ,
On Thursday I had an interview with NHK TV, that was at 6:00pm , I was so excited and nervous in the same time , the reporters talked to me on Skype ,but guess what ? my microphone didn’t work !!!!!!.
my mom phoned our neighbors to borrow their mic, but they didn’t have any ! I was very upset , I kept trying to make it work , but after an hour I gave up , we postponed the interview to the next day .
my family and some relatives who were in the living room tried to make me feel better. one of my relatives know some words in Japanese ,since he worked with a Japanese phone connections company , he taught me 9 words , then we read some old posts and had a nice evening .
Then at 9 :00 my dad’s cousin brought me his friend’s mic , I felt so relieved .
In the next day , I was happy and anxious to make the interview , at 3:00 pm I called the reporter , he said " we hear you well , we will start now ".
I said " ok , just a sec "I wanted to bring a paper where I wrote the Japanese words.
Then I became ready to start , but the mic didn’t work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I kept trying and trying, but I couldn’t .
I was so mad , we called some nearby relatives , & neighbors , but we couldn’t get another mic . I was afraid that the reporters were bothered or they will not postponed the interview to another day again .
I cried , but the reporter told me not to feel upset , because Japanese people believe in an aphorism that says " the 3rd time is the best " , I felt so much better when he postponed the interview to Saturday at 6 :00 pm , just then my smile returned to my face .
In the afternoon we visited my mom's friend , then we went to search for new mic , we went to Jamea street ( there are so many shops sell computers and it’s stuff) , but it was Friday , the shops were closed except one , we bought a new mic !
on Saturday , I had the interview and the mic was working good , my mom sat next to me , she was calming me down , I was excited and I talking hasty , I don’t know why the words came out so quickly !..
I had fun , and got new friends too , and it was my first voice interview , hoping that the next interview will be with Dr . phil (as a phenomenon teenager guest !!! heheheh just kidding ) or with Oprah ? who knows !
Yesterday ( Sunday ) , I went to my relatives’ house , my grandma and grandfather stayed in the house , because we expect home inspection as few tanks were in the neighborhood. when we were back my grandma told us what happened in our street ,she said:
“ we saw some tanks , while you were out , the US soldiers locked the ends of our street and inspected some houses , after awhile we heard an explosion, my grandma looked from the window and she saw heavy GREEN smoke , interfere with seeing the next door neighbor !!! “
what did the soldiers do ? what was this smoke ? and why ? no one knows .
what baffles me is that there are 4 houses in the neighborhood being inspected lately from time to time ?????!!!!!!!! .
I don’t know those neighbors , they live at the end of the street, but there must be something behind those continues inspections ?.
Live strong !
Sunshine with love .
The school will start on 20/9/2006 , I will try to write to you every Thursday , and whenever I have time , I should work hard and get high marks , so that I can make you and my family proud ..

Friday, September 08, 2006

My best post is back.

hello , I wrote a post in December but i had to delete it for some reasons , but know I published it again , enjoy it .
Sunshine

Monday, September 04, 2006

About my summer holiday..

Hello friends , I know that I am not writing to you often , but I am very busy with my book, I have many things I want to write about, but we get electricity once a day ! I can work on internet for 60 minutes or less !!!!
The scholastic year will begin on Wednesday 20/9/2006 …that mean three days before Ramadan , I feel hungry already , (Ramadan Kareem to everybody specially Muslims). This year we’ll study religion ( it has 2 books ) , Arabic (4 books) , English ( 2 books , grammar and a novel ) , French , Kurdish , Physics , Chemistry, computer , history , geography , biology , mathematics , art and sport !!!! . if I get in every subject 90% and higher I won’t attend the final exam , that’s wonderful . It’s hard , but I will do my best, and study day and night , I pray and hope that we will have nice teachers this year .
I can’t believe that I finished secondary school ,And I am in the high school! And three years later I will go to collage.
In this summer holiday I think that the best thing that happened is the improvement of my relationship with my father , now we get along so well , we became closer , we talk together , my dad came with me to the computers’ markets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wanted to buy my own musical keyboard , and a laptop, but I changed my plans. I bought golden jewelries, because it is more valuable, and I can get my money back in case I sell them at any time I need money , and I am still confused about buying another desktop Computer , musical keyboard or exercise machine ! .
We went only one time to the computers’ market, but it was closed !!! and because of fuel shortage it is hard to go again .
I read "Anne of green gables" but I didn’t finish it yet , and read " here is the answer" and " the history will not start tomorrow" it talks about the Iraq history , it is a political book and very looooooong , but I finished it .
In the beginning of the summer holiday I bought two dictionaries , they are very helpful , Arabic – English and English- Arabic . They help me in my posts too , to find the correct synonyms .
My sister , mother and I made so many handmade work, and spent wonderful time.
My mother go to work almost everyday and leave Mariam and Yosif with me , they always drive me crazy . I usually prepare the breakfast , clean and organize the house so that my mom feel comfortable when she reaches the house .
In this holiday I went to 3 weddings , Nishan and Laylat al henna , I had a nice time , we visit our nearby relatives twice a week .
I couldn’t sleep in my room this summer because it is not safe , and it is tooooo hot , I wake up many times during the night because of the shooting and the hot weather , we can’t sleep in the roof ( as many Iraqis did this summer),it is dangerous because of the explosions’ shrapnels and erratic bullets.


(those are some of the shrapnels and bullets that we found on our roof )

I became very anxious person , I feel worried about my dad and mother , because their way is not safe , they see some times see corpses thrown in their way to work and exploded mines everyday , and I also feel worried about my grandpa while he is in his work , and about my grandparents who live in Baghdad because the situation there is horrible , and the list don’t end .
I have continues headache , I feel worried about everything , specially my family safety and my school , how can I go to school with the absence of fuel and security ? my school is very far , and the way is dangerous .
But beside that I think it was good , I made so many achievements .
Mother Jones magazine made an interview with me the next interview will be with NHK TV o soon …
Take care ,
Sunshine .