Latest news up to the minute ..

Hello friends .
As you know my dad’s uncle lives in our neighborhood , we visit them a lot, we are very close , I couldn’t visit them for about a month because their sons are having their exams (they are in the third and sixth class ), I feel very much lonely .
My mom and I don’t spend much time together as we used to in the past.
We are stuck in our house , we don’t go out , because the situation is not good, we can’t go to the other side from Mosul .
But still , summer holiday is better than going to school!!
I spend a lot of time working on my book , but I feel a little bored from being in the house all the time ..
The sixth class’s exams were postponed twice , after they studied for hours and hours , the minister announced in TV. The exams will postpone because of the curfew in Baghdad ,the students were really mad.
Grandpa built another storage-room , so we work together in the evenings and organize the storage-rooms (we have 5 !).
Grandpa felt really happy when I worked with him , because he felt bored and lonely while he was working alone , specially my father and grandpa disagree with each other when they work together. I love grandpa and I was worried about him , I don’t want him to feel nervous , specially because he had CVA attack on January .
Mama suggested a great suggestion to prepare lunch for the doctors who had to leave their governorates and stay in mosul ,they live in the hospital, grandma and I liked the idea but dad didn’t !, so it was canceled.
I went with my mom to her work last Wednesday , to have another night-guard (I have bruxism ), I had so much fun there, they thought mama and I were sisters , no one believed that I am her daughter!!! And one of the doctors thought I am the new dentist !!!.
There were doctors from Baghdad , Faluja , Hadeetha , and other cities, they had to leave their cities because of the bad situation ..
My plans for this week , is to finish the book I am reading, it is about a magi guy (people don’t believe in god , they believe in fire), he was the only son for the king of Iran ) and his journey to Arabian peninsula to become a Christian (I read 6 chapters until now , so I don’t know what will happen next) ..
Those are my latest news ,up to the minute ..
Sunshine

More and more about my life..

Hello friends
Every summer , we sleep in one room , we chose the living room for this summer, because we have one current inverter, it works for about 3 hours (better than nothing), I miss sleeping in my room , I didn’t sleep there for more than a year , because it has large windows , and it faces the street. I can’t even change my clothes there , I used to spend so much time there , listening to music , reading , and doing things I like , but now I can’t , I miss those days…
Mama started a new work , in the city (thank god), she is really happy about that, finally , she can treat clean people,hehehe !!.
while she is in her work , I organize and clean the house , and take care of my sister and brother (they drive me crazy , they fight all the time) .
Grandma is not firm , Miriam and yosif don’t obey her orders, but they have to obey mine , because if they don’t , I punish them (switch off the Tv. Or send them to their rooms), but when grandma is taking care of them , the house become messy , and they start to beat each other .
Yosif is friendly , But Miriam is hostile sometimes (most of the time actually) which makes me REALLY mad..
At noon mama comes home , have her lunch , chat with her sister , and mother , then sleep .. she wake up about 6pm .. while she is asleep I work on my book and listen to music of course, make handmade work , read , and do things I like .
I am reading a fantastic book called “ the truth searcher”, I read 3 books until now (in Arabic) , when I’ll finish my book , I won’t have anything to read !!! I read all the books we have, as well as my friend’s! I wonder if we can go to the library, I enjoy reading very much!.
after my mom wakes up , I teach her French, she is a good student! And I give her homework , it is FUN. ..
On Friday , we visited my mom’s friend , she came back from Mecca, and we felicitated them for her brother’s safety (he was shot by terrorists), I made a nice craft for “H” my friend , she liked it so much. We had fun together..
Yesterday (Sunday), I decided to have a shower (like all the human beings), as soon as I opened the curtain, and about to open the douche, heavy and near shooting started, I didn’t bring my robe at that time, so I had to wear my mom’s, and ran to the living room , yosif and Miriam were sitting on the couch watching tom and Jerry, Grandma was downstairs she came up at once and we hid behind the library, then when the shooting stopped , I took my shower ..
My friend asked me not to take a shower, because whenever I want to take a shower , a battle take place ,heheheh !!
Mr. Bennett asked me this question ..
I know your mom does handcrafts as well as you, but does your sister and brother?
Yes , Mariam is fond of handmade work, she made many crafts, I couldn’t take pictures for them because my camera doesn’t work ..
But Yosif is still so babyish to do handmade work , he is only 3 years old.
Mariam is really good in drawing , I tried to draw a horse once, in the art class the teacher said “ the caw you draw needs many corrections !!!”..
I like my parents uncle’s paintings ( he is a painter), his house looks like a gallery.
Sunshine...

My secret..

Hello friends.
I couldn’t write to you because my computer wasn’t working and I had to fix it by myself , it took me a week.
Since my summer holiday started until now , I didn't feel bored, I spend my time working on my book, I think I'll finish it this summer holiday, and making handmade work , I promised to take pix but my camera is not working properly.!!! I took those pix only ..

i made this cellphone case and the handkerchieves' case too..
hehe , sorry Yosif , i will make it up to you .. the olive oil bottle can be a nice candelabrum..

i filled it with dried roses
my old jeans
*******************************

I made an armlet, and now I am making a small bag with a plaided tiger , I am also working on new jigsaw puzzle , it is really hard , I have a tank and a shovel vehicles, I didn't finish them yet.
I play sport when we have electricity (I think I told you we bought an exercise apparatus) to improve my fitness , I don't have time for Tv. I see Dr. Phil while I am having dinner, and I watch “charmed” every Thursday and Friday.. I also finished the book I was reading, and started to improve my French language, with the help of CDs.
I go to my relative’s house (my dad’s uncle who live in our neighborhood)from time to time.
I got my marks (by phone , as we couldn’t reach my school), they are good , specially I couldn’t re-read my answers , I gave my paper really quickly , I was worried about my dad who was waiting in hot weather 046C. while there was shooting, the teacher said don’t worry , the shelling is far away it’s in the other side of Mosul,and mentioned the name of my Neighborhood , I said “OH NO , MY NEIGHBORHOOD” , I was really worried about my family.
You know , when the terrorists attacked the police station my cell phone was thrown, when someone call me , it doesn’t ring , the screen also has a scratch, my family bought me a new one as a gift for my success in school.
In the fourth class we study both scientific and literary subjects , but in the fifth class we specificate , for me of course I'll choose the scientific field .
Our choice depends on the par we take in the fourth class , who takes low marks can’t go to the scientific field. I think students should take 75% and higher if they want to go to the scientific field
Next year inshalla, we'll study religion, Arabic , English , French , mathematics, physics , chemistry and biology, the basic subjects , but we also have art, sport , nursing , and a boring subject that we don’t attend about cooking , sewing … .
I received a beautiful letter from my friend Mr. Bennett , a dear friend and a regular reader for my blog , he asked me to answer his question :
How do you remain so "Sunny" in the face of such terrible things happening around you. I don't even have to live in Iraq and I feel a sense of hopelessness about everything. Every time it seems to get better, something bad happens, and while I too would like the US occupation to end and our troops to come home, I worry what will happen in Iraq if they live. How do you do it, Sunshine? You always have such a great outlook on life no matter what happens
Well , I don’t remain "sunny" all the time believe me , I have times of desperation (or days of desperation!) specially when bad things happen one after the other, like when I hear 3 or 4 bad news everyday for few days continuously , like 3 weeks ago , my mom’s uncle was killed , my relative was kidnapped , the us soldiers took our friends , and the policemen took my friend’s dad (but he was released in he same day), those events happened in less than a week for people I know and care about , that made me very scared and depressed ,beside the stories I heard about killing two families ( the terrorists killed a family and burned them, and killed another family , put them in a car full with explosives when the policemen came they exploded the car), those events made me so close to lose my mind , I felt like I was living in a horror movie !! but I felt better and returned “Sunny” after few days .
I can’t live with desperation, I like to laugh , joke ,I won’t allow the war to effect my daily life and routine , I try to be as positive as possible, for me and for people around me .
No matter what happen to me in my way to school (the delay , mines , explosions, etc) I open the door with a big smile on my face, that makes my mom happy as well as my family , no one like to see a sulky face..
I made my decision that I should accept the reality I live in a war zone and I can’t change that , I didn’t choose to live in a war zone, I am not responsible for what is happening , I can choose whether I live optimistic or not.
Sometimes people live in great areas , have wonderful life, and have almost everything , but they are not satisfied ,in the same time people live in misery and still have hope , and do their best to have a good life, it’s all about decisions.
No matter what happen , I’ll do my best to live a normal life and won’t let the situation and the terrorists have a great effect on my life and education, The terrorists want us to be depressed and miserable , they want us to lose the hope which is a basic thing for the life to continue , if there is no hope , there is no life. I don’t want the terrorists to win and achieve their goal, I don’t think it is impossible to have a peaceful life “impossible is nothing” .
we don’t hear in the stories that the devil wins, right? We hear the virtuous always win , I believe it is the same thing in reality. It is a matter of time.
So I do my best to be optimistic, and try not to think and remember the bad thing that happened in the last 3 years , but I feel worry about my family, myself and everyone , and that makes me feel hopeless sometimes, but then I remember a beautiful say dad said it to me once to calm me down “ what is supposed to hit you , won’t miss you , and what missed you wasn’t suppose to hit you).
I have faith in god , I believe he will protect us, we’d never hurt anyone, and those difficulties that we face everyday, is to examine our patience and faith in god, god protected us in the last 4 years , I hope he will protect us in the next years too, your prayers for us make me feel at ease, we pray for Iraq many times during the day, our prayers will get heed one day.
When I feel upset ,I do the things I like , I listen to music ,I try to think about nice things , remember the good memories , read some of my comments and letters again, that make me encore the hope and feel much better..
Never Ever Give Up
Sunshine ..