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..

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Sunshine, the collegiate girl...

Finally I finished the exams, on Monday at 10:45 I finished the last examination which was French, I can't describe my happiness in words, the high school is over, and I can rest now, no more studying at late time, no more private lectures , wow, I didn't have a break for long time.
This year the questions were unexpectedly hard in general, but I did well ..
The first exam was religion, personally I found the exam easy, because I studied really well, then we had Arabic exam, the questions were just fine, I didn't find them too hard nor easy, then we had English exam which was so easy and I did great.
I did ok in biology exam, although the questions were difficult and many students postponed the exam..
The fourth exam was mathematics, when I got the questions paper I was expecting someone to come and say it is joke or there is a mistake, they were unbelievable, we kept looking at the questions feeling confused, at about 11 am , the classroom was almost empty, students left without answering a question, they postponed it, students started to cry, our future depends on the marks we'll get.
the curriculum has hundreds of questions, why did they bring such huge numbers (in millions) and hard questions? We are not even allowed to use the calculator.. It is silly, just like they were telling us "no matter what you do , you will not answer them" and what makes me really mad is one of the questions was actually wrong..
My marks in mathematics range between 100 and 97 , my teacher called me the night before exam he said "I have such a high confidence that you'll take 100% easily, you're one of the smartest students I've taught , so I just want to make sure you are relaxed and have a high spirit" , but a voice in my heart kept saying that the questions will shock the students and teachers..
Many of My friends postponed the exam, others, like myself, decided to answer them no matter what.. I didn't give up and leave the exam, but I did badly….At that day, I lost control of my feelings, and started to cry with sorrow, why? Because the questions were so difficult and only few didn't postpone it ? .. I remembered the times I used to walk for so long in order to reach the lecture under the burning summer sun at 2 pm, and even though I used to take full marks and impress the teacher with intelligent questions, he trusted in me and my family believed in me, I answered AT LEAST 200 questions in every chapter during the memorizing period (we have 6 chapters so can you imagine how many questions did I answered?!!! And how many questions did I answer during the whole year?) and even though I didn't do as well as I expected. what also made me cry is why did these teachers put those questions? didn’t' they have mercy, and aren't they aware of how much effort we had to make in such horrible situation, what kind of Iraqis are they?..
When the exam was over I saw many parents waiting in the yard, they heard about the questions and came to school to support their daughters, my family kept receiving phone calls from relatives and friends asking about me, I felt comfortable to know that I wasn't alone, and I actually did better than many ! Few days later the minister was on TV. In an interview about the hard questions he said
"that's right we brought such hard questions on purpose, there are too many doctors in Iraq and we need other professionals " what an excuse !
on chemistry the questions weren't easy, but much better than the mathematics, at least we could figure out how to answer them after long thinking..
on physics I did great and I expect a full mark .. and on French I did ok, although the question were hard..
the only thing that bothers me, is the students who belong to a certain cast or certain militias know the questions in advance, and there are partialities in marking the papers.. I hope this year all the students will be treated equally , because we are all Iraqis.. and the other thing that may surprise you, is you can buy the question, it costs 640 $ for every subject, unfortunately some students buy them, but as for me and my friends, and the good people, we prefer to succeed depending on our own selves without cheating..
every day I used to leave the house 2 hours before the exam starts to make sure I can arrive in time, our friend's relatives were generous and allowed me to wait till the exam starts in their house, I spent such a nice time and we became friends .. I was really relaxed with high spirit before the exams.
so , now I won't think about school IT IS OVER FOREVER.
********************************************************

My plans for the holiday :
On the day I finished the exams, we went to celebrate in a casino, and we had a great time .. my sister and brother played and had so much fun ..
First of all, I'll start working on my book again, my agency waited me long enough till I finished my exams, and I'll post more posts I need to think about new things to write about , maybe you could suggest something?!
I also want to have a new look, something suits a collage girl.. play sport and lose few pounds, so I'll start a diet.. and I want to make a lot of handmade work, of course I'll cook a lot ! and do the house work.. I'll learn how to drive, my dad will teach me, and we'll buy a new car model 2009, I suggested "Sunny" I like it hehe.. anyway I can't have a driving license until I become 18 :D
My friends and i want to have a party, after we get our marks, and we'll also go to Baghdad after my grandparents come from Dubai (to visit my aunt Rose).
My grandparents invited me to spend the whole holiday in their house, but I don't think I can, I'll miss my mom so much, beside she'll feel alone without me, so I think I'll spend couple of weeks only.
I also want to chat with my friends, I miss them a lot, and answer my dear readers' E-mails ..
And a lot more !!!
Sunshine, the collegiate girl..
(I have tons of e-mails to answer, so please If I forgot to answer one of your e-mails re-email me on livesstrong92@yahoo.com or livesstrong92@gmai.coml and I'll answer asap)

17 Comments:

At 11:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

bloggers' sun is rising again
hey sunshine
glad to see a new post,its been along time and we missed ur posts.
you did great and the hard period has gone.
hope to see "sunny the great pharmacist"
you deserve all the good.
wish you luck.

baghdadentist

 
At 11:10 PM, Blogger David said...

Congratulations Sunshine on finishing your exams! I hope you will have an enjoyable vacation. :)

 
At 2:32 AM, Blogger Santa Rosa New School Aikido said...

Congratulations Sunshine, on completing school. I'm sure you will do well in college, and hope that you have a splendid and rejuvenating holiday!

 
At 8:00 AM, Blogger Khalid from iraqiblogupdates.blogspot.com/ said...

Sunshine,

Congratulation on finishing your exams!

Nothing left, a very unique success will follow.

If questions could be sold then it's very sad and I hope the mafia behind the sale to face justice.

I wish you a nice holiday and more progress on the book front.

Take care,

 
At 3:21 PM, Blogger Rachel said...

Good girl!!! Congratulations!

xoxo,
Rachel

 
At 1:14 AM, Blogger Ripama said...

CONGRATULATIONS! As long as you can master the various branches of mathematics, you'll do OK. I've noticed that tests often state the problem incorrectly or ambiguously.

In my professional life I've found that if you can recognize a real life math problem, you'll know what it takes to solve it. I've also noticed some wrong test answers. The problem is do you go with the right answer or the EXPECTED answer.

So, when do you start college? In some countries college is easier than secondary schools. Is this true in Iraq?

 
At 4:23 AM, Anonymous Wayne said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I am so proud of you.

I am happy that you have decided to take a vacation and visit your grand parents in Baghdad. I had hoped you would. From information received from bloggers I think it will be safer there than in Mosul.

I also wish you success in finishing your book and getting it published.

I hope you have a wonderful vacation from school. I want you to enjoy it so much.

Thank you for being our friend.

 
At 11:45 AM, Anonymous resolute said...

good blog!
right; after a long period of studying, having a long time break can be sweet. I had such an experience several years ago.

 
At 4:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

well done Sunshine. Enjoy your vacation.
starliz

 
At 6:33 PM, Blogger Heather Meadows said...

Congratulations on finishing your exams! I'm sorry to hear that the math exam was unfair, but hopefully anyone who has anything to do with the results will take that into account when evaluating you.

Have fun on your break!

 
At 12:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations Sunshine! You did your best and you have a bright future ahead of you. Take a moment to be proud of yourself. Hope you have a fantastic vacation :)

 
At 4:17 AM, Anonymous Roy said...

Congratulations you deserve a long vacation. We all knew you would be successful in what ever you do. Sunshine driving a car, wow that will be great. I can't wait for your book. Have some fun.

 
At 10:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sunshine, good job and keep up hard work.

 
At 7:59 PM, Blogger John said...

Dear Sunshine,
I am so happy and proud for you!!! Enjoy your vacation, Sunshine!!!

 
At 8:35 PM, Blogger Captain Jarred Fishman, USAFR said...

Congratulations! Stay safe and try to go to university in Baghdad away from Mosul..

 
At 7:26 PM, Anonymous julia said...

Hi Sunshine! I enjoy your blog very much, you shed light up very interesting facts of life in Iraqi that I would otherwise never know. When did you start taking French? Do you think you want to be a career woman in Baghdad or move elsewhere? You will be great, as you have so much confidence in yourself and are very empowered. Is this typical of most of the girls in your school or no? (if you don't me mind me asking :-))

 
At 12:48 PM, Blogger reng-reng121309 said...

your blog is so nice, can we be friends? i am a college student too. i enjoyed blogging. irenejoybdayo.blogspot.com

 

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