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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Innocent days

MAMA MAMA

I feel sick

Call the doctor quick quick

Doctor Doctor

Shall I die?

No my baby don't cry.


It seems that I am hanging back in the past these days.

Today, while I were listening to an interesting medical lecture by Dr. Cornard Fischer, he suddenly as he always do in his entertaining lectures, he suddenly started to sing a different version of the above nursery rhyme.

MAMA MAMA

I am ill

Send for the doctor to give me the pill

Doctor Doctor

Shall I die

Yes my child, but so shall I.

The first version of this rhyme were the first words I ever memorized in English language.
I have not learn it in a nursery or in a school , but from my childhood friend Sekab back in Hungary.
Thanx Sekab (:
And then I haven't officially learn anything else in English till my teenage in Libya.
As I recall that now, it sounds interesting!

Does anyone have another version for this nursery rhymes?
or any other nursery rhyme that you like and still hanging there in the memory.
Arabic, English, doesn't matter!!

I miss those innocent days ... sigh!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Jasmine

Our Jasmine minutes before I left

It is amazing how little things can trigger such an old series of memories.

Today after a thorough attack of home cleansing. I decided to burn some incense ( وشَّق ) which was brought from back home to enjoy its essance.
( I became expert in doing this without turning the fire alarm on ...lol... )

Of course the scene wouldn't be complete without a clear glass cup of green tea with mint and almond.

That's all what I need to fly back in time ... to land on our green garden back home...

Where I found myself realxing as a little child in my Grandma's soft lap , undre the Jasmine bush.

The small white delicate Jasmine flowers stare at me, alluring me and everyone else to pickt it, while my grandma braids my hair and tells me stories about the days which have gone by.
Peace

Friday, April 9, 2010

A dream come true

First let me share this poster with you.
Its about The last trend in the first world culture
Shoes are weapons of mass destruction
I always had this dream where I am looking and looking and looking for my shoes and can't find it. In some rare episodes of the dream I do find the pair. Sometimes it is beautiful and fit. Other times it just does the job, and save me from the embarrassment of walking barefooted in public. I never thought that this dream will come true.
The story is while I am studying at the computer lab, I usually spend hours and hours, just sitting in front of the computer, listening and watching lectures. This become my routine over a year now. During these long hours I have to do different maneuvers to keep myself relaxed. One of these is taking the yoga sitting position (with folding legs over the chair). Not doing yoga, just adapting its sitting position. Simply I can't tolerate my legs being dangled  in a vertical position for a long time. Even in the airplanes, I used to do this maneuver. But not on the national American airplanes, with its narrow constricted chairs, where you can easily touch your neighbor in any tiny attempts of movement. I did try to do it but wouldn't advice anyone to try it. That is another tale, I might tell it one day.
Anyway back to the main story, I don't need to say that when I was taking that comfort position I have to take off my shoes, and I usually push them away under the desktop table. Yesterday at the lab, I wanted to stretch out my leg muscles by walking around. So I get off my chair and slipped my feet over my shoes, or let's say over the place I imagined my shoes should be occupying.
But I missed it!!!
OK, I thought I must have pushed them aside by my chair. So I looked around.
But it was not there!!!
Turned my head upside down searching under the tables.
But it was not there !!!
I kneeled on four to get a better view.
But...
Yes, as you guessed.

IT WAS NOT THERE!!!

It just vanished!!!

OK, now what?!!!

I was standing in the middle of the lab with bare feet (not really bare, my shiny white socks was on).
Now, if I walked around with my bare foot, there is a possibility that someone would notice and point at me and burst out laughing, and everyone else would follow.
NO, no, no, Enlightened. That might happen in another place and at another time, but not on this place and at this particular time on planet earth.
In this lab everyone is squeezing his face in his computer screen and his/her whole concentration is there. Sometimes I feel that those screens sucking out the spirit of life from those poor bodies.
Anyway Even if by chance someone noticed anything he would pretend that he didn't notice anything (our lab is a collection of weirdooos including myself), so I happily excluded this possibility.
Now how am I going to reach home. Again, moving around in the street wouldn't be a big matter I have seen people walking around in the street with bare feet, not with a flip flop. That is an old fashioned. The new trend is flip flop for winter and bare foot for summer.
As I posted in the above picture
Shoes are now considered as weapons of mass destruction.
But Hello!!! we are in the spring with all the rain, this will not work.
How am I going to walk on the rainy Seattle wet streets barefooted?
Even if people didn't care, I might end up with a bad cold or at minimum some uncomfortable abrasions.
Then I am still not ready to adapt this new trend. Yes, I am good at pretending to adapt many things, but this new trend is not classified yet under my "many things."
Maybe the best idea is trying to pull out one of those weirdooo from the computer screen and asking him/her to buy me a new shoes from the nearest shoe store.

This picture taken last summer at the bus station. Told u it's normal.
All these thoughts passed across my mind in a Milli of a second. Of course deep inside I was pretty sure that my shoes are hidden somewhere by the Italian lady who was sitting in the opposite table facing me, because she is the only one who had an access to my shoes.
As I recall she is the only one who needed to go under her desktop table to UN-plug her laptop several minutes before she left.
So It is simple I just need to turn around few steps to look for my lovely shoes, and that's exactly what I did. I turned around to found my lovely shoes over her table.


Lady Italian, nice joke. But next time be brave and let me have the whole experience. Take my shoes away with you .
You know what my lady, I really feel sorry for you now, as u needed to reach that close to my shoes. I can't tolerate having a stinky one, but u risked that possibility when you held my shoes that close.
I always feel sorry for those security officers at American airports who scan people's shoes. What a job!!!


Be ready Lady Italian u triggered the fire!
.
( By the way, for the history and the records the first picture was an advertisment for a comfort shoes. I exploited its meaning to fit my post.)

PS: Sorry for the long post, it seems that I am hungry for typing, hope u hungry enough for reading.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Ferrero Raffaello Massacre

Food have always been one of my sources for enjoyment and pleasure.
That have never been a problem,
till recently, when I discovered that food became one of my main stress relief strategy.
In the past using food as self-reward was not a problem.
First, because there wasn't much to reward myself for !
Second, I was burning everything right away.
So, basically there was no problem.
But things are not the same anymore.
Now, I am looking every day for something to reward myself for .
Let's say to be more precise every hour.
Ok, ok, I know.
This sounds stupid.
But this is one of my ways to beat the pain of expatriation and loneliness.
I tried to fight this bad habit, specially as I am not getting much time to burn out what I am eating. but it seems that my effort to fight this habit went in vain.
Whenever the wise voice begins to give advice and recommendations, about eating healthy, and stop eating chocolates and other unhealthy food. The other voice will exagerate everything and start to moan :
Come'on , expatriation, loneliness, hard study, and on top of this u want to add starvation. That is too much, that is unbearable.
The weeping continue till a piece of Lindt finds it's way to stop the cry.
Do I need to mention that the weeping voice always win ?
Anyway, as I put on top of my " TO DO LIST" : Extenction of eating as a stress relief strategy.
I decided that one way of fighting this stupid strategy is by exposing it to the public here. In the hope of getting some scolding words from my readers, that can shut off the crying voice, or at least tone it down.
..HELP ME, HELP MYSELF..
To make the picture clearer here I put a snapshot for a usual quiet study day.
Note that piece of Rafaello never touched.
The wise voice is on control in this picture.


And here where things go out of control.


Take a closer look.


And that was just the beginning of the attack!
.