Saturday, November 5, 2011

The Hope Never Die...

Hello my folks... It's great to write to you again after a long absence, I have been busy in this life & now I'm trying to find a job! Finding a job here is like finding the heaven, sometimes I lose the hope other times I keep looking for jobs & wondering is it because I'm Iraqi? Or is it the same case to anyone else who is not Iraqi live in U.S?


I'm not focusing only about my career as an engineer but I'm looking for other small jobs like admin assistance office, well as Iraqi person I feel not very proud to look for a small jobs like that but sometimes we need to swallow our pride, Yes I know it is hard; hard for me to think about it but small steps can lead to big one in life specially when someone like me trying to figure it out here far away from my country, trying to involve the society & American community, being in touch with people & bring some little money to help us as a new couple & I really hate sitting at home doing nothing, I try to keep myself busy sometimes reading & sometimes doing some craft stuff or cooking because I don't want my brain dies.

There is some hope & light every where in this world.
It is nice & great being here; peaceful area in a world but I had a job in Iraq I was busy to a point, it is funny that I have so much time now & ask myself "what should I do to keep myself busy?"

When you are busy you try to find a free time for yourself but when you have lots of time you search for something to keep yourself busy, huh!
Or I'm a rush person who wants things be done as soon as possible, I don't know really...

I walk every day, I go to some coffee shop have a hot coffee specially these chilly days here, stopping by library reading some books, doing some shopping, but I didn't make friends till now, I guess this is the hard part here, everyone has his own life & it keeps him busy, well this is what I think.

Oh by the way, I celebrated Halloween; it was really fun with all kids at doors ringing the door's bell every 10 minutes asking "Trick or Treat?" & we gave them candies which kids liked them so much, It is good to know about other people's culture & traditions, from my point of view it make you think wider than what you were & think "outside the box"!

Few weeks & we will celebrate the "Thanksgiving" & it is big in U.S. wish you all happy holydays & GOD bless you all....

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Muslim women flout French ban of veil after court fined two women

“When a woman wants to maintain her freedom, she must be bold,” Drider told The Associated Press in an interview.


http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/22/168202.html

Check out this link & tell me what do you think?

Sunday, September 11, 2011

What Does We Want As Women?

On sunny lovely day, we had decided to eat outside the house, enjoying the weather, so we had gone to a beautiful big park, lots of green area, just like a rug under our feet, the smell amazing, the sun light reflected on the grass, given it a wonderful picture, when you have this composition you never feel bored, it is nature!

But, that wasn't all about, the park has a Soccer field, Tennis field, Bicycle’s race area, kids play yard, Basketball, Garden area that you can plant in, Dogs area so they can hang out with their people besides some food places like “take away” & bathrooms. While we had arrived there, we had noticed there was a soccer game, as Iraqi person I always like soccer, so we had decided to be close to soccer field & enjoy watching the game & the food together, as soon as looking to the players I had realized there were women with men playing together! Yes, playing together, as I know there is only a men team, or only women team, But seeing both women & men, that's really new for me to watch.

The point of this, even in the sports, just like soccer, it is equal, women & men as a team playing together, wearing short shorts with sport shoes; hitting the ball, that's what we need equality, & by the way those women were moms, Yes, & they brought their kids & babies to the field no wonder, it is like a family time & why not, let the people enjoy their life, can a women in middle east play soccer with men as one team like this in public parks?

What should we do? What we want as women? Being housewives, sitting at home, doing the daily housework nothing else or involve in the society, being active, play a roll in some part of the life, being a leader & Yes, why not?
Why we let the negative power controlling us? Why we let those ignoring people taking our life away, our moments, our abilities, our creativity.

Being a follower or being a leader?
Being equal or being second place?
They can’t control you, they can’t control me, we can’t control them, but we can control our lives by ourselves, planning & deciding what we want to be.

I think the first question that every woman should ask herself first, what I want to do in my life?

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

A New Chapter...

Hello People...

I have been away from posting for a while, getting busy with my new life, I got married to a wonderful man, after a hard path & lots of obstacles from small to big ones, it wasn't easy to reach this point, it took lots of effort from both of us, starting from visa issue, travelling, starting a new life here in U.S. & we already knew it would not be easy but we didn't think it would be as difficult as it was, there were times we were frustrated & wanted to give up, but our love is powerful and finally we made it!

What I've observed from living here is that the west life is completely different from our life in Iraq, there are some common things of course like family, reputation but it is not that as important like in our culture. Life here is filled with alot of details & sometimes I stand & think about myself feeling stupid, but it is not my fault that I came from Iraq were the electricity still comes and goes (which mean lots of hours in the dark) and everything is debit/credit card where Iraq is all cash; there are lots of machines, often you deal more with them than with people, renting movies, buying stuff from the grocery store, getting books at the library-all of this can be done by machine. Don't get me wrong folks I'm not complaining about technology here, I'm just comparing, a person who has lived a basic life in Iraq, I am amazed at the details here, even with the washing machine, everything has lots of details, even when we walk down the street we should take the right side of the road, its lots of information and I must admit I struggled here in the beginning with the language & with this amount of details and even the laws, if you break them you pay a fine or go to jail, but the cities for the most part are safe, where I live is very safe, I could walk the street at night by myself at night and be perfectly safe-I'd like to see any woman do that in Iraq! Everything has a value here, they appreciate everything, there's a quality of life here that we don't know in Iraq and it makes you realize the difference between existing and living.


Sunny day in Iraq
 went to a movie theater for the first time in my life, Yes, it was a first time, I have never been in a movie theater before, and it was very cool. For the first time I have a library card, I went to a public library here, where are our libraries in Iraq? There was an okay library in my college in Iraq, but I didn't notice a good public library I visited one a long time ago to look for a book, it was very neglected, smelled bad, the building was old, dust all over the books & everywhere, no one really cared.


While I'm here now, feeling very safe, & when I walk, feeling very happy, Yes, I keep my eyes open, but I know there is nothing to worry about, my worries have changed now, I've began a new chapter in my life, with my husband, and I am looking forward to our family and continuing my career where a woman can achieve as well as a man.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Is There A Place For Women's Rights In New Middle-East?

It has been a long time since I post, many events have been happened since my last post, the events that happened in middle-east one by one, Tunis, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Bahrain & Jordan, kept us staring at T.V . To see what is going in meddle-east as long as nothing to do in Iraq, just watching T.V. for most of our time like I say "killing the time".

It is like a wake up call for middle-east countries from the poverty, from the hard life, from the no jobs, from the corruption, disease, pollution, from people who are dying every day, simply because there had nothing to survive for, children out from school, trying to get some of money by buying candy or gum in the streets, or near traffic area, playing with garbage stuff instead of playing with toys, playing in garbage area instead of playing in park, or play yard, women stuck at home, unless if they have work because that will be a blessing for them to get out from the house even for just one time in a day, or live their days in home for cooking, cleaning, & waiting for the husband & nothing more.

But from other side, I think it will be bad for women, because of extremist religious groups, those who will take the role in government, & fighting against women’s rights more than the systems dictatorship, & that what happened in Iraq & Afghanistan.

I'm not saying that the dictatorship regime is the best, NO, but if women were having 5% from their rights or freedom, now they will have 1% or even zero from their rights, or freedom, from my experience as Iraqi, & Eastern woman, I can tell the difference before Saddam's regime & after Saddam's regime, But I would never ever say Saddam's regime was good, he was the worst leader in history, but, women at that time had the chance to get a little freedom, like wearing jeans, skirts even the short one, having a swimming pool day, but all that away from political field, away from playing a role in government because the regime at that time was represented by Saddam only, what happened after 2003, or in new Iraq, women are more involved in government, elections, & able to have a voice, but can't have that right in streets, for a young Christian woman like me, I have to be 100 times careful of what I'm wearing, than Muslims women, looking around me when I woke in streets, open my eyes, if anyone can watch me or chase me, because I don't put Hijab, or my hair is not covered, because in Iraq now most women are covered hair like 75% if not 80% at least, so, people will know the women who aren't covered hair are Christians or Kurdish like in North of Iraq, because many Kurdish women are not wearing Hijab, So, I have to be very careful, of course it is not easy, but every time when I hear something bad happened to Christians families I thank GOD that I'm still alive & reached home safely, even when we attended a mass in Sunday or attended a special occasion like Christmas or Easter, we have that fears inside but we are determined to go & attended the mass & praying for peace especially in Iraq & in middle-east generally.

Speaking back about women rights, can a woman today in Iraq, for example, putting headphone & walking in street? Or can she wearing a little short skirt & walking in street? -by the way, many people believing that clothes reflect their morals!- Can a woman being a mayor in one of our cities in Iraq? Or Can a woman being a Judge in our courts? Did we see a woman taking one ministry in new Iraq excepting the ministry of women?

And extremist religious groups taking a huge place in Iraq now, but what the Iraqis really need, what the women need, do we need a civil government or we will copy Iran's regime in the varied Iraq, or we already copied the Iran's version???

Sunday, January 16, 2011

When The People Spoke....

While Iraq was celebrating for winning 1-0 against E.U. in the Asia Cup, the people of Tunisia were celebrating their freedom. I must say they are brave, facing death. Freedom is expenisve and many Tunisians sacrificed their lives for their people’s future, for a better life, what began with asking for bread ended with their dictator fleeing, and now they are breathing the freedom. They showed great unity even though there are some groups who want to ruin the country during the absence of government, but the army has been supporting the people, & people supporting each other. The Tunisian people are looking forward to making their country better, a better government, they showed the whole world, east & west, that when people speak together they can make a difference, affect real change. I think they are better than us, at least I see they have unity between them, they are more educated than us, more understanding what democracy means, they created their democracy, look to the Egypt, Algeria, Jorden, Palestine, their people got the spark from Tunisian people and hopefully it will spread to other areas. Dictators should be trembling this day.


Congratulation Tunisia you are liberated!
 
أذا الشعب يوما" اراد الحياة        فلابد ان يستجيب القدر
ولابد لليل ان ينجـــــــــلي         ولابد للقيد ان ينكســـــر

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Monday, January 3, 2011

Iraqis Wishes In 2011

Happy New Year for our readers, may this year be filled with joy & happiness & success & showering us all with peace, as we need it as much as our daily food!

Everyone has many wishes for 2011, but Iraqis wish for peace, safety, good jobs, better electricity, health care, good roads, educational programs, theaters...well, the list goes on and on.

I was watching one of the Iraqi channels two days ago, they asked people about their wishes for the new year; I can say most of them wished for safety, they give up their personal wishes & dreams just for this, how sad!

Our wishes are our simples rights, basic issues, Iraq is now making billions of dollars but the country is going backwards more & more.

Iraqis voted for a new government in 2010 that took 8 months to finally resolve, and its hardly a new government at all.  Will these same people finally make real progress for the Iraqi people?  We can only hope, but as is known in the west, hope is not a plan.  But it is sometimes the only thing we Iraqis have had.