Oh yez I notezd.

Out of all the different accents I have to listen to and understand on a daily basis, or something close, I find the Egyptian accent the most difficult to understand.

I hate ordering from Pizza Hut because they're all Egyptians and I stand there for I don't know how long trying to explain what I want because I don't understand their Arabic or their English and they don't get what I'm saying, very confusing. Also, they always act as if the problem is in me…

This semester, I only have one Egyptian teacher and I gave up talking to him a long time ago, because it can be really embarrassing for me when he talks to me in Arabic or English and I don't get what he's saying, and I'm always expected to repeat what I said few times for him to get it.

Ok, these are few examples that I remember from class:
Teacher: 'something something will cause the something to be fucktuated'
Me thinking to myself: I'm pretty sure it's not that! Guess he meant fluctuated.'
Brime, I'm guessing it's prime but I have a very strong it's something else…
Parzentage, okay this one is eazy!
Infest, I believe infesting has nothing to do with finance so it is for sure invest.

I'm not criticizing anyone or anything because I know myself that I get all 'blah blah blah' and no one understands what I'm saying when I'm tired – both in English and Arabic.

Dubai - SZR

No need to say anything, ha? a picture is worth a thousand words...

To educate them...

Education has been taking a lot of my time, not educating myself because I'm always doing that, but I have been thinking so much about the quality of the education here and how much it needs to be improved.

That take me to the topic of how much it cost, so I just did a simple calculation. If we say the tuition starts at 4000 in KG1 and then increases by 500 every year.

That will sum up to 101500 for each child.

That's impossible though because it will mean that the tuition for grade 12 is 10500 which cannot be. All the schools I know cost at least 12000 for a G12 and could go up to something more than 30,000.

Oh, books and activities where not included.

Add to that, that the quality of education is so bad that many students take extra classes which cost 100-500/hour.

When I realized how much it actually did cost my parents to educate me and my siblings, I had a talk with mom.

It's all about the car you drive

Cadillac Escalade

Cadillac EXT

Which one would you rather drive? and don't say neither, please. If you don't know which one, then just say the EXT, because if you say the Escalade then one day you will have 7 kids to drive them around in this car. or whatever.

UAE university - CIT building

UAE University is spread over 7 different campuses (maybe more!) all around Alain. Female students are all in one campus except for the Medical students who're in Tawam Hospital and IT students who are in Jimi campus.

The IT students study there because the administration thought that it's more convenient for the teaching staff to be in one place and female and male and female students there. So there is an 'open space' office for the teachers with two doors on each side, one to the female part of the building and the other for the male and each is open for two days every week.

Female IT students have to take courses in Maqam campus so it's very tiresome and not convenient at all for them to keep going back and forth. They won't have to go through that for much longer though because the IT building in Maqam campus is almost ready, you can check the pictures here.

With that the male students will be worse off (I'm in micro-economics class. :P) because they will have to travel back and forth between Jimi and Maqam, and there goes their allowances on petrol.

And the train took off…

Out of all the ministries in the UAE I believe that the ministry of Education is the most difficult to fix, as someone once said "it's the ministries' crematory" "محرقة الوزارات".

Now everyone knows how badly education in the UAE needs to be changed, improved, and made better in whatever way possible, I'm just wondering, is the current minister the one who's going to do that, or are we to wait few more years, generations, for the right one?

Dr. Hanif has been a minister for few months now and the thing he do the best I believe is pose for pictures, he is in every single newspaper every day, how's that going to help the ministry?! It needs someone who works night and day for this country instead of someone who attends every single party where there are any Sheikhs.

One other thing he is good at is talking, he talks, talks, talks about everything, yet he never says anything about what is being done to change the education here!

I watched an interview he had on TV last week, not because I'm interested but it was the only available entertainment in the car, and Dr. Hanif was talking about everything that the people don't want to hear or things that are none of his business. He talked a great deal about a university that's opening in Dubai when he has nothing to do with higher education! Then he went to talk about his kids when honestly, I don't think anyone give a damn. All he was saying are general things that could be said about any other ministry instead of talking as an educator, about education, which is what the people want to listen to and know about.

My favorite part was when he said و انطلق القطار or 'the train took off', talking about the ministry of education and all the changes. First thing that came to my mind was "he's joking, he didn't really say that!" turned out he did and he was not joking about it.

People, you've been warned, the train took off, so sleep with one eye open!

Two things I don't get are, why did he choose a train? It's not part of the culture and there's not train in the UAE, wouldn't it be more interesting if he changed it to something like a Bus? I see the connection between that and schools, or maybe a camel? Just to make sure that kids are connected to the culture. The other thing is, what did he mean by it taking off?

I might just contact the administration in the university and see if they can give us a new slogan, maybe something like ' و انطلق الصاروخ أو الكونكورد ' 'the rocket took off, or maybe the concord'.

On second thoughts, we will leave the rocket for a university in RAK.

I will just observe and see where the train is heading.

Marshmallows and dogs

BREAKING NEWS: SUMMER IS OFFICIALLY HERE.

No more marshmallows I guess, but we can always burn some in the kitchen.

I don't like dogs.

I like dogs when there is a barrier between me and them, I like them from very far away.

We have two dogs at home, they are so very loved by everyone but not me, I can't stand one of them especially because he always jump and look extra excited when he sees me!

Now every time I go home or when I'm leaving, all the workers have to leave and take the dogs away from the main gate for me to jump for the car to the door. Very silly and stupid, but I can't stand them! He licked my brothers feet once and I can't imagine what would happen to me if he did that to me! I might just have to cut it.

It's very weird to go to university not wearing contacts! I can't tell if someone is looking at me and so I chose to ignore everyone.

Also, the girl next to me is wearing a very ugly shirt, now I can see that! (not Biz, the girl next to her.)

*This is a picture of scooby-doo being hanged, he is still there, i'm guessing DEAD.

Interesing failure

Go to Google and type 'failure' then click 'I'm feeling lucky'; very interesting indeed. :D

Zephyr

It can be so soft and soothing,
Caresses your face and lightens it with a smile,
Warms your skin, to warm you deep inside,
You breathe it, it's all you can feel and think of,
Its scent would be embossed in your mind,
With it are memories of joyful times.

It touches you, holds you,
Entwines you until it's all over you,
Then it would move along with its life
But will always bear your aroma with it.

When your scent eases down,
It will once more grant you a call
You feel alive yet again with your first breath of it.

The memories flood you,
You feel like grasping it, clinging to it,
You just want to embrace it,
Keep it with you eternally
For you can't exist without it,
Every breath you take without it hurts.
You yearn for it because you want it,
And it wishes to stay.

You want it because you live to grant it its wishes;
You want it because you dwell in its happiness.

Whoever said you can have everything you want?

It's the breeze.

The breeze can never stay still,
The breeze can't move as it desires
There is a more powerful energy that moves it.

Even love can't beat all,
Even with all the love it has for you,
It can't stay; it's time to go home.

GoodBye.

Men are forced to get married too.

Everyone knows that Islam doesn't allow forced marriages; probably most of the people who read this would say that they would never force a sister, daughter or any female relative to get married when she doesn't want to, thank you but I'm not looking for that.

I have seen many girls forced to get marry without wanting to, but they had to because he's her cousin and they dont want jepordaize the relationship between their families.

A Girl talked to me few weeks before her wedding and said 'I don't want to gey married now; I don't want to marry him! I just want to study.' A few weeks after she got married, she would say something similar. Then she gets pregnant and I feel like something inside that woman died. She is no longer the person I knew. I can feel and see that she's not happy, but what can I do about that?

I can write.

I heard girls talking today and one of them was telling the other about her week. Her sister in law had an operation and can no longer have babies. The girl went on to say 'She doesn't deserve it, I feel bad for her, but not for my brother because he deserves it for the person he is'.
That same girl began talking about her brother who is in jail and ite not the first time . Her father is so sick from what her brother is doing. That same brother is getting married this summer and he's marrying his cousin!!

So I guess it's okay for him to marry a cousin and treat her like a worthless piece of shit. You know, because its his cousin.

The divorce rate is very high in the UAE, and in Alain it's probably the highest. It's getting higher and higher every year. Its just going to get higher. What is being done about that?

Are women the only ones being forced to marry?

No, men are marrying only because their mothers or relatives are nagging them to do so. I'm serious !!! It's here where men get married when they don't want to. It's here where gay men marry females to shut people up. It's here where a married guy would talk to have 'few' other girl friends and his wife knows all about it, but she justs shut up. It's here where men marry to have children who will add to their "prestige". Why?

I know about a woman who was telling her friends that she knows her husband talk to 'girls' and was asking for advice. Her friend just told her to" Shut up, keep to yourself and live with it, for your children's sake!!'

Is that the right thing to do for the kid's sake? Can a father like that really help raise your kids? Do you think he would raise them correclty? I don't think so.

To every man out there who is getting married for his mom to leave him alone, please, be a man and say no if you're not ready for this because there is no law that says you will go to hell if you don't marry before you're 40. Just don't do it if you don't think the girl is the right one, not even if you have the least doubt, because you will just be killing her and hurting your kids.

Women! You shouldn't be letting any person whatsoever force you to marry someone you don't want to marry! You will just be ending your life because when you get married it feels like you were just born and this is your life.

Living with your family until you're 40 is far better than living a life like that!

What can I do?!

I have been trying to stay away from news of any kind this past week because it's just so depressing. International news about Iraq, Palestine, Terrorism, war, and death, then gulf news 'nation' section is full of negative things about this country; I'm not denying them, I just don't want to know them, I don't want to know who killed who, who rapped who, I don't want to know about all the labors here who has almost no rights, I don't want to read anything negative because I'm just so sick from it, it makes me feel so useless.

I have been deleting the daily headlines from NYtimes before I open it, then yesterday I didn't. I opened it and skimmed through all the politics only to read about a 'disease' so I thought at least in that I would gain some knowledge and started reading; I wish I didn't yet I'm glad I know about more about it.

"lymphatic filariasis, a disease in which clusters of four-inch worms as fine as
blond hairs nest in the lymph nodes, the body's drainage system, stretching them
until lymph fluid can only drain downward.
To anyone who has visited poor
tropical countries or seen pictures of the disease, the instantly recognizable
symptom, which afflicts both men and women, is elephantiasis: legs so swollen
that they resemble an elephant's."

Around 120 million people in 80 countries has the disease so you would think that people will know more about it and serious steps will be taken to eliminate the disease which experts says can be done in few generations if drugs were added to salt in the countries affected.

"In poor countries like Haiti and Guyana the disease hangs on. It does not kill,
but it crushes people's spirits and often leaves poor farmers unable to work,
which can mean starvation.
The limbs cannot be surgically drained because the
lymph fluid swells all the tissue instead of filling a pouch. The damage is
permanent, because the overstretched lymph nodes do not shrink again; the worms
eventually just die inside them.
For people with elephantiasis, big pants
will not hide their affliction. Funguses that erupt between toes stink and draw
flies. Children can be mocking. Lovers can be cruel."

Now I know why I would never have studied medicine, I can't stand reading about diseases and thinking of how much pain the people are in and I feel useless yet again.

I think every person should give something to people who are in such situations, donate money and if you don't have that then maybe an act of kindness that will brighten someone's day. Or go donate blood!

This is the link to the article, you can also see some pictures.

Randomness

Is it a Dubai thing or what? That whenever someone is missing for few hours first thing you think of is 'car accident' and grab the phone to call the police and ask. It's a scary thought, but someone I know is usually home before 10:30, he didn't come back until around 12 and his phones was closed, I freaked out!

This week is registration week and in hope to prove to myself and everyone else that 'I CAN DO IT! I CAN DO IT!' I'm going to take two courses in Arabic next semester! God help my GPA though.
So which of these courses should I take?
Arab-Islamic civilization
Contemporary Civilizations
Global Issues
Individual & Society
To me they all sound like so something I wouldn't take but I have to take one of these courses to graduate! Vote people!

It's also pretty windy today which is not good because we walk in the university a lot so you see abayas flying everywhere.

Sitting here in the food court with friend and sister, sister decided to speak Arabic (Note: before coffee) so she said 'mawjat al7ar' bacseer elyoom'
Biz with her Syrian background said: 'why would it happen today?'
Sister: 'Batseer not Bet9eer!'
Biz: 'You said bet9eer! Will it happen?'
Sister: 'it's not going to happen! It will go! Batseer!'
Biz: 'that's not Arabic!'
Sister: 'it's Arabic! It's from 'sataseer! Satath hab!'
Biz: 'you idiot, why didn't you say satath hab in the beginning'


Batseer in Emarati Arabic is it will go.
Bet9eer in Syrian Arabic is it will happen.

Everyone is visiting!

Isn't our university turning into THE hot spot to go to these days?!

Two weeks ago Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak visited the university and a huge party was held on Mother's Day on her honor! The party was great, everyone came and well, I just loved the fireworks! After the party, everyone was talking how it was so great and they loved our university!

Woot! Woot! We rock!

Today Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid visited our university!!!

He also liked it; at least he didn't find problems to comment about except I believe he felt bad for the men because their campus sucks. The thing is, he only checked the new building in our campus which is good, but also bad. The building is the best building ever and it's actually really cool, he went to classes, to the cinema, walked in the food court and drank tea with milk!
It's good because he saw the best part in our university but bad because he didn't see how horrible the old buildings are and maybe made sure the university gets the funding to build the new campus faster. But still, our old buildings are better than the men's campus!

I finished midterms today so hopefully I will be writing more here, I just can't think of anything to write for this blog!