Freshers day one

Well before I get into the details of freshers week.
Today was a day of shopping for me. Yesterday i shopped too. for food supplies. I went to my room with all sorts of cans with all sorts of goodies, I was so happy only to realise that i dont have a can openner.
Today I bought forks, knives, spoons, can openners, scissors, frying pan, sauce pan, dishes, soup bowl etc etc
day before I also bought a second hand rice cooker for 3 pounds. there was an student announcement for that.

The thing is, I walk alot here. I had loads of shopping bags and shoved some of them into my backpack so i can carry less in my hands. I actually walked to the bust station, and then on campus walked all the way to end where my building is. In bahrain I would have driven. In Egypt I would have taken a taxi. So good good good for me. on campus is the first place i ever been to where, when i ask for directions someone can say, go up the little hill then cross the bridge on the lake to the otherside then follow the path. Its amazing how much people walk around here.

Anyway, today is the first day of fresher's week. Well, any new comers get a warm welcome of well 9 days of day tours and live events, comdey shows and parties before they start studying. fantastic. I am more interested in the day events touring and the comedy club though...

Anyway, the freshers week started today at 5. I was on my way to the union to get tickets to the highlands tour before they are sold out when someone tapped me on the shoulder. and a lady said "ramadan mubarak" . I was honestly touched. I probably wont see her again coz she was on campus for a conference. but it was nice, she lived in oman for 7 years.

I went to the studion union got the tickets, met a girl and went out in the fresh air where there was a game of hmmm outdoor bowling. quite interesting. I normally stink but today i did well. THREE STRIKES, TWO OF THEM IN A ROW.. YIPEEEE... LOOK AT ME NOW, ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO DIDNT WANT ME ON THEIR BOWLING TEAMS BEFORE.

After that, had dinner. there were two options really. an accoustic edinburgh gig from 8 to 3. or a disko thingy from 10 to three. I picked the accousitc edinburgh gig.. It was fantastic.. excellent musicians, good music. and I even got a free CD.

Great evening, they were done by 12 . On my way back to the dorm I lost my way. but that was alright coz i met another person who lost her way. and we managed lol

Tired tired tired.
see ya tomorrow...

Happy ramadan. Ramadan here starts tomorrow

the fire alarm

Well for some wierd reason I cant upload the images. so I will do that next time.

On my first day in the dorms i decided to get out and explore the city. I was using the stairs and saw an exit door. It was an emergency door But i didnt read the sign. so i open the door, and the fire alarm goes off in the whole building. I wasnt sure if I should close the door, run from the FIRE (Which fire) lol or just run coz i did something stupid. I decided to close the door and wait. I didnt have to wait long the warden came running and told me never to use that door unless its an emergency.

I didnt know that I would have to use it again that same day. I was asleep when the fire alarm went off again but this time it was for a longer time, so i got dressed quickly and went downstairs to the assembly point, of course not missing the chance to use the emergency door.
Apparantly this kind of thing happens alot here, the fire alarms are very sensitive and sometimes its just a drill.

It was a false alarm, apparantly someone had a candle lit or something in their room .. dunno.
But the good thing that came out of it was that I got to meet new people lol.

well I better get an hour of sleep before going out.

Edinburgh edinburgh

ahhh it's 4:30 in the morning, still dark outside my small dorm room window.
I made the trip to edinburgh - scotland 5 days ago.

Before I left Bahrain, i was in a very wierd state of feeling down and lonely already.Felt like I already missed my parents and my friends. Which was very wierd, I have always wanted to live in edinburgh and now was my chance to spend a whole year there and do my masters as well. I was feeling so down, looked it and sounded that way that it worried poeple around me. I think maybe it was the prospect of uncertainty and what that year holds for me. I do miss my parents. But its not my first time away from them, i go on vacaations alone sometimes and when i went to college i lived alone for 4 years.

Anyhow, my trip from bahrain to Heathrow took about 7 hours, then was the nightmare of security checks. I had a laptop bag and a purse. I was told to stick everything in the laptop bag coz am only allowed one item. I tried and tore 2 zippers on the bag, then I had to stic the bag in a box, if it matched the authorised dimentions am safe otherwise i had to check it in. the lady was nice enough to tell me that i can carry my laptop some paper and book uner my arm and well that made the laptop bag fit in the box.

everyone was nice except for one guy, who works in customer service. I was asking him for directions and he was so mean to me and wasted my time, made me look stupid , went right and left without giving me the right direction.
i also had to spend 5 hours in the airport before my flight to edinburgh

Anyway, got on the plane to edinburgh, and at the airport found three AIESECERS from the university of edinburgh waiting for me with a beautiful big banner that said welcome to AIESEC EDINBURGH, lol i could see people stopping and looking at the banner then talking to them. One guy turned out to have been on the board of directors of an LC before.

Sion (pronounced shawn) , kirsty and louise . It was so great to see them waiting for me. they took on the bus, paid for the ticket. took me for lunch. made a brave decision to have a traditional scotish dish HAGGIS WITH NEEPS AND TATTIES. I must admit it was very interesting for minced lung, heart and liver lol.

I live on campus. The campus is in the outskirts of edinburgh, the country side, so a bit far away bout 30 mins by bus. And its a huge campus. The hall of residence I stay in is at a far end as well. lol.. putting postgrad students away from all the noise. People here walk alot, which is good news for me..

At first impression I felt the room was too small and that the bathroom was kinda like an UP-size plane bathroom. But now. well its not so bad. I have a beautiful view and get to see bunny rabbits, squirls and birds walking around. Take a look

AM I MASCULINE OR FEMININE

Got the link to this personality, DNA test from Akoura's Blog

Am an encouraging inventor.

Askoura was somehow disturbed with his 60% femininity although he was 96% masculine. WELL Askoura, I beat Ya. Am not proud of it... The test says am 98% masculine and 54% feminine. How disturbing is that..

They say a picture says more than a thousand words.. WELL I'LL BET YA I HAVE MORE THAN A THOUSAND WORDS TO SAY ABOUT THIS.. THING..

Ladies and gentlement, My personality chart

midday, in the heat of the sun

Well,
today was a bit tiring. First had to go to the Centeral Information Organisation and replace my ID card with the new smart card, part of the new e-government.
Then needed to go to extend my passport, which is in a completely different place midtown. I park my car far away coz there were no parking spaces available. walked in the scorching sun of Bahrain to the building. Mind you summer here is very hot and can reach up to 50 degrees C, sometimes even more.
As I come back, sweaty and looking forward to the cool A/C in my car. The car doesnt start. A bit dazed, I remember thinking to myself "am sure it's gonna run now, all I need is to get the key out and then try one more time".. I also remember thinking that a number of times.

I call the Road assistance service through my insurance and they say my car number, my chassis number and my policy number is not in their records and that the insurance company didnt send them my recrods... Of course, since I work in THAT insurance company I know that we sent the records and I just blast off. It was really hot, couldnt open my car windows and so stood outside in the blistering sun. The heat was honestly overwhelming I couldnt breathe, my heart beat real fast and i was just screaming at my phone "well the lady on the other side" until they sorted the situation out.

One guy in a military uniform stopped to help me but he didnt have those cable to jump start my car. He went looking around came back ten mins later and said he couldnt find any. then said he will be gone for another minute looking for cables somewhere else. it was then approximatly after 35 minutes standing in the sun that the road assistance truck came along. well actually the guy was around the corner and called me to ask where I was. I was on the verge of passing and he was telling me the names of buildings i never heard off. I started screaming on the phone (a unique sight in the street) but u know what it made it easy for him to spot me.. saved alot of time. I was the only person standing there screaming like a maniac. Normally I wouldnt be so extreme but i honestly thought i was gonna pass out.

He came to me with a smirk on his face, my clothes were so wet with sweat, my face twisted. He jump started my car.

I decided to wait a bit for the military dude who went to look for the cables, at least to tell him that things were fine and that I got help, and thank him and stuff.. He toook too long, I waited and waited and waited , didnt want to be rude and just leave, so decided to drive around the garages in the area, keeping in mind that if I stop the engine it wont start again. Went around as much as I could, didnt find him, then straight away to the agency where the car stopped and didnt start again lol.. well at least it was safe and was gonna get fixed.

well it was a very hot day

A good day shopping

One of the best shopping days I've had for a while. I actually managed to buy some clothes from normal stores. Normally I'd have to go to Evans or other places for PLus size individuals. tsk tsk... I mean it just makes you feel as if being overweight means you're are an individual of special needs and need alterations to fit with the day to day shoppers.

I mean come on, PLUS SIZE PEOPLE AREN'T THE MINORITY HEHEHEHE . Oh well, I am not complaining, Am very happy actually. Got good Clothes from places where the minority of the population of the world shop. I didn't have to go to the Minority shops designed for the majority of the people. I didn't have to draw the designs I liked in the store and go to a tailor to make em for me. Actually if I started this sentence being happy, right now am quite offended at those outrageous stores.

You know how it is, when u go out to buy clothes and when you cant find them, u still go shop for things for which your weight isn't a parameter. Like Candles, Rings, Shoes, Make up, Nail polish, Food, Frames, Facial Masks, More Facial Masks, Facial Masks again (You look in your bathroom and you find Facial Masks made of vegetables , fruits, vegis and fruits, mud, coal, sugar, a different type of mud, Mud from a different geographical location) and then u realize u have a problem, then a disorder, then you go shopping for clothes to feel better . You know the rest.


Regards

An Offended Citizen of the world

Thank u Julia

Not many people can bring tears to my eyes, unless maybe they inflict severe physical pain LOL.

Julia is a woman who changed so many lives, of course through changing her life first and then showing us. I know she changed my life. Giving the support and encouragement that does it all. Specially when the people closest to u, inflict the worst mental pain and as we both termed yesterday as "send u on a self destructive path". Thanks for the card.

Julia is leaving Bahrain. Am glad we have emails :) .
Julia, thank you. Best luck for u and ur family where-ever u go. See u in Scotland or Cambridge, whichever.

Ciao

Silence of the Lambs and the Dragon Tears

Today, I started reading Silence of the Lambs. The book written by Thomas Harris and made into a fantastic movie. I saw the movie. Normally I prefer to read the book before watching the movie, but in this case, I had watched all three - Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Red Dragon - First. Just finished reading Red Dragon yesterday- good book, but I kinda expected a better ending.

That's not why am blogging tonight though. Part of a conversation in the book- silence of the Lambs- really captured my attention, I have read a great deal of the book but I keep going back to that page and read it again. Very interesting. Read though, u'll find out why.

Clarice Starling (CS) wanting Dr. Hannibal Lecter (HL) to answer a questionnaire for the behavioral science department:

HL: Officer Starling, do you think you can dissect me with this blunt little tool?
CS:No, I think you can provide insight and advance this study.
HL: And what possible reason could I have to do that?
CS: Curiosity
HL: About what?
CS: About why you're here, About what happened to you
HL: Nothing happened to me, Officer Starling. I happened. You can't reduce me to a set of influences. You've given up good and evil for behaviorism, officer Starling.You've got everybody in moral dignity pants- nothing is ever anybody's fault.

Isn't it just the trend now. Nothing is anyone's fault. It's all a cause-effect relation now. Crimes committed, then the tragic story of the culprit just brings out the little frightened person in him and the bad people who turned him into a monster. And our sympathy turn to the other direction. So what is it exactly. Is a person good or evil because they are just good or evil. Or are they good or evil because of what has been happening to and around them. Think back to school days, am sure every bully was a bully for a reason, did it justify them being bullies? Did it make the kid being pushed around feel better. Imagine if it turned every pushed around kid to a demented teen. PLEADING INSANITY???

Am I making sense? Not sure, but I've just asked a question as small as a star in the milky way when it comes to us humans.

The Good thing about books, you can always return to pages you've marked. Dean Koontz has a book called Dragon Tears, isn't his best book but not bad, I read it a long time ago, but still remembered this bit. Check this out.

as a child, he had enjoyed fairy tales even more than children usually did. The worlds of the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, springtime hills were always flawlessly grew, velvet smooth. Order prevailed. Villains invariably met with justice, and the virtuous were rewarded- though sometimes after hideous suffering. Hansel and Gretel didn't die in the witches oven; the crone herself was roasted alive therein. Instead of stealin the queen's newborn daughter, Rumpelstiltskin was foiled and, in his rage, tore himself apart.

in real life during the last decade of the twentieth century, Rumpelstilskin would probably get the queen's daughter. He would no doubt addict her to heroin, turn her out as a prostitute, confiscate her earnings, beat her for pleasure, hack her to pieces, and escape justice by claiming that society's intolerance for bad-tempered evil-minded trolls had driven him temporarily insane.

JUST SOMETHING FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT, AND FOR ME TO KEEP WONDERING ABOUT.