Wednesday, April 13, 2005

A HELLO FROM DUBAI

I don't know from where should I start this post, we arrived Dubai last Thursday. I will start with our journey first, It is not a James Bond story, it is real, we had a good bye bye, I was kidding just read and judge by yourself.
We left our house at 9 am, our airplane was supposed to leave at 1:30 pm and usually the checking point before the airport takes more than an hour so we decided to leave at 9 am, we thought it was enough and we would have a spare time. Usually the way to the airport from our house takes between 15-20 min. But do you know how long it took us? 4 hours!!!!!!. an airport car came and took us at nine and when we arrived to the airport highway we found it closed and filled with cars with their engines off. the driver went out to see what was going on, he came and said that the Americans had discovered a suicide bomber in a car near the check point, they discovered this with a dog, and they are waiting for some experts. we waited in the car more than 3 hours, in that time I wanted to go to the toilet, and we don't know where should I go it is a highway with nothing nearby, so we went on feet and walked for a long distance till we found some houses, I found one with an old lady sitting in the garden, I asked her if it was ok to use their bathroom and I told her the whole story, she allowed me and my daughter. I was lucky she believed me and let me in her house, during that time they opened the road and the driver was waiting for us, you know how much he liked us during that time, after hours of waiting and when the cars moved, we weren't there. so we ran to reach the car. unfortunately they allowed for only few people to enter the airport check point and we waited for another hour. This is not the end of the story we had another good adventure. during that time an American convoy was stuck few cars behind us and they were hit by RPG, we heard a very large explosion then the Americans start shooting, everyone who was standing outside their cars went down and my husband shouted lay down with your daughter, the driver was standing out side, he ran and drove the car on a dusty road and took a short cut and ran away, many similar cars did the same thing, I felt afraid that we might be hit by any of the fighters. The driver shouted lay down and he drove as fast as he could. We arrived to a safe road, where there where many houses and he said that's it I will not take you to the airport, I was going to lose my life, it is not worth it. We told him what? what about our airplane? he said cancel it, nobody could reach the airport. during that time my husband called the airlines and asked them what shall he do? they told him the airplane will fly late because nobody of the passengers had arrived yet, so they asked him to wait till things calm down and then go to the airport again.
so waited for another hour and arrived at the airport about1:30. inside the airport we heard many bombs and we also saw the exploded car near the check point. we took off at about 4 pm and arrived Dubai at about 6 Pm. we where very exhausted tired and I felt dizzy all the way in the airplane. Well let me tell you how airplanes take off from Baghdad airport. There is a small zone around the airport that is secured by the Americans in the meaning that no one can hit an airplane as long as it is in that zone. So the minute the plane takes off, it starts going up like a spiral inside the safety zone until it reaches a certain altitude and that process is very scary.
my husband was having a bad flue and I have a problem with my right shoulder , the doctor told me it needs months till it will be normal again. so He carried many of our luggage.
This is the end of my story. when we arrived to the airport my husband called his friend who was waiting for us at the airport for more than 4hours, he said the airport did not know for how long the plane will be late and whether the airplane will fly or not so he just sat there and waited till they told them it flew.

I had confession which I really want you to know it. I did not tell you before because I wanted to write freely in Iraq. now I have nothing to be afraid of. My husband has a blog too, maybe many of you are reading it without noticing the relation between me and him but because he is using his name, I decided not to mention him in my blog and he did the same thing, his blog is( www. thoughts04.blogspot.com) and his name is Ahmed Kharrufa. And yes I’m related to aunt najma, she is my husband's niece but I also did not mention her and she did the same thing as I want to be free in every thought I wanted to write. so please forgive me. so aunt najma you can add me to your relative's blogs now. My daughter's name is Farah and I will put her picture soon.
wait for my new posts I will write about Dubai and I will put some pictures too. It is a very nice country. We are still looking for an apartment, it is a very expensive country when I compare it to Iraq. the first couple of days I was shocked I even refused to go outside alone, now I am better, I do most of the shopping. I will end this post now and will write about that later. Good bye.