I am enjoying the freedom
Hi everyone, yes I am still alive. The chances here to be killed are very limited unlike Iraq. Anyway I did not write anything before because I don't know what to write. Believe it or not we had an electricity cuts twice during the last 3 months! Once happened in Dubai last month due to a technical problem and lasted for a few hours and the second due to maintenance in my building and they notified us before they cut it off. Anyway my life here is so simple and comfortable and I feel very relaxed here. Yesterday I was talking with Ahmed (my husband) about how long we have been here and we did not have a headache because in Iraq we used to have headaches so much, besides I had problems with my colon most of the time when I was in Baghdad now I don't.
Every now and then I sit down and think about my life 3 months ago before we came here and compare it with today. I don't know how we were able to stand it. Now I know what real life means, maybe before I didn't know the difference that much, but today I know and I feel sorry for Iraqis. They don't deserve this.
Few days ago we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary, it was the first time I was able to go alone to the markets and buy a present to my husband without him. Even before the war I was not able to go alone in Iraqi markets for many reasons one of them I was young and usually hear many molestation. Here I can go anyplace anywhere alone even in the middle of the night. Now I do most the shopping alone and sometimes I go out to buy few things after 11 pm alone with no fear of anything. I think here I know the word FREEDOM very well.
My daughter is living normal kids life, we take her to playing areas a lot and to parks (when the weather is good), we bought her a bike and she plays with it in the park. We registered her in school which she will join in next September.
Last time we had electricity cut in our building as I said for maintenance, Farah (my daughter) started to cry and when I asked her why are you crying she said you said only in Iraq the electricity goes off , not here.
For me, the first two months here I had nightmares, one of them I dreamed of a rocket was running after me and I woke up very tired from running. Now I don't but I still panic every time I hear a sudden sound.
Maybe this will be my last time to write, many Iraqis are writing their Diaries in blogs and telling you their stories, so you will not need me anymore. I read many blogs everyday to see if things are getting better in Iraq or not. But till now things are getting worse everyday. No water, no electricity, and no fuel. No sign for near improvement even in the far future. I still hope one day things will be normal as here and we will return to our home again.
New update: we went to a wedding party in Sharja, the wedding was for a relative of mine. Most of the guests were Iraqi doctors, since the groom and the bride's family are doctors. it was a very nice party but what distressed me was the number of Iraqi doctors I saw in that wedding, you can not imagine how many doctors I saw and that means there are no more good doctors left in Iraq. One of the doctors who sat near us in the table said that he left Mosul one year ago and left his family in mosul but when things started to get worse he brought them here 5 months ago. And the other I talked with said he came here recently and his family are in Jordan waiting for their visa. By the way as I hear, they said the government here are not giving residency to Iraqis anymore I don't know why. And that doctor I talked with said he got his residency but failed to get one to his wife and children, so they are waiting in Jordan.
Since we left Iraq, many of our relatives and friends started to think of leaving Iraq, but it is not that easy, first of all nobody is giving visa to Iraqis in most of the countries as we are considered terrorists. I still can't understand, during Saddam's regime we couldn't have visa for political reasons and when he is out we still can't have it. Me and my husband where lucky to have it.
My cousin couldn't follow her husband in Qatar because of the visa, her husband got his visa because he is Egyptian, but she couldn't because she is Iraqi. And now he is working in Qatar and she is waiting in Egypt.
Every now and then I sit down and think about my life 3 months ago before we came here and compare it with today. I don't know how we were able to stand it. Now I know what real life means, maybe before I didn't know the difference that much, but today I know and I feel sorry for Iraqis. They don't deserve this.
Few days ago we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary, it was the first time I was able to go alone to the markets and buy a present to my husband without him. Even before the war I was not able to go alone in Iraqi markets for many reasons one of them I was young and usually hear many molestation. Here I can go anyplace anywhere alone even in the middle of the night. Now I do most the shopping alone and sometimes I go out to buy few things after 11 pm alone with no fear of anything. I think here I know the word FREEDOM very well.
My daughter is living normal kids life, we take her to playing areas a lot and to parks (when the weather is good), we bought her a bike and she plays with it in the park. We registered her in school which she will join in next September.
Last time we had electricity cut in our building as I said for maintenance, Farah (my daughter) started to cry and when I asked her why are you crying she said you said only in Iraq the electricity goes off , not here.
For me, the first two months here I had nightmares, one of them I dreamed of a rocket was running after me and I woke up very tired from running. Now I don't but I still panic every time I hear a sudden sound.
Maybe this will be my last time to write, many Iraqis are writing their Diaries in blogs and telling you their stories, so you will not need me anymore. I read many blogs everyday to see if things are getting better in Iraq or not. But till now things are getting worse everyday. No water, no electricity, and no fuel. No sign for near improvement even in the far future. I still hope one day things will be normal as here and we will return to our home again.
New update: we went to a wedding party in Sharja, the wedding was for a relative of mine. Most of the guests were Iraqi doctors, since the groom and the bride's family are doctors. it was a very nice party but what distressed me was the number of Iraqi doctors I saw in that wedding, you can not imagine how many doctors I saw and that means there are no more good doctors left in Iraq. One of the doctors who sat near us in the table said that he left Mosul one year ago and left his family in mosul but when things started to get worse he brought them here 5 months ago. And the other I talked with said he came here recently and his family are in Jordan waiting for their visa. By the way as I hear, they said the government here are not giving residency to Iraqis anymore I don't know why. And that doctor I talked with said he got his residency but failed to get one to his wife and children, so they are waiting in Jordan.
Since we left Iraq, many of our relatives and friends started to think of leaving Iraq, but it is not that easy, first of all nobody is giving visa to Iraqis in most of the countries as we are considered terrorists. I still can't understand, during Saddam's regime we couldn't have visa for political reasons and when he is out we still can't have it. Me and my husband where lucky to have it.
My cousin couldn't follow her husband in Qatar because of the visa, her husband got his visa because he is Egyptian, but she couldn't because she is Iraqi. And now he is working in Qatar and she is waiting in Egypt.
posted by rose at 2:26 PM
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