Hello, there! I'm here in Iraq again leaving ma family behind in Syria....
I'm intending to continue ma studies here, although, there are alot of students missing or absent and so are the doctors and lecturers.
I dunno what to say now.... I'm more confused than ever.... I dunno what is best for me?
Anyways, I need to thank someone for her great support for me and being always there for a help! I need to thank her for being such a great friend and lovely person...
Thanks alot, Melly! I'm lucky to be a friend of you!
Monday, October 30, 2006
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Outlandish
Hail!
Finally I got to Syria after spending 38 hours in bus coming from Baghdad!
It wasn't an easy decision for me to leave Iraq and abandon my friends and relatives
and delay my academic study one year later, I say it wasn't easy but after long hours of thinking and due to the terrible conditions and my mom's insistence to runaway out of the red zone I decided to leave Iraq heading to Syria!
Since the air navigation was temporarily aborted, we (I and Mom) decided to Bus!!! By the way, we didn't choose the train cuz the railways are blocked. Therefore, we had no other choice but traveling by the bus.
There are two main roads leading to Syria! One called Al-Waleed, the other called Al-Gamshely. The first one takes 12 hours in order to hit Damascus, the latter takes about more than 20 hours but it is much safer than Al-Waleed which is infamous by the loot and pillage actions!
We began our trip on Monday, the 2nd of October at 8:15 am with other 45 passengers; most of them are women and children.
Our trip was intervened by several stoppages made by the US military forces for god knows why. Therefore, we had reached the Iraqi borders at 6:30 pm, just 30 minutes before blocking the borders. But we were surprised to know that the borders were closed by the US forces with no particular reason! I asked one of the Iraqi guards there about the time of the blockage, he answered:" Don't ask me! Ask that private!" he was pointing to some sniper was standing over an outpost tower.
There was nothing else to do but parking the bus with other three buses and spend the night outdoor. After while, three men came and told us that we could sleep inside a mosque was nearby. Although, that night was so cold that I preferred to stay inside the bus.
The borders were open again at 7:00 am, but we couldn't finish the procedures of checking passports and examining the cargoes before 11:00 am!
The funniest thing that I hadn't urinated for more than 10 hours, however, I had already drunk 6 cans of cola and several glasses of water and 2 cups of tea at the Syrian border. So, I got "busted" inside the bus! I had a terrible pressure of withholding of peeing till the next stop. I went to the driver to ask him about the time remaining to reach a nearest restaurant, he told me that it was about 100 km away which means about more than 1 hour time!
My goodness, I must keep fighting one more hour! I was suffering from a terrible pain in my flank and bladder. And yeah, here we got to a rest! I hurried to the toilet and psssssssssssssss…. Yeeeeeeeaaah! When I was about getting out of the toilet, I heard some feminine voices. I was in ladies' toilets! Still don't know the difference between toilets of men and those of women! I mean why it can't be common toilets since there isn't any special stuffs distinguish between one and another! I was imprisoned inside the toilet until all women were gone! When I was out I tried to find that sign of WOMEN but with no result. Still wondering how did they know that this was women's toilet and the other was men's?!
It was a long ride from the Syrian borders to Damascus!
Anyways, I'm here in Damascus, Yarmouk, Street no. 30 if anyone's interested!
Finally I got to Syria after spending 38 hours in bus coming from Baghdad!
It wasn't an easy decision for me to leave Iraq and abandon my friends and relatives
and delay my academic study one year later, I say it wasn't easy but after long hours of thinking and due to the terrible conditions and my mom's insistence to runaway out of the red zone I decided to leave Iraq heading to Syria!
Since the air navigation was temporarily aborted, we (I and Mom) decided to Bus!!! By the way, we didn't choose the train cuz the railways are blocked. Therefore, we had no other choice but traveling by the bus.
There are two main roads leading to Syria! One called Al-Waleed, the other called Al-Gamshely. The first one takes 12 hours in order to hit Damascus, the latter takes about more than 20 hours but it is much safer than Al-Waleed which is infamous by the loot and pillage actions!
We began our trip on Monday, the 2nd of October at 8:15 am with other 45 passengers; most of them are women and children.
Our trip was intervened by several stoppages made by the US military forces for god knows why. Therefore, we had reached the Iraqi borders at 6:30 pm, just 30 minutes before blocking the borders. But we were surprised to know that the borders were closed by the US forces with no particular reason! I asked one of the Iraqi guards there about the time of the blockage, he answered:" Don't ask me! Ask that private!" he was pointing to some sniper was standing over an outpost tower.
There was nothing else to do but parking the bus with other three buses and spend the night outdoor. After while, three men came and told us that we could sleep inside a mosque was nearby. Although, that night was so cold that I preferred to stay inside the bus.
The borders were open again at 7:00 am, but we couldn't finish the procedures of checking passports and examining the cargoes before 11:00 am!
The funniest thing that I hadn't urinated for more than 10 hours, however, I had already drunk 6 cans of cola and several glasses of water and 2 cups of tea at the Syrian border. So, I got "busted" inside the bus! I had a terrible pressure of withholding of peeing till the next stop. I went to the driver to ask him about the time remaining to reach a nearest restaurant, he told me that it was about 100 km away which means about more than 1 hour time!
My goodness, I must keep fighting one more hour! I was suffering from a terrible pain in my flank and bladder. And yeah, here we got to a rest! I hurried to the toilet and psssssssssssssss…. Yeeeeeeeaaah! When I was about getting out of the toilet, I heard some feminine voices. I was in ladies' toilets! Still don't know the difference between toilets of men and those of women! I mean why it can't be common toilets since there isn't any special stuffs distinguish between one and another! I was imprisoned inside the toilet until all women were gone! When I was out I tried to find that sign of WOMEN but with no result. Still wondering how did they know that this was women's toilet and the other was men's?!
It was a long ride from the Syrian borders to Damascus!
Anyways, I'm here in Damascus, Yarmouk, Street no. 30 if anyone's interested!
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