House of Curiosity...

January: Losing a lovely lady

January started by losing a lovely Lady. My mother in law passed away after a long and brave battle with cancer. She was a sweet and happy lady, she was full of life and hope. She was a great mother and a great wife.

I had officially met my mother in law in May 2010. We had soon become good friends. Even though our friendship lasted for less than a year, she had accepted me as I am and loved me unconditionally.

Just before she passed away she cooked for me couscous, we ate it the Moroccan way in her winter home at AlGhor. I always have such a fond feeling remembering that day.

Thinking of her brings warmth to my heart every time.

In her memory, I would like to share the song mensch (” Human”). It is an old German song by a famous rock/pop artist Herbert Grönemeyer. Mensch (“Human”). This song was Grönemeyer’s first number-one single in Germany. The mood of the album reflects the recent death of both his wife and one of his older brothers within the same week, and is rich with poetic imagery. In the song Grönemeyer reflects on his own humanity as it relates to feeling loss.
This particular video is a concert by Bono and Grinemeyer.

On January 14, Tunisia’s authoritarian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali fled the country after 23 years in power as a result of massive popular protests. What a sweet sweet moment!

February: Month of Dignity

If I can single out a day to which I can attribute the making of history, it would be the 11th of February when Hosni Mubarak resigned Office. The whole Arab World was glued in front of our TVs breathlessly waiting for that moment.

I am not sure how to express the impact of that glorious moment on our world. That moment was the embodiment of the powerful Tunisian Poem, ” If the people Ever wanted to live” for Al Sayyab. This poem soon became the symbol all the Arab revolutions, which started in Tunis on December 18th 2010.

Youth in the Arab world took the streets and fought for freedom. It was not about poverty, hunger, marginalization, corruption, oppression or disenfranchisement. It was about regaining dignity. This year will be engrained in our memories forever, because it brought us hope.

And this was only the beginning. To date, there have been revolutions in Tunis and Egypt, which led to the fall of both presidents, a civil war in Libya resulting in the fall of its government and the death of a mad Tyrant Ghaddafi. Uprising in Yemen resulting in the resignation of the Yemeni prime minister; The Arab springs included protests in Bahrain, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Sudan and finally a revolution in Syria.

As always the price of freedom is very high. According to USA news Death toll up until November:

Syria: 5000
Yemen: 250
Bahrain: 30
Libya: 30,000
Egypt: 900
Tunisia: 300

I think the least we can do is to observe a moment of silence for these people who paid the price, so that we can breathe the air of freedom

Here, I would like to share a song for Al Sheikh Iman called “ I am the people- ana Al sha3b“

March: Trouble

Trouble came home. This month created a shift in the atmosphere. Up until then, the government did not know what to make out of what was happening in the region. In March and after the tragic events of March 24th, security forces took the streets and managed to create a horrible rift between the reformist and the loyalists. It is the months that witnessed all the fake pop nationalism… as if wanting to improve our country makes a person not patriotic?! I don’t know…

Picture by Lina Ejeilat

April: Wedding and Venice
I met Nas in May 2008. I won’t get into the details, but I will share how excited I was about meeting the Black Iris. It took me six months to understand the extent of my admiration for this man, and it took me three more to realize that I wanted to spend my life with him.
I don’t know what the future is holding for us, but I embrace my new life with so much faith, hope and many many aspirations… we finally got married in April, amidst all the chaos… but, as I said before, love becomes more acute in times of turmoil.

By the way Venice is as beautiful as they say!

I leave you with life-ning, I think it is probably the sweetest song I head this year. But snow Patrol have alwys had sweetest songs.

May: Living the vida loca!

Well, ok… maybe  i am  exaggerating slightly here ! But in May we moved into our house, and our journey as home owners started… I am still struggling with creating a balance between my career, my marriage and my family…

Truly, no amount of fun would come close to shopping for the house… it is the ultimate pleasure! I can think of one or two things more… but seriously living an independent life is seriously fun!

June: Nothing to report!

But i will leave you with Adele’s song Set Fire to the Rain, a song that i was addicted to, last year (wow, 2011 is already last year!!!)

July: 7iber

7iber is my home, I would always be in different places, but 7iber will always be with me. I guess the 7iber team is composed of very special people, which makes all the difference.

I continue to do accounting, which is still something that I enjoy tremendously. This year we started the hashtag debates, a forum that gets people together along with a couple of speakers to speak. I really enjoy it, and will try to become better at it.

In July, we went to a camp in ajloun along with around 25 people. It was so relaxing and inspiring. I loved it. I can’t say more than I love them… They are my true lovely friends.

August: Losing my grandmother

My grandmother passed away in August… it was too painful to write about losing her then, and it still is… I will only say one thing… she was an amazing amazing woman…an example of how powerful and strong women can be…

In her memory I would like to listen to the song amazing… in a parallel world, I think she would have appreciated it.

Amazing

September: World Bank and the IMF conference
This probably was the most intellectually stimulating exercise of the year. I was invited to the IMF annual conference. The conference was eye opening for me, I learnt a lot.

The world bank and IMF main objectives thus far were to encourage world leaders to become part of a vast network that promotes US commercial interests. Eventually leaders become trapped in debt that ensures their loyalty. This is reflected in control of UN votes, the installation of military basis, access to precious resources such as oil…etc. In our first meeting, Jeremy Mark, Deputy director at th IMF, said that when a country receives AID, it must surrender some of its sovereignty to the IMF.
In Jordan, they played a major role in removing subsidy on bread and oil. They tampered with the Social security laws and they were behind the constant increase in taxes. It was their way for securing their money will go back to them (this is described in very simplistic terms) in other countries their work led to destruction of rain Forests, pollution, disappearance of cultures, increased poverty rate around the world, environmental disasters to name a few.

This visit made me want to know more. I started reading the book “confessions of economic hit man” which is a truly good book.

On a different note, I truly enjoyed Dc, especially that my parents were with me. We walked a lot and bonded. I needed it after moving out a few months earlier.

I leave you with Linkin park’s what i’ve done

October: Zia, Jerusalem

Baby Zia was born this month, she is the first baby girl in our family… she looks like me well at least i think so. Looking at her, I knew I am forever in love! Zia is the 6th niece… the five before her are extremely naughty boys! But we love them all the same.

During October, I went to Jerusalem. It was a life long dream that was finally fulfilled this year… I think there is no place quite like Jerusalem… It was, is and forever will be in our hearts.

November: Celebrating Friendships

The highlight of November was the 10 day vacation… it came in a very needed time. I can’t explain how good I felt about staying home. We spent a couple of day at Al Ghor with some friends. And I realize that these simple pleasures are what give life its flavor. The person I would like to celebrate this year is Sarah, who had recently become a mother… It is very sweet to watch her interacting with her son. She is a lovely woman who manages to make me smile whenever i see her.

December: The great women of Ruwwad
Ruwwad, Ruwwad… I will not say anything here, I will simply dedicate this song to the beautiful young women of Ruwwad… they are all full of life and hope.

Paradise is a nice song for all the women who expect the world