Last Night

Last night we had to take care of a friend of a friend and she wasn't there. First we had to wait for ages for this dude to find the place where we were-Dubliners...when he finally did show up, the place had called final orders and we had ordered him a beer inno its the safest bet for what people drink. Anyhow what was strange was how awkward the conversation was. I guess i am not used to meeting new people anymore, inno I spend so much time with people that I know so well that we don't' have the usual superficial talk...where you from? Where did you study? What did you study? Do you like Amman? BLAH BLAH YADA YADA...then I asked the feux pas question, why you in Amman for the holidays?!?!?!? Haram, inno I made it sound like it was the worst decision he had ever made. The dude is an Arab bas has lived most of his life in London...then of course comes the question, so where does one go out in Amman? What do you tell someone who lives in London? He was nice enough to take the pressure off a bit by saying that he is not here to party or stuff like that, inno he can do that in London...so the pressure cooker was opened and we breathed a bit easier!!

Then of course being all people who have just celebrated our one year anniversary in this great city, and us planning to leave for New Years, we started to talk about Amman, don't worry we were good ambassadors for this city, bas inno ya3ni...guess we could have been better, since one of the places we listed for him to go to is HangOver!!!!!!

Bas really the strange thing, I think for him and us, was that the person of contact was not there, fa the buffer was off, and we had to chit chat about stuff that just were not very comfortable...really felt bad for him...my feelings were further compiled when he told us that he had to dive all the way back to ZARQA that very night...inno NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Bas we helped a friend out, and I guess that is what matters...bas it was really awkward...yet kind of fun in the fact that it was awkward...lol!!!!

AlJazeera

Today is the launch of Aljazeera English...I am at work but am keeping my eyes on the web page, aljazeera.net/english, for at 12 GMT the website will also be launched and one can watch the broadcast. I am so excited...it is a historical event-and we have quite a few in our lifetimes-bas finally a venue for Arabs to broadcast how they view the world and hopefully this will help to bridge the gap between us and the West!!!! I mean i remember when the Arab channel was launched and watching the first news broadcast...to say that I also saw the English one would be quite cool...inno to my kids.

Anyway, do check out the new channel, we get it on NileSat and ArabSat.

BRILLIANT!!!

A Spanish town council has vowed to banish sexism from street signage by demanding half of all road signs and traffic lights show female figures with skirts and ponytails.
Fuenlabrada, which lies south of the capital Madrid, will replace old and damaged road signs and traffic lights with new stock within a year. "In this way the sexism which until now has seen only masculine figures appear in traffic signals will be brought to an end," the town council said in a statement.

The council, which said it would ask manufacturers to incorporate female figures in their signs, would not cost taxpayers a penny.

The Anniversary

We need to take the time today to stop and think and reflect. A year ago a tragedy occurred in Amman, and we not only lost lives but our sense of security was shaken. As I look around our region on this sad day, I see how we are not only on the brink of chaos, but that we are not doing anything about it.

1. Palestine-the massacre that happened there.


2. Iraq-the daily massacres there.


3. Lebanon-the out of proportion aggression that it suffered through last month.


4. Syria-the threat of a war its facing.

We need to do something, Qatar is asking for the Security Council to approve a resolution not only for a cease fire but also for an investigation into what happened in Beit Hanoun...we need more such action.

I send my condolences to anyone who lost a family or friend in the bombings last year. I also send my condolences to us as a region as a people. When will we realise that our lives are valuable, that our blood is worth more then just to be spilt on the ground of our land.

We need to wake up, we need to start thinking about what where we want our lives to go, where we want our children to grow up. I for one don't want to have children who will be ashamed of being an Arab, or who will be living in a place where death is a daily occurrence, and where their sense of safety is always in jeopardy.

My Condolences to our nation, to our region.

First Day

Since July 1, 381 Palestinians have died versus five Israelis.

Today is the first day of mourning for Beit Hanoun.

My blog is going into mourning also, I can't believe that things are going on in the Arab world-to my people-and I am just sitting down doing nothing!!!!!!

Am disgusted with myself, the people around me and our governments!

At a meeting today...

I had to take the minutes of my first meeting today-never done that before-anyway not the point...it was a meeting between a Jordanian and Turkish delegation, to discuss something...again not the point-promise it's coming up! I looked around at the Jordanian side, to find only me sitting between a group of elderly men...then I glanced at the Turkish side and found 4 women, the question started to form in my mind, why is it that this country has four women on their delegation, all with presentations and proposals to make, yet on the Jordanian side I was the only one, and I was there pretty much to take notes-still too new to be of much help!
I then came online and found an article in the Guardian, No room at the top - fewer women reaching boards of Britain's top firms, where it is discussing how the number of women as head of boards has come down since last year, "The number of directorships held by women fell in 2006 after rising steadily in previous years. Now 23 companies in the blue chip index - one more than last year - have entirely male boards." It goes on to discuss the implication for this situation on women and also on how companies are going to grow, they also said that the UK has refrained from making a quota for women on boards.
I have never been able to decide on where I stand when it comes to quotes, be it in parliaments or in this case board rooms, sometimes I am for them, for we need to force society to start seeing women in these roles, and then we can take the quota away. Yet in the case of Jordan it proves that just because you have women in parliament does not mean that they will be voting or acting for the benefit of the women of their society, we saw how they voted in the last parliament against laws that would have made the legal and social life of Jordanian women a lot better.
I think the main thing, is that it is not so much about quotas only it is also about educated the women and men who will fill them-for in some cases their are quotes that include men (racial and religious minorities.) These people that we vote for, or who are assigned to represent us, should be shown and explained to that when they are in such a position it is not only to fill a seat, or show that the country is equal, but it is to actually work so that at some point we no longer need quotes we just vote for people because they are good.
Looking through the Guardian, I found a opinion talking about Palestine and what is happening now, and it had a really amazing quote, that showed how effective women are when they decide to do something about their lives. In A brutal taste of the future, Sami Abdel-Shafi, stated that, "On Friday morning, scores of women marched through Beit Hanoun in a spontaneous rush to aid friends and loved ones after hearing their pleas. Unarmed, they were shot at by Israeli soldiers from their tanks; two women were left dead and others severely injured. These women were said to have been heading to a mosque to free armed men who took refuge there. Television footage and interviews with witnesses show these women posed no military threat, but they were treated as such by the Israeli army without warning." Again Palestinians and more importantly Palestinian woman show us the way to go...how we have to just go out there and break through all the boundaries, and obstacles put in front of us.
So again, I was disappointed in our delegation today, I really had expected there to be more women, we make up more then half this society, and it is about time that we start pushing through all the glass ceiling and whatnot and make a place for ourselves.

A Working Woman

Now that I go to work everyday so early in the morning...and still not having a car fa am in cab, I have found a new way to entertain myself. Watching people on their way to work! You see the most interesting things, people really think that the car is an extension of their homes, no realising that we can all see what they are doing-to be fair I do that also-fa you see people flossing (I SWEAR HE WAS), the picking their nose for sure...bas also what I noticed is that no one is smiling. Today i actually saw someone with his face between his hands, like his world was coming apart while we waiting for the Rabia traffic lights. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that people are listening to the news on teh radio...wallah I hve no idea...bas it is my new form of entertainment...watching people being miserable on their way to work...lol...

How things change...

Life in Amman has truely changed for me, I have gone from being a PhD student, who is unemployed to having handed in my PhD and am currently writing this on my office computer. This Eid was the best, it really is the beginning of the new year for me. I went to Beirut, to see my parents, and with the rest of Amman to celebrate. Friends came from here, and we celebrated in style. We went to all the hang out, got drunk and my friends opened a bottle of Champagne for me to celebrate having handed in and them no longer having to deal with me bitching and moaning about it!!!!!!
I got my Phd bound and I sent it to my friend in Edinburgh who officially sent me a text a week ago informing me that she has submitted it for me. I received a phone call from my new job at King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau (KADDB)and got a job as Research Executive. I have also recieved an email from UNIFEM asking me to come in for a second interview. I was on quite bad terms with some friends of mine prior to Eid, and now we are all hunky-dory. wallah I have no idea why the first post that I write after such a long time is so short, or so uninteresting for all of you out there. We as a generation yesterday lived another big event in the history of not only this region but the world-the sentencing of Saddam-and yet all I can think about is that life is going well. Well that my life is going well-obviously life is not going to well for Saddam-how selfish we humans are, when things are going well for us the world is a oyster that we are just opening, and when it is going badly its an oyster that we opened to find a sand grain not a pearl.

Inshallah I will be sorting out the car situation soon, I shall become and independent woman, who only takes rides because she wants to mish inno she can't get around without calling cabs or asking favours of friends.

Wallah it is true that life can change in a blink of an eye.