Flowers of Francisco: Before and After

Before

After !!

They flourished :)

Daydreaming of Nipon: Many miles away

These last days I have spending much time with myself , it has been long since we last talked and bonded (me and me) I know how schizophrenic that may sound but still its good.

Today I was leaving with my friends but when we reached the gate of the residency I said "What the hell , the sun is wonderful right here and am not gonna waste it". So I went back to my room, brought my laptop and sat on the bridge and started reading an e-book (I am growing up see?).

As my back started to ache I went down to the lawn, lent against a tree trunk and put my feet on the residency's wall and kept reading... Each moment and the other a tree leaf would fall on me,, I thought its just like 5 cm per second,,, AHhhhhh how much I love those momentsm when an Idea springs in my head voluntarily and appears suddenly on my mind: I am gonna watch 5 cm per second.

So I closed the e-book file and opened the folder that reads: "5 cm per seconds". I never open that file until I am really craving for the movie. Today it just felt so right to re-watch for the fifth time!! ...

It was cold ,the wind was blowing the autumn leaves and there it was: my favorite movie ...

It was something around 12 o' clock , almost the same time as the Japanese festival started in Jordan. I could not help but regret it ... its one of the things that stand as a symbol of my Uni-life in Jordan University ...

I ended up -like always- crying like a sponge ...I guess I am Sumida , not Akari , at least not anytime soon ...

There is much I want to say ... maybe that I would prefer go on daydreaming about Nipon than

actually going there , is it true that dreams are safer when we still have them and that we lose them as turn real? ... I love Spain more than anyone can imagine , in my special way yeah but It already feels like home ... some cells in my brain start singing alone: Que viva Esapña ... but still there are those moments when it feels so ''earthy'' that it loses that aura of magic it once had ...

I guess being in Spain is like getting married to the love of your life ... eventually you will take turns to throw the trash, but there are gonna be those moments when you look at this persons eyes and feel that you own the world.

Sayounara

How do they come up with such ideas!!

Here

http://www.youtube.com/elanthemag#p/a

A youtube channel done by an american guy who decided to live the experience of Ramadan as if he was a muslim , he did everything: Fasting , not cursing , not saying names , not getting mad , not touching girls and not drinking. He recorded his experience in a video diary of 13 videos ... Thats just creative , let alone the fact that he is eager to know about Islam that he is ready to be hungry for 30 days , He IS creative ...

If only we were intelligent enough we would have been able to share the bless of Islam with almost everybody , after the more is the merrier ;)

Why why we gotta die? Good question ^_^

Got no future
Great big past
Little bitty guy on the rim of my glass
Gotta meet the plane so I can get my monkey
Teach him to be cool
But a little bit funky
Got no credit
And I got no fear
And I got about a buck
So I can buy a beer
Gotta see a doctor ‘bout the words I've said
And I gotta get a bike
And I gotta paint it red

Oh no
We gotta go
We're not gonna live forever
Why? Why? We gotta die
You know that well be together
Hey hey we gotta say
I could never be a savior
You don’t have to be there
Cause I'm never never never
Comin’ home

Three feet deep in a slow motion wreck
I was walkin the walk
And I was talkin to the best
I was wrinkled and shriveled
And steppin’ outta line
Had the end against the middle and losin every time
I was famous and heinous and crippled and sad
Thought I was invincible the baddest of the bad
Then I woke up one morning
And I stepped out of bed
Had to get a bike
Had to paint it red

Oh no
We gotta go
Were not gonna live forever
Why? Why? We gotta die
You know that well be together
Hey hey we gotta say
I could never be a savior
I know that you’ll miss me
But I’m never never never
Comin’ home

Oh no
We gotta go
Were not gonna live forever
Why? Why? we gotta die
You know that well be together
Hey hey we gotta say
I could never be a savior
You don’t have to be there
Cause I’m never never never
Comin’ home

Staring in disbelief
Out at the gloom
I was forced with remorse to learn the bassoon
I got real good in about six years
Started playin’ out for a couple of beers
Then one day I was playin at the gig and in walked the monkey with a couple of funky friends
He came right over and said this is what you’ll do
You’re gonna get a bike
Your gonna paint it blue

Oh no
We gotta go
Were not gonna live forever
Why? Why? We gotta die
You know that well be together
Hey hey we gotta say
I could never be a savior
I know that you’ll miss me,
But I’m never never never
Comin’ home

At last: One spanish Girl!!!

Today we went to a cultural exchange session with Spanish dudes learning English. It was sooo much fun , the group is funny , diversed and has great harmony. So the names (so I will be able to come and check everytime I feel I forgot one): FRom the left: Byka -she is english- Antonio -From Jaen- Farah - English too- Puri - Granadina- Javier - Granadino/Baza- Me - Irbid looool- Andres - Granadino , is he? I am not sure?!- Rafa -Granadino- and the other guy I dont know him! He came last thing so we did not get the time to know him.

So ....

There are a lot of points I wanna point out to my own attention:

1- I thought I can speak English with a british accent: I cant!

2- Spanish people irritate me with there accent in English .. I appreciate the hard work of this group because they irritate much less than others.

3- Andres looks like someone I know ... he caught me staring at him more than once!! It was not comfortable I know , but its crazy when you meet someone for the very first time and you get the feeling that he has been in your life once before!!

4- Javier has to get over his engineering diploma and go work as one of those three options: 1- TV show host or news reader. 2- Radio Host for a very sentimental show with too much music an poetry in it. 3- A poet or at least novelist.

5- I wonder if I get thrilled for anything as I do when I am wandering around a place with a person who already knows it!! This session included the biggest number of Granadinos I have seen at once ever since I arrived here , so the way they passed through the streets and reached the places was just awesome for me.

6- There is something that I did not like at the beginning about Spanish people: When they hang out, they change the place more than two or three times in one night. So we spent two hours in Teteria (we were sitting on the ground actually) and then one of them said something about getting bored , so for my "Made in Jordan" mentality I thought that he wants to go home. It turned out this means: "Lets move to the next level" so they stood up and we went to another place.

7- If one more person asks me about Gathafi I am gonna kill myself.

8- English people are more conservative than arabs. They dont open up as fast as Spanish people... God how fast they open up , they tell you the history of their life time before you even know it!!! I love them , there social walls are tooooooo low .. sometimes they make me uncomfortable but most of the time I feel like "What the hell! its not a free country , its a "What the hell" country... I just adore Spain!!

9- I felt like I am first stepping into the country!! It just hit me that all what I know about Spain is stuff I heard or saw on TV!! I found out that here its normal if you are 18 and still live with your parents , its ok if you dont have a girlfriend/boyfriend ,,, it does not get you socially rejected as I used to think.

10- Kissing is a Spanish wonder!! You know, even if Islam said its ok to kiss people - which is the case with girls- I still feel its tooooo weird to lean against someone you have known for like 7 seconds and kiss him / her!! I prefer to be eating something really greasy at that moment so no one will come near me ... I am narrow minded , well join the choir if you know the words , but Kisses are out of the question!!

I loved the whole thing but the thing I loved the most is Puri... finally I got to meet a spanish girl whom I would talk to and feel good about it. Can you believe it? 2 months and not even one single female friend!!!

Next week I will come back with more .. stay tuned ...

Hasta Luego :)

Volare : Italian song of Domenico Modugno

I feel like flying when I listen to this song ,,, enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

My blog: One year has passed , Many others to Come

Wow!! I cant say no more. I have always been the kind of person who would start a trend for a day or two then lose interest and move to another trend. I m too startled with what happened to this blog: It lived!! It really did , Today its a whole year since she started, 365 days no matter how unorganized and undisciplined I might be She LIVED!!

Maybe having her on the block made me able to keep a track of my other trends ... A whole year saved: Best singers , best actors, best songs , favorite books , nice memories , a bundle of pictures for each and everything , food plates that I love , words of friends and much much more.

In this year we lived some wonderful moments , the birth of my nephew , his first steps and pictures , the coming of Haiku Chan to my life , arriving to my childhood dream:Spain , the rise and the fall of a good love story... For all the nice moments I am grateful , and for all the pains I am even more grateful for I will never be the person whom I am meant to be unless I get the pains I am meant to live.

Thanks for my friends who read and commented and all thanks are due to Allah for giving me such a wonderful life ... Alhamdullialh ...

Surat Al-Fat.h for a many years to come under Gods eye.

Huggggggggggggg

Flowers of Francisco: When things find you

God!!! Before I came here I had in my mind that I am not gonna get too involved with the city because I know its not more than 4 months , and who knows if i will ever be back. But the way things are happening around here are getting me way tooooooooooooo involved than I would ever imagine!!

Tonight we went out Lulu-san and I looking for Hotel Carmen. Lulu-san met a class of Spanish students who are taking an English course in the languages center, and they were looking for people who speak English so they will make cultural exchange sessions with them . The encounter place was Hotel Carmen and we did not know where that is , so - being suddenly too responsible- we decided to go find the place today better than getting lost tomorrow while people are waiting for us.

We found the hotel without any effort , it was right there close to our faculty in the center of

Granada , but there we saw a wide paved street for the use of pedestrians only, so we took it. There was a big map in a window , it looked like a commercial but it has a port on its side and it says something about entering half euro or a euro , so we were examining the thingy trying to know how it works when an old guy came to us and told us that this is a machine that prints maps , you tell it where are you going and it prints you the map!!!

Then he started one of the funniest yet weirdest conversations I have had around here, he asked us where are we from , and then asked are you Muslims? And he started telling us how he does not believe in any religion but he believes that the world has one and only Manager, and he has tried to know more about Islam but he was afraid that they will not accept him.

I was like: Who "THEY"!!! he said: muslims. I explained to him that no one on earth is qualified in any possible way to accept him or refuse him, and that the best thing about islam that a persons relation with God is direct , no one ever has the right to come between the two of you.

He asked me for a book about Islam so he may know better , I asked him where can I see him and he said that he has a carriage in which he sells flowers and he always stops in the same spot. Then he gave us flowers as a gift , he said the flowers name is Nargo and that she is the flower of Granada. His name is Franciso , 60 something years old with a very wide smile and good logic (Logic that led him to the fact that this world must have one God to run it)... We left him and went ,, accidentaly found Rio Genil (Genil river) , we spent there some nice time...

Butterfliesssssssssssssss in Stomach ...

How do things find me around you Granada!!!

Some pictures

The wonderful Rio Genil ...

Although this might sound stupid but I am saying it anyway: When I saw this picture on the memory card I could not help but think "Am I really Twenty years old?!!!!" I don't know why I thought about this now,, Ever since I turned 20 I have been having hard time imagining it, you know the number 20 has been to me -as I was growing- the time when a person is mature an holding the grip of everything ...

I Am 20 .. do i have to repeat this? I AM 20 but I am me!! you know what does "me" mean? , me is the only person whom I ever put up with , ever lived with , ever liked , ever fought with and ever learned to accept really and thoroughly!!

God , I am 20!!!!!!!

Goofing in the bus

I am proud of this picture ,,, oh !! if you cant know what I was photographing then you have to look in the mirror .. loool

The flowers of Francisco in Konya

The flowers on my table , and emm one more thing: These are juice bottles , nothing suspicious

Thanks Francisco ,,,, See you soon enshalla :)

A day of kicking the routine: Da algo para la musica

Holaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Finally , I did it Today!! I woke up early , went to the dine and had my breakfast and headed toward the streets too early to get a glimpse of the true city where I am living.

Finally I had a feeling that I have been trapped in a routine and the worst part of it that I dont get to chose it. So I woke up early ,,,, I am so proud of me so so so proud ... I went to the Kiosk and bought a newspaper and went to Mirador de San Nicolas .. its a place where people go to see the sunset and the sunshine ,, I was there at almost 9 , I had my friend with me but she went to catch her class and I stayed.

At the beginning it was almost empty ,,, there were no one but me , Antonio the gypsy singer and Herminia (its not her name but I thought she looks like Herminia from "Ceuntame") ... She is an old lady ho sells Castanuelas , which are wooden instruments on the shape of a shell that flamenco dancers use to crack with there fingers ...

Antonio would sing with his gorgeous deep voice and Herminia would dance with her castanuelas with her stuffed body that looks like it had had a wide history of dance and beauty .... Ahhhhhhhhhh I was extremley happy listening and watching them while reading my paper and drinking cocacola .

Antonio would sing a song then hold the guitar as a spoon and make a round on all of these who watch him and say with all the confidence that exists in the world: "Da algo para la musica" " give something for the music" >> I gave him a euro and asked him to play me anything for Manolo Escobar mm he said nothing just went back to his place and played "Soy un hombre del campo" "I am a man from the village" and dedicated it to me!!! God I was so happy

Afterwards come a huge number of school students who assisted a class right there in front of Alhambra about legendes related to the palace,,, then came a class of little children ,, really little m but when Antonio started playing they offered him a lot of money..

I was surprised with the level of culture they have : A young person of 10 years would put a part of his pocket money for a gypsy singer ,, they do appreciate the beauty of this sidewalk art!!

I love this about Spain ,,, I think how blessed i am to be in a country where i can here a background music of my each and every moment....

Here are some pictures

The croos os the mirador and on the background you can see the Masjid of Granada :)

Herminia is the woman with the red jacket and Antonio (obviously) the one with the guitar

Thats the edge where i was sitting reading overlooking Alhambra

The Fielld trip >>>> very nice children ....

I will be back with the songs that Antonio sang ,,, I love you Granada .. I really and deeply do :(

Another wonderful feeling of Spain

Now as I watch my favorite Spanish TV Shows I can recognize the detilas of a spanish place ... The Telefunica (Public phones) ,,the Ciggarettes machine ,, the little words people do say and the streets , the buses , the metro (even though I have not been in one yet).. God !!! I am being reborn , I am so deeply happy for everything :)

Anyone got a compass?

I am too puzzled that I cant trust happiness ... Can I be happy for this or not? are you thinking? I tend to forget but also I tendo to remember in the worst timings ... I have to face it: Its not a recycle bin in my heart , there are feelings in there .. I dont know what to think or what to say , but what I really wanna do is look at today after 5 years .. I wanna know how will things turn out and how will I regeret or celebrate what is happening now ... God how much I "dont know what verb" you!!!

20 new feelings I never had before Spain

Hello Blog , I need not mention how much I miss you. Ahh I really miss posting right after the happening of incidentes ,, but its extremely hard around here . Its too hyctic and not organized ,,,

This post is dedicated to the new set of feelings that I got to feel around here in Spain >>> 20 Feelings they go like this :



1- Walking under the rain because I have to , not becuase I would love to.

Standing on Konya Pavement waiting for the rain to stop .. it never did that night!

2-Wearing a sweatshirt with the name of a University on it , just like those I see in american movies.

In my dorm room wearing my Universidad de Granada sweatshirt

3-Wearing lighting bunny ears in a public place



In Konya


4- Being extremely broke without a single cent to pay for anything

ATM screen with straight zeros on it



5 - Taking a picture with a money begger

This money begger does not move at all , you get to think that she is a showroom doll when she suddenly moves a flower in her hand!! Freaky!!

6- Live in someone elses ideas.

Nemrut , a restaurnat that my friends told me about . They described it with love that when I entered I felt like stepping into their heads



7- Being responsible for keys.

Keys of my dorm room





7- Taking a Flamenco class and feel extremely satsfied about my body infront of a giant mirror.

Everytime I tell myself: It cant get any better .. 4 classes so far and it keeps getting more wonderful each time !!



8- Talking to a crazy man who says he met the devil and had a personal encounter with Jesus

He was feeding cats some kind of bread with tuna in it .. he started talking to us , he had blue eyes that sparkle like glass and a cold deep look. Everytime I tried to tell him the verses of Quran we read to deal with Jinn he would not let me. He is so christian , but he agreed with everything I told him about Islam's point of view. My friends freaked out , I was freaked out. We wanted to go through a tiny street but he did not let us , then he disappeared... I got a feeling that I cant share , but he is something different.

9- Feel like I am in T.V series written by Dr.Waleed Saif and directed by Hatim Ali.

I was walking totally lost ,, I passed this street and when I left my head I saw the arch. It was there looking at me ... It was one of those moments when something is standing right there for everyone to see but it seems like no one really sees it but me...
This looked like a scene from the first episode of the TV show that shaped my personality and my life line "Rabee'e Cordoba" , when the protagonist "Mansour bin abi Amer" came out from the ryal palace knowing that his dream is going to come true .. he was walking in circles and when he passes from under an arch he jumped in joy!!!


10 - Entering places I dont know and may not be authorized to enter them just for the sake of taking an ugly picture

Columns inside the hospital of San Juan de Dios .. it does not look like a hospital in any possible way , its pretty much like a syrian house of those whom we see in bab el7ara!!.. still very nice :)

11 - Belong to a historical building , not only passing by one and wishing to belong to it

The building of my faculty : Faculty of Translation and Interpretation

12- Seeing a Non in person

A non wiating on the bus stop .. I love how they look , how they walk but what surprises me that perople areound here hate nons , especially girls!! No Idea why :(

13- Attending a mass in a cathedral

14- Doing some "Grown ups" shopping

Shopping for real necisities ,,, some shopping more than chocolate , chips and cocacola :)


15- Belonging to a coffee that the wiater and the staff feel like family and the place feels like home

Rami .. A jordanian humble guy who works in my favorite place "Konya" a Tea Salon and Shawarmeria... Its a place where I order things that are put in the menu ,, where I talk to strangers and feel totally and vividly happy and free.

16- Wandering around a foriegn country wearing a palestanian traditional costume

Me in Konya

17 - Sleeping a night in a spooky , bad guraded pesnion

Pension "Los montes" ,, Gran Via



18- Sneaking into a class room in great faculty and make belief we are Professors

Me in a classroom in Faculty of Law ... My old old dream :s

19- Asking people if I can take a picture of their properities

Who ever thought that I will be able to do so in Jordan!!! God how smooth and wonderful it is .. It goes like this : Can I take a picture of your shop ? and everyone is like: Of couuuuuuuurse!!!

The guy int this shop where I ate the first thing down my throat in Spain aplogized for his shop being dirty after a long day of work ... who caressssssssssssssss

I meant to take a picture of the guy , his name is Ryad Abu Zahra ,,, he is Iraqui and a wonderful friend of ours :)

20- Feeling like home in a place that is not Amman: Carlos Quinto
The door to my room 5107 :)

Goofing around in the playground of the residence

It has been a while ,,, things are losing the covers of fantasies ,, they are being colored by the colors of reality , and reality suddenly seems to be magically appealing :)

Hasta La Vista :)

Eres Tu : You are you ... I love it

Catedral of Granada

Gone

My Faculty : Traduccion e Interpretacion

Why waste the wall?

Its a policy of Granada ... all walls are drown on ... very nice: )