Maxim Shaaya back from the North Pole

Yo Leb people, one of my fave Lebanese persons, Maxim Shaaya, is back in Beirut from the North pole. He is now one of only 12 people who have completeed the Explorers Grand Slam, i.e. made it to Everest and the other six summits, the South Pole, and the North Pole. Way to go!!!

By the way, Maxim Shaaya also reminds me of Hisham. When Hisham and I were going to Sudan in March 2007 we were first on a plane that headed to Cairo. Maxim Shaaya was on that plane as well. I didn't recognize him, simply because I don't pay attention to people around me AND I suck at recognizing people usually lol; but Hisham pointed out that it was him and I was like: Oh, yaa ... I am a big fan of that dude lol ... Hisham would have been very proud of Maxim today ...

Later edit: It has come to my attention that a lot of people googling Maxim Shaaya reach this page (it actually ranks third on Google's returned list); so I thought I would do you guys/gals a favor. To get better search results: google the French spelling 'Maxime Chaya'. Alternatively, here is a direct link to his blog: www.thethreepoles.com

Biting My Finger----s

I dunno why I decided to share this; but here goes
I was never a kid who bit her fingernails, like the other kids. Instead, I would bite my fingers! Ya, the flesh around my fingers. When I am stressed I bite more, and it would be unconsciously! Sometimes I go very deep that blood comes out ...
Anyhoo, here is a proof of my stress levels (thumb and two middle fingers)


That is one side of one hand ...

On Sounding Bri'ish

Sarah called a few days ago to ask about something related to translating and pronouncing an Arabic word. After several sentences were exchanged she said in a frustrated tone, and I quote, "Iman you sound so British, it is scary" to which I replied "well I have been in this country for six effing months; it is about time I sound Bri'ish* and say that I ea'* po'a'os* ... "; she didn't like my answer and pointed out that I completely lost my accent and that I don't even sound Lebanese anymore! lol

I don't find that I don't sound Lebanese anymore; I certainly haven't lost my Lebanese accent when speaking Arabic (true Lebanese can never loose their Lebanese accents :P lol); though now I tend to speak full Arabic sentences with minimum use of English words which is weird for a Lebanese lol

* Bri'ish = British, ea' = eat, po'a'os = potatos: to sound like a true British you must swallow your t's and never say them :S (the only exception is if the t was the first letter of the word!)

P.S: Yes, I am now using the word effing instead of f***ing. Sheena doesn't like it; she says that I might as well say f***ing.

More Quick Updates

Badr came to Southampton on Sunday April 5th. We wanted to tour around but discovered that Southampton has absolutely nothing to offer tourists, apart from a couple of museums. But it was fun having him around and getting to know the place. He went back to Jeddah on the 15th after having spent a whole month here.
The last two weeks of Easter vacation passed by so so quickly with me not doing much progress on my coursework :( For around 10 days I was homesick all the time that I couldn't focus properly on what I was doing. Also, I was sad discovering that each funding opportunity I was thinking of is only available to UK/EU students. I love my country so much but sometimes it sucks not having support from your government or proper institutions.
We finally started our group meetings for our group projects two days ago but we have loads of work to do. Classes start on Monday!!!!!!
I got my final exams schedule and I have my three final exams on three consecutive days - which actually makes me more stressed out though I am sure I would love it once I am done. I really want to go to Lebanon after semester 2 but I don't want to go till after the elections are over; though if I wait till after the elections are over I may not be able to go; so I don't know what to do .. all I know is that I really miss everything and everyone.

Very Quick Updates

Yo people, here are some very quick updates...this is how it is gonna be from now on as I need to do work and focus on my coursework instead of writing very long blog posts:
I celebrated my birthday twice, the first on March 25th and the second on April 2nd.
On March 25th we all went to a Lebanese restaurant in Portsmouth - it wasn't as good as the one in Bournemouth. We were: Sheena, George, Fleur, Becky, Ji, Mien (another ECSWomen member who is a Chinese Malaysian), Badr (who came all the way from London!), Darko, Martin (Darko's friend), and Martin's friend whom I can't remember his name because he has a foreign Lithuanian name. We then all went to Martin's place for a house party, apart from Badr who had to go back to London.
On April 2nd Sheena, George, and three of my course-mates (Ezgi, Li, and Markus) and I went out for lunch. Then Markus and I went to Ezgi's place so we can have arghili. I didn't do any work on my birthday (nor the day after it lol)
On March 5th Badr came to Southampton so we tour here, though to our disappointment we discovered that there is nothing here to tour lol. There are three museums but we only had time to visit one attraction - wasn't that impressive. We also wanted to have Shakeaway but the place was closed lol. But we took a lot of pictures and I am sure they will be posted on facebook soon (I forgot my camera at home so they would be in Badr's profile)
Basically this is it...two weeks have passed from the Easter vacation and two more to go ... I have TONS of work and I am getting stressed out more and more by the hour ... wish me luck people

Miss you all A LOT,,,,I have been thinking a lot about Lebanon lately and I really miss everything about it and I miss you all guys and all the time we spent together and all the places we used to go to and all the activities we used to do :( I think I am feeling homesick a lot lately.

April: My favorite and least favorite month of all!

I love April. It is the month Mother Nature gets in the mood of flowering and blossoming and becoming green again. I love the combination of cold wind and warm sun. It is not too cold and not too hot.
But, I also hate April ... most bad things happen in April ! (OK maybe I didn't calculate all bad things and produced a statistical analysis of what month has the most bad things - that would have been TOOOOOO geeky :P; but for me, April has a lot of bad memories and bad anniversaries!)
April Fool's
My Birthday - love it for the gifts; hate it for that number which increments by one every April 2nd :P; by the way I am turning 21 this year *ehem *ehem (in addition to what Sheena calls very 'few years of experience' in being 21 LOL)
My mom's cousin "died"
Titanic Sank
Hisham got into his deadly accident
(Third) Lebanese civil war started (officially) on 13th April 1975
1996 Israeli invasion of Lebanon - Operation Grapes of Wrath - and Qana massacre
(I am sure I have forgotten some events as well :P, and even if I haven't those listed above are all very tragic; apart from April Fool's :P)

Also it is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the U.S. - COME ON PEOPLE!

But I am also happy for two of my friends Reem and Noura who are getting married on the 8th and 7th of April :)


Later Edit: I just remembered that Chernobyl disaster also took place in April; it is claimed to be the costliest accident in history! There you go folks ... :P