Football Unites, Football Rules

Whether you like it or not, football does unite people. It is the secret device that unleashes all the politicians' lies about people hating each other and shows to the world that people do not hate each other as much as your news bulletin or your leader sitting on his throne are trying to convicne you

Congratulations for Iraq!

-------------------------

This is a picture of Iranian and US players in a joined picture before their game in the 1998 World Cup.

في الاعادة إفادة

In my last year of medical school in Jordan, I had to do pediatric (children) clinics.

I was surprised when an adult patient stepped in with his mother.

I looked at his chart A note from 6 months ago said .... "Mental retardation, return to clinic in 6 months"

I asked his mother, "What's his problem?"

His mother answered, "some mental retardation"

I talked to the guy who was 18.

"What's your name?"

"Ahmad"
"Ahmad what?"

Then he smiled and didn't answer.

His mom said, "he doesn't know his last name"

"Can he read or write?"

"No"

"Does he go to a special school?"

She said, "There's none in our area, but he goes to regular school"

"And which grade is he in?"

"TAWJIHI", she said

I was a bit surprised, "Tawjihi!! If he can't read or write, how did he make it to Tawjihi?"

"The school principal didn't want to let him fail, there's some policy that he shouldn't be allowed to fail in the lower grades. Also his father went and talked to the principal to let him do Tawjihi"

"Is he sitting for Tawjihi exam this year?"

"Yes. He failed last year but this year we hope he can make it"

"Ok, I'm your doctor (although I was still a student then!) , and I can tell you he will never pass, tell his father to get him out of the school, and try to teach him something he can make a living from"

The mother was a bit upset by this news, as if it came as a surprise to her.

That took place in 2001. I hope Ahmad is not among those 46% who failed the Tawjihi exam this year.

Bad timing

I started going to the sexually-transmitted disease clinic, as a doctor not a patient. Last week I had a couple coming in for check-ups. Phil and I were in the clinic. He saw the guy and I saw the lady.

I asked the woman the usual questions, one of which was about how many sexual partners did she have in the past two months.

"I know that my husband is faithful, I know that for sure, but I've been with a guy last week. Also another man from work a month ago."

I had to check her boyfriend's chart to see if he had any infections because those can be transmitted. I saw Phil coming out of his room.

"Hey Phil I'm seeing this guy's girlfriend. What does he have?"
"Not sure yet, haven't looked at the slide yet, but sure he's got something. Jeez! Six women!"
"Oh I thought he was monogamous"
"hehe no! He said he thought his girlfriend was, but he went in a business trip to Mexico...."
"And had lots of business?"
"Yeah lots of business and probably some gonorrhea"

I went back to the woman's room for examination. Of course neither Phil or I would tell them about each other's histories because they were confidential.

I started hearing the sound of thunder outside. Arizona is a very hot place but in the summer we get lots of thunder storms, rain and flooding. Two days before that we had power outages because of the rain.

I was about the start the exam, the lady was ready, and just as I started the lights went off. Ooops! It's the electricity again! I waited for a few seconds, didn't say a word just waiting for the lights to come back again, but nothing!

It was a very bad timing. It was 7 pm so most of the sunlight was gone. I could manage to move my chair back, take off the gloves and try to reach for the sink to wash my hands.

The lady laying there asked, "What should I do"
The nurse helped her in the dark to get up, and told her to reschedule for next week's clinic.
The security dude brought his light and showed us the way out of the clinic. It was difficult to drive back home since some traffic lights were off because of the outage.
I'm hearing the rain now and I'm hoping that if we're going to get an outage it better be in reasonable time, and at a reasonable place!

Some kind of letter

I read this long time ago, I still find it interesting. In case you haven't read it please do, and don't jump to the end, read every line of it.
Fares
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi,
As you got up this morning,

I watched you and hoped you would talk to me,
even if it was just a few words, asking my opinion or thanking me for
something good that happened in your life yesterday - but I noticed you were to busy trying to find the right outfit to put on and wear to work.

I waited again.

When you ran around the house getting ready I knew there would be a few minutes for you to stop and say hello, but you were too busy.
At one point you had to wait fifteen minutes with nothing to do except sit in a chair. Then I saw you spring to your feet. I thought you wanted to talk to me
but you ran to the phone and called a friend to get the latest gossip.

I watched as you went to work and I waited patiently all day long.
With all your activities I guess you were too busy to say anything to me.

I noticed that before lunch you looked around, maybe you felt embarrassed to talk to me, you glanced three or four tables over and you noticed some of your friends talking to me briefly before they ate, but you didn't.

That's okay. There is still more time left, and I have hope that you will talk to me... yet you went home and it seems as if you had lots of things to do.

After a few of them were done you turned on the TV,
I don't know if you like TV or not, just about anything goes there and you spent a lot of time each day in front of it, not thinking about anything - just enjoying the show.

I waited patiently again as you watched the TV and ate your meal...
but again you didn't talk to me.

Bedtime - I guess you felt too tired.
After you said goodnight to your family you plopped into bed and fell asleep in no time.

That's okay
because you may not realize
that I am always there for you.
I've got patience
more than you will ever know.
I even want to teach you
how to be patient with others as well.
I love you so much
that I wait everyday for a nod,
prayer or thought or a thankful part of your heart.
It is hard to have a one-sided conversation.

Well you are getting up again and once again I will wait with nothing but love for you hoping that today you will give me some time.
Have a nice day!
Your friend,
God

Remembering a Jordanian Hero

If you're talking to a foreigner about Jordan, and want to tell him about famous people from Jordan, late King Hussein and other Royals would come to mind, but then you might get puzzled about who to mention next.

If the person you're talking to is a pilot or is interested in air shows, Omar Bilal is the Jordanian you can always mention with pride and confidence.

Omar Bilal was a Jordanian pilot who was a member of our Air Force.

He performed some outstanding shows and won several Championship Awards and best solo displays awards in the mid-1990s, including the International Championship Award in Belgium in 1994.

On this day (July 26th) in 1997, he was performing in Belgium. He suddenly lost control over his plane for reasons which are still unkown, and his plane crashed killing him and eight others. He was 30 years old.

He made me and every Jordanian proud with his performances and victories.

His cousin created a website in his memory , and I also created a facebook group for him. Feel free to visit or join.

Here's a video of the sad crash a decade ago

Another video of Bilal's performance in his cockpit, thanks who's-sane

Survery Results of Hareega

Here the results of the survery that you guys gratefully took last week. You still have 24 hours to answer the questions and enter the compeition to win a new 2065 Honda Civic.

I would like to thank everyone for all the time you've spent and the very important comments you've left. They will be very helpful for me in the future.

I will take this very seriously.

I will write most of the comments at the end (without mentioning the names of those who left them).

The results of the most common option selected will be in bold.

Number of people who took it : 53.

1- What's your gender (hopefully that's an easy question)
Male 32 (60.38%)
Female 21 (39.62%)
---------------

2- What's your age?

Younger than 19: 2 (3.77%)
19-24 : 17 (32.08%)
25-30 : 22 (41.51%)
31-40 : 9 (16.98%)
Older than 40 (don't be afraid to check this box) -3 (5.66%)
-----------------
3- How often do you read Hareega?

Almost daily 15 (28.30%)
2-3 times a week 19 (35.85%)
Once every week or two 16 (30.19%)
Once a month or less 3 (5.66%)
--------------
4- Where do you live most time of the year?

Jordan 26 (49.06%)
USA/Canada 15 (28.30%)
Europe 3 (5.66%)
The gulf 6 (11.32%)
Other Arab countries 1 (1.89%)
Other countries 2 (3.77%)

-------------
5- What makes you read Hareega? (Select all that apply)

Sports 16 (30.19%)
Social topics 47 (88.68%)
Politics 28 (52.83%)
Personal stories 48 (90.57%)
Videos and Pictures 20 (37.74%)

------------
6- What do you hate mostly about Hareega?

Sports 18 (43.90%)
The rough language 8 (19.51%)
Political opinions 7 (17.07%)
The blog design 16 (39.02%)
-----------------------

7- Should I blog in Arabic or English, or both?
Both 46 (86.79%)
Only Arabic 2 (3.77%)
Only English 5 (9.43%)
---------------------

8- What do you think of the design of the blog? (you can comment on this one)
I really like it 3 (5.77%)
It's acceptable 38 (73.08%)
It sucks 11 (21.15%)
--------------------
9- Among Jordanian blogs, where do you rank Hareega?

Best 10-15% 30 (56.60%)
Best 15-30% 15 (28.30%)
Best 30-70% 7 (13.21%)
Worst 30% 1 (1.89%)
---------------------

10- Have you ever asked someone to check out my blog?
Yes 27 (50.94%)
No 26 (49.06%)
----------------

11- Select all that applies to me


Arrogant 5 (9.62%)
Habeeleh (idiot) 5 (9.62%)
Critical 20 (38.46%)
Creative 37 (71.15%)
Funny 49 (94.23%)
Too liberal 10 (19.23%)
Too conservative 1 (1.92%)
Emotional 10 (19.23%)
Boring 1 (1.92%) (hey you who voted for boring, why the hell do you check my blog then :D )
-----------------------

12- How do you think I treat people who visit my blog?
Respectful 41 (80.39%)
Rude 0 (0.00%)
Biased 3 (5.88%)
Hypocrite 0 (0.00%) - thank you!
Needs to reply more to people when they leave a comment (even if there's nothing to reply to)
10 (19.61%)

------------------------
13- What do you like to see more in Hareega?

More photos with his camera 24 (48.98%)
More personal stories 39 (79.59%)
More politics 11 (22.45%)
Less politics 4 (8.16%)
More sports 6 (12.24%)
Less sports 14 (28.57%)
Change the design of the blog 15 (30.61%)
Have interviews with people 10 (20.41%)
Quit blogging 2 (4.08%)

-----------------------------------------

Reader's Comments:

** From reading your blog, it looks that you are a smart ass, and have an attractive way in writing. Keep it up.

**Your blog is just great, the only pro is that it is too dark... great job... God bless you.

** i dont like the fact that u curse..im sorry i know u're free to say what ever u want,but it doesn't serve the aim of some stories u write..i mean i like ur style a lot mashalah but i feel embarrassed reading those cursing words...sorry for saying so

** Change the design for God's sake


** Keep it up jonior.

** I just love the way you write and express your feelings, even others say your posts are too long that they don't read them all

** I liked mostly all ur entries except for those in Arabic language cos i aint fluent in dat. It takes hours to complete reading


** I didnt like it when you praised wasfi al tal, and I dont like one more thing which you can figure out yourself (if you are not going to trace me maybe some other people will), I mean you seem to be a smart person and your opinions are often reasonable but I cannot really understand why in this specific issue you dont seem to think logically, you seem to be following some false emotions.

(P.S. I will not trace you. Dunno how to even if I wanted!)


** I read ur posts no matter what they are, whether i like the subject or not. I just like hareega as is, with what he likes most and what he likes to share


** i honestly like your blog, i don't have a lot of comments on what i'd like to see more, just keep it up

** San7ak


** You remind of a blog version of House MD, keep up the great posts Firas...

** I loved your manaf explosion stories told within the context of terrorism....it was a riot! :)

** good in overall ... hat tip for ur Sport fanatics :)

** some posts contain uncomfortably obscene language

** I really love your Arabic posts, more please. I started reading your blog in Feb 2007 and I read it ALL, not one post I have not read :). Keep it up

** you know what i think about you,always funny and creative and kindhearted

** You Rock Hareega...

** hmmm well , ur blog is really interesting , i like the way u sum things up , ur articles are very meaningful even if they were short. I like the way you rationalize , though sometimes you use rough language. Thats all i guess :) good luck doc

** You should have left a blank box after almost every question for people who think "other" :) Sho hal qame3. At any rate- I enjoy visiting your blog because your posts are meaningful, varied, and well written! You might want to experiment with your blog design when you have the time. Good luck and keep those posts coming!

** I still feel bad for gettign on you about languae, I have scarred you for life. Great blog!

** Wish you all the best, o katherlna min suwar el niswan

** ur blog is honestly amazing , u talk about nice subjects, but i think you should have more attractive design because you have been here for two years!

**
كما قلت لك في استفتاء في العام الماضي، كتاباتك مضحكة و مبدعة و مسلية في آن واحد لكن مشكلتك أنّك لا تتحرج من استعمال بعض الكلمات التي يمكن تصنيفها على أنّها.... خارجة! في رأيي أنّك ستلقى المزيد من الاقبال ان توقفت عن استعمالها...

** Honestly, I didn't like most of the sport topics! I guess that the reason might be because they don't make me laugh or think about the world or the society I live in. The best topics I like are without any competition (In arabic: bila monafaseh! ) are your PERSONAL STORIES. Please, I hope that you put more space for your personal experiences!. Also, I would like very much to hear your opinion about the current world events. For example, articles like (ألإعجاز الأردني ). Finally, many and many thanks for every smile and thought you brought to me.

The colors used in the site are very dark, what is more, those colors are not homogenous with each other( i.e. Yellow with purple!).

** Your blog is one of my favorites, but you need to enhance it with more photos and for God sake, choose different colors :)... all in all you are doing great job man. Thank you for blogging

** yous style of writing is one of the best, it enormously fits the personal stories you tell, keep up the good job, And don't be bothered too much by the design, it's the contents that matters , although i actually like the dark blue you use, it's not bad!

** try to communicate with other bloggers more :)

Revenge

George W. Bush had a colonoscopy yesterday.
Colonscopy (tantheer el-kolon) is a procedure through which doctors insert a long tube from the anus down for a distance more than a meter to check for possible cancer or polyps.

It's an important procedure. I encourage everyone to have it done after the age of 50 because it can detect colon cancer in very early stages.

Now I'll forget that I'm a doctor and , unprofessionally, I would like to thank all of Mr. Bush's doctors for taking revenge for the rest of the world.

UPDATES:
(Thanks salam for the update)

George Bush had a colonscopy yesterday. It was performed by speaker of house Nancy Pelosi! Inside hsi colon they found his head and two reporters from Fox News :D

The zero that made a difference

I went through the GCE system in school (the good old GCE not iG or whatever). You can do exams in any subject you want, and the school encourages every student to sit for exams in all the subjects that the school provides.

Many students dropped religious studies, biology and English literature. I insisted on doing the first two, but when it came to English literature I was a bit hesitant. I knew my English sucked and besides that I had to read Shakespeare and a few other plays and novels.

I had a intelligent teacher, Dr. Nouha Homad, who was very pleasant and also had a PhD degree from the Sorbonne. I thought I'd give it a shot.

The grades kept coming, I was an "A' student in school but now I was getting 0.5/15 (that's half out of fifteen), 20/100, and so on. I was still an "A' student because those were among the best scores in class.

Once I wrote an essay about the Merchant of Venice. I thought it was a great one, at least I expected to pass, but I got a zero.

A big zero.

I went to talk to her.

"Hey Miss Nouha, shu hada?"

"Hayda zero"

"Whyyyyy?"

"Let me see"

She took my paper and started re-reading.

Then she looked at me and pointed to sentence I've written at the end. "Because of this", she said.

I read the sentence carefully, it said ".... because Shakespeare is a great writer"

I was surprised because I knew she respected Shakespeare.

"What's wrong with this sentence?"

"You said that Shakespeare was a great writer!!"

"Ok, what is wrong with that?"

She was a bit surprised at the question, the she smiled at me and said, "You can't judge Shakespeare honey"

So I was certain I would miserably fail if I would take the official GCE test so I dropped the exam. I still owe Homad lots of respect for her zeroes.

Next week, all the losers (me included) who had dropped out brought hummus , falafel and shaay and enjoyed a good breakfast in the literature class.

No, I have the most popular blog

Just kidding, that is my real rank on Alexa

"Not in the top 100,000"

There seems to be a lot of competition among Jordanian bloggers on who's the most popular and which has the most traffic.

That reminds me when some teams in the the fourth division of the Jordanian league play with each other and the game would end up with a big fight and the referee would be assualted and some players get injured. At the end one team won but everyone will stay in the fourth division.

It was nice from Pulp magazine to mention Jordanian blogs when most Jordanians don't know what a blog is.

I'm glad there a few people checking this blog who read and respect what I say and leave some comments about things that they liked or didn't like. That's more important to me than numbers.

تقول اهواك

This song and clip were among the best in the Arab world that year.

Al-Mirage was a real band.
Enjoy their best song....

الكرك وأخواتها

وأنا قاعد ببحر في الأنترنت اكتشفت إنو الكرك لها مدينة شقيقة "صيصطر سيتي" هي بيرمنغهام في ولاية آلاباما الاميريكية

و بمناسبة هذا الاكتشاف أوجه التحية إلى إخوتنا الألباموية وعلى رأسهن الأخت كوندليزا الأرز والأخت العزيزة مونيكا من المسلسل الثقافي افريندز بنات مدينة بيرمنغهام

وتحية صادقة للكركية ومدينة الكرك والله يكثر من خواتها

Words of people you'll never get to meet

"I'd rather be fishing."

Jimmy Glass, before his execution in 1987

----------------------------------------------------

"Am I dying or is this my birthday?"

Lady Nancy Astor, When she woke briefly during her last illness and found all her family around her bedside

---------------------------------------

"In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first: an attempted suicide."

Christine Chubbuck, An American news reporter. After she said that she pulled a gun and shot herself in the head, live on air during a news bulletin in 1974.

---------------------------------------

"Tell them, tell them to not evacuate"

The pilot of a Saudia flight in 1980. The plance caught fire just after taking off. The pilot returned to the airport and landed safely with everyone still alive on board. After landing he did not turn his engines off, open any door in the plane or ask for emergency help. It took 23 minutes for firefighters to get to the plane and everyone was dead by then.

It was later revealed that the First Officer failed in his training program and the Flight Engineer was a dyslexic who also confused right with left. The 301 people on board all died on the ground.

-----------------------------------------

"There's one underneath."

" I was looking at that inbound there."

"Whoop!"

"Aghhh!"

..... Sound of impact ....

"On shit!"

"Easy baby, easy baby."

"What have we got here?"

"We're hit man, we are hit."

"Tower, we're going down, this is PSA."

"Tower: Okay, we'll call the emergency equipment for you."

"This is it baby!"

" Brace yourself.""

Hey baby.. "

"Ma I love you.."
The above was heard in the cockpit of a Pacific Southwest Airlines flight after it collided with another plane and crashed to the ground in 16 seconds, killing 144 people.

My black box

"This pager has fallen before in the toilet seat, but I picked it up. Take care of it!"

I said that as I was handling my pager to the new intern who was starting her residency next week.

She looked with the utmost digust at me, and a little bit of disbelief.

Imagine yourself exhausted, tired and hungry, you've been at work since 6 in the morning and now it's 8 pm, despite all of that you still have to stay at work till next day, probably for the next 16 hours you'll be stuck there, not just signing papers but actually trying your best to save lives because you're the only person in the hopsital supposed to do so.

That's not just one bad day I had, that was my lifestyle for three years where I had more than 150 nights similar to the ones above. My only companion during these nights was my pager, always hanging there with me. If any patient is coming to the hospital, to the ICU, on a breathing machine or with ten medications pouring in drips into his body, I was the assigned person to take care of him. If any patient already in the hospital gets sicker, I was supposed to run there to check on him and treat him ASAP.

The only was I could be contacted was through my pager. If something wrong happened to my pager some patients can really be hurt that night. I was in the bathroom, and believe me sometimes you don't have time to rush to bathroom, after I was done and thank God after flushing the toilet my pager slipped through my pocket into the very deep waters of the toilet seat, so deep that I could barely see where it was.

If it was a 500-dollar cell phone I would have left it there, even if it was my apartment key or a 100-dollar bill I would let it go, but this was my pager. I didn't give it a second of thought, I closed my eyes and ran my hand deep in the toilet to pick up the damn pager or as we call it the bitch box, because whoever carries that pager is nicknamed the bitch, just reflecting how s/he was being treated. I could have called Tech support in the hospital and they could have given me a new pager in a couple of hours, but a lot of patients can get ill or even die in those 2 hours, so I had to pick it up.

Many times I felt like grabbing my pager and smashing it into the pinkish wall at the nurses station. Many times I would find myself talking to the pager and calling it names, and this damn pager has been the main "character" in at least ten of my dreams. That's not only me, that's the experience of tens of thousands of doctors doing their residency in the US and probably everywhere else.

Earlier in July I handled my bitch box to this new intern who doesn't have a full idea how can this pager become a part of her family. I got a new pager from the new department I will be working at.

But nothing is like that good old pager. It's the only witness to the nights I spent in the hospital, the very stressful times when three patients start crashing in different parts of the hospital, or when a nurse calls saying "this patient was doing great this morning but his hear rate is dropping and he's not waking up".

With the extreme relief I had upon finishing my residency and getting rid of that pager, I felt a bit sad to see someone else carrying those loads of memories, having the name of someone else placed on my mailbox, or having the new code to my old call room changed. I really miss being the bitch.

----------------------------------------

(By the way if you haven't taken my blog survery yet please do now, Click here)

Two years of Hareega... Answer This!!

With posts about Khabeesah and a Sudanese woman, Hareega started two years ago.

Thank you for checking out my blog.

Answer this survey and be honest about it.

Here's the link:

http://www.createsurvey.com/c/54922-zK60EB/

Congratulations

In the U-20 World Cup in football

Spain defeated Brazil 4-2
One week before that, Spain defeated our U-20 national team 4-2

We suck as much as Brazil does

Messi El Tamasi

Messi the teenager proved again to be the best player in the world these days. He's played great matches in Copa America so far and lead his team, with other brilliant stars, to the final of Copa America on Sunday against Brazil.

Enjoy watching this goal he scored yesterday against Mexico, enjoy watching the Mexican keeper throw himself unable to even touch the ball.



and by the way, Europe can go to hell. Copa America is the real football, where the winner would have at least scored some 12-15 goals in his way to the cup.
Who told me won the last European Cup? Christos Anesti?

Speaking of Jordan.....

I started my sub-speciality (fellowship) in Infectious Disease last week. I spent it in the lab with Chris, another colleague. We were sitting on the same bench enjoying watching viruses under the microscope.

Chris, "Where are you from Ferris"
I said, "Jordan"
"Aha, speaking of Jordan..... have you heard about that Jordanian doctor in London who..."
I interrupted him, "Yeah it's so sad how a doctor can do something like that".
Then I was hoping we would go back to watching viruses.

Instead, he pulled over to the next computer and opened a webpage. He started reading.... "Forty-five doctors inside the US planning terrorist activites on American Soil"

"Are you serious?"
"Yes!" and he read the whole article.

I went back to watching viruses with Wung but he opened another website.
"Dude, this Jordanian doctor contacted the ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates). He wanted to come to America!"

"Yeah I heard that, I also had to apply here through the ECFMG"
"Is that right?"
"Yes, all foreign medical graduates have to apply through the ECFMG"
"Did that guy study in Jordan"
"Yes, he went to the University of Jordan"
"Is that where you went for medical school?"
"Yep"
"Was he a creepy student?"
"I don't know man, I finished 2 years ahead of him, don't remember seeing him before"

Although I'm on good terms with everyone here, but I'm sure that some of my colleagues thought, at least for a second, whether or not I could be involved in this or if I could be one of those "forty-five doctors" who are planning to kill people here in America.
----------------------------------------

This week we had a small conference. I was sitting there and incidentally another Jordanian doctor was sitting there as well.
One doctor said after he saw both of us, "Well I'm sure you heard the news about Jordan this week!"

As I was thinking "Please God kill me before I hear this story again" the other Jordanian was more positive and she knew that he was referring to Petra being chosen as a new world wonder.

"It seems to be a very beautiful city" he said.

"Oh yes" and she spent the next five minutes talking about Petra and its history.

Although I previously considered this contest rubbish, and that civilizations should not be compared and voted for, but I was really glad to see Jordan being associated with a very positive thing. Our reputation in "the West" is not all that goood but that's partially our fault.

We should focus on any achievement Jordan reaches even if it was a Jordanian winning a contest for the man with the longest moustaches or the one who can eat most pickles in a minute.... anything , anything but violence and backwardness can always be appreciated.

By the way, I invited Chris to a big mansaf that day in a local restaurant, after he was done he forgot all what he had read that day in the news.

Papa Don't Preach

The Pope is not just a regular citizen or an ordinary Christan who has the right to say whatever he wants anytime.
Everyone listens to what he says, everyone takes his statements seriously and sometimes very seriously.
His statements about Prophet Muhammad angered many Muslims last year and although I do not agree in any way with all the violence that came in response to these statements I'm surprised how a representative of the Catholic church allows himself to stir hatred and nonacceptance with a statements that nobody was expecting him to say.

Yesterday the Vatican announced that non-Catholic churches are not considered full churches, suffering from a wound because they do not recognize the primacy of the Pope.

I understand the conflicts and struggles that churches went through in the past, but it's difficult to me to understand why did the Pope come up with this statement that again, nobody was waiting or expecting him to come up with.

One year of Zizou

A genius from Arabia, playing for The Blues

The World Cup he'd won, the Champions League too

His name is Zinedine Zidane, and they call him Zizou

This Petra should have won!

Petra Nemcova should have been selected among the seven World Wonders.

By the way, am I the only Jordanian who has gone almost every where inside Jordan, visited several countries but has never ever been to Petra?

Also am I the only Jordanian among those who never visited Petra that tells non-Jordanians that "I've visited Petra and it's gorgeous you should go there one time" ?

الإعجاز الأردني

أول ما توصل عالمطار بتلاقي شرطي الجوازات مكشر بوجهك بسألك من وين أصلك

بتقعد تستنى بالشنط نص ساعة وبتفقع من ريحة الدخان جوَا المطار، ما في حدا بحترم التعليمات

إذا بدك تاخذ تكسي فهدفه الرئيسي يعرف كيف يضحك عليك...العداد بالنسبة إله مجرد أداة لا معنى لها تماما كفرشاة الأسنان ومزيل رائحة العرق

الأماكن السياحية في عمان شبه مهجورة باستثناء الغنم بروح برعى هناك بين فترة وفترة

إذا في سائحة غلطت و لبست شورط قامت قيامتها

الناس بتسوق زي البهايم وما في خارطات واضحة لعمان لذلك من غير المعقول لسائح أن يستأجر سيارة سياحية

معظم السياح يزورون الأردن في الصيف إلا أن معظم الأماكن تخلو من المكيفات لذلك يسيح السائح من شدة الحر
المناطق السياحية أصبحت مراكز للنصب على الناس والشواطئ أصبحت مزابل

مبروك اختيار البتراء معجزة جديدة حسب تصنيف برنارد وبر لكن يبدو أن المعجزة الحقيقية بحسب تصنيف محسوبكم حريقة هي أن يصبح الأردن جاهزاً لاستفبال السياح ومعاملتهم بشكل لائق

Best National Anthem

في عيد استقلالهم

احتلال دام مائة وثلاثين عاماً لم يمنعهم من المقاومة، وفي أواخر تلك الأعوام مارس الفرنسيون كل أنواع التعذيب ضدهم وذبحوا مليونا منهم لكنهم نالوا استقلالهم كما أرادوا

أتمنى أن نتعلم من قصتهم وألا تكون ذاكرتنا قصيرة

هاظا كليب بهالمناسبة أوله بدون صوت أبصر ليش

I'm a professional male prostitute and a part-time drug dealer

That's what I will answer if someone asks me what do I do for a living.
These days that's better than being an Arabic doctor.

For all the Atafeel out there

In case you didn't know, we celebrated (or were supposed to celebrate) Children's Day in Jordan and the Arab world on the 4th of July.

I would like to share with the miserable Arab children this occasion,

if you're in a great mood, watch this lovely song- vola vola palombella- for the Syrian/ Italian girl more than 20 years ago on an Italian channel.



If you're in a bad mood, watch this (I do not agree with what's written at the very end but I liked the rest of it)

Asha? I don't think so!

Mohammad Asha ..... University of Jordan- Faculty of Medicine (1998-2004)
Yours Sincerely ........... University of Jordan- Faculty of Medicine (1996-2002)

In case you don't know, the faculty of medicine is a really small one, and between the 4th and 6th year students spend all of their time at the University Hospital and less often at other hospitals like Al-Basheer, so many students in these years know each other's faces or names. Although I could not remember this guy despite the good ten minutes I spent staring at my monitor trying to remember him, I'm certain that I ran across him in some hallway or perhaps tried to bypass him in the long standing line at the hospital's cafeteria.

The reason I cannot remember him specifically is that his face looks very familiar. It's the commonest face you encounter in any faculty in Jordan. His beard (according to previous pictures) was not as thick, and that makes him look like 30-40% of male students at the JU.

There are a few reasons why I believe this doc might be innocent.

First, he graduated from the Jubilee school. I'm familiar with this school since I was accepted there in 1994 but was discouraged from joining it by my parents because it was brand new and didn't have a GCE program. However, the school was unique in the way it enlightened its students about other cultures. Its students not only scored well in subsequent years but also were able to study abroad and intermingle with people from other countries extremely well.

Another thing worth-mentioning: It's not only that his father said in an emotional interview with a fox news reporter today that his accused son missed many Fridays prayers and was more willing to read Gray's Anatomy than the Quran, but it's because the Jordanian intelligence mentioned that he had clean records prior to leaving Jordan.

We all know it's not easy easy to have a "clean record" in Jordanian intelligence. They know everything. We know very well that there "Mokhabart" listening to and reading everything any Jordanian says or writes down. They know each person who belong to any Islamist movement inside the university, they know who walks in demonstrations and who organizes them and they know who's friends with who and who are the students who pray in the small prayers places scattered around the university. You might argue whether or not all of this is necessary but my point is that if Asha was really involved with something like Al Qaeda or any militant group he can never have a clean record in the Jordanian intelligence.

Things might have changed after he left to the UK, and we know how fanatic some Islamic movements are there, but their target is usually very young Muslim men who have many financial and/or social problems, and that doesn't apply to Asha. The salaries they give to medical residents there are way better than those they give to residents in the US.

I went through the same life that this person went through for many years, and we had different students/doctors graduating from our class. Yes some were very religious , or even supported Hamas or Hizbullah but I can't buy it that someone would be seriously involved in a militant group or planning an attack on civilians. Our past and present makes it almost impossible for anyone to think of something other than medicine.

Other than beard and the wife I feel I have a few things common with this guy, just like hundreds of other Jordanian doctors who live outside Jordan. We went through the pain of medical school, the the pain of doing it in Jordan which is not a pleasant experience, then going through the process of doing exams and later leaving our homes to focus on starting new lives and all of that making it difficult for me to buy the story of "Doctor Evil". Once in medicine you'll always stay in medicine and, unfortunately, you'd suck in anything else, and that makes it unlikely that Asha had planned for all of this.

أولاد حارتنا

في كل حارة أردنية ولاد بلعبو فطبول... أنا كنت الطشة لكن بسبب حجمي المضاعف كنت أوقف عالغول... وكان في لعيبة نص نص و كان لازم يكون في واحد او اثنين لعَيبة نعتمد عليهم في مباراياتنا مع فرق الحواري المجاورة.

كل ولد كان عنده لاعب مفضل وأحيانا يقلده مثل مارادونا أو زيكو أو فان باستن أما انا كنت شوي واقعي وكان لاعبي المفضل دبوس من أبطال الملاعب

أولاد الحارة اللعَيبة هم من شكَل منخبنا الوطني للشباب الذي هزم الصين وتأهل لكأس العالم في كندا وسيبدأ اليوم مشواره في البطولة التي سيلعب بها ورثة مارادونا وزبكو وفان باستن

والاردن بالمناسبة الدولة العربية التي تأهلت

ان شالله الشباب يرفعوا راسنا ..مش كل يوم بنتأهل لكاس العالم

هذا كليب بعد ما فزنا عالصين وتأهلنا، خالد الغول منفعل شوي