A New Year

Happy new year.
last week i didnt go neither to mosul nor to any place outside baghdad. first of all my dad refused the idea then i had to do some medical investigations,i took many days off, i'll talk about that in another post.
this year i didnt go out and celebrate as the last one.
today is the first day of 2009 but the celebrations was over as i went to almansour few hours ago. i remembered last year it continued.may be because its tooooooo cold :).
the biggest step in 2008 was the blog, i created it in september 2007 but started my first post on jan 2008 after the encouragement of mama and her daughter sunshine.i had many goals that i couldnt achieve last year that im hoping to accomplish this year.
Btw, you remember dr"O", i talked about him in a previous post. he is in new zealand now.
i hope peace will shake the iraqis' hands and step into the houses.

Iraq Has a Chronic Illness

everytime i tried to challenge the deterioration, i was disappointed.on saturday the first patient came and her tooth was indicated for extraction,i gave her aneasthesia but the forceps and instruments were not sterilized. i stood gazing at the instuments and was very angry.there was no electricity,nor the generator,so i had to dismiss the patient and apologize for a fault that wasnt mine.
i talked to one of the employees and asked him about the generator he said "the generator is ok,and was working,the fuel is available but the battery needs to be changed". for god's sake,its been a month since i started my work and we have a 150 amp. generator with fuel not working because of a battery and we need it for sterilization,illumination,air conditioners and and and.i didnt mention other dental services because we dont offer any except extraction.
the manager deputy came and i explained what happened. he said we demanded a battery.
i felt disappointed.patiens came and i'm helpless.at that day all the patients were dismissed,some took medications.
today at work i heard that the off days were changed and the whole schedule.i was astonished,i asked my colleagues,they said "yes last week,and today is supposed to be your off" i replied "why you didnt say?". i dont know why they didnt came to agree for which day,moreover i came early today and no one told me its my off until i asked them.
on friday i decided to go on a trip for a few days,i realize now its the best time for a trip.
i need to change the routine at least for few days.
my vacation will start on tuesday,then after going back i will visit mosul.
i was about to forget to tell you that my sister came and said that many college students of engineering in al-mustansiriyah came at morning this day to the head of the university and the students union demanding to protest against the action of some military forces that entered the college and hit and drag many students, the dean was beaten and humiliated by the soldiers at the college centre. my sister wasnt sure of those informations that was loudly declard by the shouting students and they were very angry.it seems that not only the dean of the medicine college of mosul included,but in a different way.
i'm praying to end this mess.its not a life,it's just like a zoo.
from time to time i was trying to forget similar events and think of a better future but how it comes to be a good future with such events.it's been 5 years after war,and previously lived in a blockade and war after war since i was born during eightys.
i feel that im losing my time.instead of being creative and make progress, we are spending our time and efforts on living only and how to save ourselves.

BBB:Baghdad,Bomb and Bush.

Hi,
In the last few days I witnessed many events. first after eid i went to the health centre and found only 2 colleagues there.the health office decided before eid to lessen the numbr of dentists.so they included the last six dentists according to time of starting work at the centre. i was supposed to be the first name but since im not completely registered in the office i will be kept working at the same place,until now im taking my salary from mosul.
we bought gloves from a pharmacy for extracting teeth since we are not supplied with,yet.
a photo of the dental clinic:


Today i was about to lose my mind. as usual i was going to work but on the highway there was a horrible traffic jam and the cars were stopped. there was a road side bomb and the road wa closed so we follow the old way to abu ghreib that passes near the military base of almuthanna. its a narrow way with many obstacles and checkpoints. again the cars were crowded there and some drove on the sides,the american vehicles were outside the road and the dust and chaos all over the place.two funerals were waiting to pass.i was so angry. why we are suffering everyday? i couldnt reach work until 10:30 and i was considered lucky because many employees couldnt make it.
before eid i sterilized all the dental instruments as we had electricity that day but now we are freezing because we dont have electricity and im planning to fix the dental chairs,im feeling helpless and guilty toward the patients that we are not offering them but extraction.
the second event was what Muntather did during the last press conference with the almaliki and bush.anyhow i will not mention what happened but ive seen that almost 98% are with alzeidi including me.if bush said he was just to show him self i see that "if" he wa showing himself "and im sure he wasnt" i reply and all iraqis are saying that he expresses our feelings toward bush,people were/are happy.and why the iraqi government now are trying to accuse him of an attempt of attacking a president, wasnt he expressing his opinion freely? wasnt that the reason behind the whole war? to express our opinions freely in a democratic way. they are annoyed,why???? the iraqis are demanding to relaese him immediately,if there is a true democracy they should follow the public decision and release him,if they are claiming "we are a democtratic free country", they treated him by hiting and pull him from his hair.
some said that will reflect the picture of iraqis and their hospitality, the iraqis are always known by their hospitality and if anyone will come or intend to visit iraq we will welcome him and take care of him but not bush, he is an unwelcomed visitor.
others didnt accept what he did simply because they didnt live or experience by their eyes what happened and is happening in iraq.
now there is a game on the internet called the sock and awe about bush.it accounts points according to how many times you hit bush by the shoe using the mouse.
On monday students of Al-mustansiriyah university gathered at the university centre demanding to release alzeidi,the second day i went there to take some pictures but there was a ceremony of alghadeer occasion and most of them were at the theatre, here the photos:

in this one thay wrote:we are demanding to release muntather.
while in this they praised him for his act.


btw:it was my first time to see the university theatre, i entered trough a door but it was unusual!!,i wanted to exit from the other door and suddenly i saw the stage,i thought "if i will go through this door, i might be on the stage and all attendants may laugh,as in movies!!" haha so i slowly looked behind the curtains and saw the bodyguards of the head of the university stood on the stage, i walked forward,said hello and took the camera from the laptop bag. i began to take plenty of photos and videos.no one was allowed to stood on stage except the singers
.here are some photos:




I intend to visit mosul soon,may be at the end of the month.
B.D

The Eid in Baghdad

Hi,
Eid began on monday.we are celebrating now. the first day we kept in house many guests visited us,friends relative.after every eid prayer the we and neighbours gradulate and visit each other.my brother and sister came with their families.the guests didnt stop flowing until afternoon.at about 6p.m. i went to the wedding party of our neighbour. it was a nice one.every one was dancing and laughing. i saw many boys and girls who grew up. my sister's family stayed,the next day we went to manny neighborhoods in baghdad just hanging over. at night we went to Al-Rubei'y street. i like it because the shops are great and its the only one without concrete barriers on pavements and the people their are more motivated than other where you find trush,concrete barriers,just like chaos!!.there were horrible traffic jams everywhere bcoz of the checkpoints.
we had supper at blue sky restaurant and sat outside on the balcon that you may see the whole street.i took pictures and videos to share them with you.


i cant upload the video right now, video of people were gathered around a DJ as in above pic and dancing.with all these celebrations, they were scared of suicide bombers. i heard some parked their cars in a garage to avoid sticky bombs,and the park owners said to us"we are checking every car because the sticky bombs are increasing these days"
A group of boys came with a horse.they were shouting, a real mess ocurred..one of the government superiors came and the road was closed by his armoured hamvies and men. annoying.thanks god both of the two didnt last long.
today is the third day and we are giong to a wedding party too.Im wishing to go to many places but im limited to few ones,one of the causes are the closed roads,i used to see every destrict in baghdad but now if you pass through a way next week you'll find it closed.without mentioning the ruined ones.
i planned to write the post last night but i was tired and felt asleep.
i will continue later.i have to go now,sorry the post contain many mistakes.

B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D/B.D

At last,i finished uploading the video:




i went to the wedding party and didn't wait till the end.i kept playing with my lovely nephews that night.next day,thursday,i woke up late,had breakfast at about 12!!.guests came and kept for lunch.i decided to go to Al-Karrada afternoon,but my parents adviced me to avoid passing there because from time to time explosions occurred,they were worried so the plan failed.anyhow, i couldn't keep at home and just watch t.v,so i went to many neighborhoods in Alkarkh side of baghdad.
today (friday) another plan cancelled :),i intended to go to Babil hotel swimming pool but my father said that a father of a friend died. so i cancelled it and will go to the funeral with my brothers.
i missed my friends.i have few friend now not exceeding fingers of a single hand.while before war in any street or a quarter in baghdad i had manny friends in. the dentists at work i didn't know them well,not yet.

Floods

Hi,
i began my work in abu ghreib.we are 15 dentists in the health centre.6 males and 9 females. I havent met some of them till now.I met dr "E" she was with me in college.
The dental services limited to extraction only.and extraction is limited to 5 patients in a day.we dont have sufficient anaesthesia necessary for dental treatment. lack the filling materials,the dental chairs "which are two" are not working,one is new but with technical problems without mentioning electricity problem.
yesterday,we bought cotton from a nearby pharmacy to extract teeth.a child was brought by two teachers after a seizure attack at school. the physician tried to find a 5cc syringe and "water for injection" but they were over too. one of the teachers went to a pharmacy by his car to buy for the injection.The health services are miserable, I've noticed that the physicians tried their best with available facilities.After two hours I found myself alone in the dental clinic.some went to the main office,others went to give polio vaccines to the children neighbourhood as a part of a program lasting 5 days.I liked to participate instead of sitting without work but one said that money will be given to participants,so i "pulled my self" to allow others to take part who in need of it.
The city of abu ghreib is safe,the national guards are walking freely,in the previous period they couldnt,the head general of city forces ordered soldiers and policemen to enter unarmed to local shops and any institute.
The civil and army cargo planes are flying above us at low heights since baghdad international airport is neighbouring abu ghreib.
The manucipalty paved the main road of the city last week and painted the pavements but after the rainy days, the spots where the rain gathered among it were the only defects!!!,it was not straight but rippled.
I said spots of gathered water is better than floods of Al-rusafa side of baghdad where in some streets even the cars couldnt pass.TV news showed the road near the Baghdad Mancilaty was sank and the employers couldnt reach the office.

*I'm thinking to stop blogging because i began blogging to share my thoughts and show the picture of baghdad and iraq generally but I havent seen a change took effect after publishing even I feel my thoughts seem not interesting to read.