Snakes
I took 89/100 in DELF A2. I want to continue studying French. I headed to the Institue Francais en Irak and inscribed for the courses that will help me prepare for the B1 examination. They were kind enough to photocopy for me the pages I need for the coming lesson, till they bring new books that I can use. I went home glad. I looked at the photo of the lesson and it was little strange. Somebody, a female body?, playing flute? in a forest, nearby a river, and there are snakes. I googled the name of the painter Henry Rousseau and see other paintings by him. I went to sleep. Today I woke up early refreshed. Yesterday I ...
Source: psychiatry for all - April 20, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Did Solomon Called the Queen of Sheba by Mobile Phone?
I was in “The Book Club” last Wednesday in Kerbala. A new novel by Ala’a Mashthub was recently published. In that novel Mashtoub talks about history of Iraq. He doesn’t name them frankly but his protagonists seems to be: Arbaham, Ismail, Hajir, Hamourabi, and others. An old man commented that Mashthub is fabricating. Mashthoub answered: “I don’t understand what is fabrication, do you mean collage?”Another attendee, Jasim A’asi, reminded us of a short story by Jaleel Al-Qaisy in which the protagonist flies in a space ship to Sumer and meets ancient people. A’asi said that the novelist’s duty is not that ...
Source: psychiatry for all - April 14, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Tea in the Jar
Thursday 6 p.m. Two bags, one is held by hand, the other is on the back. Both are heavy. Both are not so clean. The door is little heavy to open. It was didn't opened for the last few days. He puts the bags on the ground and try again. The door is opened. Take the bags from the ground and go in. A smell of dust. Mixed with some other things. The kitchen has its acidic aroma too. He doesn't mind it. Actually he likes it. He is so sleepy. He puts the bags anywhere. He tooks off shoes as fast as can be. Navigates to sleep. As I was goin' overThe Cork and Kerry Mountains I saw Captain FarrellAnd his money, he was cou...
Source: psychiatry for all - April 13, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
He Sends Flies to Wounds He Should Heal
Noon. A sound of a rusty acoustic guitar from Kansas. April's sun tinkle the skin of the forehead, and the hairs, from between the leaves of an acacia. The polarized sun glasses help you to look at the tree of ... life? and remember that film director... of Tree of Life, and that other new film about a French woman coming to the US and falling in love with a monk. A priest. You don't know the difference between a monk and a priest. You don't care much. Yesterday you saw a debate downloaded via the youtube between Tony Blair and somebody called Christopher H??? itcher?? . Wait I will google it. I close my eyes only ...
Source: psychiatry for all - April 6, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Hold On My Heart
Hold on my heartJust hold on to that feelingWe both know we've been here beforeWe both know what can happen Got nothing specific to say. I just woke up from a deep long siesta. Hy head feels pretty good although a little bit seems heavy and dull. Actually numb. I have no feeling. No idea. Just like an animal. Like a dog walking around for no "reason". Just to explore or, to implore. To implore an odor or a sight. A light. A dim sun. As dim as a numb head. As quite as a summer afternoon. No sounds but a wizz in the ears. A slight wizz that you can only attend to if you want to. Hold on my heartCos Im lookin...
Source: psychiatry for all - April 5, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Freedom of Speech
The speech was for that handsome young man named Husam Al-Haj. Husam Al - Haj was presented to us as the founder of the group "I am Iraqi, I am reading" and a writer in Al-Mada Newspaper. Husam talked to us about what freedom in press mean. He gave us examples and make comparisons.After Husam started talking an old man starts walking quietly between our chairs spreading on us his smiles and some newspapers. The old man looks like a janitor or a cleaner. He wears some respectful clothes but they are old fashioned a little. His eyes, which hide spangles you can touch of you look after them, are little sad, sometimes.Husam...
Source: psychiatry for all - April 2, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Douce France
Yesternight I turned the T.V. on the TV5 Monde channel and saw a live broadcasting from France about their municipal elections. I like how they look. I especially liked a young woman in a talk show after the primary results were declared. I then read her name and found that she seems from Arabic origins. Najat- something- Belkacem. She is a minister of woman's affair. Well, a little disappointment when I knew her ministry. I hoped she is the minister of, say, Education... Industry... something like that...An Asian looking man was also in the talk show. He is French too.The new Maire of Paris is of Spanish origins.I slept t...
Source: psychiatry for all - March 31, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Sun's halo over Erbil citadel
I walk in the Erbil's citadel and raise up my head to see the sun. There was a halo around it. I don't understand what that halo is. I remember my neighbor the engineer who told me once that when he was working in a mountain in Kurdistan and developed a sun burn the back of his neck and in his ear lobes. When I asked him for an explanation for what happened he said that he was working in a mountain, so he was nearer to the sun. That was the first, and only, time that I heard of such a thing. Being nearer to the sun. I am now in the hotel writing this post and hearing "Magnificent" by U2. The video clip is somewh...
Source: psychiatry for all - March 26, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
EILTS in Erbil's Sun
So, I come to Erbil to receive my EILTS certificate, a certificate with marks that are not enough to join that training/working in the UK. A certificate with no clear benefit for me. I go back to the hotel. The hotel's name is MONTANA. Near the citadel. Erbil citadel. I think Montana is a city in Canada. With some Etymological root referring to the word "Mountain". A mountain. I go to sleep at about 11:00 am. Yesterday I didn't sleep well. I sleep deeply. I wake up gradually. I take my mobile phone and play "Taffic Racer". Raise up some money to buy a truck. Quit the game. Take on clothes. Go to have a lunch. Much red meat...
Source: psychiatry for all - March 26, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Erbil and EILTS
I was told that I can start a training in the UK. Something called the MTI program. Get paid and studies at the same time. That sounded great. I had to make some files. Prepare some papers. I had to have letters of recommendation. A letter from my employers too. And worst of all, an above 7 score in all the four parts of EILTS. EILTS had to be prepared in less than two months. The EILTS center in Baghdad is in the green zone and they don't respond to phone. The Erbil center responded but, since there were explosions in Erbil, young Arabic men were not accepted to enter Erbil by earth, the only way was by airoplane. Yo...
Source: psychiatry for all - March 24, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
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Yesterday I opened the T.V. and found Whitney Houston. That was strange since it was just the night before that me and my friend were talking about her. The movie entitled "Waiting to Exhale". I remember reading somewhere about the writer, a black American woman, Terry... Terry Mcmillan. The film was in its final minutes. I just took a photo for that final scene. Whitney Houston was laughing in that warm scene.Today I was heading to work with this novel by Burhan Al-Khateeb entitled "An Appartment in Abu-Nawas Street". The story is about Iraq in the 60s when there was political tension. The protagonist, named Sami, walks t...
Source: psychiatry for all - January 19, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
When the Winds seemed Still
The short stories collection of Mahdi Eisa Al-Sigar is interesting. The stories' ends are open and thought provoking. Nevertheless they are gloomy. Two of them about an elderly expecting the near death worried. The first elderly is a female with her cat. She reads in the daily newspaper about the death of another lonely lady who has 3 cats. The neighbours smell her body after 3 days. Her body is found mutilated since the cats had eaten from her meat. The story goes on describing the elderly's interaction with her cat. The other story is about an elderly with his granddaughter in a garden. A white horse passes nearby ...
Source: psychiatry for all - January 18, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
my friend's free associations
Since her death and he is haunted by her. He plays her songs for us. Do we know that "I will always love you" was sung in 1973 for the first time by a blond named Dolly Parton?When that book about her life reached him, he starts telling us about her life. The book is written by her mother, a singer too. Her mother used to call her Nippy. Nippy, was her nickname. Nippy. It was raining today. He promised to lend me the book today. I tell him it is raining and we can postpone our meeting. He insists. He comes covering the book by his coat. "They chose her to sing the USA anthem to the troops who went back to the USA after the...
Source: psychiatry for all - January 17, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Autumn of the Intellectual in Iraq
In one of his articles, Khalid Al-Qishtainy writes about his problem in translating the Arabic word (Muthaq'qaf مثقف) to English. He writes that he lived for years as a translator, and was able to buy his house and car from his work, yet he is unable to translate the word. Thus I am not trying here to translate that same word which confused Al-Qishtainy, and Margaret Thatcher too, but the book I am reading these days is worth noting:The title contains that confusing word (Al-Muthaq'qaf) which I will translate here as "Intellectual". Hence the title will be "The Autumn of the Intellectual in Iraq" by Mohammed Ghazi Al-A...
Source: psychiatry for all - January 12, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Reading Iraqi Newspaper (22 Oct 2013)
Well, I got to admit that now that I am writing this I still don’t know who is Charles Theron, and I don’t know if Hogu Chavez had died or not and if so, when that did happen. The article by Nazzar Abdul-Sattar entitled “Are You Okay?” in today’s issue of Al-Sabah talks about a couple, a female lying watching T.V. and a man who when brought her a glass of orange juice found her contemplating Charles Theron’s face appearing on the screen. They talked about Oscar prices. She told himthat acting is difficult and he told her that asking questions is difficult too. She told him that Hugo Chafez had died just before ...
Source: psychiatry for all - October 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
