Sin Duda Nada: summer

I think that life's too short for this.


	Blow Me by P!nk White knuckles and sweaty palms from hanging on too tight Clenched shut jaw, I've got another headache again tonight Eyes on fire, eyes on fire, and they burn from all the tears I've been crying, I've been crying, I've been dying over you Tie a knot in the rope, tryin' to hold, tryin' to hold, But there's nothing to grasp so I let go I think I've finally had enough, I think I maybe think too much I think this might be it for us (blow me one last kiss) You think I'm just too serious, I think you're full of shit My head is spinning so (blow me one last kiss) Just when it can't get worse, I've had a shit day (NO!) Have you had a shit day? (NO!), we've had a shit day (NO!) I think that life's too short for this, I want back my ignorance and bliss I think I've had enough of this, blow me one last kiss. I won't miss all of the fighting that we always did, Take it in, I mean what I say when I say there is nothing left No more sick whiskey dick, no more battles for me You'll be calling a trick, 'cause you'll no longer sleep I'll dress nice, I'll look good, I'll go dancing alone I will laugh, I'll get drunk, I'll take somebody home I think I've finally had enough, I think I maybe think too much I think this might be it for us (blow me one last kiss) You think I'm just too serious, I think you're full of shit My head is spinning so (blow me one last kiss) Just when it can't get worse, I've had a shit day (No!) Have you had a shit day? (No!), we've had a shit day (No!) I think that life's too short for this, I want back my ignorance and bliss I think I've had enough of this, blow me one last kiss. Blow me one last kiss Blow me one last kiss I will do what I please, anything that I want I will breathe, I will breathe, I won't worry at all You will pay for your sins, you'll be sorry my dear All the lies, all the why's, will all be crystal clear I think I've finally had enough, I think I maybe think too much I think this might be it for us (blow me one last kiss) You think I'm just too serious, I think you're full of shit My head is spinning so (blow me one last kiss) Just when it can't get worse, I've had a shit day (No!) Have you had a shit day? (No!), we've had a shit day (No!) I think that life's too short for this, I want back my ignorance and bliss I think I've had enough of this, blow me one last kiss .……………………………… To be clear, I also think I maybe think too much. My posting frequency appears to have lessened considerably as the summers have passed. In all honesty, I'm not surprised. I definitely didn't expect this blog to last forever. But if I can, I'd like to keep it another 4 years. 4 years because a) by that stage, unless I do a BMsc I should, hopefully, have a medical degree (if I do decide to do a BMsc I'll only have another year left inshallah and that's still pretty damn cool) and b) It will be 2016 and time for the olympics in Rio (which I would like to go to... my dad is in accordance, let's see what happens.) I've already had this blog 3 years and I remember writing some of my very first posts about YSP in Canada. And this year I went back to Canada and wow it was strange to think all that was three fucking years ago. It feels like a lifetime has passed. I'm really not the same person I was back then- I want completely different things all of a sudden. But that's not surprising either. I want completely different things now... than say... last year. In any case, I want to keep up with occasionally writing here because when I went back and read those YSP posts... I had forgotten so much. I mean obviously I remembered the main things, but lots of funny occurrences and things I had thought at the time... I just had no recollection of. So while updates are unlikely to be frequent, I hope that there will in fact be some. I'm sure things will change over the coming years- I'm already growing increasingly cautious with regard to privacy and my online identity. But trust me, it's with good reason. Not gonna lie, I am a really really good facebook stalker. Seriously. Not going to 'fess up to all the really incredibly stalking discoveries of mine, but I will say this- U.S. swim team... I know too much random information about you. I will say no more. It will just get creepy. So my point is- if I can find out stuff about other people, you can find out a whole lot about me. I know that if people are actually reading these posts- they are more likely than not my friends. But I also know that wow you can leave a serious trail of clues on the internet. (Which is why I've gone ahead and taken my last name off twitter.) However, it would still be extremely easy to figure out who/where I am and track down my facebook profile and such things. So this blog shall remain free of all patient related stuff. And so shall my tumblr (with the exception of non-patient-related-witty-banter.. because that stuff is funny.) Ok so now that I've rambled about stupid stuff everyone knows for quite a while, I am going to go on and describe the highlights of the Canada trip. Yes, just the highlights. No more daily diary writing like I did at YSP and in Italy. Pssht. So we kicked off the trip in Montreal. Which was a nice place. The street arrangement reminded me of San Diego. Is that weird? Probably. Normal people most likely see no similarity. Whatever. I have limited experience in North America. So anyways, I like Montreal. Cool place. Just... I don't see what all the fuss is about. A couple of my friends seem to love it and sing it's praises and whatnot... I'm not saying it's not a nice place... just it's not on my top five favourite places at all. Probably not even top 10 :O Oh well. So cool things in Montreal...let's see. Well the hotel was fucking awesome. I mean it was the Ritz so I guess it was going to have to be posh but god I could live in those bathrooms. Really. By the side of the toilet there was this remote control thing with a variety of sprays (for rear cleansing and front cleansing) and a dryer. That's right, a dryer. To dry your bits. I don't know why this is one of the most memorable parts of Montreal for me. Evidently I am finicky about bathroom hygiene. I'm going to stop talking about this now... because it's weird. We also got to experience this Quebec national day thingy parade. Which was cool. But all in French. Which supposedly I understand. And I guess I do... if I pay attention. In any case, with regard to the city itself- I really enjoyed the old part of town. It reminded me of Covent Garden. And if you know me, you know I love Covent Garden for a multitude of reasons. (Like because I went on one of those bungee trampoline things there and did lots of flips and also because I used to always go get my hair thread braided there.) Anyway, it was a cool place. I saw the McGill campus. It was pretty. I am glad my friends live in pretty places. They deserve it. They are pretty inside and out. Anyway, after that we went to Quebec city. (Please note, we went in a tiny plane. Not as tiny as the ones in Tanzania but honestly these were more bumpy. Africa: 1 North America: 0.) Quebec City is nice. (See left upper middle) Not my kinda place to live, I don't think, but still, nice. It reminded me a lot more of Europe. That may or may not have been related to the fact that we stayed in a castle. In any case, I think I was more entertained in QC than Montreal. Anyway, outside our hotel, there was like this 'square' I suppose. And they had loads of street performers. Including these two incredibly hot guys who danced to black betty with fire and rings and shirtlessness. It was around this time that Syb and I started playing a game. The game is as follows. If you see a beautiful house or a hot boy, you nudge your sister with your elbow. (Feel free to nudge hard.) If the sister agrees with you and the house/boy are to her taste, she will nod emphatically. Else she will shake her head and crinkle her nose. We usually agreed. Some things you just cannot deny. Anyhoo. In QC we went to the aquarium. It was cool. There were seals and walruses and polar bears. (See the bottom left corner. Yes that is a polar bear standing up and staring at me. Be jealous.) Honestly, Syb and I (and probably Ollie too) were a considerable amount older than the average individual there. But it was fun. On the bus there (and on the way back actually) there was this group of tourists. I maintain that they were Greek. Bob thinks they were Brasilian. Their language sounded nothing like Spanish... but I have no idea what Brasilian Portugese sounds like at all. Anyway they totally sounded like Tula's parents in my big fat Greek wedding. Syb and I had a stunted conversation with them and they called us beautiful and asked about the "AQUARIA". My hands DOWN favourite thing we did there was go to see Cirque du Soleil. God those people are badass. I am a loser. They can FLY. Honestly it was very much my sort of scene. It was held between these two flyovers and there was no tent it was just sort of in the middle of nowhere. And the music was eerie and cool and the dances were nice and sweet baby Jesus the tumbling and acrobatics those guys do... wow. Insanely cool. I almost want to join the circus. I would also like to say that watching them was entirely free. But I would have payed for that- no Desi stinginess at all. After QC came Ottawa. It was nice. Partly because people were speaking English again. And they were suddenly incredibly friendly. Like Scottish people. Except I knew what they were saying. We did this really cool tour in an amphibus. It's very chitty chitty bang bang. The bus drives around on land for a bit and then drives into the river, on which it floats. The tour guide was so unbelievable cute... but... it was around this time Syb and I discovered that our hot guy/nice house game was going to be without much... well... result... I guess...because wow all gay guys seem to be hot in Canada. A great tragedy for womankind. (Not that Syb or I was going to go up and talk to them what with our parentals trailing along. Ah well.) Ok so aside from that, Ottawa was not that eventful. Except for when Syb was recruited by this extremely British Covent Garden-esque magician that was performing on the street to be his assistance. He was funny. Apparently Canadians do not appreciate the British sense of humour though. Ah well. They do however appreciate the British Queen. The day we were in Ottawa was the day before Canada day and there was a lot of preparation going on for the festivities. And thus there was a woman on stage outside the parliament singing God Save the Queen. Of course, this resulted in me and the parentals belting out the lyrics (to the first verse only, because I am not patriotic enough at all to know the rest of the lyrics.) Syb and Ollie found us embarassing. Whatever. When God Save the Queen is playing you sing along. Just like you sing along to the last two lines of the Star Spangled Banner whenever you hear it being played in the olympics. Which is a lot. After Ottawa came Vancouver. I love Vancouver. It's awesome. (See top right corner) I want to live there. It has everything. It has a very mixed population. It has nice big buildings and a real city. It also has nice big trees and snowy mountains. It also has friendly people. Said friendly people also speak English. Apparently winters are mild there. My only issue was with how many dogs there were. I did not spend much time walking on the pavement. I was always on the road, walking around the dogs. Anyhoo Vancouver. Wow. Lots of awesome things happened there. The first day was Canada day and there was a parade and fireworks. I love fireworks. We did some of the bus tour stuff and it was really fun. Also did some shoppingz. We went to Chinatown where there was this awesome garden with Koi and pagodas and frogs and ducks and waterlilies. See Koi in mist (right lower middle). We also went to Granville Island which had lots of markets and such. We went around Stanley park which is just massive and sooo green. I liked. The view was really awesome (see right upper middle- the Lion's Gate bridge.) One of the days in Vancouver (It was our longest stop) was spent at altitude. First we went up a mountain. Grouse Mountain. We went by Cable care. (Yeah right, like my family would climb up a mountain. Hah.) We got to the top and there were bits of snow everywhere. It was sunny elsewhere. And the view was incredible. They also had a grizzly bear enclosure. (See left lower middle.) Those guys are so cute. I want to hug them. We then ascended further up the mountain in ski lifts. I have never been in a ski lift before. It is scary. Syb and I were freaking out a little. On the way up we started naming all the states in America to distract ourselves. When we got to the very top, there was this windmill thing called the Eye of the Wind. We went up that (it was tall) and the floor beneath us was glass and the view from there was somehow even more incredible. On the way back down in the ski lift, I suggested we sing a song. We chose Cablecar (You know, by The Fray.) This was a bad idea. It starts with the whole 'I never knew that everything was falling through' line. Falling was not a word we wanted to hear. We went back to naming states. They also had a really cool bird show up there with owls and eagles and vultures (which were entirely different from the ones I saw in Tanzania last year.) The same day, after we went down from the mountain after seeing some wolves and all, we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Supposedly a massive tree fell on it in a storm and the bridge was fine but sweet baby Jesus crossing it was scary. It wobbles when there are more people on one side than another. The view of the stream flowing way down beneath it was awesome but I was fucking terrified to reach into my pocket take out my phone and take a picture. I held on the railing for dear life. I'm a wimp, but we knew that. The place is really cool though, there's a whole park around it and you can walk across these wooden bridges through the trees and it feels like you're in Tarzan or in a rainforest or something. (Yeah I know, that totally made sense.) After that, on the very same day, we had a ride on a seaplane. Seaplanes are fucking cool. And flying over Vancouver is wow. There's the city and then you fly across the bay and there's residential area and then you fly a tad more and there's massive trees. And there are so many little islands and they've all got like one massive house on them and that is all. I want my own bloody island. Sugar daddys watch out, gold-diggah me is coming your way. It was really stunning though, the scenery p0rn was amazing. And I was like DEAR GOD YOU ARE AMAZING THIS LANDSCAPE IS SO DIFFERENT TO TANZANIA.Yes I know it's obviously going to be different. But I was still enthralled. We also day-tripped one day to Victoria on Vancouver Island. (It should be noted that this is very different to Victoria Island where apparently mosquitos live and hatch and stuff.) Vancouver Island was so unbelievable different. We drove to the coast in this tour bus (by the way, for some strage reason the guide seemed really attractive to me- he wasn't that good looking and also he was fairly old- but he told good stories?) Anyway said bus, was then driven on to a ferry. Apparently this is not that cool as Mom has been accross the channel like that, but I was amazed. The ferry ride was stunning but I was cold and didn't spend much time on deck. As a result I missed seeing a dolphin my parents supposedly saw the fin of. Victoria feels completely different- it feels more like Europe again. Cool thing: Victoria is below the 49th parallel. We went through American waters to get there and from the island you could see some of the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula. (See bottom right corner) I found this awesome since of late I appear to be fascinated with America. Anyway, we had a wander around Victoria, there was gelato to be had and some cool old buildings covered in leaves. Then we went to the Butchart, where there were loads and loads of beautiful flowers. Sadly I am not a flower person. But I still appreciated the pretty. (See photo at the very bottom). It was a lovely day. As you can see, I fell in love with Vancouver. Which lead to me becoming really glum around the time we had to leave, not just because it was awesome but also for other reasons. More on that later. Next up was Toronto- there was shopping to be done. I remembered a lot of stuff from YSP time there... not directions though. Oops. I met up with S, and wow three years changes a lot. She was still the same in many ways, equally amusing with her blunt way of talking as before. It was strange to think she was teaching at YSP where we had both been 'classmates'. It was also strange that she's now at uni with one of my closest friends. The world is so small but so big as well. We had dim sum. I love dim sum. I had the longest walk ever that day (because I seriously underestimated distances- it reminded me of Rome with L.) After dim sum, S and I had a wander around. We walked through UofT and I saw the halls I stayed in and the medical school and it was so nostalgic. I miss that girl that I was back then. She was so naive. Anyway, I wish I'd gotten to see more of her, or even more of the YSP people, but alas there was not enough time. I tried to lead my family to this market that had been along the harbourfront, but first I got everyone lost and then the market was closed except for weekends. Ah well. We spent a couple of days in Niagara as well. I'd been before but the falls are stunning (See top) and I was thrilled to get to go again. We did the whole maid of the mist boat ride and we also walked behind the falls. We also had dinner one evening at the top of the Skylon tower in the revolving restaurant. It was at that dinner that we finally named all the states we knew. (We were short of two in the end. Oops.) It was strange. I remember when I was a kid and we used to go on holidays- at that time it was just me and Syb, no Ollie. I used to see these families with grown up/teenage kids and I really wanted to grow up. And I realised that evening, because we were all dressed up in dresses and all, that I'm grown up. And not only am I grown up, so is Syb and even Ollie to some extent too. It was strange. Niagara was lovely though, fudge was bought, foosball was played (I was beaten by a 10 year old. Oops.) I remember Niagara being one of my favourite parts of YSP as well. I made a bunch of really cool friends that weekend and good times were had. We were back in Toronto after that. We spent a whole day in Wonderland. That's another of the weekends I really remember enjoying. I got so tanned. I'm oddly pleased I was wearing a low cut top, because otherwise my tanning would be really obvious. I have a fucking glasses tan over the bridge of my nose. I even have a tan from my ring. It looks like I've been married. Jeez. We went on lots of coasters. Not all, but the important ones were ridden. I rode the behemoth. I remember that one from last time. Also, went on this standing up one which was slightly painful on my neck. (My dad made a fuss the entire time about me going on rollercoasters after the whole-falling off a horse fiasco when we were back home. I don't think I mentioned it on here. Basically I went horse riding for the first time and my super nervous steed was spooked by some birds and flung me off. Which was painful on my back and I had to get a shot in the ass and I couldn't bend for a while.) I ignored him though. Roller coasters are for riding. I'm 19 I'm not going to sit around and complain about my back which doesn't really hurt anymore, and I can now put my toes in my mouth again if I really want. (I do not, to be clear.) Anyway, they had this new MASSIVE roller coaster. The Leviathan. See the thing is, these Canadian coasters are much higher than the Thorpe Park ones but they don't have that bar thingy that goes over your boobs. I was actually really grateful I'm not skinny and couldn't just... fall out. Anyway, Syb, Mom and I went on that one. We were sat next to this kid who was like Ollie's age. It was his second go on it. He said "it's not that bad." Honestly, it wasn't. But I screamed like hell of course, because hellllo when you're shooting down a 306 foot drop what the fuck else are you going to do? No fucking way was I going to be waving my hands in the air. We decided that once was enough, but the kid decided he wanted to go again. Such a little badass. It was a fun day, to say the least. The last day in Toronto we went up the CN tower which was funsies. I mean I'd done it before, but hey, it's still cool. (See the view top left corner.) We flew back (to LDN) from Toronto. I was really very down I think after that. London was boring, the Olympics had not started, people were not around. Magic Mike was seen. A Dunds day trip was taken. Meh. Why the meh? Well, after Vancouver I got into this whole meh mood because I suddenly felt like shit my life is going by so incredibly fast and am I actually doing the cool things I want to do- like having my entire head blue, having dreadlocks, learning the drums, playing in a band, learning to skateboard, waitressing- just random stupid shit that I feel would make me happy. I'm in my last teenage year and I really felt like by the time I'm done with med school I'll be too old to do all this. It also felt a little shitty that I wasn't really going to have those fabled fun years (which always look incredibly cool at North American universities.) I don't know I was just feeling old and unsatisfied and soo meh. I told my friend all this and he reminded me that summer was the time for such things. And while I agreed of course and knew he was right, and that the things I want to do can be done in summertime, I still wasn't completely over the meh. To some extent watching the olympics worsened the meh. You may have guessed my my numerous mentions of the olympics. (Especially the USA men's swimming- although please, do not forget the German's men's gymnasts and Tom Daley who I remember fangirling about when I was 15 and he was 14. Can I also just say, the fact that he's younger than me makes me feel shitty.) Seeing lots of people who were my age or younger or you know not all that old competing in their sports and being awesome made me feel really meh. And my love for a certain Mr.Adrian meant that I did rather a lot of reading about him and wow his life in the American collegiate system seemed cool. I don't know if I'm explaining this very well. Let us speak of Tony Ervin. He did the olympics way back in 2000 and then suddenly felt like it was infringing on his freedom so he left and joined a band and got sleeves inked and all. I feel a bit like that. I don't exactly want to run a way and give it all up, I just get where he's coming from. I'm not unhappy at uni. The past year I've just been content. I mean honestly I don't think I took a very active role in my own life. I just sort of floated through half asleep and daydreaming. I was lucky in that I made friends (and nice ones too- I mean not the best I've ever had :P- but nice enough since I'm living with 2 next year), in part due to the presence of M and also in that I passed my exams, because honestly when I was studying, I couldn't remember a lot of my lectures happening. It's a good thing I'm really good at the whole self-study thing. Basically what I'm saying is that I wasn't upset or anything. But I also wasn't happy. I was content. And sort of just waiting for happiness to fall into my lap. I had this expectation that it would, because well... all my life it's sort of seemed like in university shit happened. My parents talked about university a lot and always stressed the importance of getting into a good one and all that jazz. It's also where they met. I guess I thought that sort of thing would fall into my lap too. It's funny, there's this cute boy at uni, and sometime I mention him to M and the others. But one day M and I were talking and she was like... I don't think you actually like him. And I don't. I think in that respect I was just sort of cruising a long as well sort of indifferent to everything. Funnily enough, it was only when back in J-town and discussing another individual who does not seem particularly enthralled by uni-life with the girls that I realised that I'm being stupid. How the fuck can I expect happiness to fall into my lap? I'm being silly. First I have to decide what going to make me happy- and christ, it doesn't have to be a definitive thing- of course my aspirations are always going to be changing... I just need to decide on something and then work towards it properly. Pssht. Those fuckhot bodies didn't exactly just fall into the laps of those team USA swimmers. They pumped lots of iron. If I want my happy I'm going to have to go look for it. First of all- sure, Medical School in the UK means some of the things that may have made me happy -like the freedom to do more crazy stupid things- are not really feasible. But I don't drink. I don't do drugs. I'm so fucking awkward I'm never going to be a party animal. I'm clumsy and unfit and have terrible hand-eye co-oridination. If the Adrian style opportunities were there would I even be taking them? Pretty sure the answer is no. I'm also pretty sure those sort of opportunities do exist at Dunds. I just haven't really made an effort to go find them. Anyway as a result of my decision to make myself happy I have decided several things. Firstly, I want to take up at least one 'sport' properly. As in I'll go every week. At this point, I like the sound of archery (and A said she would go with me- I'm not gutsy enough to do stuff alone.) There's also trampolining which I believe A's sister does. I was also thinking about horse riding, because L does that, and honestly I really want to be able to ride a horse- but I'm a little more nervous about it after my fall. I also feel like pole dancing would be cool but HAHAHA ME USING MY THIGHS TO HANG OFF A POLE. Let's see. Another thing I want to do is learn to drive. Because my parents are the best and will probably let me have my own car. I like the freedom that gives me. Next up, I want to go to more international soc. events. I have no issue with Scottish people they're lovely and friendly and funny but that's probably a more likely place to meet Mr. Me. Meeting him is not a requirement. I'm not desperate at all and that's not something I ever want to force because hey this is a very naive view but Elizabeth Bennet never forced such things. Also I think I need to start reading my uni emails more and signing up to things without waiting for my friends to do so. I'm also pretty certain of the tattoo(s) I want. And I want to get them sooner rather than later, along with finally getting my ear pierced some more. I just need someone to go with (I don't think M or H or A or L or any of those guys are the right people for it) so I'm working on figuring that out. What else... oh yes here's a big one. My ff obsession needs to be curtailed. It's probably good that I've pretty much read all the good PandP coughandtwilightcough ones out there. No more reading late at night. We know what happens as a result- falling asleep in lectures. It's not pretty. When I need that outlet to get away from my life and live happily ever after I have an outlet. It is constructive to some extent and I also know I'm never going to get addicted to it. Too much effort needed. This outlet is secret and you will never ever find it unless you are one of two people, and I don't think you are because I don't think either of those two read this blog. Hah. I also feel like I haven't been as close to the God I believe in lately. And I miss God. I want to be close to God again. Oh also, I should fucking study more. We discovered at Soaks, I'm actually pretty good at that. So there. Those are basically my new (school) year's resolutions. And when I start to forget them or go off them or get bored as I usually do, I will do one of the following: a) watch some olympic swimming and remind myself that it's too late for that, but I should still do what I can and work for my happy or b) talk to one of the people I have mentioned this shit to, because they are helpful and sometimes when you're giving advice or berating someone else you realise you should probably practice what you preach. If you managed to read all this, I am in awe. This is probably going to have to last another... 4 months. If you know me and you've read this and I now go on to forget my resolutions you bloody well should remind me. That is all. **EDIT: I just found out my cousin is off to Oxford. (Yay! He deserves it and it suits him.) I'm not jealous. And I'm really proud of myself for being happy with the path I'm on and I'm going to make the most of it. -[n][a][d][a][&][♥]

i'm taking a mental picture ~

Monday, August 08, 2011 Posted In Africa , animals , family , Holiday , OneRepublic , parents , sisters , summer , Tanzania , travelling , Zanzibar Edit This


	Good Life by OneRepublic Woke up in London yesterday Found myself in the city near Piccadilly Don't really know how I got here I got some pictures on my phone New names and numbers that I don't know Address to places like Abbey Road Day turns to night, night turns to whatever we want We're young enough to say Oh this has gotta be the good life This has gotta be the good life This could really be a good life, good life Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight Like this city is on fire tonight This could really be a good life A good, good life To my friends in New York, I say hello My friends in L.A. they don't know Where I've been for the past few years or so Paris to China to Col-or-ado Sometimes there's airplanes I can't jump out Sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now We are god of stories but please tell me-e-e-e What there is to complain about When you're happy like a fool Let it take you over When everything is out You gotta take it in Oh this has gotta be the good life This has gotta be the good life This could really be a good life, good life Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight Like this city is on fire tonight This could really be a good life A good, good life Hopelessly I feel like there might be something that I'll miss Hopelessly I feel like the window closes oh so quick Hopelessly I'm taking a mental picture of you now 'Cuz hopelessly The hope is we have so much to feel good about Oh this has gotta be the good life This has gotta be the good life This could really be a good life, good life Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight Like this city is on fire tonight This could really be a good life A good, good life Oh yeah Good, good life Good life Ooh Listen My friends in New York, I say hello My friends in L.A. they don't know Where I've been for the past few years or so Paris to China to Col-or-ado Sometimes there's airplanes I can't jump out Sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now We are god of stories but please tell me-e-e-e What there is to complain about ………………………………………… So after being home for a month and a bit and pottering about seeing my friends before they all depart for the summer and then uni etc. we had a family vay-cay to Tanzania (and Zanzibar, with a stop in Dubai as well). I don't think we've properly travelled and explored new territory in a few years so this trip was nice and welcome. One of the best aspects was the fact that my parents didn't argue nearly as much as they do when at home so yayy. S and I did fight a lot more than usual but I would put that down to the fact that we were living in really close proximity (sharing rooms etc) and without other distractions and it hadn't been that way with us since we were kids back in the old house. Anyhow as I am not feeling particularly vocal this shall be in list form. Places we went in Tanzania (this list shall include Zanzibar but not Dubai as that's boring): 1. Dar es Salaam (literally a stopover) 2. Arusha (abundant with coffee, not so animalish) We stayed at Arusha Coffee Lodge. 3. Lake Manyara 4. Ngorongoro Crater (the lodge was on the crater and at a high altitude and thus cold. there were animals within the crater itself) Here, we stayed at Crater Lodge, which was insanely fancy and awesome. 5. The Serengeti (both the more southern part, near ngorongoro and the northern parts called the Serengeti Mara which boreder with Kenya's Masai Mara, which we had visited several years ago and enjoyed. this was a vast expanse of plains towards the south, and to the nortth there was the river Mara and more grasslands) In the more southern part we stayed at Bilila Lodge Kempinski, and in the more nothern part we stayed at Nomad Lamai Serengeti, which was more terrifying as it was not a proper lodge per say, but rather a permanent tented camp. And let's not try and pretend that I'm brave enough to face insects. 6. Tarangire (This was a slightly more wooded area) Here we stayed at another permanent type tented camp, Oliver's Camp. 7. Zanzibar, where we stayed at Breezes. It's oddly like being at home. People wear thoubs and speak Arabic. There are also cats randomly wandering the streets, like in Breezes there was this cute one that we played with and as well as that people sell random birds on the street. Like there were some men selling this Hedwig-like Snowy Owl. Admittedly it probably wasn't a snowy owl in Zanzibar, but it was a white owl all the same. Cutie pie. I wanted to buy it and free it, but it seemed hopeless as they'd just catch it again. I also acquired a really huge contrasting shorts tan. Below, I have outlined some of the most memorable moments on our trip. The more positive ones. Or if not positive, stories I shall tell my grandchildren/ great nieces and nephews, whatever the case may be. 1. Seeing all the Big 5. That is to say Rhinos (black rhinos, as the white are no longer found in Tanzania- of which there are VERY few remaining in the wild, and they are very highly protected), Lions, Elephants, Buffalo and most fantastically, the elusive Leopard (pronounced lee-oh-pahd) 2. Watching a leopard cub chase guinea fowl, like a cat among the pidgeons, causing them to squawk and fly about. 3. Being charged at by a VERY angry male elephant who really did not appreciate the noise of our jeep starting up. Apparantly in Tarangire, where this happened, there are a number of game reserves where big shots (quite literally as well) go and hunt elephants. This leaves the elephants rather disgruntled (imagine someone shooting at you and your family) and leaves an emotional scar. 4. Seeing the aftermath of a Lions vs. Leopard cat fight. As I said leopards are rare, and so this trip, being particularly inundated with leopard moments, was awesome. Please note the plural use of lions. They ganged up on a poor leopard and chased her up a tree. Her belly was injured in the process. When she escaped, she was so close to our vehicle we had to be silent. 5. Seeing a sexless wildebeest. Poor thing didn't have an udder or a pair of balls. 6. Watching a wildebeest migration. This involves thousands of wildebeest crossing a river, and in the process some dying. Here is the video I recorded of this momentous occasion, which many wait days to see. 7. Watching a falcon swoop in and kill a guinea fowl. 8. Having our camp's ice cooler filled with refreshments stolen by a pack of hyenas while the residents were having dinner. This was at Oliver's. 9. Discovering a buffalo under our balcony. Twice. And once it had brought along it's Zebra friends. This was in Crater Lodge. 10. Having a butler. Who would fill up a bath for you. SERIOUSLY REGENCY TIMES. This was in Crater Lodge too. I am a brat. Our butler was Peter and he was awesome. 11. Discussing Achebe's Thing's Fall Apart with our Masai guide, Masaa. That guy was something else. Seriously. He was one of those interesting, charismatic people who just has a wealth of random facts to keep you entertained. That was at Serengeti Lamai. 12. Meeting an Austrian family who had literally conquered all the continents. Except maybe Antarctica. But I'm not sure about that. They'd been to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Ethiopia and idk where else. I found them so cool. And the dad was super friendly. And the daughter was seriously scared of bugs like me, in fact one night at dinner she just took off her shirt because she thought there was a bug in it. I can totally empathise. 13. The following conversation between my sister and our guide for most of the trip, Jackson. Ali (looking at an animal): "Oooh are these the ones in Madagascar 2?" Jackson (our guide): "Actually I am not sure, maybe they have them in Madagascar also, but these are found in Kenya and Tanzania" Ali (highly discombobulated that he is not aware of the movie, and very indgnant): "NOO.... I mean like the movie?!" My sister and Jackson bumped heads a couple of times, especially when Jackson told us about the common giraffe, gazelle and zebra and Als went : why is everything COMMON?! 14. Seeing a pink and purple lizard and realising I wish I was that colour. 15. Watching a heard of elephants cross the road. A huge herd. Of maybe 30 individuals, with really old ones and really tiny month old baby ones as well. 16. Feeding breakfast bread to a Marabou Stork from the window of the lodge's restaurant at Farmhouse, one of the lodges I forgot to mention above in Arusha. Please not Marabou Storks are huge. They are properly 5ft tall. I think these may have been my favourite birds of the trip, although the lizards and snake -eating , red-eyed secretary birds were pretty cool. As were the falcons and eagles. And the Kori Bustard just because of it's name. And the Hornbills (zazu is a type of hornbill. the red ones we saw were the coolest though). the guinea fowl were slightly annoying though. The flamingos, pelicans and the little white birds that picked on buffalo backs were cool as well. 17. Elephants trudging into the pond by the hotel pool at Bilila and drinking from it, whilst we watched from the restaurant window. 18. Going on a glass-bottom kayak in Zanzibar. 19. Seeing Freddy Mercury's, (or as he is known there Farouk Bulsara) house in Zanzibar by the stone town. 20. Having competitions in the car to see who knew the most Swahili (Ali always one as she cheated and has seen the Lion King most recently- also you couldn't repeat other people's words so she used ours up first.) and trying to name the Big 5, Small 5, Green 5 etc. My least favourite aspects of the trip. 1. Bugs. These I find terrifying. They were everywhere and oh god not just little moths properly HUGE spiders. When I took a shower (outdoors this is) there was a bee that really liked the soap. And wouldn't leave me alone. This was AWFUL and probably the fastest shower ever. Also I made my dad tuck the mosquito nets underneath the mattress of my bed in Nomad so that I was trapped and bugs were trapped out. In Oliver's we also found a MASSIVE dung beetle under my bed. Yuck. In Tarangire, oh my god the number of times I was bitten by Tsetse flies was insane. Please note that whereas mosquito bites are painless, Tsetse bites hurt like a bitch. it's like being stabbed with a tiny needle. I also got bitten by a wasp again on the neck, thanks to Ali trying to shoo it when I told her to leave it be. 2. Taking a dump in the bush. This is known as a bush stop. This is embarrassing and uncomfortable under normal circumstances but even more so if you've eaten something which has disagreed with you, which in Africa is fairly likely. 3. The smell of hippo shit. We went to a hippo bathing pool and good grief all they do is fart and shit and lounge around in their own shit. WHICH SMELLS AWFUL. Finally, here is a list of cute animals I now covet as a pet if I am not allowed a kitten. 1. Kirk's Dikdiks. They ARE SO CUTE. They are these tiny little deer type creatures with the biggest eyes you have ever seen. They also mate for life and travel in pairs along with their offspring. 2. Thompson's Gazelle. They have these cute little tails that continuously wag and they are adorable. Sorry other forms of antelope, you were not cool enough to make the list- Grant's Gazelle (the McDonalds of the serenget- there's even a big M on their bums), Topis, Kudus and Hart Beasts, you were too big to be cute. 3. Servals. One walked RIGHT past our car. SO CUTE. 4. Cheetahs. We saw one just sat there by the side of the road. 5. Crocodiles. Idk why, bit their conniving grins are just too cool. 6. Zebras. I want to ride one as a form of transport. They're so cool and stripy. 7. Giraffes. Ever since we fed them in Kenya I have loved them and their purple tongues. 8. Hyraxes. These funny rodent like creatures that are somehow the closest relative of the elephant. No joke. 9. Baboons. I know, I know. Awful vicious creatures found in Taif no less. But it's so cute how the mamas carry these tiny babes around. We also saw blue monkeys and red colobus monkeys in Zanzibar and another type the name of which escapes me at the moment, all of which were pretty cool. 10. A marabou stork to feed bread to. Sadly they don't mate for life. I like animals that mate for life, like fishing Eagles. They make me feel better about my prospects. Especially if they're ugly animals. Anyway, this I have to say was one of the coolest family holidays ranked up there with our malaysia/spore trip, our malaysia/hk trip and our kenya trip. Next I would like to see Australia, Sweden, Japan or really anywhere new and not boring :P -[n][a][d][a][&][♥]

¬ foggy London town’s not built for me or y o u .

Thursday, July 29, 2010 Posted In Bramingham , disabilities , EE , friends , Grey's Anatomy , hospital , IB , movies , Ramadan , school , shopping , sisters , summer , theatre , travelling , work Edit This

Little Miss Pipedream

by The Wombats

I think the postman intercepts everything I try and send to you
'Cos he's infatuated and he's the fulcrum between us two
And I can't say I blame him 'cos I'd cheat a priest just to get to you

She works in a dental practice 9 'till 5 how does she manage?
Considering her nights don't pass out 'till 3
So I guess that flossing is he last thing in her health routine

And I don't mind that she gets hammered and goes home with other guys
There's no jealousy 'cos she's little pipedream fantasy

I saw her slam back tequilas like Oliver Reed on an Irish stag doo
And I'll wait if you stay because foggy London town's not built for me or you
Don't leave Miss Pipedream 'cos I love you

And I don't mind that she gets hammered and goes home with other guys
There's no jealousy though she'll grind it out with friends but not with me
She's my little miss pipedream fantasy

It’s fiiinally SUMMER (: I’m soo relieved. Don’t get me wrong, this year has been amazing as well. I feel like I made the right decision going to Sevenoaks. My IB grades my have been the same at Conti, or perhaps even better- in the sense that it’s not as if my grades are going to measure up to my genius friends’ who are still back there- but I think I made a good choice. I’ve learned so much and grown up a whole lot- (I can do laundry, grocery shopping, internet banking, train hopping and I know that trust has to be earned and is very easily lost)- I may not seem at all different but I know I think differently. The year has FLOWN by, but it hasn’t been effortless AT ALL.

I knew from last summer that living with people is not easy no matter how great your friendship is. And that was just a month. This has been a whole YEAR. And there a couple of people who have managed to SERIOUSLY PISS ME OFF towards the end. Luckily a couple of others have been amaaazing. I’d just like to say though, that just because I’m generally laid-back and easy-going does NOT mean you can take advantage of my chilaxedness.

The end of term was nice other than coursework deadlines. EE day was fun, I really loved my lil funghi! ToK presentations was stressful but it’s nice to feel like you’ve accomplished something when the jobs are done. CAS completed too! And we’ve all got a pretty good idea of our predictions now :/ .We played a lot with the BHM’s kids and the ABHM’s kids and the new ABHM’s kids. Aaand I won a Bio Prize- granted it was just a lame merit one, so I didn’t get it at prize-giving on Founder’s Day but I was hella pleased. My rooming next term looks good as well, Michaelmas I pretty much have my own room except that C’s room is inside mine so it’s soooort of like sharing. And Lent I have my owwn sunny room with a sink. Yayy (:

The summer has started off well. I spent the first few days with Nanaboo and that was nice as Situ buys nice cherries and apricots. Though they’re taste in restaurants is pretty lame :P . I began shadowing Fuad Chacha in Guildford and that was AMAZING. Staying with Nanaboo was funny because he’d get really concerned for no reason. One morning before heading off to Guildford I left the flat earlier than usual, simply because I was done getting ready earlier. Apparantly he got reeaally worried and woke everyone up to look for me. Ahahaha. Then parents and sisters came, and the dadu came which as always was a slight source of tension. Ah well. The I went off to Luton to do more work experience there.

Soo Guildford. It was sooo amazing. FC is an interventional radiologist. I spent a lot of time following him around which was cool because while his job comes with slightly more mundane tasks like CT, MRI and X-ray reporting and doing Ultrasounds, he also does procedures like putting in Groshan Lines and PEGs and NG tubes and even more excitingg Embolisation of Fibroids! But he also arranged some time for me elsewhere. I spent some time at a Gynae Clinic with a Mr.Diab. I was of course over-excited that he was Arab (Egyptian as it turned out) and furthermore pleased when he recognised my name as being from Arabic. He was a slightly cold man, and most of his patients in the cinic were anxious women. I met in his clinic a Med Student from Prague. Who told me about her Uni and her friend who had a baby in her 3rd year at Med School but Came 3rd in the Year while pregnant and 1st in the year once the kid was born ahahaha. Also I spent some time in the CT room and saw some CT colonscopies where they basically stick a tube into the poor souls back passage and inflate them. I also spent some time in the Endoscopy Unit which was pretty cool. The doctors seemed to enjoy laughing at patients who were not around or unconscious :P. Saw tubes going in both ends there. That was my first week. Second week was equally fab if not better. I got to go to Oncology and SHADOW THIS GREY’S ANATOMY LADY. Dr.Stuart. She was so cool. She looked like a cross between Meredith Grey and Arizona Robbins. And she was hardcore. I saw her do a Radiotherapeutic Procedure on this lady with Cervical cancer and it was soo hardcooore. And then I was in her Oncology Clinic and it was amazing to see how she dealt with the patients giving them good new and really really bad news. ( I thought I was going to cry at one point when she told this woman who was in sever pain because of cancer in her lymphnodes in her leg, that the radiotherapy and chemotherapy they’d done for her had made no difference, and her metastasis were just growing and basically there was nothing they could do except try and ease the pain. It was all made worse because her mother had juuuust found a tumour in her own breast and was having a mastectomy.) In oncology I also met Dr.Saleh. Again I was overexcited as he was Arab. He asked me if I knew what my name meant, which of course I did since other than my mother telling me, my name in Arabic used to be written on the Johnson Baby Cologne and the English meaning used to be written under it :) . Anyway he was Iraqi. I liked him he was also pretty cool. And quite Grey’s like, all the nurses flirting with him ahaha. The doctors were pretty funny, at one point I was sitting in a room with Farid, Jermaine (an Afro-Caribbean Consultant) and another Afro-Caribbean Consultant. Farid was staring at the other one who was wearing a black shirt with white stripes. And the guy goes “What you staring at, man? Have you never seen a black man before?” and Jermaine goes “No he just hasn’t seen TWO black men before” and so the other guy says “Hey, what’s your probem Chemical Ali” (please note, Ali pronounce Aa-lee) and Farid says “Nothing, it’s just your shirt, I thought you’d done some skin painting or something.” One of the afternoons when there was interventional radiology, this old fellow cam to have an NG tube put in from the ITU and he just suddenly stopped breathing on the table. There was a crash cart and everything, and they were pushing atrophine and adrenaline and idk what. The next day I spent in ITU where I made more friends. There was a Paki doctor doing her fellowship and she was really nice, and a Med Student from Southampton in her fifth year, and she examined a guy with Pneumonia and she let me listen to his crackles! The consultant there wasn’t as cool but her underlings were really nice. I got to see an arterial canula being put in and there was al this blood spurting it was pretty awesome. I also a woman who smokes 100 cigarettes per day (no joke) and apparently around her house she had buckets and buckets for her sputum. The next day, Mr.Diab, who appeared to have taken a shining to me, invited me to his OR and I saw a C-section! At one stage I was worried that I was going to faint, and the anaesthesiologist told me “if you start to feel light-headed SIT ON THE FLOOR”. But I didn’t want to sit on the floor, you can’t see ANYTHING from the floor. So i just hung on to the wall ahahaha. It was pretty brutal, Mr.Diab was basically ripping her uterus open on the way in. And then BAM all of a sudden he’s in and there’s a head and then there’s a baby. Which immediately started screaming. It was a she. Then they took out the afterbirth and put it on a platter. And by that stage I wasn’t woozy any longer so I went closer and hovered over as he sewed up the different layers comprised of her uterus and the lining and the fat and the skin. WAH SO COOL. But enough to convince me abstinence is the way! forever! Anyway then this consultant from A&E came to ask FC about the x-ray of some guy who was a Tree-Surgeon (I have never before heard of this term) and fell out of the Tree and basically snapped his ulna so that the head of the bone was at ninety degrees to the rest of it. When he explained who I was she asked if I wanted to come over to A&E. of course I did! It was not very eventful, alas. There was a guy with a bee sting. And also a 99 year old man who had fallen off his chair at home and had been brought in and was totally disgruntled and kept trying to run away. By the end of it, as well as making friends with the students and some of the younger consultants and the Arabs I was pretty chummy with the nurses who I was scrubbing in with. (I LOVE SCRUBS BTW. I don’t even mind that they smell weird.) Overall Guildford was WOW.

The next week I was in Luton, at a Day Care for people with learning disabilities. At first I thought it was going to be kids, like at the Help Centre. But it was so different. They weren’t kids they were all adults, which made it even sadder in some ways. And the first 6 days I was in the unit known as Neptune. They were the most severely disabled. They were all in chairs, unable to walk and furthermore they can’t communicate. So at first you feel like they’re babies, drinking from doidy cups if they are able. And when it hits’ you that they’re not babies at all, with the youngest being in their 20s or 30s and the oldests reaching their 60s it’s just so heart wrenching. But they’re so lovely, you can’t help but adore them. I got to see PEGs that I’d seen put in in Guildford in use, and I actually was allowed to, in secret, do a flush myself. (don’t tell Health and Safety). At times it’s a bit awkward in that you don’t know what to call these people, I kept wanting to say “the kids”, but they’re not at all. And they’re not students either because strictly speaking it’s not a school. So I had to call the customers. I had favourites of course, Alan, who I think was probably the most able, and communicate to some extent- and then Jason, who smelled odd because he drooled a lot, but idk why I just took to him. They had a “Fun Day” where we did some wheel-chair races while I was there. And then one day we went to the Afro-Caribbean Centre there, which was basically a place for the elderly Afro-Caribbean community to chill. We took Lyds and Shazza and people kept mistaking them for kids- it was so sad to say stuff like, oh no, she’s not 2, she’s 32. And stuff like that. I made friends with the staff at the centre as well, and the Jamaican ladies really liked me. They’re so funny I love how they talk. The last day I was with a different group, Mars. Their primary carer was a lady called Najwa. (More Arab overexcitement. I’d just like to say when I see Arabs in London or something I avoid them. It seems I am following that old Green Day song “I wanna be the Minority”) . Anyway in Mars they were making their own tea and playing football with me (actually most of them where a whole lot better than me). They were lovely as well. I was asked to make this poor guy some tea, and me, the least house-wifey person on EARTH, had never made tea before. From instant coffee I had a vague idea that you did tea bag and sugar, and then hot water and then milk. But I didn’t really know about the proportions , especially since I like my coffee weaaaaak and sweeeet. So poor Andrew’s tea was practically milk. It was so white. I felt sooo bad, but I was just praying that he’d drink it up before anyone saw it. Poor Andrew couldn’t talk either and couldn’t even complain. Actually I was curious to know what the customers at Bramingham’s disorders and syndromes were, but they don’t generally keep a record. Lydis had Rett’s Syndrome, and I could tell some like Imad had down’s syndrome from their appearance. But I couldn’t tell with Andrew. But not long after, in the book I was reading, it mentionned Angelman’s syndrome and had a description about the characteristics of those who suffered from it, and I realised Andrew fit the profile.

So other than work experience I’ve been doing the fun stuff to. I got to see a couple of my biffles from Jeddah and one of my childhood friends who’d since moved and HONEYY (: and also some of my mom’s friends who I like. And we did the cool stuff like eating at Rainforest Cafe and Princi and Hard Rock Cafe and other places. Pictures on my tumblr. Went to Primark and somehow survived, gaining a good deal of shopping. We also went to see Eclipse, Toy Story 3 and Les Miserables, And there are plans to see Cats and Dogs 2 and Tap Dogs and possibly Inception.

Alas, I wish, since I’m not really doing anything useful in this coming week, we could have gone home earlier, but at that stage I thought I’d need all this time. I’ll only have 3 weeks at home and it will be Ramadan and as I havent started my EE at all or my Chem CW or my 111 Math Qs or my revision for my Chem Test or even UKCAT prepping I’m basically screwed. (:

On that note, I think I will sign off.

-[n][a][d][a][&][♥]

; count your [blessings] now.

Saturday, June 05, 2010 Posted In EE , exams , Fringe , future , HTML , Jeddah , Maths , parents , Pink , school , Sevenoaks , shopping , summer , TV , University , work Edit This

Hello hello.

It has been some time since my last post so I decided to use HTML to make a table! (USE INTERNET EXPLORER. they look nicer that way. They’re not too bad with Opera but they’re ICK with firefox, and I’m not sure about with Safari.) I am back home in sunny Saudi Arabia (: my exams were something like a disaster. And after numerous fits of crying and doses of bonjella (mouth ulcers galore) I was thrilllled they were over and there was a week til I was going home. In actuality, having gotten most of my marks back they weren’t awful. There were some disappointments and some pleasant surprises. Maths was actually a pleasant surprise. It was the last exam and I spent all Saturday crying. My mom was of cause epicly worried, thought I was depressed, suggested I apply to “less competitive” universities or perhaps switch Math HL to an easier subject or even take a gap year. This didn’t help at all. I didn’t want any of that I just wanted a good mark in Maths. Anyways when I got back my mark it was a hell of a lot better than I had thought. Me and C were the best 2 in the class. Obviously, if I had taken History or French at HL at the start of the year, my mark probably would have been better. But I LIKE Maths. And I told my mom she was discouraging. And now we’re compromising. (:

Anyway tomorrow I go back to stupid school. I spent the whole break playing Sims 3 (woo my legacy is at generation 4!) and watching Fringe (EPIC EPIC SEASON FINALE) and basically being useless. My friends here are all cooped up with there exams alas. I have discovered that I’m better at religion in less religious countries. I seem to have a kink in my brain. Oh well.

I cannot wait for summer. SERIOUSLY . I know that in actuality I’m goign to be uber busy but I don’t caaaare. Summer Term is going to be filled with EE and TOK presentation and English Orals and COURSEWORK galore. Oh well. I shall have to be more productive. I was thinking of going to Open Days. But they seem to be a waste of time, filled with people dishing out prospectuses which can be found on the internet.

I hope I have time to go to London on the weekends. After exams I went that weekend and met my cousin and also Auntie I for the first time in ages. She’s really cool.

I’m strangely excited about university applications! I see my taking this back in the future. I hope some of my friends Uni in the UK too. Actually I think firstly I reaally hope I get in to the UK ahahah. OH gosh Upper 6th are all headed off to Uni. Well actually, not until like October, for now from facebook it seems they’re partying it up in Amsterdam and goodness knows where else :P GIH is going to be so empty. At the end of term, the Alpen Bars and Eggs were lasting for DAYS with only the French B U6 left in the house! These two years are going to flllyyy by epicly fast. It feels like I just GOT to Sevenoaks but I’m already halfway there to leaving it! We’ve already got our little sisters and last year at this time I had just got an email from my big sister! –sigh- I know it sounds stupid but I never expected to live this long. ahahha.

Oh last night I had this epic dream. I was in a battle. M was also there idk why. Anyway the battle was happening in this huge mansion. This little kid from the other side grabbed my arm, but I twisted his wrist and broke free. Then I ran into the house looking for a place to hide. I found a bathroom and hid in the bathtub. But then I heard somebody at the door. So I hoisted myself up using the shower curtain railing and hid on top of the towel rack. It was epic, but then my mom woke me up :(

I think I shall depart now. I’ve spent ages at this computer. Largely on Ebay. I definitely have an addiction. I ‘ve bought cliffnotes and revision guides and shoes and a pocket watch. And before I came I bought two seasons of the Cosby Show fr my mom, but which we’ve all been watching. Also my sister is sitting nearby and she is “sick”and she keeps snivelling and sighing and it’s annoying. How I’m going to make it as a doctor I don’t know.

-[n][a][d][a][&][♥]

Who Knew

by Pink

You took my hand, you showed me how
You promised me you'd be around
Uh huh, that's right
I took your words and I believed
In everything you said to me
Yeah huh, that's right
If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out Cause they're all wrong
I know better
Cause you said forever
And ever, who knew?
Remember when we were such fools
And so convinced and just too cool
Oh no, no no
I wish I could touch you again
I wish I could still call you a friend
I'd give anything
When someone said count your blessings now
For they're long gone
I guess I just didn't know how
I was all wrong
But they knew better
Still you said forever and ever
Who knew? Yeah yeah
I'll keep you locked in my head
Until we meet again
Until we, until we meet again
And I won't forget you my friend
What happened?
If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out
Cause they're all wrong
And that last kiss I'll cherish
Until we meet again
And time makes it harder
I wish I could remember
But I keep your memory
You visit me in my sleep
My darling, who knew?
My darling
My darling, who knew?
My darling I miss you
My darling, who knew?
Who knew?

YSP- Week 4 :’(

Monday, August 03, 2009 Posted In Canada , crush , DJ Tiesto , food , friends , Medicine , Microbiology , parents , religion , summer , travelling , Truth or Dare , UofT Edit This

I am writing this a considerable time after the end of YSP and have probably forgotten a great deal of the things which took place.

Monday was okay. The first lecture was from the head of department who was a rather scary woman, and who I've heard being called a bitch. Um then there was an old English fellow who gave us a history lesson as opposed to a microbiology lesson. He went about a half hour overtime. Even counsellor S was becoming quite antsy. He was prepared to jump out of his seat. Hahaa. The old guy kept pushing up his projection board, but then he'd turn the lights off again as soon as we thought we were freed. Councelor S was reading Manga and Facebooking and I wrote out the arabic alphabet and me and V and M used it as a code. S was very ill due to a stomach virus and skipped a lot. We did a whole lot of rushed practicals but they were fun. Bacteria are smelly. We went to the bookstore.

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On the way back we bought Pakistani food. YAY. I bought Daahl. We ate this in the boys common room. T and some others joined us. He kepts stealing food off me. The cow. And he complains of bacteria. D also tried some. It was really good and a nice change. :) As I was sill eating in the background M & S were talking to T. He sai to them "I guess my summer fling idea didn't work out" and then they asked who he would have had a summer fling with. He said ye to quite a few, the Spanish girls especially and myself included. M told me this in front of him in Urdu, but I think he didn't know I knew as later on he called S to ask if he had told me the Summe Fling thing, as he felt I had behaved oddly towards him. I hadn't... paranoia. -_- The evening activity was capture the flag, and me M and S sat on the base most of the time. We discussed religion.I think that all though S as a Jew and I would have differing opinions about political situations, I think our religions are not that different and that the rules are quite similar, and we have similar liberalish interpretations of them. In the evening V came to ours and we hung around. We then we realised we could see into T's room from a window in the corridor, so we began calling him our subject and we watched him walk out his room and reappear downstairs and walk to our building. We then heard him enter and pretended to be spies hiding behind corners and etc. Unfortunately it was a fail as he found us and I giggled incessantly. Once he left we called him a bunch of times and the first time he though it was smelly S pranking him and refused to answer after. Hahaa. Then we went to bed quite late, V gave us a lesson on tampons ahahaha. It's allll goooood.

Tuesday :) This was rather fun. We did some more labs in the day time which I enjoyed, pippetting bacteria plates etc. In the evening we skipped the evening activity and hung about in the common room. We saw that YSP was on a chinese news channel called Global, and some of our friends had been interviewed. (I think this was different the interview I had had before). I played solitaire on Saad’s computer. I’ve forgotten largely what happened after this, but I think we did some further packing at night and that was basically it.

WEDNESDAYYY was S's Birthday!. Did some more bacteria games in the day. We also had a tour and looked at an electron microscope. The guy showing us was very physicsy. All he knew was that we were looking at diplococcal gonorrhoea cells. I answered and asked some physicsy questions showing off my physics skills and he let me sit in the chair and play with the microscope. and then right before lunch our T.A.s were really cute and they made cupcakes for the entire class on account of S’s birthday . That evening I ran to the bookstore and bought myself a giant (men's) orange hoodie as well as credit for my Canadian phone. and a Sperm stuffed toy hahaa for my mom ;) Then we cooked pasta for dinner and cut a chocolate cake for S. It was uber yummy.

The people there were M, S, J, S, D, L, T ,A V,V,C and I. Funfun. We discovered J & S also do MUN. D hung around with me a lot. S (kuwait living Hindu guy) appeared. Him and T fought with waterguns. Very immature. This resulted in T breaking S’s watergun and S asking for money to be reimbursed. He claimed the price was $3 however in actuality it was 50c. Hahahaa. Idk. Then T decided to play Truth or Dare. AGHSHIT. Lets see, D was forced to make hisorgasm sounds. This was exceedingly awkward as for some reason his arm was around me. (I think he did that yawn and stretch thing). Erm, then T was made to go downstairs and do something strange in front of (slightly uptight stuck up French girl ) C. He kissed her on the cheek. Um, then I went to the bathroom. When I came back S tried to tell me something in Arabic I couldn’t understand. T then proceeded to ask me who I liked at YSP for the bazillionth time. –sigh- I responded nonchalantely with F (of the English Program). M then asked if what T wanted me to say was that I liked him. He said well that wouldn't be that awful, I'd be pleased. Or something. Um then D and a bunch of others left the room to go see just how stinky Hindu S’s room was. At this point S amd M informed me that while I’d been gone D had been asked who he’d like to fuck from the YSP girls. He said me and (every guy’s dream girl) P. Bleh. This awkwarded me out a lot. After this I left and did not return. The awkwardness made me want to cry. Bleh. M & S were then in our room. Their touchy feeliness makes me a little odded out. S is a sweet guy and tried to cheer me up. The pair of them are nice apart, but together idk they are odd. They rely entirely on one another it’s strange. They don’t seem to value anyone friendship.

Thursday, we had a lecture in the morning and looked at our results in the afternoon. My team, the Purple team then began to prepare for our presentation which we had secretly decided to do as a group :) It was on the black death. Funfun. For Dinner V and I went out. I bought Pak food and she bought Burger King. I had a Chicken Tandoori Wrap and Samosas :) That evening they bought us tickets to Harry Potter. Which we saw 2 weeks ago or something. Sooo… we did something ILLEGAL :D . We snuck into “The Ugly Truth”. It was really funny and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We finished watching before the Harry Potter kids were done so we went to Chapters and I bought the 3rd book in the Mortal Instruments Trilogy :). Umm me and C walked together on the way back singing songs and etc. When we reached the residence everyone dispersed and me V and D were left. D asked V to leave for a private moment with me. He said something like “I do0n’t know if you heard, but yesterday in truth r Dare they asked me who I liked here and I said you. And I just want you to know that you are very special and very important to me. And I like you, and I hope that you are not mad at me and that we can stay friends.” I said I was not mad and that we should indeed stay friends. Although inwardly I did not in the least appreciate being ambushed. However he then decided to give me a hug. I like hugs. But not full frontal hugs with people I don’t know well. –sigh-. I returned to the room rather upset again. M and I began to pack a bit.
Oh yes, A and S decided we should get gifts for our lab instructors. They collected sums of money for this during the day, and they spent most of their time following this Buying little Starbucks vouchers, a cake and making cards with pictures of the team. They then called me late at night and I went to A’s room, signed the card and talked with them a bit. S is a huge gossip and can be obnoxious, but I like her and A is very sweet. M and I took showers late at night. She went to the bathroom before me, and when she heard the door open and me come in she started talking to me about periods. I pretended to be one of the counsellors and asked why on earth she was still awake. She fell silent and got freaked out. I then started laughing, it was really funny.

Friday the final dayy :( We had stayed up exceeding late the night before so not only did we skip the university counsellor woman’s lecture as we were allowed to do, we also skipped the other lecture after this waking up at lunch time hahaa. We later discovered a lot of people had done this and the lecture room had been half empty. After lunch was presentations. I took in my Abaya for E, the Dark Lord to wear. Hahahaa. I personally think we pulled of our little play really well, but we were well aware that many of the other presentations were far better. Soo, when they announced the winners we were SHOCKED THAT WE WON!! HAhahhaa. We were all really pleased as well, and I think our team is probably one of the closest knit teams and so as a group we just eminated happiness. Our prizes were lame but we were so pleased. We went back to the labs after and L and A the T.As had made us all cards and they were so cute. We gave them their gifts and then A started to cry. It was so cute an sad. :( I was tearing too. Lets see, then at lunch M & S ditched me to sort out what of her stuff she was giving him to bring back home. I hung out with cutie A. We ate lunch and talked and she left behind her Spanish friends to hang around with me. Then T appeared. He began quoting Dr.Clark, who had lectured with a Tampon at the beginning of the week. He then asked me who I liked AGAIN. He then told me "I don't like you". I think A was quite horrified and I myself was confused. He then elaborated saying that I may have heard that he was asked who he would like to have a Summer Fling with and he had said me, but this was merely because I was nice, not because he liked me. He then said something like "I heard D likes you". To which I didn't respond but bit my lip. He knew this from before anyways, as it was he who had asked D in the first place, why was he harassing me. So I said nothing. Then C appeared and they egan discussing bacteria. A and I left, and found S so we hung out in my room gossiping and etc. And I told them about T, at which point M returned and the three of them agreed that T liked me. I found this prepostorous. I'm not nearly as leggy and attractive as P is. Then we went to A's room. We saw from the window a group of Sikh men dancing and I shouted Maaderchod at them :P Haha childish I know. We talked some more and discussed what to wear to the dance that evening. I ended up not changing. I was wearing a short black dress and purple tights with my new gladiators. A lent S something to wear. After some scurrying around we ended up at the dance. At first there were very few people there and the music was lame, however I for some reason enjoy the party/club atmosphere. I was having fun dancing however the rest of my friends M & S especially were not. S(the girl) is a real party animal hahahaa. She was quite fun, but even she left after a while as she felt the party was lame. So then we went to the lobby of the other building. I wanted to go back but noone wanted to go with me. At this point I really missed A and R and N a lot. I then asked M how stupid I looked dancing. She said only as stupid as me. The only thing is... I don't really like how she dances, so this was rather dissatisfying. I ended up not going back to the party. M & S went off walking on their own and me V, V, C, and S(the jewish one... there are far too many Ss) bumped into T. He told us that A (not the cutie) had tried to make out with him. He said they had been dancing and she leaned in, and he said "what are you doing?" and she said "what I've been wanting to do since the first week." and he said "are you trying to make out with me :O". and she said "what's the matter". And he blocked her with his arm and told her, "I'm just a little boy inside." Now this, we thought was a very unlikely story. 1) T is not exactly a catch. 2) She's a very independantish girl. 3) what 15 year old boy turns down a make out session? 4) sounds like a soap opera. So then S and I went to see if we could find out anymore. I ran into party animal S who pulled me aside. She said "was that S you were talking to? Is she okay? Does she know? J and N have been talking alnight and apparantly J liked N in the first week. (J and S were dating). I then went up to S and asked quite subtly if all was ok. She said J had told her he wanted to spend the last night all with her, but he had been talking to N and they didn't seem to want company. So S and I went for a walk and she seemed somewhat upset, but mostly because people were talking about her. Then when we got back, A(independant one) was sitting with some people, so C said something like "we don't believe T" to her. She responded with "oh I had a few schnops with so and so earlier". In other words she was claiming to have been drunk. She admitted it and looked perfectly sober to me. I was quite astounded. We were then forced to return to our own floors for attendance, and on the we met Counsellor S who was on the prowl for guys in the girls building, as one guy had done 3 girls in the past without getting caught. He even gave us his number in case we heard anything. Hahaa eww. We then wanted to go back to see the guys and tried to determine how to get back accross. V found a way but in the end we were too lazy to take it. So sat in Mand I's room. V brought us a tampon to disect hahaha.

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I put it in my nose (She's the man). Anyways, M called S and he was with T and they were pranking Hindu S. They apparantly put toothpaste on his door and Ironing boards in front of it. And I don't know what. They were all hanging around eating hotdogs and actually putting them in their pants. Oh dear. Um, after this I called T because I had really wanted to for some reason to see if I could get anymore out of him about him and A. I also apologised for not believing him. Then V,V,M and I played cards and relayed all the drama to M. Who then said to me, you know T would have been perfect for you, you don't like the idea of kissing at this age and neither does he. He would have mad a good summer fling and he liked you. She remained convinced. -sigh-. We stayed up very late, doing not really anything, however V and some other kids stayed up all night and watched the sunrise in front of the Med Building. AWW. I was somewhat upset to have missed that.

Saturday morning there was a frenzy to get packed and checked out from the room. I met A in the bathroom and asked if she was alright. She brushed it off, telling me something about getting her mother a present. M lectured T about having been so mean to Hindu S and pranking him, so T went up to the guy and asked if they were still friends. S looked puzzled and said of course dude. Guys are really odd. Then a tonne of people left and some had left before I'd even woken up. it was really sad. Me , M, S, C and V hung about taking pictures. M's cousin came for her and we both broke down in tears. -sigh-. Then the rest of us bought noodles from the convenience store and snuck into a common room to make them. We ate them and then V and C had to leave. Me and S went downstairs there were only a couple of people there waiting with us to go to the airport. It was dismal. I talked with this girl until it was time to leave. The spanish people who were staying an extra day had gone to Eaton Center, however cutie A returned and said by to me with some tears. It was really sad. On the way to the airport I talked to counsellor L and she said how she had moved around a lot, and was sort of unsure of her origin when people ask "where are you from?". I empathised with this and we discussed some countries etc. When we got to the airport there was a problem with the other girl with us's ticket. So another counsellor came and took over. When it was my turn to check in and we got to the counter they told me I was on Standby and I started to cry slightly. L argued with them and called up the coordinator. I also discovered my baggage was overweight due to the tonne of books M had given me to take for her, so I was forced to move these. L gave me some numbers and sent me to the gate, where I was to wait until they called my name telling me if I was on the flight or not. They said there was a very good chance I would be. However when L left me I burst into tears crying for ages. I tried to call my parents however I found that both my Saudi chip and my Canadian one were out of money. This increased the crying. I couldn't even text. I then tried to use the pay phone but they needed $11 in change and I did not have this. I tried to get it changed but it still did not work. I called co-ordinator T and asked him to email my parents. He said not to worry and I should make it. My crying died down and they called my name and I was indeed on the flight :) I boarded the plain, and there were 2 women sitting next to me. One of them wore hijab, and I could here her on her mobile speaing in Bangla. So when sh was done on the phone I asked her if it was possible for me to text from her phone and she was 7amdillah really sweet and she let me :) I then asked her if she was Bangladeshi. She was surprised and pleased I knew and we began talking, she as very nice and as it turned out was also going on to Jeddah and then on to Tabuk. We talked for the fliht, but I also watched 17again and I think most of another movie, I've now forgotten what. When we got off the plane in London, she hung around with me and was very kind. I went to get my other boarding pass, and they asked me if I would switch to a later flight through Amman with some vouchers as ompensation. I declined. R, the woman had gone to the bathroom. Meanwhile there was very little time for me to look around the shops and try on perfume as I had desired. We boarded the next flight home and she let me text my mom again. There was a cute guy who must have been younger than me and his family with 2 really adorable babies on the flight. As it turned out the sat beside me. R was seated in the back as well, however I was sitting by a man and couldn't see her from there. The fellow next to me slept most of the flight and got off in Riyadh, at which point I was alone. I slept a fair bit too and listened to my ipod. It had been 8 hours from Toronto to London, a 2 hour stop in Heathrow, another 7 hours to Riyadh, a 1 hour stop there and a 1.5 hour flight to Jeddah. I was pooped. I got off the plane, and when I got to the immigration I saw my dad from across the glass. i started to tear. He saw me and started waving ballistically and mouthing BANANA at me. As it turned out he was telling me to turn around because my Mama was there. When I saw her she started crying and I teared too, but I was too exhausted to let out the full waterworks I had expected to. She cut the line in an uncharacteristically Arab manner, and got us out. I saw R from a distance. I texted her to thank and ask her if she needed somewhere to stay. I also texted counsellor L to say I was alive and okay. It was all good in the end. When I reached home, Ser, Ali and Mamujaan were there. We had dinner and I gave them their presents. I was quite ill though with fever and sore throat, but in the end all was good :D.

Wo00t our team’s presentation ^^

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