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An Average Iraqi

An Average Iraqi is just a fictional character whose....well, fictional. I will use this character to make a comparison between him and real human beings like myself or any one else.

Name:Hassan
Location:Baghdad, Iraq

My name is Hassan Kharrufa. I am a 20 year old Iraqi student. I study civil engineering at the Department of Building and Construction at Al-Jami3a Al-Taknologia (The Tecknology Univirsity), Baghdad, Iraq.

Iraqi Bloggers BiographyUpdated November 11

Monday, October 03, 2005

IN HER EYES: Another Big Day

  The person that is going to play An Average Iraqi in this post is the same girl that played An Average Iraqi in the post IN HER EYES:The Big Day.


"Well, When that SMS arrived, I was home, bored. Probably because I had studied all summer, and now I suddenly have a lot of free time, and nothing to do with it. Can't go out. I spent most of the day in front of the TV, sometimes I would call my friends and chat a few minutes. So when that SMS arrived, I thought it was one of my friends sending me a message, and I would reply and that would be it. But when I read it, it was different, she said that the results for the 2nd attempt exams could be up on Sunday.


"I was so excited, first I had to arrange for transportation, thankfully my aunt works at a nearby place, I can go and come back either with her, or my father could come and get me, our car could go out on Sunday, thank god. Next I had to see who knew and who didn't, who is going to come and who is not, catch some gossip if there was a curve this year or not. The days went as slow as they could be. On Saturday, I slept but hardly.


"Sunday at last.... I arrived at the university at about 9:00 AM. Saw a lot of my friends, said hi to all, but I wasn't going to stay and chat, I had to go up and see what my result is, I didn't even bother to look around and see who has came and who hasn't. I went up the stairs, entered the staff and administration floor, I knew the room where the results would be announced. I went there, and asked the clerck if there was anything on the grades, he asked me what year I am, I said 2nd going to 3rd. He said they will be announced at 12. Oh 3 hours of waiting what was I going to do. I went down, saw more friends, we sat down at the cafeteria, spent the 3 hours there, then we went back to the department. One of the boys went up to see if the results has been announced yet or not. He came back and said they will be announced in the next 15 minutes, but said that we need a letter from the library that clears me of any books I might have borrowed, so if I had borrowed any books I should return them. Luckily I hadn't borrowed anything. So we went to the library, got our letters and went back to the department.


"The results were being announced, I felt like I wanted to fly there and get my results, I couldn't wait for the queue to reach me. But there was no other way, minutes passed like they were ages. Although the queue was made of many students, but silence ruled. I could tell it the person who comes out of the room had passed or not. One of the boys even "Halhal"ed. (There is no English word for that, but it goes something like "Kololololeeeeeesh". A sign of overjoy.) I laughed when I heard him, we only "halhal" when we are overjoyed in weddings and such. Others would come out on the verge of crying, some of the girls surely did. Finally my turn, when the last student in front of me went out, it was my turn to turn the knob and go in, I felt like my legs couldn't carry me, I even didn't know if I should push or pull, finally I figured it out. Went into the room, and told the clerck my name, gave him the letter, and waited. He turned to the computer, said my name in a questioning phrase, checking I guess, then gave me a small paper, and said "Mabroog" (congratulations).


"Oh I was at the peek of happiness, all my close friends who went before me had passed, now I have joined them. I'm finally in the 3rd year. Took me a lot of time, but it is done finally. No celebration was enough for me, I know I had grown older ten years when I was at the queue, but now I have the energy of a 2 years old kid. I couldn't even sit for 5 seconds. I couldn't wait to get home and tell my family. I'm finally a 3rd year civil engineering student...."



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5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad to hear that she passed successfully. This reminds me with how i used to get my results but i was so confident to get the highest marks in all four college years. Mabrook to all of you!

B.S.

10:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations, and if I knew how to "halhal" for you, I would. There are few better feelings than learning something and proving (on an exam) that you know it.

Well, there is the feeling you get when you cash your first paycheck from the job for which you're going to college. Soon.

5:13 PM  
Blogger Mad Canuck said...

Hey Hassan,

Reminds me of when I was studying engineering in university. The exams are so hard, it's easy to worry about failing, even if you're smart. What they used to do (and may still do) at my university was to post a piece of paper on a bulletin board with a list of the student numbers (not names) of all the students who failed and a statement instructing the owners of each of those student numbers to go see the dean.

So, people would crowd around the piece of paper, and if they didn't see their own student number printed on it, they knew they'd passed and could just wait for their report card in the mail without worrying too much about it.

6:28 PM  
Blogger cramekid said...

Hello Hassan. I am a 19 year old student in the United States, and I am taking a course studying genders in the Middle East. I realize that you stopped posting on this blog a few years ago, but I'm hoping that you may check anyway and respond. I think that the premise behind your blog is very creative. It is great that you are taking the time to describe the typical Iraqi men and women. A few times in your blog, you mention that girls cannot take taxis by themselves and it is more difficult for them to find transportation, and it can sometimes keep them from attending university that day. In this post, the woman is describing her slow summer in which she “can’t go out.” Is this because of how dangerous the city has become with all of the bombings, hijackings and abductions, or is it inappropriate for her to leave the house for another reason? Also, when she discovers that the test results are coming out, the woman reflects on her options of how to get to the university, including asking her aunt or father to take her, before she concludes that she can, in fact, take the car out on Sunday. Did you include this part to emphasize that it is more difficult for a woman to get from place to place, or was it referring to the restrictions on driving, in which only cars with certain license plate numbers can drive on a specific day?

9:00 AM  
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