Alumni 2010 : Gossip

'Shut up ' I couldn’t believe it

'I'm telling you, that’s what happened'

'No way  ...I...I can't understand  ...I mean …so you're saying that you simply quit, just like that …quit'

'I just didn’t like it, working at the hospital day in and day out'

'Seriously what were you thinking? You're quitting your job with no plan B ...what's that?'

'I figured staying in Baghdad instead of going to Kirkuk and not having to go to the hospital every day, this way I will have  time to get  ready for the masters. I'm thinking Basic sciences, so I don’t have to deal with clinical work'

Me at this point… POKER FACE… he went on saying 'My plan is to get Masters in Baghdad…If I get accepted I will start December this year'

I couldn’t help it at this point I simply burst into laughter...' and until then what are you gonna tell people!?Hi I'm Bilal I used to be a doctor and now …now I'm a housewife'

I got slightly taken back because it wasn’t that hard to sense the uncertainly in his voice besides ,after the explosion that  took away his dad's life , everybody kinda expected him to step up and take care of the family instead of relying on them .anyways , I laughed wholeheartedly today thanks to his crazy ideas :D

'Did you know that Mohamed smacked Duaa in the ER?' if I have to name one thing in Bilal that havent changed, it would be his overwhelming interest in other people's business :P

' Really! Do they work at the same hospital?'

'Nope, then the security kicked him out of the ER'

'Is that for real?! I've always thought this couple was weird'

'Duaa left work altogether after the incident .And Mohamed is in Russia'

'Russia ?' I gasped

'Aha..he met this Russian girl in Lebanon and he wanted to meet her family'

'Lebanon?!  Where in Lebanon? You can find Russian girls in one place only.....'

'Exactly'

'Noooo' I didnt even want to consider the possibility

'Yes and he wants to marry her'

'Marry a hooker!! Good for Duaa …..Whats wrong with you people ,You studied  your entire life to quit?'

'You know Sarmad, he had left too… he's in Turkey right now'

'Wow ..no wonder why we're understaffed'

The Help

7:00 am in the morning; sorry Rebecca ;your cute, but I had no plans to wake up that early..

'hello! Morning Doc…where are you?'

Don't mean to be superstitious or anything but waking up to that voice is always bad!

'Ah You're home.. Great..so you have nothing to do today ..come to the hospital'

'Its my off day Zaid'

'I know, I'm sorry but we're two doctors short today'

'Hello !?still there ?'

8:00 am

'Hey Danya ,where are you ?'

'Hey there Doc, I'm home'

'WHAT ?'

'I'm just about to leave now Safa ,relax, zaid had just called and ..did anything happen?

'Yeah ..its Dr.Muth there is a patient in….bla bla'

 'on ma way'

8:00 pm

'hellllooo doc Aren’t you hungry?! Come to the canteen ,my recess is almost done ,hurry up I dont want to eat alone'

'Safa! Are you in the hospital !? Your duty was yesterday'

 'So was yours darlin'

'I'll leave the floors in a minute… wait for me'

3:00 am

'I want you to leave the ER now'

well it was 3 am…someone is telling me to leave my duty .. Theoretically I should've jumped with joy but I didn't. I was too shocked to react this way…see this is not the way things are happening around here … by default, senior doctors  use you whenever they can..

'But..'

'This is beyond discussion,I want you back in 3 hours '

 I genuinely wanted to drop the thing off my mind but what he did was so odd that I couldn’t sleep at all..

6:00 am

Do you want to know why I asked you to leave?

YES

'The ER didn’t look safe to me'

'hmm ok '
though I couldn't get it ,I was too tired to argue..that I just agreed with whatever he was saying ...

8:00 am

'Are you coming home today?'

'Yes I am' and this time I'm switching my mobile off  ;)

Operation 1.0.1

'I've lived though sh*t, I can survive this Inshalla ' I thought this morning when I was in the passenger seat of what supposed 'but turned out not' to be a taxi…

'Where the hell is my visa card?' I thought ' Is it in my purse or in my pocket  ...wait I'm not wearing jeans I have no pockets ' gosh it's in my purse …ok ok it's your safety first just give him the purse and the visa ..Or maybe I should hit him with the purse, get out of the car and run …think quick danya ..Gosh hmm…ok plan A…..

'So are you Jordanian?'

'Nope'

'Iraqi'

'Yeah'

'Great I love Iraqi people'

'That’s …err good'

'I won't hurt you don’t worry  ...I'm just gonna drive to where you want '

'You know I really want you to take me back to the UK embassy I forgot to submit some documents..'

'Oh  ...ok then …'

'I think we should take that route' I don’t know if it was obvious but my voice was all shaky at this point.

'Nooo I know better .this is my country, the way we're taking is a shortcut .you know this is a Christian area and the western part of Beirut is Sunni, the southern is Shiite..it goes back to civil war time when …. Btw Have you ever been to Lebanon before?'

'Err yea '

'And you are Shiite or Sunni?'

'Sunni' sh't sh't sh't I shouldn’t say that now I'm officially dead…So I quickly added

'My mom is Shiite though 'this is true  ...well at least partly!

To be honest the man was so polite but he was clearly unstable .His reactions were unpredictable and I just wanted to get out of the car.

'I'll wait for you'

'No need sir  ...thank you I'm fine'

'I'll wait anyways'

'Sir don’t you have work?'

'I'm self employed …here is my card'

'You know it will take probably 2 hours maybe more because hmm you know security stuff'

'What have you done with my card?'

I wasn’t paying attention but because my hands were so sweaty the card almost melted in 'm

'Ok then  ...what do you have at 7 this evening?'

'I have to go to the university to meet my professors'

'7 pm at the university??'

'Yes …it is  ...it is a late meeting'

'What about coffee at 8:00?'

'sounds good. I have your number now I'll call you ' and I could've added pigs can fly

'How did it go with the visa application?'

'Mom it was horrible  ...I'm telling you it's going to take 2 weeks to be processed and they took my passport. Mom I'm stuck in Lebanon'

'Pray hunny'

'I will…but you tell grandma to pray for me'  

September resolutions !!

never heard of it ?! me neither :P but I figured its never too late to get a hold over the upcoming months especially when it comes to puttin oneself back on track...
well the truth is it came after a rather shocking conversation I had with my dad yesterday ;
'you know people support an entire family with your salary and you're ..you're ..where do you spend your salary?'
'well lets see between transportation , fast food and  travel ..DAD, tickets are expensive !!'
'I know but I covered most of your expenses there'
'I wasn't exactly alone !! plus mom told me.......see it wasnt ma fault and...' apparently he didn't buy it
'Habibi here's whats going to happen ..you're on your own ..you should learn to be independent...we will still be helping you ,sure, but only when you absolutely need it'
I was speechless.. now ,out of the blue, I'm financially independent ..unfair !
to be honest , this has a good side after all ..it makes me think of having one more job ,not just volunteering.. yea lets see how good I am with this 'new' concept 

there's nothing like a mama-hug !

Location: Medical ER

Time: 10 pm

A woman was staring at me from a distance …I saw  her by chance ,turned back to what I was doing then it clicked …..what the heck?! Is that my Mom?!!  Why is she in the ER !..for a second ,countless thoughts  crossed my mind but then I looked at her closely….she was  smiling at me … her looks gave me reassurance, after all if something bad had happened she wouldn’t be letting me  finish managing the case I was handling.

'What are you doing here?'

'I brought you Suhur '

'Seriously mom I'm not exactly in the desert you know'

'Have you had Iftar ?'

'Are you serious? Did you come to ask me if I had eaten or not?'

'I'm so worried about you ..you …'

'Doctor the result s..'

'Let me see, we are going to cover anti- ischemic for her and repeat the ECG half an hour later ' I said that to the patient's husband

'What does that mean?'

Of course he didn’t understand …I usually explain things in layperson's terms but I was so distracted by my mom, I couldn’t work!

'Ok I'm sorry… it means not enough blood is reaching her heart muscle and we gonna give her medicine and see what happens'
then I turned back to her 'Umm mom, are you alone?'

'Are you her mother?'  Guess what that was the patient's relative again.. 'She had treated my dad too…you have an excellent daughter. God bless her'

It was getting so awkward at this point … and I really had to go back to work

'Did you come by yourself?'

'No your dad is waiting outside  ...are you coming tonight?'

'NO…hunny, I'm not a kid anymore mom please…'

'Ok ok I'm leaving  ...'

A very democratic chit chat!

'No'

'I can't understand… why not? Come on mom, You can't do that to me'

'NO'

'Please mom'

'I said NO…I won't host this French friend of yours in my house'

'She's so cute'

'And I bet she's so French too'

'You know I never thought you gonna say something like that'

'Its Baghdad darling wake up ..we gonna get ourselves  killed if we host her '

'What if ..what if we hide her ,please mom its gonna be an awesome experience'

'But then you're busy all the time ,you can't host her even if I say its ok'

'Don’t worry I'll manage '  

'You are as idiot as your friend … I don’t know anyone in her right mind who would  leave Paris and spend her summer here in Baghdad  '

'She works as a human right …'

'I don’t care ..human right …waste of time...That only adds to her stupidity ..listen it’s a NO and that’s final '

........

I haven't given up completely yet.My dad is next ,he's an easier target :P I should've tried with him first ...but my hand is full with something else right now ..I'll let you know what's gonna happen next :)

An other summer day ..has come and gone away :)

'what do you mean you dont know when you're coming back ? what kinda program doesnt have a preset closure date ??'
'no no just listen its not a program I'm migrating'
'no way ,ur kidding right ?!'
'I'm not'
'yes you are'
'no I'm not'
'walla???'
'walla ' although my friend's Christian but walla is kinda universal here !!
'that's ...hmmmm thats great which state?'
'Chicago'
he has three aunts and an uncle there
'listen we need to meet before I go'
'when?'
'September , 7th'
'and you decided to tell me just now !!!'
'the IOM sent me the email yesterday I promise ...my entire family applied 5 years ago I actually kinda forgot about it '
'I cant make it , wont be in Iraq'
'seriously?!'
then there was a pause, a rather long one for a mobile conversation :P
'you dont seem so excited by the way ?'
'you know my family is pushing me to go for it but I'm so worried ..I've already started something here...my work and I'm leaving my master'
'get a master degree from Chicago you idiot '
'you know my parents told me that too, they're paying btw'
'of course man they have to'
we laughed alot at that... I actually pity Iraqi parents sometimes.. they're doomed with their children until death do them apart :P
'its the right move'
'yea it is.... but  life there will be difficult right? '
I couldn't say no because for him that's the truth.. his life in Iraq is so comfortable ..his parents held  influential positions at the government and with the way things are working here ,this means alot..
'but you're smart ..you can do it'
'I'm leaving for good '
'and it is for your own good '