Off to the City of the Dead

The drive to my brother's house took forever and once we got there, Oh My Goodness!!! what is going on? people out side there homes shopping after sunset! this can't be real, I was shocked I haven't seen the world outside after sunset in over a year, so the other side of Baghdad was relatively alive, I must admit as sad as I was the vision of Palestine Street and all those people was refreshing and i couldn't stop thinking about how much I wanted to go sh oping (which i did the next day), then the night came and it was the longest night I've ever had I remember crying myself to sleep which sadly became a habit after that for a very long time!

We decided to stay for a couple of days before heading to Erbil, where my dad was, It was decided that I'm not going to go to school anymore and that I'm going with mom there and we'll figure it out later, we stayed in my brother's house for a couple of days, most of which were spent on the phone with my friends crying, yes I do cry a lot although in my defense it was a very difficult experience I didn't have a place to call home which was devastating at the time but after a while I got used to it!!

Early morning, saying our goodbyes and off we go, to the unknown, I use that expression quite a lot, but it's true in this environment, once you step outside your house you're facing the unknown you never know when a bomb will explode, a random kidnap job, or just bullet from no-where will get you!! scary but very true, we made it to the city of the dead as I used to call it, the minute that we crossed the main check point I felt my heart beating so hard it felt like it was trying to get out, i tried so hard not show it but then I couldn't I felt a tear rolling down my cheek, I took out my sunglasses quickly, put them on so that no one would notice. Things happen for a reason and it better a good one and I'm young so I'll adapt and if I can't I'll force myself.

There's dad, I haven't seen him in months and I miss him but I was so angry at him for making me come to this place, I was so cold while greeting him and apparently he understood! so he didn't ask or anything. We drove to his company rest house we were going to say there for a few days until the house we rented is finished. A house full of old men, a house keeping lady and her daughter and the very religious very strange young guy who I can swear had a psychological problem, the man was weired!!anyway, i shared the room with mom and dad and since I was basically not speaking to anyone my pride prevented me from asking for a blanket which was a huge mistake!! the power would go off around 2 in the morning and believe me Erbil is cold very cold. The few days that I spent there I would watch TV all day long stay up late go to bed (not really a bed it was a towel) after mid night, there was a bag that I slept on all the time which turned out to be a bag of SHOES !!!! yes I slept on shoes I used every single peace of cloth to cover myself while sleeping until finally I couldn't take it anymore I asked for a proper set, after that dad and I started talking again but even after that I still felt angry I just wanted to kill someone, I never did though thank god!! two days later we moved to our new house...