Farewell all....

Today is My flight to Abudhabi!! 7.45 hours 2 be precise on Etihad Airlines!!! I hope its good!!! Its just me and my mum and i still cant belive it!!!! I should be spending like a day in abu dhabi and then on wedneday morning will be going 2 baghdad by plane!!!

Ive had 2 vaccinations against polio and Typhoid although my uncle is telling me i should be more worried of getting a bullet inside me instead of a disease!! Too be honest i dont feel scared at all! Maybe its cos ive never been in a war affected country before!! But hopefully it should be ok and everything should go smoothly!

My bags r kind of packed after lots of shouting sitting on the bags to make everything fit and putting stuff in when the mother is not looking!! (Look yea a girl needs her conditioner!!)
But to look on the bad side of things i guess this technically could be my last blog while im alive so i should leave a kind of will/last statement thingy!! ohh goody :D:D:D

Well i guess if i did pass away oh so suddenly and my years were cut so short i would ask everyone to remember me and not forget all the good and joy i have brought to u ungratefull people!!!

To all my loved ones i would say thank you for being there in my life and thanks for helping me in times of need and when i needed u .. (oh i feel tearfull now). To those ive known a long time and to those who i havent known that long u have all left a stamp on my heart and i hope u r all praying for my safe return!!

I love u all more then u can imagine!!! And i cant wait till i come back and see u all!!!

Take careeee

Zahra

End of Exams ... WOHOOOO

Yes the day has finally come that i am free from these dreaded exams! For those of you who know me, you would know that as usual i was killing myself with study! Oh the sleepless nights revising, making notes, doing passpapers! Hehe YEA RIGHTT!!! lool i am 100% sure i havent passed however i am around 40% hopefulll that i may have passed at least 1 module!!! lool!!

So now u may ask what now??? This stupid Admissions guy is blanking me and wont reply!! Cant he see i am desperate to change to international Politics!!!! I should hopefully have a place for next year!!!

Life is a breeze now im just relaxing drinking coke and smoking weed (j/k, although if u can get some at a good price let me know!)

I have this week free to do crap all then im going Iraq!!! Yup i knoww!! .. So i should perhaps leave a last heart wrenching blog before i go!!! Inshallah in a few daysss!!

Interracial Marriage/Relaitionships? Do they work??

Growing up in a multicultural Britain, i was always taught that having interracial/multi-cultural relaitionships were perfectly fine and should be encouraged. In principal of course i would always agree.... However in practice do they work??

When 2 people fall in love they always put their differences aside and focus on the similarities & feelings they have between them but as time goes on does that major cultural/racial difference gnaw away at them and actually cause major problems??

I think maybe some of the problems they face could be from the 2 families- for eastern/middle eastern people family is very central in marriage and the two families may cause friction for the couple. Ie- they could have arguments and the couple would find themselves torn between the two.

Another issue is that human race unfortunetly does not see itself as being equal to other races and so one side may feel superior to the other side and may even show this in the way they behave and interact!

Also the children .. they will be half this and half that and also british as well!! Could they grow up with an identity crisis???

In reality its harder than it sounds and i wonder how people do it!!

Britain Goes to the Polls

Everyone's buzzing today .. it was a very important day the 2005 General Elections!!Its quite obvious Labour will win however the issue is by how much and also will Tony Blair stay on as Labour leader!! Personally i think Gordon Brown lacks Tony Blairs charisma and speaking skills so I'm kinda hoping Tony will stay!! but who knows???

As for Micheal Howard i dunno he just annoys me there is just something unlikable about him dont u think? The problem with the conservative party is that they never learn and they always have the same leader but with a different face lol.

As for Lib dems.. well can they be seriously taken as a 3rd party?? Do they make an impact ?? Some say they do and indeed if allied with the conservatives they could swing votes their way but i think they would have ideology issues with them so forget that!The worrying thing about the lib dems is that they seem to have alot of support on the back of being the 'Anti-war party' whether that will be reflected in the polls is yet to be seen. Im wondering if Sarah Teather keeps her seat in 'Brent East' (look below to see her picture)!! Last time i saw her she said she was campaigning hard so who knowss!!!

I think voting is a very important issue because in some countries some people especially women are fighting to get their voices heard.. so its kinda sad when in western countries people take their democracy for granted and dont bother 2 vote!!!

As for me and my family ... 2day they made their way to the school nearby in the constituency of 'Brent North' and they casted their votes ... As for me :( i wasnt registered to vote and never got a ballot card!! By the time i figured it out it was too late ... I hate Brent council!!!!

Latest Update .. Labour has kept hold of their seat in Sunderland south!! (Curtusy of BBC Desktop score)

Joshua's Card! 

Three Faiths Forum & Joshua

I was invited by one of my mates (Huda Jawad) alongside Stephen Shashoua, Deputy Coordinator of the Three Faiths Forum, an iraqi jew who had managed to secure an audience with a guy called Joshua who had been in Iraq for over a year as part of the State Department’s assistance in developing the political infrastructure of the new government and looking at the impact of politics on security in Iraq.

It was about for an hour and the guy really knew his stuff, he was so clued up on everything i mean i guess it was his job but then u always get people complaining that Americans dont know whats going on but this guy was really good!!.

He was basically talking about his work with the Interior Ministry of Iraq.One of the kool things was his work in counter-insurgency strategy, security planning for the elections just gone.
I managed to get his card! Ive blocked out contact details for privacy's sake but im planning on emailing some more questions that i didnt get to ask.