Happy Eid

Happy Eid everyone... may God accept from you all your good deeds... and may He continue to shower us with His love, mercy, peace and blessings...

Mercy like the Rain!

Thank You as you deserve for all the goodness You bring to my life...

Jordan University Farwell | Take 4

**BEFORE YOU READ**
* This post is based on my own personal experience... Don't ask me for proofs or names!
* For more positive outlook on JU check my take 1, 2 and 3...

This time I'm going to talk about the downsides of Jordan University... which are more than I can permit myself to recall...

:: No one does their job and yet they expect you to do yours perfectly... beware saying that to them... they will be very ofended...

:: When they give you money they make you feel as if they are giving you Charity... well... HELLO! You HAVE to pay me...

:: They assume that if you are a single woman then probably you'll be spending your money on useless things... so don't complain if they are late or don't give you your money at all..

:: People give you only half of the information... no one actually takes the trouble of explaining to you the options or the full story...
One example when they gave me a scholarship... part of the money was an X amount for health insurance and if you didn't use it you have to give it back... so... I saved the X amount until I returned to discover that they want a Y amount which is more and though it said something different on the contract they made me pay because they claim to have given me the Y amount... and I should've guessed by myself... and after many fights... I had to pay!
another recent example is when I left I had a problem with my legal serving time in exchange of the scholarship... so they told me that there were two options... one they said is too complicated and they didn't explain it to me and the other is a longer [and dumber] solution but will solve the conflict... so I went for the second one... only to discover later that by making me do that they have saved themselves from paying me my un-taken holidays... which would've gone to the amount of +700 JD...

:: Even if you are a teacher with no real office... you can't have the keys of the two rooms you give your lectures in... simply because the ******** who is responsible for these rooms don't like the fact that you are spending too much time with the students in these rooms aside from the lecture time!!! Even worse when taking it to the dept. chairperson he took the side of that person over you!

:: You have to be careful when using your computer to check your personal emails or anything... because an X person has not much work on his hands that he likes to dig behind you and hack your emails... Can I blame him... maybe I recieve more intersting emails than he does... The worst part is that he baosted to me that he can hack into my emails! SICK!!! PATHETIC!!! and yet he is the one who have the keys!!!

:: Who said that the interent is free for all? Darling... think again... even if the students pay for using the net... we should ban them... BAN... BAN... BANG!

:: The money is always misplaced... to solve a non exsiting problem... for glass box a shop in case someone snap a snack bar... for planting over a concret pavement just because some highly important person plans to visit... for putting useless CCTVs in a building where the worst a student can do is pick his nose or use the bathroom too often!!!

:: If you do your job very well... then it is much better if you leave!

:: To get a better position you have to have strong connections... of any sort... but nothing to do with your qualifications!

:: They treat you as a memeber of the teaching staff when it is in their best interest... but when you ask for one right of yours... like attending a world wide conference... you stop being a teacher... well excuse me... I don't usually come to University to drink coffee, smoke and have chats with people...

I think I better stop here... it is very sad for me to see what's happening at JU... I don't know whom should I blame... or how to expect a change... is it the problem of this instituation or the problem of the whole country?
I don't know... but I really hope that oneday... professionalism will prevail... and things will be better...

Textures of a building site

Jordan University Farwell | Take 3

We always meet people that change us... people that make us better persons... In the three years I worked at JU/ Faculty of Arts and Design... I have met quite a good number of them...
:: HRH Princess Wijdan... In 2004 she was the Dean of the Faculty... and from the early beginning I was impressed with her professionalism... Princess Wijdan is a tough boss... she liked things done her way... at least her way was the right way... but as I got to know her... I discovered how sweet and motherly loving she can be... she used to talk to me... discuss with me things related to Art and Islam... and she recommended some interesting books for me to read... she has supported me when I was about to leave JU for my Post grad study abroad...
In her artwork... beside using Arabic calligraphy in an eye engaging way... you can see and feel both the feminine presence and the Islamic heritage...which for me is very fascinating... She herself is a walking encyclopedia in Islamic Art... which has been always charmingly challenging and sometimes controversial...
I remember the day I said goodbye to her... she was in a faculty meeting... but nevertheless she stood up... and she gave me a good hug... and asked me to take good care of myself and to stay in touch... That was the last time I saw her... Now she is the Jordanian Ambassador in Italy...

:: Hakim Jamain... he is probably the only Jordanian artist that I met and can think of as a true and an honest artist...
I worked with Hakim as his assistant and I remember the many talks we had... where he expressed his views about art, and life... he is a Maverick no doubt... Hakim rekindled in me the spirit of a child... he taught me how to walk and be in unison with what's around me... he taught me new ways of how to see... how to perceive... and how to feel the artful world around... Hakim was if I can say a true friend... he listened to my problems and gave me advices...
He is a person I'm very proud to have known even if for a very short time... he left JU before me... and now he resides in Cairo... flying freely once again...

:: Ruba Haddad... I can't say how much she has been a supporter for me... and how much she means to me... she has become one of my closest friends... people always comments that we are so different... that they don't seem to understand how we click... but in fact me and Ruba share much more together than what meet the eyes...
First time I saw Ruba was back when I was a third year student in Architecture... she was a graduate student... her project caught my attention... and I was standing shyly looking at her putting her last touches on her presentation boards... she was very nice and smiled at me... 4 years after that we met again... but as co-workers...
Ruba... is a very creative person... her head is always full of sparks of crazy ideas... she is very challenging... and she really made my stay at JU an enjoyable and fun thing to do... She always listened to me... and understood my point of view... and she had helped me in so many ways... that she can't even imagine... We have quarreled many times... but we always manage to understand where we went wrong... Ruba is indeed one of the people I will always remember no matter where the tide will take me...

:: Last but not least the long list of MY STUDENTS who have changed me... who made me a better person.. I can't write down their names... I don't want to miss out a name... but when they read this... I'm sure they'll know themselves... They were very challenging to me... they made me want to work harder... and they made my classes very enjoyable.... it is because of them that I knew part of who I am... and I can't express my thanks enough...
I'm proud of them as if they were my children... and I will always remember them... and hope to see them successful in their lives...

As much as I'm excited and happy that I'm leaving JU... part of me... is sad... for I really had some of the best days of my life...
[[That was a memorable day for me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day. ]] Charles Dickens, Great Expectation

Rasem Badran's Lecture at GJU

Today Arch. Rasem Badran gave a lecture for the fresh students of architecture and design at German Jordanian University...
And here are my notes of the lecture...

iPod Nano going slimmer and cooler!

uhhh =)
that's an idea if any one plans to get me a present!

Full Moon of Ramadan

The Narratives* | 17

17

[] The birds flying in the sky can't understand why birds in cages can't fly with them...

[] The summer breeze can shake a willow's heart... but it can't take it out of its grounds...

[] The turtle stood away wondering how come the rabbit asked it for a stroll together if the rabbit is so busy running and hopping around...

* The Narratives: stories, events, and scenes that happen[ed] inside and around my head…

Jordan University Farwell | Take 2

image by PipThePony | Flickr

The building that will be missed the most from JU... is definitely the Main Library...
The building is a typical early modern architecture with its free facade. It is built with red Granite.

The Library has a great and large selection of books and unlike the believed amongst students that it is out of date... IT IS NOT... if anyone took the trouble to search they would have found that...
Also in the past two years they have added the self-service book borrowing system where you don't have to wait in line for a desk clerk to help you... you can do everything alone... also the searching engine for books are done online and at the comfort of your own home... another thing is the e-library which gives you access to many e-books and journals and you have access to SpringerLink as well...

~~~
In the library I felt safe... more like visiting my sanctuary... the spooky aisles filled with dust books... the smell penetrates your nostrils making you a bit high...
~~~

I remember I had a practice of going to the library walking randomly and then pick any book and read it... by doing that... I got to know Emily Dickinson... and understand more about Sufism...

I'll miss the library and all the wonders it offered me...
Though they have a system for people outside the University to become members but I'll have to pay more and I'll have limited number of books and time...

Anyways I believe that the library is the one section of the university which have a clear vision of improvement and is actually pursuing it... and I hope it will continue that way...

Jordan University Farwell | Take 1

:: After spending 8 years of my life at Jordan University... I'm leaving... ::

First time I entered JU was on the fall of 1999... as a new student at the Faculty of Engineering and Technology... I remember I was very angry at myself during that period... so JU with all it's glories wasn't enough to cheer me up... but it wasn't till the winter of 2000 that I started to fall in love with JU...

5 years of my life studying architecture and going through rapid and sheer fluctuation of emotions...
I learned how to communicate with the trees... the people... the old buildings and little drops of water hanging uncertainly in the air...

During these years... I also have learned how to construct... how to think... and how to realize my own creation... I say I have learned... but I wasn't taught...

I graduated from JU on the summer of 2004... happy to leave and eager to see the world outside JU...


But as it turned out to be I didn't leave JU long before my own choice of path led back to it...

I came back on the fall of the same year... This time to the Faculty of Arts and Design where I took a major step in changing my career from being a practitioner to becoming an academic... and from architecture into design...

I spent 3 years at Faculty of Arts and Design where I understood JU in a new way... the people... the system and all the festering underneath the shiny surfaces...

At the same time I have experienced a new feeling... the feeling of creation...

Teaching has given me a virgin feeling of achievement... where I'm happy and proud of other people's work... these people who I helped creating or shaping their intellects...

That was the one and the only reward I had from JU...

During these three years I have grown up a lot...
I have befriended the trees... they whispered to me and taught me how to become part of the Divine symphony...
I wandered and walked with myself... enjoying the other seen but unperceived world...

But like anything in life... you reach a point where you feel that this is enough and now it is time to move on... and I have decided to leave...
I'm leaving behind me a place despite everything I love... a place that had me laughing from my heart... and crying lonesome than a cat gone astray...
A place where I got through my greatest battles on the road of self discovery...
A place where I met people who have touched my life for ever...

For all the moments I had... and lived fully... I say peace to Jordan University... and peace to the person I was inside it...

Two years...

++ Don't cry... you'll see the city once again...

-- But it is not the city I missed the most!

Ramadan prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque

Today I found this interesting though a bit sad narrative of how a Palestinian man living in West Bank plan to go to prayer at al-Aqsa Mosque...

the link on BBC....

His Eyes...