My Trip to the U.S.A./ Treasure of Baghdad's Diary December 3, 2005
This morning I woke up early, 6 a.m., as the conference starts at 7:30 o’clock. As usual, I took a shower and left with J to the conference. We didn’t have breakfast because it was late but I had coffee when we took the subway. We talked bout a lot of stuff on the way to the conference, including how I might be getting the M.A. degree in journalism. We also talked about what we had in our yesterday’s sessions. J was very delighted that I liked the conference and found it very helpful to me.
In today’s lectures I liked the “Narrative in breaking news” story. As a reporter in Iraq, I am usually exposed to breaking news. So, I found the lecture very fruitful.
In today’s one-hour break, I was starving. J and I left the convention center and found a nearby restaurant that serves Hamburgers and French fries that I am familiar with. J ordered vegetarian food as she is vegetarian. We liked the food a lot. It was very delicious.
Then, we returned back to the conference and attended some lectures. After we finished, J called K, a friend of J who is hosting us in his house in Boston. We decided to watch a movie and then have dinner. So we went to a movie theater where watched “Rent”. Based on Jonathan Larson's award-winning Broadway musical, the movie chronicles a group of New York artists struggling with identity and artistic integrity in an HIV-positive world. Roommates Roger and Mark, a songwriter and recovering addict and a guerrilla filmmaker, respectively, must find a way to pay their former roommate-turned-landlord when he decides to renege on his promise to provide them with rent-free living.
J and K were friends since college and they haven’t met each other for almost two years. We were very happy to be all together as K was very nice and very down to earth. They said they watched this movie for many times but never felt bored. They sang the songs of the movie together.
I liked this movie although I found it a little bit weird. But I liked the message in it.
After the movie, we went to a Mexican food restaurant which K suggested and had our food back home with us. It was very delicious. I liked it a lot.
Since I arrived Boston, I did not have a break at all. My body clock was confused. I became very tired, really tired. While I was sitting on the Sofa chatting with J and K, I fell asleep. Suddenly I woke up as J and K were talking. “Shinoo? Shinoo?” [Arabic for What] I woke up shocked. “Mako Shi” [Arabic for Nothing] said J to make me sleep. This usually happens to me when I am so tired and worried. It happens due to the stressful time I go through in Baghdad.
December 4, 2005
This morning I woke up at 9 o’clock. I shaved my beard and took shower to get ready to my trip to New York. While I was passing by the balcony, I saw the weather snowing. I ran to J’s room to tell her the news. She and K, who was in the kitchen, jumped running to see it. I was so excited to see it snowing. It was my first day to see snow and it happened in America. We were all happy and excited. After we had breakfast, J and I went out to see the snow. It was like in movies to be walking while it’s snowing. I was happy, so happy. We walked for about 15 minutes in the area and had so much fun. A resident of the area was so happy to see us there. He asked us if we live there. I told him I came from Baghdad. He was very excited and he welcomed me in his beautiful country. It was so nice to see how people are friendly and nice.
K and his friend took me and J to the train station which we took to go to New York City. It was a comfortable train where J and I watched a movie on her laptop and I continued reading Shadid’s book.
We reached New York after a 5-hour trip. J’s twin sister was waiting for us. The train station was very crowded. “Look for me!” said J. I laughed from the bottom of my heart and said “there she is”.
It’s the first time to meet J’s sister whom I’ve already known through emails and photos. When I met her, I didn’t feel I that I saw her for the first time. She always considers me as her brother and I always consider her as my sister. She came from Philadelphia to be with J as they have an appointment the next day with J’s publisher. She took part in her sister’s book, so she had to be with her.
We took a taxi cab, went to a hotel, booked two rooms, left our luggage and went out to have dinner. The first dinner for me in New York was in “Republic”, a restaurant that serves Asian food. We really had fun. I ordered grilled chicken and rice. When the bowel arrived, I didn’t see chicken and normal rice. I was surprised. The taste of the chicken was weird and the rice was black! This was the first time in my life to have BLACK rice. Rice in Iraq used to be white. Anyway, I didn’t each much of it and preferred to continue drinking my beer. Later I discovered that what I ordered was a Vietnamese food.
J’s sister preferred to have some tea after dinner. I joined her by having coffee. I had a headache and though this might be good for me. Then, we went to a store where we had bottled water and I had Pringles, incase I feel hungry at the hotel, and you know what? I did feel hungry.
I couldn’t sleep at the beginning, so I turned on the TV. I watched the news on CNN and then changed the channel to watch a movie. I finally found one of my favorites, “Mr. Deeds”. It’s so funny. I like it a lot. The first time I watched this movie was during the first days of war when we still had electricity.
This morning I woke up early, 6 a.m., as the conference starts at 7:30 o’clock. As usual, I took a shower and left with J to the conference. We didn’t have breakfast because it was late but I had coffee when we took the subway. We talked bout a lot of stuff on the way to the conference, including how I might be getting the M.A. degree in journalism. We also talked about what we had in our yesterday’s sessions. J was very delighted that I liked the conference and found it very helpful to me.
In today’s lectures I liked the “Narrative in breaking news” story. As a reporter in Iraq, I am usually exposed to breaking news. So, I found the lecture very fruitful.
In today’s one-hour break, I was starving. J and I left the convention center and found a nearby restaurant that serves Hamburgers and French fries that I am familiar with. J ordered vegetarian food as she is vegetarian. We liked the food a lot. It was very delicious.
Then, we returned back to the conference and attended some lectures. After we finished, J called K, a friend of J who is hosting us in his house in Boston. We decided to watch a movie and then have dinner. So we went to a movie theater where watched “Rent”. Based on Jonathan Larson's award-winning Broadway musical, the movie chronicles a group of New York artists struggling with identity and artistic integrity in an HIV-positive world. Roommates Roger and Mark, a songwriter and recovering addict and a guerrilla filmmaker, respectively, must find a way to pay their former roommate-turned-landlord when he decides to renege on his promise to provide them with rent-free living.
J and K were friends since college and they haven’t met each other for almost two years. We were very happy to be all together as K was very nice and very down to earth. They said they watched this movie for many times but never felt bored. They sang the songs of the movie together.
I liked this movie although I found it a little bit weird. But I liked the message in it.
After the movie, we went to a Mexican food restaurant which K suggested and had our food back home with us. It was very delicious. I liked it a lot.
Since I arrived Boston, I did not have a break at all. My body clock was confused. I became very tired, really tired. While I was sitting on the Sofa chatting with J and K, I fell asleep. Suddenly I woke up as J and K were talking. “Shinoo? Shinoo?” [Arabic for What] I woke up shocked. “Mako Shi” [Arabic for Nothing] said J to make me sleep. This usually happens to me when I am so tired and worried. It happens due to the stressful time I go through in Baghdad.
December 4, 2005
This morning I woke up at 9 o’clock. I shaved my beard and took shower to get ready to my trip to New York. While I was passing by the balcony, I saw the weather snowing. I ran to J’s room to tell her the news. She and K, who was in the kitchen, jumped running to see it. I was so excited to see it snowing. It was my first day to see snow and it happened in America. We were all happy and excited. After we had breakfast, J and I went out to see the snow. It was like in movies to be walking while it’s snowing. I was happy, so happy. We walked for about 15 minutes in the area and had so much fun. A resident of the area was so happy to see us there. He asked us if we live there. I told him I came from Baghdad. He was very excited and he welcomed me in his beautiful country. It was so nice to see how people are friendly and nice.
K and his friend took me and J to the train station which we took to go to New York City. It was a comfortable train where J and I watched a movie on her laptop and I continued reading Shadid’s book.
We reached New York after a 5-hour trip. J’s twin sister was waiting for us. The train station was very crowded. “Look for me!” said J. I laughed from the bottom of my heart and said “there she is”.
It’s the first time to meet J’s sister whom I’ve already known through emails and photos. When I met her, I didn’t feel I that I saw her for the first time. She always considers me as her brother and I always consider her as my sister. She came from Philadelphia to be with J as they have an appointment the next day with J’s publisher. She took part in her sister’s book, so she had to be with her.
We took a taxi cab, went to a hotel, booked two rooms, left our luggage and went out to have dinner. The first dinner for me in New York was in “Republic”, a restaurant that serves Asian food. We really had fun. I ordered grilled chicken and rice. When the bowel arrived, I didn’t see chicken and normal rice. I was surprised. The taste of the chicken was weird and the rice was black! This was the first time in my life to have BLACK rice. Rice in Iraq used to be white. Anyway, I didn’t each much of it and preferred to continue drinking my beer. Later I discovered that what I ordered was a Vietnamese food.
J’s sister preferred to have some tea after dinner. I joined her by having coffee. I had a headache and though this might be good for me. Then, we went to a store where we had bottled water and I had Pringles, incase I feel hungry at the hotel, and you know what? I did feel hungry.
I couldn’t sleep at the beginning, so I turned on the TV. I watched the news on CNN and then changed the channel to watch a movie. I finally found one of my favorites, “Mr. Deeds”. It’s so funny. I like it a lot. The first time I watched this movie was during the first days of war when we still had electricity.
