My Own Way To Express Feelings

Hi everyone,

What I want to say that I liked my blog and the idea of linking it to our study. So thank you Sam for giving us a chance to post our writings. It’s true that I don’t like to speak to answer or explain any questions, but I don’t mind doing anything instead of speaking. I would be worried if you ask us to do presentation >_< 

Any way, everybody has his\her own way to show his\her feelings. Although I'm not the type of people who can express their emotions and feelings by writing especially in English, I'm nearly satisfied about what I have done from the beginning until now.

For me, I can say that I have my way to show you how can I feel. My way is to draw my feelings! It will be clear for you if you see an example of my Drawings. So I searched on my laptop’s files to find at least one drawing and I’m lucky to find one. Say Masha'allah first lol.

 

You can see that I liked to draw Japanese Anime lol.

I think you can tell what I felt when I drew this picture. ^_^

~{ Happy Eid }~

Don't Be Sad

Translated from the Arabic book (La Tahzan)

Once, I've read a book called “Don't Be Sad” which is the number one bestseller of its type for Arabs. It was written by Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni, one of the Islamic advocate,who wrote about several genres like jurisprudence, literature, biography, translations and collections of poetry such as “Melody of immortality” and “The story of ambition.”

'At a time in which the Muslims are beset with trials from every periphery and within, comes this heartening book rooted in the commandments of Allah, the Sunnah and the excellent guidance and examples of the Muslims that have come before us. Don't Be Sad is an absolute must-read for all people. It is full of practical advice on how to replace sadness with a pragmatic and ultimately satisfying Islamic outlook on life. It exposes to the modern reader how Islam teaches us to deal with the tests and tribulations of this world. So, take heart and hold firmly onto the rope of Allah.' (Amazon.com)

It was an amazing book for any person who feels let down and has no motivation‭. ‬There is a huge encouragement in this book to make you feel as a whole new person on a new perspective view of the world‭.

The book starts with a little story and ends with an amazing glory‭. ‬Yeah I mean by that you'll change into a new person who is more optimistic to the world‭. ‬It tells you the step to change your self into a better one starting from believing in Allah that he'll never leaves you and he hears you and sees you all the time‭.

Then it talks about what you can do to be changed and start improving‭. ‬I recommend you all to read this book if you haven't read it before‭. It's recommend for anyone who needs some inspiration, meditation, prayer and hope

Buy Your Wife Jewellery Not ...!

My friend Rema told me this story. She went to a special meeting which include many different nationalities. So here is the story:

There were a meeting for people to stand up and talk about them selves.

Well, one of who stood was an Australian. He said, “Women are precious thing and specially when you make them happy and buy them gifts‭.”

For me, one day I bought to my wife a gift‭. ‬It was a Dough stick and she was delighted‭. ‬Well, here is my fault; I never thought this would happen. ‬One day I told my wife that I'm going out to be at my friend mark's house to watch sports, instead I went with my other friends to play poker and I was late and hung out‭. ‬So I went back home walking‭. ‬

When I entered my home, it was dark‭. ‬I moved slowly upstairs and into the bathroom to watch my face‭. ‬When I opened the door I heard a loud shout “John WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT MY BATHROOM HUH‭!!” ‬I accidently entered my neighbour's house‭.

I apologised, then went to my home where my wife was waiting for me standing up the stairs with her dough stick slamming it up‭ and ‬down on her hand‭.

‬”JHON” she yelled “Do you know what time it is now‭?” ‬I looked down on my watch and said ‬In a cold tongue‭, “It is 2‭ ‬in the morning my dear‭.”

‬She said, “Well then come up darling I want to have a word with you‭.” I went up, step by step till I reached her‭. ‬She said, “WERE YOU CHEATING ON ME‭.” ‬I said, "I would maybe" and I laughed thinking that she is joking around with me‭. ‬She replied, “I phoned mark and he said you are not with him‭. ‬So you are really cheating on me‭.”

‬Then she waved her stick getting ready to hit me and then I tripped and fell on the ground from the first floor‭. ‬She jumped on me and started to kick me till the ambulance came‭. ‬When the medic showed he said, “What was happened‭?” ‬I only replied, “If you want to buy something for your wife buy her a jewellery‭.”

A Treasured Present!

I was given a famous and bestseller book as a present, which is called “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” Last term, I can remember that we took some paragraphs to translate them from English to Arabic in our translation class. So I’ll give you a short brief about the author and his novel.  

Khaled Hosseini who born in Kabul, Afghanistan then he moved to the United States in 1980 wrote this book. His First novel, The Kite Runner, was an international bestseller, published in 34 countries. He was named a US goodwill envoy to the United Nations Refugee Agency In 2006. He lives now in northern California.

 This novel is about a girl named ‘Mariam’ who is only 15. She is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed, who is 30 years, her senior. Nearly two decades later, in a climate of growing unrest, tragedy strikes fifteen-year-old Laila, who must leave her home and join Mariam's unhappy household. Laila and Mariam are to find consolation in each other, their friendship to grow as deep as the bond between sisters, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. With the passing of time comes Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the streets of Kabul loud with the sound of gunfire and bombs, life a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear, the women's endurance tested beyond their worst imaginings. (I write this summary from the novel's cover) 

I can remember when we translated this quotation: 'Mariam’s mother tells her: "Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have.”'

It’s one of those books that really make an impact. Although I did not finish the book, however, in some points while I’m reading, I felt a little guilty that I have such an easy life compared to Laila and Mariam. I extremely recommend this novel for you to read if you are interested.

The Magnetic North

By Sara wheeler

Sara Wheeler is the author of five previous books, including Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica, Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard and Too Close to the Sun: The Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton.

Smashing through the Arctic Ocean with the crew of a Russian icebreaker, herding reindeer across the tundra with Lapps and shadowing the Trans-Alaskan pipeline with truckers, Wheeler uncovers the beautiful, brutal reality of the Arctic.

When she puts up her tent on the top of the Greenland ice sheet, she experiences climate change at the sharp (and cold) end. The Magnetic North is a spicy confection of history, science and reflection in which Wheeler meditates on the role of the Arctic in public and in private. The fragmented circumpolar lands were a repository of myth long before the scientists and oilmen showed up (not to mention desperado explorers who ate their own shoes), and the hinterland north of the tree line has fed literary imaginations from Dickens to Chekhov. The Magnetic North tells of all this, plus gulag ghosts, old and new Russia, colliding cultures and bioaccumulated toxins in polar bears.

The unowned homogeneity of the Antarctic that enchanted the youthful author in the bestselling Terra Incognita finally finds a counterpart in the embattled polar lands at the other end of the earth. The complex and ambiguous Arctic, Wheeler writes, ‘perfectly captures the elegiac melancholy of middle age.’ (www.stanfords.co.uk)

Into the Wild's Themes

Sam told us about some of themes of the book 'Into The Wild'. She mentioned freedom and loneliness. I would like to add more without going deep.

I think one of the themes is the attraction of the Wilderness. The wilderness has a very particular attraction to Chris and many others of his type. He saw the wilderness as a place that is free of the evils of modern society and a purer area.

McCandless spends so much time trying to find food to keep himself alive. This could be explains the reason of his death and perhaps why many of his heroes who wrote about the wilderness, for instance, Jack London who in fact never spent much time living in it.

Also, another theme is the ambiguity of Identity. I have red that Krakauer spends about three years putting together first the article on Chris McCandless, and then this book. He talks to almost anyone who met McCandless, even fleetingly. He follows McCandless's trails, reads his journals, even reads the articles he wrote for the student paper at Emory. (GrAde Saver)

I supposed that Krakauer feels that he can understand Chris more than anyone else, because when he was in Chris age, he was like him.

Moreover, I'm not sure, but I feel that the search for the meaning of life could be themes in "Into the Wild."

Into the Wild's Characterization

Chris McCandless, the main character of the book written by Jon Krakauer ‘Into The Wild’ . It seems that he had factors influence his responses to the crucial conflicts that he encountered.

In my opinion, I would describe Chris McCandless as a free spirit, a dreamer, an adventurer, an escapist and mad, because he left his family, and his father was somewhat violent and rude, his mother was unconcerned and was not worried about him she said: “I just don’t understand why  he had to take those kind of chances. … I just don’t understand it at all” (132), and his sister in contrast was very Dependant on him. I think that’s a lot to take for a young person. He did love them greatly, but he wanted to find himself.

 

He was very interested and attractive with thoughts, the way of life, natural world, and the way naturist's lived. The sad Irony of the story was that he lost something that would fill the void in his heart along the way when he headed out into the wilderness to find himself.

If it were me, I would have looked somewhere else to fill up that void and hole, such as to be with the people that I loved and who loved me in return.

Into The Wild/chapter 3 & 4

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Chapter 3:

In Chapter 3, we meet Wayne Westerberg, a man who knew Chris McCandless as “Alex” before his death. Alex was hitchhiking one day. Westerberg suggested him to stay on with him for a while because the weather was bad and Alex was ill equipped. Alex spent three days with Westerberg; before parting ways, Alex was told by Westerberg to find him if he ever needed work. A few weeks later, Alex found Westerberg and began working for him. Westerberg says that Alex was very intelligent and a hard worker. Alex moved on when Westerberg had to serve time for involvement with “black boxes.” Alex stayed in touch with Westerberg and as he traveled on, claimed he was from South Dakota.

Alex, or Chris, was really from Annandale, Virginia-the son of successful parents and a graduate of Emory University. Following his college graduation, Chris headed west in his second-hand Datsun. His family, not even his favorite sister Carine, had any idea he had gone.(Monkeynotes)

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Chapter 4:

In October 1990, more than three months after McCandless left Atlanta, his Datsun was found abandoned at Lake Mead National Recreation Area by Park Ranger, Bud Walsh. Without license plates, Walsh could not trace the car to McCandless. The rangers kept the car for driving around the park. Krakauer learns through his research that McCandless got caught in a flash flood with the car, which caused the battery to die. Instead of having to explain why his driver’s license and registration had expired, why he did not have insurance, and why he was driving on a prohibited road in the first place, McCandless chose to abandon the car. McCandless shed unnecessary baggage and burned all of his money, one hundred twenty-three dollars, as a symbolic gesture. After spending some time hiking around the lake, McCandless hitchhiked out West and found work on Crazy Ernie’s farm. When McCandless realized Ernie had no intention of paying him, he stole a bicycle and left.

Soon after, McCandless met Jan Burres and her boyfriend, Bob. He spent a week with Jan and Bob and kept in touch through postcards thereafter. After receiving a ticket McCandless got for hitchhiking (he’d given his Annandale address to police), his parents contacted a private investigator. The investigator learned only that Chris had given his entire savings to charity, which really worried his parents.

McCandless spent time in Colorado and Mexico, where he had some difficulty navigating the canals. He spent a night in jail after being caught coming back into the US with no ID. McCandless was able to spring himself from jail but had to leave his beloved handgun behind.(Monkeynotes)

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I used References to help me to understand this story!