My trip to the Market

My father took me to a Market today. I think something like this should have been done about 15 years ago, but it was done today and I finally know what a maket is like.

We waited untill the very end of the market day when the fruit would be sold at a very cheap price. It was a little manic to say the least, hands were in air raising money, trying to get the attention of the seller. I did it once, and I felt a very compelling feeling to make sure I got that bag of grapes, a bit like knowing this is the last possible chance to get what you really want. It was indeed, a money making feeling.

In the end I and my dad debated a lot about how much the fruit bought was compared to a normal trip at sainsbury's. We ended up with one water melon, a box of very ripe mangoes (yum yum!) and 4 boxes of white seedless grapes. We intended to buy working gloves for my dad so the wood chips wouldn't give him any splinters, however, we were too late and the gloves were gone! Next week it will have to be then.

We then tried to find a pound shop on a high street near my home, no gloves there either, but the gloves were no where to be found. We made our way back to the car to go home.

But we got stuck in a narrow road with cars behind us and a car in front of us, facing us. It was a big car, with four young men, polish by the sounds of their loud swearing. They shouted orders to my dad while he remained quiet trying to think of a solution, the woman behind the big polish boys was also shouting out orders. Dad tried giving them hand signals to stay calm, but the boys considered dad a light weight- Big mistake.

When he was trying to reverse the stupid people in front of us was not making things easier, shouting orders.

'WAIT!!! Wait!' shouted my dad like a billowing thunder heard after lightning. I'll never forget the look on those boys' faces, just pure shock and fear. My dad can have a pretty scary face when he's angry, I know all about it, but I guess I'm immune considering I technically have half of that scary face. I've never been more proud of my dad for kicking the ego out of those boys.
Dad shocked those kids into silence and the drivers of the cars behind them. Eventually we managed to get out, but heard calls along the lines of 'ya pakistani!' which made me and my dad crack up laughing because the next time they come across an angry arab, they won't go unharmed.

My tale of freedom

So the exams finished, I'm doing my project, which requires lots of reading, which i haven't even done a quarter of. I'm someone else's desk at my 'work' I like to call it, eating my lunch, listening to youtube songs, and reminiscing about how I was this time last year.

Anyway, I promised myself I'd make a blog post not about exams or manga for once, so I'll chat about the extracurricular things I've been up to:

1. March the 8th I saw Miss. Kon, we had Pad thai! We had chrysanthemum tea! It was amazing, more of a sedative than a beverage. The teapot it came in was see through and you could actually see the flowers swirling around in the hot yellow water, it was probably the most exciting tea I've ever had, second only to Miss. Noozi's fruit iced tea.

2. 9th of March I got to see Miss. Short Fuse in her natural habitat, I was finally face to face with the uni friends that she constantly talks about, I'd prefer if she transferred the insufferable affection she has for her friends to her friends, because I'm tired of having the brunt of it all. I don't mind hearing about them, but the extent that she talks of them is really beyond excessive. Well, It was her birthday, I was most graciously invited to her birthday dinner considering it wouldn't have happened if I didn't step into her social-fear and actually ask permission from our father. She has a very large set of friends, and I hate to disappoint her (i secretly love to), but I didn't like most of them. I suppose it was due to the fact that I knew everything about every single waking hour of her friends lives. It was like an unsuspecting person being introduced to their uninterested stalker. Or maybe it was prior prejudice I harboured due to how often Miss. Short fuse talks of them, maybe it was even jealousy, but it was certain that some of them I disliked because of the atrocious things I'd already heard of them from Miss. Short Fuse herself, what astonishes me most, is that she remains sociable with the same abominable people, she knows this, and she's stupid because of it.

3. 10th March I went to visit my old Uni buildings, even though I'm in the same university, I'm miles away at different campuses and I felt a stronger sense of loss of belonging, that's the sad part of attaching your self to a foundation; you have to break away, and i always end up losing more than I gained. The good bit was that i got to see old friends, which always brings a smile.

4. 12th March, I attended an Orchestra showing, the music played were some of the most amazing music I've every heard and it was all pursued for due to another set of Miss. Short Fuse's friends, despite my love for the music played, I was, at the end of the day, an escort to be present for the return home journey. funny thing was that there was an ISOC event the same day, same time, and I didn't feel any inclination to go at all. Glad I didn't, I don't like being part of a status quo, as horrible as that sounds in regard to the make shift community of Muslim students that i belong to, that's the truth, I am myself, not an obliging member of a group.

5. 13th march, was Miss. Nodi's birthday dinner/Miss. Eyebrow's leaving dinner. As usual, we created a significant amount of noise. so much noise, that we were actually 'shushed' by an annonymous person from another table. The prime discussion was on playing devil's advocate on my homophobia, then poured on the questions from my neighbouring friends of 'what if this person was gay..' We also stumbled upon a dead lookalike of Jonny Depp in a Jack Sparrow outfit.. he was really a spitting image, if not slightly larger than the real thing. never the less, it was a truly wonderful day, on of my best this year. Because it had nearly all my oldest and dearest friends surrounding one, long table, chattering away by volcanic force. We had a pit stop at this super candy shop which had... everything, and I mean everything, it was a miniature williwonker's chocolate factory.

6. 14th March, I think I've decided I don't like wedding, I love segregated weddings, which was what I attended to on this day, but I saw some older ladies moving in rather... provocative ways, one even stood on a table. As you can imagine (try not to) such a sight really did put me off weddings, but thankfully not my appetite (the food was yummy).

7. 21st March, This day was rather momentous for me as it was the day I discovered my Egyptian roots... sorta. I and Miss. Pain in the Ass went to a sort of network event for 2nd and 3rd generation Egyptians in the UK, it was hosted by the Egyptian consulate and I had no idea such an organisation even existed. Well, now they know that young Egyptians do exist too. For the first time in my life I felt like I belonged somewhere, there were other half Egyptians too, and it was nice talking about hour feelings on returning to Egypt. The organisers were a bit cheesy as most Arabs are, and the middle aged women were pretty much all match makers. In fact the event did seem a bit like a 19th century ball, except there was no dancing and all the boys stuck to themselves, while the girls did likewise. One guy did come up to me, and he said the most random thing, asking me if I was some girl on a bus that went to Manchester university. I had to admire the person's courage considering I was surrounded by girls, but he really should have planned for something else in case said girl said 'no', which I did. I wanted to burst out laughing as he practically crawled away.

8. 28the March: I and the sisters decided to go to a charity event called 'Draw a smile'. Surprising as this may be there were significant disadvantages to this. Firstly, the event was organised and hosted by an ex-school mate, I shan't name names, but he doesn't exactly have a clean reputation, despite him never meeting me, I know some details of his personal life I'd rather not have known. Secondly, the entire event was aimed at Egyptians, which meant being surrounded by Arabs which is something I just can't do. But i got to practice the week before by being at the consulate and it paid off... I ignored virtually everyone there. thirdly most of the event was extortionate auctioning, so crap things like a 3abaaya got sold for $150. They even auctioned cakes... they really needed to get better ideas. The main host (same as the organiser) was so annoying in the fact that every two words he spoke was followed by a pause... it got soooooooo irritating! The good news is that I got to see Miss. Hard shopper her mother and sister. I also bought some baklawa, which i got an allergic reaction to later that night.

April: quite a few things have happenned, I don't want to go into detail as i really should be getting back to work, but in summary: I fasted 2 days and nearly fell as a result of hypotension. My grandmother had a few parathyroid glands removed in a surgery performed by my cousin's husband. We all had dinner when my uncle suddenly dropped by our house from Egypt and next thing I knew I had 4 hours to clean the house, we had a delicious barbecue and I actually enjoyed babysitting the kids this time, though I got a bit worried about the knowledge of swear words the 9 year old boy had. My grandma is now fine and walking and doing everything she used to do, which is pretty strange considering she thought she was going to die before the operation. My great aunt from Luton came over the day after the barbecue to visit the 'invalid' and I got to cook Fasulya.

Overall, it's been a mad month.

Time for an opinion

Not that I think my life is worth telling the world wide web about. But I have been feeling distinctly disgruntled lately, i.e, I'm loosing my cool more quickly than before. I think I'm going through a change... hmmm.

Anyway. I've noticed how wonderful libraries are, I went to one a couple of days ago and picked up a Manga that didn't really seem the type I'd normally pick up, ironically. But the blurb caught my attention as it had some relevence to a project i'm currently researching for. Then I read it. WOW! It's called 'Real' and drawn by the renouned mangaka Takehiko Inoue (Inoue Takehiko is the proper way to say it though) who has also created 'Slam Dunk' and 'Vagabond'.

The plot revolves around three individual characters with very different personalities, one of them is a high school drop out and shunned as 'useless' by society's standards, another is a man who'se leg was amputated as a result of Bone cancer, and the third is a high school student who got hit by a truck as he stole a bicycle. Through each of their hardships they are united by a common goal: to play basketball. The ending of this line might sound a little climatic, but Inoue himself has rather an obsession with the sport and has utilised this thoroughly in his current and previous works. The main issues Inoue has addressed in 'Real' is the overcoming of society's restrictions and the power of capability in a human that is equal between the disabled and able; that no man is any less human whether able-bodied of disabled.

Even though I've only read the first 2 volumes, I have been very impressed by the use of graphic imagery and symbolism Inoue has used to describe the sensations his characters are feeling. For example, in Chapter 5, when the student who stole the bicycle and subsequently gets hit by a truck wakes up in hopital, he is actually shocked to find his legs barbed with wire, symblosing the cruel and painful imprisonment of his legs away from the rest of his body. This was later accompanied by the inability of the boy to actually reach his legs with his arms, the drawing itself had a very desperate air about it, and the description of 'not being able to feel my legs' was very impacting to me.

I look forward to reading the rest :)