What's going on in your mind???

Tomorrow is the final part of my comprehensive exam. I only need to calm down. Enough pressure for last few weeks. You know after study different subjects I understood there are lots of stuff that I don’t know much about.

It’s amazing how we human beings developed models to simplify the world surrounding us. Going deep into the details of complicated formula and using different ways to solve differential equations to explain how a simple shell structure behave… there are several books more than 500 pages each just to explain some of these behaviour…

I used to believe the world is based on a simple basic rule and then everything just comes up from that and not more. Definitely I don’t know what’s that simple rule is. You know now I understand what Einstein meant when he said “I am not interested in the details of this or that phenomenon I want to know what is going on in God’s mind when he created the world.

Give your mind a break

Tomorrow is my comprehensive exam part I. I am practicing my proposal but each time when I am reaching to few end slides I a so tired that I can’t hear my voice properly. I hope my voice rise up a bit tomorrow.

my mind really needs a break, last night I thought it’s going to be exploded so I turn on the TV and switch to kids channel and gave my mind a short break with a simple cartoon about little bear and his parents (mother bear and father bear). No conflict nothing to think about, sometime we really need such stuff. Be simple like a child.

Anyway, wish me luck…

SUNNY DAY OUTSIDE

I am in Toronto now. Studying full time everyday, I am preparing myself for the part one of my comprehensive exam, which will be held on May 24th.

I am a bit nervous about it, but that’s ok I will be alright. The weather outside seems perfect, sunny 16 degree. It’s really tempting I love to go out and run but I have to stay inside and study.

Home is now my office and from where I am sitting I have a great overlook to the city of Mississauga. At this moment, I can a see a woman laying on couch and getting tan.

Anayway,….

Borign and Drawing

2:47 Newfoundland time, Saturday afternoon I am working in my office. Actually it is my every Saturday schedule. I have a strong motivation for working hard, and finishing my PhD as soon as possible, that's joining my husband at Toronto.

I have my comprehensive exam ahead; it must be held in less than two months. But before that I will go to Toronto and stay with Nima (my husband) for three weeks. In fact this will be the longest period after our wedding that we two are together.

These days I am so busy with writing my proposal. I hope I can finish it through this weekend. Sounds boring ha!
Whenever I feel bored I start drawing different things on any papers around me, I remember I have had this habit since high school. Most of the time I draw a face of little girl with broad smile, ready to embrace the whole world and dreaming about intact piece of land, covered in green grasses and beautiful flowers. (Since I am the one who drew this little girl I know what’s going on in her dream, trust me.)

I have my camera here and I can take a picture of my drawing . Here it is!

Happy Spring

Today is 6th day of spring. In my country (Iran) there is a holiday for almost two weeks. We Iranian celebrate the first day of spring, Norouz, as a new year. This year, it was on March 20th, at 9:37 PM, (NL local time).

It was my first Norouz with Nima (my husband). He came here in St. John’s and stayed for ten days. I just said goodbye to him in St. John's airport an hour ago.

On march 20, with other Iranian (roughly 20 people), we gathered at Greek restaurant and had dinner. (Actually Greek foods are more close to Iranian taste than others) After our dinner we all gathered at a friend's place, and celebrated the new year.

For Norouz we prepare a table with some stuff which their name start with S in Persian language (the haft sin table) and each of them is the symbol of something. Most of the time we go with:

1- apple (Sib, symbol of beauty and health)
2- sabzeh - wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish (symbol of birth)
3- Samanu (a type of Iranian sweet)
4- senjed - the dried fruit of the oleaster tree - symbolizing love

5- Somaq (a type of spice)
6- Coins (Seke, symbol of wealth)
7- Garlic (Sir)

Also we put mirror, candle, gold fish bowl, and holy book. I do love this tradition, when it comes to spring in iran all the street are covered with fish tank full of these beautiful, red creatures, green plant,…every where is red or green. People clean their house, buy new clothes, plan for a trip… I miss that so much.

The good thing for me is that I was born exactly on the first day of spring, as a result every year I have two gifts to look forward, one for my birthday and another for a new year.

Any way, my husband bought me a digital camera for my birthday, and I love that. Now I can start taking pictures of everywhere that I am going and give you a virtual tour.

Here is a photo of my table with 7 S-starting items on it. I have apple, lentil sprout, vinegar(serke in persian), samanu, Hyacinth (flower, sonbol in persian), coins, and garlic...

Happy spring, Happy new year.

Peace...

These days some weird stuff are going on in my country. Because of this damn nuclear power, U.S threaten Iran that if they don’t stop their nuclear program U.S will attack Iran.

I don’t care about nuclear power … what I am worry about is my family, friends and country mate. I don’t know how long we Iranian are supposed to go ups and down, when we are going to settle down and have peaceful life.

Very quickly after 1970 revolution in Iran, the war between Iran and Iraq started. It took 8 years, many many young people were killed or detained during those horrible 8 years. We still suffer from those hideous memories of the war!

I wish Iran was a place everyone dreams to live in; I wish there weren’t any restrictions on my country mate.

Some time I think if people could see further than their nose then they could understand how funny they are when taking every thing so serious and killed each other for absolutely nothing.

We human beings don’t change at all, if thousands years ago our ancestors killed each other to save their territories with stone now at 21st century a civilized human being fight with more developed equipment for the same reason.

Are we really better than animals ? Is this planet really small for all of us to live in happily?

Get Stuck At Home

Last night we had a strong blizzard with more than 30 cm snow, and 100 km/h gust. Huge amount of the snow was gathered behind the entrance door of my house, so I couldn't open it. Buses and taxis don’t work, and the university is closed.

I got stuck at home. Imagine my friends and I were up to surprise one of our friend tonight for his birthday and now every where is closed, we all have to stay at home today.

There is famous saying here in St. John’s, “if you don’t like the weather wait for 5 minutes” I waited all day, but it doesn’t work.

I am still waiting to see some changes in weather condition…

One Day Ski Trip to Clarenville

Last Saturday (Feb 17th) I went to ski trip to Clarenville, 2 hours drive from St John’s, with a group of students. It was my first time so I took some lessens, first and then started my first experience from the lowest hill. I found the ski equipment so heavy although the size and length of the ski shoes was based on my weight and height.

I fell down 10 times until reach to the bottom of the hill. It was all fun only one thing that really annoyed me was, unhooking my ski shoes each time, standing up and hooking them again which took me 5 minutes. It was really hard for me to keep myself stable; I was like a little kid trying her first step.

I really enjoyed watching 3-4 years old kids skiing, it was so cute.

I started skiing 10:00 am and finished at 4:00 pm which is too much for the first experience. Exhausted at the end, I arrived home 8:00 pm and had a deep sleep.

Where do you wish to be right now??

This coming Monday (February 17th) I have my committee meeting. I need to present what I have done up to now and what I am going to do next. I am so tired, all this week I was busy with making slides and analyzing the results, etc but it hasn’t finished yet. I have to work all weekend.

Whenever I am under pressure, my mind flies to different places that I wish to be on that time and most of the time these places are some kind of intact nature like the photo I attached.
I want to be there right now! Ok go back to work.

Weather Bomb at St. John's

Yesterday (25 Jan), I was working in my office when a friend of mine came and warned me about the snow storm, called weather bomb. I never heard of anything like weather bomb before. It was a fast moving storm with significant snow accumulation.

When I returned home the storm was beginning, but it was not that bad until I decided to go to grocery store near my house, Dominion. I was completely covered in gloves, snow boot, hat, scarf and certainly snow jacket. I started walking toward Dominion but just after few minutes I found my self at the middle of a large amount of snow blowing in every direction, I could barely keep open my eyes since the snow particles could enter into them.

I started laughing at that time, it was all fun. The good thing was that the temperature wasn’t very low (around -3) so I didn’t feel freezing. Finally when I got there, my pants were absolutely soaked. Thanks to the cab I didn’t come back on foot; enough fun for one day.

Check this link, you will find some photos from St. John’s snow, which can give you an idea of what I am exactly talking about!! http://www.bitstop.ca/snow_2003.htm

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I recently came back from my long holiday (about one month) in Iran. I got married there, which was so exiting for me. I really didn’t realized how the time passed. It was so hard to say goodbye to my family and my close friends but life is life.

My husband and I came back together to Toronto where he lives, and after two days we said goodbye and I returned to St. John’s.

We have to be far from each other until I finish my study here and I can join him. Sometimes I find this so hard but it is a kind of experience. Because of this distance, we are always occupied with how to see each other, when, where and how long.

We joke that one day we can write a book about long distance relationships. Anyway, a new year has started and I have lots of things to do: Submitting my proposal, doing teaching assistantship,…

Holiday is over; wake up!!

Halloween Again

What I do like about the people here in St. John's is the way they celebrate their traditions. When it comes to Halloween, most people around the city decorate their houses with things like carved pumpkin, pumpkin light rounded trees… On October 31st People throw Costume parties and kids go door to door for treat.
Saturday night (28th,October) I went to George street to watch the crowd gathered in different costumes. It was kind of contest and the one who wore the most strange and creative costume won 5000$. People where standing in long queue to buy a thicket and get into a club. St. John’s down town was so crowded until 4:00 AM. I didn’t stay that long to understand who won the prize but I heard that the winner was a girl whose custume costed 2000$!!!!!!

Experience of being a minority

One year ago when I left my country for the first time I didn’t have any idea about being a minority. I am from Iran, an old country, full of historic buildings and memos. You can find lots of them at louvre and British museum People more recognize Iran by : Persian cats, Persian rugs, and also oil I should say.

When I arrived here at Canada for the first 5-6 month I was pretty busy with getting used to my new environment, where to buy grocery , how to rent a house, how to deal with my thesis and supervisor and above all how to deal with being so far away from my family.

I think it took me a year to settle down, look around my self and see what’s really happen. What did I miss? What did I get?
In Iran we celebrate the first day of spring (21st of March) as a new year. It was the first time in my life that I started my new year far far away from my family. When everyone is working on 21st of March and it doesn’t have any meaning to the most of the people around you, gradually you understand “I am a minority”.

Yes, I got that, it’s a strange feeling to be a minority. I am not nagging about this at all. All I try to do is just to explain this kind of feeling. Maybe it’s the same for all minorities, around the world but I believe when you migrate to another country with a different language and different customs you sense this feeling more strongly.

For me I learnt that everything is temporary like friends, the city you leave in, your job...
Every semester new people join or leave our small Iranian society. I am doing my best to learn how to enjoy every moment of my life. It doesn’t matter if my friends leave, I want to enjoy hanging with them right now. I should learn to be ready to leave at any time. It’s exciting in a way and I can say I like it.

Welcome to NewFoundland

It took me a long time to convince myself to post this. Hmm, let me see: about a year!
Maybe the main reason was, I insisted to write in English which is not my mother tongue but gives me a chance to communicate with more people.

About the name of this blog I should say, everyone has his(her) own book of life and if we consider the childhood as chapter one and teen years as chapter two of this book the adulthood will be chapter three, which I am in. I like to write my life story, it gives me a chance to look back sometimes and see how I spent my years.

Anyway, it’s almost one year that I’m here in Canada, among maple leaf people. Continuing my study, I’m going to school here at St. John’s, the oldest city of North America, located in Newfoundland.

I like this small, harbored, rocky city with its great views. I am used to watch Cabot Tower every day, located on Signal Hill, on the way home.

Once I read a list of one hundred activities that you MUST DO in Canada. One of them was pub crawling in St John’s. You can get pretty puzzled in George Street(The famous downtown street) and find several bars at both side of it.

St. John’s is also famous for its long and harsh winte and strong blizzards which cause the entire city to shut down occasionally. Sometimes the gusts reach 80 km/h or even more. All of on-campus buildings are connected to each other through underground tunnels.

Any way, I survived the first winter and the second one is not that far away. Seems lots of fun ha!