Book Review: 2 Books for Marriage preparations

I was supposed to post this before my wedding, but there were many things on hold at that time. It has been really stressful months. I didn’t have the time to update my blog much but I was trying my best to stick to the bunch of TV series (comedy ones) and some books to lighten up my mood and help me forget for few hours a day that I was gonna get married. 

I do love life educating books yet I didn’t believe in marriage education that much. The logic behind that in my mind was like “I don’t need book to teach me how to love, respect, care for my family” but man there were a lot of things to learn, If not learn then at least remind us of what we already know.

The first book I got from a colleague at work is “Why Men love Bitches!” by Sherry Argov and unlike what the cover says a bitch here has a different perspective than what we are familiar with. The writer describes her as an independent woman who knows how to make herself happy and at the same time maintain a strong loving relationship with her partner.

I do love this book because it gave so many helpful situations from women of all kinds, although most of the scenarios were common sense or I already came across them I found myself happy with the strong reminder and in some cases wondering how she’s gonna react in such situation! It will help you to keep hold of what you like and want in your life and never to let this new relationship with a man makes you forget yourself and be what she calls a “nice woman” who is easy to deceive and willing to naively give all she got sacrificing her time and energy

Things I loved about this book are:

1- It gradually guides you through your relationship starting from date one and how its enough to have popcorn for a meal so you build a solid appreciation and respect for the coming meals lol

2- There are couple of comparison tables through the book drawing both scenes on what a nice girl and a bitch would do in each situation. Its scary to know you might be too nice without noticing sometimes and how its perceived by the opposite sex is even scarier!

3- when the writer gives a tip; she explains the logic behind! For example, ….. focused lots of her efforts to explain why its important to have a job of your own and that independence will not only keep the guy unable to predict your next move but even the richest men will sense your value and your addition to the house. Now before I thought rich men wouldn’t bother paying us for a lifetime long, not seeing the inner damage of image it can give to a woman.

The second book is a one I wanted to read long time ago but forgot all about it until recently when I was wedding shopping in Dubai. I couldn’t resist not buying new books and getting scolded by mom to focus on more important matters at that moment lol

Since the writer Steve Harvey is not a writer but a comedian he stated that the book will not be the same of that of a writer’s. It was simple, well organized and sweet. The book is a guide from a man to women on how to understand men explained in the shortest way possible. Through the book I loved these two facts as they worked in making me more realistic and more understanding to not expect a woman’s behavior from a man.

Two facts I loved:

1- A man is a good one if he feels good about himself and that happens when he knows: who he is, what he does and how much he earns.

2- If a man loves you, he will: give you a title (my wife, my fiancé, my girlfriend …etc), provide for you (money, food, shelter… etc) and protect you (he will not let any man harm you in any way)

I felt like it’s a father daughter kind of message and it didn’t miss a little sprinkle of his sense of humor. It’s a nice addition to build yourself a full picture beside the previous book. And now when I have feminine doubts on whether my husband cares for me or loves me I just remember those guidelines and drift away from all this negativity lol.

From my personal view, these two books are just a basic start for anyone. There are hundred of ways to learn and educate yourself and you have to pick the most comfortable ones for you, ones you think are interesting and will add to your balance of information. All in all, try to read books and learn from life as it’s the best teacher you will ever encounter and never take advices from people who are not professional in family relationships, these are serious stuff and we should handle them in a more serious mindset. 

And remember, marriage education still goes on even after getting married :)

Interesting fact from Women's Day.com : "Wedding and engagement rings have been worn on the fourth finger of the left hand since ancient times. The Romans believed a vein in this particular finger, called "vena amoris" (a.k.a. the "vein of love"), leads directly to the heart."

Peace,

Amna Al Dhaheri

Book Review: "The Art of Forgetting" by Ahlem Mosteghanemi

I've heard about Ahlem from a very close friend few years back, by that time her book "Nessyan.com" was out. My friend used to like poetry and had a romantic sense of perceiving emotional writings

I didn't like any writings that would mess up with emotions that much so I never dared to borrow it from her even though she offered couple of times.

I knew Ahlem was amazing from couple of lines but that was it for me in the past.

When Abu Dhabi book fair was opened (which unfortunately I missed) my best friend went there a picked Ahlem's new book for me "The Art of Forgetting" and by that I was forced to explore her literature happily.

Ahlem writes in Arabic language but her writings were translated to English

When I first read the first few pages the translation made me take the book seriously!

I didn't read so many rich english books but this one was a wealthy one

I believe its because the English text was derived from Arabic language and Ahlem is a juggler with metaphors and imageries!

So if you knew how to read Arabic I would suggest going for the original arabic version, it will make your reading more enjoyable with all the pictures and famous arabic sayings

As for the structure of the book, it was simply divided into 2-3 pages chapters that gave a proverb then follow it by an example and conclude it by lines of thoughts or sort of poetry

I like how there are quotes everywhere from different authors especially Arabic ones, those masters of arabic language too bad we have few accesses to their vintage work

Authors like Nizar Qabbani, Abu Nawwas, Mahmoud Darwish, Ibn Zaydun and Ahmed Shawqi.

on the contrary of what I thought; Ahlem was not about depressing emotions but a light guest mixing humour with well built facts, in this book she directs her messages to her friend who had troubles getting over the guy who left her by giving her calls every morning helping her to forget

By the end of the book, Ahlem placed a charter called "The charter of feminine honour" and asked all the women readers to sign it on her website nessyane.com as funny as it might seem it really asks for real commitment which is what we need to move on.

inspiring lines from the book comparing japanese reaction against earth quakes and the Arabs':

"A minor quake hits an Arab country: it totally wipes out a city and chokes life for a number of years. This is because the Arabs are inherently fatalistic. They let life take care of itself. In life, just as in love, they see no further than today. They are quite ready to die as victims of natural, or amorous disasters because they have a genetic predisposition towards mindless self-sacrifice, for the sake of the nation and despotic ruler, for family, friends and the beloved."

The book is light and sweet

I have so much respect to this author and hope to meet her one day

Thank you Ahlem for paying so much effort to left the women all over the world especially those in the Arab world and thank you Sara for getting me this book :)

peace,

Amna Al Dhaheri

Book Review: Married to A Bedouin by Marguerite van Geldermalsen

Over there on the shelf lays a book that caught my attention couple of times while passing by the supermarket

OMG ! a foreigner marring a Bedouin even I as an Arab wouldn't dare to do it !

she must be looking for adventure or seriously not aware of what she brought herself into !

these were my initial thoughts and my motivation to read this book

my mom rolled her eyes asking me to stop reading about women who had unusual marriages in their lives but that was exactly the beauty of it and the reason to make me excited about my own marriage!

was it bad?

was it good?

was it worth it ?!

"Married to A Bedouin"

 by Marguerite van Geldermalsen

Marguerite is a New Zealander tourist who was traveling down the Middle East with her girlfriend when they came to stop by Jordan down in Petra around the late 1970s !

Another proof that love can happen regardless of your background and language

She met Mohammed (her husband) who was good in English and ambitious bedouin she had the urge to extend her stay in Petra and fate played its magic on getting them two together despite the huge difference between their worlds

Through the book only two thought were on my mind

when she's gonna quit?; stating that she didn't speak Arabic

and how she maintained her health eating bread and sweet tea and little milk diary only?

but she lived through it all, learned the language, became a Bedouin, raise her 3 kids and lived the true adventure to retell it in her book

How a Bedouins society function is simply like this; people act based on their nature and without any formalities! seems too simple but its way simple for a complex person coming from a modern society

that what you will be living with Marguerite description about the people who lived there and I guess the childhood spirit and the curiosity helped her a lot  

The author included phrases written in Jordanian Bedouin accent which I had to read the line twice to get, but was a pleasant addition to her stories beside the personal pictures from Petra in the middle of the book !

All in all, I can't ruin this simple book anymore; she put it all beautifully and ended it beautifully too !

Peace,

Amna

Book Review: Memoirs of an Arabian Princess

On mother's day I passed by the bookstore for a new book

and there it was on the shelf the book I longed to read ever since I heard the story of the first arabian princess to run away to Europe 

Princess Salme bint Saeed a.k.a Emily Ruete of Zanzibar 

her book titled "Memoirs of an Arabian Princess"

مذكرات أميرة عربية ترجمة الدكتورة سالمة صالح

I read the translated version

Zanzibar was a familiar place in my childhood, there were songs and jokes about Zanzibar but I was so ignorant about anything more beyond the name of Zanzibar. I later knew it was ruled by Oman in the past but now is under Tanzania's

In her book she gave us a golden chance of going back in time to know the extremely detailed picture of how life looked like not only as a Zanzibar citizen but as a part of a royal extended family

specifically speaking around the time of 1880's 

Salme stated that she never wanted to publish her memoirs before but instead wanted them to be a cultural reference to her kids who never knew anything about the Arabic environment she came from, and because her physical and psychological condition were in bad shape that she never thought she would live to tell her story.
This book is an interesting addition to my entertainment list, at some part of the book I could relate to the lifestyle and understood the luxuries they experience as a ruling family and at another I was reading new stuff. Every time I read a part I would rush to my mom and told her about Salme and ask her opinion or if she remembers similar stuff were done the same way by our ancestors. 

Through the book you can sense how bright salme was. She knew how to speak Arabic and Swahili then bravely learned how to write when all women were not allowed to learn more than how to read! Not to mention that the book was published in german language at first which means that Salme mastered it later in her life.

The most beautiful thing is that this lady never talked bad about both worlds she lived in; however, she did serve a great comparison of the beauty in both sides. She became a german citizen and changed her religion to christianity but never talked little about islam teachings nor arab traditions. She was literally a sophisticated woman. On the other hand, she described the wonderful friendship she made in Germany, the difference in lifestyles, weather and education that amazed her in Europe at that time. I enjoyed swinging back and forth with my imagination trying to see Germany and Oman back in time.

My mom was so happy my talk about Salme finally came to an end haha but I was so sad she didn't write much more details about her personal life in Germany, I bet it was so exciting and scary at the same time to be on your own in a foreign country and far away from your family after losing a husband.. 

A bow to every mother who shined in the dark sky and fought back the hardships for her children

R.I.P Princess Salme, you were a true legend

Peace,
Amna

Book Review: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Tuesdays with Morrie

by Mitch Albom

This book is a true story first published in 1997 takes the scenario of a course attended by one student and his favorite teacher every Tuesday

It tells the story of Mitch Albom reuniting with his favorite teacher Morrie Schwartz after losing contact for around 16 years! Unfortunatly Mitch reconnected with Morrie when he saw him on Tv interviewed about his fatal disease the ALS or what is known as Lou Gehrig's Disease ( refered to the famous baseball star Lou Gehrig who got it around 1930)

 The ALS attacks the nerves in the body gradually paralyzing its parts until it hits sensitive organs as lungs so you can no longer take a breath or as throat muscles so you get choked by food..and both are terrible deaths..

I was just discussing this book with my friends and they asked me about the last lecture by Randy Pausch and I said well every book has its beauty where Randy was trying to teach us how to live, Morrie was trying to teach us how to die !

if we were in that spot of as Mitch called it "crossing the bridge" how will we interact with life matters ?

The reason why this book has moved me to tears is that I'm living the same story with my Math teacher at high school. I've heard about this disease from the Japanese drama "One liter of tears" which was a piece of art representing a girl's journey with this disease till her last day. However, whats on tv is nothing like living the experience with someone used to occupy a part of your memory. My teacher used to be an active smart teacher who believed in me and always put up good words in front of other people although she was very strict in classes and that's what I always admire in a teacher. I talked with a lady I know from her relatives and she said "no one knew what she had; in fact this disease is scarily wide spread but very rare in a small country like UAE.." and still there she is with a smile raising her 6 kids mashallah.

Now I'm left with thoughts of wanting to see her again but I wonder if I'll ever find the courage to do so.

The books discussed the ideas frightening this generation like death, relationships, marriage, money ..

and Morrie focused on loving and forgiving repeating those two words again and again in his speeches.

Picture from Tuesday class

The book gave these thoughts an access to my brain

• is it worth it to hate a person and never give him a chance to explain or move on?
• My grandmother constant complain about her knees; how hard it is for someone who used to run one day?
• Family is a bless and we shouldn't hesitate when it comes to starting a new one
• Go back to Nature, technology is sucking the life out of us
• We are equal as long as we share birth and death (As Morrie once mentioned)

Beautiful piece, easy language, meaningful advices and a touching story!

 

peace,

Amna

Book Review : The Secret - Rhyonda Byrne

Just finished reading the Secret book by Rhonda Byrne !

This book explains the hidden secret followed by great people from old days till nowadays which is called the law of attraction. It is stated that negative thoughts bring negative things to your life and so you have to train yourself to think about positive things and focus your efforts on stating what you really want from the universe not what you don't want !

The book may seem too plain for some people as all things written are already known and based on common sense but what I think is that this book will do its magic only when you are in need for spiritual support! its good to keep it within reach but keep in mind it is a training book not a knowledge source.

The book consists of many sections related to different issues, for example : the secret to Money, Relationships, Health, the World, You and Life. I loved the health more as it was more related to weight loss strategies and it was so encouraging during this depressing process that I could see the changes in my mental reaction toward weight :)

I really enjoyed it and it provided me with really useful techniques for focusing on what I want in life and I recommend it for anyone who has problems with defining his/her goals, confidence or facing depression.

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Nao visit - review

Good Evening !

I've been holding myself back from blogging since I had loads of work to focus on finishing before the course ends.. yet I picked today ( Smart Computer Graphics Final night ) to post a new one :D !!

so Nao visited our collage weeks ago to let students get the chance to meet this expensive lil robot and understand how he functions. I tried to play with him and I would like to post a little review about my experience and opinion ..

apparently the cuteness side was well taken care off ! LOL

the cute robot is about half meter long and as written on the web weighs 4.3 kg .

he is a little bit heavy compared to his tiny body and that was demonstrated when I handed him to a visiting teacher and he almost dropped him surprisingly because of his unexpected weight !

I think it is rational to have such a heavy weight when you think of all the possible motors and metalic parts inside; However, Nao can't stand to support his weight for long periods of time and always takes a similar pose to the one shown in the picture to relax his motors !

The funny thing tho is that once his heat started to raisen he clearly says it " MOTOR IS HOT.. MOTOR IS HOT" and when we didn't pay attention to that he simply fainted to the ground haha !!

As for the software used, a drag and drop based software comes with the purchase of Nao called Choregraphe

all you have to do is plan the moves you want him to do and connect the network of movements logically ! a demo is also provided on the side of the program

I think he is a good example to introduce young students to robotics. His applications are compatible with windows and are user friendly and the connectivity options provided are wireless or Ethernet which both are supported and used widely. Nao along many other simple robots allow users to be creative in my point of view, because you always get excited to watch his adorable reactions and he pushes you to do more in order to get a unique performance against other Nao users !

As for more advanced IT specialists I don't think he's that interesting because I honestly got bored soon after playing along with his limited functionality ! :/ but it all depends on setting a good purpose instead of using him aimlessly.

Here's more of what he can do :

Nao:" I want to come with you" -- holds your hand and follows your pull direction :D isn't he cute ? 

standing pose before the ball play where he recognizes the color of the ball and walks after it

and many other options like changing the eyes and ears color, waving, dancing, saying given words by the programmer, yawning ..etc

we really had fun exploring this lil guy and we hope the collage considers buying one for the future :) hope ASIMO visits next lol

Now offfff to study ~! wish me luck .