Feb 21 2010 Baghdad Days - The Iraqi, when he puts his head on the pillow...

In the night many people are trying to sleep to make themselves relax and ready for  the next day as usual, but not the Iraqis. Iraqis in general and Baghdadis in particular have other things that prevent them from sleeping and that make them worried. 

The Iraqi, when he puts his head on the pillow starts to thinking about the day that has past, about how difficult it was or how easy it was compared to the other days & what is coming next.

Everything can easily and suddenly happen; maybe an explosion near the home or an inspection by the Iraqi army and the U.S army so you have to be ready to leave your bed at anytime without auguries, At that moment only one thing can break the chain  of             thoughts is a sound of an explosion somewhere or maybe a shotgun's sound , then you    realize one day has already gone, you are alive and waiting for the next. Life is difficult       but it continues and we are alive, That is the most important thing. I know its hard that you   get killed any moment but its even harder to hear that someone that you love or one of the family is killed. We are afraid for each other not for ourselves.

My real day begins when my grandmother wakes me up to prepare for school. I get     dressed looking at the street with all those cars and joking with my brother about death  and many other things. Normally the way to school takes 15 minutes but with all those checkpoints it should takes 40 minute but who cares? The only problem is how to reach the school safely.

I say good bye to all my family and look at them as if it is the last look.We get into the car with our books.

The day in school depends on the situation of the zone. Sometimes the school ends after  2 hours because of a bomb explosion near the school or someone is killed and sometimes  nothing happens so we spend 6 hours in the school.

The way home is not easier because we should not take the same road day after day because maybe there are terrorists that want to kill us because of our religion or our faith. By the way, my friends have a different religion and I love them more than anything.

Finally at home when you meet all the family and begin to share the stories that     happened to you, you feel that you are lucky because no one of your family or your            friends is hurt, and how sad you are for those that lost someone in this day.

My day in my beloved city Baghdad
A
15.07.2010