WHAT'S MY AGE ???????

Yesterday, the 25th was my birthday. I was on call at the hospital, so I didn't celebrate. The day before I felt sad, it's my first birthday away from home, I'll not have my mother cake, I'll not celebrate it with my family, and I was upset because I wasn't sure of my age, at that time I came so stupid to calculate my age. I was born in 1978, so I wasn't sure if it is 29 or 30!!!!

The morning of my birthday, I had SMS's from my parents congratulating my birthday. On the way to the hospital, I was still making the calculation, then I thought that I'm 30, that made me sad, it's a big number, no more 20 in my age, beside, I said to myself, if it's really 30 I have to do a big party, but I can't now, as I'm on call and my family are away.
I wanted badly to phone my mother to ask her my age, she must know it, she's the one who brought me to this life, but I had no credit in my mobile phone, so I said I'll call another day.
I don't know how they calculate the age, I did all the math, I finished my 29 year, but I'm not 29 any more, I'm starting my 30, so what we say, I'm 29 and one day, two days, three days...etc!
If there is a number between 29 and 30 that made it more easy, but there is no, any way, I passed my birthday at hospital doing my on call, I had to go to dublin by ambulance to transfer an ICU patient there, so I was busy all the day, I didn't sleep at all, when I came back from dublin I had work to do at hospital, so I stopped thinking of my age, and I wrote to my parents an email.
Today morning my dad phoned me, and he told me that I'm 29, I was sooooooooooooooo happy, like I gained a year in my life, and still I don't have to be afraid of the big number.
I know that sounds stupid, but I was really concerned of my age, I think when I was backhome I just ask my mom about my age and I trust her answer, so I didn't have to do any math , my Mother was my math.
But now, I'm alone, away from my family, I had to do all the math to calculate my age, but dad answered my question, could you please reassure me that it's truth, I'll let you do the math and I'll wait for your calculations, but please, not 30 make it 29 with every means possible!!!.

MY NEW COOKING TALENT

embakibka
shakshoka
ruz jarri
yummy asseda!!!
I discoverd a new talent in myself, cooking, well, I wasn't cooking in libya, just simple things, but I always wanted to learn, but I was too lazy to learn from my lovely mother who is a wonderful cooker and my father who cooks very good as well.

any way, as now I'm living here alone, far from my parents who used to cook for me, I had to learn how to cook, the first couple of weeks I was sick of the take away food, so I decided to start cooking for my self, I did few things I found at libya our home (food section) website, and it's really wonderful because it's written clearly and simply.

till now, I cooked: ruz jarri, shakshoka, asseda and embakebka, and it wasn't bad at all, I especially enjoyed my shakshoka and asseda!

I'll let you see the pics of my cooking to decide if I'm talented or not, but I can't put the nice smell as well!!.

THE SKY IS THE HORIZON!!

A month now has passed since I started my new life and work in Ireland, the strange thing that I don't feel as a stranger at all here, I feel that like I'm living here since ages!!

may be that's because of the nice invironment I'm working in, or because of the nice people I made as friends, or because that was the life I wanted since ever, or may be just because I lived here in another life!!!.

any way, I liked the fair life one can have here, the more you work the more you get rewards, financially and scientefically, in other words: the sky is the horizon here, and the more you work the more you expand your horizons.

THE IRISH ARE NICE PEOPLE!!

the wonderful rosslare beach
the nice irish man
his precious drawings
isn't it a wonderful beach??

yes, sure it is!!

The Irish are really very nice people, well, I know that before, but yesterday I had an adventure proofing this. I went to the beach at Rosslare Harbour, which is not far from Wexford, just 30 minutes by bus, I was happy to find a beach, I really needed to relax and more than that to swim in the freezing water like the Irish do !!
Any way after that I had a nice long walk along the beach, it’s a wonderful beach, kind of rocky and sandy at the same time, with lots of birds and I saw some seals swimming near the beach as well.
While I was walking, a local man came to me and proposed that to take a photo for me with my camera, that was nice, then he just invited me to his home which is near the beach to have a cup of tea. I know, that was strange, any way I decided to go and see what happens, so I went to his home, and there was another old man living with him, he showed me the home, I felt comfortable after that as I felt he is a normal man.
So after showing me his home, he showed me his passion, it’s drawings of boats, ships and the sea, he has plenty of them, they are simple, but realistic showing different types of ships and boats in different weather conditions.
I felt that this was his life, ships and the sea, and he loves it. After that we had a cup of tea and home made bread, he talked a lot but I just understood 30 percent of what he said as he speaks so fast with an accent.
I understood that the old man living with him is not his father, it’s just a neighbour who doesn’t have any children, and he is taking care of him because he has a mental problem, so he has to take drugs and need some one to watch him.
So that was his life, just fishing, doing his passion in drawing all these ships and boats, and inviting different people to his home just to have a talk and to show them his drawings beside taking care of an old man.
At the end he gave me a couple of his drawings, and he asked me to take good care of them, they really mean a lot to him. And when I went back, he gave me a home made bread he did it himself, and he said whenever I pass by to visit him. I was really touched by this adventure, and how life some times gets simple but people could be very happy of it, while others have a more complex life with all the money and facilities they need and they don’t need and they’re not happy.
It’s really complex and simple at the same time the mystery of happiness, isn’t it?

WHY A NEW LIFE???

I’m a new blogger but I’m familiar with the blogging world as I follow a lot of blogs, my sister told me one time: you’ll be a perfect blog organizer as I read many blogs but I don’t have one, while she has one but she doesn’t read many blogs as I do.
So here I am, writing for my first blog, I have a lot to write because it’s a new life for me, I’m a doctor practicing Anaesthesia since 3 years, I graduated from libya, and now I’m starting my new life here in Ireland since 3 weeks.
It was my dream since the beginning, to travel and work abroad, and that’s one of the reasons that I decided to study medicine, as I’ll have more chance in working abroad.
So I had to finish my 7 years of study first, then after I graduated, I decided to chose Anaesthesia, as it’s one of the most demanding medical specialities in any place.
So I practiced Anaesthesia, in jalla hospital, Benghazi, I gained a lot of experience, it’s a busy hospital that covers Benghazi as well as the rural areas. And I really loved the specialty I have chosen.
So then I had to chose the country, as each country has different medical equivalent exam, for some reasons I chosed Ireland, and thanks god, I realized now that it’s the perfect place for me.
It was a long journey to finish all the exams to be eligible to work here, first I had to do the ILETS exam (English language exam), so I went though a preparatory course, and I set the exam, I passed with the required scores from the first time, but that’s not all, it’s just the beginning.
After that I sent all my papers and certificates to the Irish Medical Council, to be examined, it took 2 months before they replied to me that I was eligible to set for the primary medial council exam in cairo by the internet.
So I had to study for that exam, it’s a multiple choice questions exam, covering all the materials I studied in medicine, so I had to study the important things only, but the hard thing that there were no material to study from, so I searched in the internet for some advices from other people who did the exam, and I tried to do my own material.
I was too lucky because 5 days before the exam, I got some materials, although they were too old, but they were extremely useful.
So I studied these materials, and I passed the exam from the first time, I was too happy, as I still had only one exam to do in Dublin.
The second exam which was in Dublin, is a practical exam, that involves history and examination of patients, the problem is that this exam is not done at a regular times, only once a year, beside the date wasn’t sure, so I decided to do it the other year because when I passed the primary exam was only few months from the second exam, I was afraid of doing it at that time, because first I had to study a lot, as It’s done only once a year, so I had to pass it from the first time, but the main cause was the financial part, it was expensive to book for the exam and to travel to Dublin, so I wanted to be sure that I’ll pass it from the first time.
But thanks god, dad as usual encouraged me to do it and not to wait for the other year, and he was right, I studied as much as I could, because I was working as well, then I set the exam, and I passed from the first time.
I was too happy after that, but the number of candidates was too much, around 80 passed the exam, this number made me afraid as the competition for having a job will be so high.
Any way, I applied for a job, just to see my chances, and out of 5 applications I had one interview in Sligo, I did the interview, but they just put me in the waiting list, and they didn’t call me back.
After that I had to go back home, as I can’t stay without job, beside I had a job in libya I didn’t want to lose before being sure of having a job here.
So I returned back home, and I started to get depressed, after seeing the large number of candidates in Ireland, besides there were the other European doctors who didn’t have to do any exam to work here according to the European laws, and there are a lot of eastern European doctors who wanted to work here, and they have the priority over others.
Any way, may dad and family as usual were there for me, they encouraged me to go again on September and to try to find a work, they told me that they’ll help me financially with all their capacity, which is not easy, as it’s too expensive to live here without having a job.
That made me feel better, in the same time I was applying by the internet for jobs, but I didn’t have any reply.
One day, Friday morning, I had a phone call from a Libyan doctor who works in dublin, he told me that he could find a job for me, he asked me to send my CV to an address, I sent it, and after 3 days, I had a phone interview for 30 minutes, then they told me that I’m accepted for the job and they need me as soon as possible.
I couldn’t believe it at first, just in 4 days I had a job, and I was working for that since 10 years, it was too sudden, I told them that I’ll need 10 days to release my commitments in libya and most important was to stay my last moments with my family before my long leave.
That was really unexpected, I know a lot of people prayed for me, from Libya, France, Canada, the people who loved me and whished me all the best of luck.
Now I’m writing this from the hospital where I work for, it’s in wexford, which is a wonderful town in the south east of Ireland.
And it has been two weeks since I have started work, every thing is going smooth, and it’s even better than the dream I always imagined.
I know it’s a long story for a blog, but I’m writing it mainly to my family, and to myself, that will remind me for the long journey I did to reach to my dream.
That’s it for now, I’ll write shorter and more interesting things next time, to share my views and adventures in my new life in Ireland.