$*(@&*($@ this

You know what, $@*($&* this!

Just now I got this gem in a forwarded email:

Click for larger image

We always talk about racism and how to prevent it, well I do..
Never mind the Bin Laden reference (wtf is he thinking), what the hell are they on about? Call me overlay sensitive but this kind of crap boils my blood, "this BABU from India"... Agghh .....like who the hell are you.

I notice some aspects of this racism towards Chinese students over here. I work in the enrollment center during international enrollment, and I always notice some university staff speak to Chinese students like they are retards for not speaking English well, happened in a first aid course as well. BUT, unlike the Gulf, the offenders are mostly "senior citizens" who are generally nice and probably think they're being friendly and helpful.

Unfortunately I haven't been speaking up against this crap as much as I would like. As preparations for my return to Oman and having to deal with it again, I decided to act.
First action: reply to the sender of that email with the following:

That fellow crane operator is probably more important than you will ever be

Agh that's too harsh he's someone I know very well... hmmmm

How do you even know that crane operator is even Indian, let alone named Babu?

... yes I'll go with that.

I can't say am an angel myself, am probably guilty of this sometimes.. but if there is no one to remind me how would I know!

The last strech

Not much to go:

_Final Year project due this upcoming Friday: Haven't started writing anything yet, should take me 2-3 all nighters..will be satisfied with an average grade.
_Energy Exam 29/10: 3 hours, should be very difficult. I still question the ability of the lecturer who took this course, I even feel weird calling him a lecturer considering his ''teaching'' abilities, or lack of.. and NO he doesn't do any research he doesn't even have pHd from what I know.
_Bio Exam 01/11: 3 hours, tough material to be examined on but should be relatively straightforward after a good 4-5 days studying.
_Design 12/11: Our final exam, 7.5 hours with half an hour lunch break. No idea why they need it to be that long.

Everyone I speak to tell me I am going to miss university life, guess what? I KNOW that, feeling pretty nostalgic already...the past 5 years have gone by very quickly. I am going to miss the campus. Miss running into random friends from other colleges whom I haven't seen in a while. Miss the bitching and moaning about assignments. Miss the possibility of annoying the lecturers. Miss the turf-war for computers in the computer suites. Miss Christchurch (despite the awful winters and the noisy drunks)....

JJ and Me

My researcher supervisor (JJ) has definitely a colorful character, but not a particularly friendly one. In fact, I get uncomfortable every time I am in a meeting with him.

He must be mid thirties, has a weird surname and a non-Caucasian look. In the first few weeks that he joined our department, I approached him with a friend in the initiation BBQ. After I found out where he's originally from I mentioned how I thought he might be of Middle-Eastern origin due to the last name and we talked a bit about Islam.
JJ: So is that the one where you guys have to go to a pilgrimage or something?
Us: Ya, it's said all your sins can be cleaned if you do that.
JJ: Oh, so you can rape and pillage then go there and you're good?
Us: ...............O_o
This sounds pretty bad, on his part. His tone showed ignorance rather than "Islamophobia" or whatever you call that. Either way, he's not worth my respect.

Also it seems he's going for a pseudo Gorge-Clooney look or something, he has full black hair but dyed the top part white and has it gelled so much that it makes a curve all they way down. And with that he still comments on people's hairs (mine). One day I had a meeting with another lecturer related to the same project (GZ, who is an awesome Argentine). So I didn't take shower that morning as there was no hot water, and it was raining heavily.. so my hair WAS pretty bad.
GZ: Aalii, what did you do to your hair? Is that a new hairstyle from Iran?
Ali: No no GZ, it's just the rain ya know.
We go see JJ in his office, as I walk in:
JJ: HOLY CRAP, what happened to your hair? It looks like you've just gotten out of bed.
GZ: Nooo JJ, that's new hairstyle that the girl's like, you're not up with the fashion!!
I cut my hair shortly afterwards I think.

Also he's got quite a potty mouth, I admit that I swear a lot but I am not a lecturer dammit!

Examples:

In a meeting:
JJ: Hmm this meter really needs to be .. *What the F*CK is this fly doing here, F*CK*
starts waving arms to get fly away.

When I was complaining about the crappy results I got:
JJ: You did many experiments, you should be more comfortable about your results. Like if I saw those results I would say "F*ck ya, we got good results", its the correlation that is crap.

In the lab with a technician talking about our experiment and how other students might need the equipment.
Technician: Problem is you got students coming on Monday to do the lab, what they gonna do?
JJ: They can get f*cked

He pretty much uses the F word in every second sentence. Oh how I hope to get this over with and get my mark (have a feeling its gonna be very crappy) and then I can tell JJ to go and sit on a pole...

He became Muslim...!

As I mentioned before, today is the day we were meant to take my friend to the mosque so he can say the shahadah.

We decided to meet for Asar prayer in front of the mosque, I asked my other Muslim friend (who also knows him) to come there too. We do and we go inside and pray together in the mosque, unfortunately the Imam wasn't there. My Muslim friend suggests to come back for Maghrib prayer since it will be better to have someone more knowledgeable when he's declaring the shahadah, he doesn't mind. I explain to him the shahadah is between him and god and he can do it anytime and the Imam is only there to make it a better experience for you. I asked him once more if he's sure this is what he wants to do and he says he's thought it over for a very long time and is very sure.

So we come back for Maghrib and my friend is already waiting outside the mosque, more people in the mosque now and after the prayer I approach the Imam and tell him about it. I ask him to do the talking in a discreet place since my friend is quite nervous so we all go to the office. The Imam was very happy but was quite good at making him comfortable and explaining some basic things to him, he practised with him saying the shahadah then got some snacks and drinks out for everyone in the mosque to "celebrate". So anyway we go out and my friend repeats the shahadah after the Imam while everyone was watching, my Muslim friend records it with his phone camera which I had mixed feelings about. I think it was quite intense, I would've been very nervous and uncomfortable if I was in his situation. But after the shahadah, the 10-13 people in the mosque all hugged him and congratulated him. He hugged me quite hard and thanked me, that was the moment I realized he is calm and relaxed for the first time since he entered the mosque. It definitely seemed that it made him feel much better to get this out off his chest and finally declare Islam.

After that an Indian brother in the mosque had some food and they served it for everyone to eat. We didn't really want to eat as we had to catch another Eid event organized by the Malaysians so we stayed a bit more and headed there.

Alhamdullilah for everything. I hope my friend finds happiness and I pray that he continues on this path ameen. Its very important for him to find good influence and support and I'll try to introduce him to some of the brothers who can help him.

My visa woes...are over

Note: Long, lame story ahead. Most definitely not relevant to you, so you should probably not even read it. Swearing is used throughout.

Most of the people who know me already heard my complains and bitching in the past 6 months about my passport. To be honest it reached a point that I could not concentrate on my studies at all. You might laugh and say boo-hooo but I am the kind of guy who gets frustrated easily so ..yaah.

My passport was expiring early October so I was only able to get my student visa valid until mid September. I wanted to book my flight back to Oman and it went through OZ, the travel agent wouldn't refund my tickets if I didn't get my OZy visa so I wanted to get it before paying for the ticket. I was given a quote for the whole flight but he said the longer I take the higher the cost (increasing oil prices had something to do with it apparently). So my concern was to get all those things sorted in time so I don't have to pay too much on the ticket or even have all the seats sold out and needing to find another airline.

So its early April and I start calling the Ionian embassy. The second sentence coming out of the person on the line is "Why do you speak like this? don't you know the language" I was like wtf is wrong with this guy. He was very vague with what I need to do and said I can't get a new passport until its August and can only renew the current one. I call him again to check on something, and hangs up after telling me to stop asking and check the website ( I already did a-hole), I call again he puts me on hold and never picks up again.... a class A mofo I tell you. I don't know what sewage system they found him from. So I get the forms and they're all in Ionian, I can hardly speak it fluently to be able to fill out forms so I get my cousin in Ionia to help me fill it up by email. It was all nice and dandy but I had taken too long (it was busy time in uni) and by the time I had all things done it was mid May. I check the embassy website before I send it and there is an announcement saying the consular section in the embassy is "closed" from Mid may until late July. %$&@#$*@( so I have to wait all that time. OK fine I just hope I can renew my passport straight away so I can get my NZ visa.

Its July, I check the website and there is a new announcement saying they don't renew passports anymore and can only issue new ones. So I get my friend to call them to know what I need to fill. The reason I do this is because you really have to be able to sweet talk in Ionian, that's the way the language is, and am not good at that. Like you formally start with "I hope you're not tired Mr, sorry to bother you" and all that crap. Anyway they tell him the forms and things they need to fill out and I need the originals of my ID card(s). Hmm, I had no idea I even have those, so I call my parents (oh I have them? thanks for telling me about them) and they courier it over. Oh did I mention the a-hole consular guy was quite rude to my friend as well?

So anyway I get all my paper works ready finally, but he says I can't send it now and have to wait until mid-August. WHY!? Oh they can't issue a new passport this early if its expiring in October, seriously? OK, I wait more...and send it 10th of August. TWO weeks later I get the papers returned, there is a letter there I can't even understand. My friend read it and he says some of my documents are missing. He also says "hopefully we'll issue your passport after the holy month of ramadan". YOU MUST BE F*CKING KIDDING ME!!! We call him and he says something about my residency status. Oh you're in a hurry? You shouldn't sent it 2-3 months ago if your passport was expiring this early! MOFO you told me to send it this late agggh. Anyway he asks to write a letter clarifying my status and explaining why do I need it in a hurry. OK, my friend wrote the letter in Ionian and we ask him SEVERAL times if that's everything we need, he confirms its fine. I'm running out of time as it was around 18/08 and my student visa was expiring very soon.

So send it again. I call two days later and he says this won't work and we he can't do it for some reason. This time I get really angry (all this time my friend has been talking on the phone, god bless him) so I call the embassy and ask to speak to the ambassador. The reception guy tries to understand my problem and asks me to explain the situation, he talks to the dickhead in the consular section and says they only way to do it to skip something regarding the residency, I was like OK f*** just get me my damn passport. I then talk to the dickhead again for the first time since he hanged up on me. He says he'll give mine priority now and it should be done soon.
That was Thursday 28/08, I got my passport in the mail Tuesday 02/09... the mofo could do it in a few days but was just being a dick... AGHHH. But alas I got it and can finally go on with things.

Straight away I go get my NZ visa, sweet shouldn't take too long. I get email on 03/09 saying I have to do my medical examination again (F*CK!!). I do it and about NZ$ 300 later get my visa on 15/09. Send it to OZy consulate and get it back 29/09, but it's only single entry..they apologize and ask me to send it again, of course I have to bear the courier fee. Just today I got my OZy multiply entry visa.

I finally paid for my ticket, its about NZ$ 800 more than the original price quoted..

A BIG F*CK you to the Ionian embassy and the dickhead consular guy working there. A small F*CK you to the OZys for mixing up the visa procedure and ruining my chance of getting a very VERY lucrative job over there (different story).

A BIG BIG thank you to my Ionian friends for helping me over the whole process! My identity crises hit its peak throughout the process and it was glaringly obvious I can't fit anywhere.. sigh. A BIG thank you to the NZ immigration for being so fast and efficient, despite charging ridiculous fees.

Want to become Muslim?

There is this European guy in my class, I've known him for about 2.5 years and he's mostly a classmate as I hardly hang out with him. He's been going out with a Muslim girl in my class also for the past 2.5 years. About 2 months ago he told me he wants to convert to Islam and wonders if I could help him. He said he's been thinking of it over the past year and thinks its the right thing to do. I'll skip the details about the relationship as I don't think its relevant. Thing is its very likely he's doing this just for the girl. When he first told me I was like, OK how about you think more about it before you convert properly, ya know since there is no coming back. I took him to the mosque with another friend and we taught him to pray. I tried giving him some more information from Islamic sites and asked him to read up before he does it.

Anyway just last week he tells me he wants to convert properly, saying shahadah and all. I suggested its better to do it in the mosque, he showed me a piece of paper with the shahadah written on it and says he knows what to do. So plan is to take him tomorrow (Saturday) to mosque so he can do it all properly.

I am not sure how to feel about that. I am not sure if I am the right person to help out with this stuff as I don't find myself mentally nor spiritually in a position to be a positive influence. Plus it worries me that I can be responsible, what if in a few years time he's not with the girl and he's like "why am I muslim again?" agh, and the whole shebang about apostates.
Just today we're playing soccer and my Iranian friend was talking to him and when he found out he's becoming Muslim he went nuts "are you serious? do you know what you're doing? Aliii this guy wants to become Muslim," etc... He said it as if the guy had lost his mind. I joked about how if we lost one (Iranian friend) we gained another one (European friend).

Another thing is how hmm this sorta happened to me before. "C" asked me to help her becoming Muslim as well. I had the same approach saying she should really think it through and should take her time thinking it over. She became Muslim with the help of some female Muslims and I wasn't really much involved. But she always said I was a large influence. Just under a year later I saw her again and she was saying how she doesn't feel it anymore and wasn't sure about her decision, I was like "a...a....." aggghhh... Well it's been 3.5 years and from what I can tell she's still Muslim...

Bottom line, why do people approach me for such matters? Agh there is another person as well but his story is different. I think people trust me too easily, just 2 weeks ago this girl I know told me I can stay with her parents when she found out I'm moving to Wellington, when I called her nuts and how she hardly knows me she's like "I don't know, you sound very nice and truthful".... riiiight you don't know me matey, don't let my charm fool ya Muhahhahaha

Eid Mubarak

Yes I know, 3 days late.. actually depends where you are.. we celebrated Eid on Wednesday here. Eid mubarak to everyone, I hope your prayers and deeds were accepted and your sins erased in ramadan.. ameen.

What did I do? I was meant to wake up at 7:57am so as my friend was picking me up at 8:45 for Eid prayer. I ended up sleeping through two alarm clocks (I vaguely recall turning them off) and woke up on my friend's text message saying he's on his way at 8:47. I blame that on me staying up until 3ish am trying to do as many experiments as possible to have something for my supervisor. We arrived late to the mosque and it took us another 5-8 minutes to find a parking by that time they were almost done with the prayer siigh.
Caught up with some friends and saw my Omani homies there, was good to see most of them in one spot for once. Didn't see many of my Malaysian friends so unfortunately couldn't wish them happy Eid. Then I went back to uni and explained to my supervisor how I can't make it to the meeting later that day because its a Muslim celebration bla bla (I should really write a post about that supervisor).

We then set off with two other friends (both muslim) and we visited some of our Malaysian friends. It was really nice to see them there, and I didn't feel awkward being around all Malaysians as am used to it already and they're really nice and welcoming. It was good to experience a bit of the Eid atmosphere away from home, despite what the cynic in me thinks of Eid and how overrated it was in Oman. Oh and it was definitely awesome trying the Malaysian dishes and cookies, really nice! God bless them for being so active and ensuring events go smoothly, the Malaysians did a great job in providing Iftar in the University everyday and now managed to bring some of the Eid atmosphere here as well.

I had to cut the visits short as we then had an indoor soccer game. I arrived there on time, just. We got absolutely trashed 3-9. I played so bad it wasn't even funny (I usually play crap but this was extremely bad), my excuse is that I ate too much and felt way too heavy.

Then I decided to go for dinner to a Japanese place in town with another classmate. The food was very average (vegetarian udon is just noodles with a little bit of seaweed agh, not cool). While walking in town we noticed we're actually in the "red light" area of town and my friend started pointing out some ladies of the night, well me and him haa. It wasn't even dark yet, ladies of the dusk I shall call them.. daylight savings fault. It was quite sad seeing some of them, siiigh what should I say though money talks... I recently heard that the girl in the room next door (no really, she's literally next door) is "working" in one of the strip clubs as well... siigh such a waste.

...Eid Mubarak