Monday, June 19, 2006
Heeeeere kitty kitty kitty!!!I've always wondered if people should be allowed to keep pets. Deciding for getting a pet means deciding for more responsibility but most people just ignore this, they say "hey, it's just an animal, it can't even talk so it can't feel either and we can still get rid of it if we get bored". This ends then in millions of animals suffering on the street, being mistreated or even killed by their "owners" though I really don't like to use this word. In German we say "Frauchen" or "Herrchen" which expresses a more positive and tender approach to our pets.
Mahatma Ghandi once said that the morals of a nation is mirrored perfectly in the way they treat animals. I have to agree with this. Then again, generally one would suppose that the richer the country the higher morals they have. What a mistake.... Living in one of the richest countries of the world and seeing all this luxury and waste I thought there would be lots of animals shelters where the very best doctors would take care of the poor stray animals. Reality is that the ONLY animal shelter in the whole country of Qatar is managed by foreigners without any support from the government!!! One might think now "Oh, how fine! They have harldy any stray animals!" but that's wrong again. The whole country is full with stray cats, dogs and other animals. Especially stray cats are to be found everywhere, around the buildings, on the streets, in the containers, under parking cars, on the pavement, everywhere, hoping for a human being to pass by and help them but hardly anyone cares, I was even warned I could get in troubles with the police when I feed stray cats as those are "not supposed to be in the streets" (where else are they supposed to be if they were thrown out???). Some human beings are blessed to see things and cursed not to be able to ignore what they see. So who cares about whomever telling immoral rubbish, heeeeeeeeeere kitty kitty kitty, mommy brought you dinner!
After all, our Jinxy comes from the shelter too and I have to say they are really wonderful people over there. We went to visit them and brought them a tiny kitten we found around our house. The poor thing, it was maybe 2 months old, just skin and bones but so grateful even for a nice word. We would have kept her but unfortunately our kitty cat doesn't really like any other animals (the kitten spent the morning in the washing room and Jinxy wouldn't put even one paw on that half of the flat...). That's how Whiskey got to the shelter. I was really worried if they'd find her a new home, she was just too skinny and small, not really the most attractive kitten, with all those scars on her body. But the amazing news is: Whiskey found a new home the very next day!!!!! They told us some nice lady came in and was looking for a kitten that is the same age and size than hers and Whiskey was the lucky one!!! I'm sure this lady will be very happy with Whiskey, she's really an amazing kitten. A week later we went for a visit to the shelter again to cuddle the kitties and brought them some cat food too. Just when you visit an animal shelter can you see how cruel the people of that country really are, there you can see how they treat the weak and helpless ones. We saw there cats and kittens with the cruelest injuries, a half blind cat, a cat that became too aggressive to be touched (I wonder why.... Could it be that some nice person helped the poor cat to make an opinion on humans?) and so many tiny kittens where one wonders how can they survive without their mother? It made me really sad seeing all that cruelty in this country.....
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Duuuuuuh...The kitty is back to blog again, after quite a while... So many things have happened lately, I think I still need some time to digest it all. So many things were said, promisses made and broken, so many tears and pain and fear. But fortunately it all ended well and I'm so happy to have such a wonderful, loving and caring person in my life like You. So now all I have to focus on is that things that happened cannot happen ever again. Well, there are times when a kitty has to do what a kitty has to do to protect her family...
Job search in Doha: If you're female there are some things to think of when you prepare for an interview. As a western woman you are automatically considered to provide "horizontal" services as well so: First of all, try to look as unattractive as possible. Tell the potential employer you have to pick up your 3 kids from kindergarten before the interview. Never ask for a salary that would in any way be fair or more than the pocket money you give to your kids every week. Well... yes... something is really very wrong with this world here... it's kinda rotten... from inside... Makes me remember the words of a dear friend of mine: Giving a caveman a gun or technology is the most stupid thing one can do...
Poooh, but there is one job where I was very successful at the interview, the position of the housewife :D
They say being a housewife is not always that easy, there are so many things to do... But somehow I always manage to do all those things in minimal time and then I'm bored. OK, it all has also a good side, the flat is now so much clean that the dust is wiped away before it can fall down on the furniture (believe me, in a desert it's quite a word...); not to mention His funny comments like: "What are you doing now?" - Ooooh, nothing, just cleaning a bit... - "Again? But you cleaned yesterday?!" - Yes but that was the bathroom and the floor. How's your day at work? - "You are cleaning..... again..... (wide smile on the other end of the phone)" So... and now the kitty's gotta hop on her broom and fly home to... ehm... well, that's my secret now ;)
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Housewives and other monsters...Coming home feels so good, even if you were away for just 4.5 days. I started to miss my home when I boarded the plane to Europe and all I could think of over there was when can I go back home. It's strange, as I certainly do not like this country at all but I have to admit it has something Europe doesn't have, at least not at the moment (I'm working on this...). I had kinda mixed feelings being away from home. It's the first time I left my own litle "family" alone at home. I don't know who I was more worried about: him or the cat? Fortunately they could manage living together, supported by his loooong work hours and her looooong sleeping habits. However, this time coming home brought some changes: the working woman has
become a housewife. Gosh, so what to do with all that time I have al of a sudden? First packing my things in the closets, cleaning a bit, washing, taming the cat, watching TV - oh, still not even 11 am.??? OK, then making a sandwich, cat attacking me, fighting with the cat, offering cat food to the cat (making Jinxy really pissed and offended), cat attacking me again, after a long fight and chase locking the cat in her box, cleaning the wounds (shouting out really loud, it burns like hell!!!). Mmm, already 2 pm.? Cool! Phone call, watching TV... Finally he came for lunch, cooking, eating, watching a DVD, he leaves. What to do now? I've already cleaned the flat, everything's done. OK, then reading a bit, belly hurting again - oh how fine, what a change... Somehow I managed to fall asleep on the couch while reading Maxine. All of a sudden my phone started ringing. "Are you ready? I'm waiting for you downstairs. Hurry up, I'm late!!!" Oooops, ehm... Yes, of course I'm ready (gosh is it hard to get dressed while talking on the phone!), no, I didn't forget you, of course not. Yes, I was already dressed. What? Oh yes, of course, I'm on the way." *blush* And now the housewife is blogging while Tarsan is hunting. Anyhow, as long as Tarsan loves Jane and always brings a huge mammut home it's just fine with me. Yet... I want a job... *yawn*
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Let me tell you 'bout the birds and the bees...Lately I haven't felt really well. My whole body is just tired, I could sleep for hours and hours and hours, the night is simply not enough (anyways, at night I wake up every hour...). Me, who never could sleep during the day! Who used to go to bed late and wake up early! And now I'm like a sleep-walker. Not to mention those absolutely romantic nights with the frequent vomiting sessions. Fortunately at least that stopped now, after my dearest tresure got some medicine for me. But somehow my belly still hurts, sometimes more, sometimes less but I can be absolutely sure that in the morning it will hurt, sooner or later...
I also developped a very strong aversion against everything that contains eggs. My nose is like the one of a police dog, I can smell eggs from kilometers! On the other hand I have this insatiable craving for ice cream, sweets and cheese. In fact, I could even kill for those delicious mozarella sticks with the hot sauce.
Oh yes, hot food, that's the other thing... Since living with him I started to LOVE hot food. Hot meaning hot. Hot like half a bottle chilli sauce at least.
Talking to Sz. and M. I mentioned these things, that I think it comes from all the stress and the weather and the A/C and ........ The next day I got some very funny e-mails:
"Nausea associated with morning sickness can be a sign that a woman is pregnant. Many women say that they've had nausea up to two weeks before an expected menstrual period and before any other symptom. Extreme fatigue can be another indicator of pregnancy, especially if other symptoms are present. " (from Sz.)
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!!!! A baby? Really? I'm so excited!!! I'm even more excited than you!!!" (from M.)
Ehm... to set it right with you my dears: No, there is nothing on the way. It is caused by stress and climate. That I have strange food carvings you already should know. Being sleepy all day long is most probably because of the hot weather (around 40C, not funny, not at all!). Headaches are normal for someone working at this office. Moody? Ehm... no comments...
Thursday, April 20, 2006
What the #@#$&^$!!!!!I'm always amazed by the unprofessionality and incompetency of the people in this country. Somehow it seems to me when it comes to employing lower class (=less important, replaceable by a monkey) employees they chose quantity instead of quality. That this cheap employee costs the company later a fortune seems to be absolutely irrelevant, what counts is he "does" his job for some 2000 riyals. Of course due to his incompetency (or should I better say idiocy?) he regularly causes the company losses of at least twice as his salary (per month) but that doesn't count, somehow they can't see it when employing staff. Maybe they should consider to employ 1 really qualified and agile (= active, living) person and pay him a real salary knowing that they wouldn't have to spend every months fortunes to pay the fines a low quality employee causes. But then I forgot, they cannot think that much in advance, they have enough money to afford the luxury of not thinking at all.....
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Desire...
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Polish nurses kill baby!I got this into my mailbox today. Now I really don't know who's worse: the ones who execute their own children or the ones who kill the child of others for fun/irresponsibility? I'm absolutely not for the capital punishment but somebody guilty in such a case deserves the slowest and most painful death!
I don't know what's wrong with some countries, that such things still can happen. OK, then maybe that's that famous "Eastern-Block". I'm happy to live in a country where things like that simply cannot happen. Maybe because everything is monitored. Maybe because the nurses working at hospitals really like their jobs. Maybe because we have qualified, responsible staff. Or maybe just because we are not animals. Once M. told me about her experiences as an obstetrician. She's been working in most western countries yet she told me to be very happy to live in Slovakia as we are really highest standard on this field. She was really shocked about the attitude in some countries. More western doesn't always mean better. How many babies "accidentally" break their little bones during birth? How many are scalped at a C-section? And most of all: where does this happen? She was terrified seeing how some of her oh-so-western colleagues were lifting the babies by their leg, shaking them, shouting at them. I simply cannot understand this. People are said to instinctively protect babies no matter whose they are. Women shall have those maternal feelings. Does this mean that some people simply are not humans?
From time to time it seems that things might change but then you wonder will it happen? Will it really changed? Or will the ones trying to change be brutally killed? Life is change, change can be improvement so why not to risk it? Why not letting them talk? Why proving how coward and inferior you are to those you beat?
Reading the shocking news I got interested in the topic and found this (an older one, for those who speak just English).
"A truly scandalous execution took place on Sunday, August the 15th, 2004, when 16 year old Atefeh Rajabi was hanged in public in the town of Neka. Atefeh was executed for “engaging in acts incompatible with chastity.” Atefeh was not represented by a lawyer at her trial and efforts by her family to recruit a lawyer was to no avail. She had to defend herself and told the religious judge, Haji Rezaie, that he should punish the main perpetrators of moral corruption and not the victims. She further enraged the judge by removing some of her clothing (probably just her headscarf) and he accused her of having a “sharp tongue.” It is claimed that he pursued her execution beyond all normal procedures and finally gained the approval of the Supreme Court and the chief of the nation’s “judiciary branch.” Her age was given in official court documents as 22 but her birth certificate has been viewed by reliable sources and shows she really was just 16. At the place of execution in the town’s square, the judge personally put the rope around the girl’s neck and gave the signal to the crane operator to begin her hanging.Witnesses reported that she begged for mercy and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the execution truck. She repeatedly shouted, "repentance" which, according to Islamic law, is supposed to grant the accused the right to an immediate stay of execution while an appeal is heard.Judge Haji Rezaie said he was pleased to hang her and is quoted as saying, "Society has to be kept safe from acts against public morality." Her body was left dangling from the crane for some time so people could see what happened to teenagers who committed acts incompatible with chastity.It should be noted that, according to the Islamic Republic’s penal code, the presence of an attorney for the defense is mandatory regardless of the defendant’s ability to afford one. Nevertheless, Atefeh did not get an attorney, despite the efforts of her father to raise money for one. Atefeh’s boyfriend, who had been arrested as well, received 100 lashes and was afterwards released.
So what was Atefeh’s “crime”? It would seem that it amounted to having sex with her boyfriend. According to judicial records, Atefeh had 5 previous convictions for having sex with unmarried men. For each offence, she had been jailed and flogged. She confided in her friends that she had been abused by the guards in prison. A lawsuit is being brought by Shadi Sadr, a lawyer representing the Rajabi family, against the judiciary for wrongful execution. Sadr is also trying to bring a murder charge against the judge, Haji Rezaie."
And not as if they would be clever enough to learn from the protests from all over the world, no, no... So tell me, what shall I think of a culture that executes children??? (girls min. 9 years, boys min. 14) I think people who have to do that do have some major problems with themselves. Instead of killing their own children maybe they should keep their legs together for 10 minutes and start thinking!
1. Nobody invited you to this blog. If you don't like it, leave.
2. Freedom of speech is what I do practice too. Very nice thing.
3. As mentioned in a previous blog this is a diary for my family and friends; yet to show I'm a friendly and open person I keep it public. Could you please show the same attitude and waste your time on other blogs when you don't like mine?
This is my very last comment to all those "nice and tolerant" people. In the future all your comments will be deleted without being read so you can save the trouble.
Thank you very much to everyone.