Checking-in back again!

Hello everybody,

I know I have been gone for a quite a while, but as some of you whom I’ve spoken to during that time know, I was extra caught up last semester as history in the making started to take place on the other side of the world leaving me glued to the news even more during whatever free time I had. Between revolutions and earthquakes it was hard to catch up on everything that is going on and stay informed.

Also, while I still have to complete my last two French courses this summer, which start on May, I have officially finished my last semester at university, i.e. part of an academic year, at the end of Winter 2011 term, which would correspond to Spring back home. Last semester, actually the past two semesters were quite enjoyable and felt like an extra knowledgeable and delightful ride because I tremendously enjoyed my last two International Studies courses, learnt a great deal from work and put together a convenient and agreeable schedule for myself. I would also have to say that it was also partly because I definitely felt more settled, liked my new place and was more aware of the bearings around.

And since the last time I wrote, winter has been slowly and painfully trying to leave us behind. But before I had let it get away I made sure my bucket list for winter was fully checked.

I don’t think you can manage to live in Canada without having to eventually own your own sled.

I also made a cute little snowman

And in light of the revolutions in the Arab world, here is a funny video, in Arabic, I received a while ago from my mum and thought of sharing it with you and as always, please share your thoughts. I have to say that Bassam Kousa is one of my favorite Syrian actors.

I think it is a good reminder that instilling democracy of and by itself, as was done by the “land of freedom” in Iraq is a big mistake. An adopted or forced democracy never works unless people themselves have the aptitude, operational philosophy and mindset that not only allows them to realize democracy’s true purpose, mechanisms and benefits but also allows them to sustain and utilize it.

Some insight...

Being an international studies student my courses usually comprise issues that are interdisciplinary in nature and of course international. The topics we discuss are often very intriguing for me as they are things I usually ponder about in my own little world while trying to make sense of this universe we’re living in. My courses vary and the topics can be mundane, but some of the professors try their best to keep us focused in a 3 hours class, and YouTube videos seem to have picked up. So I thought I’d give you a peak as to what I’ve been busy with reading and writing about. This is from my ILST 2300 course, titled Globalization, culture and global civil society. As much as I enjoy my major for being accessibly addressing today’s world and its problems, sometimes it puzzles me that even though some issues are so blatantly obvious they are still being extensively written and read about yet we’re getting nowhere or maybe still debating as to which theory is the best to adopt when fixing the problem.

So here we have poverty, stemming from global inequality which stems from globalization and that is the title of my course. Not wanting to get into the extensive details that I had to go through in my readings, here is a video with a simple message that is fairly easy to relate to.



As much as we’ve all seen plenty of this, aid to Africa has not been very helpful. Some say it is not being channeled properly, others tell you it is the neoliberal policies that the World Bank imposes and the list goes on. Whether it is one or the other, it is troubling that nothing sufficient enough has been done. As much as I am a fan of globalization it seems a very far away thing to be felt for many people. Of course poverty isn’t only occurring in Africa but in many other countries.

Somewhere along the line in my life, I’ve been told, taught and realized that I should be thankful and feel fortunate for even the simplest things I have that are deemed as given; food, shelter, medicine etc., which as obvious as they seem, have come to be difficult for many to remember and realize in this excessively materialistic and consuming world we live in. I realize one is mostly thankful in their most vulnerable moments, such as after overcoming a mishap, sickness, or loss, and I feel that that doesn’t always has to be the case. As much as I realize that much of one’s life is what one makes of it, being fortunate in some cases just happens to be. There are many important things which we take for granted as being there, yet we are only fortunate enough to have been born where it is only deemed so, and this quote from Lechner seems to put it right.

“…that even in the age of globalization, how well anyone lives depends first and foremost on where she is born: almost any American lives better than almost any Malawian” (2009, p.222).