by Natasha Tynes | Jul 9, 2004 | Jordan, my nation, Shutterbug
Yesterday, the 8th of July, was my 28th birthday and I celebrated it amongst my family and friends, which was the best gift I could think of. All during the day, I was showered with gifts, flowers, cakes and lots of love.
Later that night, I was supposed to have dinner with Jeff at an Italian restaurant called Villa Toscana and then later meet up with my friends at the Irish pub in Abdoun.
But Jeff tricked me! Soon after we got into the car he asked me to wear sleeping blinders on my eyes. "But we are supposed to be going to Villa Toscana," I kept arguing while he explained that he just wanted to pick up something for me on the way that would only take a minute.
After maybe a 15-miute drive, the car stopped and he walked me out (Yes, I was still blindfolded!) to an unknown destination. When I took my blinders off I was surprised to find myself at a different restaurant – Houstons – with all of my good friends sitting at the centre table with flowers, balloons and gifts. They greeted me with the infamous song Happy Birthday and a small firework! Ah, it is good to be home.
Take a click below to see some of the extra celebrants to be found at Zizo’s birthday bash, held right before my time at Houston’s.
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by Natasha Tynes | Jul 9, 2004 | Jordan, my nation
So we are here and there are many things to write about and yes, I’m very excited. Let me start with the flight from Doha to Amman. It was nearly perfect. For some reason we were upgraded to the business class. Jeff believes it was because we are silver card members in Qatar Airways “Privilege Club,” which gives us most all of the business class benefits, like lounge use. But I’m convinced it was because of my contacts with the airline that let me pick a seat without regard to “class”. Who knows and who cares! We really enjoyed the luxury: video on demand, bed-seats, lots of room!
We were greeted at the airport by my parents, Brigitte, Mark and kids and my dear friend Lana. We went straight to my parent’s place to settle in and distribute the gifts.
But as soon as we got to the house, an earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale hit Amman. Perhaps not surprisingly, we didn’t feel a thing, as the tremor itself was overwhelmed by another earthquake: the greetings and hugging of screaming kids, family and friends. Ah, Jordan, I’m glad to be here!
by Natasha Tynes | Jul 6, 2004 | Media watch, Political mayhem
Now this is interesting!
Virtual Camp Trains Soldiers in Arabic, and More
In a dusty valley in southern Lebanon, “Sgt. John Smith” of the Special Forces scans the scene in front of him. Ahead is a village known as Talle. His immediate mission: to find out who the local headman is and make his way to that house.
All discussions with the villagers will have to be conducted in Arabic, and Sergeant Smith must comport himself with the utmost awareness of local customs so as not to arouse hostility. If successful, he will be paving the way for the rest of his unit to begin reconstruction work in the village.
Sergeant Smith is not a real soldier, but the leading character in a video game being developed at the University of Southern California’s School of Engineering as a tool for teaching soldiers to speak Arabic. Both the game’s environment and the characters who populate it have a high degree of realism, in an effort to simulate the kinds of situations troops will face in the Middle East. Talle is modeled on an actual Lebanese village, while the game’s characters are driven by artificial-intelligence software that enables them to behave autonomously and react realistically to Sergeant Smith.
Source [The New York Times]
by Natasha Tynes | Jul 6, 2004 | Film, Jordan, my nation
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It seems Jordan’s non-existent film making scene is struggling to come to life. It is about time!
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by Natasha Tynes | Jul 5, 2004 | Jordan, my nation, Media watch, Political mayhem
Turkey gets to grips with ‘honour killings’
Turkey is poised to introduce mandatory life sentences for those who carry out “honour killings”, in an effort to combat a crime which has marred its quest to join the EU.
Wide-ranging changes to the penal code will end the current practice of allowing murderers to plead family honour as an extenuating circumstance to justify killings.
“Turkey clearly realises this is an issue that can be used to very good effect by those who are sceptical of Turkish membership of the EU,” said James Ker-Lindsay who runs a regional thinktank. “This is the latest sign that Turkey is increasing efforts to improve its human rights record.”
Source [The Guardian]
I hope one day the same punishment can be applied on those who commit these hideous crimes in Jordan.
Yesterday, the 8th of July, was my 28th birthday and I celebrated it amongst my family and friends, which was the best gift I could think of. All during the day, I was showered with gifts, flowers, cakes and lots of love.