Overview of 2014

Today is the 10th Of December 2014. I have published only four entries since the beginning of the year. However, I've been writing many things, but did not know when and why shall I release them.


An overview of my life in 2014:
This year I worked very hard on myself in terms of my career. I continued working in the same place for the first five months of the years and then I quit! Yes, I did and this is the best thing that I have ever done in my profession. I worked for two years and five months in the same company - and I am not saying it is a bad thing staying for a while in the same place, but when you feel that this job won't improve you in any way, then you MUST know that "That's it." I quit the job in the right time and I do not regret it at all.

I started my next job immediately in an "humanitarian" agency as an interpreter. The nature of work is a little bit different since I am dealing with humans and not computers or papers. However, sometime I wish I have my own computer and sit there translating only documents that I enjoy and things that add something to me. This job is very exhausting - mentally, emotionally, and even physically, hearing people talking about bad things they have endured and interpreting them using first-person narrative leaves us destroyed from the inside... The feeling of guilt whenever you remember that other people having difficult time securing their basic needs, while you are having the privilege of many things that you do not even count as blessings. For the first three months or so, I dreamed about vague pieces of stories, dates, events, and faces, I felt very bad and lost the desire to enjoy life, but then I started to feel nothing as if I am numbed. I felt that my body is there and I am pronouncing the words, but I am detached, not connected to anything happening before my own eyes. For a while, I thought that this is the best thing that have had happened to me since I started this job and told myself I am being professional.. Until I met an old couple from Iraq, who were waiting long time ago to be resettled. They told us their story and how the war have separated them from their own children and how they lost family members.. I sympathized with them because the caseworker was really tough with them telling them that they cannot apply for family reunification and that they might end up in an elderly care center because there is no one who can take care of them and they are not able to work to provide for themselves. At that point they started crying very badly and that really saddened my heart. Can you imagine, god forbids, you parents sitting on those chairs being interviewed by someone who cannot even feel their pain, loss, and tragedy.

This work helped me contemplate about things that I have been always taking for granted. In fact, it changed me and awaken the human inside me. Despite the fact that this a tough a job, I am very thankful to Allah that I am here and I am being the voice of those vulnerable people. Last week they informed us that interpreters' contracts will be extended till mid-2015 and this is somehow good because I do not want to undergo the experience of looking for another job now.

Ok! Enough talking about work, which is an endless topic. Tell you what? I got engaged...
Yeah I know it is a big deal to talk about because it involves huge changes in my life, especially since I will be moving to another country. We have not fixed a date for the marriage ceremony yet, but most probably it would be in October or November 2015. So I still have time not to be worried about moving to SAUDI ARABIA :P   My fiance came for one month vacation and we had the best time ever, but it was sad seeing him leaving. Hopefully he would be able to come before the wedding, or otherwise I have to do all the planning and this would be crazy and exhausting because I would be also looking for the dress and other details... So hopefully everything will be easy and most importantly enjoyable - Ya RAB :) -

Do you really believe that 2014 is almost over :O