Rahman at SF Arab Cultural Festival 2009

October 11, 2009

Excerpt of Rahman’s Diary



“Today i got up and i knew that i have a long and amazing day at Golden Gate Park. All arabs will get together in the Fair Building sharing their experiences in this festival. I was little nervous because i wasn’t sure what is going to happen in this Festival. so, i packed my clowning stuff and i went with Parin to the Fair Building.

I thought that the Festival is going to be outside which is really bad because the wether was cloudy today.

Fortunately, when i got their with Parin, we found all the people working and preparing inside.

Today, i performed as clown for the children inside and outside the building. I didn’t expect that my show will be so great. Children were amused by me when i just appeared, they were so excited to see my show.

 I had new costume and new huge wig on my head. Even though, it was so chilly outside, people came and saw me performing. I was touched by a little boy, his name is Mujed and he kept following me everywhere.

 He was very attached to me, he would put the wig on his head and act exactly the things that i did in the show.

 He grabbed my hand and went to see his family. He introduced me to his family. they are Palestinian and got to the States recently, in Oakland.




The last part of the Festival which is Arabs Musicians Performing, i had so much fun. I danced with Iraqis and other Arabs Dab-ca Dance, Parin kept taking bunch of pictures in every where.

I ended up with a pain in my back, because i danced a lot. On the other hand, i really like the place here. San Francisco is a gorgeous and fascinating city. I'm very happy what I have done so far. ”



 

"Special thank to those who helped  alot and made my perfomnce at ACC passibal."

 Thank you Sherry almufty, Celest and Osama Al Akkad.

" Creative Exhibition Sand Work Art in Carmel Beach"

"In the most beautiful area, where the seegel fly free over the ocean and where the waves dance back and forth , splashing into the rocks in Carmel Beach. Every year, people come over on the beach and start using their hands in creating such a tremulous variety of art all over the beach."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos Taking by Rahman AL Kaabi

There is a colorful amazing world that ever ends. "Monterey Bay Aqaurium!"..

The amazing Monterery Bay Aquarium in Canary Row, almost 2 million people visit here every year.making the California one of the most popular attraction.

It is quite famous and has wonderful sea creatures and exhibits, such as sea otters, jelly fish, and penguins

 .Friday, September 11, 2009, i had a wonderful along day in the aquarium. i was  invited by  two amazing friends Elaine Miller and Phil Giammanco to see the gorgeous world under the see.


i was thrilled by the Jelly fish. i have never seen a type of shiny fish like that in my whole life. how gentle when it move, and how shiny it was. i was wondering whether it is a real or not.

I was really in different  world, magic world to make it bigger,  i felt like I'm in the wonder land.

There were lots of thing to see. something caught my eyes which is incredibly up-normal. A cable of fish were swimming in small aquarium just right on the other side.. i was so amazed by the view.

 

It was almost 3 o'clock, Elaine had  mentioned   that at three o'clock  the workers  are going to start feeding the penguins. "We should go now" Elain said.  an excitement showed inside me when i heard that.i didn't want to miss the show. So, we run there and saw crowded of people being ready to settle their positions around against the aquarium where the workers had just showed up.

 

While i was watching,  a lady with her microphone was interviewing the people around and asking some questions about the penguins in particular.One of the questions was "How fast does the penguins swim under the water?' I didn't  know the answer for this questions to be honest. I did  ask question though, i asked the lady about "Does the penguins has feathers covering his body?"  she answered of cours No! Penguins doesn't have feathers at all, but they have skin.

After the penguins performance, i went to see something totally different than the others. i went down where the seahorses were!!

There is no wonder how the world is huge, we live in this plant without wondering  who else lives in this plant. I have never seen such sophisticate and unbelievable creature  exist literally under the water.

A group of these creatures were seahorses, i was leaning forward against the glass so close and the wonder filled my face.

In the end of this terrific experience, i went up into the roof. it was so warm and the scenery was so beauty. i went to the edge of the bridge and looked farther, away to the other side of the ocean. The beauty is not something you could smell, hear or see. The beauty comes when you feel it inside and touched your heard.

 

Facebook | Rahman Aidi

Facebook | Rahman Aidi

Picnic Party for International students at EL Estero Lake.

     On 30th of August, on a sunny day in Monterey, I had my first picnic party with international students in a fascinating place by a lake called EL Estero. It’s so close to my college, all international student got together on that day. I went there with my support group, Celeste Akkad and Dania Akkad. We had a big feast, it was really amazing.

   The man who runs this event is called Jon and his colleagues. They are very collaborative people and so friendly. I liked them so much, they‘ve been working and helping the international students for so long ago. In the party I met many people, some of them were young and the others were old people.

I was asked many questions about Iraq from an old military officer about the situation in Iraq right now. What is the situation  like in Iraq? He asked. I had to explain him not just what is going on in Iraqi right now, but also I explained the whole story about the unnecessary war. We have talked about Bush’s admonstration and what they did in Iraq. Personally, I don’t like to talk about politics  stuff, but in that day I was surprised by the man’s reaction that has no clue about Iraq. I had to clarify some topics and declare true stories to him.

Back to the party, we played games in two groups. The game was so simple, it is questions and answers. One of the questions was who could speak more than three languages? I was working with my group filling out the answer sheet. No one in my group had more than three languages. They were disappointed and frustrated, and then I got an idea! I told them that I could speak different dialects such as Syrian accent,Modren Stander  Arabic , Iraqi accent and English. That’s mean I have  four languages. What a great idea!

Another question we  asked was who has more than three skills? That was really good question, I wrote down that I know how to dance, I mean DABKA DANCE, and play on drams, play guitar, juggling, face painting, twist balloons and east cost swing dance. At the end of the game, I was elected to be the student how has more skills, and I won a nice little gift from Jon. In Fact, I made little speech in front of people about me, where I’m coming from and what I’m doing at MPC. How can I describe the moment when I stood up next to Jon, it was unbelievable. I liked that day so much.

Monterey Peninsula College

On the 18th  of August, I went to my college in order to be in the orientation for international students starting school in fall 2009. That was my first day and the first time to see people from different countries. The students were from Korea, Japan, china, Indonesia, Germany, Philippines, Somalia, South Africa and Iraq. I was the only Iraqi among them. Plus, I was the oldest student in the orientation Shame on me.....,





The orientation  started and all international students became  aware of the educational system at MPC. I met great American instructors that day. American people are so friendly, especially with me I don't know why?

Is that because I’m the only Iraqi student in this college? Or because  I belong to a country which has been damaged throughout these years and most Americans feel sorry about that.



I had a horrible  time in the first week at college. The first week was really difficult for me because I didn’t know exactly which class I was going to take in the first semester. I had to drop classes and add other classes. Eventually, the great counselor Nancy Bedrham and my support group helped me a lot. We made a good schedule for classes that I’m going to take this semester.

Now, I’m taking courses at MPC college such as modern dance, advanced acting, voice class and quitar lessons,

Pacific Santa Cruz Beach

It’s a really nice feeling when you lay  down on the sand on the beach, Two days ago, Dania and I drove to start our small trip which started from Carmel where our lovely house is. From there we went  straight to Santa Cruz, the most beautiful place among others. First, we visited friends including  Jennifer, Matt, Tom, Carly and Roger and other friends. I had a great time being with American friends, some of them are really serious in life and the others are awesome and hilarious like Carly, she’s funny a girl and made me laugh all day. Later on, I was invited to play a stupid American game called bocce ball. In spite of the fact that I had no idea  how to play it, but I participated. It's pretty similar to a children's game. First, three players, each one of them has  balls and hold them in their hands. There is another small red ball which is located in the center. All players have to throw the balls close to that red ball. Whoever's ball is closest to the red ball is the winner!  That's it ! Stupid game, right...?  We all went to the beach where there was crazy stuff going on . I had  strange Mexican food: chips and salsa. It was really delicious and hot, it burned my mouth.

After a while, we decided to put on our bathing suits and play  an American game on the beach called american football. It was a really good idea of Peter's to bring a ball and make us laugh. The game made us crazy; we would run back and forth without reason. Why?

for me, going to the beach is about playing with friends, swimming and having fun. without these things, the beach has no meaning for me.

The end of that day ended up in a place that had called redwoods, which were great giant trees. It was quite dark, calm and scary; it was also hard for me to see my hand . I was hiding behind Roger and Dania, I was following them like a dog when I became so close I barked  and bite Roger’s leg. I can’t tell you what happened that moment because Roger’s reaction was hilarious. He jumped and screamed like that: Maoww!   Dania and Roger  held each other and screamed oh my god! oh my God! who is this?

That was the end of our trip...