Author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah

Mohamed Marwen Meddah is a Tunisian-Canadian, web aficionado, software engineering leader, blogger, and amateur photographer.

How to tell if you are adopted

Another funny forward from my old inbox, lol.

Hey, Kids!
Sometimes it’s hard to figure out whether “Mom” and “Dad” are your actual parents. Here are some things to look out for that mean you were adopted:

– You’re not allowed to get a trampoline.
– Other family members enjoy foods that taste “yucky” to you.
– You’re made to sleep in your own private room, sequestered from the rest of the family.
– Mom and Dad find occasions once or twice a year to shower you with gifts, so you won’t feel so bad about being abandoned by your real parents.
– You don’t remember your parents bringing you home from the hospital when you were born.
– Your parents call each other by names other than “Mommy” and “Daddy” to conceal their true identity.
– Your parents don’t let you go out at night, when your real parents might try to steal you back.
– Only adopted, or “rejected,” children have to brush their teeth.
– You don’t have the same eye and hair color as your parents, and you’re not the same height.
– Your parents sometimes go into their room and shut the door

My First True Vacation

I was just thinking the other day, and this is actually my first true vacation ever.

It’s the first time I get to get away from my everyday life, forget about almost everything and not even think about work for a fraction of a second.

Some people could argue that I took time off from work before, but well never without something else to do instead, I’d always have other things waiting for me to do in my vacation and it’d end up not feeling like one. In fact, I’d get so bored or tired I’d want to get back to work, lol.

This time, it’s totally different.
I have absolutely nothing to do.
The only thing I have to do is kill time.
And that feels great, lol.

I wish this could go on forever, lol.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Last night, I finally got around to watching Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore.

I think Moore did a good job with this documentary. He shed some light on a side of the events that all Americans should see.
I also liked the humour in it. Some parts were very funny.

Some people think it’s pretty one sided and that Moore goes a bit too far at times, but well, that’s his opinion and the way he sees things. There is no such thing as too much or too far for the human brain.

There are things I agree with him on and things that I might not. But it’s great to see his side of things anyway.

He truly makes some very important points.

The Gas Pickup Song

Some years ago, the people who sell gas bottles in pickup trucks in Jordan were told to stop making this annoying clanking noise by hitting the gas bottles to announce they were near, and instead just play this same brain-melting tune that I honestly think is even more annoying.

Anyway, when that started, I thought someone should take a sample of that tune and make a full club mix out of it.
I truly think it could work out and if released as a single become one of the biggest hits ever in Jordan, lol.

Now that I’m back here and am waking up to that tune every morning and hearing it a number of times throughout my day, I couldn’t agree more.

It’s a tune that has been engraved into our brains and I don’t think anyone in Jordan couldn’t hum the whole tune from beginning to end.

It’s got all the makings of a huge hit. So really someone should try this out, and for coming up with the idea, I only want 50% of the revenue 😉

Re-living Jordan

So, these past 2 days and other than spending time with the family, we’ve also been trying to go around Amman as much as possible and see all the places we used to exist in.

It’s been really great seeing the places that have changed and the places that haven’t, watching the people, listening to the accent, living Jordan again.

It’s kind of a bit weird too. I feel as if I’m somehow living my present in the past or something like that.
It’s like when you’re playing a video game and you’ve passed a level, but then revisit it for a while for a certain reason and then go back to the level you’re in.

I haven’t seen anyone I know yet, but I sure am planning to see everyone I can and have contacts for.

Another thing is that I’ll truly have to go on a strict diet once I’m back to Tunisia to lose the weight I’ll be gaining here.
My mother-in-law cooks great Middle Eastern food, which I can’t miss, and on top of that I’m planning to eat at every restaurant I ever went to here. That’s a recipe for a lot of FAT, lol.

Thanks to the guys who recommended places for me to check out, they’re noted and hopefully I’ll be visiting them all 🙂

Will keep you updated…

I, Robot

Just came back from the cinema.
As I’m such a movie freak, I talked my wife and her brother and sister into catching a movie somewhere. After reviewing all the options, I pushed for us to go see “I, Robot” at Century Cinema even though none of them felt like it.
But well, I got them there 😛

And well, what can I say. I loved the movie. I truly enjoyed everything about it, from the action to the science fiction to the humour to everything.
This is absolutely Will Smith’s best movie yet.

The others liked it a lot too. So that was cool.
I got to boast that I was the movie God again 😛

Anyway, if you’re in Amman and you’d like to catch a cool movie, I truly recommend this one. If you do and you don’t like it, well bite me 😛

Jordan Here

We’re in Jordan at last…
Our plane got here at 10PM last night, and my wife’s family were there at the airport to welcome us.
It was great seeing them all after such a long time 🙂

On the way back to their place in Daheyat El Rasheed, we didn’t really see much of Jordan and if much changed in it, so we made up our minds to get out this morning to start checking it out.

So, today we picked ourselves up, went to Gardens street to change some money and started by heading to Mecca Mall, which is the biggest mall in Jordan for the time being. I hear that bigger ones are planned.
I really liked it, especially Prime Megastore and the Grand Cinema Theatres. The Food Court is quite impressive too with every fast food place you could ever imagine, reflecting the typical favourite Arab pass-time, eating 😛
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be going back to Mecca Mall to buy a lot of stuff from Prime Megastore and to watch a number of movies.

After having lunch at KFC there, we left and went for a drive around Amman. El Medina Street, Al Rabyeh, Umm Udheina, El Sweifiyeh, …etc.

We later passed by Cozmo to get some stuff we need and some chocolates and sweets then headed home.

Today was more of a “Hi Amman, We’re Back” tour, and soon we’ll be going to more places and checking out more stuff.

Something I noticed though is that Amman is more crowded now than 2 years ago. More people, more cars, more buildings, more shopping places, more life.

Anyway, I’ll get going now.
Will post more about our stay here and Amman as we go out more and see more in the days to come 🙂

And hey for you guys who are here or who know Amman. If there are any places you would like to recommend to us, please leave a comment 🙂

Jordan Today

In just a few minutes, we’ll be heading out to the airport, after having lunch at my parents’ place, to jump on our flight to Jordan.

It’s been 2 years since I last was in Jordan, and it feels like such a long long time.
I can’t wait to be there again, see what’s changed, what hasn’t, the family, the friends, the places …etc.

We have so many plans to visit places, eat at places, buy stuff and we’re lucky if we do half the things we want to do, lol.

This is my first real vacation in 2 years, and it feels great to know that I’ll have 3 weeks of relaxation away from the hectic everyday life.

I’ll be trying to hop online as often as I can to blog though, I’m too addicted to blogging to stay away from here for 3 weeks 😛

Anyway, cya all…
Next blog should be from Jordan 🙂