Friday, February 16, 2007

Bleeding Midyear Exams

It's been a heck of a past few days. My midyear exams started on Tuesday. And unlike previous years, we've got one test everyday as opposed to a test every other day. So after a test I go to Dudu's, we go over the material until around four in the evening, then I drive home and go to sleep. I wake up around midnight and continue studying. Then I leave home two hours before the test to make sure I get to my test on time.

Getting to college should only take just over half an hour before rush hour, but it's taking even more time now since they've placed serpentines using concrete blocks on both ends of the Bab-AlShargi bridge. Crossing that bridge used to take five minutes at the most, now it takes about twenty or more.

Yesterday they closed it a few minutes before I was about to reach it. And so I then crossed the other busier bridge which hasn't had serpentines added to it yet. To find that the road to college from there was blocked off. I then took a side street and ended up in an unfamiliar part of Baghdad the name of which I didn't know. Luckily there wasn't any traffic in this part of town. And when I asked for directions, I was greeted with a smile and very simple directions for how to get to college. That day it took me over an hour to get to college.

As I drove around yesterday, I kept noticing people looking at the sky as a plane was roaring about. Even the forces at the checkpoints had their heads fixed upwards. I thought it was odd since a bomber jet isn't a rare thing. But as I was on the last couple of stretches on my way home I caught sight of it. The thing was either flying very low or was massive. I had never seen a plane appear so big in the air (aside from air planes landing at an airport). And unlike the usual F-something, you know the Top Gun kind, this thing was black. By the time I got home and got Nahida to find my camera the stupid thing had disappeared.

My first exam on Tuesday was my easiest since it's a mathematical subject, but I'm bound to mess up the rest since they're in Arabic. I did so bad on the other two this week. I answered most of the questions, but whereas I'd answer with a couple of phrases, the others in the class are filling up pages. I can only hope that the teachers are going to be generous with me.

On Thursday everybody cheated except for me. Even the exam supervisors invited me to move my seat so I could cheat. By the time I was done with the exam, the only other two left were the uber-nerdy girls fusing their knowledge to get that perfect mark.

Unlike everybody else in the class, I've been brainwashed into to think that cheating is wrong and shameful. When my classmates asked me why I didn't cheat after the exam, I told them I was too tired. But the truth is that I hated them so much for cheating that I didn't want to join in.

Fozzy's gone back to the farm and without giving me my money. Instead he's given it to Nahida who has yet to hand me some serious cash over. I know she's trying to sabotage my plan to get two healthy whores to spend the night with me. She says I'd squander my money too much. I've got to start bugging her until she breaks and gives me my money.

It's five in the evening now and I haven't started studying. Instead I've been watching TV and the animes that Miz gave me the day before the exams started (what a splendid way to sabotage my motivation to study on his behalf). Miz who studies at the university that got hit a while ago still hasn't still hasn't resumed classes. I'm going to flunk these exams with flying colours. In the week ahead I'll have an exam everyday. Five exams day after day. It's ridiculous. I'm probably going to end up having a car accident from sheer exhaustion.

Last night I chatted to Kiki, he says he's going to go India in a week. He tells me his cousin Duraid is there. Duraid's the guy that gave him the idea of going to Malaysia, where Kiki spent a number of months hoping to pursue a master's degree. Duraid's also the wanker that wiped Tie Fighter off of my hard disk back in 1995.

Okay so I'm going to start studying now. That or watch another anime.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Unlike everybody else in the class, I've been brainwashed into to think that cheating is wrong and shameful."____If you pass an exam without cheating or bribing the examiner, you can feel proud of yourself because you have accomplished something. If you cheat, you will just feel dirty. Iraq will never succeed as a country so long as people cheat in exams. Who wants to cross a bridge built by an engineer who cheated to get his degree?