Daily Life In Baghdad

I've been asked many times now to write about the daily life in Baghdad , before I begin I'd like to tell anyone who reads this post that there is no over exaggerating at all , the post might seem so gloomy but that's the life in Baghdad and even the strongest words can't describe the feelings or what is really happening in the so-called homeland.
I wake up every morning before my alarm rings not because I'm so vibrant but because I'm wet with my sweat , after a long exhausting night without electricity because the electricity comes one or two hours a day , some days it doesn't come at all , anyway so I wake up feeling that I have been in a fight not sleeping , all my muscles aches , with the worst mood ever . I go to work on foot as it is more convenient to walk than by car (it takes about the same time due to the blocked streets) In my way I watch the ugliest scenes , concrete blocks , bombed cars wrecks , shells of bullets in the streets , one can feel the sadness and sorrow where ever he points his head.On my way to the clinic I amuse myself with the same routine thoughts (will this misery ever end? , will Iraq be peaceful again? , how long can we tolerate? ,when will I die? ,will any one finds my dead body and be buried respectfully as I deserve?.....etc) and as I reach the main streets (which has been closed for more than 4 months) I remember how this street was filled with cars and people not long ago just one year , I can't believe how the situations became worst in this last year , the curve just dropped dramatically , as I get to the clinic the first thing I do is to hug the air conditioner as I have missed it in my home because every Iraqi house doesn't depend on the National electricity as we call it , in each 4 or 5 blocks there is a big generator owned by someone that we pay him monthly depending on the Amperes we take from him , so what most of the Iraqis use is the Air-cooler , it's a cooling device that uses water and economic in electricity , it's not efficient as the air-conditioner but it works . we have Air-conditioners in every room but it's a decoration now thanks to the ministry of electricity . anyway I work with the music of bullets and mortars in the background and confrontations in the clinic's street occasionally , after I finish work , I walk back home , the heat is unbearable that after 5 minutes of walking I feel my shoes is on fire , I can't wait to get home and take it off , in fact I can't wait to take all my clothes off and my skin if that was possible the heat now is 50 (122F) and more , so when i reach home , as usual there is no electricity I wait 2 hours till the generator works (The working hours of the generator is scheduled) and will shut-down after 2 hours , we have lunch and we go to sleep and wake up wet with sweat also!!!we sit on the sofa (me and my wife)talking and waving the Mahafa (it's a traditional Iraqi hand fan) trying to stay alive , in the weekends this is the time where we go shopping from what we call a super-market but in fact it's just a relatively big shop that has most of the food supplies available in Iraq , and that's the only fun we have in our life !!!! I'll give some facts : In Baghdad there is only about 5 opened respected restaurants , no single coffee-shop or cafee , there was three clubs in the past none of them are safe enough to go to , there is only three commercial streets that one can walk in and do shopping that is relatively safe and when I say safe I mean there is no sectarian violence but still there is confrontations , mortars , road-side bombs , car bombs and some times snipers but it's safe from the Iraqi point of view , but the problem is that it's far from my home and the road is dangerous and by the way life ends in Baghdad at 8pm every one should be home at this time, any way the generator works again after three hot hours , we drink tea and smoke Hubble-Bubble (Narjela) with the laptop on my lap checking my emails and my blog and watching TV at the same time , later we prepare dinner and go to our garden to eat there . later we either watch TV or a Movie or spending time on the Internet , and we go to sleep . Believe me when I say we haven't been out to have fun for three months now ( most of the Iraqis life are like this with some differences and sure with more troubles) , we decided that the day my wife finishes the exams we will go to the restaurant (one of the five) and to hell with the danger , we are in need of fun , we can't take it anymore , and maybe when I go there i would take some pictures of something good in Baghdad . I wish they don't blow it before we go!!!