"Let the first Blogger to die in prison be the last" - OR318

"The March 18 Movement was born out of a tragedy. On this day in 2009, Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian blogger and journalist, died in Evin Prison in Tehran. The December before his death, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious leaders, and engaging in “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Omid Reza was the first blogger to die in prison and his death reveals that getting censored is far from the worst thing that can happen to a blogger." - OR318 Team.

For further info visit www.march18.org

10 Years anniversary of being online! :)

Inspired by Ruba's post i started thinking.. when i had my first experience with the Internet, and how it all started.. and i realised that this year.. i should be celebrating 10 years anniversary since i started my "online" life.. !

So lets go back in time, in 1998 i left Jordan to continue elementary school and high school in Macedonia, and my brother was Tawjihi at that time.. so he stayed in Jordan instead. The first year, we were communicating through phone calls (which were very expensive) and well the classical way Post mail (yea in 1998!) until the big day came.. when my bro came for the summer vacation a year later to Macedonia telling me the great invention called EMAIL.. and at that time i was computer illeterate even though i was 7 th grade, but we didn't own a computer at home.. and at school we were taught Computer on a "machine" called Sa5er... ma 3alena i didn't know what Windows is.. nor Microsoft is .. well because the "advanced" Computer lessons start from 8th grade at that time.

Few weeks later, in our small city.. the first internet cafe opened!! :D.. and to the astonishment of the owners.. who thought they will have to teach people.. my bro was the first one there.. almost everyday.. checking his email :D.. and teaching me!

Anyhow, that summer , he travelled back to Amman, and he didn't have time to teach me how to make my own email (i know!) .. i just learnt how to use my brother's email :D.. so he created another one.. and i started using his yahoo account.. so it was like.. i am Ayman.. and he is Ayman..sending to each other..

A month later.. we started taking it at school.. things started to get more clear! :D.. so.. i wanted to create my own email.. and thought well .. here is a chance to be creative..I was the one teaching what is the invention of EMAIL to my class mates.. :D.. and u know puberty and all.. u want to impress the girls... and the gang .. by ur "knowledge".. so i found out this cool ( at that time) email service page "lovemail.com". That year.. everyone was afraid from the 2000 issue.. and i stupidly enough wanted to have cocacola in my username :D.. so the output in my head was : cocacola2000@lovemail.com.. but ofcourse.. that was already taken (DUH!).. and i settled down with one of the suggested usernames : olala2000@lovemail.com.

So excited enough..i emailed my brother from it.. and he was like "shu hal mas5ara ya walad.. e3mal email 3edel".. hehe. So i started thinking of a new one.. i wasn't creative about the username.. and went from extremely funky domain.. into extremly boring one.. (mail.com) and since i was inspired a lot by the word "explorer" (IE) my next attempt was: samerexplorer@mail.com ( i know.. my brother still makes jokes about it.. until now).

Btw, i forgot to mention, that at that time.. since i was still learning (in my defence) i didn't know how to print out an email.. and sometimes the guy who worked there wasn't free.. so i used to copy my brother's emails handwriting..! so that i can read them to my parents!! poor samer.. was so stupid at that time :)))

A year later..i realised i should make a normal e-mail at yahoo.. or hotmail..! and my Mom suggested using my nickname in the family (which is abu samra).. to be as my username withsome prefixes or suffixes...

I tried that.. but it was already taken... so i tried samamiro.. which was how my brother used to call me since i was a kid.. up until today :) but .. my clever mind .. suggested samamiro15 (since i was about to turn 15 that year) @yahoo.com.. which was my first decent email address.. that i used for almost 3 years during which i went t Jordan.. :)

When i became 18.. i thought that its stupid to have samamiro15..! and at that time gmail appeared.. so my first gmail experience.. was with samamiro18@gmail.com. One year later.. i started realising my own stupidity (its good to be self critic no? :P) that its not practical each year t change ur username.. and decided to make a more sustainable email address that won't need any further change.. so the lamp over my head lit up.. and the samamiro86 idea emerged ! :)))

When i started second year university.. i realised i will need more professional email.. to send my homeworks at University.. and since i felt gmail is more professional (less colorful and adds compared to hotmail or Yahoo)... i created my current email (name.surname@gmail.com) .. for all official purposes.. and its the one assigned in my CV.

As time passed... my knowledge in the internet domain.. grew.. as i took courses in HTML and webDesign.. and became interested in blogging.. chatting.. skype.. facebook.. downloading.. groups.. and now twittering :D..

So from the stupid 13 years old boy..:D.. ( i was clever in other things hehe) who was afraid to print out an email.. 10 years ago.. now am twittering and blogging.. and designing my own webpage.. with a Mechatronics Engineering Bachelor Degree in one hand.. and faith and Optimism in the other to start my career.

I am really glad that things are a lot easier for the younger generation nowadays to learn.. and progess with the internet.. but they won't have such a stupid story to tell.. right?

Happy 10th Anniversary to my Internet Experience !

Islam & Christianity in Macedonia

Islam spread in Macedonia during the Ottoman occupation which lasted for 5 centuries.. not many converted into Islam at that time.. but Islam reached Albania... and more than 80 % of the Albanian population became muslim.. many of these Albanians..during the Ottman Rule.. emmigrated to Macednonia, making a significant minority percentage in the present republic of Macedonia of 33%.

Today, Macedonia.. with its both ethnicities.. and religious groups.. is proud of its heritage of Orthodox Christianity.. and Islam.. and compared to many European countries.. Muslim minority.. enjoy equal rights as muslims in Muslim countries.. of freedom of expressing their faith.. building Mosques.. Eid el Fitr and Al Adha are public Holidays.. and Islamic religion is taught in schools.

Macedonia, is taking another step forward towards coexistance.. between Muslims and Christians.. by promoting the Religious Heritage of Orthdox Christianity and Ottoman Islam and protecting these temples by law.. as national treasure to be protected and taken care of.

For that purpose the Macedonian government made the following clip as part of the series of the "Macedonia timeless" clips.. to promote the temples of Macedonia..

And here are some pictures of some of those Mosques and Churches of Macedonia :

St. John Kanoe - Ohrid

Aladja Mosque - Skopje

St. Naum - Ohrid

Isak Bey Turbe Mosque - Skopje

St. Pantelemon - Ohrid

Bitolska Djamija - Bitola

Hidden Candles in the mountains

As a kid.. i have never understood the importance of the unlimited monastries scattered around the country. I grew up in Macedonia.. where it was a normal thing to go to the monastry every now and then.. go pray.. lit a candle.. or just perform certain ritual. That was very normal to me.. from religious point of view, but what really puzzled me at that time..was why the hell they were always built far from cities.. into the woods.. or deep in the mountain.. or sometimes in the middle of nowhere. I mean.. if people like to go there a lot.. why didn't they build them close to where people lived so that they can go and visit and do their things anytime they want...

One such monastry is the Monastry of St. Ilya in the mountains not far from the city of Strumica in the southeastern region of Macedonia where i am staying at the moment. It is a small monastry built inside the mountains.. to go there.. u need to reach first the highest point of the city.. from which u can have a wonderful panormic view of the city.. and from which a small path is revealed to you and that leads you deep into the mountains.

Once yo start walking.. the sounds of civilization fade away.. no more cars can be heard.. just you.. and God's creation.. The nature there is untouched.. because simply there is no room for any car to go through that path.. so it kept its purity.. and devine scent.

At first it seems amazing just to see the mountains.. and trees.. but later.. u start to feel the cold breeze of the small rivers popping here and there.. promising a view that will make sure you will stop few moments to mentally capture it...

The trip to St. Ilya (Sv. Ilija) is about 40 minutes walking/climbing.. a time enough to clean ur mind and make you ready to experience the spiritual heritage of the Orthodox Monsatries..

I guess now the location of those Monastries.. make more sense.. for me.. the spiritual peace and happiness.. can't be felt in a church like a monastry.. maybe because you run away from Human's creation.. and get in touch with God's creation...

Later i learnt that it has another reason for being located in such places... Macedonia was under Ottoman rule for 5 centuries... during which the Ottomans forced Islam to the local people.. and spread hate between Islam and Christianity.. to the degree that many Christians were afraid to declare that they were praying and going to the church.. so the Orthodox church.. as a defence mechanism.. to defend its spiritual life.. and faith.. they started building the monastries.. which were used later as faith keepers as well as heritage, traditions and language preservers.

Such monastries were built everywhere around the Balkans.. in Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Romania and Macedonia.. and thanks to these Monastries.. these countries.. managed to retrive their original independent culture and identity.. upon their independence...despite the 5 centuries Ottoman presence.

And today.. those hidden candles still stand proudly.. to remind us.. that faith can never be overcomed.

St. Ilya (Sv. Ilija) in Strumica Macedonia

There the Sun always shines..

Amazing country.. amazing people...

It truely is the land where the sun always shines... take a look..