In our lives we learn a lot from people around us, specially the ones who are close to us. And just like any one in this world, I have my good and my annoying attitudes which are noticed by others. Some comment, some give advice, some give compliments, some keep on interfering in every little detail and some say nothing at all.
My family consists of 7 members, the parents, 3 ladies and 2 young men. And I come exactly in the middle, I’m number THREE, but when it comes to trouble making, talkative tendencies and restlessness, then I am number ONE.
My two brothers were the ones who suffered most because of some of my habits. I wanted to simply write down those annoying things which used to really piss off my brothers, but then I thought: why not write what I learned from both of them and leave it to the readers to discover what actually got on their nerves.
I’ll start with my big bro first; he’s older than me, and ranks two in the family. A great young man who lives now in Canada. I learned really so much from him, although we didn’t have the chance to spend much time together as he traveled a lot and now he’s in a country and I’m living in another.
Big bro taught me:
1. While preparing for exams, best thing to keep you awake and fresh is a glass of lemonade (School Days). While you’re preparing for exams, nothing compares to a cup of hot Nescafe (first couple of years in university). While you’re preparing for your exams and you feel tired and can’t concentrate any longer, best way to cheer up is leave your books and go out for a while until you feel like studying again… if you don’t feel like studying again, then it doesn’t matter, don’t study at all, who cares (last two years of university).
2. When you catch cold drink 7UP.
3. Correction fluid is made to cover your mistakes ONCE so that you could correct them the next time you write. So when you use the correction fluid be FOCUSED ENOUGH to write the correct thing and stop making the SAME MISTAKE over and over again. (I was really clumsy in writing when I was a little girl. I loved using the correction fluid and used to cover the wrong word then write the same wrong word over it, cover it again and write the correct word but with a new spelling mistake, and so on, till my notebook looked very ugly with spots on the sheets to “engrave” rather than “write” on).
4. Vitamin Complexes are great. Make sure you take some every once in a while.
5. Don’t forget sports, it’s very important. (He goes regularly to the gym and loves sports specially weight lifting. And well, he did hell of a job:) ).
6. Fill your kitchen with cookies, they’re yummy.
7. Hair dryers are invented for two reasons: drying hair, and drying clothes (a very practical advice indeed).
8. Never look back. (I’ve been through a lot of bad times, and he’s been always there for all of us. And whenever I was hurt, or have been through a bad experience or failed to do something right, he’d say: sis, it’s over now, never look back, look forward instead, life goes on and you’ll survive somehow, nothing really matters).
9. Tuna sandwiches are the best. (he makes the best Tuna sandwiches ever, with this cheese and … ooops, I forgot it’s his secret recipe, so I guess I wont go on).
10. CLOSE THE CAR DOOR GENTLY WHEN YOU STEP OUT OF IT.
11. Whatever happens, keep cool and NEVER LOSE YOUR TEMPER.
12. A person should keep improving himself and his skills to reach the best positions.
13. Believe in your abilities and never let anyone under-estimate you.
14. You don’t have to get out ALL YOUR CLOTHES from the closet to choose what to wear today (an awful old habit of mine that I managed to get rid of).
15. Going out to Cafes with friends and family is wonderful. And best time to go to them is when it’s cold and raining outside.
16. Drive SLOWLY.
17. Never be ashamed of wearing glasses (I wasn’t ashamed of wearing glasses when I younger, it’s just that I never felt really cozy with them. I had my nose itching me because of them, and I felt there is this thing over my face that could fall and be broken when I jump or run. And just for the record, I always ended up breaking them one way or the other; when I was a kid that is). So when I’m older he suggested: Wear contacts for a change if you like (but still, one day I forgot to pour in enough solution and I ended up having a dried out lens, and it was torn apart), so he went like: Eman, nothing will work with you but disposable contacts. (And I thank him for this great advice).
18. Last but not least, never forget to thank God for everything.
By the way, my big bro has this unique sense of humor, loves us all as much as we love him, and is full of great things.
One of the things we really like about him is this one of a kind ability he has to speak a certain phrase in all languages. For example he’d say: “Good morning, how are you” in all languages, not by translating them, but by using the very same words. All he does is play with the speaking speed and the way he speaks out some letters according to his background of the language. It’s amazing. And of course he knows those frequently used words and expressions in some languages, and uses them in a very great way.
Other than that, he has another special thing, which is inventing names. So each one of the family and close friends has at least 2 new names. And mine are (along with Eman):
Emanza (no idea where he came out with it); Emanen (following German language structure applied to some words); and Eladeeja (no idea about the source either, and I don’t even know if I got it right :P).
I miss you so much bro, and I hope you’re doing great.

My second brother is younger than me, in fact he’s the youngest in the family, but he isn’t spoiled at all. Actually he is a very mature, kind and sweet young man. I spent more time with him than with my other brother, but I learned less from him because as he reached the peak of his maturity and understanding of life, I got my wedding ring and flew away.
So you can say I was the experienced one this time who should teach and not learn, but still I learned a lot of him.
Little bro taught me:
1. When you like a part of a certain song, there is no harm in playing it over and over and over again, even if the ones around you are going to kill you (loool, he did it constantly, and I couldn’t help laughing every time he did it. We learned songs by heart coz of him)
2. When you have an important thing to do in the morning and you know you wont wake up on time coz you worked all night long set your alarm at 7 a.m., when it goes off and you’re still sleepy, set it on 7:02, it goes off again, set it on 7:10 this time; it will go off again, so you set it on 7:13, in the end turn it off once and for all and enjoy your sleep… oh, and never think of the consequences.
3. Cook your meals with M E A T. And STOP PICKING OUT THE MEAT PIECES AND PUTTING THEM ASIDE! Because if there comes a day when you can’t afford buying meat, you’ll feel like killing yourself for not eating the ones you were offered earlier. (just for the record, he is TALENTED in cooking everything)
4. PLEASE CLOSE THE CAR DOOR GENTLY WHEN YOU STEP OUT OF IT (I guess both my brothers were suffering from this thing and hated me for that :P)
5. Create your own dances, even if the steps were too simple or too silly, as long as you enjoy them and think they’re great.
6. Laugh your head off whenever you can.
7. Study at night.
8. Be creative as much as you can and create things.
9. STOP listening to Techno and have a better taste in music.
10. Computer wasn’t made only for e-mails and chatting to your fiancé, you could surf, download stuff and apply a lot of things…SO WOULD YOU PLEASE SET FREE THE MACHINE FOR ONLY FEW MINUTES FOR GOD’S SAKE! (well, I never gave them the chance to work on it as I really spent the whole time online with my fiancé, who is my husband now 🙂 )
11. Stop being afraid of heights.
12. Stop worrying about others so much specially ME, and stop preaching me pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase!
13. You have to learn to GIVE UP sometimes. For example when the PC is not working, then you have to believe that it’s not working, in other words you should stop NAGGING on ME to get it working again, and when I say I have no time, then you should believe that you weren’t meant to touch the PC that day so you don’t have to go running to an internet café. And when you’re in an internet café and then the PC your working on goes mad all at a sudden and the whole e-mail you’ve written to your “Fiancé” wasn’t saved nor sent, then you should know that it’s obviously a sign from God not to go on. And when you change the machine to another one and then there is an electricity blackout in Amman, for one reason or the other then you should finally GIVE UP the idea of sending that email instead of WAITING for the electricity to come back.
14. Aren’t you fed up of asking me to lower the volume every time I listen to music?
My younger brother and I share this really bad habit, which is leaving everything to the last minute, mostly when it comes to studying. So when we have months to prepare for the exams, you’ll find us going out, watching TV and just having fun rather than preparing, and we only feel the responsibility one day before the exams.
He too has a great sense of humor. He’s so kind and nice to everyone. He learned working with computers earlier than me, as he used to spend all his time with my big brother. He is very smart, but never organized in scheduling. He hates to be interrupted when he’s in the middle of something. He has a great ability to learn languages and invents vocabulary of his own, which I find amazing. And he always asks me: “ Eman, could you please tell me why did you choose to study languages?”.
I miss you too and wish you’re doing great in your finals bro.
Well, regardless of the hard time I’ve given you both, and no matter how annoying I was, you both still miss me so much, right! 😉