شويخ من ارض مكناس

......... شويخ من ارض مكناس وسط السواق يغنى اش على أنا من الناس وش على ااناس منى .......

This is a the beginning of an Arabic poem, written by an Andalusian poet around 1000 BC in Mekness. I know it has been sung by an Arabic singer in the late 80's. Could someone tell me who the singer is please?

New beginnings

As expected, I moved to the new room in the student complex. I 'm living now on the 12th floor and have a great view of the “financial district” of Amsterdam. All the major banks, companies and the WTC are located in the Southern part of Amsterdam. So every 1 minute there is one landing.

I met two my "house mates". One is 40 something Aussie, living with his wife in one of the rooms. "Who the Fuck are you?", was the first thing he said to me. I got irritated and replied "who the fuck wants to know" and who the "fuck are you"? He laughed and introduced himself properly afterwads. He told me about the others living there. One is apparently an alcoholic, who has been walking around with the same smelly cloths in years. He is now forced to rehabilitate and comes at the weekend back to his room home. He warned me to ignore him to avoid problems. The second house mate seems to be nice. We had a chat and went back to my room.

Cesaria Evora

I wrote several weeks ago about Cesaria's concert in Amsterdam. I just found out that the theatre in which she'll perform introduced a new (low-cost) seating-ranges. Tickets for the fourth range cost 25 euros. Very reasonable. So, I might go to the concert, but first I have to convert someone of my friends to Cesaria's music to come along. Keep you posted.

Two colleagues called up to check on me, which is really nice. I handled the first assignment today, an Egyptian man who seemed to be in hurry. All went ok.

NO SMOKING

The most amazing thing happened to me today. Normally when I wake up I usually grave for two things: coffee and cigarettes. Today miraculously this actually has changed. I woke up, went to the library, did some research and reading and it did not cross my mind to smoke or have my morning coffee. It seemed that it was totally deleted out of my system. I was so glad and it amazed me that it was that easy to quit smoking. It went ok the whole day, hamdu lillah.

I went afterwards to do some groceries: bought some dates, soup, milk and went home to prepare my Iftaar. While doing so I realized how much I actually missed my mom. She used to prepare our iftaar and make those delicious sambosa's (for me the highlight of the iftaar), I really miss it....

Now, several hours after the iftaar, the only thing I can think of is smoking. It seems I was a bit too enthusiastic.