Abubadi66

Discussion in 'Players Introductions' started by abubadi66, Jul 7, 2015.

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  1. abubadi66

    abubadi66 Old Hand

    Finally I made it to this page, I was planning to do this while I am home during my vacation, a lot of you know me already, but I think after been playing for years it is proper to be officially introduced so here we go...

    I came from a family of immigrants who ran away from Palestine because of the war, and left every thing behind and have to start from Zero, my father was 8 years old and he was the second born, my mother was born one year after the immigration, I was the first born in the hole family from the second generation even my father and mother have elder brothers and sister, so I became the elder cousin for a tribe of cousins that many of them I do not know, some of them in the USA, Australia, Morocco and Jordan, go figure, for you who finds my name is long or difficult, ~edit~, I was born and we lived in a city called Zarka which means blue (female adj.) I lead an adventurous life and it is also a hard one...

    In short, my father was an elite officer in the army, at a young age he became the commander of two long staff artillery battalions, he was an athlete with many medals in various sports, he was the first to graduate from the military collage with a star on his shoulder and made it to Captain in the ranks, he attended many training courses in Britain, USA, India, Pakistan, Iraq, and I have a black and white photo for him carrying our king (he was a kid that time) and helping him to ride over a cannon, he took us to the USA while he was doing a one year training course, I was 2 years old, and my sister was born there (she is American) and there I learned English beside my original language (Arabic), he died young at the age of 32 and I was 5 so another chapter of life had started, shortly after, my grand mother kicked us out of home so we went to my elder uncle's house for a short time then we moved to Amman to my mothers father house where we lived a few years, then my third uncle took us from my mother for 3 months until the school finished, then he returned me and my sister to my grandfather house in Zarka were it was one of the hardest periods of our lives, I finished high school in a military school and then went for college, and graduated with diploma in accounting, and started working with some cousins at a small shop as accountant and sales man for plumbing materials and heating systems,and ended up laboring with them doing labor works because they were family, it was a dirty job and I suffered added to that commuting because it was far, at some point our pastor decided to by a new organ for the church, and because I was the piano player he took me with him to buy the keyboard, the owner of the shop saw me and put me in her mind, later she sent to me to work with her in her music institution so I accepted, at that time I was 19 and my family abandoned me again, they got a new house and left me in the old house alone, only to come and kick me out after 2 months because there was someone who had rented the house, so I started to live on my own since then, at my work I worked hard, preforming a lot of tasks from cleaning and moping the floor, to attending customers and doing sales, in the same time I polished my skills in sales, my English language, and studied music, and got certificate from the British Associated board of the royal schools, so I became a certified music teacher, while I taught my self many music instruments, and then became a collector, at the age of 22 I got a contract to work in a big company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that deals with music instruments, computers, and Hi Fi components, as a sales man dealing directly with customers in such a place I became familiar with many languages that I picked while working, like Hindi, Malayalam, Thai, Tagalog (Philippines) some Korean, French beside English and Arabic, I still can make some conversation with many of these, then it all came to stop, and I had to change the job, the market demands have changed, the type of customers, and at my level, sales was not good any more, so I went back to accounting, then Projects accounting where I ended doing some engineering jobs like quality control and quantity surveying beside accounting and administration, I worked hard and excelled, but I became tired and sick so my company decided to gave me a relaxing job considering my services, so I ended as a store keeper, now that I am approaching 50's and my health is not good any more.

    Forgive me this has been long, let us leave it at that now, but I have something to add, I had some amazing experiences that I like to share, only if somebody is interested to know, like music instruments, Arabic food and deserts, and some pet animals and birds.
    when I was a kid they used to nicknamed me bulbul, and that's a local bird with a very beautiful sound, I have a funny and interesting experience raising a couple of them, if any want to know, just ask and I shall share, have fun, and nice meeting you all.
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2015
  2. SillyGuy

    SillyGuy Forum Veteran

    Great intro, my friend!!:D It's my pleasure to meet you..:)
     
    dgirl_200 and abubadi66 like this.
  3. abubadi66

    abubadi66 Old Hand

    Thank you SillyGuy, the pleasure is mine.
     
    dgirl_200, farmerlily22 and SillyGuy like this.
  4. puppiesnponies

    puppiesnponies Living Forum Legend

    I loved reading your story and hope you will share more:) Do you still play instruments? Which is your favorite? Do you still teach music? I am sorry to hear your health has declined but am always glad to see you post here in the forum. :)
     
  5. abubadi66

    abubadi66 Old Hand

    Thank you pnp, I still play, originally I play piano, but my joy is playing my electronic keyboard, it is fun with all the accompaniments, like a one man bad (electronic music) and that was my specialty when I worked as a sales man, but what goes direct into the head is the wind instruments, I play the saxophone and the clarinet, I was with a group playing both, the feeling of the wind instruments always is the strongest beside the violin, because they are very close to the brain, but I do not play the violin, another part of my hobby is playing the Arabic instruments, I have a set of a hand made flutes which we call Nai, that's the Arabic name it is seven pieces each has a different pitch, so if you are familiar with music, each one designed on a musical scale, one is C, then D, E, F, A, and B, to make it easier for songs on different scale, it is made of Bambo, and need special care, cleaning and oiling them, using a special set of tools an brushes, and they become better over time, and the more old the more expensive, but the professional player needs one only to play all the songs, the sound they produce is beautiful, emotional and sad, I remember sometimes when I played them solo, some people cried, it is the sound of the desert, really mystic and magical (based on the feelings, not technic, but that's the way Arabic music is about).

    I still teach, whenever I can, I prefer to teach kids, that is another joy.
     
    dgirl_200, farmlily3 and Noelle20001 like this.
  6. farmerlily22

    farmerlily22 Forum Master

    So wonderful to share some of your history, and happy to meet you!:)
     
    dgirl_200 and abubadi66 like this.
  7. davidb1yth007

    davidb1yth007 Forum Overlooker

    [​IMG]
    Thankyou abubadi66 for your fabulous detailed introduction. I have thoroughly enjoyed your posts and your humble nature that comes through in your words, and it is great to have your background above to understand the person that you are.

    I have had a very easy upbringing compared to yours, and now I have a further appreciation for the luck that had me born in as far removed from your situation as maybe, one could get.
    I have not forgotten your story of your father's orchard, as an example of how your words have moved, not just me.
    Welcome and enjoy this forum as we enjoy your posts.
     
  8. abubadi66

    abubadi66 Old Hand

    Farmerlily22, happy to meet you too.

    Davidbiyth0, your words reflects the person you are, gentle, poetic, and encouraging, thank you, I am afraid that I have a bad news about my grandfather garden, it is gone, just when I reached home, I asked my uncle about that and he told me he had to remove it, all that beautiful trees and the history they carried, it was a part of our life and now all lost, I feel a piece of my heart was lost with them.
     
  9. JJenks

    JJenks Forum Ambassador

    abubadi, What a great intro. Thanks for sharing. You have lead a very interesting life.

    I'm familiar with the Nai instrument, we call it a Pan flute. The sound is very beautiful, haunting, lonely...depending on the player. My daughter plays many wind instruments and now is teaching my very young grandson how to play. I can see how teaching children would be very rewarding for you.
     
  10. abubadi66

    abubadi66 Old Hand

    JJenks, thank you for your sweet words, but let me disagree with you about the panfloute, the panfloute is made of pipes stacked together horizontally, each pipe produce a single note, The Nai is one long pipe with 7 holes, six straight on top and one on the bottom used by the thumb those 7 holes have the unique ability to produce the basic 12 notes with extra 2 octaves, one higher and one lower, it depends on the angle of blowing and the strength of the wind, add to that it can produce what we call quarter notes that's unique to Arabic music and some middle eastern cultures, while the panfloute varies in shapes and designs depending on the culture, it was used by the Chinese, and the Latin American countries like Bolivia, Peru and some other countries, it became very popular in the early eighties when the famous Romanian panflute player George Zamfir played the Lonely Shepherd with James last orchestra, and it was a world wide hit, you can see it at you tube it is beautiful, by the way, I am a collector of music instruments, I have around 127 instrument in my room, including a panflute (panpipes) which my uncle brought to me from Romania.
     
  11. JJenks

    JJenks Forum Ambassador

    Ah, my mistake, I thought they were the same. I will have to do some research into this...I love learning about new things. In my younger years I played the violin, but that has been many years ago. :p I enjoy instrumental music....really music of all kinds.
    127 instruments, that is a wonderful collection you have. :)
     
  12. abubadi66

    abubadi66 Old Hand

    Thank you farhana, why not you are welcome, please send me an invitation.
     
    dgirl_200 and farhana1 like this.
  13. Arielh

    Arielh Living Forum Legend

    You have had an interesting life and you still have. Thank you for sharing your story. I know from relatives and friends how difficult is to leave your country and start living in another one, but most of the times you benefit from the whole experience.
    Good luck abubadi I am so glad I met you in this forum:).
     
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  14. abubadi66

    abubadi66 Old Hand

    I am glade you find it interesting Ariel, you are sweet and wise beyond your age, thanks for the encouraging words, by the way, there was a possibility for me and family to go to Greece, but the situation in your country prevented that, and there was a warning to take a lot of cash because the banks might not help, there is a limit for the use of ATM and Credit Cards, but my sister friend had a reservation and went despite all the warnings, there was no cancellation so they had to go for 10 days, now waiting for them to come back and tell us about the trip.
     
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  15. Arielh

    Arielh Living Forum Legend

    abubadi, you and your family should not be afraid of the situation here because it isn't as worse as the rest of the world think, especially for tourists. There is not a limit for the use of ATM for tourists. Only Greeks can take out from ATM a specific amount of money.
     
    Noelle20001 likes this.
  16. Willow

    Willow Commander of the Forum

    Thank you for sharing your story. While I am not gifted with musical ability, I love listening. How blessed you are to be able to produce so much beautiful music, and to share that gift by teaching others. I also love birds, and have a pretty parakeet that brings much joy to my life.

    Glad to have met you in forum!
     
    puppiesnponies likes this.
  17. Noelle20001

    Noelle20001 Forum Duke

    While there might not be a limit for tourists as their ATM cards withdraw from non-Greek bank accounts, there might be a limit to the actual amount of cash in the ATM machine. Timing your withdrawal would be key. Don't wait for nights and weekends. If I were traveling there, I would use a money belt and take some extra cash. I would also want to know where and which credit cards would be accepted.
     
    farmingfreebird likes this.
  18. Arielh

    Arielh Living Forum Legend

    Noelle20001 everything is fine here for tourists. Every tourist has enjoyed his time in Greece like every other year. Of course tourists should take with them money but they will also be able to take out from an ATM. Noone should be afraid of visiting Greek islands.
     
  19. bygo_cris

    bygo_cris Count Count

    Tourists in Greece will be very helpful for the economy. I know is not much, but it is something. So people go to Greece and have a good time. Greece is great :D
     
  20. Arielh

    Arielh Living Forum Legend

    Thank you bygo_cris for your kind words:inlove: Indeed tourists help Greece's economy.
     
    bygo_cris likes this.