Who am I ?

Hi... my name is Nilufer Ipek. Nilufer is the persian word for water-lily... get the picture :)

I am Syrian Christian, a descendant of the Arameans of Mesopotamia and originally from the Turkish area of Tur Abdin. In brief, it is known that the Arameans underwent a change of name after they had embraced Christianity and were then called Syrians, in order to be distinguished from the Arameans, who were not converted. Mesopotamia was in the 20th century divided into the modern countries Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Today, "Aramaean" is mostly used in Northern Europe, by the Syriac-speaking people, who were originally from Tur Abdin and primarily followers of the Syriac Catholic and Syriac Orthodox faiths.

The escence of being a Syrian living in Sweden is to me captured in these few words by Khalil Gibran, (1926): "I am the descendant of a people that builded Damascus, and Biblus, and Tyre and Sidon, and Antioch, and now I am here to build with you, and with a will. It is to be proud that your fathers and mothers came from a land upon which God laid his gracious hand and raised his messengers."

As you might have guessed poetry is a great passion of mine. One of the most amazing collection of poems I have come across is "The Profet" by K. Gibran. If you have read this little book you probably know what I mean. If not I will give you a hint later on.

Traveling is another enjoyable thing I like to do. I guess it is because of that special feeling one gets when being on the way to someplace new. A more down to earth interest of mine is dancing, simply because it makes time stand still.