- watch it all dissolve into a single second -

Now found at -

2010-03-02T02:25:00.002+02:00

2007-06-08T01:11:00.000+02:00

Oh, and we leave, inshallah, exactly two months today. Oh I don't want to go home. I'd really much rather stay.

We just had the end-of-level exam on Wednesday, and they told us the day before (in our 2.30 AFTERNOON class), that the exam time was changed to 8am for us - so wham goes the I'll-revise-all-morning plan...or rather, it mutated to 'omg-I-have-to-revise-all-night-mummyyyy'.

You know what is really REALLY sucky about coffee? And tea, for that matter? I can have a sip of coffee, and it'll keep me awake all night. A simple cup of ordinary tea knocks me into the land of insomnia for at least three days; more than a glass of any caffeinated drink = at least four days; a can of Mountain Dew = please God, helpmeIneedtosleepbutIcan't; the first (and only) casual taste of coffee = an entire week. Since then, it has only been drunk on occasions of severe need (such as before a dissertation deadline) - but I haven't got to the really sucky part yet XD - which is, when I NEED it to keep me awake, it just...fails. Just like that.

I have one little Egypt-scar, on my ankle, from that day Mez and Heidi were going to the doctor's and I cut it on the glass. I didn't realise it scarred until months later. My burns vanish fairly quickly, and I burn a bit more than I cut.

...that sounded wrong. XD

It is hot here now. It hovers around the mid thirties outdoors, and indoor temperature fluctuates between about 27 at night to 32/33 in the day (which is actually rather unusual - the temp. tends to change very slowly degree to degree). Temperature-watching is oddly satisfying - when you watch the degrees fall.

We discovered the Siraj Mall the other day! And the Technology Mall - which is a computery-person heaven. I bought a mini-tripod for my camera for 25.00LE - a bit painful to my Egyptian economy (no single thing can cost more than about 8ish quid, okay?), but in English terms it is less than 2.50...anyone want me to bring one back for them?

Oh and the Siraj Mall had this big pool full of bumper cars - how cool is that?? Dodgems in WATER.

Okay, so next is Level 9 - this is where we finally begin to look at actual primary works, like Ibn Kathir, and Ibn Khaldun (how cool!!!), and other notable scholars and writers - and also poetry. I've been looking forward to poetry for nearly EVER.

I watched a programme on Iqra' (a satellite channel) yesterday, and I pretty much understood it all - without having to go through the mechanism of translating it into English in my head first. It was so interesting. I understand a lot more than I can actually speak - I just can't remember these things when I'm talking, so I'm a bit dumb with it.

I've been reading Abdul Hakim Murad recently, particularly this one on gender identity. He kind of does in writing what Hamza Yusuf does speaking.

...I am afraid this rather has become 'merely an electronic record of my existence.' XD

2007-06-08T00:41:00.000+02:00

A few days ago, I had a rather spectacular series of falls and/or near misses, putting me in mind of one friend who has a similar talent for self-injury (haha). Don't ask why I didn't see the big flaming sign on the post - it was at EYE-level, for god's sake. So BONK, and then while busy laughing at my own idiocy/absentia, I managed also to nearly slip on the wet tiles outside Baraka (restaurant next to our building), and then started laughing even harder. I sound funny when I laugh - so people were staring at this weird clumsy niqabi who apparently has a zealous inclination to obey gravity (it's the law!).

The best part is yet to come! The day after, I had the most glorious fall down a (short) flight of stairs (don't ask me how - it was dark), and my poor anatomy will testify to said fall in RAINBOW COLOURS. I sat down with pain after that, believe me. And my clothes were all sandy, which was a rather more immediate tragedy. And this random girl saw. I think I've become more like my brother when it comes to falls - they just make me laugh (I imagine watching it, and then my mind supplies me with replays - so funny XD), and the more it hurts, the harder I laugh. I laughed reeeeeally hard.

2007-05-09T17:54:00.000+02:00

I feel boring today. We are studying 'al-khilaaf al-zawjiyya' in class - marital disagreements - which would be educational if I was married, and even more so if I didn't already know all about them. Yay.

So now I am in Level 8, there are only three people in my class. I wish I could stay in Egypt for a few more months. Trouble with wanting something too much is that the disappointment is almost exponentially worse when it doesn't work out. The other trouble is, it won't work out just by dint of you wanting it so much. XD

---
I think this came to me at the exact right moment:

A warrior of light carefully studies the position that he intends to conquer.

However difficult the objective, there is always a way of overcoming obstacles. He seeks out alternative paths, he sharpens his sword, he tries to fill his heart with the necessary determination to face the challenge. But as he advances, the warrior realises there are difficulties he had not reckoned with.

If he waits for the ideal moment he will never set off; he requires a touch of madness to take the next step.

The warrior uses that touch of madness.

For - in both love and war - It is impossible to foresee everything.

---

Abdullah keeps on saying, 'don't beat around the bush' and he won't shut up. Somebody's cranky today. Okay, back to Pita Ten.

(edit: now he keeps saying, 'it's be-yoooo-ti-fullll')

2007-05-07T10:24:00.000+02:00

I am eating cornflakes with mango juice and typing with two fingers.

Why Women Cry

2007-05-03T02:38:00.000+02:00

A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?"
"Because I need to" she said.
"I don't understand," he said.

His mother just hugged him and said, "And you never will."

Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?"

"All women cry for no reason," his dad answered carelessly.

The little boy, still wondering why women cry, finally asked the wise old shaikh. "He surely knows the answer," he thought.

"Shaikh! Why do women cry so easily?"

He answered, "When Allah made the woman she had to be made so special. He made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort. He gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that comes from her children. He gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining. He gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child hurts her very badly. He gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart. He gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly. And lastly, He gave her a tear. This is hers and only hers exclusively to use whenever she needs it. She needs no reason, no explanation; it's hers."

"You see my son, the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the beauty of her face, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart - the place where love resides."

2007-05-01T02:09:00.000+02:00

Now Mezzy-mez has left, too, and there are only three of us in this big, huge, airy house. If we wanted, each of us could sleep in a different room. But really, we are all sleeping in the same room. It's a big dark empty howly house!

I just finished reading a book by Gene Stratton-Porter, 'Her Father's Daughter.' Normally, I'm a really big fan of hers (particularly for Kate Bates), but this book was a bit...disturbing. I haven't looked up when it was written, but it is a lot about the Japanese threat to the US, so I'm guessing around WW2, and full of all sorts of things that made me flinch - lots about 'Japs' and the 'yellow peril,' and a great deal more about good white American boys and girls, and the 'white right to supremacy', and that white man creates and innovates while other colours only steal and imitate, and will eventually bring about the downfall of good Americans by bleeding them dry. I'm quite aware that books must be taken contextually, but still. Wince wince, flinch flinch.

2007-04-27T02:06:00.000+02:00

My housemate told me at 4.30 this morning that she was leaving to go back to Bulgaria for good at 9.30. Whew. That was quick. Still a bit surprised.

2007-04-25T01:35:00.000+02:00

So I've come to the conclusion that there are only two types of people in this world: those who can share a kitchen, and those who cannot. I am sorry to say I belong to the latter group. I just can't do it with any equanimity.

Sandstorm!

2007-04-20T03:44:00.000+02:00

A couple of days ago, there was a big sandstorm! There was one before, but we were at home that day anyway - this time, A'ishah (friend) and I were smack-bang in the middle of it. I think I walked most of the way with my eyes closed, holding on to her. She was lucky, wearing her triple-layer niqab - I was only wearing a single XD And even through that, I felt sand in my mouth! And when I got home, I realised that some windows were open, so the beds, clothes, floors - everything -was covered in a very visible layer of sandy, gritty dusty stuff. And everything was yellow - the day was yellow, in a sulphury kind of way.

Anyway, there we go. I'm sleepy now. Bngrzciao! (That's Italian for 'kthxbye')

...a HANDBAG??

2007-03-10T12:15:00.000+02:00

I signed in with the intention of saying something specific, bu-

Oh I remembered ^_^

I watched 'Emma' yesterday. It was disappointing. I really enjoyed the book.

Also, the Importance of Being Earnest was on yesterday, as well. It wasn't even disappointing - it was just plain bad. The old one was most excellent - Lady Bracknell ftw!!!11lol1 ('A HANDBAG????!') This horror was barely amusing. I mean...if funny was hair, then there was as much funny as there is hair on a balding man's head.

ouch

2007-03-08T12:09:00.000+02:00

You know, I bought a 512MB flash drive for just under thirty pounds some years ago. I was the first person I knew to own one (I really needed it). It's kind of painful to look at a 2GB flash drive for a tenner. It hurts my sense of economy.

ouch

2007-03-03T07:33:00.000+02:00

I got woken up today by ARGH MORE PESKY BITES. I have a comet-shaped bite (tail and all) on my forehead. I beat the bed around a bit to make it go away, and lay me down once more to sleep, and within a minute, there it was! ANOTHER BRAND-NEW BITE.

Robbed! Of blood! Of sleep!

wave

2007-02-28T22:19:00.000+02:00

I stopped at the supermarket on the way home from school today, and as I was about to go in, I spotted the others coming, so I waved really BIG-LY at them (so they'd notice I was going in and wait for me), and these two guys who were sitting on the wall in front, like, waved at me. Really widely. Ahahaha, they must've thought I was waving at them. So I was really embarrassed and ran away and they realised I wasn't waving at them and got embarrassed and ran away, too.

Imagine! A niqabi waving at two strange men. I don't think so. XD

But it was very funny.

In class today, I was thinking (class being that twilight between waking and dreaming) and I was feeling very sorry that I'll be leaving so soon (iA)...because there's still so much to learn. Even if I finish Level 11, there's another four advanced levels after that! So finishing isn't really finishing, and I've a hankering to stay and do them all. After all, if I go home, do my course for two years, and then...then I'll have forgotten all of this stuff that I've taken so much trouble to learn. And really, it is amazing: I've learnt a good few languages, but Arabic is something completely else. I can't really explain it...there's a sense of the infinite, to it, or...I don't know, yeah, I guess that's it.

Or divine. Yeah, that works.

Slate & Artefacts

2007-02-26T13:41:00.000+02:00

I have a burn on my hand in the shape of Sauron's eye, all red and romantic-looking. Haha. Oh, and that time I slashed my ankle? I have a scar there, now. GO EGYPTIAN ARTEFACTS.

So then we did the ~~muntasif~~ mid-level test - it was short. But it was hard enough to make up for the length of previous ones. When she was going through it, I counted eight mistakes...this could be the worst test so far. There was a bunch of stuff I just could not parse/parsed all wrong, and another cluster of questions full of words of whose meaning I had no clue.

I realised something about UK testing and ghair-UK. See, in UK tests, the aim is not to get 100%. Take university for instance: the marking system is much 'harsher' than in the States. All those JYA students with A averages ~~come here~~ go there and get depressed and confused because they're going from 90s to 60s. We know better of course. 60s = good mark. 70s = spectacular. No one gets 90s. Pretty much. Unless, you're, like, [name removed]. So anyway: the UK system is supposed to reflect the idea that there isn't a ceiling to excellence, and material outside of what is taught = super extra credit. Who gets firsts? People who do extra. A US 90 = about a UK 70. See? Potential.

So yeah, the point was, Markaz Fajr is very American about their marks.

I meant to come home and sleep. The Return of the King was on last night and I forgot but I was revising anyway. Also, I have discovered a fairly interesting news site (http://www.slate.com/). But note that actualy reading the articles is more interesting than listening to the podcasts.

(some photos)

2007-02-25T16:38:00.000+02:00

These have been lying around for a while. May be repetitive.

The Internet Cafe! Our home from home from home.

The 'Metro' - suburban not-quite-train/not-quite-tram

Horsy!

The last sunrise of Ramadan

Out of our bedroom window

888

2007-02-25T13:17:00.000+02:00

Blah, I have the mid-level test tomorrow.

Meh.

23? 13!

2007-02-25T12:54:00.000+02:00

I'm looking at a 13+ entrance exam for science.

This is a question:
What will tend to happen when the north-seeking pole of a permanent magnet is placed close to the north-seeking pole of another magnet?

The word 'rafada' came immediately (and insistently) to mind, and I could not remember 'repel' until a long time later.

Also, I was looking at the entrance exam for French. Oh dear. I can answer the whole thing in good Arabic. ~~Hal atadhakkar ayyi shay'? La!~~ Do I remember anything? Of course not. XD

So after about a minute of memory-straining (this is a small eternity in terms of brain-time! Brain-time = milli/microseconds), I finally managed to repress 'madinah' and very painfully recall 'cite' (e-acute :P)

And I'm looking at the maths one. I can't actually do some of it. What are products of prime factors again? XD

Other dumb things I did today:

- Tried to call a couple of schools. Why won't they pick up?? Oh yeah, that's it. IT'S SUNDAY. Which in that part of the world, is known as 'the weekend'.

- Feel asleep in class. Again. But in a very ostensible way, this time. (Head back, daydreamy smile, complete confusion upon waking, and inability to open eyes fully XD)

I'm sure I will have more to add to this list. The day is young!

Oh, and I watched 'Pokemon 4ever'. Which actually was quite nice.

...the noose is tight, so shall it be torn.

2007-02-18T13:01:00.000+02:00

The Dark Night
By Babar Ahmad
HMP Manchester

The night is dark and there’s no sign of light.
The tunnel is long and there’s no end in sight.

The road is thorny and the path is steep,
There’s no time to rest and no time to sleep.

The air is thin and the rope is tight,
There isn’t much energy left to fight.

The ocean is deep and the brine is cold,
The lifeboats of rescue have all been sold.

The forest is thick and full of peril,
At every turn are snares of the devil.

Seething serpents in every crevice,
Snarling hisses full of menace,

With crocodile tears and a stiff upper lip,
And venomous bites that cause steel to rip,

With fake smiles and eloquent words,
As sweet as nightingale singing birds,

With shiny suits and well-groomed hair,
They entice victims into their lair.

The world is ruled by crocodiles and snakes.
The world is ruled by frauds and fakes.

Diversity and multiculturalism,
(Are just fancy words for state racism).

Fairness and honour are things now extinct,
Justice and power are two things distinct.

Power corrupts and gets to the head,
It enters the blood and turns gold into lead.

Years without trial incarceration,
In what is supposed to be a great nation!

The rule of law and human rights,
Have melted away into silent nights.

Those who claim moral superiority,
Only instil hatred into the minority.

Those who care fear more for themselves,
And thus leave their values on the bookshelves.

So where are the bearers of valour and nobility?
Where are those who stand tall in adversity?

Where are the men who stood up to power?
And dismiss the urge to hide and cower?

Where are the men who have a conscience?
Why don’t they put an end to this nonsense?

Where are the knights and where are the scholars?
Who worry about more than their pennies and dollars?

Why do they fear to correct that which is wrong,
Then justify it with words that are so long?

If they can’t walk the walk, they shouldn’t talk the talk,
But sit at the table with their knife and fork.

How can it be that men are born free,
Yet they prefer to live in slavery?

Grovelling and bowing to the snakes on thrones,
Slavering away until they turn into bones.

But what good is there in a life of disgrace,
Where every second is spent saving face?

What is in the dark must come to light,
All then their lies will be swept out of sight.

For truth is a stallion that never fails its master,
If it is suppressed it gallops even faster.

The victims of injustice are thorns in the side,
Like bleeding arteries they never subside.

Until the oppressed are returned their dues,
Their plights will remain headline news.

The Day is approaching in which tyrants will weep,
As they have sown so shall they reap.

That is the Day: Judgement Day,
When the One Most High will have His Say.

The night is dark but it will soon be dawn,
Since the noose is tight so shall it be torn.

The night is dark but it will soon be dawn,
And there a new era...shall be born.

-END-

Babar Ahmad MX5383
HMP Manchester
February 2007

Brother.

Theoretic Tolerance?

2007-02-17T14:00:00.000+02:00

"Let our meaning be quite clear; we have no intention of blaming practical tolerance as applied to individuals, but only theoretic tolerance, which claims to be applied to ideas as well and to recognise the same rights for them all, which if taken logically can only imply a rooted scepticism. Moreover we cannot help noticing that, like all propagandists, the apostles of tolerance, truth to tell, are very often the most intolerant of men. This is what has in fact happened, and it is strangely ironical : those who wished to overthrow all dogma have created for their own use, we will not say a new dogma, but a caricature of dogma, which they have succeeded in imposing on the western world in general; in this way there have been established, under the pretext of 'freedom of thought,' the most chimerical beliefs that have ever been seen at any time, under the form of these different idols, of which we have just singled out some of the more important.

Of all the superstitions preached by those very people who profess that they never stop inveighing against 'superstition,' that of 'science' and 'reason', is the only one which does not seem, at first sight, to be based on sentiment; but there is a kind of rationalism which is nothing more than sentimentalism disguised, as is shown only too well by the passion with which its champions uphold it, and by the hatred which they evince for whatever goes against their inclinations or passes their comprehension. Besides, since rationalism, in any case, corresponds to a lessening of intellectuality, it is natural that its development should go hand in hand with that of sentimentalism... "

- Rene Guenon

Rhetor Maximus!

2007-02-17T13:05:00.000+02:00

Today in class, we started doing 'balaagha'...and it's really interesting! Balaagha is one of the 'ilm al-lugha' - the sciences of the language, the others which are 'nahw' (grammar/syntax) and 'sarf' (morphology - conjugation, declension, etc). I really like less and less how Arabic transliterates.

Balaagha would correspond with the classical Roman art of rhetoric. Isn't it so cool to be learning rhetoric and pretend that one will be a 'rhetor'? We started off doing metaphor and simile (tashbeeh), and she gave us the example of, 'al imra'a ka-tha'ban' (the woman is like a snake)...oh I nearly died laughing, especially when she said that wouldn't do, and changed it to 'ar-rajul ka-tha'lab' (the man is like a fox) - and then all the girls objected.

Balaagha = the good one.

So yesterday, our new housemate moved in. She is Bulgarian, and so far, alhamdulillah, things are going okay. I feel really cautious about how it will all turn out, though.

Bulgarian food is nice! I want to learn EVERYTHING about how to cook it.

'The door is open...'

2007-02-16T06:11:00.000+02:00

'I spend so much time hoping or trying (rarely, actually, more former) to get people to be introspective and begin searching...not to give them a target or a route, but simply inspire the need to search...that when someone does embark on a journey of some kind, I grow hopeful they will find something...but the object they find can only be worthy of what they seek...if they look with closed doors, they often find something quite other than what you might like...they have to look wholeheartedly and with a desire for the truth - and nothing but - and try brace themselves for it, shed the arrogance - in order for it to come to them... those who look aren't abandoned, not if they truly look .'

'If the truth sets you free, then you have to want freedom. and you cannot want freedom if you set out looking for the truth with a set of preconditions for what form it must take when it finds you.'

- Moments of Clarity, Someone Wise.

Planet Earth!

2007-02-12T17:29:00.000+02:00

Oooo, I really really want the Planet Earth DVDs. Waaaaaaaaaaaant.

The Blue Planet/Planet Earth DVD set is no longer available.

:(

I think when I go home I will branch out into Attenborough-fangirlness. Possibly costly hobby, but SO VERY, VERY WORTH IT.

Alternatively, I could illegally download it off the internet. Woo!

Toast...?

2007-02-11T15:24:00.000+02:00

I have been thinking.

And yes, for those of you who ask, it did hurt.

What also is hurting is the backs of my calves. I think I burnt them with the heater. Much like the way toast...toasts.

But yes...I've been thinking. Maybe I need to think about it a bit more. But...I think I could deal with staying in Egypt for three or four years, once I get the language part down. Yeah.

Yeah, I think so.

Flowers are red! Green leaves are green!

2007-02-11T14:09:00.000+02:00

I have a rose on my head. A lovely velvet rose.

Level 6 is hard. I already know this after one lesson. For a start, there is an Iraqi in our class. That is scary. Strange though it may seem, I am actually really really bad at speaking Arabic, and the better people around me are, the less I speak. I mean, alhamdulillah, I love grammar and I can read and write fine (but I need to learn the handwritten-script to write faster), and none of that is a problem. But conversation! ACK x 888.

Al-rajul al 'ankabut (Spiderman) is on TV now. Arabic dubs! And we make a habit of watching Detective Conan, too ^_^ (that's 'Case Closed' according to Tokyopop), in sweet Arabic. ^_^

Maybe I will try and con Maaherah into starting a conversation group. Especially for me.

six six six

2007-02-11T00:10:00.000+02:00

Today is our 6th monthiversary!

Strange, strange.

Six down, six to go, but the six past seem to be much shorter than the six to follow.

-_-

2007-01-24T16:38:00.000+02:00

I been swindled.

I feel so stupid. And so swindled.

-_-

Exciting exciting things!

2007-01-24T14:25:00.000+02:00

Exciting exciting things! I was in AR and I just met this Londoni-Bangali lady! Which just proves that Awlad Rajab is, in fact, the centre of the universe! I was moseying along a) looking for that brother, Abdur Rahman, and b) shopping, when I thought I heard a snatch of Bangla...and then I was like...nah. But the guy looked bangali, alright, and so did the kid, and I couldn't see the lady's face, so I hovered nonchalantly around them for a little bit, pretending to be an idle shopper (more idle than normal, that is), and I heard it again! It was definitely bongla! And then I was like, apne ki bangali? And she was like, ji! And then there were fireworks and the shurtas were called to take away one loony bongali XD No, not really XD

I forgot that bangalis always ask where your graam (village) is. Isn't that strange? And then I was like, Noakhali and she said she knew someone who was from Noakhali, but lived in Dhaka - and it turned out to be Nasreen (who is also a med student at King's)! And Rukhshana from Strand who did maths - and then we compared uncles we knew (everyone knows them). I say 'we' but really, I was doing most of the enthusing and comparing XD I don't know my phone number, how useful XD so I couldn't give her it, but she gave me hers, and told me that there were more East-London bangalis right here in Madinat Nasr. Of course, I do actually know that - dad met someone he knew from East London here, and so did Baya (or maybe baya met one of our customers? la atadhakkar). But isn't that so cool!!! I hoped we might meet some banglishes at Markaz Fajr, but there aren't really any there, apart from us - they're all Russian or Somalian or American or something...couldn't even discover a Pakistani. Who'd've thought I'd turn out so fond of my ~~bredren~~ compatriots? But, you know, don't miss 'til it's gone, etc.

Bangalis!

Okay, new topic.

It's hard waking up early. It is - no matter how early you go to bed, it vitally sucks having to get up early. And today was no exception - I found it even harder than usual to open my eyes. I was awake - my mind always wakes up very quickly, and then engages in talking my body into getting up, too - but I just couldn't open my eyes....or at least...I opened one all the way, and the other one...it was jammed. I'd already lurched out of bed and was on my way to the bathroom (for the mirrror - too dark to see the one in my room) when it struck me that maybe my eyelid was swollen up or something. It was swollen all right - like the swollen-grape eye of Dajjal. Isn't that horrible? And there were bites all over the left side of my face, bright red lumps, and on my neck, and even on my arm. I remembered that I woke up in the middle of the night with an itching finger. Oh merciless mosquito! (what a fine alliteration ^^)

So I went to school with this Dajjal-eye, and everybody carefully didn't comment on it. And then Samiha came in!!!! I was SO EXCITED to see her!!!111 She was in my class in Level 2, and we were CHUMS, and then she went back to France to have her baby and do the ID card thing, and now she's back. She looks ezackly the same (taba'an).

Oh and also today we had our new teacher - turns out to be Samia Saghira (one of the other Samias). She's fun and interesting and I do enjoy her lessons (we had her for a lesson before, about the Russian woman who eats people). Also on blown-up-eye day. I felt horribly rude throughout the lesson when I wouldn't look up when she was talking to me (I couldn't - could only open eye about halfway), and then to look up, I had to crane my neck upwards XD XD That must've been a sight XD

Now that I think about it, many unusual things happened today. With a grapey eye. Sigh. Vanity in the plain! Really. XD

The Markaz are offering qur'an classes for their girlies again. I went to see about them and have my hijab in a twist about it all. XD See, we can all read but we don't know the names of the tajweed rules: they teach those in the 'nursery' level. That would be kind of wasted on us. So I asked if we could do private classes tailored to exactly what we want/need, which they said was cool, but they won't let Abdullah with us. And they also said it was 30LE an hour - only for the three of us (girls). Which kind of doesn't work for us. I can't afford that much for only the three of us, and it also doesn't solve Abdullah's problem which is the most important. It all kind of sucks. I was getting all excited again, too. And it's been nearly 6 months now. Long.

:(

2007-01-21T22:49:00.000+02:00

my teacher just phoned to say we don't have lessons for the next 2 days, and that after that we have an ustadha jadeeda. I don't want an ustadha jadeeda :( I want ustadha Samia :(

:(

And I didn't even get to see her for our last lesson because I felt too ill to go to school :(

:(

I hate it when people leave. I hate being left behind and I hate leaving.

I wish she hadn't left :( She is such a lovely person, and people didn't appreciate her.

I miss her already. :(

And it seems Maryam really has left :( She was the chum supreme. :(

In the wee hours,

2007-01-20T03:20:00.000+02:00

Baya's just left, and there is a curious feeling of desolation. I really am very sad that he has to leave us - when will we get used to this succession of departures? If there is something we've overdosed on, farewelling is one thing, and anticipating England another. And for some glorious moments we imagined internet at home XD - extremely wishful thinking.

We had one of our parties yesterday (we have one every month on the tenth; it's our 'monthiversary' party) and it was a dismal flop. Today, we didn't really plan anything party-like at all, but it seemed to spontaneously happen - even without our 'aflaam al-utlah' - and it was pleasant and comfortable. We had nice food, and happy tempers - the invaluable condiment.

Mum and dad phoned during the party and told me to say things to everyone, and I was like okay, sure, outwardly but inwardly all, huh? Me? kayfa? But I told mama I would, and plus, it's a family way for us to sit together and have our meetings whenever we are about to separate. I am sad baya is leaving - has left - we may not be the best of friends, we may have trouble even being on talking terms to each other - but for all that, we're family. And Family is Family is Family. If you haven't family, you likely will never understand how thick blood can be - when nothing ties you but blood and the deen.

'Emily was up against one of the contradictions of human nature. She was learning that you may fight with your kin--disapprove of them--even hate them, but that there is a bond between you for all that. Somehow, your very nerves and sinews are twisted with theirs. Blood is always thicker than water. Let an outsider attack--that's all.'
- Thicker than water, Emily Climbs

Wise woman, Lucy was.

Sana Jadeeda!

2007-01-01T22:27:00.000+02:00

Woah, new year already.

Anyway! Baya is here, and boy is it a strange story - but alhamdulillah he is here safely.

Lots of things! Mum and dad sent lots of cereals again (yay) and they even sent a big 4-pack of beans! It's funny about beans, but I don't think it's all that. When mum was coming, I was desperate for anything from home, but I think that desperation's spent itself. Maybe it's that we've finally settled in and I'm not so desperately homesick anymore - we've passed the stage of denial, and have come into acceptance. I'm having fun finding new foods and making new things, and making work what is available here. I'm still kind of *blink* about having the brainwave about making fuul into beans and making our own ketchup and stuff.

And oh wow, mum sent eid food! She was sad when she came that she didn't get to cook special ~~khana~~ food for us but she sent a two whole big containers of pholau and tandoori and even ~~baza maas~~ fried fishies! She knows we don't really eat fish here, and we certainly don't have the nice kind we have at home, so we're even looking forward to eating it! It's like opening a treaure chest!

Okay, I gotta start at the beginning of yesterday. Ish. Seeing Baya the first time was like, *blink* - he's so tall and bearded and stuff. It's so comforting to see his beard. That's probably the bit of him I was gladdest to see - it's like, look! An honest to God beard! I kind of instinctively trust someone with a comforting beard - a nice, well-kept, well-covering beard. There's something honest about it. All those men with their cleanshaven pretty-boy faces looking like girls - wear your beards, gentlemen!

So anyway. After the fiasco of Saturday night, we arranged with Shamim Baya to meet him at the foot of the building at 2.30 am, and then go to the airport. So when he turns up one hour before, and says I'm downstairs, are you coming...well, no. No, I'm not. We arranged to meet at 2.30. Why are you here and 1.30? WHY? And then you tell me to come anyway? NO. We arranged an AGREED TIME. Don't come at an ungodly time and tell me to go somewhere and THEN get mad with me. I'm a girl and I'm not related to you. Don't treat with familiarity like I can or will traipse out with you at any hour of the night. So he got mad and said, fine, I'm going on my own. Anyhow, I'd been waiting for ages to watch TV (XD) so I wasn't about to leave at the part I wanted to watch most (where ~~everyone~~ Jack dies)(it was Titanic XD XD). So I was like, fine, whatever.

Grumpy, grumpy.

?

2006-12-22T15:02:00.000+02:00

Have a strong headache - had it all yesterday, on the left side of my head. I don't think it was a thirst-headache, because that feels a bit different - more like a tightening crown, and this one is more crushing down one side of my head. Cold now - been watching the temperature fall half-degree by half-degree since August, first with eager joy, now by apprehension. Seem unable to type O_o

On Wednesday, after the imtihan, I was walking homewards with Nadia, and she put fifty pounds into my hand, and said it was a present. When I realised what it was, I was shocked! I tried to give it back, I told her I couldn't accept it, but she wouldn't take it. I didn't know what to do - I didn't want to make a fuss but I also didn't think it was right for me to take it, because I don't need it. I mean, true, I'm economical and watch the piastres, but it didn't warrant aid. She absolutely wouldn't take it back, and there were no convenient pockets for me to deposit it in either, so I had to hold on to it. I thanked her rather stiltingly for it, only because it was the only thing left for me. Dad wouldn't be pleased at all - he would say how could I? And I wouldn't be able to explain how I had to. I feel ashamed myself - not, I hope because of pride, but more because I know I haven't the need of it, and it is a misplaced charity - no, not charity, gift. If Heidi was still here, I would have given it to her.

Oops, sorry XD

2006-12-12T15:25:00.000+02:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted any updates recently! I've posted up what I've been writing at home, so there's a whole bunch of backdated ones.

John:
I'm so sorry about your sadness :( I think I understand at least a little, and I hope it gets easier for you. There isn't really much anyone can say or do to help, I guess - I think it's one of those things that you just need to work through at your own pace, in your own way. I hope everyone around you is helping to ease your mind and keep you busy when you need it.
I'm always really interested in your comments, so I hope you'll keep them up; even my sisters enjoy reading them. Also, next time you see Sophie, can you pass this address on to her?

(Also, I'm interested in a job in September! I don't want to work anywhere but BTP >_>)

Re: Ruth and being mugged: that back door is asking for it. It always has been, and I've always hated it - do you think you'll finally be able to get a spyhole put in it, at the very least? I've been after that since I started. We REALLY NEED IT. (Did you notice how I say 'we' like I still work there? XD)

Do you know who did it? Was it ~~one of those estate rats~~ someone we know? I hope she's okay! And don't forget, get the spyhole. How are we ever to even know who we open the door to without one? It could be, you know, one of those December Mondays, and there're only three people working, and it's 7 o'clock...etc. Always hated it. *shudder*

Get the spyhole!

Crunchy Leaves!

2006-12-06T15:19:00.000+02:00

It is strange to write the date as above. It feels like the last thing to December. If we were judging only by the faculties of the senses and expectation, without recourse to calendars and watches, I would think it April, or maybe early May. Of course, until you are away from what you are used, you don't realise you have a habit - or indeed, sense - of the changing year and seasons. So of course, there is a clash of fact and sensibility, producing what is altogether an interesting alloy of confusion. As a faithful devotee of autumn and its sundry delights, this is perfect - I can only lament at there not being drifts and drifts of crunchy brown and red leaves - I know I spend all year waiting for the bushery (I know that isn't a word :P)(it is now) next to the old railway line (near my house) to start accommodating the season: the leaves go first yellow, and then bright vermillion, from the tip of the leaf, upwards. It looks like it's dripping redness.

I took photos of it last year (when I still had my camera)(*sigh*).

---

"Dear, dear Norland," said Elinor, "probably looks much as it always does at this time of the year. The woods and walks thickly covered with dead leaves."
"Oh," cried Marianne, "with what transporting sensation have I formerly seen them fall! How have I delighted, as I walked, to see them driven in showers about me by the wind! What feelings have they, the season, the air altogether inspired! Now there is no one to regard them. They are seen only as a nuisance, swept hastily off, and driven as much as possible from the sight."
"It is not every one," said Elinor, "who has your passion for dead leaves."
- Sense and Sensibility

.

2006-11-21T16:13:00.000+02:00

These broken shoes
They've done some walking and

Through all these holes
I touch the ground and it feels

like home.

I don't need anything.

Haya Mustawa Rabi'

2006-11-21T14:49:00.001+02:00

My toes are cold. I forgot to mention that we've started a new level. I'm so grateful I got the 8 o'clock class I asked for; everyone else's is at 11.15. It's so much more practical for me to have this class - it means I actually have time to do things after. Really, it was such a boon that mum was here for exactly the remaining duration of the last level, because I might've died if I had to the stuff I normally do and homework. So Level 4. I still feel like I don't really know any Arabic at all. How can that be? What will it take? I figure I might get up to about Level 10 before next August, inshallah, which is actually just one level shy of the complete course. Regret at not being able to finish it but for one course briefly crossed my mind, but I really can't bear the thought of staying here longer than necessary. Like everyone else, I just want to go home. If we have lots of time at the end of the last level we can do, I hope we can come home early.

John - do you miss me enough to give me a job again in August/September? Please? Think of all the benefits! You won't need to train me, I'll have another language to add to your repertoire, and and and! Everyone LOVES ME because I'm SO NICE. You can't really argue with that, right? *hopeful*

I'm actually really dreading going home and not having a job/munny. I have to pay for my course at the IoE, and I definitely don't personally have that money. Actually, part of why I agreed to come to Egypt this year was if dad would be so kind as to pay my fees the coming year (gosh, expense upon expense :S) - I've always wanted to learn Arabic, and it was always part of my master plan, but the timing had me a bit sideways. At the point where I came up in discussions, I'd already been accepted to read my course, and I was anticipating it and preparing for it, etc. So yeah, big change of plan, had to request a last-minute deferral and everything (the result of which I found out after I got here XD).

Need to start heading to the chicken *blink* ...to the kitchen. I don't know what to do for dinner, too un-bothered. I wish food would cook itself.

...

2006-11-21T14:49:00.000+02:00

Mum left last Wednesday (15th), and we all went to the airport to see her off. When will Allah allow me to see her again? There is something else, though - before she came, there was something about being here...strandedness, desolation, maybe? But since she's been here, it's like the house has absorbed her presence, as somehow it feels like she's still here - maybe she's in the other room, maybe she's sleeping - maybe. Because she has been here, even if she isn't now, and the house remembers it. I can see her, sitting on the piano stool, I can hear her moving around in another room, I can feel her sleeping. I can feel her happiness in being with us, equal only to our happiness to be with her.

--

2006-11-18T21:46:00.000+02:00

I just slashed the inside of my left ankle quite deeply. I thought I'd cut it on this sharp corner of glass, and I looked down and I was right, and it was bleeding black. Then I was like, oops, bloods! and bobbled away to wipe it with something (only found a tissue)(previously used to wipe my nose). But then it just carried on bleeding and I couldn't even see where the cut was, or how big. Heidi and Z just sailed on out the door, and Tabassum and Abdullah just moseyed away, so I was like, 'oh. No one's going to see if I'm okay. Okay.' It was slicking with blood, and by the time I got to my first aid stuff it was all over my sock and still coming, but I couldn't first-aid it on my own, so I had to call those two anyway. Didn't want to though. Abdullah and Tabassum were my ambulance - they wanted me to say that.

It's starting to hurt now. XD

-

2006-11-07T23:33:00.000+02:00

'Many were the tears shed by them in their last adieus to a place so much beloved. "Dear, dear Norland!” said Marianne, as she wandered alone before the house, on the last evening of their being there; “when shall I cease to regret you!—when learn to feel a home elsewhere!—Oh! happy house, could you know what I suffer in now viewing you from this spot, from whence perhaps I may view you no more!—And you, ye well- known trees!—but you will continue the same.—No leaf will decay because we are removed, nor any branch become motionless although we can observe you no longer!—No; you will continue the same; unconscious of the pleasure or the regret you occasion, and insensible of any change in those who walk under your shade!—But who will remain to enjoy you?"

- Marianne Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility

2006-10-31T23:02:00.000+02:00

I've been entertaining myself rather delightfully with doses of Austen - I've always meant to be well-er-read (:P) than I am, instead of accidentally pretending to wit and intellect. I've been something of a Jack-of-all-books (master of none) - I know very well what I ought to have read (and recommend very readily to other people what I haven't read myself) but there is much reading of people dead and wise, yet to be done.

Ironically, that makes me rather like Emma (if you've read it, you will know ^_^).

2006-10-26T15:19:00.000+02:00

I forgot how old I was going to be next birthday, and then I forgot how old I was. Ironically, I will be 23 next birthday. XD (nobody likes you when you're 23 XD)

2006-10-26T02:49:00.000+02:00

It's either rather late or very early, depending on how you look at it. XD

School's started again, but MY MAMA IS HERE ALHAMDULILLAH. It's like she was always here, you know? Or, like I haven't not seen her for two and a half months (how is that even possible??) and nobody but Allah knows just how happy I am to be with her again. I don't think about her leaving if I can help it. Depressing.

Eid wasn't so bad. I was geared up for it to be the rubbishest Eid EVER, and although it was the first time we've been split up like this - there've been Eids when dad was in other places, but we've always been at home, with mum at least. So it was never going to be the same - but for all that, it wasn't the horrible depressing scene I'd half-constructed in my head. We slept half the day away, which is always a good way to start the day XD, and by the time I'd tumbled out of bed and lurched into the shower for my Eid-bath, it was already pretty lateish. I finally psyched myself into cooking at around half four, but it was sloooow.

Here is a picture of my food:

We had:

pilau rice (note how the onions only cover half of it since half of people like them not)
chicken korma (with potatoes)
fried chicken
fried potatoes
kebabs
chana (chick peas) with potatoes
salad
minty yoghurty dip
kheer (like creamed rice pudding stuff)
shape phithas!

and then it was finally ready but Heidi'd already gone to bed after a bad day, Shamim baya had left after being embarrassed at being asked why he was there if he wasn't going to eat, and I was generally feeling infected by the baddish atmosmood plus my 4/5-day-old headache was really killing me. Oh, the fun.

Me and Abdullah went to the airport to collect mum with Shamim baya, at like, four in the morning. The night before, dad was describing to me how mum'd be looking, and I was like, I think I'll recognise my own mum lol!!!! Knew it was her the moment I saw her.

My mama is here, my mama is here, my mama is here, my mama is here, my mama is here, my mama is here, my mama is here!

2006-10-25T13:40:00.000+02:00

My mama is coming tomorrow inshallah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-23T09:56:00.000+02:00

Look how I split up one long post into three ~~short~~ not-so-long ones! So your eyes don't bleed!

It's too early *bleary* I couldn't sleep - the ~~moshas~~ 'squitoes were making a meal of me, and et my face TWICE and et up my arms and feet and everything. When I get bit, I go all hive-y and get these big-up raised patches of whiteness (I am brown) which are sehr itchy mitchy ouchy. So I got up and watched the sun rise instead. It rises fast! Mr. Schumacher said it takes 8 minutes for light to reach the Earth from the sun - that was in year 6 (he was my teacher). Our windows are full east. I watched birdies and kitties with my noboculars, too. My noboculars take pictures, but they're quite rubbishy quality.

Aww man, I've been woken up nearly every morning by them blarney flies crawling on my face!! I thought if I ignored them, I'd get used to it, but you reeeally don't get used to being walked on by flies. And they all come in the morning when you're like, aaaahhh naaaap *snore* and they ALL sit on ME. Nevermind both sisters being adjacent on either side, you know. Blarney flies.

I'm really behind replying to emails - sorry! It's because it's Ramadan and there's no time! But Ramadan is nearly over :( :( and Eid is nearly upon us, and soon we will be back at school, and I can devote some nights to writing to everyone. But really people, I can't write twenty million original emails :( you will all have to come here and read this instead. Yes? Yes. Okay.

I feel too tired to do anything special for Eid, even cooking. I'm understanding why Shamim baya (my cousin here) always sleeps for the three days of holiday. And the cleaning is really disheartening. I just want to sleep through Eid. And then sleep for another week, too. And I want internet at home *whine* I'm really tired of going to that blarney net cafe, where they redefine the concept of 'slow' and overcharge us because their silly computers are too rubbish to work. Oh for fast internet! At home! *complain*

2006-10-23T09:28:00.000+02:00

It's so weird - all my life, I've been obsessed with reading - from cereal boxes at breakfast, to air-freshener cans in the toilet, to everything else you can imagine - I'm like the Hungry Caterpillar when I read. I plough through books like there's no tomorrow, and I've read so many that most of them become a blur in my mind. And yet, to my shame, I haven't read the Qur'an in translation, cover to cover. What a miserable failure. The trouble was that there were always other books - books that were easier to read, that seemed more, 'yay fun!' or something, and there were always so many - even to the point where I was leaving, I had, like sixty million library books at home - under the bed, under my desk, on my desk, on the windowsill, in mum's room - everywhere (you may laugh, Shaun, you may laugh XD). Of course (don't worry, John!), I had to give them all back before I came. Books are like, my staple diet - from bookerpillar, to working in a library, to working in a library and a bookshop...books, books, books, to ~~paraphrase~~ slightly rip off Katy (whose lifelong refrain was 'boys, boys, boys') XD

Anyhow (I'm sorry, I'm easily sidetracked)(I easily sidetrack myself, even), with all those other books to distract me, I never quite had the patience to read the Qur'an - you know how it is, the moment someone tells you to do something Islamic, people suddenly lose enthusiasm, despite being all jazzed up before (ain't that the way?). Mum and dad were always telling me - telling all of us - at least to read something Islamic, for god's sake, for x number of trashy books I read (this was after giving up on telling me not to read trashy books)(I am such a trial to my mama and papa O_o) but of course, being us, we didn't really change. Here, though - dad said straight off that no one was allowed to bring any trashy books (our luggage allowance was already crummy)(that wasn't the reason why, though), and that if we got bored, we would just have to read Qur'an. I balked a bit at first, but then I remembered that if I got desperate, I could download stuff off the internet XD XD

So yeah, mum and dad always turn out to be right, it just takes me a long time to get there. That's the trouble with kids and adults - mum and dad always know what they're talking about - clearly, they speak from experience; the trouble with people in general though, is that nobody likes secondhand experience. You also never quite learn a lesson so well unless you experience it yourself. And then! Then you're all, 'omg I know this, I know this!!' and you try to tell someone else and they shake you off, go and do dumb things, and then they're like, 'omg I know now O_O.' Tradeoffs, tradeoffs. Being a parent/similar must be like being Cassandra. Nobody listens.

Ack! 888 More digression! Sorry!

I know the Qur'an is amazing - it's a fact of life for me, just like the sky is blue, and things fall down. But I've never felt so close to it, or felt the perfection and wisdom of it more, and I realise I want to know it better, I want to be so familiar with it that I can think of an ayah and know where it is - knowing Harry Potter back to front and inside out is, in short, a waste of time and no use for my akhirah. If I knew Qur'an as well as I knew Harry Potter!! I'm feel really ashamed that there are books I know every detail about, and films that I can recite the script for, and yet I don't half that much about the Qur'an. Heh, some muslim. The trouble with books, too, is always that they finish too soon - I get to the end, and am like, 'you can't be finished! How can you be finished??!! Nuuuu please don't be finished!' and the thought briefly crossed my mind that what if the Qur'an finishes too soon and I want more and there isn't more? That would be too sad; it's not like there will be a sequel O_O But the Qur'an is long! It won't be finishing anytime soon! It'd take a lifetime and some to get right to the bottom of it, and even then, there would be more to it, because it is Kalaam-Allah.

So I think this year will be dedicated to improving my relationship with the Qur'an, inshallah. I said that to Tabs, and she was like, 'Affa, you're so DUMB!!! What do you think mum and dad have been SAYING forEVER?!!?!' 'cause I was all, 'WOW THASSO COOL,' about the whole thing. XD

2006-10-23T08:53:00.000+02:00

It is early! This is the last day of Ramadan. :( It always goes so fast, just when you're really getting into it - I guess that is the wisdom in preparing for Ramadan before it starts. *makes note to self* It's been great being given time off school, if only for the last ten days...I have to say, I didn't even remotely meet my goal of going to the masjid every night (that'll make Heidi laugh XD)(I didn't go at all after Laila left XD). I was thinking lots about what Jasmine said last Ramadan, about developing a relationship with and attachment to the masjid; I wanted to try to build my own relationship with it, but...well, you can see the success of it.

However! All is not doom and gloom and the scent of failure! The main reason I opted to stay at home was to watch the taraweeh from Makkah: Makkah is always surreal, but in Ramadan, it is like, surreal squared (that's surreal x surreal for the mathematically-challenged XD). What most people - and masjids - try to do during Ramadan is to finish the Qur'an once completely through the taraweeh (that is a special extra Ramadan-prayer, which can be 8 or 20 rak'aat [units of prayer] long - for instance in Masjid Salaam [our one], they do 8, and in the Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, they do 20). The qur'an is divided into several kinds of sections, one of which is in thirtieths, and each thirtieth is called a 'juz' (part). So anyhow, they do a juz a night - 30 juz, 30 nights, et le fin! Good, innit?

Anyway! So yeah, they broadcast it live (on 4353905673 channels) and they subtitle it with the English translation and it's like, so cool. My favourite recitor is one of the Imams of the Ka'bah - Sa'ud ash-Shuraim - so it's like, coolness squared. XD Also, I really like Sudais and Abdullah al-Jehany who reminds me of one of our uncles (the family-friend kind of uncle :D) and we saw Saleh at-Talib's feet! You just don't expect people like that to have feet, you know? XD XD

So yeah, the point of all that was...it was like animating the qur'an - when you read a translation on your own, it's not the same as thinking of the translation as you hear - and see - it recited. 'Qur'an' means 'recital' - when it's words on a page, it doesn't have the same living, organic quality as when it's being recited by someone who really knows how to do it - it's like the difference between 2D and 3D, where the kitaab, the book, is the 2D representation of Kalaam-Allah (the word of God), and its qira'ah (recitation) is its 3D form - and its highest form, was the living, breathing 4D exposition of Muhammad (saw) - it's just how A'ishah (ra) described him.

Wow, subhanallah.

2006-10-10T15:06:00.000+02:00

I am trawling Mr. Internet looking for a book called 'al kitaab fii ta'allum al-arabiyya' (Textbook for Arabic) by one Kristen Brustad. It is expensive. I want a cheapy one, I don't want DVDs, just grammar, lovely grammar, in ENGLISH, please God!

Okay, found one!

I just realised I don't need books with exercises and stuff - all I need is a book of fus'ha grammar. Ack. I need to hurry up and buy it so it gets sent home so baya can bring it when he comes, inshallah. But now I need to look for grammar book O_O

Arrrgh why can't it be simple? Just like Egyptians. In order to get from A to B, Egyptians will go via F, take a detour at P, u-turn at T, reverse back to H....etc, etc. They just don't know how to go from A...to B.

Now I need to email Dad and baya.

Also: Hello Elizabeth!! How are you?

And John, can you ask Jo (if she's back) if she's developed the photos yet? There should be two cams-worth, and I hope she got in people who couldn't come in on my last day. If it's not too much trouble, could you get her to pop the lot into the post, addressed to my house, so my brother can bring them when he comes? And I hope she had a good time in Australia!

Aww, I miss my job :(

2006-10-05T11:19:00.000+02:00

Condoleezza Rice is in Egypt, wonder what she's doing here.

But then, she was just in Bangladesh, too. And London.

Hrm.

2006-10-04T10:29:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I fell asleep while I was reading Qur'an, and about an hour or so later, I suddenly woke and bolted upright, saying, 'have we been to school yet today?' and everyone laughed. It was really strange – it was about half four and I really thought I'd woken up late for school, and had completely no recollection of actually going to school in the morning.

I think our phone sim has expired, or something. I miss-called baya (that is my big brother) from my normal phone yesterday just to, you know, remind them we're still here because they haven't called for days, and he texted back to say they'd tried calling a million times but couldn't get through. Come to think of it, nobody has called us for days – not Shamim baya, not our tutor (her name is Do'aa), not Laila…things began to make sense. XD

It is very early for me to be out – at this time I am normally in bed in these days of 10.40 classes. I really want my 8 o'clock class back.

Ooo the other day, our normal teacher, Samia, was ill, and we had a substitute – also called Samia. There are 3 Samias at Markaz Fajr – Samia Saghira or Qadeema (Small Samia/Old Samia), Samia Kabira and Samia Jadeeda – Big Samia and New Samia. It was very funny how she told us about how someone said the name, and everyone in the room would turn around. She was a really fun teacher – I learnt a couple of new grammar things (how to make certain masdar (gerund) forms) that I never knew before, which really must be a first so far, in all this time (not yet been taught any other grammar I didn't already know), and she spent a large part of the lesson telling us about how a woman in Russia liked to kidnap little girls and skin them, and store them in the freezer, and when they caught her, she had a leg, two arms, a head, and other various body bits, skinned and cleaned, stored away, and she was eating them. I was actually really horrified and spent most of the time she was talking about it covering my ears and wumbling so I wouldn't hear her. And then we started talking about Steve Irwin and how he played with ~~timsahs~~ crocodiles, and now he was dead.

I hope we get her for the next level; that would be fun.

John - There's only one Zakia Superman XD Of course it's her - do we not lead parallel lives? Except she is doing medicine, and I am, like, not. Also, in your great venerability, take care to Mind The Gap Between The Train And The Platform, Please. Hee. And sounds like there is too much rum going around. Oooo that reminds me -

I just remembered this a few days ago, but a couple of weeks after we arrived, I went over to Zakia's for the first time, and there was a can of beer in her fridge. So we decided to try it - that's another experience for the scrapbook, trying beer together in her kitchen. XD XD We were laughing so much while pouring it out that we sloshed it into the sink, and then we poured it into glasses but the foam reached the top before it was even half-full! So we were like, quick! drink the foam before it goes away!

It was sooo disgusting, I don't know why people drink it. We both had a mouthful, and we just looked at each other. SPIT! into the sink!

So that was our experience of trying beer together for the first time. A phase people tend to go through in their teens, but all the better for being done in our twenties. XD XD

It was, of course, non-alcoholic.

2006-10-04T08:37:00.000+02:00

Oh we've also figured out why Indians like BBC/BBC World so much - it's 'cause it's all about India. Yesterday, for the first time, we FINALLY saw some weather that wasn't for India (sponsored by Gail India), and managed to include Cairo in a corner of it.

Very hot, still. It's October, for God's sake, it should be temperate-er!

2006-10-02T21:15:00.000+02:00

How many girls does it take to haul a 3+ kilo-bucket up 6 stories?
Two.

Heidi told me a joke a while back. A guy told her it.

Q: How do you make a woman's life easier?
A: Put her bed in the kitchen.

Here is a ripped-off extract of an email I wrote to ~~Calorie~~ ~~Crinoline~~ ~~Cairo-line~~ ~~Calliope~~ ~~Calliopolis~~ ~~Calorine~~, Caleroroereoieriionne:

Ooo the other day, this beeg bug flew in from the window, and hung out on the ceiling. How many girls does it take to Raid a buggy? Two and a half! The half is, in fact, a boy, and therefore, half a girl. Not twice a girl, as some might say XD XD We are such chickenettes that we can't even catch a bug honestly - we have to incapacitate it with Raid first, and then scream when it doesn't land where we expect it to, and THEN, we have to yell at someone to get a glass, quick, and argue about who will cover it. Eventually, someone (me) gets annoyed, and just does the damn thing, but then refuses to be further involved in an unspectatorly capacity (hah) so then yet someone else slips a piece of paper under it and scoops it up, before finally depositing it in the toilet (after another lengthy argument about who will carry it, and the unhelpful party being the one to flush the toilet in an attempt to compensate for said lack of help). Do not we lead exciting lives?

2006-10-01T14:43:00.000+02:00

All these things happening O_O

This happened at home, at the building site which used to be my primary school. O_o

John (sorry, just answering here) - that guy is...he makes me really uncomfortable, the Hintex guy (opposite the station). I don't know where he got the idea I was going to Pakistan XD I'm not even Pakistani XD XD I made a point of not telling him that I was leaving, but I did mention it to his son, because I got my Misr photos developed there. I stopped going to him since he asked me to marry his son. XD Poor chap was mortified. His son, that is. Arrgh. XD XD Yeah, I reeeeally avoid going to him. He treats me like a long-lost daughter, but in a slightly scary way, and is always asking me if I'm married, and when I'm going to. Scary scary man.

2006-10-01T03:22:00.000+02:00

A Saturday always feels like a Monday - it's difficult to adjust to the Thursday-Friday weekend. We just think of those as off-days, and still consider Sat-Sun the weekend. It kind of makes you think like you have a three-day week.

It's October already. Weird. Apart from being pinched and punched, and kicked and flicked (pinch, punch, first of the month and no returns! Kick, flick, for being so quick! Etc.), that's the only normal thing. I'm beginning to feel quite affectionate about our little corner of Cairo - I look out of my window at night, and it gives me almost the same sense of pleasure as looking out at home. It must be something about the night, and the closeness of stars. Speaking of which, the stars are...strange. When we arrived, we had to lean right out of the window to see Orion (the one single constellation I can pick out without resorting to some kind of reference) and his belt. But the other night, I looked out, and he was right there in front of me. Since then, he's moved around night to night...is that normal? I know that, you know, they move and all that, but are they supposed to quite so much? Also, they are bigger here - I'm used to the stars looking very distant, but here they are so big and close. Orion stretches over a large part of the sky, in a slightly ~~grotesque~~ unusual way. *welcomes explanations*

We've (finally) managed to install a Qur'an tutor, and we've had two lessons so far. She is Misriyya, and doesn't really speak English. Her Ammiya is quite difficult to understand until you get used to it, or know what to look out for. For instance, instead of pronouncing the letter 'qaaf,' they drop it - so 'qahwa' (coffee) becomes 'ahwa' - and it's weird when they do it to verbs, like 'qaala' (he said/to say), and in all its various conjugations it sounds very strange - like 'aala', 'na'ool' etc. And I've finally mastered the use of 'mafeesh' (I think), which is basically the Ammiya substitute for 'la' or 'laysa' (no/not). I like how 'mafeesh' sounds. Mah feesh! Muffish. Hee. ^_^

Heidi-hi has gone off to stay with Laa Laa for her last week. It's strange, but you can feel she is not in the house. I didn't think I'd notice much. And it's only the first ~~day~~ night! Zakia left yesterday, and she must be home by now. I went to farewell her, but didn't really do it properly. Just as well, really. I'm so sad she's left...with Laila leaving, that will be the last piece of home gone. Gosh, I won't see Zak for ten months. How many goodbyes I've said, and how many people I've been left by. XD

But! On the BRIGHT SIDE - Free called me yesterday!!!1!!1 Completely didn't expect it but was soooo happy. It was just like...like I was at home and she was calling me just like normal, and just having an ordinary chat and...! Eee! And you actually get quite a good line these days so there was no lag except in intelligence XD; it's the same whenever mum and dad call. It so felt like...just normal. We ~~call~~ used to call each other all the time (well, she calls me when she has the free minutes), and it wasn't like we hadn't spoken for two months at all. Fareeha jiddan, ferry harpy ^_^

Oh, Arabic has crept into all parts of our daily conversation. Especially, 'li maa thaa??' (Why?) 'Li anna...' (because...). We'll go home and nobody will know what we're saying. And we'll have odd little in-jokes that no one will ever understand either. XD Ooo I made sweet rice today. It makes me so happy to be able to cook the things I want to eat. I burnt the almonds a bit at the beginning though, so it's somewhat flecked through with black. But that's okay, because then it just looks like the cinnamon. The only thing really wrong with it is that it is rice-coloured instead of yellow or orange. Or green. I've been looking for food colouring here, in Awlad Ragab, but not yet found. Must ask my mama to send something along. Mmm food colouring. Then we can have multi-coloured pholau for Eid. Yes, us Noakhali-ites don't say pilau or polau. We say pholau. So.

One of the really fun things about Arabic is that loooads of Bangla seems to have come from it. I'd always understood that it was Shanskriti (yay for interspersing my writing with Bangla, too!), which just means it is Sanskrit-based. This definitely refers to the script, which is more like Hindi - unlike Urdu, which doesn't really seem to be much different from Hindi, except that Urdu uses an Arabic script. It's really interesting about Urdu - dad said it was the language of the lashkar (soldiers) who all spoke different languages, which eventually formed modern Urdu. That means that Urdu is, in fact, a kind of ~~Hindiyya~~ Indic creole. The presence of so much Arabic and mutated Arabic is also a sign of the strong impression that the Arab muslim merchants and Islam itself made, to have embedded itself in the language. As we've also been observing, especially with Zakia around, is the difference in our dialects and vocabulary. Zakia speaks 'shud'do' which is ~~fus'ha~~ standard bangla, whereas we speak (badly) a local dialect - a dialect particular to our own district, Noakhali, in Bangladesh. Our dialect is very thick with Arabic words - with a good quantity of words that aren't used at all in standard bangla, but are very common to us. This is all very fascinating, since we know that about six generations ago, our family, and many of the other villages, actually came out of Iraq. It's part of the reason why we look so un-Bengali, and people always mistake us for Iranians, or something. We also know that mum's side of the family were from Baghdad, which is pretty cool, although I'm not sure where dad's side is from. So yeah. I was always embarrassed at the way we couldn't speak standard, but I'm very happy now that I've found that the things we say differently, are in fact, Arabic or Arabicised words. Yeah. ^_^

Hrm. Digressions, eh?

In class, we are doing, 'at-tadkheen,' which is le smoking. In the middle of the lesson, our teacher suddenly stopped and went, 'Eh? Why are we doing stuff about the dangers of smoking? Like anyone here even smokes!' But the words are new and interesting - all infections and epidemics and cancer and slow suicides. Very useful. Shisha hasn't come up yet. Must remember to ask about the dangers of that. Speaking of which, we have shisha bars on either side of us - one seedy one next to the net cafe, and one very classy and fragrant one round the back, which calls itself a coffee shop. They are just like those gentleman's clubs the Victorians and people had. Smells nice.

Hrm, late. Spoke to mummery ~~flummery~~ and daddery for nearly an hour the other day.

Must go to bed.

2006-09-29T11:04:00.000+02:00

Woo, asked Mr. Hendy to make my flash drive work, thus, lots of backdated entries.

Apparently, my seafaring uncle is now in our house (at home), staying in my room. I hope he doesn't poke around in my drawers and cupboards (XD), see, he has no concept of privacy - he'll be like, oh, look, wonder what's in here, la la la! Oh, how interesting! Etc. XD

We are having a heatwave. It was 37 the day before yesterday. Our TV is fixed.

2006-09-29T02:44:00.000+02:00

Wow, it's been a while.

School's started again, and Ramadan is well under way. I have mixed feelings about Ramadan here. On the one hand, it's ~~Misr~~ Egypt, a muslim country, and everyone really gets festive and happy and excited...but on the other hand - I think Laila got it exactly right - I haven't felt the deep spirituality of Ramadan properly yet - you know, the sense of barakah and contentedness and the syrup-like passing of time. I thought this year, being away from work, away from university, away from anyone who would distract me, I would have oodles and oodles of time, but somehow, it's like there is even less time here. Even last year, which so far, was my busiest Ramadan ever (going to the shop just about every day - even on Eid), is paling to this - the shop environment was such that you felt like it was Ramadan for every minute. One of the things about here is, even though it is Ramadan, everyone still does just the same things they do the rest of the year - same old street-fights, road rage, shisha and cigarettes, loud music...it's probably very naive of me, but the first several ~~million~~ l times I heard a passing car blaring out horrible music, I was shocked - don't they know it's Ramadan? It only really feels like Ramadan inside my house (and even then, not all the time) and in the masjid.

On the other hand, we've been going to a masjid (mosque) ~~close to us~~ a loooong walk away for Tarawih (special Ramadan prayer in the earliest part of the night), and it really is something. The masjid we go to is called Masjid Salaam, and Zakia said people come from all over Misr to pray there. There are so many people that they put out carpets over the whole huge courtyard, and even then, there isn't enough room, and they spread carpets right onto the road outside. The great thing about MS is that they have a completely separate masjid building for ladies, and this lovely huge grassy courtyard which is curtained right off from sight, so it's really nice and safe inside, and open to the sky. I haven't prayed inside yet, but I love it outside, with the wind and ~~biting ants~~ grass and sky. The whole recitation can be heard via loudspeakers, and it's loud enough to drown out random noise. It feels like...I don't know, as if the recitation were a liquid form of Qur'an, and you become submerged in it. The sweetness of Qur'an increases with the more you understand of it. It has to be the best thing about being here - I mean, of course, it's the reason for being here, but those moments of clarity and understanding are what is really motivating, just for the sheer pleasure of embracing Qur'an, and truly feeling like Allah is talking to you. Subhanallah.

At iftar (fast-breaking) time, the buses and cars and everything just stop where they are, at the side of the road, and get out and eat and pray - right where they are. I watch them from our window. It's so nice to be in a place where people do that! When you spend most of your life squeezing in a prayer here and an iftar there, it really is liberating to live where people schedule their lives around prayer times. ~~Misriyyun~~ Egyptians may keep horrible time (worse than Indian Standard)(that is +2 hours)(they turn up the next day if you're lucky, but more likely, the week after), but they definitely keep their prayers straight. Also, something we've noticed since we got here, is the daily charity of just about everyone. Our local supermarket does weekly deliveries - useful ones, of proper basic food like rice, oil, pasta, beans, lentils, sugar, etc. - and during Ramadan they do it almost daily. It's not just the supermarket, but everyone who can, does. The welfare state may not be like ours, but here, people care, and do something, instead of just talking about it. I would love to see Zakah in action properly...it must be amazing...people who can afford to give up some wealth give it up, and people who can't, receive. Such a simple system, but not a country has managed to get it right yet.

Anyhow. I'm not glossing over the things I don't like; I just happen to have forgotten them. Zax is leaving on Saturday, and Laila the week after. Don't know what I will do without them :( Having them here has hugely eased the transition from one kind of life to another (notwithstanding Mr. Darcy), and it's felt so natural, them being here. I kind of get used to seeing Zakia everywhere, that it only occasionally strikes me as unusual that we should both completely seperately end up in Misr, within 20 minutes of each other, at the same school, and in the same class (to start with). Weird, that. But! Looking on the bright side! They have bequeathed a ton of spices and medicines (medics, eh?) to my household, for which I am always grateful (food vanishes so fast here). And I like spices. Hee. ^_^

We made a ton of samosas and spring rolls and kebabs before Ramadan started. Ooo we had a terrible fishy saga, also XD XD I had the misfortune to buy some smoked fish here - and is smoked fish normally salted? But anyhow, this being Misr, it was salted. Very salted. And it STANK. I can't stand the smell of raw fish, but smoked fish is worse than meat and fish ~~and cats~~ put together and even after I cooked it with onion and spice and all things nice, the smell didn't change one bit...I mean, except to become more pungent, if that was even possible. My hands stank of stinky fish for four stinky days (of course, nobody else would touch it), and it was so salty that we couldn't even eat it as we'd planned to. So then, dilemma, dilemma, dilemma, POTATOES. Eleven kilos of them. I probably only put in about two, though. I turned them into fishy kebabs. Without tasting it at any point. Clever me. XD XD Yeah, they were still too salty. So they have become our fishy horrors, all 164 or whatever of them. But we had some for iftar today, with salad. Made it edible, surprisingly. Tasty, even. Smell was still very...exotic, though.

Fish, fish, fish, I feel like a proper little housewife sometimes - especially after a particularly enjoyable conversation about the many uses of semolina, conducted in English, French and Arabic, all at once, or how to best prepare various incarnations of rice, or the particular virtues of Indian cuisine (namely samosas and chops and all things bright and beautiful), or indeed, managing one's finances while trying to come to terms with the alkaline-wrought destruction of one's handies by a year of hand-washing.

Most of the time, I just can't believe how it's nearly been two months since I last saw my mama, and how on earth we are getting on without her. It's funny how these things go; I used to differ with my mama on all sorts of things, like the way she cuts onions. I always cut them the other way, just because I thought it was a better way to do it. But lately, completely subconsciously, I've taken to cutting them her way. Funny ol' world, innit?

2006-09-23T16:50:00.000+02:00

Argh, I feel like I only come online to complain about the computer I'm using >_< It won't recognise my flash drive and rejects the drivers, too.

Ramadan Kareem!

Despite the 'anonymous' comment, I would beg to disagree, but I don't have the time to expound why (but I will eventually). Of course, from a secular point of view, the material benefit is outward charity. The rest doesn't really count. After all, who needs blessings and god and all that? [/extreme sarcasm]

John! Arabic! Why else? I'm so sorry about your mother, too :(

2006-09-20T23:30:00.000+02:00

This business of blogging at the net cafe really doesn't work. Thus! I am taking to typing up at home, and then later copy-pasting at the cafe. Am not I clever? (Heh.)

The water's been a bit offish for the last few days - it comes and goes erratically, and without any notice that I might understand (like, not in Engrish XD).

Oh man, today, we got ripped off so badly - Tabs and I went to buy fruit, and we thought we'd go to the shop next to our net cafe, since it was closer, and also, we hadn't been there before and I'd seen some nice-looking banababanananas there. So there we were, trying to buy mangoes, and the guy said it was 'ashara guinea' (gin-ay-a), and I was like, sorry, ashara? Isn't that, like, a lot? 10 whole pounds! For a kilo of mangoes! He was having a laugh! I've bought them for three fifty a kilo! So I was like, eh? and asked for a kilo of the other ones. Dunno what he gave us but it certainly didn't look like a kilo. We also asked for some nice looking golden deliciouseseses and he kept trying to sell us the red ones (waxy ones, yuck) and kept plying them at us, saying 'amrikiyya, amrikiyya' (american, american), and we kept saying we didn't want them, but he put them straight into the bag and then with a face as straight as you know, he said it was ishreen guinea (20 quid)...like, eh? Me and Tabs looked at each other and agreed we heard wrong and I gave him 20, and waited for change. And a minute or so later, he was looking at us like, 'yes?' and I asked him for change. And he said there wasn't any. Oh man, was I mad. I don't know enough ammiya to have a good yell at him for trying it, and he'd just taken all my money. >_<

So THEN. Then we got home and Heidi was like, yay, red apples! But she cut one open and it was rotten. So was the next one. And the next one. Ooo so mad. Not only were we ripped off, but he also gave us rubbish apples we didn't even WANT and then had the nerve to make us buy the damned things GAH. Anyhow, I will never go to his shop again. OoooOoo. >_<

Abdullah just asked me to help him with a maths problem. I couldn't do it. How pathetic. Why do they give people like me degrees? Don't they know I can barely do year 7 maths? Here is the question:

Mum is 20 years older than Andrew, and 24 years older than Anne. The three ages ages total 73 years.

Mum is ___ years
Andrew is ___ years

I still can't figure it out, and I've forgotten how to do simultaneous equations even though I was forced to revise them some months ago...OH OH OH I KNOW HOW TO DO IT. I feel so happy!

a + (a - 20) + (a - 24) = 73
3a - 44 = 73
3a = 117
a = 39

Yo ho, me hearties, yo ho!

And now, I have letters and emails to write.

Oh no. Here is another one I can't do.

In a school there were altogether 476 pupils and teachers.
The girls + the teachers = 241 the boys + the teachers = 258

There were ___ teachers, ___ boys, and ___ girls.

g + t = 241
b + t = 258

I'm too tired to try and work it out. :(

2006-09-20T10:17:00.000+02:00

I forgot to bring the phonecard down that we were supposed to ring mum and dad with XD XD And nobody wanted to go upstairs (6 floors XD) to get them. Also, I don't like to surrender my key. I'm the only one with both keys, and it is a bit scary.

I wrote a big long post the other day, and the computer ate it.

2006-09-18T08:07:00.000+02:00

Decided to diarise at home since I find computer-diarising much easier. No internet here means I write at home, and then just take it to the net cafe and Bob's your uncle, Jenny's your aunt XD XD

We don't actually have a proper computer table so one has to write on one's knees. Sehr uncomfortable.

There is no water at the moment. The water here goes more often than the current (eckeltrickity) goes in Bangladesh! Of the two, I prefer losing electricity to losing water (still having the presence of mind to recognise which is the essential and which the superogatory XD)(the desert addles my head, but it also teaches me the value of wasser). Aieee! It is back!

Alhamdulillah! Here, you really begin to understand why rain is one of the blessed times in which du'as are accepted, and rain itself is described as Allah's mercy (rahma) - where it barely rains for two days out of every year, water from the sky is a blessing indeed - like that ayah in the qur'an, '...and We send down pure water from the sky' - water from rivers - particularly the Nile, which serves so many people and countries - can become tired by the point they reach their ends. The heavily chlorinated Nile-water of Egypt is nothing like rain. Perhaps in green England (and sub-sea-level Bangladesh) it's difficult to appreciate the sweetness of rain (do we not spend our lives complaining of it?), but here, with the Sahara at our backs, the thought of rain is like a pipe-dream.

I miss the rain.

Anyhow, nature calls. now that the water is back XD XD

2006-09-17T19:43:00.000+02:00

This is an interesting computer...it closes my email window, citing 'may contain adult content' as the reason. Hrmph?

Omg we went shopping today and it made us SO HAPPY. I spoke to my mama and papa this morning, and they told me to stop worrying about money and buy what we needed (real trouble making budget work), so I felt much better and not so much like I was counting the piastres. Since we all promised each other to get ourselves a post-exam treat, we spent aaaages looking through Awlad Ragab (shop - like Tesco's but more expensive!) at their cakies and sweeties and looking for people who spoke English. We finally decided on a pick-and-mix of baklawa (mmmmmmmm, lazeeeez)

damn net time is up XD

2006-09-17T10:55:00.000+02:00

We had our end-of-level tests yesterday and everyone did really well, alhamdulillah! I got 79/80 and now we all have to treat ourselves except for the penny-watching business. Alas!

I have lots of emails to reply to and my time is nearly up. We farewelled Piruze yesterday :( and now she is gone back to Germany, and their Awesome Foursome is sundered (Laila, Zax, Heidi and Piruze) and our English-speaking ghetto is broken up. Sad :( I kept imagining I heard her speaking when everyone was around yesterday...I suddenly realised also, that she reminded me of Nour from school.

Ack, time up!

2006-09-10T20:45:00.000+02:00

Oh and I forgot to add things!

On Tuesday, we have to have a little leaving-thing for Piruze (I can spell her name now!) and we are going to have a Pride and Prejudice munchfest. I feel a bit guilty about it, but it probably won't happen again, anyway. I miss my Fruits Basket :( All those DVDs I burnt of my stuff before we left are...dunno, they don't work in Heidi's laptop which makes me very O_O 'cause there was tonnnnnnnes of stuff - and all my fruits basket >_>

Mama and papa called yesterday. Want to go home. Can't believe it's been a whole month since I saw my mama. But! 11 to go.

Ramadan soon - it really is so different - the mood in the streets is more buoyant, and they are being decorated and all the shops have begun to sell a million different kinds of dates and it's generally very festive. Ramadan here will be an experience, inshallah.

2006-09-10T20:43:00.000+02:00

It's so weird - I think I dream about the library every friday night. A
couple of nights ago, I dreamed that I was in the liberry, and Debbie, Louise, Jemma and Jane were welcoming me back.

The dreams are generally very bizarre - like another night I dreamed I was home for a week on holiday from here and my dad suddenly had a butcher's shop, and I was sailing around Tooting High Street on what were like skates but were really tiny hovercrafts strapped to each foot.

Today, I fell asleep in my lesson and my teacher threw a pen at me, and then I refused to give it back (she shouldn't have thrown it) - so it was a classic stubborn-as-a-dog me-moment especially when she refused to continue the lesson and I refused to return the pen (she shouldn't have thrown it at me).
Drama!

2006-09-07T11:29:00.000+02:00

Life here is a lesson a minute.

It's a good thing I unlearned hating washing up years ago. I am currently learning to enjoy cleaning the toilet and constantly working...I don't mind it on my own. It's therapeutic. But the rest of the time, it just makes me tired.

We made jelly today. One of the great liberating things here: you can buy food without checking the ingredients! We bought sausages yesterday! They were spicy and tasty!

and now my time is up!

2006-09-05T19:01:00.000+02:00

My papa left today.

Want my papa back. :(

2006-08-29T10:38:00.000+02:00

How many girls does it take to catch a cockroach?

Four, it seems. XD XD

The painters are finally gone (I think) and maybe we'll get our house back again, and do IMPORTANT STUFF like ~~getting internet~~ sleeping in beds again.

I had my test yesterday - after getting in a half-hour late XD XD XD See, I use my mobile as an alarm clock, and my mobile time is still set to home time, so when I looked at it and it said 5.30 I thought I had another hour of sleep XD XD completely forgetting about adding two hours. So I woke up fifteen minutes later, it suddenly clicked what the time really was, and I was all, 'ARGH LATE TEST SCREAMZ' and then decided not to stress because then I'd forget everything I'd learnt. So I took my time. Mosied to school. Waltzed in fashionably late and still finished the test before everyone else. I didn't notice two questions, which was dumb, so I got 37/40.

Went and hung out at Zak's yesterday. Is like a haven. Long walk home though. Still tireeeed. Had a nap in lesson today, and then sneezed unexpectedly (twice), and half my stuff fell off my desk. Too busy giggling to be embarrassed.

I am having a series of the weirdest dreams, involving people from school (putney), work, and the desert. Really interesting, but very weird.

Heidi is going to the 'mids on Freitag mith Zax and co - maybe they will ride camels! ^^

Sorry for not being ~~interesting yet~~ ~~ever~~ sporadically interesting. And anyhow, since my boss reads this, I have to censor my thoughts accordingly! Even if Wandsworth Borough Council don't believe in censorship, eh, John?

Counting down the days...nearly a month gone already, which means there's only 11 to go. Home home, sweet home, how I miss thee and stuff.

Still just want my mama, though.

2006-08-27T11:01:00.000+02:00

It's getting cooler. When I walk to school in the morning, I can't stop staring at the sand. The light here is different. You know how in the morning, the light is pale blue? Here, it is bright orange. There is no pale blue light at all, at any time.

Yesterday, I made chicken. You want to know that? Yes. Yes, you do. I argued with my teacher the whole lesson (she keeps using the WHOLE. PAGE. for stars to say how great I am!)(WASTE.) and tomorrow we have a midsessional. Which they insist on calling midterms. Huh. I'm planning on a post-exam raid to Zakia's ba'da al imtihaan (POST-TEST)(see how much I learn?) and there will be merriment and stuff.

I am very tired. Being a mama is not something I am turning out to be good at. Did I mention everyone in my class is married? They're all pretty much my age, and they are so surprised that I'm not. It's odd to be the odd one out! In a left-out kind of way! XD XD

I miss my mama.

2006-08-22T10:40:00.000+02:00

HELLO.

So sorry for not updating sooner...I've tried to distribute messages among people to tell other people I was okay!

Anyway, the long and longer of it is THERE IS NO INTERNETZ IN THE PYRAMIDZ. I mean, there is, but I've had insane amounts of trubble finding a net cafe that was close. I've found one that is almost next door to the first one we went to (which was RUBBISH), and the secind one we went to (a week later) was okay, but faaaaar. Leaving the house is no joke - 6 floors, and the lift doesn't work. I will be so fit by the end of the year, if the lift never gets fixed! I might not be recognisable! ~~wishful thinking~~XD XD

I've paper-diarised for a few days, so I'll save that for later. In the meantime - school, builders, dodgy stomachs and watermelons!

Not yet seen a camel, but my friend Pirosa (sp?) is going to see them on Thursday.

School! We had placement tests and they put me in level 2. The Markaz (centre) is a 12-minute walk from my house, and my classes start at 8. It's 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. Our weekends are Thursday and Friday - this is unusual even for Misr (Egypt), since the normal weekend is Friday and Saturday (yawm al jum'uah, and yawm al sabt - i.e. Jumuah and Sabbath). It's a bit odd when you think of Monday as midweek.

I really like the girls in my class - there's 7-ish of us - 2 Americans, a French girl, a couple of Russians/Slovenian/Dagistani, etc, most of whom speak good English. AND AND. ZAKIA. I bumped into Zax on our third day here, right at the school - turns out she was enrolling, too, and also lives ten minutes from us! She's over when she's free, and our class is at the same time, although she's in ~~mustawa'~~ level 3. So I get to meet the cool people in her class and we hang out together in our break. Our parallel lives continue, it seems. Isn't it funny? We cross continents and STILL we're only ten minutes away from each other.

The flat was a bit of a shock when we walked in - from what my cousin told us we were expecting...I don't know, something vaguely palatial, I guess. And I suppose it was - if you left the palace for about 16 years, and then flooded it so all the floorboards came off. So anyway, the floors are being retiled, which means builders everywhere, and then it will be repainted - which means painters will be everywhere. Woo.

8 minutes left, I'ma reply to some comments, kthxbye!

2006-08-09T08:51:00.000+02:00

Gah, I am a tired person. I think my 4-day-old headache must be a tension headache or something, since sleep hasn't cured it.

I'm up early! Again! I have to burn some DVDs of all the stuff I've been ripping over the last few days. It's taking forever.

Computer-stuff: it won't be/isn't ready to take. Apparently, I bought the wrong kind of hard drive, but I really don't believe the guy who advised me could make a mistake like that. Maybe I bought the wrong one? Either way, it's all a bit pointless now, since we can't take it. Le sigh.

I've just started the burning business...*twiddle fingers*

Heidi came over to drop her luggage last night - they came reeeeally late (all the girls came, yay)(and Kaya)(and I haven't seen Kaya for a squillion vermillion years)(it was vey nice to!) and I was still frantically packing/unpacking/repacking. Mostly, it was boxing up the stuff on my desk and shelves, 'cause I don't want them sitting around gathering dust for a year. It was horrible to leave all that work to the end; all I wanted to do was go downstairs and spend time with mum.

I'm kind of just writing out of boredom now, and nothing better to do while my discs burn. Okay, one DVD is done. Next one!

I didn't get a chance to call ~~everyone~~ anyone last night, so please forgive me. You are all in my du'as and I will miss you. But you know! A year goes quicker than you think, and inshallah, we'll be back before you know it.

My usra/free: Always always in my duas, dunno what we'll do without you. Please call my mum every so often to make sure she's okay and to keep her company! I know she would appreciate it.

Maybe I should get breakfast. Yeah. I need to go to the library again because I forgot to take a couple of things back yesterday. 46% done!

47%!
48%!

*bored*

2006-08-08T19:15:00.000+02:00

I just realised that Bry has a new blog for her transatlantical fantastickal adventures which lives aboard a pirate-ship, and the Captain said to meee...we're going this way, that way, forwards and backwards, over the whole of the sea; a bottle of ~~rum~~ non-alcoholic beverage to fill my tum, and that's the life for me!

Etc.

Packing like maniacs. Dropped in to the liberry this morning. Waah. =(

If only I could commute every weekend.

I got mum a chilli tree! Actually, it is a 'morris gaas' being as how I would never have said it in English XD

It would be really nice to have nothing left to do tomorrow...I'd better get off the spinsternet, I guess. XD XD

2006-08-08T10:54:00.000+02:00

Today it's finally sinking in, that this is our last day. I've been up since 8 frantically ripping CDs (need sources of intellectual enrichment XD XD).

Everyone just realised that no one's packed any shoes yet, and the house rumbled with this collective groan of yet another suitcase. XD

The last few days have been an alternation of sitting on suitcases, and zipping them shut. Last night, we had some peoples over to dinner, which was when it finally began to dawn on me that we were really leaving. I can't uncouple the thought of leaving from thoughts of my mummy. We've been in a haze of anti-panic for the last couple of weeks, but it's finally finally descending into all-out chaos, panic and irritability. Potent stuff. XD

One last visit to the liberry (I still have books to return XD XD). I have a list of errands scrawled over my hand so I won't forget them.

2006-08-06T23:55:00.000+02:00

Dear Everyone at BTP,

Thank you so so so much for yesterday. I'm so touched, and so sorry to be leaving! 'Everyone' includes all the staff (obviously!), the postman(!), the kids (<3), and ALL the borrowers! It's been a great six years - for everyone who came yesterday, it was so nice to see you! Those of you who couldn't make it, I'm sorry I didn't see you, but I was thinking of you.

I don't know how you feel about being named on the internet (dun dun dun!) so I won't, but the card! It was so nice! THANK YOU.

My little brother's nabbed my football stickers and almost claimed the chess set, the card makes me choke with laughter every time I open it, the book will finally get to see all the places it talks about but has never visited (hah), yet an0ther book will stay firmly undercover (oo the new Artemis Fowl is out!!) and the chocolate and polos will be ~~selfishly~~ carefully savoured for as long as possible, when I'm as far away from BTP as I've ever been. And the cake? The cake is only a distant gastric memory.

I'm sorry I couldn't oblige you with the appropriate tears (hah!), but I came home and wept for England. So there we are!

I'm extremely jealous of how much fun the Saturday kids will have without me (*pout*) and soon there will be a new Fab Four and you will be GREAT.

Also, Blogspot is weird. I may migrate to a different one soon, because I'm too dim to figure this out XD XD

And Kas, MR. POSTMAN IS GREAT.

2006-08-04T18:10:00.000+02:00

So!

This will be my Egypt blog. Eventually. When it starts working.

- watch it all dissolve into a single second -

Now found at -

Why Women Cry

Sandstorm!

...a HANDBAG??

ouch

ouch

*wave*

Slate & Artefacts

(some photos)

888

23? 13!

...the noose is tight, so shall it be torn.

Theoretic Tolerance?

Rhetor Maximus!

'The door is open...'

Planet Earth!

Toast...?

Flowers are red! Green leaves are green!

six six six

-_-

Exciting exciting things!

:(

In the wee hours,

Sana Jadeeda!

?

Oops, sorry XD

Crunchy Leaves!

.

Haya Mustawa Rabi'

...

--

-

wave