Masjid crawl

This ramadan has been so full,its been brimming. i felt work was taking over and
i needed something more spiritual. i found out about the MYF qiyam on wednesday night and i wentfrom isha till fajr. It was so much fun seeing all the ladies in one place, qiyams are incredibly beautiful for so many reasons, the closeness you feel to Allah, the sincere lightness of spirit from all there, the fact that you see people you havn’t see since last Ramadan. ahhh that was the beautiful part the not so joyous part was that I had work the morning after and literally jumped on the bus just before sunrise to get to work and survive a full days work. How I managed to stay awake for 24hours only Allah knows.

Then on Friday night, round two arrived and we stayed in the MYF till 3am when the twin announced that Didsbury Masjid was completing the Qur’an in a couple of hours, WOW but more then that there is nothing quite like a Didsbury Du’a especially to mark the completing of the Qur’an. MD and I jumped in the twins car and of we went. it’s a joyous surprise when the Iman is reciting the Qur’an and you realise you know more surah’s then you think you do. The Du’a was lived up to the Didsbury expectation.

Then we left jumped back in the car and made it back to the MYF for Sehri, fajr and the Du’a. For some strange reason I feel like my Ramadan is over now, its probably because I can’t possibility top up these last magical couple of nights. Alhamdulilah now that I made up for the initial dip in the middle.

I wish It could be Ramadan everyday! But then the essence of Ramadan is to carry all the lessons we have learnt.

Beginner's cooking

Feasting on everyone else’s offerings was making me feel that it was about time everyone feasted on my offering. Cue “The Osborne beginner’s cookbook” and a very motivated Naima. The results:

Meatball in tomato sauce ( with peppers, onions, mixed herbs...) with pasta



fudgy apple crumble with custard.



I experiment on MD, Sarah and little AD. They lovvveeeeeeeed it, my worries about starving in Egypt are long gone. I am actually on a high, what an achievement. Next time am doing this on a much larger scale inshallah.

They might look rather simple but am so proud! my first meal

aahhh

Wow i have had another absoultely hectic week, but this time its because am training with NTL , subhanallah its so much fun, not because the training is not challenging (which it isn't) not because my follow trainees are simple (which they are) but because its just a nice, relaxing atmosphere and since virgin merged their outlook is if the staff are happy this will translate to good customer service which will translate itself to revenue.......blah blah.

What it means for me is i get spoiled, i have eid off if it falls on a monday, i can take the prayer room key from the reception when ever i wish and 2 of my follow trainees are soooo simple bless them that they make me smile.

The first week of the 6 weeks training is almost over and am loving it. Alhamdulilah NTL or the egypt fund as am terming it simply rocks.

The arabic lesson are coming along nicely ( my head still hurts) and iftar has been the most adventurous yet. we have had

libyan food
English food ( roast dinner)
good ole somali food
indian
italian

and thats all i can remember.

full plate

The headache that is getting prepared to applying for a pgce is immense, especially when you’re fasting, trying to save for 6 months in Egypt, spend quality time with family and friends, attend tarawih, iftaris, a 9 hour intensive Arabic course, go to school placements. Is it any wonder i am starting to get a tad stressed!

A full time job

My banker of a sister would be so proud, I sat down a while ago after booking my ticket for Egypt and calculated exactly how much I would need for my accommodation, course, living expenses and a few trips to Sinai and Aswan maybe luxor and so on.

Anyway was I was starting to become a little anxious that I might not be able to meet the amount that I need to save per week (16 weeks to go till I leave) but truly allah hears our du’a because out of the blue I just got a call saying I will be starting my new job this Monday and I will be training for 4 or 6 weeks which is beautiful because I won’t be straining myself during Ramadan.

I am so pleased, am getting excited about studying, Arabic, Tajweed, the Qur’an. Ahhh utter bliss Alhamdulilah, don’t you just wish it could be Radaman everyday of the year.

This also means I can help with Radio Ramadan more too inshallah, White African invited me, MD and Sarah to the show a week ago and our first show was so controversial, what did we cover I hear you asking… women being allowed in the masjid.

Yeah I know what made it controversial we simply don’t know, refer to White Africans report.

http://whitelibyanafrican.blogspot.com/