Rage against the institute

Today I learnt what it means to be a professional in Egypt and although I had long ago learnt that a junior doctor earns at 250 egyptian junay I couldn’t understand how they managed to live on it, and the person I am closest to I know has been saving for an apartment along with her husband so they can finally move in together what I didn’t realise was what she was earning.

I assumed all was financially well as she was working in a international school and I paid in euros not even in the standard dollars! So when yesterday my lump sum tuition fees ran out we started to talk about Egypt and the current situation when I asked her how much she earns an hour. She looked really uncomfortable and being even more curious now I got her to tell me.

Honestly I was not prepared for the shock its ludicrous, and she doesn’t even get paid for holidays or sick leave. I am royally peed to say the least. It been me and sara for 4 months now, I don’t see anyone else from the institute nor do I have any contact with them, nor do they enrich my life in anyway so where my money is going I don’t know but its not going to the one person it should.

I am considering pulling out of the school now since my 4months advance payment has run out. I do have my level 3 wad sitting around but the payment system is soooo unjust that there is no way am going to contribute to it and I don’t give a toss what that may mean for my Arabic while am here!!!

farewell shari khalid ibn al-walid

I have had the craziest week since packing my bag and heading for Alexandria. The best bit being that it feels like half of Manchester is here. I had a beautiful two days with sarah and liz in my ex-flat and met mariam and salma two of sarah travelling buddies.

The stressors of the week were being almost homeless, the flat I had planned to move into to with sarah fell through mainly because someone went back on our agreement this is were it helps to have a man doing your bidding again! The poor girls had to help me move to bangles and Md’s old hotel with the famous ‘adil.

While all this was going on I had my end of level exam to revise for but I had to put school on hold. I have never revised in so many different places before, on trains, in cafes, at tourist attraction sites and so forth.

But Alhamdulilah and as I write this am sat in my hotel room about to go in search of breakfast/lunch since I slept in. I just found out who does the laundry and cleans the rooms, they are both really sweet elderly man which is totally crap as I can’t deal with the idea of someone in there sunset years cleaning up after me! Looks like its lundary in the institute as usual and keeping my room incredibly tidy.

Amina and Alex

Amina had been here since last Saturday, a total of 10 days and its been greeting having her, she is one of those amazing house guest that you hope could just stay on. We didn't know each other all the well so it a lovely experience spending some quality time together. The following are the highlights of trip.

On the night she arrived we went out to dinner at Balba this amazing Syrian restaurant which in the middle of a very ordinary looking area but my is it amazing, you are served at least 10 starts before you even order, definitely a must experience in alex. We had a beautiful meal and the waiter could tell from Amina’s Arabic that she wasn’t Egyptian and asked the usual question “where are you from” which then lead to the debate of whether Somali is an arab country and the linguist classification of Somali.

Then we left and walked around to explore a hijab shop when a man stumbled out of an alleyway next to the shop amina and i were in, clutching his stomach because he was dripping blood, it looked like he had been stabbed! The Egyptian ladies looked horrified as we did but I have to admit there reactions were a little more animated then ours, it was all over in a split second and a taxi took him to the hospital but what an experience on your night of arrival especially as I had been telling her how ridiculously save alex is and how nothing happens and people are out with their families in the wee hours of the morning, but there is nothing like an incident like that to make you doubt.

Then the day after we went to discover the zoological gardens at somuha, I have never been a fan of zoo’s I think its unnatural to cage wild animals for our pleasure but I have never had a crazy urge to either cry or run around the zoo unlocking doors whilst shouting, be free be free.But that’s just what I felt there so Never again I say

Then because I had breakfast at 7am by out 4pm I was really low on sugar and needed food. I got my food first took my tray and found a place for us to sit, when I amina approached I tried to stand up so I could move my bag and I have no idea what happened but my tray tipped and one minute my food was on the plate and then next I was wearing it. I stood there with rice and chicken covering half of my upper body and lap thinking “oh joy” then I grabbed my napkin and started to wipe it of when amina realised what had happened, the miskeena walahi she looked sooo embarrassed and quickly ushered us away from the scene of the crime then I had to walk all the way back to the Chinese food outlet and re-order the exact same meal whilst covered in it and left amina to wait for it while I walked into the bathroom to sort myself out.

I walked into the bathroom and the first girl to see me looked horrified and then she looked at me with concern and pity, which made me wonder if I should be embarrassed but the strange thing was I wasn’t fussed at all. When my skirt was semi dried (all the layers I wear certainly came in handy) from the hand drier I went out, ate my meal and then we moved across to Cilantro and carried on as normal. Maybe I should have felt a twinge of something but nope. Hmm is that healthy to be so unconcerned especially when amina and random strangers were embarrassed on my behalf.

We managed to do Islamic and pharaohnic cairo in one day, needless to say when we made it back to alex just before midnight we both collapsed and woke up at 12pm the next day. Definitely an experience and now we know it doable if somewhat unhinged.

I have been revising for the end of my level 2 exam but amina being so resourceful got in touch with her emiratie school mates and managed to see the whole of alex. It turns out that in my time here I have broken sooo many Egyptian etiquettes and have frequented the dodgiest of place. Etiquettes such as girls do not go to the beach by themselves…opps am planning on still doing that. And apparently montazah gardens after sunset are a place were ladies of the night frequent toting for business…Astagfirallah but I have to say the sunset is incredible there. And Ibrahimya where I shop for tops and shoes and things is apparently not the safest of area. I am I planning on changing my ways..hmmmm

kitchens and accidents

So there I am exploring my culinary skills!....okay I was making beef stir-fry from my beginners cook book but it was the first time I marinated anything so leaving the beef in a concoction to marinate was a colossal achievement. 30 minutes later I completed the stir-fry and saying Its scrumptious is an apt description. This explains why at the point of my little accident I was skipping around my tiny kitchen putting things away.

I retrieved a plate from a cabinet and went to the sink to run some water over it while singing along to cat stevens “oh very young” in a tone deaf, rhythmically challenged, no one should ever be subjected to kind of voice when the plate slipped out of my hand fell on the edge of the sink and slit my wrist opened (or so it felt like at the time)

After staring at my wrist for a life time I had to turn down the rice I had boiling, try and shove a top over my head and don a hijab all with one hand whilst trying to stop the bleeding with a bit of paper towel, put some shoes on, grab my keys and purse and went to the pharmacy downstairs.

Only to be met by a lady on the phone who seems content for me to bleed all over her counter while she conducted her very lively and amusing conversation. By the time I was ready to break the glass on her counter and grab some plasters myself she turns around to me with a beaming smile and asks me what I wanted, Arggh so short of assaulting her I showed her my gaping wound and she looked at it in that nonchalant Egyptian ma-lesh kind of way. Which made me want to throttle her, she then offered me the only size plasters she had which were ridiculously small for the size of my injury. I also had to grab so cleaning solution and some cotton wool which I was informed was 100% Egyptian cotton, at this point who cares am about to lose a limp.

So I come up find that my rice is surprising cooked and the plasters she gave me actually fit my wound while the 100% Egyptian cotton felt rather nice. Ah well ….

solitude

The need for solitude has always been very short lived with me. I am at my best in a social setting, I am when of 7 so from as long as I can conceivably remember I have always been surrounded by noise, tears, arguments, discussions, but mostly laughter and I grew up associating laughter and happiness with people. So I have to admit living alone in a foreign country in the beginning was difficult and I did what I do best, make several arrangements to go out and meet with friends and work on new ones.

But being alone as strange and silent and avoidable as I wanted to make it it was most noticeable and present at night and more so at the early hours of the morning, especially at Fajr. When you’re in a large flat by yourself the presence of your lord is almost tangible, it’s special and there is a bare vulnerability that radiates from you that the world normally masks with all its noise and crazy commotion.

When all that is striped away you have the opportunity to look at the core of you, with all that makes you, the beauty, the imperfections, the failings, the success. An insight such as that forces you to take a fresh look within yourself in a way that if you choose to will allow you to illuminate the good and work on the bad. Essentially you become truly re-acquainted with yourself and what a canvas to work with the human soul is.

The cave of Hira was the sanctuary of the Rasul (saw) and I have come to internalise that we all need a place where we can simply BE in the presence of the creator.

Venezuela quits IMF and World Bank

I just had to share this story, Hugo boy makes my day everytime. Here are snipts of the Guardian article.

The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, today severed ties with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In doing so he distanced Caracas further from what he described as Washington-dominated institutions.

The populist leader, (popular indeed, i would vote for him if i could) who took office pledging to pursue radical political reform and an economic "third way", said yesterday that Venezuela no longer needed institutions "dominated by US imperialism". (true true)

Venezuela has been loosening its ties to the IMF and the World Bank since Mr Chávez took office in 1999. Venezuela recently repaid its debts to the World Bank five years ahead of schedule. In doing so it saved $8m (£3.99m) and cleared all its debts to the IMF shortly after Mr Chávez was elected. ( Can you imagine the positive effect this would have on the world if every country followed suite)

Mr Chávez said the takeover marked the end of an era of Washington-dictated policies and returned Venezuelan resources to national control.
"The wheel has turned full circle," he said. (way to put it Hugo, now lets just replicate this world wide)

Pomp and amusement

I had Tajweed this morning and sara and I have started to sit on a green mat usually probed against a corner of the room. We thought we would imagine ourselves sat in a Qur’an Halaqa studying with the Asshaba. Sara informed me that it was an old MD (mari) practice when she was here last summer. I can see why there is something so much more spiritually uplifting reciting the Qur’an and practicing the rule on the ground with your legs crossed then sat on a chair.

I had a really precious moment when I was practicing a rule called qalqala I was concentrating on the repeating sound when sara made me repeat the ayat again and suddenly I stopped in the middle of the ayat because I realised I understood it. Subhanallah but I understood it. It’s the ayat in which Allah was ordering musa (AS) to go to Fir’aun, he has transgressed. It reads roughly ihba ila fir’auna innahu daqaa (verse 15 surah 79).

Almost 3months of studying and I understood one ayat but to me it was infinitely so much more, it’s what that one ayat represents. The misery of getting up at 6am to be in work for 8 am in the height of winter were despite all my layers I had never felt such penetrating cold but this memory has been supersede by the memory of this morning. Subhanallah but it was worth it for that ayat alone.

My father when I was young used to say to me that the worth of something that you have been give and the worth of something that you have worked hard for can never be of comparative value, one will always out live the other in your memory. It took me 23 years to "get" it , may allah grant him jannatul firdaws.

I was reminded of when allah asks the inhabitants of jannah if they experienced any hardship on earth and they say not for one moment oh lord ( or something therein) Am also reminded of the ayat that says "And the life of this world is only a deceiving enjoyment"

Then I came home and crashed out in front of the sofa and switched on the tv which went automatically to the Qur’an channel which was at this point playing surah yusuf with the English translation running at the bottom of the screen. It was on the bit when the woman of that town heard about the wife of Al-Aziz’s failed seduction of Yusuf (As) so she invited them to a banquet and gave them knives. Then called him out and because of his beauty they cut themselves and stated that he couldn’t be a mortal and he must in fact be an angle.

She then says admitted her intentions towards Yusuf , tells about his refusal and goes on to say that he will be punished and imprisoned hence being disgraced.While Yusuf says "oh my lord prison is dearer to be then that which they invite me to" When I had moment of realisation that his concept of being disgraced is disobeying allah , hence being akhiyra orientated while her concept of disgrace is a prison on earth thus being dunaya orientated. Subhanallah!

Being from the west it struck me just what Yusus (AS) was refusing, the attentions of one of the most beautiful woman of his time and more so of the entire woman in his area yet today we are so used to men being defined as a stud because of the number of woman he has been with, and it struck me the difference in thinking, how many men of our time faced with such temptation, a beautiful women or prison would turn to his lord and say

" oh my lord prison is dearer to be then that which they invite me to"!

A no is a no

A certain someone’s mother has marked Thursdays and Mondays in her diary as shock NM into speechlessness days. Last Thursday I thought would remain in my memory as the most unexpected day in Alexandria. This Monday however managed to supersede even that.
The lady in question called me to say that she has sent me an email for the engagement details and that she wanted my dad’s number and email address! Oh my god was just no were near expressing the horror of that moment! Huh!!

On the pervious Friday I thought I made it clear that I was only in Egypt to study Arabic and had a home and family to go back to. But the insistent lady asked me to pray the istikhara, I was also under the impression the prayer was for moments of confusion except for once am anything but confused!! It is hard to be insistent back with a 50 plus year old woman without sounding rude so I said I will get back to her.

3 days later the lady is sending me my engagement details and asking for my dad’s details! Like hell am going to give her my dad’s number, does the woman not realise my dad would be on the first plane out of Manchester to come collect me! In this email the lady is also giving me details of my dowry! like i can be brought! am getting really annoyed,stressed and even panicky now

Walahi its times like this I realise the need for a mahrem, clearly am perceived as not being able to make my own decisions, but if this was my dad or my brother I bet the first NO would have been the end of it!

As I write this I need a massive does of galaxy chocolate, a cup of tea and if I wasn’t Muslim something that would come from a boy on a bicycle from moss side!

Living alone

The choice of living with the two Romanian bintaan or staying in the flat all by my lonesome has vanished because the ladies are not satisfied with there flat so are also planning on moving and are currently searching for somewhere more to there liking and having seen that place and its proximity to the school (a 30minute walk ) and its proximity from the sea ( one has to take a taxi) I too am disheartened with the prospect.

So the question remains why the girls can not just move in to my flat since am exponentially satisfied with my dwelling. (2 minutes from the institute and the sea) Unfortunately my dwelling will quadruple in rental price in June meaning that even with the strength of the sterling I will also have to move.

So as things remain I am living by my lonesome till am joined by my fellow mancunian sisters. So how have I been occupying myself? Well I have become rather house proud mainly due to watching on satellite a British show called “ Anthea Turners’s perfect housewife” the title does of course not relate to me but she does have some amazing cleaning tips as well as being a very amusing showing although am not that’s its intent.

Cooking for one and eating alone is no joy so for a while I seized to cook at all and lived on take-aways a.k.a. utter crap till I started to feel rather weak and realised I had hit another phase of anaemia so am back to popping iron pills and cooking.

But first I had to go to the local supermarket and actually buy some food, why on earth do supermarket managers move things around. Just when you think you have got a handle on shopping efficiently they change things around. Shopping is such a chore if Fathalah had internet shopping I would jump at the chance but instead I had to contend with starting one end of the shop floor to the other end because I could not phantom the arrangements literally walking the whole supermarket floor.

When I finally made it home I was really excited to try this carrot, potato and ginger soup and it was an absolute success, just delicious except I do not have a food processor so it’s a little lumpier then it should be but the proof is in the tasting. I then continued to make myself some biryani and some bolognaise sauce for when the need for paste over takes me. So not only is the flat sparkling but my fridge is full of food, it’s like an outer body experience am turning into a domestic dream my mother will not recognise me.

Retraction

If your wondering what happend to my "what on earth" rant let me tell you, late at night i remembered that the sister of the brother concerned has my blog address to my horror so i had to take it off!

But its save to say that i didn't hide away all day as i had intended, although i didnt' really address the issue either but eh. The lady wants me to pray the istikhara, guess its the least i can do then in a weeks time i will just say " am sorry it wasn't meant to be"

end of issue inshallah

An egyptian family

The first person I met at Risala was Iman, she took me under her wing and showed me around, making sure that I got to know everyone I needed to know and visa versa. She brought me into her social circle until I ended up with a mass of Egyptian girlfriends. For some unknown reason I was on her engagement party list although it was relatively small.

Her mum has learnt from Iman that I am all alone and families less here in Egypt and has invited me to dinner on a very regular basis. After my first dinner at their house, we retired to the living room and watched the end of an Egyptian soap opera, then we watched an Amr khalid’s show with Iman translating while her mother made us the most delicious mint tea. It was so homely and I was awe struck with just how at home I felt there. It was a lovely experience after being out of a family atmosphere for so long.

My other point of family contact is Nad’s Qur’an teacher Khalah Hana who is an incredibly lovely woman, She too invites me to dinner every Wednesday and I have the joy of playing with her 7 year old Ula. She is the one who introduced me to the Seerah circle and now that I have purchased my copy of“sealed nectar” I feel so much more ready to soak up the teacher’s wisdom.

Truly I am constantly amazed and awed by the warmth I receive from others, people who I am a complete stranger to and all that binds us is that we greet each other with Salaam. The instant love, trust and protectiveness that people who I have only known for a short time show me. When they say if you ever need anything let me know I KNOW they mean it and know I have unconditional support if I ever needed it.

I have known the Prophets (saw) sayings that the Ummah is like one body but until know I have never come close to understanding the love that is and should be between the believers!

Thus far

Its been awhile and a lot has happened I have been so busy though that I really just couldn’t bring myself to blog so here is another general update in a somewhat chronological order.

1) I made it to Cairo a day late to pick up the girls and bring them to the flat, I booked them a 2rooms in a hotel called the Berlin hotel in Cairo listed in my rough guide which is a tad old I guess because according to the girls it’s an utter dump. They said it made our flat look like a palace oops!

2) They had raised a total of 10,000 LE for the orphanage project at Risala. I set up a meeting with the orphanage projects designated donations collector at the time I was teaching so I missed the look on his face but I guess he was elated for the children.

3) I am officially teaching English to a group of students, I have a soft. Low voice and I kept being asked to raise my voice, my handwriting has gone down the tube, I found myself trying to explain things in Arabic, and the students spoke to each other in Arabic alots so I had to implement a no Arabic inside the class room rule, looks like sara’s teaching habits are rubbing of ! They want me concentrate on pronunciation so by the time I leave am going to leave behind a bunch of northern accented Egyptians.I have yet to start my conversational Arabic classes with a girl called Iven (strange name I know)

4) The banker and I spent the whole of Tuesday together as quality time, since we both hate shopping instead of completing our shopping list we spent most of the day in food outlets, sipping tea. She left her bag in the food court of san Stefano and only remembered when we were in the taxi. We asked the security guide and he asked us to describe it and then just pulled it out from a box behind him. This then made the banker feel like she needed another break so we discovered a Cilantro just at the bottom of the stairs, walked in and oh my lord I was home! They had a massive circular bookshelf in the middle of the store, I saw 2boys with books sprawled all over their table and a man on his laptop, they have wifi and the most amazing mocha’s. Guess were I am going to be studying now! I had so missed café life

5) I have taken up Ahadith and when Sara put me straight on to level two i felt rather panicky and was I right! It’s hard-core Arabic non of this level two Arabic which I am on now, they know am almost illiterate and all the vocabulary caters for that while in Ahadith....oh boy. The first hadith in the book was that in which Omar ibn aby salamah is taught my the prophet (saw) that we should start eating with Bismillah , eat from the portion of food nearest to us and with out right hand. Sara wants to explain the hadith in Arabic in tomorrow’s lesson; I can really see that happening.

6) My remaining house mate is leaving on the 12th of April, which officially means I am going to have a 3bedroom flat to my little self, unless I move to Qortoba accommodation and share with 2 German/Romanian girls who are looking into Islam ( no pressure there then)

7) My sister and the Twins have officially left and the house is soooo much quieter now! Almost eerie. Its difficult to comprehend how 2weeks can pass so quickly.There is nothing quite like seeing family again, I really miss my bunch, makes you realise just how much you love them.

8) Oh and i went to my first Egyptian engagment and i was even able to upload the pictures!!!

Ma'asalam ya atr

Come get us from the airport I was told and althought I did point out that it would be liking going from manchester to heathrow to pick up 3 seasoned travellers especially when am the baby of the group! But because my big sister requested ever so politely that i pick them up i went to the station and brought a ticket yesterday and when the time came today jumped on a taxi and asked him to take me to station ramleh!

we got there and I looked at him blankely. I asked why we had brought me to the tram station instead of the train station, he says, you asked for sation ramleh! Thats when it dawned on me, damn!! but i wanted station sidi gaber which is actually a train station and not a tram station, this is clearly what happens when you grown over confident!

So dispondently ask him to take me to the nearest train station and he took me to masr station, we pulled up in front of a massive non-familiar station and i jump out having paid him and ran around looking for my train, shockingly enough i missed it. Then when i tried to buy a ticket for the next train at 8pm I was informed it was full then I asked about the one at 10 and joyeously that was also full so I had to buy a ticket for first thing in the morning and sadily go home.

While I was in the taxi i had to change the rooms reservation and book a pick up from the airport so now there will inshallah be an egptian man holding up as sign with the bankers name on it instead of me (so sad) I stopped at mo'men (sandwish place) and grabbed a beautiful sandwich, which brings me to the need to rant.

Why is it that when we give in charity its always a measly amount, There is this old, frail man who stands in front of mo'men and when ever we are there we along with others give him some money but walahi it never equals what the sandwich and chips combo cost!! So feeling a little ashamed i asked him if he wanted to eat something and he look at me suprised and a little sad so i asked him to wait ( not that he was going anywhere really) and a brought two meals one for him and one for me. I gave him is bag (noticing that he his right hand was miss shapen, may allah love him) and he looked so suprised and humbled which ticked me off royally because it means he has got used to people giving him measly amounts and two it means ever so clearly that we don't love for our brothers what we love for ourselves.

Risala

when my contact (who I met in a restaurant in cairo :)) gave me Risala's number I was under the impression it was an orphanage. Let me tell you how wrong I was, it in fact has an orphanage programme, a blind project, a deaf project, a special needs centre, a homeless programme and poverty project.I have not yet found out how it’s financed but I know the large bulk of its income in self generated through links with the community and several income generating projects such as work shop.

Its mainly staffed by volunteers and they seemed genuinely delighted that I would want to come and help. I was an instant hit with the children (mainly because I came with a 2kg box of sweets!)

My English is in demand by all the different projects and programmes, I already have 2jobs

1) Teaching English to the staff
2) Creating a database (although I havn’t done one since 1st year of uni)

I really want to do something with the orphans but they are up2 two years of age so am not sure what I can do with them other then play with them I guess. They encourage a mentoring scheme, were an adult becomes a brother or a sister to one of the baby orphans. I am not sure what that entails yet although it sounds interesting.

Iman (a beautiful woman who spoke fluent English) took me around to each department and introduce me to the project leader. I have not been hugged and kissed by so many people other then after Eid prayer and I loved every minute of it, the genuine instant affection never fails to warm my heart. The most heart wrenching moment was when Fatima a 7month old orphan was handed to me, Subhanllah she looked so000 Adorable, serene and unaware of her situation.

My mother was orphaned when her mother was 6months pregnant with her so she never met her father and then again when her mother passed away when she was 6years old. So from her stories I can guess how insecure and lonely Fatima will find this world! My mother was lucky enough to have an extended family but Fatima has no one. God I wanted to take her home, from today onwards inshallah she will become my sponsored orphan.

Oh and when I told the family I was going to be working at Risala I didn’t think it would results in anything but the banker, subhallah older sisters, there in an finite wisdom that no matter how old you become they still seem to have insight and resourcefulness that you wouldn’t even contemplate.The crazy woman sent me a text to say she has started a collection for the orphage and has collected £260 from Didsbury masjid and will be holding another appeal at the MYF before she arrives on Saturday. So far that’s 2860 Egyptian Junay what a sister!!

23rd Birthday

I turned 23 today so in order to mark the occassion i have been working on producing a personal mission statment that i can live by and here it is:


Personal mission statement

1) Always be sincere and honest with myself and my creator (including my intentions, motives and drives)
2) Know that victory comes with patience, relief with affliction and ease with hardship.
Priorities my family. Aim to make my whole being an enrichment and blessing upon my parents. And my time on earth a source of comfort and unwavering support to my siblings.
3) Nurture my friendships, give without expectations, seek to understand and then be understood
4) Excel in counselling ( Person-centred approach integrated with a Islamic perspective, attain the Islamic knowledge and wisdom that this will require)
5) Sponsor an orphan/s
6) Allah loves that which is small but consistent, set up a standing order with Islamic relief.
7) Fluency in Arabic, beauty in Tilawa, Eloquence in Speech and memorisation of the Qur’an.
8) Explore Allah’s world (Frequent, responsible and earth friendly travel)
9) Learn at least one new skill a year
10) Eradicate at least one bad habit a year
11) Be debt free always.

General update

1) I just completed my level one exam and i got ...92% YAY alhamdulilah! Level two here i come then just 8more till fluency inshallah;)

2) I have descovered the Alex club and for 25 gunay (2.50 sterling) I can go horse riding. I think i should mention at am scared of horses, well riding them at least they are such powerful creatures, capable of neck breaking speed and there is always the possibility of getting trampled on but fear shouldn't be disabling so i have decided to over come it! ( last time i rode a horse for 20mins in luxor I spent the whole time reciting Ayatul-kursi i was so scared) wish me luck, i hope they have helmets and a bit of body armier would be reassuring too.

3) I have seen the error of my ways via a flat mates current sheer disregard for keeping her space clean. At home i used to leave my dish at the sink, leave my cups of tea where ever i was at the time i finished drinking it, bring my lundary down but never actually put them in the washing machine. Never cooked and would ask who ever was in the kitchen got me a plate of food! Now that i see someone else behaving like this am rather ashamed of my own past slobbiness and have vowed never to return to that state! I am suprised my mother didn't through me out!!

4) I have heard about a ma'had that teaches islamic course in english so am going to check it out this week and i have decided if they have a woman and islam course am going to enrol,
i can live up to my feminist way, woman aren't allowed in the masjid arghhh

Mass exodus from Alexandria

How quickly things change, subhanallah sometimes it’s almost at breath taking speed. In the space of a week the following has happened

1)Amel my flat mates in getting married (yes to an Egyptian) from Cairo and is thus leaving us this Sunday!!

2) This morning as I came back from my class and walked into our building the mother of the family who I blogged about last time told me that her and the children are leaving today, out moving permanently. I give her my telephone number here and my number and address in the UK. She tried to shake my hand as a farewell (I was thinking .. er…no that’s not how we say salam) so I dragged her into a bear hug and we both parted looking a little tearful then I had to find the kids, its sooo SAD. I really loved that family they always greeted me with a genuine smile of affection and tried to converse with me in Arabic and the kids called my name as I walked in from class (probably because they new I had chocolate for them ..but still) they made me feel at home.

3)The British girls who I met at the school from Birmingham will be returning home this Saturday too!

Now the building will lose that homely feel and our flat with be colder (literally body heat is our only source of heating) and we won’t be able to go out in a big group or go around to the British lots flat for tea!

That’s it I really need to find an Egyptian family with NO sons, lots of daughters my age, who speak fusha and want to make a foreigner feel a little bit more at home now that practically everyone I now is deserting Alexandria.

Home sick

Shukri came and left like a breeze! we had a blast and i loved having her here but it all came to a sudden end and it made me remember that there is no place like home. Its official am homesick i miss everything.

i miss my family

i miss my mums cooking

i miss my crazy friends

i miss just been around people who know me

I was having a fantastic time till shukri reminded me what i was missing! Oh and my teacher is a slave driver, she had me purchase a book for grammar,a book for verbs ( i have hit the past and command) a book for writing short stories.

Short stories, my jaw dropped i even asked her if she was joking i haven't even completed level one yet!!!!

First visitor

My first visitor is almost here in the shape of Shukri, she arrives on Wednesday and I am so excited, the first familiar face for almost a month. She lands In Cairo and I have taken Thursday of school so I can have a long weekend in Cairo with her. Inshallah if all goes this is the itinerary I have put together for her and I complete with a hired driver for the 2days and a half.

Wednesday:
Pick her up from the airport and check into the hotel.

Thurday :
Salah a-Din’s Citadel followed by Ahmed Ibn Tulun masjid and
Sultan Hasan masjid as it’s around the corner, completing the day with the breathtaking
Azhar park, Pray maghrib and isha here before going back to the hotel.

Friday:
Pyramids and Sphinx (part way by car then taking a camel or a horse the rest of the way, how nomadic..ahh). Then to Atab market, followed by Khan al-Khalili for a spot of shopping, Azhar masjid then Amr Ibn Aaas Masjid and the Nilometer.

Saturday:
I hear Ahzar university is open to the public on Saturday but if not we will just have to form a rapid friendship with an Ahzari student whom will smuggle us in, what can be more exciting then the highest seat of sunni learning…. Then its on a train to Alexandria. I am so excited i have an incredible burst of energy.

Note: she doesn't read blogger and its a suprise so no telling her ladies :)

Say it with words

I am finally starting to speak Arabic outside of the classroom, but it’s beyond broken, its just a string of words. Such as when am coming back home in a taxi, I will tell him how to get to my house with the following string of words

Name of the road
Coffee shop Abu Hassan
Shimel (left)
Wahid Shari Yamin
Kam? (Give him the money)
Shukran,
Ma’ Asalama
And my other favourite scenario is when I go shopping for food, I am currently having a love a fair with fresh grilled fish.I walk in and I ask for quarter of a kilo of grilled mullet but this is how I do it

Asalamu alaikum
Rubu' (quarter)
Samak (fish)
Boori (mullet)
Meshwi (grilled)
Kam? (give him the money
Shukran,
Ma’asalama
During the whole interaction I stand there with the broad grin because it’s hilarious, who speaks in words. I find it so entertaining that I can go on for hours in this manner. Before I had a fear of speaking at all, now it’s just with words and soon inshallah it will be in full blown sentences.

Oh and i just got my results for my first written exam and i got 6 out of 40 wrong which is 85% rather pleased with that but the oral...lol words galore