tharwa

hello, goodbye

2006-07-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

so it’s been a while since i’ve last blogged. my apologies. a lot has happened and i’ve had so little time to sit down and write about them.

asmah and naba moved into our apartment around the middle of june. we had a lot of fun during our last days in egypt together. never went to sleep before 2 or 3 am...sometimes after fajr.

nadiya and i went to palestine and jordan for about 10 days. we had an amazing experience. i’ll try to blog about it later, insha’Allah.

nadiya, naveed and i took a one day trip to alexandria. the ride was supposed to take 2 hours but it took about 2 hours to get out of cairo. so basically, it took 4 hours to get there. unfortunately, i was sitting next to this burly egyptian guy who was trying to hit on me. he wrote his number on a slip of paper and kept trying to give it to me. he was also wearing a wedding band...how disgusting. i felt sorry for his wife. anyway, i met up with my ex-teacher, ustadh muhammad at the imam busiri mosque. that’s the imam who wrote the burda (the greatest classic poem in the arabic language in praise of the prophet muhammad (s) during the 13th century). afterwards, we ate at a fish market, got some dessert and took a taxi back to cairo.

i am now back in chicago. yes, i have said farewell to al-qahira which had welcomed me with arms wide opened. took me in like a lost orphan. i really felt like i belonged there. i miss it...my life there, the people, my friends, my teachers, my roomies and of course, the noise, the pollution, the heat, the satanic cats, the hustle and bustle of the crowded streets, the little ironing boy ringing our doorbell everyday asking if we needed anything ironed, the man on his donkey cart yelling, ‘bikya! bikya!’ asking for unused furniture, books and other junk and angry taxi drivers chasing after us demanding more money.

i received a nice welcome when i returned to the states. everyone seemed excited to have me back. my friends even surprised me with a welcome back cake. i was touched. but after all that, it sunk in that i was back to life in the u.s. looking for a job, living under my parent’s roof, the pressure of being an unmarried daughter, etc. i went out...to the mall and other places and felt like an alien...out of place...everyone seemed so strange to me...the way they dressed, the way they looked, the way they talked. and then i got sad...really sad. reverse culture shock.

day tripper

2006-06-04T02:54:00.000-07:00

a couple of fridays ago, naveed, nadiya and i took a little day trip with a history professor...i forget his name but he's friend's with the administrator of our school. this professor has access to places ordinary people don't so we got to see some places that we normally would not be able to.

we started our day at the northern wall and gates that were built in 1087 during the fatimid dynasty. they were a shia dynasty that ruled egypt between 969-1171 AD. they built a city inside the walls and called it 'qahira'. we get the current name 'cairo' from 'qahira'. there are 2 main entrances to the city...bab an-nasr (gate of victory) and bab al-futuh (gate of conquests). when salah al-din gained control of egypt from the fatimids in 1171, he extended the walls to protect the city from further shia attacks.

this is inside the mosque of al-hakim bin amr Allah built between 990-1012 AD. al-hakim was an evil caliph during the fatimid caliphate. he made all sorts of irrational laws like he had all the dogs in qahira killed. he made sleeping during the night and working during the day punishable by death. he poured all the honey (a delicacy back then) into the nile. he banned the making of women's shoes and the list goes on. one night, he went around the city on his donkey and mysteriously disappeared. only his bloodied shirt was found. his disappearance was mythologized by extreme shia followers who said he was divine and had ascended to a higher spiritual realm. these people became known as the druze and still exist till this day.

inside the courtyard of a traditional muslim house that was built in 1645 AD. this house was huge...the upstairs was for the women and the downstairs was for the men. there was a courtyard, a prayer hall, steam room, delivery room, etc. in addition, there was a garden, a well, a place to grind flour and other grains, etc. we didn't see everything 'cause it was friday and we had to go to juma'a.

that's me looking out the windows in the haremlik (the place for the women in the house). the windows were made so that the women on the inside could look out but nobody from the outside could look in.

the 'burda' is written all around the salaamlik (reception room on the first floor) on cedar wood that was imported from lebanon.

the pencil like minaret of the suleyman agha masjid built in 1839 during the dynasty of muhammad ali pasha. we climbed this minaret. it was very narrow compared to the other minarets i have climbed. we prayed juma'a here as well. not only was this a masjid but it also comprised of a madrasa and sabil.

a sabil from the 13th or 14th century. sabils were used to provide people with free drinking water. underneath this building was a gigantic tank for storing water enough to quench the thirst of everyone for a whole year. the water would be scented with a sweet smell and served in beautiful cups. all the sabils were decorated with verses from the quran. in addition, above every sabil was a school for teaching orphans and kids to read quran so people on the streets could hear their recitation when they stopped by the sabil to drink water. so just imagine being thirsty during the 13th or 14th century...you see a beautiful sabil with quranic inscriptions, drink sweetly scented water in pretty cups while hearing the recitation of the quran. not only would it quench your thirst but it would satisfy your senses and your soul with the rememberance of God. there were many sabils on the same street but many were unfortunately dilapidated. they aren't used now.

a present day sabil. it doesn't exactly have the same effect on your senses and soul as the original sabils did.

will add more pic later, insha'Allah.

fight for your right

2006-06-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

on thursday evening, we all went over to mona’s house for dinner and just to chill out. she’s like the mama who feeds you delicious home cooked desi meals. plus, she’s like the nicest person on the planet, masha’Allah. for example, she will take time off of class to take care of friends who are sick and cook for them and take them places and pick others up from the airport and host huge eid parties, etc. the list goes one. plus, she makes the best chocolate chocolate chip muffins. mmmm! i’m starting to salivate just thinking about them.

mona’s husband is into marial arts and has boxing gloves and shields and all that stuff. nadiya wanted to learn some self defense moves so mona said she would show her some. out came the gloves. as nadiya started to put them on, i felt inspired to let out some long repressed aggression. i put on the other pair of gloves and told nadiya i wanted to box her. but poor girl...she was so frightened by me and ran off hiding behind the sofas. i chased after her and started pounding her. i thought to myself, ‘hey! it’s a lot of fun beating the crap out of people!’ after i knocked out a few of her teeth, she managed to get away from me just in time to tag naveed. you see, i was a one man band and nadiya, naveed and asmah were a tag team. so naveed prepared to fight me. i was kinda nervous ‘cause she likes to bully me around. but that didn’t stop me! i gave her some upper cuts and jabs and she ended up with a black eye and bloodied nose. it felt so good to beat her up and to finally get my revenge. she started crawling towards asmah to tag her. by this time, i was on an adrenaline high. i was bouncing around punching jabs into the air waiting for asmah to fight me. she proved to be the most aggressive one from her team and put up a strong fight. a couple of hooks here and jabs there didn’t do the trick. so i added some kicks and she flew to the wall matrix style. that ended my fight with her. once again, tharwa, warrior princess emerged as the champion!

spice girls

2006-05-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

on new year’s day, nadiya, naveed, bikey and i made new year’s resolutions for each other. naveed and bikey’s resolutions are private so i won’t disclose them but mine was to share my chocolate with everyone and nadiya’s was to cook at least one meal for us. i think amongst all of us, i'm the only one who's kept her resolution. i share my chocolate all the time...except the times i hide in my room and eat it by myself.

several weeks ago, i was cooking something and nadiya came into the kitchen and said, ‘teach me to cook.’ so i said to her, ‘desi cooking is very simple. allz you gotta do is fry some onions and then put in the basic spices that go into practically every single indian dish....mirchi, adrak laison, haldi and namak....’ (chili powder, garlic-ginger paste, tumeric and salt). of course, other spices can be added as well to add flavor.

so today was the big debut for nadiya. she bought some chicken breasts and potatoes. she also had an assistant...naba. while they were in the kitchen, i happened to peak in to see how the progress was going. nadiya picked up a container of chili powder and asked me what it was. that made me a little nervous. then she continued to ask me to explain all the spices in the cabinet even though they were labeled. oh boy! i thought. not sure if i can trust someone to prepare my meals if they don’t know what they’re putting in my food.

anyway, i went back to my room and left the chef in the kitchen with her assistant. i heard some screaming a bit later but didn’t bother checking. found out that nadiya had set the stove knob on fire. that’s pretty dangerous...especially since we have a tank of gas right next to the stove...enough to bring the whole building down, i think. but alhamdulillah, naba blew out the fire.

so the food was ready. presented on the table were the following: white rice; chopped fried potatoes spiced up a bit; a veggie medley flavored with desi spices; chicken curry, and yogurt with onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. i must say everything was delicious! masha’Allah, nadiya and naba! job well done. can’t wait till you guys cook again.

the village people

2006-05-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

naveed and i went to a village called shabramand about 2 hours from cairo. we went with some People who volunteer their time to help the villagers with what they need. for example, they collect money to build water pumps, simple homes, a mosque, etc. and set up projects to help villagers become self sufficient. naveed and i wanted to check out the village to donate money for something useful before we left egypt.

there’s a stark difference between the city and the village/countryside. the village definitely has a lot more greenery. lots and lots of trees, and acres of farmland....corn, wheat, sugar cane and cotton. it was soothing to the eye and peaceful to the soul....something about the color green that makes you feel like that.

anyway, a branch of the nile river runs through it and is used for pretty much everything. i mean, it didn’t matter that a donkey was crapping in the water...boys were still swimming and people were taking baths in the very same water....alongside the animals crapping! unfortunately, it’s also used as a dumpster. tons and tons of garbage.

the people in the village are very warm and friendly. everyone says salaam to everyone else walking down the street or even in the car. it makes you feel like everyone is family. and the kids are oh so cute!

we made several stops to assess the needs of the village:

the village mosque does not have speakers for friday khutba and curtains for the women’s side.

a woman who has 4 children doesn’t have a 4 walled house. her ‘house’ literally has 2 walls and not even a complete ceiling to cover it completely.

we tested out a few water pumps that were recently built. many times, the water came out muddy meaning it wasn’t dug deep enough. despite the water being dirty, some of the locals started drinking from it. funds are needed to dig deeper for cleaner water.

another woman has a child who is paralyzed in both legs and the doctor told her the medical treatment required was something she could not afford.

the village doesn’t have a hospital. there is a pharmacist who collects unused medicine from sick patients who’ve become healthy and then he redistributes it to those who may need it but can’t afford it.

we were standing in front of a dilapidated building. i thought it was abandoned but then realized it housed the village clinic! the walls were unpainted and falling apart, and the stairs were crumbling...there was so much dirt and garbage on the floor. i felt like i was in an insane asylum from a black and white film. the ‘operating room’ was so small and ancient. the instruments and sinks had so much rust on it. the bathrooms were stained and filthy. even if someone were to have an operation there, they would probably die from infections afterwards. we asked if there was anything the clinic needed but the doctor seemed content with what he had.

there is this family of 4 orphans (ages 20, 18, and two kids) who had lived in a one room rented place for 9 months without paying the rent and were then kicked out by the landlord. so the People found an abandoned building in the village, cleaned it up and now the 4 orphans live there. but they don’t have any means to support themselves so the People want to start a project with them and teach them to take care of chickens and sheep, etc. funds are needed to start this project and also to fix up their decrepit house.

the People also have a place where they store donated clothing, shoes, furniture, etc. and distribute them to the poor.

at the end of the day, naveed and i were exhausted and sad to see the conditions some people lived in. alhamdulillah, it made us feel grateful for what we have and ashamed of the little things we complain about. we plan on going back after we have collected some money, insha’Allah. if anyone would like to donate money to help, please let me know. if enough people are interested, i’ll post up a contact.

flaming lips

2006-05-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

today we (nadiya, naveed and I) went to masjid al-azhar to pray juma’a (friday prayer). it is one of the most beautiful mosques in egypt in my opinion. however, it gets really crowded during juma’a time, especially the women’s side. but there was an old woman who was in charge of directing other women where to sit during juma’a. she was a cute old woman...sorta reminded me of my grandmother. she was short and stocky, with a round sweet face and wrinkled skin and she was wearing white...very angelic looking. but oh my! she sure wasn’t! when the 3 of us entered the women’s section, we stood at the entrance for a second to determine where to sit. but this old woman didn’t even give us a chance to think. she jabbed me in the back with her pointy fingers and demanded us to go to the back. i was scared of her and we did as we were told. after we sat in our assigned seats, i continued watching this old woman in action. she pushed other women to their places, made others move if they weren’t sitting in a straight line and even scolded a BABY for crying during the khutba!

for some reason, after juma’a, the women like to argue. unfortunately, i’ve seen this happen every time i’ve been to masjid al-azhar. i don’t know what they argue about but it always involves a screaming match between two really big tough arab women. it’s like watching sumo wrestling without the wrestling.

after juma’a, we decided to sit around the marble courtyard for a bit and do some work...it’s a peaceful and cool retreat from the crowd and heat of cairo. naveed and nadiya brought their qurans with them and i brought my calligraphy homework to do. people were sitting around with their families and eating. others were pacing back and forth memorizing verses from the quran. still others were sleeping or sitting by themselves contemplating on life. children were running and playing in the courtyard. as i was doing my calligraphy, this old man saw my work and was very impressed. he said something in arabic as he was passing. i didn’t get it...but he was smiling and seemed to be praising my work. i was happy.

some strange lady drank from my water bottle and i couldn’t stop her ‘cause i know there’s a hadith about the rewards of giving water to a thirsty person. i had a big bottle of water out as i was doing my calligraphy and i happened to step away from my things for a few minutes. the next thing i knew, this lady had polluted my water with her backwash. her lips were around my water bottle! i had to bite my tongue from screaming at her. i was actually nice and told her to keep the bottle ‘cause i wasn’t going to drink from it anymore but she refused. first of all, i don’t understand how anyone could just approach a half drunk bottle of water and drink from it without knowing who it belongs to or how long it’s been there or where the water is from, etc. secondly, i don’t understand why she didn’t just go to one of the 6 water stations around the masjid!

afterwards, we decided to climb the minaret (pic was taken from on top of the minerat). this is the 3rd minaret i’ve climbed in egypt. it’s always a wonderful experience to climb the minaret of an old mosque. just imagine, back in the day, the mu’azzin (person who calls everyone to prayer) used to climb the minerat 5 times a day. it’s nice to imagine yourself in his shoes....plus, it’s good exercise.

ode to cow

2006-05-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

cow left today to return to england so this is dedicated to her:

your 3 months stay was like a breath of fresh air
and now with you gone, our apartment is bare.
even though your time with us was brief,
your obsession with jinns provided great comic relief.
appearance wise, you look innocent and sweet,
but deep down inside, you really are a beast.
your impression of gollum (from lord of the rings) was damn freaky
and the tricks and mind games you played on people were pretty sneaky.
your baqaaqing (like a chicken), barking and meowing had people terrified
yet your pout, charming smile and baby face had men hypnotized.
but seriously, you are thoughtful, kind hearted, caring and generous.
a bit OCD at times, yet constantly at our service.
to the grocery store, fruit seller and vegetable man...you walked miles
and returned with borios and chocolates that brought us smiles.
to see you leave, we really were sad
but to Allah we are grateful for the experiences we had.
we wish you the best of luck in everything that you do
and that all your dreams and dua’as really come true.
remember the goals we set for each other to complete
and insha’Allah in the year 2008, again we shall meet.

NOTE: borios are a knockoff of oreos cookies and cow got us addicted to them.
the four of us (nadiya, naveed, cow and i) set goals for each other and decided to have a reunion sometime in 2008. i can't remember the exact goals but it was something like: nadiya has to do something with her calligraphy, naveed has to go back to university to get her master's degree, i have to work for a relief organization and cow...i can't remember.

dude...like a lady

2006-05-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

yesterday, the father of one of nadiya’s friends who is staying in egypt for diplomatic purposes (he’s an american diplomat with pakistani origins) invited us to his part of town. he lives in a beautiful suburb called ma’aadi. this Uncle is neighbors with many other diplomats, ambassadors and foreigners on overseas jobs. many of their homes are guarded by cement walls and/or security guards with big rifles at the entrances. there’s a different feel to this area...a lot more greenery, less sand, more westerners, cleaner air, etc. there’s a rule that a building cannot have an occupancy of more than 50% american. that’s in case the building ever gets blown up, only ½ the americans die, not all....how clever.

Uncle took us to another uncle’s house for a dars and lunch. he was also of pakistani origin and married to a turkish woman. i don’t know what he does but he’s one of the big guys as well. there were other important people at this lunch. the 3 of us felt like we were one of the elite. we had to sit up with perfect posture, one leg crossed over the other and hands folded over our laps just like posh ladies. i so wanted to sit with my legs up and back slouched but was afraid of being scorned at. unfortunately, nadiya did something that lowered her status in the eyes of the women and at the same time lowered ours through association. you see, she was experiencing some ‘discomfort’ in what she was wearing and instead of going to the bathroom to fix it (which probably the ladies there would have done), she went behind the chinese screen. mind you, all the women were sitting right there and saw her through the cracks of the screen. when she came back around, they were all staring at her. hahaha! she thought no one saw. actually, it wasn’t like that. everyone was so nice to us and laid back and invited us to their places in the future.

i’m trying to locate a particular place so i can volunteer there before i leave. it’s through islamic relief and the place is called ‘early intervention rehabilitation center’ and it’s located somewhere in the town of helwan in cairo. i can’t find the exact address nor the telephone number of this place. if anyone knows, please inform me. thanks.

good riddance

2006-05-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

naveed, cow and i went to khan al-khalili to do some shopping. we prayed asr at masjid al-hussain (12th century). that’s the masjid that supposedly has the head of hadrat hussain (grandson of the holy prophet (s)). the masjid is huge and old but not very well kept, unfortunately. it has an amazing presence from the outside but people loiter around it demanding you to buy stuff you don’t need. this old lady was chasing us trying to force us to buy mini qurans. she would literally try to grab your arm and place the quran in it. and then she would scream something...as if she was cursing at us when we refused. inside didn’t feel like a masjid...a place of peace and contemplation. there was too much noise and movement. women in black were sitting along the walls, chatting about loudly. some were sleeping and others were eating. little kids were running around. there were a couple stray cats in there as well. it was dimly lit and the carpet had a dull color that was old and filthy. people don’t clean up after themselves after eating. it’s a shame. my forehead was covered with crumbs after i got up from sajjud.

before we entered this masjid, naveed and i gave our shoes to the man at the front and he gave us our tickets but he kinda slammed them on the counter as if he was mad. cow was smart and kept her shoes with her. after we prayed, naveed and i gave him our tickets and some money and then he returned our shoes but he slammed them on the counter as well as if we did something terrible. then he asked us where we were from and naveed said pakistan. so he took back our shoes! wrong answer, i guess. anyway, we had no idea what was going on. the man began to recite surah fatiha and then took out a box and demanded us to pay sadaqa (charity) for the masjid. now naveed and i don’t have a problem giving sadaqa but it’s not nice to single us out from everyone who's entering and leaving and demand us to pay sadaqa. why didn’t he ask cow for sadaqa...why not the other egyptians?! why us?! charity is something you give out of your own freewill not by someone else’s will.

anyway, we were supposed to meet nadiya, asmah and naba at maghrib time at masjid al-azhar (10th century) which is right across the street from masjid hussain. masjid al-azhar is drastically different from masjid hussain. it has a tremendous presence as well but the inside is extremely beautiful. there is an open courtyard in the middle with marble flooring and 5 unique minarets. after maghrib, we started taking pictures of ourselves in the courtyard. then we looked at the pictures, made comments on how bad we looked and did retakes. this happened several times and the whole time we were laughing and giggling without realizing how loud our voices became. all of a sudden, we heard deep angry voices of men shouting at us. 5 older men in long thoubs approached us and scolded us for being too loud and kicked us out! we were so embarrassed and walked out with our heads lowered in shame as people sitting in the courtyard glared at us.

ode to naveed

2006-05-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

naveed! naveed! naveed!
if i offended you with my previous deed
your forgiveness and mercy i do plead.
for i swear by Allah’s creed
hurting you was not my intention, indeed!
you are like a sister i go to in need
and it is with you i prefer to spend my eid.
but if this ode has not removed the seed
of sorrow in your heart that breeds,
go ahead! hit me till i bleed.
perhaps then, i shall die a shaheed
and from my blog, forever you will be freed.

alien ant farm

2006-05-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

i was in class today with ustadh ehab. he was sitting directly across from me talking about the situation in palestine. i was listening attentively. all of a sudden, he says, ‘don’t move!’ i freeze. he gets up slowly, his eyes locked on my head as his right hand reaches for a tissue that’s on the table. what’s he looking at?! i ponder. what’s on my head...a cockroach?! or is my hair exposed?! he leans close to me and slaps my head with the tissue in his hand. OUCH! why’d you do that?! he opens up the tissue. apparently, there was an ant crawling on my scarf. i couldn’t keep a straight face throughout class after that.

the others

2006-05-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

something creepy is going on in the apartment and there is no logical explanation. the topic of jinns always comes up in discussion with my roommates. we’re all very much intrigued by them and explain any weird circumstances by them. so listen to this...cow always leaves her laptop on the bottom shelf of the china cabinet ‘cause she can’t really reach the top shelf of the cabinet. the other day, she was looking for her laptop. it wasn’t where she thought she put it...ie. the bottom shelf of the cabinet or even on the dining room table. she found the laptop on the top shelf...right hand corner. i didn’t move her laptop nor did naveed. and nadiya was away for a few days so she couldn’t have moved it either. cow thought perhaps she put it there and forgot about it even though the chances of that happening were next to zilch. whatever. we didn’t dwell on it too much.

this morning, cow worked on her laptop and put it away on the BOTTOM shelf of the cabinet before she left for class. nadiya and naveed were already out ‘cause they had morning classes. i was still at home in bed ‘cause i had a late class. cow comes back a few hours later and runs screaming into my room that her laptop had been moved again! she asked me if i moved it since i was the only person in the apartment. i didn’t. nobody else was in the apartment between the time she left and came back...only me. but i was just in my room. and the laptop was moved to the same EXACT location...top shelf, right hand corner. cow was 100% sure she left the laptop on the bottom shelf. there were dust marks on the bottom shelf to prove where cow had placed her laptop. apparently, the laptop was moved while i was alone in the apartment. now if i didn’t move it, who did?!?!? do we have Others living amongst us?!

rage against the machine

2006-05-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

a particular roommate (no names will be mentioned but it's not cow or nadiya) has become a bit violent lately. i don’t know what it is...the stress...the pollution...the heat...us? several weeks ago, cow said something and Roommate started punching her as if she was a punching bag. that was the beginning of Roommate’s rage. and then on another incident, she threw books at me while she was trying to explain an incident when she ACTUALLY threw books at someone. i don't know....but, i personally could have done without the physical demonstration. Roommate has this evil laugh that she does where she throws her head back and lets out a deep eerie cackle and then she glares at you with her big bulging eyes. it’s frightening. just today, i told her i wrote a new post on my blog and then out of the blue, she threw a punch at me along with her cackle. she didn’t actually hit me but God knows, she could have! i cowered with fear. now she thinks i’m a wimp. i’m not! i get startled easily and if i wanted, i could beat the crap out of her or anyone else for that matter. i just have a gentle demeanor and wouldn’t even hurt a fly unless it annoyed the living daylights out of me. but i have a high tolerance for annoyance...i can take in a lot of crap without exploding but once i do...it’s not a pretty sight. so just a general surgeon's warning: don’t piss me off or else be prepared to fight tharwa, muslim warrior princess!

blowin in the wind

2006-05-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

today marked the first day of summer....i think. i’m playing meteorologist. i believe this to be so because i was told that summer would officially arrive when on a very hot day, a sandstorm would hit. there have been a couple of sandstorms in cairo but none along with very high temperatures. but today was different. it was blazing hot. i had just hung out my laundry on the balcony to dry when all of a sudden, the sky became blurry and tan and the trees and everything started blowing in the wind. my roommates and i were studying at the dining room table with all our papers and books out. we had the window open but the screen was protecting the window to prevent bugs and other thing from flying in. as the sandstorm occurred, we stepped out onto the balcony to see all the action only to choke and cough as we breathed in sand. when we returned to the dining table, all our papers and books were covered with sand. yeah, i think summer's here and i’m scared....the heat! the bugs! the smell! the pollution!

i bought a very girly top today...it’s pinkish in color and has lace around the edges...completely outside my tough-girl image. i plan on wearing scruffy jeans and my worn out converse shoes with them.

what goes on

2006-05-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

i know...it's been a while...but i’m back....after receiving many comments and emails anticipating the next post. i really had no excuse not to write...just laziness and stress from arabic. anyway, let me give an update on what’s been occurring in the past month.

1. our old roommate, nadiya has returned. she lived with us from november till january. bikey (former roommate) is in jordan. so now, it’s me, cow, naveed and nadiya living together. i share a room with cow.

2. a new supermarket (olaad ragab) opened up in place of the old supermarket (shoprite). but to tell you the truth, it’s nice buying grocery from the little shops because you interact and become friends with the locals.

3. since nadiya came back, i’ve been listening to her i-pod while i do aerobics at the gym. i do my own thing but i have an audience (i.e. big fat arab women who should be working out but instead just sit and blatantly watch me). but i guess i can understand why having seen their version of aerobics. you see, it’s not really aerobics. it just consists of dangerously jerky stretches.

4. my roommates and i decided to give each other haircuts. but it was nadiya who did most of the cutting. she’s never really cut hair but she gave the 3 of us very distinct hairstyles. i look like a member of a heavy metal band from the 80’s, cow looks like a prepubescent teenage (male) skateboarder and naveed looks like a little 6 year old girl who just needs to wear a frilly dress and run through the grass with a lollipop in her hand.

5. naveed, cow and i were planning on going to tunisia ‘cause nadiya had a fulbright scholarship presentation there and thought it would be nice to take a break from cairo. plus, i remembered during the african nations’ cup, tunisia’s soccer team consisted of VERY pleasant looking players . unfortunately though, tickets were a bit steep so the idea was nixed.

6. i've been wearing sandals everywhere i go which really isn't a good thing considering the dirt and sand and what it does to the soles of your feet. now, i don't think i really need to wear any sort of footwear 'cause my soles have become so hard and rough, it can withstand any sort of terrain.

7. dahab...my favorite and my roommates' favorite resort site was bombed a few weeks ago. alhamdulillah, one of our friends is alive and well since he worked far from the explosion. unfortunately, we do not know the fate of our other friends who worked in the very location of the explosion. i hope to go back one last time, insha'Allah before i leave egypt.

8. i bought my return ticket to the states. june 28th is when i’ll say good-bye to egypt, insha’Allah. i don’t wanna leave. i still have soooo much to learn. i’m just now getting into the meat of things. the only way i can stay longer is if i get engaged to a guy in cairo. perhaps i should hire someone to play my fiance....ahem, just joking, daddy...if you read this.

aint no mountain high enough

2006-04-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

my brother, zubair, his wife, hajira and their 4 year old daughter, sireen came to visit me for a mere 6 days last week. before they came, they expressed a desire to climb mt. sinai and told me to climb it with them.

i had already climbed it with naveed and bikey back in november and oh boy! it was the hardest climb ever. it took us about 4 hours to climb. it was freezing cold, pitch black, the path was wide enough for two people...one side bordered by a cliff, camels were popping up from behind us and from in front of us, and there were thousands of people crammed on the mountain. it seemed like a never ending path to the top but once you start, you can’t turn back. you HAVE to complete it. but before you think we are a bunch of lazy unfit whiny girls, let me explain to you what the state of our condition was.

the first day we arrived to dahab, we went horseback riding and did a bunch of other activities. horseback riding for 2 hours is enough time to give you a sore bum for the next day. the next day, despite sore bums and legs, we went on a camel safari that lasted 6 hours! within the first half hour, our legs were killing us. we had to get off the camels and walk while our bedouin guides rode our camels. we eventually got back on despite the pain. had lunch with some bedouins (nothing really exciting...just tuna from a can, bread, cheese and cucumbers). after that, we had to continue on with the camel safari but we begged our guides to take us back ‘cause we were in so much pain. they didn’t. okay, so after 6 hours of torturous riding, we get back to our campsite around 6 pm. we don’t have a room to stay in but need to rest before we leave around 11 pm to go to mt. sinai. so what do we do? we try to sleep for a couple of hours on some cots along the coast of the red sea. however, none of us really get any z’s ‘cause there are tons and tons of stray cats. i particularly cannot sleep due to paranoia of cats jumping on me.

okay, so 11 pm rolls around and now we gotta drive 2 and a half hours to mt. sinai. as we get closer and closer, the weather begins to drop until it’s about 40 degrees fahrenheit. get there around 1:30 am. so picture our state....none of us have slept, we’re cold, we’re in pain from horse back riding AND the 6 hour camel ride and now we gotta hike up a mountain. we start the climb...5 minutes later, we take a break. walk another 5 minutes...another break. this was our routine pretty much throughout our 4 hour hike (which the guide books say takes about 2 hours). there were about 5 rest stops. we were dying when we got to the 1st stop...even closer to the grave when we got to the 2nd stop. bikey couldn’t go any further but then out of the darkness appeared an angel named muhammad. he grabbed bikey's arm and dragged her to the 3rd rest stop and then told us we would be okay from here on. by the time we got to the 4th rest stop, i was completely shattered and couldn’t make it anymore. i started getting tummy cramps. and just when we needed him, our angel muhammad reappeared from the darkness to help me. this time, he held my hand (i was wearing gloves, plus, i was near death and didn't care that he held my hand) and dragged me up the final steps of the mt. sinai.

there is a masjid and a church on the summit. the masjid is always locked so no one can enter it. we made it to the summit just in time to pray fajr outside the masjid. then we watched the sunrise and subhanAllah, it was very beautiful. praying fajr and watching the sunrise made us forget about the 4 hours of pain and agony. alhamdulillah. but then, it was just as painful getting back down. you see, we took the camel path up and the steps of repentance back down. we collapsed at the bottom of the mountain and after the whole experience was over, the 3 of us vowed never to return again. but then.....

zubair and hajira wanted to climb it. no problem. i can watch sireen and sleep in a warm bed while the 2 of them go hiking in the arctic cold. at least that’s what i thought. but then what happens? hajira conveniently has to get sick. “no big deal,” i tell zubair. “you can climb it yourself.” “myself?! no way!!! come on, it’ll be fun!” he responds. “ha! you have no idea how much fun it is,” i say sarcastically. “anyway, naveed’s friend climbed it by herself. it wasn’t a big deal for her. plus, there are thousands of people on the mountain.” zubair begs me and begs me until i finally relent. “please pray for me,” i text my roomies the night i was going. “i don’t know if i’ll make it back alive.”

11 o’clock comes around. zubair and i are bundled up for the cold. we get in the van that will take us to mt. sinai. there are about 6 other people in the van as well, 1 guy from japan and the rest from france.

we reach mt. sinai around 1:30 am. zubair and i begin our climb. i’ve warned zubair about how crowded it gets and how camels will pop up from behind us and we have to move out of the way but we have to make sure not to move towards the cliff or else we’ll plunge to a premature death. he’s a bit scared. however, i notice that there aren’t many people around. i think it’s because we arrived late and everyone’s already towards the top. so, anyway, we have 1 flashlight...just enough light for both of us in the pitch blackness. zubair sees light behind us and tells me to move over to let the camels pass by. they’re still far away but he begins to freak out ‘cause he thinks they’ll push him over the cliff. “relax!” i say. “the camel guide will give us a verbal warning when they get closer.” he grabs tightly onto the back of my coat and stops me from moving any further as the flashlights get closer. “just let the camels pass us.” “fine,” i say although i have a feeling they aren’t camels. i don’t smell camels nor do i hear the bedouin guide mumbling anything. the flashlights pass us by. turns out they’re 2 of the french guys from our van. “where are the camels?!” i ask mockingly. he’s a bit embarrassed. “don’t worry,” i reassure him. “i have a feeling there aren’t going to be a lot of camels tonight. there’s like nobody on the mountain”. i don’t know what is up with that! i had been told thousands of people climb it every night.

anyway, we climb deeper and deeper, higher and higher into the mountain. not a single person is in front of us, nor behind us. just me and my bro. “it’s actually a good thing i came,” i say to zubair. “you would have been alone and no one is here to guide you.” he agrees with me. we make it to the 1st rest stop. don’t see any other climbers except for the french people from the van. are we the only ones on the mountain? keep climbing. make it to the 2nd stop. i’m doing pretty well for the 2nd time around....i haven’t needed a rest break outside of the rest stops, alhamdulillah. zubair keeps track of the time. at the rate we’re going, we’ll be at the top within 2 hours, insha’Allah. continue the ascent. getting colder. 3rd rest stop. the man working behind the counter asks me if there are any others below me. i say i haven’t seen anyone. i guess we are the only ones on the mountain. keep going. we pass this narrow path that descends a bit and then leads to two paths. now i’m confused. which way do we go? no one’s around to ask for help. should we turn around and go back to the last rest stop? no...let’s just take a chance. bismillah. i think it’s this way. we keep climbing and see the 4th rest stop! alhamdulillah, we’re on the right route! i ask the man selling snacks how much longer we’ve got till the top. he says less than ½ hour. i’m getting a bit tired but not complaining. i’m strong and i can do it!....insha’Allah. reach the steps. there are a thousand steps...it’ll be good for my thighs. yeah....good motivation. step...step....step... “hold on, bro. let me catch my breath for a second.” “do you wanna stop and rest for a bit?” “no...let’s keep going.” finally, we reach the last and final rest stop! alhamdulillah! and it’s only like 3:30 am! made it within 2 hours! we see 2 of the french guys sitting there. they beat us. oh well....we beat everybody else....if there is anybody else. we just have a few more steps to go before we get to the summit but it is best to rest here till it is fajr time and then go up so we can see the sun rise as well. no point in going up there now and waiting in the freezing cold. so we wait here. drink some hot chocolate. more people start to come in. it begins to rain....hail. not good...the steps are gonna be quite slippery. the rain stops. the rest area is beginning to get packed. hmm...where are we gonna pray? the masjid is always locked...it’s wet outside...we didn’t bring a prayer mat to pray on...what are we gonna do? i ask the man working at the rest stop where i’m supposed to pray, thinking he might offer me a spot behind the counter. instead, he tells me to go to a certain man who will give me the key to the masjid! woah! i wasn’t expecting that! i didn’t think it was open to anyone! i quickly go to that man...zubair trailing behind me. i tell him i need to pray. he hands me the key and tells me not to let any non-muslims in the masjid. oh my! how am i supposed to guard the door to the masjid? what if a mad rush of people swarm into the masjid? i’m just an innocent little girl...they could walk all over me! “can someone please come with me?” i plead. “no...don’t worry,” he assures me. okay fine. we climb up the few steps. i already see a group of nigerians outside the masjid and the church. there is a man kneeling close to the door of the masjid and he seems to be wailing and screaming and i sort of fear him. i have to climb over his legs to get to the door ‘cause the path is very narrow. 2 nigerians ask zubair what the place is and zubair says it is a masjid and we are going to pray in it. the nigerians seem excited. i unlock the padlock and open the door. only muslims can enter! “oh, we no muslims!” so they leave. i try to find the light switch inside the masjid but fail. it’s pitch black inside. are there bats and spiders inside? i put my flashlight down and command zubair to pray quickly while i guard the door. his hands are so frozen and he is so nervous, he can’t even untie his shoelaces. “hurry up!!!” i yell. “i can’t hold back the crowd!” actually, there is no crowd...it’s all in my head. pray fajr inside the masjid. subhanAllah! are we lucky or what?! come outside...there’s light. the sun has risen. we missed the sunrise. oh well...so did everyone else. no one could see the sunrise due to the fog from the rain. no matter. we experienced something more beautiful. how many of you out there who’ve climbed mt. sinai prayed inside the masjid? yeah...i thought so.

1st time i climbed mt. sinai, i was blessed with the sweetness of the sunrise. the 2nd time, i was blessed with being the gatekeeper of the masjid. nothing can beat that. but i must admit...i’ve had it with mt. sinai. no more for me. and i vow to that.

the gladiator

2006-04-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

one evening, naveed, cow and i are in the living/dining room doing our own individual thing. i’m on my laptop chatting online with some friends. naveed is sitting on the living room couch doing her work and cow is sitting at the dining table doing her work. i happen to open the balcony door and a big fly sneaks in. ‘whatever, no big deal,’ i think to myself as i return to my laptop to continue chatting with my buddies. cow didn’t seem to mind either. but naveed...miss drama queen was extremely disgusted. ‘ewww! they’re so dirty!!!’ she cries as she runs out the dining room. she goes into the kitchen and brings out the insect killer spray. she places the spray on the dining table and begins to shut the french doors locking me and cow in the room with the gigantic fly. i’m still engrossed with msn and have no idea what’s happening. all of a sudden i hear naveed yelling. i look up and see her standing on the other side of the french doors (they have windows) screaming, ‘you guys have to kill the fly!’ cow decides to take matters into her own hands. i carry on with my business. i can see from my peripheral vision cow jumping in the air and shouting like a cheerleader trying to spray the fly. but then silence. i don’t look up...still on my laptop. 10 seconds later, the silence is broken with screams coming from behind the french doors. ‘SARWATH!!’ i look up and see that cow has abandoned her duty and joined naveed on the other side. now they want me to kill the fly. ‘okay. no big deal...you chickens,’ i remark. i grab the spray in one hand and my chapal (house slipper) in the other hand...my sword and shield as i prepare to confront the bull in this arena that i have been confined to. the fly lands on the china cabinet door. i creep up to the fly, swing my chapal back and use all my strength. ‘BAM!’ on the cabinet door. oops...i missed. the fly starts going crazy, buzzing past me left and right confusing me. my heart starts pounding. i begin to fear it. cow and naveed are screaming from behind the door trying to point out the location of the fly. i see it. it’s by the entrance. i spray the insect killer on the fly with such force, i was sure it would be dead. but alas! it still flies off. it’s a fighter. i continue spraying in the air. this time, it slows down. it lands on the floor and i attack it once more with the spray. it tries to fly but there’s too much weight on its wings. instead, it starts bouncing up and down like a popcorn...4 feet high...imagine that!. and it’s coming straight towards me! by this time, i’m scared out of my wits. it hasn’t died yet. i start running towards the french door banging on the glass windows pleading naveed and cow to let me out but they have no sympathy for me. they continue to keep the doors locked. i won’t be set free till the mission is completed. i turn around...the fly is getting closer. i lean my back against the french doors, legs shaking, biting my nails, beads of sweat dripping from my forehead. ‘oh my God! this will be the death of me...a bouncing fly.’ i think to myself. i close my eyes and begin to recite a prayer as i shield my face with my chapal and spray waiting to be attacked. but then...the fly starts to bounce backwards. after a few moments, it stops. i can see it struggling on the floor. this time, i quickly take my chapal and give it a hard smack. SPLAT!! i hear cheers as naveed and cow burst open the french doors and applaud at my victory against the fly. the gladiator has won!

much ado about nothing

2006-03-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

i’ve been watching naveed like a hawk lately but she hasn’t done anything blog worthy. i’ve got writer’s block. but let me fill you in on what’s been going on thus far....

rania moved out of the apartment ‘cause she found a place of her own down the street. actually, it’s my old apartment she moved into.

cow and i discovered we’ve all subconsciously become vegetarians.

shoprite, the local grocery store that supplied all our food closed down. there was pandemonium in the apartment as we started fighting and pulling hair over water bottles and kidney beans. but then we realized we could get pretty much everything from all the little shops that are right around the corners. peace was restored.

i found a cockroach in the kitchen cabinet. the three of us had totally different reactions to it: i went berserk and started yelling unintelligibly. naveed’s face turned white with horror...she couldn’t say a word. and cow, the youngest one, didn’t even flinch. she kept her cool, cleared out the cabinet and killed the roach as naveed and i looked on from outside the kitchen door, clinging onto each other for support. naveed insists it was a beetle.

we had a little get together on thursday. just invited a few girls over to introduce them to each other. naveed and i made some food but the grand finale was left up to cow. she made the best dessert ever, masha’Allah. picture this on a plate: a couple slices of chocolate cake, a whopping ball of hand whipped cream, a few slices of deliciously ripened strawberries on one side, a few sliced bananas on the other and crushed borios (a knockoff of oreo cookies) sprinkled all over. and delicately placed on top of the whipped cream, a fanned out strawberry. it was a simple but delicious dessert and a definite crowd pleaser. kudos to cow!

i’m suffering through one of my many yearly premature midlife crisis. i wanna work for a relief organization helping the poor, needy and orphans instead of as an occupational therapist working in schools with children who have disabilities. i need some guidance.

the lizard of oz

2006-03-20T10:34:00.000-08:00

NEWS FLASH: naveed has started a blog. it is a fantastic blog about her reflections on life and God based on her experiences. she’s a deep person.

today, naveed, cow and i were sitting in the kitchen chatting. we have a small, less often used bathroom directly across the kitchen...it’s ‘cause there is a bandage on the toilet seat. anyway, naveed just happened to enter it to use the sink while cow and i were still in the kitchen. all of a sudden, naveed runs to us screaming, ‘there’s a lizard in the bathroom! it’s by the toilet!!!’ ‘a lizard in the bathroom?!’ questions cow. ‘ewwww...gross!!’ i remark disgustedly. the three of us cautiously creep towards the bathroom door afraid the lizard might slither past our feet. naveed peers into the bathroom from just behind the crack of the door as i look over her shoulder and cow over mine. suddenly, i see a long black thing near my foot! i shriek thinking it’s the slimy lizard! this sets off a chain reaction...cow jumps back and screams and naveed...oh boy....naveed just goes berserk. she screams and starts dancing the jig all the way to the living room. by this time, cow and i realize that the thing is not a lizard. our screams turn into laughter as we watch naveed change her jig into jerky robotic movements....she thinks the lizard is crawling up her shirt. ‘naveed!!!!’ we yell to snap her out of her seizure. she comes to her senses as she sees me holding the black thing. what we thought was the lizard was in fact the black scrunchie that fell from naveed’s hair.

twist and shout

2006-03-19T07:28:00.000-08:00

naveed and her friend came back from their week long trip to the resort city of dahab located in the sinai peninsula and jordan. after listening to their experiences, i made note of some tips that may come in handy to anyone traveling to these places:

when going quad biking, it is wise to practice accelerating forward when your instructor is not directly in front of your bike. this may save his toe and perhaps, his life.

when climbing mt. sinai (a 4 hour hike up to the top if you are out of shape and about a 2 hour hike if you are a hiker), make sure not to eat garlic bread that has gone bad so that your stomach does not turn funny on you as you climb since there are like no bathroom facilities on the way up. this may prevent you from leaving your ‘mark’ behind a poor innocent rock. enough said there.

when floating in the dead sea (contains so much salt that it is impossible to drown in it), make sure your hijab (head scarf) is on appropriately so that some random big man does not mistake you trying to adjust your hijab for you drowning. this will save you the embarrassment of having the man grab you from under your armpits and hold you up while you kick and shout, ‘put me down! put me down!!’ as people around you laugh.

when traveling on a ferry boat from egypt to jordan....2 girls amongst 200 middle aged arab men staring shamelessly, it is wise not to push your way through the crowd in order to exit. this may prevent a brawl from occurring between the men who kindly clear the way for you shouting, ‘let the women pass!’ and the men who refuse to let anyone pass. just sit down and wait patiently...even if it takes 3 hours to get off.

when trying to find a decent hotel to stay in for the night in jordan, it is wise to be well rested and cognitively intact when talking to the hotel receptionist. that way, you won’t end up handing over your credit card accepting to stay in a $350 per night 5 star intercontinental hotel and waking up the next morning wondering, ‘how did i get myself here?!’ just drive 20 more minutes and you’ll find yourself a decent hotel that will be lighter on the wallet.

when you prevent your roommates from eating eggs, don’t go eating eggs yourself at a 5 star hotel. perhaps then, you won’t come back sick.

morning has broken

2006-03-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

i always sleep with the covers over my head so it’s pitch black. today, my precious sleep was disturbed by the sounds of loud laughter and people conversing at like 4 or 5 in the morning...or so i thought. i was waiting for my 6 o’clock alarm to sound and for cow’s daily fajr (morning prayer) wake up call, both of which had not occurred yet. just doing some simple math in my head, i guestimated it to be around 4 or 5. but anyway, i could hear rania and her friend causing a raucous in the kitchen. ‘jeez...don’t they have respect for others who are sleeping and why are they so perky in the middle of the night?! most everyone is asleep at this time!’ i think to myself. i try to force myself to catch some z’s before i actually have to wake up for fajr but can’t manage to do so because the noise is too intense. ‘that’s it! i can’t take it anymore! i gotta tell them to keep their voices down!’ so i throw off the covers from over my head and come out of my cocoon expecting it to still be dark but what do i see?! sunlight! and what does that mean?!...fajr time has passed! i look at the time...10:30 am! ‘oh my!!’ i proclaim as i jump out of bed. 'i'm late for my 10 o'clock class!' perhaps, Allah used them (rania and her friend) as a means to kick me out of bed.

rania finished off the last of her 4 or 5 eggs this morning before she left on a weekend trip to alexandria ‘cause she knew naveed was coming back tomorrow and was afraid she would throw them out like she did before. hahaha. actually, cow and i are happy the eggs are out of the fridge. we felt a bit uneasy having them around our food.

yesterday, cow thought long and hard about what she would cook today since it was her day off. she listed a bunch of choices for me. i can’t remember them exactly but it was something like:
1) pasta with veggies
2) pasta with cheese
3) pasta with veggies and cheese
4) veggies and cheese
5) just veggies
6) just plain cheese

but we woke up this morning to find the gas in the stove ran out. no cooking for cow today. so instead, we ordered pizza...veggies and cheese. close to what cow intended.

it's my life

2006-03-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

i was a bit nervous today ‘cause i had to meet with the administrator of al-diwan. he found out i had decided to reject the school’s curriculum and study my own thing. al-diwan follows the kitaab asaasi (meaning fundamental book) curriculum along with a book for improving oral communication written by the administrator. anyway, there are like 15+ levels but levels 0-10 are the official levels with standards and exams. after level 10, it’s kinda free for all and the levels get kinda blurry. so i completed level 7 with kitaab asaasi and couldn’t take anymore. (i finished the 1st book and was almost done with the 2nd). the lessons were so boring and the vocabulary was about random stuff. i totally lost motivation. why should i waste my time learning the parts of a satellite in arabic when i don’t even know them in english!? ustadha reham doesn’t like the 2nd kitaab asaasi either so she teaches her students what she thinks is important. all her students end up speaking and knowing the grammar really well. so with her, i’m reading little booklets on the life of the prophet (s) and learning lots of grammar and speaking. plus, later we’ll do some tafseer and poetry. she also started assigning me homework in which i have to find examples in the quran and deconstruct the verses using the grammar i learned. now that’s the kinda stuff i wanna do.

so anyway, i was scared about what mudir islam (the administrator) was going to say to me. what if he told me i had to finish the 2nd kitaab asaasi? i couldn’t do that. i’d rather swim in the nile river than do that (the nile river is extremely polluted...plus...umm...i can’t swim). i was prepared to throw a tantrum and threaten to leave al-diwan but after 30 minutes of discussion with him, he ended up saying i could do whatever i wanted! phew! alhamdulillah.

in other news, i burned my tongue from the soup i made yesterday. actually, i think it’s swollen. not only can i not taste my food, but it’s painful to eat. plus, it hurts when i speak.

let it be

2006-03-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

today was my day off and i had a whole bunch of things planned out. i was going to go to the gym, copy all my grammar notes into one notebook, finish my homework, make note cards for new vocabulary, make dinner and do my laundry. what did i accomplish today? just dinner. i must admit though, i did make a nice hearty soup with carrots, potatoes, green beans, eggplant, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, kidney beans, white beans and noodles. yummy! cow enjoyed it. we have this thing...whenever we cook, we make an intention that we are preparing the meal to help nourish us in order to worship Allah. (actually, this is something that should be done with everything we do.) anyway, alhamdulillah, all our meals have been turning out sweet. but then again, our standards have gone down so it doesn’t take much to please us.

it’s common in egypt to have a cleaning lady come clean your apartment. it’s usually the bawaab’s (doorman’s) wife, sister, daughter, ect. the cleaning lady came today to clean our apartment. she speaks hard core ‘amiyya (local dialect) which is so different from fus-ha. she would ask me stuff all the time and i didn’t want to appear stupid so i would just say, ‘na’am’ which means ‘yes’ even though i had no idea what she was saying. and then she would look at me waiting for me to do something. but of course, i didn’t know what she wanted. ugh! where’s bikey when you need her! she also has a tendency to play interior decorator whenever she comes to our place. like she put the table that was in the hallway in my room probably because she didn’t like that i used my suitcases as tables, displayed the ugly metallic horse statue that we always hide in the cabinet on the table counter probably ‘cause she thought it matched with the t.v. and today, she took the dirty bed sheet from the hamper and spread it on my bed probably ‘cause she thought it matched with the pillow cases! it took her 6 hours to clean the whole place. you’re probably thinking, ‘dang! the place must be so dirty to take 6 hours to clean!’ well, maybe....but things get dusty real fast here in egypt so the cleaning lady spent a long time beating the rugs, window screens and curtains to get rid of the dust. for 6 hours of work, we paid her 25 egyptian pounds. that comes out to less than $5! i feel so bad for giving so little but that’s standard so maybe i shouldn’t feel so guilty. plus, i thanked her so much and told her the place looked beautiful. that’s worth more than 25 egyptian pounds, no?

yesterday was cow’s birthday. little cow turned a measly 19 years and she kept complaining about it being her last year as a teenager. ha! so young and so much to learn. anyway, she wanted to treat us (me and rania) to some chocolate molten cake at chilis. how sweet of her. but we ended up treating her as it should be done. on the way back, while we were walking home at night, i got startled by a cat that appeared out of nowhere. then a few seconds later, i got startled again by a dark image that kept following me. turned out, it was just my shadow.

naveed’s been gone for a few days now. she went to dahab with her friend who is visiting. since she left, it seems like the apartment has gone crazy. the first thing rania did was buy eggs and cow and i ate a chicken sandwich at chilis. such daredevils we are.

wake up dead man

2006-03-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

after i acquired a certain level of arabic, my original teacher, ustadh muhammad began making me read bits of verses from the quran to see if i could understand the meaning without translation. it’s amazing to read the quran in this light...it means so much more when you understand the arabic.

some fascinating facts about the quran were pointed out to me recently....

the middle east guide book states that the dead sea is the lowest point on earth. one would think that that’s an interesting bit of random fact to know. but to muslims, it is greater proof of the truth of the quran. as we know, the people of prophet lut were punished when the city was turned upside down. and they were supposedly buried under the dead sea, right? get this...in the quran, surah 11, verse 82, it says, "so when Our command came, We made the highest point of the city its lowest and rained upon them stones of layered hard clay.' in the quran, it says the city became the lowest point!

another noteworthy fact...in surah 57, verse 25, it says, ".....We sent down iron, wherein is great military might...." iron is present in the core of the earth. why does the quran say ‘sent down’ when iron doesn’t come from the sky? well, scientists discovered iron in meteorites that fell from the sky and back in the days, people made weapons out of them! subhanAllah! is that cool or what?

one bird flu over the cuckoo’s nest

2006-03-09T11:18:00.002-08:00

have any of you been keeping up with the bird flu? how it’s spreading like wild fire all across asia, europe and africa? and how they’ve detected it in cats now? well, about a month ago, egypt got hit with the bird flu. there’s so much information and misinformation about it, people are confused as to how to react. is it safe to eat chicken and eggs? well, apparently both are safe to eat as long as they’re cooked appropriately but we (i.e. me, bikey and naveed) decided to fast from them for the time being. but naveed took it to a whole other level....

typically, our fridge is stocked with an ample supply of eggs to keep us going for the whole week if not more. we had about a dozen eggs when bird flu hit. we even had some chicken in the freezer. bikey decided she’d eat the eggs instead of wasting them since they were safe to eat when cooked. but oh no! naveed wouldn’t have any of that. she refused to allow bikey her God-given right to eat eggs. she demanded the disposal of anything having to do with poultry...with gloves on. not just the eggs and chicken but rubber duckies, feather dusters, my stock of ‘chicken of the sea’ canned tuna and even bikey’s cute pair of socks with pictures of chicks on it!.....ummm.....okay, i may be slightly exaggerating but she also did throw out rania’s eggs.

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the egyptian government ordered the slaughtering of all domestic birds and warned against disposing them in the streets, canals or the nile river for fear of contamination. however...

just a couple of days after bird flu hit, i’m sitting in class taking an exam. my teacher along with a bunch of other teachers are in the hallway causing a raucous. they’re laughing, having a jolly good time. i see one of the workers bring in big bottles of mineral water. now, they’re toasting each other with their water bottles. what in the world is going on, i ponder? egyptians don’t normally drink mineral water ‘cause their bodies can handle the tap. perhaps someone got engaged...perhaps someone is expecting a baby...perhaps it’s someone’s birthday....

i find out a bit later that someone threw a dead bird in the nile river and that’s what all the teachers were laughing about! now...i’ve been told i’m a bit strange but i just don’t seem to get egyptian humor. how is that funny?! the news is now warning people against using the tap for at least 6 hours! that is, until they put more chlorine into the water to clean it up. we’re being told not to use the tap to wash our food (i.e. fruits and veggies), make tea or cook anything with it. nor should we rinse our mouths, make wudu and we must be extra cautious that the water does not enter any wounds on our bodies. ‘oh my!’, i say to myself. ‘this ‘aint no laughin’ matter! how am i going to survive? how am i supposed to eat without washing my fruits and veggies, without boiling my pasta and cooking my rice? how am i supposed to pray without making wudu?...(yes, i know, i could always perform tayyamum, but...). what if i have a slight wound on my body that i’m unaware of? how am i supposed to take a shower?’
well, i make it through that day using bottled water for wudu and cooking. but this could get quite expensive if i begin bathing with bottled water. well, i say to myself, let me sleep on it. maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

tomorrow comes....find out the whole thing was a hoax!!

get up, stand up

2006-03-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

back in november, naveed, bikey and i went to dahab during our eid break. dahab is about a 10 hour bus ride from cairo. our ride to dahab wasn’t that bad except for some rich egyptian guys singing 80’s one hit wonders in english with an egyptian accent. however, our ride back to cairo was another ordeal…..

on the bus, i was sitting next to bikey. naveed was sitting in the seat in front of us next to an egyptian lady. we were sitting at the front of the bus. across from naveed were two guys…one american and the other german. the bus was filthy dirty but we didn’t know it at first. we were just sitting and relaxing on the bus with some bags of chips between us. we come to a bus stop. that’s when naveed informs us that there are roaches on the bus and they’ve been crawling up the window next to the egyptian lady. of course, bikey and i get scared but especially bikey ‘cause she’s sitting next to the window. we still have 6 more hours left on the trip but alhamdulillah, bikey and i haven’t seen any roaches by our windows. naveed has the brilliant idea of asking the two guys to switch seats with her and the egyptian lady.

naveed (to the guys): would you guys like to sit next to roaches?
me: naveed!!! what are you saying?!?! why in the world would they wanna sit next to roaches?
guys: umm…we don’t know what roaches are.
naveed: they’re brown insects about an inch in size…
me: umm..naveed…i think they’re joking…
naveed (continues): they live in dirty areas….they multiply like crazy….
me: naveed!!! they’re joking!!
naveed: oh….you know what roaches are? well, do you guys wanna switch?
guys: umm..no, not really.
me: well, you guys probably have roaches by your window anyway.

so the bus continues along its journey towards cairo. we come to another bus stop. the guys see a roach by their window and flick it. it lands on the lady sitting in front of them. she flicks it. it lands onto naveed. i start laughing as naveed screams and jumps out of her seat. i jump out of my seat and run to the back out of fear of any roaches getting flicked onto me. after i think the coast is clear, i cautiously go back to my seat. but after a few seconds, bikey starts to scream ‘cause she sees a big roach on the bag of chips between our seat! i scream and she screams and naveed screams and i fling the bag forcefully into the aisle. the guys stomp on the bag of chips crushing the roach with such chivalry. but it doesn’t stop there. a few seconds later, bikey screams again because there’s a roach on her scarf! we all scream and i run to the back. there are a bunch of egyptian guys sitting in the back laughing their heads off just watching the show. naveed, bikey and i are nearly in tears, hearts are pounding, legs are shaking…we can’t sit down 'cause it seems to be raining roaches and still 4 more hours to go! the lady sitting in front of the guys and her husband start yelling at the bus driver about the filthiness of the bus and demands him to do something so we can ride the bus in peace. what does the brilliant driver do seconds before we depart? he sprays raid all along the windows. mind you, the bus is enclosed. i guess he thought by killing us off, the ride back to cairo would be peaceful.

in God's country

2006-03-07T22:27:00.000-08:00

i started studying arabic with ustadh (teacher) muhammad when i arrived in cairo. i was sorta like a blank slate when i started at al-diwan and ustadh muhammad taught me everything. i was studying 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, one on one. that's quite intensive, don't you think? anyway, he was supposed to teach me till june but there was a slight change in plans. he decided to leave al-diwan and move to alexandria for a better job opportunity. he left a week ago and i was sad. but now i study with ustadha reham. she's an excellent teacher as well.

so today, ustadh muhammad came by al-diwan and presented me with a lovely gift. surah ahad written in the kufic script in gold on wood. plus, he wrote me a letter in which he wrote some advice. i thought i would translate them into english and share them with you guys 'cause i think they're beneficial:

1. make love for Allah above everything else
2. this life is not everlasting but is just a mere station in life
3. try to increase your faith and obedience to your Lord everyday
4. don't ever get sad over anything because Allah decides everything for you (and He knows what's best for you)
5. always remember Allah in every situation (good or bad)

cats in the cradle

2006-03-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

disclaimer: i think cats are nice and sweet....from a distance...but in egypt, it's another story...

egypt is filled with stray cats that make strange noises, live in the trash and eat bloodied bones. my theory is that many of these cats are jinns. people think i've become obsessed with jinns...maybe i have but to tell you the truth, i'm quite infatuated with the whole other invisible being living parallel to us.

the other day, i'm in the apartment by myself and decide to go to the bookstore to buy a notebook. the unreliable elevator isn't working so i begin to descend 8 flights of steps....

on the 7th floor is a malnourished black & gray striped cat eating out of the trash. it sees me and runs down the stairs. nothing unusual....i descend a couple more flights. on the 5th floor, i meet another cat. this one's big, fat, disheveled and dirty white. the black & gray one runs behind the dirty white one for shelter. the white one just stares at me. it doesn't move. i'm like 8 steps away from it. it doesn't even show a hint of fear of me. i try to use hand gestures, leg gestures and make weird sounds to shoo it away. nothing. instead, it ASCENDS a step! it's in that 'i'm ready to pounce on you, you dirty human!' position. i freak out and run gracefully up a flight of stairs. then i look down at the cat and we have a staring competition for like 3 minutes. i lose. it starts to climb up towards me and i run all the way up to my apartment and slam the door shut. so much for buying my notebook.

after about 30 minutes, i decide to venture out again. i open the door only to find the big white cat by the elevator! it starts running towards me and i slam the door with such force and intensity that all the windows shake. my heart starts pounding...beads of sweat begin pouring down my forehead. this cat is evil, i think. it knows where i live! it was waiting for me to come out again! i look out my peep hole and think the coast is clear. i crack open the door just a wee bit and the cat's head is right by my door! it was trying to break into my apartment! i slammed the door shut and sat on the floor frustrated with my back leaning against the door, head down, arms folded around my knees. i had to accept my fate...that stupid cat made me a prisoner in my own home.

tharwa in the sky with diamonds

2006-03-07T01:42:00.000-08:00

so i've been studying arabic for about 5 months now. before i came, i didn't know much of anything. i started at level 0 but i'm now on level 7, alhamdulillah. you can really tell if you are improving with your conversation when people in the market think you're arab. just the other day, i was at khan-al-khalili and after much bargaining and winning, the seller asked me if i was algerian! HA! i was quite flattered that he thought i was an arab! maybe it's because i was arguing like an arab. but when i told him i was indian, he was quite shocked. he said i spoke arabic quite well. but then i realized i was only saying numbers in arabic so i don't know if i should think anything of what he thought.

but naveed's friend, fatima is visiting from england. when i told her i started studying arabic 5 months ago and didn't know much of anything when i first arrived, she was quite surprised. she thought i had been studying arabic for a long time 'cause she heard me speaking to the locals and was impressed. that made me happy. but maybe to the untrained ear (she doesn't know arabic), my arabic is impressive. so perhaps i should get my head out of the clouds.

introduction

2006-03-06T13:58:00.000-08:00

assalaam-alaikum. ismee tharwa. ana min amrika. al aan, ana askoon fi misr lee adrus al-lughat al-arabiya.

yes, that's right. i'm in egypt now studying the arabic language. i've been here for about 5 months now and should have started this blog then but i was too lazy and didn't really know about blogs till i started living with my ex-roommate, "bikey". she was completely obsessed with blogging and perhaps now, i may fill her shoes. anyway, i'm fulfilling my life long dream of studying arabic in an arab country. i've had many adventures since i've been here....both good and bad. i'm sure i'll continue to have more and will share them with you. i'm excited about this and hope that this will be a good forum to keep in touch with everyone.

let me introduce you to a few characters first:

naveed: my roommate from england. we take calligraphy together and she was the one who saw my living conditions before (i was living in the living room out of my suitcase in my old apt. when i first came to egypt) and she offered me refuge.

"bikey": ex-roommate from england. she is obsessed with blogging and you can read about some of my previous adventures on her blog starting from november. she went back to england and from there will further her arabic studies in another arab country. but naveed and i are hoping that she'll change her mind and return to cairo. she's kinda like that.

"cow": bikey's little sister who just arrived in cairo a couple of weeks ago and is living with us now. she'll be here for about 3 months. she's as cute as a cow.

rania: she's from england and is crashing at our place for about a month before she finds an apt. to stay in. she's iraqi and she studied hindi/urdu in jaipur, india for like 6 months. she can speak better urdu than me!!! actually, that's not saying much since i've been told i don't really know how to speak urdu. but she speaks so well and so proper!! i'm envious of her but in a good way. this has motivated me to study urdu...maybe when i return to chicago.