...No turning back!!!

We're officially no longer in 'the OC' - we turned in our apartment keys earlier today and have brought all our luggage to Jamil's place(Jaffer's brother) - practically all that we own is in 4 suitcases, 2 carry ons, and my purse and Jaffer's laptop bag!!! We'll be here for 2 nites and then we leave for London to break our journey before our destination...

We had quite a hectic day today, though we kept saying that all is done and there isn't much left - there was A LOT of last minute sorting out to do...there was no 'oh we don't need to take this let's just leave it for now' we had to clear out EVERYTHING - crazy...i think it's definitely starting to hit me now, especially once i saw our empty apartment and handed over our keys.

The weekend will be a hectic one, we've been invited out for breakfast tomorrow and then have a mosque event to attend at nite...i'm looking forward to that as we'll get to see everyone and get to say our good-byes...i'm hoping there are no waterworks lol as i dont know if i can handle that...though we'll be back every summer and it's not a permanent move, it's still a HUGE change! We're also invited for breakfast on Sunday, the day we leave...it's been really amazing how supportive our community has been. I haven't had to cook for almost a month lol shouldn't get too used to it eh i suppose? I'm sure it'll be quite an experience cooking over there, i'm taking some spices as suggested by a few people, just to make sure i can make Jaffer his bhiryani ;)

All has worked out well so far as i'm sure u've read cos we've mentioned it several times :) ...and iA all will continue to work out well...we just have a little bit of drama with our luggage...we have 2 bags that we know will be over weight...we did a lot and i mean a lot of investigation (thanks to our lunch hosts yesterday who gave us access to their phone and internet lol ;)) we found out how much it will be for over weight bags - and surprisingly enough its not that expensive. However, since we break our journey in London - we're going to run into a snag cos we change to a different airline and they are not nearly as flexible as our first airline. Anywho we'll just have to hope for the best - don't worry, we'll be sure to update you all!

...back in the stoneage!

Sooo...we're back from TO; we had a blast; it was great getting together with family and friends...got back late last nite; and what a journey back it was. We had a stop over in Utah - when we got on that flight we sat on the plane and amidst screaming and crying kids we heard the pilot let us know that there was a minor technical issue on the plane...and so we had to wait and wait and wait....we ended up gettin off the plane...and waiting another hour; we finally got on the plane and made it back home...lol the worst part thru out all this was that we had no way to communicate with our family letting them know that our flight was delayed...our cell phones are disconnected ... so once we got off the plane we had to get some change so we could use a payphone...yup they still have those...not as many but they have em...we had a hard time finding one on the road...but we managed. Once we got home...definitely hit us; our apartment is empty...aaand we have no connection to the outside world...lol no tv, no cell phone, no internet...no home phone..we had to go to a cyber cafe in our apartment complex to access the internet..definitely made us realize how dependant we are on certain things...lol we actually had to read and talk to spend time.

Tomorrow is our day to pack...we still have dinner and breakfast get togethers..so between all that we will finsh up all our last minute packing and then we're off!

We got a confirmation today that our apartment is ready and we will be picked up at the airport on the 5th...wow in about a weeks time we'll be there...time is just flying by!

Anyhow, that's it for now...It's been a while since I've written but will hopefully be able to keep up with Jaffer and his posts...lol I'll have more to say when we get there i'm sure...have just been pre-occupied with packing and sorting things out...everything seems to be shaping up really well Alhamd~ and we have no doubt that all will continue to fall into place ...

TIME IS FLYING!!!

Whats up everyone, cant even believe its already Friday. You know what that means??? Day of Juma!!; 2 more days here in TO and we leave, OMG; I am reciting a majlis today!!; 5 days since we last updated the blog. LOL.... sorry about that... things have been moving at an extra ordinary pace lately. Days have been flying by and now we are faced with the reality that we dont have much time left here. Tomorrow should be exciting because the whole Jaffer family that is here will be meeting for dinner + a few others, but in reality, everyone wants to be a Jaffer anyway!!! hahaha...... jk..... not really :)

The last few days have been nice but busy.... Mon, Tue and Wed nights we spent with Mom and were back here last night. We will spend the remaining of our nights here at Mummy's (you should know the difference if you have been reading our blog :)) We have visited everyone we want to visit, well let me rephrase that, we have visited everyone that we had a chance to visit. There are still so many people that wanted us to come to their homes, but we never got the chance. And its not just because we are so popular (haha... we're not that conceded), its because we really have a lot of family here. It seems that no matter how long of a trip we plan, we never have enough time... but thats the story of everyones life right. Allah SWT says that surely we are at a loss of time, and boy those words are truly ringing true now!!!!!!!!

The next couple of days should be filled with laughter, excitement, sadness, tears and everything in between. We will have a lot of fun when we are all together tomorrow night but then after that when the reality of us leaving will hit, it will be filled with lots of emotions. Thats what I think anyways, but what do I know.... 'twill be funny if there are no emotions... haha...

BTW, we were waiting for our Visas to arrive, and Alhamd they did. So now we have our visas and tickets, looks like no going back now!!! haha...

Will keep you posted!!!

Busy in TO

Sorry for not writing in soooo long, but we have been really busy here in TO. We have so many people to visit, back and forth between the two families, and mosque basically every day. Since our arrival in TO on Tuesday afternoon, we have been to 3 mosque functions, one more tonight, 3 weddings and 1 reception...and a partridge in a pair tree...lol....

Since we decided to go to Syria, we have always felt that it was meant to be.. you know how some things just seem to fall into place!?!? well, things have really been in our favor, once we decided to go ahead for this course, Alhamd. Pretty cool. So something exciting happened to both Sabiha and I. We came on Tuesday afternoon, landed around 330, got home around 5. Spent some time here at Mummy's (Sabiha's mom) and then went to go visit Mom (My mom). See the difference?? This is how Sabiha and I know which mother we are referring too..lol. During dinner, Akil (Sabiha's brother) mentioned to me he has to give a lecture at the Brampton Mosque and really didnt have time to prepare. So he asked if I wanted to recite..lol... what??? I have given many lectures at the LA mosque, but never anywhere else. lol.. so after further discussion with my agent (Sabiha), we decided to go ahead with it. First majlis for me at another Mosque, how exciting!!! and nerve wrecking ofcourse...lol...

So I did mention something exciting happened to both of us... On Thursday, we were driving around when Sabiha got a call from Mummy. Sabiha had been requested by some lady to give a lecture at her house. What????? lol, how exciting, we both just came to visit and hang out with family, and we are both going to give lectures..lol... Told you this whole thing is 'meant to be'..lol. So I did give my lecture on Thursday night and Sabiha did give her lecture on Friday afternoon. Its hard as a lecturer to say how it went, but both group of listeners said it went great! IA it will get accepted.

Besides that, we have been going to mosque a lot. Crazy the number of people who attend mosque here. Nothing at all like what we see in LA. But the community size here is HUGE. Overall, its been a fun trip so far, and we still have another week to go. By the way, we have paid our Salaams to Tim Hortons, Popeyes, and Shalimar (they serve an East African Menu there). Many more restaurants to visit :)

Will write more soon!!!

We're in Toronto!!

Whats up everyone :) Hope you guys are doing as well as Sabiha and I are doing. We are currently in Toronto, got here yesterday, but the last few days have been filled with excitement..lol, not really but atleast it will keep you reading :)

On Sunday, I went to play volleyball in the morning. Might be the last time I play, tho I hope they will play on Sept 2nd when I am there. Said my goodbyes to a few of the guys who I may not see again for a year..then came home around 1ish, Salim and Jamil came also, cause Jamil was taking a few things from our house...also some things we wanted to keep so we gave to Jamil...etc. Also, we were selling our 2nd car today and would be then left without a car :( Also, our TV and dvd player was going as well. WOW, can you imagine, the house was completely bare, nothing was left..lol, but 2 air mattresses. We then went out as a family and Sabiha and I came home around 11 (Jamil let us borrow one of his cars, thanks!!), to a house that had no couches to sit on, no TV to watch, all we could really do was play some Scrabble!! lol, Sabiha had never played so I thought I would destroy her. And you know what, she almost kicked by $*#@...lol.. I wasnt even taking it easy, she just played really well. I think if she practices a few more times, she will consistently beat me, then I probably will stop playing..haha...

Monday was a busy day as well. We had to run a lot of little errands through out the day, went to lunch, went to the cemetery and then packed. Cause Tuesday, early early morning we were flying out to TO. So we packed and packed and packed. We ended up with 3 1/2 suitcases filled with stuff. And the funny thing is, 2 1/2 of them are clothes that we are leaving in TO, only 1 suitcase is filled with stuff that we are going to wear... lol.. too funny. then we went to Jamil's house cause LAX is close to there, and went with Salim to dinner. On the way home, we passed LAX and decided to stop by and have a rehearsal for the next day.. lol, jk, we wanted to go weigh our bags, and good thing we did cause we were over weight on 2 of our suitcases. So, because we are planners, we had taken a duffle bag with us incase this would happen... worked out wonderfully!!!

Tuesday early early morning, we left Jamil's at 415 - AM that is, and went to the airport. Long lines, surprisingly cause it was so early. But Alhamd, everything worked out well. We were flying from LAX to Salt Lake city where we had an hour stop over and then the rest of the journey to TO. But as it turned out, we were delayed for 1 hour in LAX and delayed for 1 hour in Salt Lake. Thats life i guess!!!

But, we are in TO, will keep you updated here, just lounging, so should have more time to write stuff..lol, if there is something to write :)

Peace!!

INDIO!! (not India :))

OK, sorry for not writing in quite some time, but we were out of town for the last few days. Tuesday was my last day of work and on Wednesday, Sabiha and I, and my two brothers and their families all went to Indio for a few days to relax. By the way, its Indio, not India..lol..everyone we told about Indio, always said "INDIA???", lol, then we had to explain to them that its Indio...lol.. the desert.

My brother Jamil reserved a 3 bedroom suite at a resort in Indio, and it was a lot of fun. We got there Wednesday late afternoon and it was about 109 at 5..lol, quite hot... by the time we got settled in, played a few games of Wii, it was already night. We started bbq around 9, when it was still 80 outside..lol. The place was great tho.

On thursday we all just hung out during the day, ate and then ate some more, smoked some shisha during the afternoon, then decided to go the Cabazon-Outlet stores, in the evening. That was a nice outing cause we were all together and made the day pass by a little. Funny story about that.. all the girls were really excited about going, so us guys, who are not big shoppers all tagged along. After 2 hours of walking, guess what... lol.. all the guys bought stuff and the girls didnt get anything. LOL... funny how that happened.

Friday we had to check out by 12 and didnt want to stay too late anyways cause of friday traffic. We reached home around 230 in the afternoon. Really good times with the family. Sabiha will put up some pictures of all of us together. It was really good times and thanks to Jamil, Shabira and Inaya for putting it together, AND for Salim and Tahera for coming to NY for this and for us.

Its hard to imagine how little time we have left. Tahera bhabhi is leaving this sunday to go back to NY and I'm sure the tears will begin flowing. On Monday, Sabiha and I go to TO for 2 weeks, where there will definitely be a lot more tears... we are definitely packing the kleenex :)

Oh by the way, our Sofas got taken today. So I am currently sitting on an air mattress watching TV. Tomorrow, our TV will go also :( Dont know if I'm more sad of our TV going or the Car...lol..

Anyways, more to come, iA we will have pictures on here soon too.

Take care!!!

We got our tickets!!!!

2 blogs in 2 days!! wow, this is fun:) So now its finally finally confirmed. Last week we contacted our travel agent and gave him the dates we want to travel. The next day he sent us a few itineraries and then we had to pick the best one. And now, we have it. Its paid and ready for travel!!! So, our trip details are:

Leave LA on Sept 2nd - fly to London (spend a day there to hang out w/ family).
Leave London Sept 4th - fly to Bahrain (2 hour stop) then fly to our NEW HOME!!!

We arrive in Damascus on Wednesday Sept 5th.

Long Journey, but all good, Alhamd. Its good that we arrive there a bit early cause it will give us a few days to get adjusted with our surroundings, maybe get a food poisoning under our belts before class starts (lol...jk...everyone we talk to warns us to be careful... i think 1 food poisoning and we should be ready to eat anything..lol). First day of class starts on Sept 8th. CRAZY!!! BACK TO SCHOOL!! AAAAHHHHHHHH.......

I know it seems like Sept 2nd is so far away, but really, its not. Check out the tickler at the bottom of the blog, and it will show you how long we have. Out of that, 2 weeks will be spent in Toronto, 3 days in Indio, leaves us with less then 8 days here in LA. Nuts!! Things are moving right along, and if we dont keep up, we will be swept underneath the currents...(cool analogy, huh!)

Ok, so thats the biggest update yet. Today is my last day at work. To all my work teammates who read this, it was truly a pleasure working with all of you and I leave with all good memories.

Take care for now!!

The Weekend

Whats up everyone??? For those that have been following our progress thru these blogs, we would like to say Thank you very much!! This weekend that past was extremely productive and filling :)

We were invited out to different peoples house this entire weekend. It was krazy!! But at the same time, ALOT of fun!!!

Saturday afternoon, Sabiha and I were invited out to SK's house for lunch. Along with us, they invited my brother, Jamil and the family and a bunch of single LA Union guys!! It was good times and good food. The same crowd that was invited for lunch was also invited out to dinner at MK's house. There we all hung out as well and the guys ended up smoking some shisha! It was a good productive day of socializing and eating!!!

Sunday morning, ofcourse I went to play vball with the guys. Rushed home cause again Sabiha and I were invited out to lunch at one of our friend's house. There we ate some good food again and some more socializing. Afterwards, we went to visit my uncle where ofcourse we ate a little more. Sabiha planned well and only munched, but I quite dont know what that means...lol. From there we went to another friend's house for dinner. Man!!! are you tired? We sure are..lol.

We do want to say THANK YOU to everyone who took time out of their busy schedule and invited us to their house. It really means alot to us and makes us feel real good that people are so supportive of our journey. Thank you again!!!!

On a side note, tomorrow is my last day of work!!!! WOOOOHOOOOOOO

More updates to come, IA.

Peace!!

Just packing....

Hello......:) so not much going on here, besides ofcourse getting rid of TONS of clothes and other stuff. Its hard to imagine how much stuff we humans possess.. krazy!!! but besides that, counting down the days to when i quit my job. After today, only 4 days left!! Looking forward to not having to work for 4 years..well, actually we will be in school for 4 years, so pick your poison i guess...lol. We should find out in the next couple of days when we are actually leaving LA for Sham, in the process of booking tickets currently. Details will be posted as soon as they are confirmed...lol...

This blogging thing is quite fun actually... IA more people will start reading when there is something truly important to write.. haha. In the meantime, tonight we going out to dinner to a Thai restaurant where they sell Madaf. I think we go there just for the Madaf..lol..

Ok.. will write more at a later time!!!