Salaams everyone... hope everyone is doing well like we are over here.... as you can tell by the title, syria has blocked facebook...lol.. it really sucks cause that was the primary way for us to stay in touch with our family and friends...oh well, atleast we have email and this blog. We are back at the Internet cafe today to update our blog, cause we still dont have fast enough internet at our school. One of our teachers was really nice and he gave us a free internet card so we can use dial up, which we have been using to check our email, however its not nearly fast enough to do other things. Today, Sabiha and I are both updating, so there may be some repeat material, but its ok, im sure you wont mind :)
Last time we blogged, we talked about how home sick we were, Alhamd, now we are much better cause the institute we are studying at, planned a little trip for us to get away for a little while. I believe Sabiha is writing about the trip, so I dont want to repeat it, but lets just say, we are back, rejuvenated and ready for our next vacation!!! LOL, just kidding, we are ready for school, i think:) two more days of vacation and we are going to make the most of it, sleep sleep and sleep. LOL, cause once school starts, we will not be getting much of it.
Lots of people coming to Damascus this time of the year, we have met so many people, most we dont know, some we do, sufficient enough to say that our khoja radars are on...lol.. hahaha.... soon the pilgrims will be back from Hajj, so there will be a lot more people here. We have been speaking a lot of arabic the last couple of days, which has impressed a lot of people, considering we have only being studying it for 3 months. Alhamd, sometimes i pray a lot that we can learn a lot, but rarely do I thank Him for what he has blessed us with already, and truly he has... so Alhamd!!!
Today we had KFC...lol.. this is the 2nd time we have had it and it was darn good!! And i was real excited to see the Lakers beat the Suns!!! YES!!! still following the lakers and missing them dearly... no not dearly, DEARLY!!! lol.. and they are playing really well this year, so keep it up!!!
Anyways, gotta run, have already spent an hour here, need to go home and eat some more KFC...lol.. remember us in your prayers!!!
Peace
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
** ootla huloo **
Our two week break is coming to an end really fast and back to school we go on sat! Our break started out quite slow but now its going by super fast. Last sat we had a chance to go to halab (aleppo) - the administrator of our course arranged it for us with a friend of his that had a nice comfortable car as its a bumpy drive there...it takes about 4 hours to get there...it started out with just jaffer and i and the driver...but when the driver found out it was just to of us he asked if he could bring his wife along...i was excited about that as it would be good company for me...so they came to pick us up at 11am...and guess what it turned out it was his wife and 2 kids ( 2 little adorable boys) lol in a 5 seater...but you know what? surprisingly we were still very comfortable...the best part was that they spoke NO ENGLISH so we really got a chance to use our arabic...alhamd we did quite well. it was a smooth journey and they were really welcoming..it wasn't uncomfortable at all...we all had a great time. we spent 2 nights in halab...we found a decent hotel - and that too was a great treat for us! on our way to halab we stopped at raqqa to pay our respects to the companions of our prophet (ammar yasir, and owais e qarani) then drove to halab and checked into our hotel..
the next day the driver came to pick us up...it was just him...and he took us around to visit all the different holy sites...as well as to qila halab and then went to a nice restaurant to have some 'kebab halabee' which was delicious...ohh yes, how could i forget - we also went to the suq for some shopping and believe me our driver taught us how to bargain like we've never before...if it weren't for him, we would have definitely spent double or more than what we ended up spending!
after our whole day of being out - we spent some time in our hotel relaxing - then went out for a walk on the street where our hotel was...there were lots of little shops so t'was nice to browse around...we found this perfume store...and went crazy there...50 syrian pounds for 1 small bottle of authentic name brands of perfums lol lets just say we're well stocked...the 'sahibe dukkan' (shopkeeper) was quite surprised at our arabic considering we've been here for 3 months...so alhamd that was good to hear!
we stopped at a few more places on the way back the next day and then were home on monday...rested on tuesday and then were out again today for our final visits...went to pay our respects to hazrat habil( able ) and KFC! lol its funny that with all the good food we get here sometimes its KFC that just does it...we had it for lunch and brought some home for dinner :)
ilal liqaa ~sabs
the next day the driver came to pick us up...it was just him...and he took us around to visit all the different holy sites...as well as to qila halab and then went to a nice restaurant to have some 'kebab halabee' which was delicious...ohh yes, how could i forget - we also went to the suq for some shopping and believe me our driver taught us how to bargain like we've never before...if it weren't for him, we would have definitely spent double or more than what we ended up spending!
after our whole day of being out - we spent some time in our hotel relaxing - then went out for a walk on the street where our hotel was...there were lots of little shops so t'was nice to browse around...we found this perfume store...and went crazy there...50 syrian pounds for 1 small bottle of authentic name brands of perfums lol lets just say we're well stocked...the 'sahibe dukkan' (shopkeeper) was quite surprised at our arabic considering we've been here for 3 months...so alhamd that was good to hear!
we stopped at a few more places on the way back the next day and then were home on monday...rested on tuesday and then were out again today for our final visits...went to pay our respects to hazrat habil( able ) and KFC! lol its funny that with all the good food we get here sometimes its KFC that just does it...we had it for lunch and brought some home for dinner :)
ilal liqaa ~sabs
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
FINALLY AN UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello all.... really sorry for no update in so long, but we havent had internet at our school in nearly 5 weeks, and we havent had much time to go to the internet cafe. So if there is someone still reading this blog, God bless you!!!
Alot has happened since the last time we blogged, for starters we took one more set of exams, Alhamd we all did quite well, but now the exams are being put on hold, because the coordinator of the program thinks they are too stressful for the students. So they are going to have a meeting to establish what they need to do that will serve everyone's interests. Sabiha and I dont mind not having exams, definitely means we dont have to focus as much..lol..jk, we are still focusing, we just wont be able to tell how well or bad we are doing. will keep you posted if anything happens.
We are getting a little home sick right now. The other couple went to their homes due to an emergency, and we wish that we could go back too!!! lol, the good thing is that we are home sick at different times, so we cheer each other up. Sabiha is usually missing home during the day, and I am usually home sick at night, so we balance each other out..lol... we were looking at the calender, and we have another 6 months before we can go back, yup you read it right, SIX months..lol.
We are meeting alot of people here tho. 2 weeks ago, we met a cousin of mine that I hadnt seen in 20 years, then the next day met some guy i hadnt seen in 10 years from Dubai... and then last thursday, all the pilgrims on their way to Mecca stopped in Damascus for a day, and we met some cousins and friends. So its really nice. We will meet a lot more people still, as all the pilgrims will stop here again on the way back from Mecca.
Well, trust me there is alot more to right, but dont want to bore everyone... keep checking, really dont know when we will update it again, soon iA. by the way, the Lakers are doing really well, so thats a plus!!!
take care
Alot has happened since the last time we blogged, for starters we took one more set of exams, Alhamd we all did quite well, but now the exams are being put on hold, because the coordinator of the program thinks they are too stressful for the students. So they are going to have a meeting to establish what they need to do that will serve everyone's interests. Sabiha and I dont mind not having exams, definitely means we dont have to focus as much..lol..jk, we are still focusing, we just wont be able to tell how well or bad we are doing. will keep you posted if anything happens.
We are getting a little home sick right now. The other couple went to their homes due to an emergency, and we wish that we could go back too!!! lol, the good thing is that we are home sick at different times, so we cheer each other up. Sabiha is usually missing home during the day, and I am usually home sick at night, so we balance each other out..lol... we were looking at the calender, and we have another 6 months before we can go back, yup you read it right, SIX months..lol.
We are meeting alot of people here tho. 2 weeks ago, we met a cousin of mine that I hadnt seen in 20 years, then the next day met some guy i hadnt seen in 10 years from Dubai... and then last thursday, all the pilgrims on their way to Mecca stopped in Damascus for a day, and we met some cousins and friends. So its really nice. We will meet a lot more people still, as all the pilgrims will stop here again on the way back from Mecca.
Well, trust me there is alot more to right, but dont want to bore everyone... keep checking, really dont know when we will update it again, soon iA. by the way, the Lakers are doing really well, so thats a plus!!!
take care
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