Things we love about Syria!!

Hello all, know we write this heading a lot, but is anybody still reading???? if so, thank you!!! Everything is going well for us, we have exams coming up in 2 weeks,not looking forward to that, but i guess we are in school, so its ok :) We just came back from KFC, Sabiha had a spicy Zinger sandwich and I had a 3 piece spicy dinner combo..lol, it was real good :) not as good as popeyes in TO but still pretty darn good.

I dont think we have written about things we love about Syria. I know we have written many times things we miss about home :),lol can you blame us, by the way we have 108 days before we return home, YAY!!! Anyways, here goes a list from the top of our heads, i know there will be many things that we miss.

1) Being in the close proximity of Sayyida Zainab AS - truly a dream come true, words cant express how blessed we feel, and how we truly feel that life has been really good to us over here, all because of her. No Doubt about it!!!

2) The Language - truly Arabic is an amazing language, beautiful and gentle, though when the locals speak it, it doesnt sound that gentle, lol. One of our teachers told us that once we start learning Arabic, we will crave more and more, and he couldnt have been more correct :)

3) The people - no were serious, lol. They are really genuinely nice people, most go out of their way to make sure we are comfortable.

4) Saying Salaamun Alaykum to strangers - We still cant get over this, just walking down the streets or to our neighbors, instead of Hello, we say Salaamun Alaykum, absolutely fantastic!!

5) Hearing the call for prayers (Adhaan) from everywhere - So Cool!! We have never had the opportunity to be in a place where we can hear the call for prayers, for every prayer. Really fortunate!!

6) Hearing "Ash-hadu anna Aliyyan Waliyullah" (I bear witness that Ali is the Wali of Allah (so many meanings of Wali, best english word for it is Loyal, but doesnt do it justice) - After being here for 6 months, we still cant get over the fact that this line is proclaimed loud and proud from the minarets of Sayyida Zainab AS, and it still gives us goose-bumps when we hear it, LOVE IT!!!

7) Everything is Halal to eat - Really enjoy not having to worry about whether the food is halal or not. Life is easier this way ")

8) The fruits - Seriously, you havent had fruit in the west unless you have had it from a third world country :) They taste real out here!!!

9) i know i know, we love the school too :) - if we start writing about our school and how much we love it, it will be too long, rest assured, we do love it! A lot!!

10) Our teachers - They are the best group of people we could have ever asked for. All of them are great and we Thank God all the time for them.

K - thats quite enough for now... hope all of you are well, pray for us!!