Hello, again long time since last blog but we have been really busy cause of Muharram and all the programs that take place here, not forgetting school was there too, lol. For those who are reading this don't know about Muharram, please go to http://www.al-islam.org/short/Karbala.htm for more info.
Ok, so how were the lectures of Muharram for everyone out there? We had fanstastic lectures. Our school organized lectures for us, every night for 10 nights, after school around 6pm. So they were looong days cause we were in school from 8-530 and then had a lecture right afterwards. It was really good tho and totally worth it, Alhamd. And ofcourse the lectures were all in Arabic!!! The speaker's name was Sayyid Mudhar Qazwini, from the same Qazwini family that is well known in the states, but a distance relative. This guy who came for lectures, is one of the nicest people we know. He has such great Akhlaq-behavior and conduct, and you can just tell this from his face. He speaks in Fusha Arabic which is what we are learning, and Alhamd, we were able to understand about 90% of his lectures. It was awesome. The funny thing is that he also recited at another center right after ours, so the first time we went there to listen to him, we understood only half cause he was speaking in Aammi - the dialect spoken on the streets...lol, almost 2 different languages. But we continued to go and ended up understanding most if it and got the gist for the rest.
So after our program, for the last 4 nights before Ashura, we would go to his lecture at the other center as well. So we would leave our school at 7, and get there by 715, where we would stay until 830 and then come home around 9, eat, do some homework and get to to bed around 1130 and have the same long day again. But totally worth it, we decided not to go to any urdu lectures so as to practice listening to arabic only, which was a good idea. However on the 11th night of Muharram we were forced to catch an urdu majlis cause the place we normally go to didnt have facilities for women to sit, so we had a choice between pakistani urdu, indian urdu or some good-ol' fashion khoja urdu, and yup you guessed it, we went to the khoja majlis. LOL, there was a group here from London and were having a majlis at some hotel, so we decided to go there, and yup we heard some traditional marshias, traditional nawhas and ofcourse traditional Suff Matam...LOL, its in our blood, cant help it!!! Although we didnt do Suff ourselves.
The whole feeling here for Muharram was great. Everywhere on the streets people were serving tea or hot milk, hot chocolate, literally every few feet, and they would call you to come and have some, and there were Nawhas being played from loud speakers everywhere, black banners and posters all through the city, and you could literally go for lectures from 8 in the morning till 12 at night. Ofcourse we were in school but we managed to squeeze as many in as we could. We went to lectures as late as 11pm which would end around 1 in the morning. Absolutely great experience. After our Holy month of Ramadhan wasnt as festive as we thought it would be, this surely made up for it.
Anyways, have written alot, and i know have forgotten alot, but if we think of anything will add it next time. Still dont have internet at our school so we have to come to smokey internet cafes to check email and update blog, but def. worth it!!
Oh yeah, guess what, it snowed here!!! and not just some flakes, good fashion snow for 12 hours. People were happy, kids were playing outside. Last time it snowed like this here was 15 years ago!!
K, take care!!!!!!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Hello Readers
Salaams to all... hope all of you are doing well, if anyone is still reading:) Lots has happened in the past week or so since we have written, we will try and get you guys updated with most of it, IA....
Sometime last week, all the pilgrims came back from Hajj, and we stopped over at Safir hotel to go and greet them back..lol, we met so many people, all our cousins and nephews from london, few of our peeps from Los Angeles, got a free meal out of it and met and got to know some new people we had never met. It was really nice to see everyone and thats one of the best parts about being here, especially in the heart of Sayyida Zainab, is meeting all these people who know about the course and are interested in learning more...
We have also become official Islamic ring (especially Aqeeq) buyers for anyone who needs help. In two days we helped about 3-4 people buy over 20000 syrian pounds worth of rings, i know its not alot in conversion, but its alot over here... lol.. our teacher showed us how to tell if a ring is Yemeni Aqeeq which is recommended to wear, so now we use that info and help all we can.... So if anyone is interested or wants a ring, please send a check to my brother in Los Angeles, and once the funds are deposited, we will purchase a nice ring on this end...LOL LOL hahaha...
I know we blogged a few blogs ago that we were home sick, but now that school has started, Alhamd we are not as home sick as we were, ofcourse we still miss our family and friends but its not nearly as bad.. now we miss some food that we dont get here or dont want to try and making here..lol... so here is the list :) enjoy :)
Steak - I'm talking about some proper Sirloin or TBone steak, marinated and grilled on the bbq...umm umm umm :)
Some proper Khoja bhiryani - like the kind they make at mosque..lol..
Some proper Khoja Pilau - with pettis or cutlass on the side.... dont get us wrong, they sell meat here, but it seems to risky to go and buy...lol.. you should come check it out for yourself to understand.
Virani's ribs - hahahaha enough said
East African Mushkaki - yesss
Fish Bhiryani - or better known as Machi Bhath..(only I miss this, Sabiha doesnt like it to begin with...)
Proper grilled fish with rice pilaf and mashed potatoes (from Red Lobster, again only me :))
Im sure there is alot more, but thats all we can think of right now...
Anyhow, take care, till next time, remember us in your prayers.
Ma'asalaam
Sometime last week, all the pilgrims came back from Hajj, and we stopped over at Safir hotel to go and greet them back..lol, we met so many people, all our cousins and nephews from london, few of our peeps from Los Angeles, got a free meal out of it and met and got to know some new people we had never met. It was really nice to see everyone and thats one of the best parts about being here, especially in the heart of Sayyida Zainab, is meeting all these people who know about the course and are interested in learning more...
We have also become official Islamic ring (especially Aqeeq) buyers for anyone who needs help. In two days we helped about 3-4 people buy over 20000 syrian pounds worth of rings, i know its not alot in conversion, but its alot over here... lol.. our teacher showed us how to tell if a ring is Yemeni Aqeeq which is recommended to wear, so now we use that info and help all we can.... So if anyone is interested or wants a ring, please send a check to my brother in Los Angeles, and once the funds are deposited, we will purchase a nice ring on this end...LOL LOL hahaha...
I know we blogged a few blogs ago that we were home sick, but now that school has started, Alhamd we are not as home sick as we were, ofcourse we still miss our family and friends but its not nearly as bad.. now we miss some food that we dont get here or dont want to try and making here..lol... so here is the list :) enjoy :)
Steak - I'm talking about some proper Sirloin or TBone steak, marinated and grilled on the bbq...umm umm umm :)
Some proper Khoja bhiryani - like the kind they make at mosque..lol..
Some proper Khoja Pilau - with pettis or cutlass on the side.... dont get us wrong, they sell meat here, but it seems to risky to go and buy...lol.. you should come check it out for yourself to understand.
Virani's ribs - hahahaha enough said
East African Mushkaki - yesss
Fish Bhiryani - or better known as Machi Bhath..(only I miss this, Sabiha doesnt like it to begin with...)
Proper grilled fish with rice pilaf and mashed potatoes (from Red Lobster, again only me :))
Im sure there is alot more, but thats all we can think of right now...
Anyhow, take care, till next time, remember us in your prayers.
Ma'asalaam
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Facebook is banned in Syria!!!
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
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
** 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
Monday, November 12, 2007
We have become old!!!
Hello all... salaams.. hope you all are doing well, Alhamd we are doing great here in Damascus!!! As you can tell by the title, we are getting old!! lol, it seems that by the end of the day we are so exhausted that we are in bed by 10.. lol, thats never happened before.. but it is really a long day... as we mentioned in previous blogs we have 10 classes in a day, and by the end of it and after we finish our homework, go for a walk to practice our Arabic, or watch some tv (in arabic) we are pretty exhausted. Its good though cause we are well rested for the next day...
Our classes are going really well, we finished the first book of Arabic and have started the 2nd, which is much bigger then the first, so this one will take some time...and there are no pictures in this one! lol .... But according to our teacher, we are ahead of schedule which is great. Today in our tutorial class we did something interesting... the teacher turned on the tv and we started watching the news. Then he timed us for 3 minutes and told us to write down as many words we could recognize. It was a lot of fun and something different then our regular tutorial. The great thing was that we actually could recognize quite a few words, though because i was writing so fast, I could hardly read my own writing...lol...
So our reading and understanding are getting better, but we are striving to speak better. Though i have to say, for learning arabic for 2 months, we speak quite well, we just need to keep getting and finding more opportunities to practice our speakin... though far from good..we're progressing well :) Sabiha and I went out yesterday and bought little note books that we can carry around and write new words, to practice them in our conversation. Sabiha and I try to speak to each other in arabic at home, though our grammar is terrible and a lot of times we just throw in words in english if we dont know the arabic word.
It is getting colder now, we have started wearing jackets and more layers of clothes, and i hear its only going to get colder. The heating system here is different then what we have ever seen before, obviously...lol. There are these radiator things in every room but the main power switch for them is controlled by the building management. Yesterday they turned it on but unfortunately the heating system doesnt work in our apartment. So the manager said he would come by today to take a look at it, but ofcourse, he didnt. lol.. oh well, hopefully soon, but its not that cold yet, iA they will fix it before it gets much colder....
besides that, all else is good here, pray that we learn well, i know all your prayers are definitely helping us. we still cant believe that we are so close to the Honorable Lady Sayyida Zainab AS. Each day we are amazed and feel lucky that we are in her proximity. They call her the untaught Scholar, because of her wisdom, even though she was never taught. We pray that she will bless us so that we can learn and make her and her family proud, which in turn, most definitely will make Allah SWT pleased with us.
Take care for now and GO LAKERS!!!!!
Our classes are going really well, we finished the first book of Arabic and have started the 2nd, which is much bigger then the first, so this one will take some time...and there are no pictures in this one! lol .... But according to our teacher, we are ahead of schedule which is great. Today in our tutorial class we did something interesting... the teacher turned on the tv and we started watching the news. Then he timed us for 3 minutes and told us to write down as many words we could recognize. It was a lot of fun and something different then our regular tutorial. The great thing was that we actually could recognize quite a few words, though because i was writing so fast, I could hardly read my own writing...lol...
So our reading and understanding are getting better, but we are striving to speak better. Though i have to say, for learning arabic for 2 months, we speak quite well, we just need to keep getting and finding more opportunities to practice our speakin... though far from good..we're progressing well :) Sabiha and I went out yesterday and bought little note books that we can carry around and write new words, to practice them in our conversation. Sabiha and I try to speak to each other in arabic at home, though our grammar is terrible and a lot of times we just throw in words in english if we dont know the arabic word.
It is getting colder now, we have started wearing jackets and more layers of clothes, and i hear its only going to get colder. The heating system here is different then what we have ever seen before, obviously...lol. There are these radiator things in every room but the main power switch for them is controlled by the building management. Yesterday they turned it on but unfortunately the heating system doesnt work in our apartment. So the manager said he would come by today to take a look at it, but ofcourse, he didnt. lol.. oh well, hopefully soon, but its not that cold yet, iA they will fix it before it gets much colder....
besides that, all else is good here, pray that we learn well, i know all your prayers are definitely helping us. we still cant believe that we are so close to the Honorable Lady Sayyida Zainab AS. Each day we are amazed and feel lucky that we are in her proximity. They call her the untaught Scholar, because of her wisdom, even though she was never taught. We pray that she will bless us so that we can learn and make her and her family proud, which in turn, most definitely will make Allah SWT pleased with us.
Take care for now and GO LAKERS!!!!!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Missin the Lakers!!!
Hello all, pretty cool, much frequent updates...lol... now that we have internet, we check our email every two days and we have decided to take turns updating the blog.. so somedays our blogs will be really short cause not that much to talk about... but atleast updates will be there... btw, leave msgs cause we def read them and appreciate them.
anyways, as the title says, missing the lakers man!!!! since we have been here, the only thing we have missed is family and friends... i used to love watching football, but dont miss that at all, but now that the lakers season has started, really missing the lakers... im more excited to check the scores of the games then i am to check my email..lol. but im glad to see they are off to a good start, especially with Lamar Odom being injured...
as Sabiha mentioned, last friday we had a bbq with all the teachers and their families there, and it was really cool. but the best part of the evening was that we had Camel meat.. lol... they bbq'd camel kabobs and I really enjoyed them. They definitely had a different taste to them, but meat is meat...lol. Being here in Syria, we eat alot more bbq meat then we did back home, its the safer thing to order i think when we go to restaurants... and the Syrian ppl love their french fries, every rest. we have been to has had fries, and it works great for me cause I am a potato and meat man!!! lol.
ALSO.... we watched American Gangster last thursday... yup thats right, last thursday, and it came out in the states on Friday..lol..LOL.. thats soo cool... it was a good movie... as sabiha has mentioned in a previous blog, there is a store here that sells movies, so someone we know picked it up and we borrowed it... pretty cool...
AND... we bought our first Shisha (hooka) today..lol about time huh...lol, i know... it took us two months but we got a really nice one today. We went out with our friend Ebrahim today and he took us to Damascus to buy a good quality one. So we bought everything... the actual Shisha, three flavors of tobacco, foil paper, coal, coal holder... the works.. and for much less then we would have spent for a less then deceent quality shisha back home.
Anyhow, thats it for now... will write more later.
take care!!
anyways, as the title says, missing the lakers man!!!! since we have been here, the only thing we have missed is family and friends... i used to love watching football, but dont miss that at all, but now that the lakers season has started, really missing the lakers... im more excited to check the scores of the games then i am to check my email..lol. but im glad to see they are off to a good start, especially with Lamar Odom being injured...
as Sabiha mentioned, last friday we had a bbq with all the teachers and their families there, and it was really cool. but the best part of the evening was that we had Camel meat.. lol... they bbq'd camel kabobs and I really enjoyed them. They definitely had a different taste to them, but meat is meat...lol. Being here in Syria, we eat alot more bbq meat then we did back home, its the safer thing to order i think when we go to restaurants... and the Syrian ppl love their french fries, every rest. we have been to has had fries, and it works great for me cause I am a potato and meat man!!! lol.
ALSO.... we watched American Gangster last thursday... yup thats right, last thursday, and it came out in the states on Friday..lol..LOL.. thats soo cool... it was a good movie... as sabiha has mentioned in a previous blog, there is a store here that sells movies, so someone we know picked it up and we borrowed it... pretty cool...
AND... we bought our first Shisha (hooka) today..lol about time huh...lol, i know... it took us two months but we got a really nice one today. We went out with our friend Ebrahim today and he took us to Damascus to buy a good quality one. So we bought everything... the actual Shisha, three flavors of tobacco, foil paper, coal, coal holder... the works.. and for much less then we would have spent for a less then deceent quality shisha back home.
Anyhow, thats it for now... will write more later.
take care!!
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