Yes, we are back from our mini vacation, a tour around Syria, thus the long delay between blog updates... and school is starting in a day!!! AAAAHHHH!!! lol, just kidding, all good, let it start, we are ready, so we can begin the major countdown - when we come home!!!!!!!!
Out trip was a lot of fun, really needed break to get away from our studies, and just go out and relax. It was us, the other couple and their family, a total of 9 of us. We left on saturday morning at 7 and made our way to Aleppo... on the way we stopped at a city called Hama when they have a water wheel (lol, sounds funny when we write about it, but its supposed to be a big touristy thing, so we did it :) for the 2nd time..lol, remember 3 months ago we went on a mini vacation?? we stopped at this city) after the water wheel we drove to Aleppo (another city we had been too, but worth it to go again simply for the religious sites at that city). After Aleppo we drove to Idlib where we spent the night at a 4 star hotel, the name of the Hotel was Carlton - no no, not Ritz Carlton, it was nice, not bad... or as they say in arabic 'la bas'.
The next morning we drove to Latakia, its a coastal town and we stayed there one night, then drove to Tatrous which is also on the coast... The Mediterraneans ocean is nice but it does not compare to the beaches back home in Mombasa or back in LA... the next morning we drove to Palmyra.. its supposed to be the most visited city in Syria, and there we saw only western people...:) Everything there is old and archaic, but real nice.. old buildings around 4000 years old.. really beautiful.. you know the best part of our trip tho... the hotel in Palmyra... lol.. it was great, the best hotel we stayed in without a doubt. It looked like cottages and felt like we were staying by the ocean, though we were in the middle of a desert!! haha..
OK, so by the time we publish this post, some things have changed.. for starters our school has already started, in fact the first week is almost over..lol, and we have some big news... so hope you read the next blog.. or you might have already read it if this is posted after it..dont know how that works...
Take care!!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
EXAMS ARE OVER!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, thank goodness the exams are now over and we can relax!! We had our last exam today and we are sooo glad its over..lol. 6 exams in 6 days!! Alhamd, finished. We did well in them too, Alhamd, Sabiha ofcourse better then me, but that was expected :) We dont know how the other students did, but the teachers said everyone did well. So thats great!!
We just found out today as well where they are sending us for our 1 week break. So there is actually a story that goes with this, so be patient!! :) About a month and a half ago, we were told that they would send us to Umra - Mecca and Medina, because we are the first students and also we came into the course blind so they wanted to reward us for that. However, after trying and trying, the school was not able to obtain a visa, mainly because our residency in Syria has not yet been given to us. So that plan was put on hold.
Then about 2 weeks ago from today, they said Plan B would be to send us to Iraq - to go for pilgrimage to Najaf, Kerbala, Kadhmain and if possible Samarra... so we were excited, i mean who wouldnt be. However, they put together a Plan C as well, it was called "Syria - the cradle of civilazation" just in case the 'head people' of this course wouldnt accept plan b. so we waited and waited and waited, and they didnt tell us. We asked and asked and asked, and they wouldnt tell us. Finally yesterday they let us know that it is................. you ready?????
PLAN C!! lol, we are not surprised, but definitely excited. It will be a good chance to get away from here for a few days, and just relax. So Plan C we were originally told would be for 5 nights to different cities in Syria, 5 star hotels and 3 meals a day provided. That was yesterday... yup you guessed it, it has changed. Now its 4 nights (Palmyra, Aleppo, Latakia and Tortous - one night in each city) from 5 star hotels we are down to 3 stars, LOL, and from 3 meals a day we are down to only breakfast LOL LOL. Not the organizers fault at all, but the agency was giving him different answers, but thats Syria for you. We still excited, dont worry. We were planning on going to Latakia sometime in the future anyways, this way we dont have to go.
So we will be leaving early Saturday morning, that is what is confirmed right now, lets see what changes :) Its us, the other couple, and the other couples family, 5 of them, so all together 9 people. We pray that transportation is comfortable and we are not all cramped, especially cause we will have luggage as well. Tomorrow we plan on going to KFC..lol, its finger lickin good!!
LOL, ok, take care for now, wont get a chance to blog till we get back in 5 nights, i mean 4 nights... :)
Take care!!
We just found out today as well where they are sending us for our 1 week break. So there is actually a story that goes with this, so be patient!! :) About a month and a half ago, we were told that they would send us to Umra - Mecca and Medina, because we are the first students and also we came into the course blind so they wanted to reward us for that. However, after trying and trying, the school was not able to obtain a visa, mainly because our residency in Syria has not yet been given to us. So that plan was put on hold.
Then about 2 weeks ago from today, they said Plan B would be to send us to Iraq - to go for pilgrimage to Najaf, Kerbala, Kadhmain and if possible Samarra... so we were excited, i mean who wouldnt be. However, they put together a Plan C as well, it was called "Syria - the cradle of civilazation" just in case the 'head people' of this course wouldnt accept plan b. so we waited and waited and waited, and they didnt tell us. We asked and asked and asked, and they wouldnt tell us. Finally yesterday they let us know that it is................. you ready?????
PLAN C!! lol, we are not surprised, but definitely excited. It will be a good chance to get away from here for a few days, and just relax. So Plan C we were originally told would be for 5 nights to different cities in Syria, 5 star hotels and 3 meals a day provided. That was yesterday... yup you guessed it, it has changed. Now its 4 nights (Palmyra, Aleppo, Latakia and Tortous - one night in each city) from 5 star hotels we are down to 3 stars, LOL, and from 3 meals a day we are down to only breakfast LOL LOL. Not the organizers fault at all, but the agency was giving him different answers, but thats Syria for you. We still excited, dont worry. We were planning on going to Latakia sometime in the future anyways, this way we dont have to go.
So we will be leaving early Saturday morning, that is what is confirmed right now, lets see what changes :) Its us, the other couple, and the other couples family, 5 of them, so all together 9 people. We pray that transportation is comfortable and we are not all cramped, especially cause we will have luggage as well. Tomorrow we plan on going to KFC..lol, its finger lickin good!!
LOL, ok, take care for now, wont get a chance to blog till we get back in 5 nights, i mean 4 nights... :)
Take care!!
Monday, March 17, 2008
3 down 3 to go!
whew! we just finished our 3rd exam and boy was it an exam! since we have exams every 3 months now instead of every month...the exams are quite comprehensive...we've all been doing well on them alhamd...so we think lol - we'll know for sure once we see our results! the exams are definitely a good way for us to know though how well we are grasping the material...they are not difficult as such if we keep up with the material, there is just a lot of material to cover as they are finals; some tricky questions as usual...but hey, can't just earn a masters without hard work/exams/effort eh? lol
we just finished one - probably the most comprehensive and involved one of them all and decided to come to the int cafe for a break before we head back to study for the next few exams that we have left.
we have our last exam on thursday and then have a 10 day break...we're definitely looking forward to the break lol our school is planning a trip for us...we're not sure where just yet but hopefully we'll find out soon as there are few days left before our break begins...regardless of where we end up going, it will be a nice well deserved break for us all i'm sure!
keeping this one short as we have to get back studying...thinking of grabbing some ice cream on our way home as its a nice sunny day...till next time...
~peace
we just finished one - probably the most comprehensive and involved one of them all and decided to come to the int cafe for a break before we head back to study for the next few exams that we have left.
we have our last exam on thursday and then have a 10 day break...we're definitely looking forward to the break lol our school is planning a trip for us...we're not sure where just yet but hopefully we'll find out soon as there are few days left before our break begins...regardless of where we end up going, it will be a nice well deserved break for us all i'm sure!
keeping this one short as we have to get back studying...thinking of grabbing some ice cream on our way home as its a nice sunny day...till next time...
~peace
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Its time for Finals!!!
Yes, the title is correct, we have exams starting in two days...(can you hear the drum roles..lol) but its all good, we are pretty excited, to get them done... haha.. no no, just kidding, to actually see what we know and if we have truly understood the material. Our Arabic final is going to be crazy... Our teacher has told us he is going to challenge us, and knowing him as well as we do, we have no doubt it will be difficult. So here is the schedule:
Sat 3/15 - Fiqh (Religious Laws? dont quite know the best translation for it)
Sun 3/16 - Hadith (Sayings and Traditions from the Holy Prophet PBUH and his family PBOT)
Mon 3/17 - Arabic (Can you hear the drum roles again?!?!?!?)
Tue 3/18 - Imla (Our writing class, the teacher talks and we write, not too difficult, but would not say by any means easy, lots of rules in writing Arabic)
Wed 3/19 - Qur'an (Last time I thought this was going to be the easiest but ended up being my worst mark, mostly because our teacher expects perfection, soon IA :) )
Thur 3/20 - Comprehension (Dont quite know how to study for this class, so just pray for us :) )
Then we are done!!! Yes, and we have a 9 day break, really deserved 9 day break... Dont quite know what we are going to do, our school is planning a trip for us, but they havent decided yet, due to some issues regarding our residency here in Syria... we will let the experts handle that, but as soon as we find out we will definitely let you know.
We are still continuing to meet lots and lots of people here, really enjoyable, and we are told that more are coming, so we will wait and see :)
Thats all we have for now, sorry that this entry was kinda boring :) Will talk to you soon... please pray for our success in our examinations.
Peace!
Sat 3/15 - Fiqh (Religious Laws? dont quite know the best translation for it)
Sun 3/16 - Hadith (Sayings and Traditions from the Holy Prophet PBUH and his family PBOT)
Mon 3/17 - Arabic (Can you hear the drum roles again?!?!?!?)
Tue 3/18 - Imla (Our writing class, the teacher talks and we write, not too difficult, but would not say by any means easy, lots of rules in writing Arabic)
Wed 3/19 - Qur'an (Last time I thought this was going to be the easiest but ended up being my worst mark, mostly because our teacher expects perfection, soon IA :) )
Thur 3/20 - Comprehension (Dont quite know how to study for this class, so just pray for us :) )
Then we are done!!! Yes, and we have a 9 day break, really deserved 9 day break... Dont quite know what we are going to do, our school is planning a trip for us, but they havent decided yet, due to some issues regarding our residency here in Syria... we will let the experts handle that, but as soon as we find out we will definitely let you know.
We are still continuing to meet lots and lots of people here, really enjoyable, and we are told that more are coming, so we will wait and see :)
Thats all we have for now, sorry that this entry was kinda boring :) Will talk to you soon... please pray for our success in our examinations.
Peace!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
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!!
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!!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Arbaeen in Damascus
Salaams all, hope you are in good spirits, we are doing great by the Grace of Allah SWT. We have just finished Arbaeen now, and the experiences were magnificent. For those who dont know what Arbaeen is, remember how we wrote about the Grandson of the Holy Prophet was murdered in the desert of Kerbala, we actually commemorate that for 40 days, and we just finished that period of mourning. It was packed packed packed here, but amazing amazing amazing!!!!
For the last 5 days, the streets have been packed with people, for the first time we saw more Pakistani's then we did Iranians. All the stores that usually played Arabic poetry (Mataams) were now playing Urdu poems, lol, guess they know how to cater for their audience :) Also, everything is slightly more expensive. Bread that we used to buy for 35 syrian pounds, is now up to 50. Someone told me they used to buy a sandwich for 85, it is now up to 150. Crazy, IA the prices will come back down after Arbaeen. Lots of our people (khojas) here too... really cool, we have met Loads and loads of them, lol. We actually met an uncle of ours that we havent seen in over 20 years, from East Africa, last week here. There is no doubt it is due the great presence of Sayyida Zainab AS that has made all this possible for us.
We have been fortunate enough to listen to many arabic lectures here, a few at the Haram and then on Arbaeen night and the next night, our school organized lectures for us, so it was nice to listen to as much arabic as we could. We also went to an english lecture by Sayyid Ammar N. at that Safir hotel, it was aiight, we prefer the arabic lectures, lol, just cause we are thirsty for it. But the coolest part of this whole week was that on Arbaeen night, around 4 in the morning, there are buses that take people from Sayyida Zainab AS to Sayyida Ruqayya (Sakina) AS, and then the people walk from there back, in a procession to Sayyida Zainab, nearly 15 KM. (On a side note, in our community we call that a Juloos, but a Juloos in Arabic means to sit, lol!!!!!!!!!) Anyways, we actually did that walk, took about 2.5 hours, it was amazing, thousands and thousands of people did this walk, we started around 6 and got back here at 830, it was really a great experience. Tiring, but we kept thinking that the family of the Prophet walked from Kerbala to Damascus in chains and shackles, we had no excuses :)
Besides that, things are ok here, a funny thing happened a few weeks ago. Our close friends from Los Angeles called us and it was really nice talking to them. The funny part was that I was talking to my friends Grandfather, and I normally speak to him in Swahili, but as i was trying to talk to him in Swahili, only arabic words were coming out...LOL, Sabiha couldnt stop laughing at me, luckily he spoke English so i was able to resort back to it. They say that when you are learning a new language, it replaces other languages that you are not too strong in, So Alhamd its good i guess...LOL.
Anyways, written a lot, please pray for us, and we will IA do the same :)
Take care!!
For the last 5 days, the streets have been packed with people, for the first time we saw more Pakistani's then we did Iranians. All the stores that usually played Arabic poetry (Mataams) were now playing Urdu poems, lol, guess they know how to cater for their audience :) Also, everything is slightly more expensive. Bread that we used to buy for 35 syrian pounds, is now up to 50. Someone told me they used to buy a sandwich for 85, it is now up to 150. Crazy, IA the prices will come back down after Arbaeen. Lots of our people (khojas) here too... really cool, we have met Loads and loads of them, lol. We actually met an uncle of ours that we havent seen in over 20 years, from East Africa, last week here. There is no doubt it is due the great presence of Sayyida Zainab AS that has made all this possible for us.
We have been fortunate enough to listen to many arabic lectures here, a few at the Haram and then on Arbaeen night and the next night, our school organized lectures for us, so it was nice to listen to as much arabic as we could. We also went to an english lecture by Sayyid Ammar N. at that Safir hotel, it was aiight, we prefer the arabic lectures, lol, just cause we are thirsty for it. But the coolest part of this whole week was that on Arbaeen night, around 4 in the morning, there are buses that take people from Sayyida Zainab AS to Sayyida Ruqayya (Sakina) AS, and then the people walk from there back, in a procession to Sayyida Zainab, nearly 15 KM. (On a side note, in our community we call that a Juloos, but a Juloos in Arabic means to sit, lol!!!!!!!!!) Anyways, we actually did that walk, took about 2.5 hours, it was amazing, thousands and thousands of people did this walk, we started around 6 and got back here at 830, it was really a great experience. Tiring, but we kept thinking that the family of the Prophet walked from Kerbala to Damascus in chains and shackles, we had no excuses :)
Besides that, things are ok here, a funny thing happened a few weeks ago. Our close friends from Los Angeles called us and it was really nice talking to them. The funny part was that I was talking to my friends Grandfather, and I normally speak to him in Swahili, but as i was trying to talk to him in Swahili, only arabic words were coming out...LOL, Sabiha couldnt stop laughing at me, luckily he spoke English so i was able to resort back to it. They say that when you are learning a new language, it replaces other languages that you are not too strong in, So Alhamd its good i guess...LOL.
Anyways, written a lot, please pray for us, and we will IA do the same :)
Take care!!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
WOW, 2 blogs in 2 days
So whats going on? Not much on our end, i mean we just blogged two days ago..lol. We are back at the internet cafe, to check our mail and talk to family. In a few days, we will have only 4 months left!!! ALhamd, dont get us wrong, we love being here, but we do miss our family and friends a lot. We are also looking for dates to spend between 2 homes, LA and TO
Now... for some Arabic!!!
alhamd nahnu takallamna ma' ahlina, wa kulluhum jayid alhamd. ukhti indaha camara fi al-bayt, wa hadha mufeed jiddan lana, lianna nahnu nastatee an naraa kulluhum.
huna jaw jayyid alan laysa barid katheer mithl qabla isbuain, wa lakin lana al-bard laysa mushkil, nahnu lam nabqa fil bait ba'da darse, kul yawm nahnu nadhhab wa namshee likay nakudh isteraha qaleel wa aidhan natakallam ma akhareen lil tamareen lilugat al-arabia.
alan kul yawm yujad zehma akthar fi alharam lianna katheer min zuwaar yatoon li ziyarat min kul anwah al alam!
hadha jayid lil aan... :)
Not bad huh? lol, iA soon will get better... Please pray for our success....
Ma'as Salaam
Now... for some Arabic!!!
alhamd nahnu takallamna ma' ahlina, wa kulluhum jayid alhamd. ukhti indaha camara fi al-bayt, wa hadha mufeed jiddan lana, lianna nahnu nastatee an naraa kulluhum.
huna jaw jayyid alan laysa barid katheer mithl qabla isbuain, wa lakin lana al-bard laysa mushkil, nahnu lam nabqa fil bait ba'da darse, kul yawm nahnu nadhhab wa namshee likay nakudh isteraha qaleel wa aidhan natakallam ma akhareen lil tamareen lilugat al-arabia.
alan kul yawm yujad zehma akthar fi alharam lianna katheer min zuwaar yatoon li ziyarat min kul anwah al alam!
hadha jayid lil aan... :)
Not bad huh? lol, iA soon will get better... Please pray for our success....
Ma'as Salaam
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