Tired!

Standing, well more like sleeping, on the photocopying machine during lunch, a teacher asks me,
"Fatema, how are you here after your trip?"
"With great difficultly" I responded and I meant it.

My eyes are drooping. I long for either a large Tim Horton's double-double or my bed!

Okay, so I know I resolved not to complain but I think it is okay - just this once!

I feel upset because I was unable to enjoy my morning coffee. When I walked into my class this morning, I was so unimpressed to see the state of my class .. books on the carpet, food on the floor, papers everywhere.. urg! I spent the whole morning cleaning. In all this chaos, my hot coffee quickly turned cold and stood unhappy and forgotten on my desk! All because of my inefficient MALE supply teacher!

Hajities

Never has my soft mint-green comforter looked as good as it did yesterday. After wolfing down a home cooked meal (thanks mom), I jumped into my bed and embraced my comforter. Familiar scents of home greeted me. I fluffed my pillow. Hmmm..... life was good. Thoughts I had been harbouring of changing my comforter for the past few years quickly left port. I LOVE my comforter, my bed, my kitchen, my dingy, old desktop computer! I love it all. I am definitely happy to be home!

Like all the other 2006-2007 hajis, I have come down with a case of Hajities. Coined by Ruqayyah and Sidika, Hajities comes from the root word Bronchitis and it simply means having a severe cough and an uncomfortable cold. I would like to add another dimension to this term.

Hajities affects not only a haji's physical being, but his or her mental capacity as well. I awoke quite a few times last night, unaware of where I was. I guess being on the road for three weeks and staying at random "NO FRILL" hotels, overloaded tents and outdoor airport terminals would do that to you. In addition to feeling misplaced, all day long I have been expecting people to come home. I need to keep reminding myself - I no longer live with eight roommates, I can take a fifteen minute guiltless shower, zuhr and asr is 2 and 2 rakaats, I mean, 4 and 4 not 2 and 2 rakaats, and food will not be served on the mezzanine level... I have to cook again :(

Wow... getting over hajities is harder than I expected! While I am definitely glad to be home, I think I am already missing my haj family! I believe it is true what people say - "The friends you make during haj are the friends you will have for life!"

In london ...

Our trip is beginning... my nerves are fine, however my nose is constantly running. I cant belive I am sick before we have even started our journey.

I am sitting at Heathrow, unimpressed with the duty free. Oh well. In London, we found out that a ton of ppl that we know will be coming to haj with us. I am starting to get excited.

With 3 mins remaining on my clock, I am going to sign off... I guess it will be me and Sheriyati for the rest of the trip.

With Love....

Walking Toward Death

After a week of "Ehram" troubles, I finally brought home my white dress that I will wear during the three days of haj. While I was not completely satisfied with the quality and end product, I decided that I no longer wanted to think on the ehram subject any longer. I went downstairs, poured unscented detergent in the washer, threw my clothes in and waited for the cycle to finish.

That evening, after the clothes my washed and I showed Asif my freshly, cleaned ehram. Asif said to me - "So thats your kafan". Oh my..I thought. If only I put as much time into my life serving Allah, as i put into making my death shrouds. It is scary to come to some understanding that this might be the end.

As Asif and I approach our departure date for hajj, we would like to ask you all to forgive us if we have hurt you in any way. Please pray that our hajj is accepted and that we return home safely inshallah.

With Love....

The Count Down Is ON!

With less than 3 weeks to go, more than 150 North American Muslims are sitting at home staring at an empty suitcase. To pack or not to pack - that is the question running through our minds. My calender with none but one word - haj - seems to be going through a range of emotions very time I look at it. Sometimes it looks at me pleadingly, other times it glares at me. What am I to do? I want to begin my preparations for this most spiritual journey, but with no Saudia visas in hand, preparations almost seem like a waste of time.

So here I am - physically unprepared for haj - staring at my empty Swiss Army suitcase. How am I to get mentally prepared? I want to be excited but it seems like our visa trouble is just a preview of what awaits us.

I begin to think of Mecca and the Kaaba, and for a minute, I am at peace. Then my mind wanders to my unsewn white pilgrimage garments laying lifeless on my tailor's "sancho". My heart begins to race again.

With less than three weeks to go for haj, I am finding myself nervous, a little scared, somewhat confused and totally unprepared. Beautiful! Such emotions are definately the making of a successful trip - wouldnt you agree?

Report Card Fever

I got the fever - and I am burning up! Report cards got me down. For the last week, I have spent the majority of my time either marking, drafting comments or on the computer trying to input all my information!

The worst part of this is the reports are now web based! In theory, it is a good thing - but like all theories, it doesn't really follow through into real life! With the huge volume of teachers logging in to write their report cards, there are huge delays, many error messages and the worst of all - the freeze that results in a huge loss of inputted data!

What a waste of time! While it should take a few moments to write a comment, it takes hours! What a waste of time!

Since my head is throbbing and the system is down - AGAIN - I am heading out!

And for all those who think teaching is easy because of the summers - I challenge you to survive one report card season and then talk to me!

Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna

This is a message for my dear friend - Minaz.

Although we stand each other up for our coffee dates, although we dont know how to play it "by ear" - whatever that means, although we dont know how to communicate effectively with each other, we DO know something very important! We know how good "fridges" is!

Fridges will not be the same without you. Hmmm....rich and warm chocolate cake, topped with delicious vanilla ice-cream and drizzled with dark chocolate sauce... hmmm. My mouth is watering already! Is yours? lol

Have a fabulous time on your travels :)

The Eid Debate

For as long as I can remember, the night before Eid has always been the same. Everywhere you go, the conversation sounds a little like this.

"Was the moon sighted?"
"Is tommorrow Eid?"
"I can't fast another fast! I dont care if the moon isnt sighted - tommorrow is my Eid"

Well, whenever your eid was - be it Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday - I would like to wish all my readers (I guess that would be you - Minaz) a wonderful Eid. May Allah accept all your duas - Ameen.

Useless Services

Asif came home yesterday quite excited about a service he had found out about - Google Text. Apparently, you can text Google a word and Google instantly texts you back with information about the chosen word. So Asif texted with word Manchester United to Google and Google texted back "They are the best" and "Beat Liverpool 2 - 0". Yes, I have to admit - I was excited about the wisdom of this device but nonetheless, what is the use of this service, which I have to add, you have to pay for? If I want to find out about the Man U game, I can just get onto the computer and find the information I need.
Asif's reaction to that was, "What if you are in the car?"
Okay, if I am in the car, I will wait till I get home and then get on the computer!"

So Asif continues to convince me.

"What if you need a number?"
"You dial 411!"
"What if you need an address?"
"I am sure Google does not provide such information" I responded. So we tried it.

We typed in the name of my school and sent it to Google and Google was unable to find the information! What a shocker!!

So seriously, apart from the instant gratification of you are receiving a text you paid for, what is the need for this service??

Should you feel the need to waste some money, the number is "46645". This new 5 digit number is changing lives, one text at a time - RIGHHHHT!

Mothers

I was sitting at mosque a few days ago and something interesting caught my eye and I have been meaning share it with my non-existent readers (I am assuming their non existence as a result of a lack of comments :))

But anyway, during the amaals (prayers), it was said, "If your mothers are with you today, be good to them and take every opportunity to serve them". Well said! My thoughts wandered to my own mother. In front of me, there sat a woman and her daughter. Upon hearing these words, the mother in front of me poked her daughter, indicating to her daughter to pay close attention to the pearls of wisdom being heard over the awful sound system. The daughter looked at her mom and in jest, simply rolled her eyes! I loved it! Watching the two of them reminded me of the thousand pokes and little pinches I received as a child and the many rolling eyes I dutifully gave back to my mom. The pinches and sneers shared between mothers and daughters during adolescence is the new language of love - many fail to understand this language but it exists.

This love changes into the mushy, my mom is the best kind of love only after a separation like moving out, going away to school or marriage.

I then began thinking about the presence of my mother in my life. I realized the presence of many other wonderful women in my life who took or have taken the role of mothering me alongside my own mom. These women include my grandmother, my chachis, my mother in law, my acting mom-in-laws (in Canada), the lady who I fold chaddors with at mosque....the list continues.

I want to say a special thank you to all those absolutely amazing women - I honestly believe heaven is under the feet of these wonderful women. Thank you!

I Hate Mondays!

I am wondering about this awful day called Monday. I know the people who go to school, and the people who have a job allowing for a two day break begining Friday will understand how I feel about this day - I hate Mondays! It is an awful day. For some reason, it is always gloomy on Monday mornings and people are more angry on Mondays and it is just a depressing kind of day.... I could go on

What I am wondering is, how do the people who work on Saturday or Sunday feel about Monday? **This includes the people live in Dubai**

a. like /
b. do not like/
c. do not mind

Thanks for listening to my venting via blogger!

The Word!!

Yesterday Asif and I sat watching documentary after documentary on TV (talk about lifeless); We saw one about terrorism in Pakistan, another about the Inca Trail. (Suk, I get it. I think I want to experience this world of The Lost Gods).

I just sat on our comfortable camel coloured sofa, half-watching, sort of listening and thinking. Despite knowing my love for watching commercials, Asif began channel surfing during the breaks. We stopped for a few seconds on channel 34 -TLC and one word had me hooked. The single word "Portugal" changed everything that evening. My body language changed from kinda listening, a little disinterested and spacy to attentive, excited and happy! I never imagined watching a documentary about the pilgrims who come to Fatima would be a cause of such excitement for me. Here I was, on a Wednesday night at 11:45pm, willingly learning about Christian doctrines simply because it was set in Portugal.

Now, I need to figure out why I am so obsessed with this country that - really, is not too obsessed with me!

Read Anything Good Lately

I was at a workshop this morning and I read a wonderful book called - Read Anything Good Lately. It is a simple alphabet picture book trying to express that reading is more than print in a book. Reading is everywhere - at the back of a cereal box, the sale sign in a shopping mall, listening to noises in the night etc. Reading is visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. Reading is a rich experience.

The activity that followed was we had to create our own alphabet picture books. I will begin. Turn on your creativity and help me finish the alphabet!

Have you read anything good lately? Yes, I have. I have read:

A - Amaal for A shura in Arabia
B - Bell Canada Brochures in the Bath
C - Contest information on the Cornflakes Cereal Container
D - Doctor's Diagnosis on the the Door
E -

Lets keep in going guys. Notice the letters in bold print :)

Pee on the Floor

On Thursday, one of the kids in my class had an accident - whoops. She called me to her table and pointed to the floor. My eyes caught a light yellow liquid wandering on the floor - dangerously close to the carpet. ewwwww. The things we experience as teachers!

Click Here - Are you ready to travel?

Check out the link by clicking on the title to test if you ready to travel the world. It is a little quiz titled, "Don't Gross Out The World".

It's quite funny. I faired as quite ungross - very exciting information to add to my schema!

Hump Day Dinner

It is 6:45pm on Wednesday. A table set for 15 greets me (Yes, I know. The table reservation was a little over ambitious since we only had a party of 8! Nonetheless....). Displayed on the dark wood tables are baskets filled with bread, platefuls of dates (khajuur) and feta cheese pierced with toothpicks. Lovely! Friends arrive soon after - some come laughing, others are a little shy. The time ticks slowly - it always ticks slowly when we wait. Hungry, we pore over the menus deciding what to order. Finally the food arrives. With the food, comes our sense of humour. The more we eat, the more relaxed the atmosphere gets. The more relaxed we get, the louder our laughter. This makes me wonder - can people get intoxicated from food and friends?

Anyway, when the clock struck 8:40pm, we all parted ways. Walking to the car, we make promises to meet more often. Jumping into the car, I think, For sure, I had so much fun! I can't wait for the next dinner and really, these dinners are not all jokes, we always learn from other.

THINGS WE LEARNED ON THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT DINNER
1. Double frying fries make fries crispy - Thanks Shaista :)
2. Anyday is Shahida's birthday
3. There is someone in the mosque who looks like Arif Somji - Thanks Mehnaaz
4. Hump Day is the day of the week that is hardest to get through - Thanks Sameena and Minaz for clearing that up.
5. The best way to stay awake at 6:00am is to do dishes - Sorry Shel, you are alone on that one!
6. You can make mint tea by grinding mint leaves and adding it to tea. Make sure you strain the tea before drinking - Naila, I am coming over to yours to have this.
7. Shel makes the best chocolate chip cookies.
8. Shahida makes great dessert
9. You can always count on Sameena to pull out turkey guts for a Thanksgiving dinner

We even came up with a great business plan - Having a bake sale and tupperware party side by side!

What a bargain - laughter, friends, learning and food all for the low price of $17.50.

Thanks girls for a wonderful night.

You know what I am thinking - I will plan the next dinner on my blog. This way you all have to view my blog and comment on it - lol.

This is my home away from home

The first day - The first morning message



Wonderful literature - refreshed each month



"What is the day today?" asked Ms. Fazal



Sorting my sorted books was a mission! The labels are already falling off my dollar store baskets!



The place of many wonderful creations (and many not so wonderful ones as well)

A Basket Tells A Story

It is the first day of school. I come into school early. My nerves are getting the better of me. I look around the classrom I spent the last two week furnishing and I was filled with a sense of pride. I wondered if the new kids will like everything? I remind myself it was just random tables and chairs a few weeks ago; surely my efforts have helped create a better learning environment for the kids.

I just thought of something and snap my fingers in regret; I should have taken before and after pictures. Too late for that!

I survey my room again. The pencils are sharpened, the crayons (sorted by colour) all face the same direction, the tables are lined nicely. The blackboard is decorated with manipulatives for the kids. My smile turns into a frown when I realize this is the last time I will see it so clean. Aha! I can take before kids and after kids pictures.

Every basket in my class can tell a tale.

What story do you think these baskets are retelling?


BEFORE KIDS


AFTER KIDS

Blue, Green and Orange - dots for life!

Having started a new job this fall, I have found my major stress aggravator has not come from dealing with a new school, a new grade or a new set of coworkers - It came from BLOGGER!!

Imagine that! All last week, I was unable to view my blog, make changes or publish anything. I didn't realize how obsessed I was with blogger until this blog-freeze!

What is most frustrating is I had just made changes to my template and added pictures to my profile. Having changed all my settings back to normal, I found I was able to view my blog again. What is that? Can I never change my blog template again? Am I stuck with blue, green and orange dots for all eternity?

Oh my - the stresses of being a blogger!

I was here!

I was here in the summer!

Check out the link for a virtual tour of the Al Hambara. If possible and imaginable, it is more beautiful up close.