Back in Yanbu

Assalaam-u-Alaikum,

We're back to Saudi, Allhumdulillah. We've been here for almost three weeks now. I've just been spending my time getting things organized. SubhanAllah! The thick layer of dust that greeted us when we walked in the house. Wow! And the jet lag...getting in to routine seemed to take forever. It's amazing, when I went back home, there was no jet lag for me. I was just so super excited and happy to be with family again. I did not want to waste that time sleeping. But, here...it's a different story altogether. Even Heemu's sleep was so messed up. Allhumdulillah, we're back to some sort of a routine.

It's happy hour for me. For once, in over three weeks, I have some 'me' time. Heemu is asleep and so is S. Tiring day for him today. But that means I have the computer all to myself...no sharing. ( Yes, yes, his work is more important than my blogging *rolls eyes*). And of course, Heemu wants to be a part of everything you are doing. Every time I sit at the computer, he's right there with me, wanting to climb on to my lap and type away. This generation I tell ya! I didn't even know what a computer was until I was a teen. And here, quoting my mother in law, "he's born on the laptop"!

The vacation went by so quickly. And with Ramadan, Allhumdulillah, the last month went by even faster. We all thought that the days are going to be long and tiresome. But with Allah's blessing, there was so much barakah in the days. Even the hot days went by so easily, Allhumdulillah. However, once the month ended, I was extremely saddened. I realized that these wonderful days, where the most of the community made the effort to come for prayers at the mosque, would be no more. The droves of people that showed up for taraweeh prayers and especially within the last 10 days, would not be seen till next year. In Ramadan you really feel a sense of community and belonging. Unfortunately, it doesn't last the whole year through...limited for some only to Fridays. Allhumdulillah for the 30 days of bliss. May Allah (swt) strengthen the iman of our ummah and make us righteous and pious Muslims for the whole year... for a whole lifetime, Ameen.

May Allah (swt) put barakah in all that you do for His sake.

Umm Heemu

Summer Daze

Allhumdulillah, just a little over a month before we go back home, Insha'Allah. We're missing the family. And as the weather gets from warm to boiling...the memories of mellow Canadian summers beckons us. How beautiful the days must be! It's funny, I talk to the family  and they say, 'It's so hot!" Oh? "Yeah, it's like 27C today!". Yeah and we only managed to reach a high of 44C in the afternoon.

After almost four months here, I finally discovered that you can actually borrow books from the little library at the gym that I go to. Allhumdulillah for that. And so I've spent my fasting days leisurely reading. The fasts are not so bad, Allhumdulillah. The days go by really quickly. I try to get the cooking done in the morning and whatever cleaning is needed is done after Isha. 

Heemu is more mobile now. He's doing this dragging, slithering, crawl-type forward movement. It's given him the ability to get to places where he shouldn't be, like near the wires. Rolling is still a favourite past time... he managed to roll off the bed the other day. Talk about a wake up call! His upper two teeth are pushing out. I am looking forward to a toothy smile, Insha'Allah.

I've finished my shopping and almost finished my packing for the return trip. Can you tell I'm excited? I don't like leaving things for the last minute. I think I'll wait till it's exactly a month left to start the countdown Insha'Allah! 

Have I got food on my niqab!!!

It was a lovely day today. Partly cloudy with a nice cool breeze. After spending an hour doing some intense work out, we decided to give little Ibraheem an outing. We took him to the beach, it was such a beautiful day...the perfect day to enjoy an ice cream cone ( I saw a kid walking around with one and my worked out body craved for one too; so much for the work out). So being the 'your wish is my command' type of a hubby that S. can be sometimes, he kindly walked to the little hut and bought two strawberry-vanilla cones. Oh, how yummy they looked.

 As S. passed the cone to me, I started to panic. How am I supposed to eat this cone in public while wearing a niqab? Did I mention it was a beautiful warm day? The cone started melting and trailed slowly down my fingers. I had to eat it fast. I lifted my niqab and slipped the cone underneath, generously smearing the fabric of my niqab with the delicious cream. A couple of licks, and I realized there was no way I could do this with dignity. I took a seat at the bench, and tried to quickly work my way through the cone, which was now dripping pink and white on to my all-black abayah (oh so visible!) My hubby, seeing the condition I was in, quitely commented "for once, you're more of a klutz then I am" (oh? was it that obivious?). I quickly finished my cone, most of which was shared with the fabric of my niqab and some with my abaya (how generous I am, I share with my clothing!), and rushed as fast as I could to the nearest bathroom. I washed my niqab and wringed  it as best as I could. Allhumdulillah, it was a lovely, warm day and the niqab dried pretty quickly.

Later that night, S. got a call from one of his colleagues.
"Saw you at the beach today!"
S.: "Oh, yeah we were there for a bit"
"Yeah we were going to come meet up with you, but you were heading the other way."

They must have seen my mad dash to the bathroom...ooooh..niqab and ice cream cone not a very good combination indeed!Never, ever again  will I indulge in public! Next time when I have a craving, I'll make sure to take my niqab in to consideration!

My Cup of Tea

Recently (like in the past two days), my love for tea has renewed. I used to be a big tea person before marriage. Thanks to Mama, I would drink at least three, steaming mugs a day. However, after the wedding, the addiction just sort of faded away. S. isn't big on tea, he's more the cappuccino type. A Medium french vanilla from Timmies.

The other day, I had some friends over for a potluck and decided to make some tea. Right after having asked everyone if they would like some, I realized I didn't have any milk (real smart, huh?). I did what any good hostess would do, I improvised. I had some evaporated milk on hand so I decided to use that instead. And boy, did that tea taste good. The next day, I found myself making a cup of tea in the middle of the afternoon, rationalizing that I had to use up the left over milk. But when I added "evaporated milk" to the grocery list, I knew I was hooked.

So here I am, my third cup of tea for the day in hand and am thoroughly enjoying it. It's just not the drinking, I enjoy making the tea as well. Heating up the water to a light boil, adding a cracked cardamom, then the tea bag. As the bag releases it's colour and the water comes to full boil the smell of the tea is so tantalizing. And then you add the milk to get that beautiful creamy colour, and let the mixture come to a slow simmer. It's such a soothing task. But as I take that first sip, I'm reminded of those moments of sharing a cup of tea with Mama and Aunty (after the wedding). It would be just our time, to sit and chit-chat. The last 8 months or so, I spent with my husbands parents, Aunty and I would have our cup of tea in the late afternoon. It was downtime after the morning chores and before the dinner rush. We would enjoy some chocolate chip cookies or whatever sweet snack was at hand with the tea.

Reflecting on it, I don't think that it's the actual tea (although the caffeine kick does help the grogginess), so much as the memories it brings back. The wonderful times spent with the two most important women in my life. A remembrance of all the conversations and discussions we would have. And a deep longing to return and make some more memories with them while indulging in a cup of tea. (Insha'Allah)

Make-up Fasts - Day 1 of 30

Today is my first make-up fast. I was unable to fast the whole month Ramadan 1430 as Ibraheem was born on the 7th of Ramadan. I thought before Ramadan rolls around again, Insha'Allah, I should make up my missed fasts. I had some frozen paratha and a fried egg for sahoor. Quick and convenient! This is my first fast in a while, I hope the day goes well, Bi-idhnillah!

I am going to add a new page to the blog about **drrrrrum rrrrroll** cooking. Yeah! My favourite pastime. I'm always on the hunt for new and fun recipes to try. Eating the same food day-in and day-out can get pretty boring. I'm not as adventurous as I used to be pre-Ibraheem, but Insha'Allah keeping a page on the blog will motivate me. Feel free to send some new and interesting recipes my way, I'm pretty much open to anything that doesn't move on my plate unless I'm the one moving it!

It's the weekend, Allhumdulillah. S. is very busy with some courses he's taking online. I wanted to go to Mecca or to Medina this weekend, but he's got some due dates coming up. Without having to run around so much on the weekend, Thursday and Friday are the best 'working' days for him. You know it would be so much easier if they would just let the women drive here. (But then I think of the crazy way the people drive here and I thank Allah that I'm not behind the wheel, Allhumdulillah!) The man wouldn't be as bombarded with running errands all the time. In Canada, I would just take the car and do whatever outside work that I have to do. Groceries, doctors's appointments, shopping, visiting etc., I didn't have to wait for S. to chauffeur me everywhere. It worked out well, I could do my thing (window shopping) without him making faces and checking his watch every minute (can you tell he enjoys it?). And he would get some 'me-free'( free time for himself and time away from me lol) time. But here, I feel sorry for the guy. He works from 7 to 2pm and then has to take me to the gym, pick me up, run whatever errands that need to be done, give his due time to the baby (baby is very demanding of attention from Baba) and do his 'homework'!  May Allah bless him with health and the strength to continue doing all that he does. May Allah put barakah in everyones' days, Ameen.

When life gives you apples, make apple cobbler!

Assalaam-u-Alaikum!

I am making apple cobbler today. A couple of days ago, we had a one of S.'s colleagues and his family over for dinner. They brought us lots of fruit. We're only 2.5 people (Heemu only likes to take a little lick or suck of everything, so he's the .5) and we can't eat that much fruit. The bananas and oranges we finished, but the apples; two days of apples for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the end was nowhere near. So I decided to make apple cobbler. I can smell the cinnamon as I type. Baking is not my forte; I hope it turns out okay.

We went to Medina yesterday. We decided to take a day trip. The last time I went, in 2008, I was in a bus, exhausted from jet lag and travelling at night. Awake and travelling under the blazing sun this time, I acknowledged that the government did a really good job with the highways. It was such a smooth ride. The surrounding mountains, consisting dark brown and jagged rocks, were a magnificent sight. I pondered how the Muslims in the Prophet's (pbuh) time would have felt walking this terrain under the blazing sun. The two and an half hour journey at 140km/h (yes the speed limit here is like 200 km/h) for us, must have taken them days. Would I have been able to make that journey? One thing is for sure, I would have prayed for a lot of courage and strength from Allah (SWT). Allhumdulillah for cars with air conditioning.

We stopped at Badr along the way. They've made a mural on a wall near the battle ground with a map and the names of the shuhadah. Drive a little further and there is a little monument with the names of the shuhada listed on it. S. and I were impressed by their efforts and thought they should do similar things with other important places throughout the Kingdom. Create tourist stops where significant historical events took place and use the opportunity to educate the people and boost their tourism industry. It would be a great opportunity for da'wah as well. Imagine, being able to take a tour of all the important places during Prophet's (pbuh) time and having informed guides lead you through the history as you imagine yourself travelling back in time. *Sigh*...if only!

The crowd was pretty light in Medina. They've done a marvelous job with installing collapsible canopies in the courtyard that provide lots of shade. With a light, cool breeze, it's very comfortable to pray outside as well. Because, I couldn't take Heemu inside with his stroller, I prayed outside with a whole bunch of the other mothers. A saf of strollers, parked behind us. After lunch, we went shopping. Taybah market is the best place to shop for Abayahs and everything else, all under one roof. Walking through the market, my mind took a little journey back in time as I imagined this place in the Prophet's time. An open market, with the hustle and bustle of people under the sun, as they go about selling and buying. From out of nowhere, the Prophet (pbuh) grabs his companion from behind asking "who would buy this slave?". The laughter of the people as they share in the Prophet's (pbuh) little prank. How different the city would have been then?

After asr, we made our way to Maktab Al-Jarir (Jarir Bookstore). Many people had recommended visiting it, and what a place it was. I felt I was walking into a Chapters or an Indigo. The place was overflowing with books of all genres, for all ages, in Arabic and English. They also sell computers and accessories, stationery, book bags, teaching aids etc. It's a wonderful place to get lost in. We were planning to go 'in and out', just grab what we needed (some Arabic workbooks) and out in five (minutes). But we spent a good hour and a half just browsing aisle after aisle. It's our new' must-make-a-stop when we're in Medina' place.

The apple cobbler turned out pretty good, Allhumdulillah. S. gave it his nod of approval. He's the one with the sweet tooth, so if he likes it then it's all good. Next time, I won't fret over having too many apples in the fridge just waiting to wrinkle away. Perhaps I'll make apple crumble.

Back to Blogging

Assalaam-u-Alaikum All,

I am up and blogging again. A little push from some friends and I thought, why not? So here we are, our twosome is no more. Since the last entry, we left Yemen, went back to Canada, had a baby,Ibraheem (that was mostly me :D) and now we're back to the Middle East. Sajjad, Ibraheem and myself are here in Saudi Arabia, in a small city called Yanbu off the coast of the Red Sea. Sajjad is teaching English at YIC (Yanbu Industrial College) and I am at home with Ibraheem. The weather is quite hot under the sun, but the nights are nice and warm. Allhumdulillah for air conditioning. Ibraheem will be 6 months old on the 28th, Insha'Allah.

Wow, it really has been a long time since my last post.