Subhan’allah finally a day off! I can’t take six days in a row… On Sunday there will only be two weeks left of this quarter and it seems that they are trying to cram as many complicated concepts as possible into what little time remains. So yeah, I really don’t like اعْراب. And no, there are sill no mid-term marks – apparently they’ll be given on Saturday. I’ve been sick again Al-hamdoulillah. Caught the second round of the flu for the season, kindly transferred to me by one of my flatmates… Getting over I now, but I have the most disgusting cough… Al-hamdoulillah. I’m hoping it’ll start to warm up soon since we’re almost into Spring.
The wonderful thing I have learned about learning Arabic is that you completely lose your English language skills. The other night I wrote the word “cat” in my notes spelt “K-A-T”, of course I realized my error, use the white out to erase it and then write it again…and again, and again… It took four white-outs for me to successfully write “C-A-T”. Unfortunately that is not the only example. I am however, taking solace in the fact that it is not just me suffering from this odd disorder – one of my flatmates is just as bad!
So yeah, end of the quarter… Thinking I’m off to Syria with one of my flatmates (the other is off to meet her husband in Turkey for the break) and another two sisters insha’allah. We need to go to extend our visas – normally you can get an extension for another three months (after your first three) but unfortunately for us we’ll have overstayed our visas before the next quarter finishes. And since we no that we won’t have time to go during the quarter, we decided to go in the break instead insha’allah… I’m really looking forward to it – although not the wait on the boarder, apparently with an American/Canadian/Aussie/British passport the wait can be upto and beyond 6 hours depending on the mood of Syrian customs… We are currently in the planning phase, we’re thinking either bus to Jerash then cab to Syria or just getting a cab all the way to Syria… Much cheaper to get the bus, but more chance of issues being women traveling “alone” and all. Anyway we’ll see. If one of the other girls comes we’ll have a private driver from the area – which would be nice… Hmmm…
Now you’ll all be delighted to know that my contacts finally arrived! Yes I only waited three months for the Jordanian Postal Service to work it all out! So anyway, I took the day off school on Monday because I was really unwell and was blissfully napping when my phone rang (9am). Answered the phone and it was a gentleman from customs who convieniently spoke no English. So in my broken Arabic I deciphered that he was actually calling my from Customs and that there was a parcel for me and that I had to pick it up before 2pm or it would “be sent back”! Quite annoyed I got up and went downtown to the post office to retrieve my parcel. Get there and, like last time was told to go to room A. In room A there were two men who were shuffling papers around apparently looking for one with my name on it. One of the men looks up and says “there’s nothing here for you, go to room C”. So I told him, “I’ve just come from room C, please check again.” So he checks again, and lo and behold my little slip of paper is found (you just had to hear the pronunciation of my surname), he smiles sheepishly and demands my passport, marvels briefly at the fact I’m from Australia, then directs me into room D. In room D there’s no one… So I wait… and wait… and wait… And then finally a customs officer comes, then calls in three of his friends, all smoking – did I mention I was sick? – and tells me to open the parcel. I open it, I pull out my contacts. One of the (non-customs) men takes out one of the smaller boxes and decides that he wants to open it – i.e. take the contacts out – while I’m trying to explain to the customs officer just what contacts are, I’m trying to think about how to ask the guy to please stop opening the box. So the customs officer also marvels at the fact I’m Australian (and so obviously a convert) and then he says that if I didn’t come today to get the contacts he would have charged me a tax because APPARENTLY THE CONTACTS HAD BEEN SITTING THERE FOR THREE WEEKS! Just waiting innocently to be collected. Then he tells me that they had tried to call sooo many times but never received an answer, so I was fortunate that he was so nice that he wouldn’t charge me a tax. So then he directs me to room E (minus the package, they kept that with them) and I gave my passport to yet another man who looked at my passport and the slip of paper filled in by the first officer and stamped it. He then directed me back to room D where once again there is no one. So I wait… and wait… and wait… Then the customs officer and his friends return (still smoking) and he takes my papers and checks them. Then he tells me “This is my country and you are our guests so no tax for you”, to which his friend replies, “No, this is her country and we are guests” reference of course to the fact that I’m a westerner and that the west owns everything – I didn’t feel the need to clarify that Australia wasn’t part of America. So they laughed manically for a short while, finally give me my package and said I could leave. BLAH! Not how I wanted to spend my sick day. Plus all the cigarette smoke made me feel so much worse. But anyway, al-hamdoulillah I now have my contacts *yay*
Two other points of interest, both are related to animals.
Two nights ago I was walking hoe from seerah class and attempting to walk up a hill while eating banana cake under my niqab, when this little kitten ran out miaowing and running around my feet (really unusual, all the cats here are scared of people because they are treated badly). So anyway, I pat it a little and it started licking my fingers that I was eating the banana cake with. So I gave it a little cake and walked on. It ate the cake and ran after me. So I fed it more cake. It ate and then ran after me again. So anyway, it followed us all the way home (about 1.5km) and ate all my cake! It was such a cute little thing – got class again tonight, wonder if I’ll see it again… Wonder if I’ll get banana cake again!
The other animal story is not so cute… Prior to leaving home to go to seerah class, I was pinning my hijab in the bathroom – now all bathrooms and kitchens here have drains in the middle of the floor so you can squeejy them, like mopping but you don’t have a mop you have what looks like a car windscreen wiper minus the foamy bit to pushy dirty water around with for a bit. So anyway, I’m pinning my hijab and I can hear squeaking – neep, neep neep neep – I’m thinking, there are mice somewhere, must be outside, I continue to pin my hijab. The squeaking gets louder so I turn around and my bathroom drain pops up, so I immediately step on it to push it back down and there is resistance under my foot. I screamed and ran out of the bathroom. THERE ARE MICE IN OUR DRAINS! Now on’t get me wrong, I like mice, in fact my mice I had as a kid had babies and I loved them, but for some reason, mice that live in sewer-like drains I just can’t deal with. So anyway, now there is mouse-poison all over the house – I can’t wait to move… Did I mention I’m moving place – three weeks to go!
So In other news, we (flatmates and I) decided that we would invest in a blender, which we purchased today. I’m in love. No more spending 2 hours chopping parsley and mint for tabouli… If only I could find red chilli I could make sambal… I miss having real chilli in food.
Still waiting on Umm Rabi’ to get a landline! Unless you’re coming to join me get a wriggle on woman!
Getting excited to come home… I know, three more months…
Ma'a salama
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