Problems

It seems we have no water - this is a problem since today is meant to be the day that we recieve free-flowing water from the government (you only got one day a week, but it is not 100% set in stone what that day is) and our tank is meant to be refilled. We ran out on Friday night and used the emergency tank already, so it seems it may develop into a much bigger problem in the very near future. I really hope we don't have to go without water for the whole week, I just can't function without rinsing off in the mornings...

Last night I attended the laylat al-qadr (often translated as "Night of Power/Decree" refers to the night that Muhammed saaws recieved the first part of the revelation - Qur'an - from the Angel Gabriel) program at the Zawiya, which was really nice al-hamdoulillah. It was busy, non-stop. So today, on minimal sleep (few hours after fajr - dawn prayer - before class) I'm feeling a little tired, but its not to bad. I had a delicious mug of Patterson's coffee last night which kept me going, I even found it hard to fall asleep at fajr time subhan'allah. So there were two hadras (in which I was a non-participant), one lesson in Arabic, and two in English, followed by scrumptious pancake-like things with nuts and raisons in them smothered in syrup, followed by salat al-tasbih, witr and Qur'an recitation. Was quite different to how it is in Sydney (at least at Lakemba anyway). Al-hamdoulillah.

Grammar is going ok. Did abysmally on a test today - didn't study and my brain was pretty much non-functioning when it came to doing verbal analysis this morning - so insha'allah I'll retake it at some point in the near future. I'm thinking after Eid, since the Eid break starts on Monday (i.e. the day after tomorrow). I haven't had tajweed for a little while because my teachers mum is in hospital, so if you all wouldn't mind making du'a for her swift recovery I would appreciate it.

So Ramadan is almost over, and that brings us to the very exciting day of Eid! *yay* I've decided to put on a pancake breakfast for the single sisters (who are studying and not murids of the shaykh) since we only really have each other here. I know some of hte girls are already upset that they won't be with family etc, but what can you do. Surely pancakes will make it al better. Now. The much more exciting news is of course that I have managed to organise a small Eid trip (within Jordan) which I am uber-excited about! Basically, we (me, one of my old flatties and two of the other girls) are going to hire a car and drive down the Dead Sea Highway to Wadi Mujib where we will hike, swim in the dead sea and otherwise entertain ourselves. Then we will drive on to Kerak where we will explore the Crusader castle that remains there and have lunch. From there onto Petra, where we will do a Petra by night tour and then the next day do the regular 4/5hr hike before returning to Amman. Oh it is soo exciting. I'm sure that I will be crawling up the stairs at Petra panting disgracefully and that come the end of the break and my return to school I will be unable to walk, sit, stand - move pretty much. Should be GREAT! As usual I'll keep you posted and I'll get some pics organised - one of the girls can't swim and doesn't want to go in the dead sea because she's sure she will drown, no ammount of persuasion on my part reassures her that she will just float (all she needs todo is keep herself face up!). So if she manages to drown I'll certainly post it up - it would be somewhat of a miracle. SO in preparation for the trip I went shopping yesterday and managed to pick up 3 shirts and a quality pair of pants for 25JD/A$50 (the pants were reduced from 65JD to 10JD - BIG bargain). I need some stuff to hike in, all my clothes are for winter :(. What is very strange is that I thought I left more clothing here than I did, but apparently I have it all, so maybe I just have a fuzzy memory.

So that's about all my news really. Insha'allah you're all doing well. Please make du'a for me.

Much love and ma'a salama.

TGIF!

So its Thursday evening, and that means only one thing... WEEKEND!!! Ok so its only one day, and I've got a mountain of homeworkfor grammar and study for tajweed to do, but... TGIF! Man do I need to get some serious sleep (to the extent that I randomly found myself singing the national anthem so I could post it to a friend on FB - she was paying out on the Queen's English)! I think I'm beginning to lose it!

We (i.e. my flatties and I) hosted iftar for the girls across the street (and a few extras ;) ) this evening, which means I've been on my feet, cooking, serving and doing more washing up than I've seen in this lifetime since well before 'Asr (the mid-afternoon prayer). I never want to see another dirty dish again - but alas, I know that tomorrow's suhur (pre-dawn meal) will only create more. Subhan'allah. I made my trademark Minestrone Soup - why is it a trademark soup you ask? Well, it was one of the old favourites from the days at Abu Momo that I used to make. Everyone (I'm not exaggerating) said it was really good al-hamdoulillah. Lots of veggies which was good for everyone (but not my wallet) al-hamdoulillah! And I instructed one of my other flatties on making Lebo-style mansaf which turned out really well al-hamdoulillah (nothing like Jordanian mansaf thank God because, well, most of us find that almost completely inedible). The Turkish sisters ( two of my other flatties) made some delicious Turkish-style salads, one potato and the other was pasta, and the last flattie made chocolate chip cookies which were delicious! I'm suffering from big cravings for waraq 'ainab - mmmmmmm..... I really need to make a conscious effort to drink more water, with all the walking I do here I'm getting very dehydrated - my poor lips are cracked to bleeding already.

I paid off my rent today (and my tuition yesterday) which means I'm now out of Aussie dollars and going to go on a serious belt tightening rampage! Al-hamdoulillah it seems that the school overcharged me for my tuition so I'll get back about the equivilent of $120 (60JD - about 3 weeks of food if I scrimp) al-hamdoulillah - food for a little bit.

Have I mentioned how expensive food is here? It seems to have increased by about 50% since I left 2 and a half months ago subhan'allah! It seems we (i.e. the foreigners) are not the only ones to notice - many Palestinians in the camps here are really struggling. Al-hamdoulillah I've had the good fortune of meeting Umm Farooq and getting involved with her work (see here: http://southernmuslimah.blogspot.com/ ).

So back to my studies (facinating as they are to you all)! I started tajweed yesterday, I did a one hour class and seriously I felt like I could not stand up afterwards, subhan'allah I didn't think that using my mouth (i.e. talking) could engender such serious fatigue! It was really tough. I learnt a few new rules and Ustadha Arwa is very strict in correcting me which is really good - lets just say that my pronunciation can be somewhat painful for her ears to cope with lol! After that I had grammar and was completely non-functioning! I could not for the life of me think of a word that began with a "waw" - really, I just starred vacantly at my teacher when he asked. Quite scary. I saw Ustadh Momo today (old skills teacher) - just looking at that man makes you smile, he is such a good bloke masha'allah. I really miss his classes, he was soo funny. He asked me approximately 4 questions in Arabic (all of which began with Kayf - i.e. "how was") on a variety of topics, all of which I think he was amused to see I had to traslate into English first, then check my translation with him, then give him a reply. Subhan'allah I think my brain is on serious walk-a-bout! Top bloke masha'allah!

I'm still to pay my ticket to Egypt, but I did speak to the institute there and they seem very friendly and professional which was nice (and also slightly unexpected - it can be hard to get decent information sometimes).

In addition to my cracked lips and painful feet (too much walking) I think I'm about to be hit with the flu (or some other equally disturbing illness). My throat is agony this evening... Insha'allah I wake up and its gone, a nothing. Insha'allah.

Anyway, its past midnight here - you are all enjoying yet another crisp, fresh Sydney morning. And I will struggle with the monster that is the heat to catch just a few hours of sleep before sahur insha'allah. Tomorrow is call home day - looking forward to it ;)

Much love and ma'a salama.

First Day.

So, today was the first day of classes (well, actually for me it is just "class" - only one). It seemed to go relatively well. My class is dominated by blokes (there are 8/9 of them, and only me and one other girl), but they seem quiet - unlikely to totally dominate classes like has happened in past levels. Kheir insha'allah we'll see what happens.
The teacher has decided to impose a new and funky grading system on us - basically, instead of getting your heighest marks on various assignments as your class mark, you will now be getting the lowest score as your mark. I think he's trying to motivate us to work consistently - but I'm not to sure how its going to work in practice... What if someone has an off day?

I organised my tajweed classes today. I think I'm going to do one hour three days a week and two hours on one day of the week. I'll have to finalise with the teacher tomorrow - this of course all depends on how much she is charging me ;)

So after class I decided to go shopping with one of my flatties - she bought some really beautiful hijabs (I was very restrained... I bought nothing. Possibly because I've found that buying food here is about 50% more expensive then when I left 3 months ago subhan'allah). After shopping we came home and decided that we'd go out for iftar - so we sat on the couch in the lounge for about 2 hours trying to decide what to do, then the adhan went off... and we were still sitting there lol. Finally we decided to go to Mecca Mall (have I yet outlined my intense dislike for Amman's malls?) where we had a snack and then my flattie did a little more shopping (she's going home for a visit and to spend Eid with her family on Friday insha'allah. Very exciting for her). Finally got home, then collapsed on the lounge again and chatted for about 2 hours - lets just say I'm very very tired right now!

Ended up going to the community iftar last night - it was quite nice, probably about 100 women and children there. We were on the roof of the zawiya (building used for Islamic lessons etc) so there was a nice breeze and we had a great view of the full moon. It was stunning.

My little legs are super sore from the long (and hot and dehydrating) walk to school today. I can't sit, stand or walk without agony! Insha'allah I'll wake up to less pain.

In other sad news, my facebook was changed over to the new format today. I'm very upset.

So I'm off to bed for another night of sub-5-hour sleep.

Insha'allah all are doing well. I'm missing home (already I know I'm such a baby).

Much love and ma'a salama.

Riding it out.

So classes begin tomorrow - at least they are supposed to, but nothing has been posted about times/locations yet. I've pretty much decided that I'll be doing the grammar three and tajweed.

One of my old flatties is supposed to return today so I'm looking forward to seeing her. Other than that, not much is new. The weather is still warm, the drumming man has failed to come by for several days now, the gas truck still distrubs me with its rather annoying tune and I (still) have not done anywhere near the study I should have. Subhan'allah this heat makes me lazy - I just want to sleep all the time.

Tonight there is supposed to be a "community" iftar on, don't know if I'll go - not feeling like a people-person today. Although maybe that will change if I actually get out of my PJs!

Not much to say really - I'll try and live a more interesting life in the days to come... No promises though!

Much Love & Ma'a salama

Morning.

Well, I woke up this morning to see a strapping young lad marching down our street in the dark beating a drum and calling everyone to eat suhur (the pre-dawn meal eaten in Ramadan). Rather kind of him I think since he also needs to go eat. The Gas Truck Man is obviously slightly less work-conscious in Ramadan, he's not starting till well after 9am!

I'm beginning to love mornings here - there is the most wonderful breeze ruffling my curtains, but alas it will be gone soon, replaced by semi-oppressive heat that you just can't keep out.

One of my new flatties (i.e. not living with the same girls as before) went to Carrefour yesterday and I am very excited to learn that they have many, many varieties of Soy Milk (and other assorted western items - Rice Biscuits maybe?) on offer. I think I'll go if I can find some time in between all the study I'm supposed to be doing.

I'm still in two minds about what courses I'll actually be taking this quarter, there are two real options:

1. I take level three skills and grammar (I don't like skills, I don't feel like I really benefit and it really stresses me out - I am simply unable to memorise 50-70words a night)
2. I take level three grammar and take tajweed (kinda like speech correction)

SO they are the options...Leaning towards option two...

My washing is almost finished and I must study.

Lovely day to all.

The Hayy...Again!

Salam all,

I arrived back in the Hayy yesterday morning after a long, and exhausting flight. Its very warm here, by about 10am its to much to go outside (for me anyway) so I've been busying myself with study and attempting to prepare for the exam I'm meant to sit tomorrow, but will instead sit in a couple of days time.

I've mostly managed to settle into the new appartment which is much nicer than the last one al-hamdoulillah.

This is the guest lounge:

Kitchen (when you go through the dorrway in the above pic its on the right):

My room:

Al-hamdoulillah my bed is much more comfortable than the one in Abu Momo, and I have a proper deak - no more studying on my bed wreaking my back!

We had a few of the girls over for iftar (meal to break the fast in Ramadan) this evening, which was nice because it meant I didn't have to cook. Tomorrow is my day for sorting out my food and stuff. I'm not sure how fasting will go here - I'm drinking about 4.5litres of water a day because I'm so constantly thirsty! Kheir insha'allah.

So that's about it, I think I'm going to settle in early for sleep since washing day is tomorrow and I'm first cab off the rank.

Hope all is well - I'm missing the 20/21 degree weather *sigh*

Much love and ma'a salama

Fresh Round of Goodbyes

Salam to all...

Well the time has come to again say goodbye to my beloved Aussie and head back to the dust, heat and plume of cigarette smoke that is Amman.

So what are the plans?
Insha'allah its looking like three months Jordan, three months Egypt and then a brief sojourn in Morocco, and finally, back home.

I've not fully finished packing, so I better get to it. I've got a nice supply going on (NCC Dinosaurs, Chocolate - two varieties - Jols, homemade muffins - yes I made them myself - croissant, dates, and finally gingerbread men). God love Pattersons Pattisserie! I live to think I'm prepared for a very healthy iftar.

Please all, make du'a for my safe travels and safe return and insha'allah I'll be making du'a for you all.

Ma'a salama and much love.

***
By the way, I know I never got around to posting on Dubai - my laptop "gave up the ghost" as HY would say.