Salaam alaikum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh everyone!
As usual insh'Allah you're all doing well and are in the best of health and highest of iman ^_^
Has anyone ever written a long and involved blog post/email before, only to press "publish" or "send" and have it completely disappear because of a sucky internet connection? Yeah, lol that just happened to me -_-' Okay, I'm stretching it just a tad...it wasn't that involved, but it was a bit of a lengthy explaination as to why I don't have a ton of pictures to share at the moment, even though I would love to share this beautiful country with everyone. Lol, maybe it was best that you were all spared. Essentially what I wanted to say was the reason I am lacking in photos at the moment is because
a) when I do get the chance to go outside I usually forget to take my camera with me ex. I went to the beach the weekend before last with two of my husband's aunts and wanted to take pictures/videos of the beautiful waves subhan'Allah...however I was extremely dismayed to find out that I had left my camera back at the appartment...wallahi I was so crushed :(
b) Casablanca is not a touristy city (unlike Marrakesh for example) except for around the beach/Hassan II Mosque...so I tend to stick out enough as it is (more like I tend to confuse people enough as it is...lol...I apparently get a lot of stares *says my husband, after wearing hijab and an abaya in the US I'm pretty much imune to staring at this point and don't notice when people are doing it*...I told him it's probably because people are trying to figure out if I'm Moroccan or not...people here tend to assume that either I'm from the north, around Tanger or Fes because people there apparantly tend to be lighter in complexion with light eyes or that I'm French...I even had the owner of a local bakery ask one of my husband's aunts when I was with her buying pastery if I was Moroccan...he was completely shocked to learn that I was American...alright enough with this giant tangent...lol) so I would stick out even more taking pictures of things that most people considere every-day. Needless to say, even though I always see things that would make beautiful pictures...I'm always shy/a bit afraid to snap photos.
Despite both of these things, insh'Allah I will try to take more photos because as I said, I really want everyone to see how beautiful this country is ^_^
So that's it for now, insh'Allah I'll be back soon with photos next time...and insh'Allah posting this time will work! GAH!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
...and I'm back!
Salaam alaikum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh everyone!
Insh'Allah you're all doing well and are in the best of health and iman!
...so, remember me? Worst blogger/vlogger in the word? Yep, I'm back from my un-official, un-announced hiatus, yay! ^_^ I'm currently in the process of sorting through comments and messages I've gotten here as well as on my Youtube channel over the past couple of months, so if you sent me a message, and are still waiting for a reply, PLEASE BE PATIENT, insh'Allah I'll get around to responding asap.
You might be wondering what I am up to these days...or maybe not, who knows? Well, I will give you a general update on my life if regardless of whether or not you are interested, bwahahaha. I find that my thoughts often work best in list form, so here it goes:
1. Alhamdolillah my hubby T and I are now happily married!!!! It took one long month of running around all over Casablanca and Rabat fetching this paper and that signature, waiting in lines and in government offices, having to shell out a rediculous amount of money to the US consulate just to have them notarize two pieces of paper ($100...wtf man seriously?!?!) and having to go through a couple of interviews with the police, but alhamdolillah it's all over now, and we were officially married on December 10, 2010. In the process I also had to "officially" say my shahada again because I didn't have a certificate of Islam "proving" that I'm Muslim. The adoul (like a religious lawyer) was so confused...lol...at first he thought that I hadn't converted to Islam yet, and then he asked for my passport for identification, took one look at it and was like, "wait...you're American? I thought you were French...and wait again...how long have you been Muslim?" (I'm obviously wearing hijab in my passport photo) So yeah, another $40 my husband had to pay just so that I could say shahada -_-'
2. It gets a lot colder here than I thought it did (especially at night). I didn't know this before I came here, but they generally don't have heating in houses or appartments here because for most of the year it's not needed. I regret not packing more sweaters. They are currently sitting in my parent's house in the US because they were making my suitcase too heavy. Regardless, I still had to pay an overweight baggage charge for one of my bags, as well as a second baggage charge because all my stuff wouldn't fit in one suitcase *shakes fist at Alitalia*
3. Doing housework here is different...I had to re-learn how to clean Moroccan style. I still have to learn how to cook Moroccan food (yummy yummy yummy by the way...) So far I only know how to make bread and prepare tea...which I guess are two of the most important things to know how to do after all. I miss sushi.
4. THERE ARE SO MANY CATS HERE. YA ALLAH I'M IN KITTY HEAVEN!!!!
5. The people here are generally some of the kindest, most generous and welcoming people I have ever met, mash'Allah!
6. I'm learning a lot of darija (the Moroccan Arabic dialect)...alhamdolillah I can now sort of follow and pick out words and phrases in most conversations...wheras before I was totally lost...now Tamazight (the language of Amazighs, the native people of Morocco) is a completely different story. Luckily for me, even though Tamazight is the native language of all three of my husband's grandparents, they almost always speak in darija. Of course knowing French is really useful, but not everyone speaks French here ^_~
7. Hearing the adhan (call to prayer) five times a day is amazing, as well as having a mosque every few km or so! It was also really cool celebrating Eid al Adha here, because as opposed to back in the U.S. here it actually feels like a real celebration because almost everyone around you is celebrating as well. It was also nice not having to listen to tons of Christmas music (at my old job starting the day after Thanksgiving or "Black Friday" every other song they played was Christmas music...and by the second week or so of December it would make me want to tear my hair out...no, I have nothing against Christmas at all, but Christmas music and I do not get along).
So, in the interest of not writing a novel for this post, I shall leave you all for now. Insh'Allah I'll be posting again soon, as there's quite a bit I can find to talk about. If there's anything you'd like me to write about, feel free to suggest topics to me!
Insh'Allah you're all doing well and are in the best of health and iman!
...so, remember me? Worst blogger/vlogger in the word? Yep, I'm back from my un-official, un-announced hiatus, yay! ^_^ I'm currently in the process of sorting through comments and messages I've gotten here as well as on my Youtube channel over the past couple of months, so if you sent me a message, and are still waiting for a reply, PLEASE BE PATIENT, insh'Allah I'll get around to responding asap.
You might be wondering what I am up to these days...or maybe not, who knows? Well, I will give you a general update on my life if regardless of whether or not you are interested, bwahahaha. I find that my thoughts often work best in list form, so here it goes:
1. Alhamdolillah my hubby T and I are now happily married!!!! It took one long month of running around all over Casablanca and Rabat fetching this paper and that signature, waiting in lines and in government offices, having to shell out a rediculous amount of money to the US consulate just to have them notarize two pieces of paper ($100...wtf man seriously?!?!) and having to go through a couple of interviews with the police, but alhamdolillah it's all over now, and we were officially married on December 10, 2010. In the process I also had to "officially" say my shahada again because I didn't have a certificate of Islam "proving" that I'm Muslim. The adoul (like a religious lawyer) was so confused...lol...at first he thought that I hadn't converted to Islam yet, and then he asked for my passport for identification, took one look at it and was like, "wait...you're American? I thought you were French...and wait again...how long have you been Muslim?" (I'm obviously wearing hijab in my passport photo) So yeah, another $40 my husband had to pay just so that I could say shahada -_-'
2. It gets a lot colder here than I thought it did (especially at night). I didn't know this before I came here, but they generally don't have heating in houses or appartments here because for most of the year it's not needed. I regret not packing more sweaters. They are currently sitting in my parent's house in the US because they were making my suitcase too heavy. Regardless, I still had to pay an overweight baggage charge for one of my bags, as well as a second baggage charge because all my stuff wouldn't fit in one suitcase *shakes fist at Alitalia*
3. Doing housework here is different...I had to re-learn how to clean Moroccan style. I still have to learn how to cook Moroccan food (yummy yummy yummy by the way...) So far I only know how to make bread and prepare tea...which I guess are two of the most important things to know how to do after all. I miss sushi.
4. THERE ARE SO MANY CATS HERE. YA ALLAH I'M IN KITTY HEAVEN!!!!
5. The people here are generally some of the kindest, most generous and welcoming people I have ever met, mash'Allah!
6. I'm learning a lot of darija (the Moroccan Arabic dialect)...alhamdolillah I can now sort of follow and pick out words and phrases in most conversations...wheras before I was totally lost...now Tamazight (the language of Amazighs, the native people of Morocco) is a completely different story. Luckily for me, even though Tamazight is the native language of all three of my husband's grandparents, they almost always speak in darija. Of course knowing French is really useful, but not everyone speaks French here ^_~
7. Hearing the adhan (call to prayer) five times a day is amazing, as well as having a mosque every few km or so! It was also really cool celebrating Eid al Adha here, because as opposed to back in the U.S. here it actually feels like a real celebration because almost everyone around you is celebrating as well. It was also nice not having to listen to tons of Christmas music (at my old job starting the day after Thanksgiving or "Black Friday" every other song they played was Christmas music...and by the second week or so of December it would make me want to tear my hair out...no, I have nothing against Christmas at all, but Christmas music and I do not get along).
So, in the interest of not writing a novel for this post, I shall leave you all for now. Insh'Allah I'll be posting again soon, as there's quite a bit I can find to talk about. If there's anything you'd like me to write about, feel free to suggest topics to me!
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