Not "Egypt" related but truly urgent

PLEASE FORWARD AND POST TO YOUR EGROUPS, FACEBOOK, BLOGS AND ANY OTHER PLACE YOU THINK MIGHT HELP!

A Muslim family is in dire need and even though it's not related to Egyptians (this time!), how many of us have not heard this same kind of story before??? I know I have.

Please read this woman's blog post at:

It's Over People....the Fat Lady Has Sung. About Freakin' Time

In short she is an American with children who spent nearly 24 long years as a prisoner of her abusive husband in Bahrain. He also sexually abused his own daughters. While I dont know this sister personally, apparently many others in the virtual world do. They are doing everything they can to help her--finally- -get home to the USA. 2 of her children were sent back some time ago to live with relatives, and now she and the remaining children are trying to get out as well. She needs help to buy tickets.

During this holy month of Ramadan, cant we all do what we can to help her??? During this month of taqwa and sacrifice, cant we feel her plight? She has a paypal account set up. Even $5 would help!!! Please dont say you dont have it to give! Please help this family who sacrificed so much for their Islam! And are still hanging on,hoping and praying for the help and release from Allah and us!

May Allah reward you all! Dont forget...what goes around comes around. Never say never...dont think it couldnt happen to you or someone close to you. May Allah protect us all and increase us in kindness, compassion and charity...Ameen.

How I'm feeling right now...

This has been a whirlwind of a year! Well almost 16 months in Egypt to be exact. As I have written many times, it's had its ups and downs. But I have been feeling pretty good lately and I'd like to say a big ALHAMDULILAH (praise to Allah) for that! I feel settled, stable, loved and safe here. I've learned how to get around on my own and find everything I need to buy. My husband has made my life wonderful. He's a good man--kind, funny, moderate in his practice of Islam, and stable. He's turned out to be my rock. I cant thank him enough for how happy he's made my life--and I am glad to say he feels the same way about me masha Allah! I think we have completed each other.

Having my daughter visit in February helped a lot. Also, being in touch with the kids constantly online has helped too. We even finally managed to get my mic and headphones working properly so I can talk to them via yahoo chat. Just need to get this goofy cam working and we will be all set.

I have to give a lot of credit to my daughter for easing my mind about my sons. My little angel has taken over the role of "mothering" the boys--the role I verrry reluctantly left behind when I decided to move here. Leaving them in the USA was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. But the youngest was nearly 24 years old when I left, they are all married and stable--there's that word "stable" again--you can see it means a lot to me, and they really didn't need me hanging around anymore. I think they have all grown in a good way since I left, and for that I also thank Allah daily.

I was advised before by dear, well-meaning friends not to think about going back too often. That I needed to stay here at least a year before I visited home, in order to make it stick. But I beg to differ and I'll tell you why. First, if I had gone back every 6 months as I had originally planned, nothing would have kept me from returning here--my dear husband being the biggest factor, and the blood, sweat and tears I put into this move in the first place, the second.

I was totally committed to this move. For a zillion reasons. Life was just out of control in the USA. It was getting to be more than I could afford to maintain a home there, my kids lived far away from me, and I felt so removed from Islam and Muslims. We didn't have much of a religious community in my hometown, and I spent a lot of free time watching Egyptian TV on the DISH. There is an Egyptian expression...One who drinks from the Nile must return, and it certainly was true in my case. I missed Egypt constantly! It was an ache in my heart to come back here permanently. I'm so glad I accomplished that.

So had I gone home twice a year as I had planned, I think it would have made this first year less painful. But Allah is the best of planners, and so it was meant to be that nearly 18 months would pass before I go back to the USA again. In this year+ I have learned patience. LOTS of patience. There were times I was scared out of my wits, wondering if I'd been insane to have left every one and every thing behind to come here. Some days I panicked. At times I seriously thought about going back again for good. But through it all, there was that part of me that knew I wouldn't really go to stay. I have a home, a husband and family here. It took too much effort to build the life I did here...no way could I have given it up for good.

At the end of the day, everything worked out the way Allah wanted it to. The way I dreamed it would. Masha Allah wa alhamdulilah. But all in all, I have to say my husband deserves most of the credit! He has truly put his heart and soul into our marriage and building a life here for us together. He never ceases to make me feel loved, and always reminds me what a difference I made in his life. It doesn't get any better than that! Home is where his heart is, to be sure.

Getting ready for Ramadan

I should have posted this before but I didnt...so here it is now--even though Ramadan already started!

My husband and I spent Monday in Khan al Khalili, which is a huge--and I mean HUGE--souk in Cairo. Think Moroccan bazaar kinda place. Monday was the day before our wedding anniversary. We had originally intended to spend 3 days--Mon-Wed at Ain Sukhna, a resort on the Red Sea. But with Ramadan beginning last Saturday I thought it was just too rushed, because this holy month requires mega shopping/preparation.

I got some lovely gold earrings for an anniversary present from my sweet husband, a mother of pearl jewelry box--for all my jewels--lol, some incense and burners, a huge Ramadan fanoos, some more Ramadan decorations, other things I cant even remember and best of all...dinner in a restaurant! With a cat as a dining companion--only in Egypt! It was wonderful not to have to worry about cooking!

Here are some pics...enjoy!

My anniversary present!

Mother of Pearl jewelry box

This lantern is nearly 3 feet tall

lantern and crescent lights on my valance

this kitty only wanted shish kabab!

drinking sugar cane juice

happy...no cooking tonight!

the "Licorice Juice man"

in front of Hussain Mosque in the Khan

I never imagined...

Ramadan would bring such adventures, especially the first day--but it did!

First thing that happened, I was working in the house and I heard some yelling and shouting coming from out back. As my mother was sitting on the balcony, I hurried to see what the commotion was.

I should preface this by saying we rent an apartment in a very expensive area of Cairo. We could never afford--or think to buy here, but we decided to rent for another year until we really find a place we like. The building next door has some empty apartments in it, in fact the inside is probably still under a bit of construction. In the apartment directly beside us, lives what I am assuming to be a bowab (a doorman or guard, always from either the country or Saiyeed) and his wife and a baby. I am quite sure they dont own the place, but are just staying there while the place is being finished. They are responsible for the safety and upkeep of the whole building. The husband seems quite a bit older than the wife.

This being the first day of Ramadan--with everyone fasting--sometimes tempers are short. But this was way over the top. Apparently they got into a fight and I think he must have hit her. And they were quite loud about it. A few neighbors in the building in back of us, hearing the argument and I guess feeling bad for the wife, starting to scream to the man from their windows. I guess they had just finished yelling at him because by the time I got to the balcony, my Mom said the neighbors had gone back inside, but they had been really upset. I did hear someone threaten to call the police, but not sure who it was.

Anyway, next thing I hear is the woman sobbing horribly. Sobbing and groaning. Egyptian women get very very dramatic when they cry--not that this one didnt have a right of course--she did, but she sounded like she was dying. Sobbing and talking to herself and cusing the man to God. Then I heard glass being thrown from the window--seems the husband was disposing of some kind of glass that got broken during the argument--and the sleeve of his galabya (long gown) was bloody. It really shook my Mom up. I guess I have gotten used to this kind of stuff. I saw a lot more spousal abuse in the USA than I have seen here, but I did feel bad that their child had to witness this crap. But in any case, I guess at my age, not much gets me very worked up anymore...except what happened next! Stay tuned for more...

RAMADAN KAREEM

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint (2:183)

May your fast be made easy for you and, may you enjoy all the blessings of Ramadan throughout the year.

Rerun and a glimpse into my life now...

Zillions of thoughts and ideas for posts running through my mind! So much has happened in the last year. Happy thoughts, sad thoughts, good things, bad things...amazing how much my life has changed! Sometimes I cant believe I am the same person who spent all of 2007 and half of 2008 planning for this move.

Oh my God those were hard days! What were the hardest parts? Realizing I had to give up so many material possessions, trying (and mostly failing) to sell them, so much stuff just ending up in the garbage! Trying to raise the money to make this move. The tragic death of my beloved pit bull Kenya about a month before I left. And worst of all, knowing my kids would no longer be just a few hours away--that I could visit them anytime I wanted. Truth to tell, I spent a lot of my first year here in Egypt trying to recover from all that trauma. I think for a long time I was shell-shocked! But things began to improve after I passed the first year mark and I moved to my new apartment here. I think I've managed to put all that drama in perspective--finally!

I have to stop here and give kudos to my daughter, who in my absence has done a wonderful job of keeping the family together. She is in constant touch with her brothers, travels often to see them, holds family gatherings, cooks them the foods they love that I used to cook for them, and in general just does everything I used to do. Bless her sweet heart...she is truly a treasure and her brothers love her all the more for it. And I think it helps all of them to miss me less, since they are so close. Alhamdulilah for that.

Getting settled here and accepting that Egypt was very unlike the USA was also a test of my commitment to make my life here permanent. I'd be lying if I said I never thought about going back. Oh yes I sure did! Days when I missed my kids so much I thought I would die from the pain. Days when trying to get anything done here took a supreme amount of effort, from shopping in an open air market to getting internet service to trying to express complicated concepts in a language other than my own.

P.A.T.I.E.N.C.E. One can not survive here without it--and lots of it! Nothing comes quick or easy here. Everything becomes an issue. Absolutely every day brought another challenge and to some extent still does. And truth to tell, before, I wasn't always up to it. Somehow I just flew by the seat of my pants and other times honestly I shut down for a bit. But as I slowly found my way in this new world, I started to see light at the end of the tunnel, and life here--most days--became second nature.

So like the phoenix rising, I was able to rise out of what felt like a damaged life, and work towards truly finding myself again.

Why I started a new blog...

I really loved writing Amreekia Min Bab Al Sharayah. (That link wont work unless you have permission to read it cuz it's private now). I started it back in July 2007, sort of as mental preparation and self-encouragment for my pending move to Egypt. It took me nearly a year to prepare for it, and there were pitfalls, delays and some serious sadness along the way. I basically dont want to remember it all when I go to that page, and towards the end there were things I shared with personal friends that I didnt want the world to read. So I created this new blog to get back in touch with the true spirit of why I began blogging in the first place...to record my adventures as an expat living in a foreign country.....a country I love (and sometimes hate) that despite it's faults, is now, truly, my home.