Good End

I’ve wanted to head to Umra ever since I came back from KSA 7 years ago. Recently, I got the chance to go again as a school trip, and unfortunately, I don’t have a mahram. This fact was the last thing I had in mind. I searched a lot about Umra being accepted without the company of a mahram and found out that it would, except that you’ll be going against the Sunnah in the process. It took me days to be convinced and think logically. It’s not written for me, so why fight it?

My friends, for some unknown reason, are not going either. And others chose weddings over the chance of visiting bait Allah in Makka and AlMadina. I can’t understand this kind of people, those who can’t make up their mind and have the guts to compare the two. Your sister, aunt, cousin, uncle is getting married. So what? And what, in the world, is it going to do to you? ‘Weddings are once a life time.. .’ Oh yeah? What about accomplishing a religious pilgrim? How on earth are you going to make sure that you’ll live till you have the chance to do Umra again? There are no guarantees. Actually, no one’s life should be taken for granted, because they aren’t, as simple as that.


Who knows, you might drop dead before attending the wedding. Wouldn’t it be better if you passed away while you had the pure intention of doing Umra and visiting the Prophet’s (Peace Be Upon Him) grave? All these pleasures of life are temporary. One day, you would die, you have got no say in this, and you will leave everything behind. What you gained from an enormous amount of money wouldn’t matter, not then, when you’re in the womb of your own grave, under the ground, just like you have never existed. This can change based on your good deeds in life and what you worked for the hereafter.

عن أبي هريرة أن رسول الله قال:
إذا مات ابن آدم انقطع عمله إلا من ثلاث: صدقة جارية، أو علم ينتفع به، أو ولد صالح يدعوا له..

Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) said: "When a person dies all his good deeds cease except for three: a continuous charity, beneficial knowledge, and a righteous son who supplicates for him." [Muslim]

Basically the Hadith mentions the three important things;

1. Continuous charity: Such as building mosques, schools, or any other forms of institutes that serves a good cause.

2. Gaining Knowledge:The first verse of the Quran that was sent from Allah (SWT) through Jibreel (PBUH) to the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) was ‘اقرأ’ meaning ‘read’ emphasizing on the importance of learning and gaining knowledge, not to forget, enlightening others.

3. A righteous son: raising your child based on religious beliefs is one of the things that would benefit you and the community during your presence and after your death.

This leads me to mention my second cousin’s death on Dec, 26th. She was in her mid-twenties, a young, beautiful and intelligent girl who drew smiles on everyone’s face. A couple of months ago, she was suffering from TB, and was somehow okay afterwards, so she returned back home. Things were slightly better till she was due to travel for treatment. All her close friends and family members gathered around before that day to say goodbye, and how lucky they were as she was gone for real the other morning.

Her death came to us as a shock; she was an easy-going person with a great sense of humor and cheerful personality, and just as she was alive, she passed away peacefully. (God bless her and may she rest in peace)

At the funeral, I couldn’t imagine how her mother would look like after she had just lost her only daughter, thus I was surprised by what I saw from the mother’s behaviour. There were no tears streaming down her eyes, no loud cries or anything of that sort. All I had to say was Mashallah, she’s one faithful women. She accepts and strongly believes in Allah’s qadar as she’s also aware of her daughter’s place; heaven, inshallah.

A lot of people attended the funeral, but mostly her friends whom she met in Islamic lectures. She had made sure to never miss a chance. A true example of a muslim woman indeed. My mother was amazed by how bright my cousin’s face was after the 3’osil, even though she was a bit tan.

One could only hope to be such an obedient person to be both remembered and blessed.

Don't we all just wish to be like this man?

اللهم ارزقنا حسن الخاتمة ~

+ On a different note, I recently got the chance to sit down with a newly-muslim women who just got into Islam (a few weeks ago) and her two children. We’ll meet up sometime this week plus my mom’s friend who’s an Islamic teacher (and have done this a lot of times before). She asked me to join since I’m pretty interested and might be of help in translation.

The question here is what are they supposed to know?

We can’t mention everything from the beginning so as not to scare her and the kids off, but we’ll surely start off with the basics. Do they need evidence from the Qu’ran or Hadith?

And have you ever been in this situation before? How and what did you do/say exactly?

First Grade

In my memory of 1st grade, I am very excited on the first day of school, and I am wearing my light-blue uniform with the white t-shirt for the first time. I insist on getting my hair done by mom, and not the maid, to look extra special.

My Entrance
We enter the huge school together (my mother, little brother and I) My mom talks to the kindergarten teacher and admits my brother in. ‘Where are you going?’ my brother asks with terrified looks, and I decide that I would never forget how he looked like. ‘I will get your sister in her class and get back to you. Go on now’. The teacher gives my brother a wide smile, the same one she gave hundreds of children before him.

We climb the long staircase to the next floor, where my classroom is. I am older than my brother, and this mere fact must explain why we are separated by different floors. My mother stands in front of me while she talks with the teacher. I am on the last step of the staircase and a while later, I find myself half falling backwards as I hold on to mom’s Abaya, she pulls me back. The rush of adrenaline excites me more then ever, making me forget what might have happened.

I get into my class and sit on the seat. My mother peeks in and says goodbye. I do not cry, I think we are not supposed to cry in class so I hold back my tears.

Downstairs, my mom passes by my brother’s opened-door classroom. He runs towards her as if she was gone for ages. He says ‘I do not want to go back’, and he never did after that day.

Weird Little Girl
On one of the lunch breaks, I walk by students playing football on the field and before I know it, a bomb slaps my face so hard that I do not have the time to absorb what the hell just happened. I give the guys their ball back, and they give me curious looks in return. ‘Why isn’t she crying?’ they must be thinking, but I do not cry then either.

One day, a maid comes out of my friend’s house and shakes her head, an indication that he is not coming to the bus. Little did I know what she meant was he is not coming back ever again. He is dead, and you do not see dead people anymore. On that same day, one of the teachers announces the death of our little friend. He asks us to recite the fatihah so I do as I am told without realizing why.

Extra Role
Through the year, I was having an extra role besides being a student. I was a social helper of B; A girl with physical disabilities, and the teachers appointed me to take care of her. I do not know how it all started but I have been feeding, carrying, taking care of her, writing both her class work and homework and other sorts of things you expect from a paid social helper to do, except that I did not get paid.

During the classes, the teachers used to call me if B needed to go to the toilet. I would help her walk, open the toilet door for her, seat her and clean her. I used to do all of this when I was only 7. When I finish my class work, I would do B’s. Whenever B needs to get out of the class, I would follow her, as a lifeless shadow.

At the end of the day, I would carry two bags; B’s and mine. Children often made fun of B’s bag as it was Pepsi’s brand so they used to push me down the stairs, and calling me all sorts of names. I did not respond because I knew I had another mission to accomplish next; Walk B to her bus then head to my own. I would make sure she is safely seated on the bus seat and place her bag on her lap, then run as fast as I could to where my bus is. Scolding fits from the responsible teacher of the bus was a routine I had to get used to along with the others.

Except The Unexpected
On the few, last remaining days of first grade, I told my parents about my second job as a social worker. Dad was in rage and Mom asked me why I have kept this down for so long. I could not bring myself to answer the question I have never known. Dad asked me to simply say no when a teacher asks me to escort B anywhere.

I made up my mind and did exactly what I was told but perhaps I was too young to expect a response.

‘Why not?’ the teacher asked me the other day for the first time, I repeated what my Dad told me to thinking it was ought to end the discussion ‘Because my Dad said so’. My teacher hesitated for a while as she registered what I just said. She too, did not expect this particular response from me. I was her loyal student, she must have thought. After seconds of building up a way to say it nicely, she said ‘do not you want to go to heaven?’ Why is she asking me a stupid question now of all times? What has this got to do with what we are talking about now? I thought. ‘Yes...’ I said, blindly. ‘Then you should help others’ she was right, for all I know. ‘You are right, but my Dad said don’t...’ My Dad has not asked me to say anything other than this, so I just repeated it again, stupidly. She, eventually, called a teacher to escort B out. My teacher was taken aback by what I said, and the mere thought saddened me.

Lightening Strikes
The bell rang announcing the end of the day. I ditched B that day, but my conscious won over me, so I stood somewhere beside the staircase to make sure if B is fine. What I saw next struck me like a lightening and it all happened so fast, as if you’re forwarding a movie just to know what would happen to the lead actress, except this was reality.

B couldn’t help but slip over and roll down the staircase till she hit the floor with a loud thud, with her bag caught in between her legs. She was a mess, and the look on her face was as if she were holding for dear life. I did not know what to do next so I ran to save my own life as well. It was the end of first grade, and as weird as it has started, it ended.

Confrontation?
6 years later, I was shoe-shopping with mom and that’s when I saw B for the first time after that horrible accident. She was walking perfectly fine, with the help of her sister. She did not recognize me, but I did, for sure. She has not changed much, although she grew taller.

I wanted to say hello, then thought better not to. What would I have told her, anyway? Remember the girl who made you roll down the staircase on first grade? The girl who caused you injuries just because she got fed up of walking, carrying, and taking care of you, and the fact that this girl was the same age as you were and it was you who ruined first grade’s memory for her? No, I could not say this, when in fact, I kept quiet for so long and eventually wanted things to change. Things were fine before that day, to B, of course. She was safe for a whole year, and someday, based on an irrational choice, she did not know what hit her.

Over the years, the guilt of what I have done haunted me. It made me know what the word regret really means. For years, I thought I had done the right thing at the wrong time, but now, things have changed and I think of it the other way around. I should have helped her till the end. It’s not her fault that she has physical disabilities, and it sure wasn’t mine either. However, it was my fault to have left her alone that day. I can’t imagine how badly injured she was when all I did was watch and run, afraid of my own safety.

I was a selfish little first grader.

Inspirational Quotes

'The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside of us while we live'.

Sometimes, we just lose the sense of living. We wish that we were not brought up to this world in the first place. We cheat, lie, kill, and do other sorts of things and that’s when the regret part comes in. We often think that this sweet feeling of remorse can simply erase the others off. We walk around knowing we’re on the right path, and there’s nothing, not even a single thing can change this, when in fact, we simply lost our values and ethics in order to cope up with our surrounding. Life is ripping the humanity out of us just so it could give us a space on it. We must not forget the people we’re living close by are also humans, just like us, and by a word, we can easily hurt them. Saying sorry is the least we could do in this situation, even though they might not get over it, but at least know that your job is over by uttering this 5 letter word.

'We don't really forget anything bad that happened to us, we simply choose to ignore it to be able to move on'.

One of the blessings we own is the fact that we’re able to forget. Forget and move on, as if nothing happened. Though there are certain things which we carry along with us no matter what. It’s usually the bad things we’ve been through and decided to forgo to be able to live without the knowledge of its existence. It brings great joy to us if we believed we’re living the perfect life. The only sad thing is, we’re actually not.

[Book Reviews] Recent Read

Before We Say GoodBye by Louise Candlish

To cut it short, Louise’s story plots are very similar in every aspect. Someone loses a close family member then isolate him/her self from their normal life and get to live in a fantasy world, building up other relations elsewhere. ~ 4/10.


Thirst by Christopher Pike



Thirst #1 is divided into three books; The Last Vampire, Black Blood, Red Dice. Basically, the story is about a vampire girl, Sita, who tries her best to cover up her identify and if anything gets in her way, she takes away their lives. It was my first time getting into horror, and I enjoyed it very much. The book gets 8.5/10 from me as the ancient stories of their God, Krishna slowed me down.




Torn Apart by James Patterson and Hal Friedman

I wasn’t really interested in non-fictions after this book. It’s a story, a real one, about Cory’s lost childhood. At the age of five, he was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome. Over the years, his Doctors struggled in finding a cure to overcome Cory’s weird tics by taking all sorts of medicines they had in mind but nothing worked. When he’s 16, he decides to get rid of every medicine that made his status worse and get involved in wilderness camp all alone, and that, apparently, was his only cure. ~ 9.5/10.

+ I'm currently rereading Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince.

2009 Highlights

• March 10th: My grandpa passed away.
• May 27th: We celebrated my two cousin’s first birthday on the same day (A week separates their actual birthdates).
• July 22th: The day my relatives and I traveled. I had a great time, indeed.
• August 25th: Finished reading the Harry Potter series.
• October 28th: First time publishing an article (Muscat Daily).
• November 16th: Second published article (Oman Observer)
• December 7-9: Took part in the 1st Muscat Youth Summit.
• December 24th: My second cousin passed away.

To me, this year was filled with happiness, joy, sadness, grief, success and failure. The above were the main highlights of the year. Also, it was about reading, reading and then again, reading. I’ve read lots of books that I stopped counting. Books that are on top of my head that I enjoyed reading the most are,

• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hoessini
• The Harry Potter Series by J.K Rowling
• Thirst by Christopher Pike
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hoessini
• My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
• Torn Apart by James Patterson
  

Thanks to those who believed in me, and most importantly, myself, I was able to break my meaningless habit of procrastinating (not fully, of course) and to that, I’m grateful. I got to achieve most of my last year’s resolutions, and some of which I’d work hard on achieving.

One thing I learned this year, ‘As long as you put your heart and mind into what you believe in, you’ll eventually reach there’

With the spirit of a new year, I, for the first time, chose a new layout with colours instead of the same old, same old black/grey. Sometimes, even I could go with the flow, and decide to adjust with the 'change'. [I still got to work on it, though]

May God accept all your good deeds, and happy new near.

One Religion?

While watching Saturday’s episode of Dare to Ask on Peace TV, presented by Dr.Zakir Naik, one of the audience asked a similar question to this,

Why isn’t there a one religion? Clearly, Islam is the religion we’re all supposed to follow, so as to stop the conflicts and confusions, why hasn’t there been one religion delivered by the different messengers of God?

His answer revolved around the same point, which was none other than (as far as I understood): God sent the messengers –Peace Be Upon Them- to spread out the exact same message of believing in one God, or in other words, proving His existence.

Anyone else has a better explanation? Since the one I got is incomplete.

Why Don't We Read?

Based on the article I read yesterday with the title of 'Ma waraa2 3uzoof el3arab 3an el8era2a' (The reasons behind Arabs neglecting reading) [?] on Al Khaleej newspaper, I found out many points and I'd like to hear your own take on this.

Some of the reasons were,

Political instability; according to what people think and emphasize on, due to lack of trust some Arab government has on its authority, they resort to the policy of obscurantism, in order to stop their own people from reading and enlightenment.

Other than this, the rest of the article talked about poverty being the main reason.

Do you agree/disagree, and what, in your opinion, are the reasons why we, Arabs, don’t have that habit of reading?

Planning Techniques?

Here’s the thing, when I start working on a story or something similar, an idea pops up in my mind. Minutes later, I’d find myself scribbling it down like a lunatic. It’s like a sudden urge comes out of nowhere and forces me to write, even though it was the last thing I had in mind.

After this crazy 30 to 45 minutes of being absent-minded completely on what the hell is wrong with me, I stop. Just like that, As though my mission is finally over. That much is understandable. Later, when I want to complete what I started, I just feel…blank. I would have no idea about the letter of the next word. And that is why I stop in the middle of things; because, at the time, I feel totally clueless and ironically stupid.

My question here is, once an idea comes to my wacko mind, should I scribble it down as points only, then sit down and arrange the whole story line and its plots? Or write the whole thing from the beginning?
Is it okay for a writer to be clueless on what the next chapter is all about?

Enlighten me, fellow readers.

My Sister's Keeper

Jodi’s style of writing is very captivating, I loved how she usually brings back old memories and how each character has a somehow different way of expressing him/her self depending on their social status and age.

The ending was unpredictable, to be honest, but I can’t deny the fact that I flipped open the last few pages to get what happens, yes, Anna dies, but how? I was under the impression that she’ll actually die in the process of transplanting her kidney to Kate, but then what really happened got me by surprise. I’d give it a 9 out of 10.

People, this is one of those books you wouldn’t want to miss reading. Give it a shot!

There are many statements that I liked, so I’ll quote a few:

‘If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?’ ~ Anna, page 168.

‘Water never stops moving. Rain falls, and runs down a mountain into a river. The river finds its way to the ocean. It evaporates, like a soul, into the clouds. And then, like everything else, it starts all over again’ ~ Anna, page 474.

‘There should be a statue of limitation of grief’ ~ Kate, page 497.

+ I'm currently reading Before We Say Goodbye by Louise Candlish.

Enlightening Experience

[First off, I had to write this in a hurry seeing as how I'm away from home at the moment, and yes, this post lacks of photos. I'll upload them once I get the chance to]

The 7th was the first day of the 1st Muscat Youth Summit. Students were separated into three different groups depending on their ages as soon as they reached AlNahda Resort and Spa:

• Red group (Age 14-16)
• Yellow group (Age 17-19)
• Orange group (Age 20-21)

* Day one’s theme was about Sustainability and Climate Change, divided into three sessions: CO2 Management, Energy Security & Diversity and Energy Efficiency, presented by Asim Gusbi, Qais Al-Zakwani and Ahmed Al-Jahdami.

After the three sessions, we had a panel discussion where each student from different schools gets to go on stage and become a panelist. The idea was meant for the participants to share the most important points mentioned at the previous 3 sessions and to note how they’re all linked together under the topic Energy in a presentation form.

Before dinner, Ibraim Al-Busaidi, an Omani Photographer, presented a presentation about Photography.

** Day two’s theme was about Creative Oman, divided into four sessions: A Tradition of Innovation, Exploring Innovation, iGeneration and Creativity Now! Presented by Hany Bayaa, Nourhan Beyrouti, Russell Barczyk, Jamal Al-Asimi.

Personally, the second day’s sessions and workshops interested me the most. I enjoyed the Creativity Now and Exploring Innovation sessions, and iGeneration workshop at the afternoon.

Day 2’s surprise guest: Ahmed AlHarthy, an Omani racer.

After dinner, one of the organizers arranged a last-night-celebration dancing party that included participants dancing and enjoying their last night at the lawn.

*** Day 3’s theme was about City Living, divided into four sessions: Urban Transition in a Global Perspective, Developing Products for Oman’s Tourism Industry, A Passion for Plants, Carbon Critical Design presented by Nikolaus Knebal, Dana Sarhan, Dareen Mehdi, and Richard Smith.

Whereas the day’s workshops were arranged as field trips to different areas depending on the topics students chose earlier. I went to Oman Botanic Garden at AlKoudh for Sustainable Oman - Future Thinking. Dareen Mehdi, Sarah and Craig were the presenters.

We went along with Mr. Craig who introduced the under-construction heritage center and explained that the aim of this project is to keep the environment safe and clean for the plants.

Ms. Sarah showed us the whole project’s sample and asked for our ideas in order to attract people of our age as the Oman youth represents 50% of the Omani population. The participants came up with interesting ideas and Ms. Sarah showed interest in listening to each and every one of them and note down the suggestions for later consideration with the whole team.

Visiting the nursery with Ms. Dareen was fascinating. We got to actually see the plants kept in special nurseries and conditions. The plants were all Omani in origin.

The trip ended and we went back to AlNahda Resort and Spa to meet up with the rest of the participants and have a final closing session with the organizers, supervisors and H H Faisal bin Turki al Said, chief executive officer of Brand Oman Management Unit.

To conclude this, it was one of those unforgettable events. I’m sure each and every one of the participants enjoyed their time to the max and most importantly, benefited from the experienced and educated speakers. Not to forget the amazing accommodation and treatment given by the organizers and supervisors. It was all about having fun, voicing opinions and learning in the same process.

Her Fairytale [3]

Am I really that bored to have posted 3 posts in 3 days? Hell, yes. Since I’m very techno-challenged, it took me almost ages to figure out how to edit the template’s HTML in order to change/delete the already existing pages.

Thanks to Deluxe templates, I have this Natural Gloom look even though it doesn’t exactly fit my blog, for some odd reason. (Don’t tell me otherwise). Also, I added the About Me page.

Another thing I’ve been ignoring for a while now is my draft chapters [For the story, Her Fairytale] which I posted earlier. (Chapters: 1, 2, 3) I got stuck at chapter 3 as it just got boring, literally. That or I simply lost interest in it. Here’s the whole-updated chapter.

Chapter 3

Her thoughts went back to when she was a kid of 9, when she looked up on him and admired his achievements. Watching him working used to amuse her. Every word he used to utter were words of wisdom according to Linda, and she made sure to follow his footsteps; become an important person in the society without having to lose your ethics and values, most importantly, not to forget those who love you. Looking back at these pleasant memories, Linda dreaded her haunting past.

Two hours passed by, while Linda’s smiling and grinning on her dad’s silly jokes and comments made her feel uncomfortable. She didn’t want to believe everything would be the same, because she knows for a fact that it won’t.

At exactly 3:00 PM, she wondered if she could stop the loud tick...tocks of the gigantic clock on the living room’s wall. It was so loud that for a second, Linda could have sworn she’d just heard her own heartbeats.

She’d always thought that after graduation, her life would get settled. As by then, she would have gotten into a scholarship and left her family’s problems behind. But things never went well while she was at school either. She needed an inspiration, a motive to aim for the best, and unfortunately, there was none available at the time. Now, she has to take care of her siblings, and her own mom to being with. The thing about the whole divorce situation Linda wasn’t so sure about was the reaction of her mom. Will she be able to handle it, alone? Will she ever return to her old self again? Will her family ever be that same one like it used to be once upon a time? Linda couldn’t bring herself to answer the questions which kept her insomniac for long nights. No matter how hard she tried, she was perfectly aware of her soon-to-come failure.

All day long, Linda tried getting herself busy, both physically and mentally, afraid of the thoughts that’ll make their way through her mind again.

Now, I know that my promise was a very long chapter, but what can I say? I’m a lazyass, and excuse me for that. Oh, and I called the story Her Fairytale. Thanks for those who voted and others who wasted their time on reading and commenting.

Kitty, The Procrastinator

The 9-days holiday is coming to an end without me realizing it. I’ve spent most of it in shopping, packing and unpacking. I reached to a point where I had no idea that today’s the second of Dec. The plan was to start working on the Harry Potter FanFiction, but other distractions took place making me forget all about it; Reading the new books I’ve recently bought, for instance. I finished off Girls Of Riyadh in a matter of two days when I was supposed to be writing the epilogue. 2 Paragraphs were all I came up with. Is this procrastination or laziness, I don’t know.

‘Remember the first time we met, on this very exact station?’ He asked his wife, ‘Mhmmm’ she murmured with tears streaming down on her cheeks. Harry rubbed off Ginny’s tears with a soft, soothing finger. The proud parents walked on King Cross’ station sidewalk while remembering their own magical moments at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardy.

That’s all, but what I had in mind was completely different. And it’s not even an ‘epilogue’, more like, the first few lines of Chapter 1.

Something I scribbled down, which has nothing to do with Harry Potter, just me wanting to waste more time,

Sense of euphoria weren’t of help anymore, it’s like her own brand of heroin effect’s came to an end bringing back symptoms of withdrawals. She’d clutch to it till the end, and now she lays there clueless as to what’s the next step she should take to at least enter the maze of her life.

Other than this, I’m still reading My Sister’s Keeper. The author’s style of writing is very impressive and interesting. I liked the story line so much and I can’t wait to find out what’s going to happen in the upcoming chapters.

Writing this blog post while my eyes are halfway to closing shut explains the disjointed points.

Enjoy the remaining days of the holiday, peeps.

My Eid

19th Nov was the date of my final update. Soon after that day, my first term exams started giving me lesser time to spend on blogging or anything else. Things went on very smoothly, except that I’m still lacking behind in Maths (As I always did – No surprise there).

My sister and I spent the past couple of days that followed Eid at my Granny’s and I got to read more than I usually do, which is a bonus. Take this from me, isolating yourself from civilization for a while to achieve a specific task is the key to success.


It took me a long time to decide on where to stay over for the upcoming days (Starting from Eid’s night itself) and I finally settled at Granny’s (Dad’s part of the family). As usual on the first day of Eid, we were the late comers as everyone was waiting for us to join in the tiny house. My parents left early to get ready and I kissed them goodbye and made sure to tuck in my wish-list somewhere - I, amongst my siblings, am the only one who usually does this.

That evening, my uncle took all of us to Qurum City Centre based on our never-ending demands (God bless him). Entering from the food court entrance was a bonus to the whole thing as Borders Express is located next to it. The kids went crazy over the electronic games shouting how much money was needed and I found myself eyeing the books one by one looking for a catchy title.

Those caught my attention:

I finished Girls Of Riydh last night. I had a fun read, there’s no doubt about this, but I found the story plot very typical when comparing it to ‘our’ world. The things that the four Saudi girls went through are the same things girls here are going through; looking for the love of their life.

Here are some random shots I took while staring at the place's natural beauty:

Hope ya’ll enjoyed your Eid because I know I did, and it’s better late than never to say: Eid Mubarak.

[P.S This post is dedicated to my lovely Granny and her children who endured my sister’s demands and mine].

The National Day

We didn’t exactly have a proper celebration at school for obvious reasons; avoiding crowded situations so as to limit the wide spread of Swine Flu and instead, we were given a chance to celebrate at our own classes by wearing whatever it is that we want of Omani traditional dresses.

The students wore a mixture of colours on the 18th and everyone looked rather happy and cheery on a school day not to mention, looking forward for the weekends, but that’s beside the point. I used to wear Abaya on the past National Day celebrations but wasn’t in the mood to this year and so I wore my uniform and was surprised to be the only one who did.

After having finished our exam at the first three lessons, my classmates rushed down to the first floor to watch Kindergarten’s celebration and the view from the third floor satisfied me.


Then we started having our own so called ‘celebration’. I would have ditched school if it weren’t for the exam’s sake but I have to admit about enjoying the music and this, of course:


Later that evening my little sister urged me to tag along to her own school celebration, I only agreed to go to watch the little kids in dresses who were utterly adorable.