Ramadhan 20

yesterday was a big day alhamdulillah, well yesterday after iftar was a big day :D although not technically a day, big enough to be called one. I started earlier than maghrib though when I was trying to find out from a friend where the iftar was that I had been invited too. Alhamdulillah I found out and it was at my mosque :) so I set off a little early as asked and wondered how it would be. I prayed a little before going in and eventually found Mohammed the man I work with after being told, 'the ladies are in there' I smiled shyly and thanked the tall young gentleman who had sternly told me this. As I walked into the room off the main corridor i noticed the number of tables and was shocked at how many there were, I hadnt expected this to be only me & his family, but i hadnt expected around 20 tables full. Then I made a little prayer and asked that they be rewarded for putting this on, insha'allah. I immediately spotted Mohammed as he walked over to me, and pulled (although not literally) me to meet his daughter, who would introduce me to her mother and s-i-l, and his 2 sons soon after. Masha'allah, they are such a cute family all together working to help the community.
As I stood around not knowing quite what to do I suddenly felt back in Bradford, the whole room was full of pakistanis (not that there is anything wrong with that masha'allah) and I suddenly felt like the odd one out :P I was aware of ppl watching me and aware that I couldnt understand the majority of the conversations around me. I was extremely grateful for the adhan for maghrib as I was handed a plate with a samosa & 2 pitted dates on, also a cup of what i thought was milk but to my surprise it had a sweet aroma almost like mango.. im sure someone will tell me what i drank :) it was nice.. I was also grateful to be able to pray too with all the ladies. I also bumped into a lady I have seen frequently at taraweeh and some ladies I met when I went to the 1 and only quran arabic class at the other masjid.
I walked back down to the eating area to looks of confusion, I actually expected someone to tell me this was invitation only, but noone did alhamdulillah. I pulled funny faces with a few kids there and then it was time to line up for food. Plate full of spicy chick peas & salad for me :( thats why i dont like big functions like this.. there is never anything for the vegetarians to eat.. the rice was cooked with lamb and the potatoes with some sort of meat too :( Allahu alim. I ended up sitting on a table with another odd person :) a nice black lady by the name of mariam masha'allah. The other lady (from taraweeh) joined us too and we had good conversations alhamdulillah. Then everyone was leaving for home, I thanked my hosts daughter and told her to pass on my thanks to her dad and arranged to meet up one weekend with our mutual friend insha'allah.
Walking out I was trying to decide whether to stay at the masjid for taraweeh or go home, when I found a voice message on my phone from a girl i met at taraweeh last year alhamdulillah. She was coming over tonight and was still unsure whether to stay the night, we talked and I decided to go home to pick up a few bits... the bad thing was, by the time I got home i had missed the adhan for isha so totally forgot about it until i was in the midst of the taraweeh salah.
Anyways, we prayed the 20 rakahs alhamdulillah and the witr salah too then sat down to read quran. I gave her a present of a stitching I had made a while ago for her and we chatted a little. But mostly we read and prayed... i ended up leaving probably about 1230 with her and it felt good.. a real boost of iman alhamdulillah.
So what do u say to someone who reminds you, after having had such a good experience at the masjid, that you should find and read the ahadith about the best place for a woman to pray :( Allahu alim