Assalamalikum everyone..ok so my internet has been down for a few days while the owners of my house sorted out their new flooring. Alhamdulillah im back, so some things about my life before I start on the next part of my diary. I burnt myself yesterday at work.. now for those that did chemistry or any lab work know how HNO3 is with the skin... so yesterday i threw some in a tube in the bin at work.. then i was carrying on with my work and trying to clean up before leaving for the weekend. So im shaking this column and the stopclock breaks off at the neck and falls into the bin. I delve in without even thinking and feel a wetness on my hands.. before i know it its burning like mad then i realise i had just thrown the nitric acid in there... argh!! i pull my fingers out fast and splash it over my face alhamdulillah i was wearing my glasses. I run to the tap to get cold water on my fingers when the splashes on my face start to burn.. what am i thinking?? Alhamdulillah i do wear my safety glasses properly. I go to the bathroom to see the damage, at that point i had 3 white dots on my face from where it was starting to blister, just left of my nose, on my left cheek close to the earlobe and just over my right eye alhamdulilah alhamdulillah alhamdulillah. At that point i thanked Allah (swt) with my whole heart for allowing me to come out of the experience better than it could have been... just like when i flipped my car over and came out without a scratch.. the most merciful. Alhamdulillah.
So now to my diary.. where was i??? oh yes the bradford trip. Ok so I wake up in the morning, having packed my stuff for the next few days the night before. I remember taking another trip to Asda, although for what i cant remember.. I did buy some shloer (yummy!) and chocolate for the girlie nights ahead. I phoned up my old department at university* and asked them if it was possible they could fix me up with a visitors pass for the day (cheeky me!) they know me well.. having dealt with my ups and downs for 4 years, and i miss em all especially certain lecturers who really touched my heart, may Allah (swt) reward them by showing them the true path. So that was sorted.. I actually left a lot later than previously intended which made me late and i wasnt allowed to do some things that i wanted to. I got there about 230 ish.. picked up the pass and parked. Realised i had forgotten my address book i started having a flush.. how was i going to get in touch with anyone? i didnt have their numbers and didnt know where i was going or when to be there... poo!! anyways, I made my way down to where i had intended to meet some friends from uni at the love apple* I loved this place when i first realised it was there... it sells the nicest veggie chili with a massive jacket potato and i had been craving it for awhile. So i see the girls, one of em had a little boy when i left, hamza, and she is due sometime this summer again masha'allah.. shes so adorable, I love her to pieces.. my little Sadia and constant bump So we chatted, catched up, ate.. I was told, for the fiftieth millionth time, that i hadnt changed... ppl what really did you expect?? strange ppl!! then sadia had to leave for a work meeting.. so me and the other girl went for some shopping in the city center.. I bought some long socks (couldnt find any toe socks) and i bought a sim card for my mobile... so now i had connection alhamdulillah, but still no numbers. Then we walked back up and i wanted to pop in to see our old department.. of course it wasnt that easy. They had moved to a new building and it wasnt easy to get in there So in the end.. i just left to go to Leeds... to visit a very good sister of mine.. she was with me at Leeds Grand mosque* when i said shahada and i love her to pieces & miss her loads too. Anyways, enough of that... so i thought it was gonna be hard finding her place.. I had downloaded directions from the aa website.. and i knew the main roads werent the issue.. it was all the little backroads that i wasnt used to anymore (not many here in canada) alhamdulillah i eventually got there... it was soo good to see her masha'allah.. and we fell back to how things were when i left. We chatted, eat, drank the shloer.. she told me about her life at the mo, her little lad.. masha'allah hes amazing.. he can break dance, spin on his head, knows some quran and has the cutest accent.. all at 3-4 yrs old... i remember when i left he wasnt talking that much, but now masha'allah he just chatted away like a little old woman. Calling me auntie which was soo nice to hear.. So her friend came around.. and a mutual friend too so was good to see her, she had been holding some things for me at her house and brought it all over... i gave some books away cause there is nowhere for me to keep them.. also there were loads of hijabs and a free abaya that i got thats too big for me. Insha'allah ill have it taken up, but its ok for salah for now. Ive just realised... she got married last wk and is moving down south.. agh.. she still has my things.. insha'allah they dont get broke in the move.. Im happy for her though, alhamdulillah she deserves it. I did manage to remember a sisters number of where i was staying the next night so i phoned her up to find out the details alhamdulillah.
So after the other 2 girls left we stayed up chatting till 3 in the morning.. and we didnt even realise.. So i prayed and we went to sleep.. was up at 10 the next morning.. and we had breakfast, well i had tea... for those of you who dont know me that well, i cant eat breakfast makes me sick. So her little boy asks me.. will you play with me while im in the bath cause im a little upset that you are leaving today.. subhanallah i could have cried.. this little lad was so used to me when i was in Bradford.. and i dont know whether he is like this with everyone but it was like i hadnt been away. Hes so adorable masha'allah. We took him to nursery, I drove them around, then we came back.. I packed up my stuff put it in my car and and left to go for some shopping in Leeds... I went to the george shop in leeds... picked up a few bits, then next* where i had to wait outside when the fire alarm went off after eventually finding some of the items my mum wanted.. got them.. and took a little wander, bought some new shoes. it was nice to see the city again, I spent alot of time there after i had exams, when i needed a release from bradford, when i needed major retail therapy... and the place is nice, its a university city too so theres lots of students there aswell. So when i had finished there I made my way back to where i had stayed the night before to get my bags for my trip to huddersfield.
So i arrived in huddersfield about 2ish i think it was... I was constantly phoning the sis I was meeting.. wonder if this was annoying her. I was like.. ok, so im here, ill be there at this time, where will you be? where are you? I was just soo excited to see her. While I was on the train going over I remember thinking about the first time I met her, like many longtime mates i have in UK I met her through islamway sisters website.. i dont go there much now cause i found there was a lot of unneccessary stress from being in the forum. Alhamdulilah from what i see now, its alot better but i dont really go on many forums now unless its for info. Anyways, when i first met her through this site it was because like me she was a new muslim and she was close to where i was at university.. so we chatted for awhile, then it came up that there was a islamic lecture near where she lived so we decided to meet up and check it out. So i turned up in Huddersfield town centre, never having been there before so i was pretty nervous. When she eventually turned up, this was to be a trait of dees personality love you loads sis!! she was with her younger sister and they looked soo cute, i went to hug her but she was a bit off.. i put it down to the fact that we had only just met... i came to realise that it ran a little deeper than this and she was one of those non huggy ppl.. insha'allah she doesnt get offended by this, but there is a reason for me writing it So from there things got better we would get together often.. sometimes they would come to bradford and we would check out the islamic stores, the arab food shops and the asian clothing stores.. we had so much fun and there are many things she helped me with. may Allah (swt) reward her for her deeds. I spent my first eid with her and some friends and have many fond memories of the things we did even the stupid pointless things.. She is married to an Algerian.. so that was useful knowing how things were with that to relate them to my own experience with my 'other half' Anyways... so when i got to the train station i phoned her and told her i was there... walked outside to find her... saw her straight away fiddling with the wind cover over the babies pram.. i waved, and somehow forgot she now has responsibilities, I half expected her to run over to me... then i told myself.. erm.. Ammena, she has a child to think of, may Allah (swt) forgive me for that. so i walked over and she gave me a massive hug. We walked through the town on our way to the coffee shop where we were meeting her friends, who apparently have heard soo much about me!! Then out of nowhere she hugged me and told me she had missed me so much, which warmed my heart... it was nice to hear that ppl do miss me, cause even though i chat with them on MSN it isnt really the same, as im sure most of you know. We had coffee, I gave her the clothes i had bought over for her little one.. all pink!! and i took her little one on a trip around the shops near the coffee place. It was nice to be walking around with a baby and i realised then just how much i wanted one of my own insha'allah soon, it was also nice that dee was totally ok with me taking her away and didnt come looking for us. It was nice to feel trusted if you get me. So blah blah.. she bought a new pram.. but dont tell her hubbie hee hee.. then we went back to hers to get ourselves ready for the evening. We were meeting up with another close sister of mine.. I met her through islamic penpals* and introduced her to dee cause they lived in the same city and they were both new muslims... masha'allah they have become good friends.. which i have become a little jealous of while i am over here. I miss being part of a close group of friends.. and they both have little children not that much difference in age so they have learnt from each other with many things alhamdulillah. So we chilled for awhile.. I drank mango rubicon (im obsessed if you didnt know!) we got changed and discussed how things have changed and how things havent.. it was nice to just chat and play with her little one masha'allah... shes such a girl!!
Then we eventually left for the evening.. although we still didnt know where we were going. We ended up outside somewhere but it was packed so we were looking around and thinking... well they were, i dont know hudds... we ended up in an irianian restaurant (i think) and bought loads of little dishes.. masha'allah it was really nice... we had the 2 kids with us and another of their friends joined us and dees little sister, who converted last year masha'allah. It was a good night, we all talked and the other sister was asking about canada and telling me what she had heard about me. It was good to finally meet julia (the sister from the penpals site) we always talk on the phone and dee had mentioned that we would have no problems getting along cause she saw us as very similar in most aspects of our personality.. alhamdulillah we had no problems getting along. I remember when i first saw her, she looked so professional in the clothes she was wearing.. apparently she is always looking very classy, which i like... shows how muslims dont just disappear away from everything, that we can stll exist and be part of society.
Ive just seen how much ive written and think i will do this in a 2 part series.... just so you dont all get too bored..cause i wouldnt want that now would i?! So insha'allah ill write more tomorrow to finish this section of my trip.. and let you know how much fun i had with my sisters.
