Sorry

salam everyone.. i apologise for the time that has lapsed since I have last been on here and filled you in on my life. I know I didnt get back to that looking back list that I wanted to do, but I still havent had time and will probably put it off for a few months until I get myself settled.

I havent written lots since I came over, which I didnt intend to do and to be honest I havent really been THAT busy just consumed with family which has been good. I spent time with the aunty whos husband died back in May.. my mums side of the family is hard, there are constant battles and secrets, health problems and mental problems... my mum is one of 8 so there are many relatives, I will visit 2 when Im down south. I get on particularly well with one cousin, shes very frank and very open minded masha'allah, when I moved over to Canada I asked her what she would say if I told her I was muslim, her answer? I knew before you did... lol :) Shes currently obsessed with Egypt and has been about 5 times this year so far I think, she said she would move over there in a heartbeat and was questioning me about the different styles of covering that women wear. Shes always been there for me when I wanted to complain about my mum and how shes been, shes always stuck up for me and I know she will love me as long as I love myself alhamdulillah.

So tomorrow I get the train down to London insha'allah

On the job front.. alhamdulillah Ive had a few phone calls from the agencies, some havent gone well and some Im still waiting to hear from... I had a call today about a job in Cambridge (well 2 actually) insha'allah I have a phone interview tomorrow, but the job is only a 6 month contract position. There is also another one.. about the same distance in the other direction (just past Oxford) both jobs sounds pretty interesting.. but will see.. insha'allah it will work out. Remember me in your duaa peeps :)

On another note... it started snowing in my area in Canada, and im here!!! in the greys of UK :( sucky and a half!! Allahu alim

Thats me for now...
Peace and salams, Ammena

Ooh, pics from weekend

I forgot to post about the fab time I had with 2 friends on the weekend
1. we found the nicest vegetarian restaurant opposite from the mosque and underneath the buddist centre in Manchester, highly recommended! 2. my hot apple and cinnamon, not quite 2nd cup but nice all the same :D 3. the inside of the mosque from the womens section, you can just see the lovely moroccan screen partition to the left 4. interesting sign I thought ms eyeS might get a crack from 5. the arndale centre 6. Im guessing manchesters answer to the london eye.. pitiful for nice next to the buildings :) masha'allah

Monday

So today I was supposed to travel into the city centre of Liverpool to meet up with my best friend from school. I got to the bus stop waiting for the bus that would take me to Wigan train station which would then take me to Liverpool train station, when I received a text message from her saying she would have to cancel. I was gutted, but it was for a good reason she thought her waters had broke so had to go into hospital. I just got another text from her about an hour ago saying all was well alhamdulillah, shes due on Sunday I think... so insha'allah it all works out ok.

Ive spoken to a few friends in UK since arriving and its always good to hear their voices, especially those who I havent talked to in ages. Like my mate Nazish... I met her on islamic penpals when I was at uni and on a visit to see another friend in Coventry we went over to Leicester to meet up with her. She commented on the change in my accent... noooo she never said it was canadian!!! before you ask... she said its a thicker scouse accent hehee.

Insha'allah there will be travels to document in the upcoming future :) to Liverpool, back to Manchester to meet up with Jules insha'allah and down to London to meet the algerian ladies :D insha'allah... look out for the pics :D
Peace and salams, Ammena

Arrived

salam everyone,
so im here, in UK finally once again. How did it go? well thats what Im back to tell you. The flight was fine, I was one of the first on and settled into the only slightly bigger than normal leather seat. I was given a glass (yes glass!) of OJ and we waited for the flight to take off, I was on the aisle seat of 3 with 2 old english ladies who wouldnt shut up for practically the whole flight. We were given a drink and a little glass tub of snacky things... then the movie started 'Get Smart' which was ok and makes a change it being something I havent seen. They came around to give people opinions for their evening meals and stopped by me with the question 'did you ask for a vegetarian meal?' I got a starter of leaves (spinach & lettuce) tomato & cucumber with a balsamic dressing and a bread roll then for main course (in a ceramic dish may I add!) a pasta dish with tomato sauce and roasted peppers. Was nice, yummy. I watched the end of the film, pulled my hood over my eyes and slept until we were just desending into Manchester.

I got off the plane eventually after waiting about 15 minutes because the ground staff had pulled the plane too far forward to be connected to the airport via the walkway. When I got to the carasel I noticed my bags already going around which was good to see, I picked them up and waited for my snowboard. After about 30 minutes I was getting impatient and wondered if it had been pulled off by the guy working near the entrance, I noticed someone walking away with a pram so the idea could be right, there was just lots of people in the way. I moved the trolley as far as I could and noticed the bag on the floor straight away especially as a girl picked it up with a questioning look on her face. I asked someone to keep an eye on my trolley and ran for my bag, then made my way to the main doors with some woman holding the end of my bag thinking she was helping me but was making it more difficult to get around.

So I sat outside and phoned my auntie to tell her I had picked up my bags and waited for about an hour before she turned up with my dad. We loaded the bags into the car and set off for home. And thats where I am now :) I spoke to a few family members and some friends, been to Asda a few times for mainly food and a new mobile, and bought a new power connection for my laptop just now. Im looking for train tickets to go down to London a week on monday or tuesday insha'allah found one for 13 quid.. just waiting to hear if its a good deal or not.

Well, its nearly 8pm and I do want to stay on to see if I catch any friends in Canada (aalya & anisah look out for me) so far everything is fine here, Im able to pray in relatively more peace than at my mums. I spoke with her yesterday which ended in tears (hers not mine) while saying goodbye but shes ok alhamdulillah. Take care
Peace and salams, Ammena

Last weekend

Aalya at 2nd cup
So its my last weekend here in Canada for awhile now and on Friday I decided to make the most of it and see some friends before my mum called a curfew for wanting to spend my last few days with her. The plan was lunch at licks with Nadia, coffee with Aalya, coffee with Ameenah, meetup with Noreen, Tea (food) with Kathy, night at Aminahs and breakfast with Melissa.. this is how it went... I picked up Nadia and we went to licks for nature burgers, anyone visiting around the toronto area has to look out for this small but successful burger chain and try one of these burgers, they are amazing!!! Then we decided to go for juice at square 1 and ended up walking around a little. I texted Aalya to ask her to meet me in square 1 cause I was full from the yummy pina colada juice then we bumped into a dear friend of mine alhamdulilah, Dalya who I was intending on popping around to her house later in the evening with a stitching present. We chit chatted for quite awhile and arranged for me to pop over later.. shes been super busy with wedding preps (November 7th insha'allah) so we start to walk back to the food court and stop at a salon that Nadia wanted to book an appointment in and we bump into another friend Tahmina... yes everyone was in square 1 on friday afternoon alhamdulillah. We chatted for abit and left there to meet Aalya at the food court, Nadia took our pic and headed off with the promise to come around to Aminahs later.

We sat down and chilled for abit then walked around to Old Navy in the search for new jeans for me, in the end we drove over to 2nd cup without new jeans (well for me anyways) Sitting there was nice, we were there for like 2 maybe more hours and had a nice time.. we talk about random stuff, but I feel she is the one who understands my situation more than anyone, as much as they want to.. u never really know unless you are in it which she sort of is and Im grateful for having her as a friend alhamdulilah. We waited together for Ameenah who got lost and stuck in traffic so we ended up cancelling, me & Aalya stayed around for a little longer then just before 6pm we split up and I went to pray at Nadias house which was close.

Then I met an old friend from when I first started working at Barrday, she was a coop student there and we used to meet for lunch and stuff :) shes a cool girl, very pretty masha'allah. I havent seen her in soo long, so was good to catch up with her at Spring Rolls and be filled in on what shes been up to alhamdulillah.

After that I popped back to Dalyas to give her the stitching present I made for her ages ago.. yeh thats how often I see her lol.. we sat down and chatted for over an hour though and was good because we wont get the chance to do it much in the future either. Allahu alim. Anyways, then I left to drive over to Aminahs and we stayed up until after 4am chatting.. Tahmina came over after 12 for abit and Nadia came over after 2 for a few hours.. was good to be with the girls alhamdulillah.

In the morning I met Melissa for breakfast at Muddy Duck.. was nice,shes been having some health issues lately that seem to be more serious than mine, so was good for perspective alhamdulilah. She also mentioned to me when leaving that she said to her bfriend about me 'You know Ammena is one of those friends that you dont have to be around 24/7 we can not be in touch for months and months, then when we get together and sit down.. conversation flows and its like I saw her yesterday' That made me smile alhamdulilah :)

Im going to miss everyone, but Im grateful for everything everyone who I have come into contact with in this country has given me. Alhamdulillah.

ooh.. you should have

So last week I stopped by my ex-local post office to post off a relatively large ($45 shipping worth) of hijabs to Ines :D jazakAllah khair sis :) Anyways, the woman behind the counter enquires about my situation because she was the person who I gave in the notice the weekend before to get my mail redirected to my mums. It was nice she remembered my situation but then she always has. So she started off the next conversation like this,
Her: so what are you?
Me: confused look, huh?
Her: like your religion?
Me: while writing Ines address on the envelope, Islam, Im a muslim
It was pretty normal until then, then it went plain old weird and somewhat offensive
Her: so are you a strict one?
Me: laughs, depends what you mean by strict
Her: well do you eat the...
I stop her, Im vegetarian I tell her, so I dont eat any meat... thats a personal choice, not a religious
Her: but they dont eat the erm.... beef though do they
Me: I smile, thats hindus and sikhs... muslims dont eat pork
She starts nodding like she totally understands, maybe she did.. who knows... Then she asks about my family, if my parents eat 'the pork' yeh... shes canadian!! I tell her yes they do because they arent muslim. At this point I was getting tired and I wanted to finish off my errands but she carried on, but shes confused and looks at me point blank until I tell her I converted awhile ago... ooh she says and nods like that just explains it all
Her: I knew when I first saw you that you were different, I said to myself as I saw you wearing that head thing that you didnt look like one of them
At this point I could get really offended but she still hasnt finished my packages so I let her go on, she proceeds to ask why I started looking into Islam
Me: I looked into cathodicism and I still had the same issues as with chrisitianity
Her: Ooh, you should have chose that, thats what I am!
At that point I was flabbergasted and thats where I will finish this post after telling you about a little bit regarding The kite runner
Her: Have you read his other book? One thousand splendid suns?
Me: I have it, but I havent gotten around to reading it yet
Her: When I read it, I swear if one of those guys were in the same room I would have slapped them. I know I know its their...
she went to say religion and I butted in
Me: Its not their religion its their culture (I dont even know the situation shes talking about but just guessed)
She nodded
Her: yeh yeh, I know
and passified me! she passified me! subhanallah... at that point I dropped the whole thing and thanked her for the help. Allahu alim