On Marraige, Life and such..

First let me thank sha3teeely for being generous enough to share his customized Arabic font and also a link to help improve my illustration skills or maybe try different styles. Here is my first attempt to go with a "new look" :P

so before we are married people wont stop nagging on our heads to get married and i remember when a lady found out i was "23" and not married zman. she "Gasped" and said " ya habeebti liesh ba3dik la hala2, haram wallah haram" at that moment her reaction made me want to CRY! ino shayfe ya khaltooo wallah ma 3indhum nazar lol somehow no matter how you much you dont want to think about this topis its like forced on you and find yourself worried abt it and wondering if you will ever get married and HOW and WHERE you will meet the perfect guy. Random ppl you meet or even sometimes in the supermarket i would see someone tall and imagine dropping a bandora and he would pick it up and we would fall in love . we obssess and obssess and try to make things happen because our biological clock is TICKING! TICK TICK YAM Slieman... you start various accounts in qiran/muslim matrimonial sites with a fake name ofcourse just to see if fe 7ada mi7rez. cause bint ukht bint sa7ebtek fell in love on the net and you have watched " you've got mail" way too many times lol

So truth is... You can't make things happen so relax and let GOD'S plan take its course. Dont worry about kids and ur biological 40 is the new 20 these days. Don't marry a guy just cause of the idea of marraige. Marry him because he is the person you feel completes you and you want to spend the rest of your life with him. Don't settle and let go of your criteria just because of the pressure all around you and just because ppl say "mush 7ayeeji a7san".

so.. eventually some ppl do get married. some are happily married. others wish they never got married. Others dont get married and for those who dont. its not the end of the world. really before marriage u have this notion that as soon as you get married all your problems will be solved and the nagging will stop and everything would be like a fairytale. Dont get me wrong when you are married to the right person its great and amazing and when you find someone who makes you feel complete its wonderful. just dont be brainwashed and think that marraige is the solution to everything. Marriage is only a good thing when its with the right person.

Women are not slaves and a good husband helps out when he can instead of just expected everything to be done for him. It's a 2 way deal both have to work on the relationship for it to work. Al Hamdulilah my husband does not have that mentality and helps when he cans but i hate how sometimes in the arab world its frowned upon if a man did the dishes or if a man helped around the house. The Prophet (pbuh) used to helped his wives with the housework.

AMErtChaaaa vs Middle East

It's my first visit to the states. and i must admit its not exactly how i imagined it would be. there are alot of thoughts i had that were pretty much engraved in my head as i was growing up. like you hear someone say "wallahi ibni ra7 yudrus fi ameerka" replys with a GASP " yeeeee yeee Allah yustur.. hada il walad daa333 hadowl il ajaneb ma 3indhum la 3ayb wala haram" and so on.

So well you grow up with an idea that if u enter the states automatically you will be brainwashed and your mentality will turn into britney spear's. Or that when you go in with hijab ppl will swear at you and throw rocks at you and call you a terrorist. Its not at all like that.

Well there is very high security at airports and yes you will be searched and maybe a few people will stare. BUT generally speaking i have found that people here are more friendly. For Ex u enter a shop.. the first thing they say " HOW R U TODAY?" with a smil. when u leave they say " Have a Good Day, or Have a Good One" opposed to the " BIDEK musa3adeh?" with mush tay2a 7ali look. or those annoying ppl who follow you in the store and u just wanna smack them with ur purse. IM JUST LOOKing can i please breathe?

The ADS ON TV... WOW... i am serious. u would want to watch the ads more than the show ur watching! unlikes SEDAR al EMARAT ads or those MBC ads that repeat every 2 seconds. i mean did u really think i missed watching the ad the first 3 times u played it in the last 5 minutes?

I am not just praising amreeka sheeka beeka wa or saying il 3arab kokha. i am just saying that there is a positive and negative side to everything. yes they might be a bit too FREE. But i came from dubai and i have seen girls wear almost nothing to the mall. i have heard shocking stories about the oppeness that has reached dubai. so its not just in the states. its all around the world. maybe in the states its just less restricted and its considered freedom of choice.

They have many museums, libraries, activities for families. In the arab world i feel this is something that is missing. its not encouraged the way it is in the west.

The FOOD... no wonder usa has a high rate of obesity.. the variety of food u will find is... mouth watering.. but you will also find that alot of ppl jog and excersize and take care of thier health.

The baby food section.. ya salaaaaam... u have soo much to choose from... lulu is enjoying that!

What i love most is the simple way of life. Everyone does what they want and pretty much no one cares. You can have a garage sale. You can sue anyone for anything :P. they cant fire you for wearing hijab. They encourage Recycling and taking care of NATURE! So many helplines and awareness campains and help groups. And ofcourse i can get to watch all the tv shows on TV :P instead of downloading :P

Conclusion. Yes We have our differences. And it is harder to be a strong muslim when you dont hear the adan, and there is a lot of fitan when the culture has nothing to do with islam. but that is jihad and we face it even in the middle east. its within ourselves. and its not as bad as you would imagine! So my US expereince till now.. no2 bad no2 bad a2 all <-- very bad bri2ish accent. why british mush american accent.. because im sleepy... yala good night

BAGOORA'S BACK & SHE IS .....

VERY PREGNANT!

It has been a while and she has been busy with her new 6owr husband who apparently is very stubborn. The big news is that she is expecting baby bagoora now and she has gained a few pounds. Her link is no longer for 7aleeb 7amouda or Mara3i it is now saved up for her little bagoora. she says she that she always knew she was a cow but now she really really feels like one.

after seeing me and lulu she is afraid of how she will deal with motherhood and i told her not to worry about a thing and that "kol hal nasaween wil bagarat khalafoo wa ya ma7lahom" mostly those nasaween turn into bagarat in the process.. its normal ..

its true. i mean look at our grandmothers or great grandmothers! its like they were competing or something. meen ykhalef jaysh akbar! its like they were trying to build an army with thier children. they would marry off thier daughter when she was around 13 and then maybe that was the beginning of "3unooseh".

And ofcourse then she would deliver a kid a year and believe it or not somehow they managed! no nanny no khadameh from srilanka or indonesia helping out. they took care of thier little army and not only that they also used to bake at home, clean the house,cook and even work in the farm (fil 7aklaat). and the question is HOW?? Do they even remember all their kids names!

There is a show on tv here in sheeka beeka called 19 kids and counting... a family have 19 kids and are still COUNTING! omg.. i saw one episode and i felt like it was a school only they are all brothers. how she managed to get so many kids is because she used to khalef every year and sometimes bil jumleh ( twins ya3ni). i personally feel one is a handfull and already am worried about how i will manage in the future when its time for "akh" aw "okht" due to the constant ZAN i will hear. :P

Anyway.. will update u on bagoora. she is due soon. she misses u guys and is not sure what she will name her little one. so suggestions of the new member of the family would be very appreciated.


side note :for ppl who think bagoora represents anyone in my life or myself. she doesnt. she is purely fictional and is merely for entertainment.

Al Gurdon

Although i am not pure jordanian. And jordanians call us palestinians with jordanian passports "Baljeekeyeh" i must say when i think of home i think of jordan. ofcourse palestine is in my heart but i hardly lived in palestine and i carry it in my heart. but jordan is where i grew up.

where else would you hear a Ghaz icecream truck? where else would you wake up to sheep eating ur gardens 7asheesh as ra3ee il ghanam says "hrrrrrrrrrraaaaa3".

where else would u here DURrrrrrrrayehhhhhhhhh !

when you live in jordan for too long u start complaining about how ppl dont smile much wa darbeen booz. you complain about how they drive. and the way the men flirt in scary sometimes life threatening ways . like for ex almost running you over with his car and then blowing u a sleezy fly kiss. or knowing that when you go to AL BALAD (city center) you willl surely come back bruised from the many males who will pinch you and shove you with thier shoulders as they whisper " eishhhh ya lu3beh/khasseh/barbie/ pascal?/get3a/shagfeh"

i will always remember the cab drivers that share the weirdest stories. most of them claim have phd's or are drs and drive a cab for fun. or the 100 mirrors in the front of the cab so that he can look at u with alf 3ayn and ofcourse he is always playing the weirdest jordanian music. and what is up with the long pinky fingernail! ya33333

i go to jordan for one month and it takes me a few years to get rid of the "7afartaliness" talk. and i dont think i will ever totally stop the jordan effect. for ex. using expressions like "iglibi" wijhik or "6age3". it just rubs off on you. i think anyone who goes to jordan should stop by lebanon on his way to wear off the gordun effect

oh and the beggars.. ya salam. they should seriously go to hollywood. i mean look at the "slumdog millionare" kids. (sorry i hated that movie especially when i had to see it in a movie full of indians smelling like curry and the guy next me farted and i felt the vibration and ofcourse the fart smelled currlylike too)

so you would think send some of those kids from jordan to make a movie and watch them win 10000 oscars. i remmeber one kid who was crying at the edge of the sidewalk picking up the gum "s&b" that had fallen on the floor. i flet sorry for him. i knew he was forced to sell it and i knew he would get in trouble. so i gave him some money. a week later . same traffic light. same boy.. crying picking up his chewing gum! some guy actually felt so sorry for him got him a new box of gum! hahah

so in conclusion. i can talk forever about jordan. i can make fun of so many things but in the end i feel its a part of me. and i love jordan. it feels like home to me. and so many memories and funny stories come to my mind when i think of jordan.

whether ur full palestinian/ of full jordanian. or palestinian that has lived in jordan. we are all arab. and we should all be proud to be arabs. i personall am proud to say im a palestinian/ jordanian wa bazborti akhthar zay blaaaaadna il sarakoooha il yahood. oh i just remmeber my renwed passport is blue. so ignore that last comment :P

Newwwww Yooooooooork :)

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The news of the month is... lulu is walking now. she walks and falls then says "heeeeey" or " Kaa kaa".. see the word "kaa kaaa" or "go KA"in her language stands for many things. usually she says it when she wants to say " GOOD GIRL". she is at the cutest age now and interacts with me and loves to play and has a sense of humor already! She had her first walk in the park in New York Central Park! :)

New York is lovely. first time we went it was freezing so we didnt get a chance to see much but the weather is better we went to the MET museum. A museum i used to always want to go to in university since with my graphic design major i studied art history and learned about so many famous artists. I thought by going there i would actually remember something!! but as lulu would say " baa7777777" nothing.. the funny part is.. my husband expected me to know the names and to actually tell him about paintings lol so i didnt want to let him down so i looked at a painting and i saw the word "florentine" so i was like... (in a serious i know what im talking about tone)

Aaah Florentin.. ba3rafo i remember him from art class...

My husband laughed... cause the word was referring to a location in italy NOT the artists name lol

then again i did not surrender.. i did not want him to know i was clueless i was standing next to PICASSO paintings and i say.... "aaaah aaah i know this artist pablo fransisco" HAHAHA (btw pablo fransisco is actually a standup comedian)

after than i decided to SHUT UP and accept the fact that all my art history has gone down the drain and has been replaced with recipes and tips on diaper changing/breastfeeding/ and baby info!

but i just laugh when i remember my silly attempt to impress my hubby hhahaha

note to self = ma titfas7aneeshhhhhhh kteer..

having a great time here in the states and loving our lulu :)