BuhBye 2014

I'll claim that I'm publishing this "new year" post late on purpose. One week in should be enough time to figure out what resolutions I may actually accomplish. Last year I resolved to take more photos and be more considerate. I can happily say that I took LOADS of photos and look forward to taking more this year. As for being more considerate...might have to keep at that one I'm afraid!

It's been no secret that 2014 was NOT my favourite year. It wasn't my worst year either...I think. There's a nice question to start off the new year - what was your worst year? 

What made 2014 unbearable? It wasn't the entire year. No. I mean, it started off quite nicely, had a lovely trip to Singapore in February, saw my mother in law's side of the family, ate yummy food, cooed at a polar bear. I attended a fantastic PA conference in March in London. The summer kicked off with the World Cup, followed by wedding madness and catching up with friends in England. An impressive amount of sightseeing was accomplished. Oh and turning the fabulous 3-0.

It was the quarter of the year after we came back to Jordan in August. There was something about months September - December that, sadly, made getting out of bed in the mornings a challenging affair. I wish I could blame the weather in this instance, but I can't, because the worst of the winter came to Amman yesterday. So,  no, it wasn't the weather. I think it was a mix of work being extremely busy (and it seemed like that for almost every one I've spoken to in the past 4 months) and not having any vacays. I tell you, boy was I happy for 1 January 2015 to come around. 

There was one silver lining. It started on the night of an incredible Halloween party, and has continued until now. We have managed to see our close group of friends in Amman almost weekly. We've gone for Korean food, Indian food, played badminton, gone indoor climbing and cooked the most unbelievable Christmas dinner. These meetings were like tiny stars at the end of each week, and I am forever grateful for the friends we've shared memories with here.

~Leading nicely into resolutions for 2015:

*Surround yourself with people who make you laugh, challenge you and are up for documenting the memories with silly photographs!*

*Realise that life is pretty amazing - stop telling yourself that you are not good enough / could never be that perfect / can't accomplish what others have*

And that's all from me folks! Here's to 2015 being a kind year to us all! 

Sx

~2013~

Am I the only one or has 2013 whizzed by? I can almost remember sitting down this time last year to write about the things I was thankful for in 2012. 

There have definitely been some trying times over this past year. Having my career up in the air was one, but I am now in a role that I love for a company that I can see myself staying with for a while. In the last 12 months, I've changed jobs twice and careers once (*ahem* once more since my last change. Ja.). This is going to sound cheesy, but I never thought I could actually enjoy what I do, and now that I do, I'm so thankful (and so scared that I'm going to jinx it!). I'm looking forward to learning a lot more and for once giving myself the chance to exceed at something. Of course this doesn't come without the doubts I instil in my mind, but it's a learning curve to trust that I have the ability to excel rather than inadvertently stand in my own way.

2013 saw an abundance of parties and various road trips, where we met so many interesting people. Living as an expat of course does mean that many of them have moved to other corners of the world, but a lot of memories were made and it's nice to look forward to seeing these friends in new and exciting cities. It's always refreshing to meet people who you know you'll want to keep in touch with long after your travels. 

Travelling was pretty fantastic in 2013. Cape Town in February, Sharm El Sheikh in August, Dubai in October and then Yemen in November! Phew! A couple of those trips were done alone, so hopefully in 2014 all my travels will be with Louis! There are plans for travels to South East Asia and the UK in the next year, but I hope that we'll find the time and money to go on some city breaks in between as well, since I'd love to go to Istanbul and Beirut. 

I am also really happy that this year I managed to get my act together and go home to Yemen for a few days. To say it was an overdue visit would be the understatement of the year. My soul was undernourished in the family department for sure, and though three days was a little bit too short, it's better than nothing. Seeing (and, embarrassingly, meeting for the first time) two of my nephews was beyond exciting. I made friends with  the 3 year old one (the other one is only 5 months!) and I miss them both so much.  

And that pretty much sums up my 2013!

-| In 2014 |-

1. Be more considerate. I have a habit of putting myself before anyone / anything. I think that this has come on as a result of trying to care for myself, but taken too far. I've yet to find a balance between making sure that I don't compromise on my well-being and making sure that I think of how my actions and words affect those around me. So that's something for me to work on in the new year.

2. Save up for a camera and take more photos! 

Good Bye 2013!

Sx 

 

Worth 1000 Words

Wednesday, September 18: Only photos

Sleeping on Swimming Pool Floors

Tuesday, September 17: A memory you would love to relive.

My grandfather from my father's side used to live in Upstate New York. During the summers that we did go to America, we would rent a car and drive up to visit him. I won't lie, I never thought these trips were that exciting. He lived in a small town, on a road with houses that looked the same. I remember that there were some rail tracks nearby, since we used to drive over them when we drove from our hotel to his house and back. 

The last time I visited his house was when I was very young, perhaps 7 years old. One of the most vivid memories I have of that time, though, was that of learning how to swim. You see my parents, two older brothers (who were studying in the US at the time), younger brother and I would stay at the Ramada when visiting my grandfather, and they had a small, but really pleasant, indoor swimming pool. And during our visits, after we'd spent the entire day with my grandfather and other family members, my older brothers would take my younger brother and I down to the pool and we would swim for what seemed like hours. 

It's amazing how simple life is when you are young. Which is one reason I would like to re-live this memory. I would like to go back, to the time that my older brother would show off his swimming skills and in turn make us want to learn how to swim. Taking turns, he would take each of us in his arms and "dive" down to the swimming pool floor so that we could touch it! He taught us this little trick where we'd grab on to the edge of the pool, put our feet up against the pool wall (like a froggie), then push ourselves into the pool and do an underwater somersault. It was (still is) the most impressive pool trick I have EVER learnt!

Another move he patiently taught us was how to blow out all of the air from our lungs and sink to the pool's floor, where we would sit cross-legged for as long as we could (which was never very long!).

And of course, he taught us how to lie on swimming pool floors :)

Sx

Have you found your soul mates?

Tuesday, Sept. 3: Describe where or what you come from. The people, the places, and/or the factors that make up who you are.

Wow! Talk about starting with a bang. Heavy topic for day one of Blogtember!

I come from the capital of Yemen, Sana'a. I owe Friends a thank you for putting us on the map in a good way. My father actually came from a tiny village a few hours away from the province of Ibb but I was born and raised in Sana'a, where my mother is from. I come from a large family, where we all scream and shout to get our points across but always say good night before going to bed. Oh and we always sing for each other on our birthdays (admittedly, I've missed a few this year, sorry).

So, in a nutshell, that's where I come from. And I will be doing a whole lotta posts about my early life and how it shaped me, because, I think I'm pretty unique *ego*.

The factors that make up who I am. People. Memories. Regrets. But that's oh so very bohemian, no? So, other than my gene pool, my up bringing, my experiences, it's the people who have stepped into my life and changed it forever. In particular, my soul mates. Yes, plural. You know those people, who enter your life and who, for some unknown reason, just complete it in some way or another. They can be family members, or friends you meet in different paths of life. But the distinguishing quality for me is, that you can't really place them in either category. What I mean is, there are some friends that I love so much and when I think "oh, I love her like a sister", I realise, "no...not like a sister, and not like a friend. More, so much more than that". Those, my friends, are your soulmates. 

While I can go on about this topic for days, I think that I need to mention a few citizens of this Earth who have moulded me into the Saba of today. Ideally, I would have tons of photos to show off, but I'm afraid that is something I lost control of by choosing to gallivant to Jordan rather than stay in the UK or Yemen where my photo albums are. I digress!

Shall we start with High School? In particular, two individuals who made my school years unforgettable. I'm talking, eating cookies. Gossiping. Passing notes in classes. Using TipEx as nail polish. Perfecting the art of sarcasm. Debating world politics like it was our duty. Commenting on Britney Spears and BSB. Showing off our VMA and Oscars' knowledge. Singing....O.M.G. The amount of singing!

Then off I went to university, where I met *a lot* of fantastic and amazing people during that time. My wonderful husband. The pink haired girl who labelled all her kitchen utensils using nail varnish (genius btw). More singing. Dancing to RnB music. The "guys". Late night talks. Talking on the buses from campus to halls and then back to town. Three trouble makers with whom I'd stay up all night watching TV and figuring out what 4 to the power of 32 could possibly be. Ladies who would become my closest confidantes and show me what friendship and support really meant. And even if a friend and I didn't agree on everything, we would laugh for hours and be protective of one another. Colleagues who I couldn't imagine my life without, brimming with positivity and plenty of giggles. 

All, my soul mates. 

All individuals who, when I see them or speak to them, my soul finds peace and content. Spending time with them recharges me, reminds me how blessed I am, how much sweeter cake is when shared with them.  

I would like to thank the Universe for putting these people in my life. And I'm not going to say all that emotional stuff like "oh I hope we never stop being friends" because, frankly, soul mates are for life. So, you're stuck with me for a long, long time! :D

Sx

Here are some photos of some of the people mentioned above :)

Ramadhan Birthdays

Tonight (the eve of 5 Aug) would have been my Father's Hijri (Islamic) birthday.

And today (5 Aug) is my birthday! What a great coincidence! :)

The reason we used to celebrate my Father's Islamic and not Gregorian birthday is that his birthday falls on what is considered the most religious night in the entire year - Laylat Al Gadr (Night of Power). Laylat Al Gadr's exact date is not specified in Islam beyond the belief that it falls on one of the final 10 days of Ramadhan. Most people accept that it's the night of 27 Ramadhan.

This is going to be the final year in a while that my birthday falls in Ramadhan. Next year, I'll hopefully be stuffing my face with cake as soon as I wake up (or refuse to come out of my room like Rachel in Friends when she turned 30, haha!).

Ramadhan this year has been unusual for me. While I missed Ramadhan in Yemen when I lived in the UK, being in an Arab country that wasn't Yemen and not recreating all of Ramadhan's traditions magnified the nostalgia. Having said that, I have to admit that I haven't spent Ramadhan in Yemen in a few years, so perhaps my sentiments are a little skewed. Still, every evening when the Maghreb prayer got closer, I could almost smell the samosas frying (actually, could've been the neighbour's samosas...).

So, Ramadhan in Sana'a, Yemen. With the entire family. Let's start by saying that blood sugar levels ran very low for approximately the last hour of the fasting day. Gathering round to wait for the call to prayer, we'd squeeze around a tiny round coffee table, not much larger than 1 metre in diameter. One of us would pour the tea, so that it would be cool enough to drink as soon as we could break our fast. Get this timing wrong and you get some disgruntled "who poured the tea today?" questions and efforts to balance the temperature out by pouring more tea over it and then it being really hot and then not having time to drink it (cue more disgruntled grunts)....timing is everything really.

When you break your fast after a day of not eating, everything tastes so much sweeter. This year I've been craving a lot of the food we have at fatoor (or iftar as it's known in some places) so I'm gonna tell you what we used to stuff our faces with in the 10 minutes of eating before praying. Dates. Tea with mint. Samosas (meat ones, chicken ones, cheese ones, veggie ones). Potato cutlets (mmm). Ma'asuba - which is Sana'ani bread pieces, smothered in butter (or ghee, traditionally) and honey. Absolutely delicious.

Then my father would rush off to start the Maghreb prayer, and we'd chase after him while having.one.last.bite. Praying Maghreb together is a Ramadhan tradition. It's only that one prayer of the day that we share, but every year we do it. After that? We sit down for dinner - which is an ultimate fail since we're stuffed (four types of samosas remember?!). Ramadhan dinners for some reason have to have a soup and at least 3 different kinds of juices. Even though, for the other 11 months of the year, we manage just fine with a few dishes. Never a truer time to apply "eyes bigger than the stomach" saying.

After dinner (Ramadan is focused around family/food, at least in our household!), we'd sit down for dessert (baklawa or cheesecake or konafa or  something equally sweet :D). And with our sweets we drink Yemeni dark coffee, to help wake up from the imminent food comas. When there were a lot of us living at home, we would play cards every night. And then we'd have a different type of Yemeni coffee, one brewed from the shells of the coffee beans (sooooo yummy). Once we were sufficiently caffeinated, the house would slowly empty out as everyone went off to start their evening's entertainment (seeing other friends, watching tv etc).

My family's Ramadhan evenings were quite different to those of my friends'. First, we never had dinner in front of the TV. In fact, we rarely watched or followed any of the series released specifically for Ramadhan. Also, we rarely stayed up late. Bed time was around 12 or 1 am (especially if it was school time, I'd sleep around 10!). We'd usually wake up to eat sahoor rather than skip it or stay up and eat late. And, we rarely slept in until anytime after 12 pm (and that was if my mom didn't wake us up!).

When we celebrated my Father's birthdays in Ramadhan, we'd always invite my aunts, uncles and many cousins for dinner, cake and an evening of family fun. I loved those nights. While the "adults" would sit in the deewan chatting and chewing and drinking tea, my cousins and I would rush outside to play the yearly hide'n'seek game in the dark. It was the only time we were allowed to play in the eerie garden at night. And it was always so much fun. We'd run around our garden and hide in the trees or on the other side of the house (so creative). And we'd buy fire crackers and light them up. For hours and hours.

Ramadhan is really wonderful, especially around family. But, as with many things, there is a sadness that surrounds it. Remembering family members and friends that have left us is inevitable. So many of the memories I have for Ramadhan, Eid and my Father's birthdays contain many family members that have sadly left us. And since Ramadhan is also a time for reflection and prayer, thinking of them and missing them makes the month very bitter sweet. I guess now is our turn to make our own traditions.

I'm very lucky and fortunate to have these memories of my family. One thing that I really want to do more of is to take more photos, since I couldn't find a single picture on my computer of spending Ramadhan when I was still in high school.

So here's to another year, hopefully one full of family gatherings, birthday songs and photographic memories. 

Happy birthday Baba.

Sx

A tale of Ramadhan

I can't believe that it's already day three of Ramadhan! (day four by the time I hit "publish") This is the first in Jordan. In fact, the first Ramadhan in the Middle East since 2009. I'm looking forward to it. I've heard a lot of people say that it's gonna be hard, fasting till about 8pm. So I feel compelled to say, no, it's going to be fine. Especially since my current job lets me go home at 2:30pm.

You see, in 2011, the UK experienced a nice, hot summer comprising of long, hot summer days. If I remember correctly (and with a bit of Googling to revive my memory), this meant that I would be fasting from approximately 2:30am until approximately 8:30-9pm. I'll do the math for you: that's about 19 hours of fasting. 19. One. Nine. I can't begin to imagine how difficult it must be for those who have to fast longer than that.

During that time I was working full time as Legal Assistant for a hu-mungous law firm. Meaning, I was working pretty long hours. My commute was 1.5 hours (each way). And did I say it was hot, hot, hot? Knowing it would be a difficult month, I'd requested to take off each Friday from work, to help me recover from the other four days of work and get some sleep. The Universe had other plans though and I was asked to work for 3 Saturdays of that month. Luckily, I got paid time and a half so it worked out...

I digress. 

So Ramadhan started. And there are many people who will tell you "oh you get used to it after a few days". Yes, you do. If you're at home and/or get naps and/or have someone cooking/cleaning/generally taking care of house stuff. But not if you're working full time and more often than not overtime too. 

My month went something like this:

First week or so, you're tired, but you're ok, because you still have energy from the past 11 months. I managed to go to sleep around 12am each night, and wake up around 2am to eat something and have a drink. I would literally force myself to sit down and have a bowl of porridge.

By about the second week, your body is thinking..what the..?! You see, I would eat dinner at about 9ish and then I would be literally dying to go to sleep (because I had to wake up at 7am and I'd have been awake since 7am) but I had to digest the food I'd just eaten. So I would try to stay up. But not too late, because I had to wake up again around 2ish to eat and drink and generally stock up. On the days I had to work late, I would break my fast at work and just figure out the rest when I got home. And although the days were so long, there was no chance of napping. 

By these calculations I generally slept about 7, broken, tormented hours before being rudely awaken by my alarm. While at work, my Egyptian colleague and I would reminisce in the corridor about how we took coffee for granted.

By week three my body was exhausted. I was so tired that when my alarm rang for me to wake up to eat and drink, I would just dismiss it and go back to sleep. Which meant I was starving and thirsty the next day. But when sunset came along, I was too tired to have a big dinner. My body couldn't handle it anymore. My concentration at work dwindled. I would dream of swimming pools and just dunking my head in water. I was just tired all the time. My body went into a state of shock I think. (I'm no doctor so please don't quote me). 

I'm not sure how I survived week four. I guess pure adrenaline that Eid and that cup of coffee I so craved were around the corner. It was the hardest month of my life. I honestly believe that my body did not get used to it. On the contrary, with each passing day, it just became more challenging.

I'm not gonna lie. Every day of Ramadhan that year, I woke up with an intention of breaking my fast. Every. Single. Day. But it'd get to 12pm and I'd think, "oh I have 8 hours to go..." Then it'd get to 3 and I'd think..."oh I have 5 hours to go". And, somehow, I managed to do it. 

I'm not trying to boast. I just want to say, to all of those people fasting crazy hours this year, you are incredible. It's no easy task. Just think of how you'll be laughing when Ramadhan comes around in December :D 

And if someone tells you that "oh you'll get used to it" then just tell them that, until they've fasted 18 hours whilst working full time, then unfortunately, you'd rather formulate your own opinions ;) 

Sx

PS I found this article the other day, which, had I found it two years ago, I would have definitely only fasted 12 hours instead of about 19!

Dear England:

It has almost been six months since last I saw you. While I think of you all the time, I know the decision to leave you was for the best, at least for now. I wish I could say it's me and not you, but I'm afraid that would be a lie. I am in a place in my life where I need sunshine, and here, in what is effectively the desert, I get plenty of that. Like I said though, I think of you always. There are many things that my current residence cannot provide (despite the vitamin D) and I feel that you need to know about them. So here's a list, in no particular order, of why I instinctively want to board any Heathrow bound plane whenever I'm in an airport.

~Oxford Circus - in particular Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Oasis, Warehouse, Uniqlo, New Look, River Island and the 3 H&Ms within 10 minutes' walk of each other. And of course, Vapiano's. 

~LUSH

~Itsu, Wasabi and the delicious sushi buffets available all week long

~Whittard's, oh how I miss Whittard's and Twinings too

~And Dragonfly tea, Cape Malay Rooibos Chai, Vanilla Rooibos, English Breakfast Rooibos and Early Grey Rooibos, all so good

~Gelato! Especially Scoop in Covent Garden and ZaZa in Canary Wharf

~Kings Cross

~All the green fields

~The relaxing drive from Potters Bar to London Colney (usually to pick up tea!)

~Covent Garden and the Lauduree & Paperchase shops there 
~Chicken katsu curry 

~The Thames (practically any river would fill this void)

~Pret a Manger!
~Decent Mexican food 

~Boots (the chemist) - buying contact lens solution will never be as cheap...nor will toiletries 

~And despite all the madness, Tesco. I miss Tesco and the 2 for £5 Haagen Dasz offers, the whole foods section, the unbelievable choice of cooking sauces and abundance of fresh, semi-skimmed milk.

So there you go, a few reasons why I miss you. But for now, this is how it has to be. 

Sx