you guys didn't wish your christian readers a merry christmas. how rude.

That was a comment left for us by Anonymous on Mrs. Cullen's post (below). And that comment has left a smile on my face for a couple of hours after reading it. And no, it wasn't an evil, mocking smile. It was a genuine, I'm so happy, smile.

I'll tell you why I was happy. Whether you think I'm cuckoo for it, is up to you. After reading it, I had two thoughts cross my mind, Sir Anonymous is right, we didn't wish our Christian readers a merry christmas and maybe it was very rude.

The second thought being, OMG SOMEBODY cares about what we say!!!! YAYYY!! There is someone out there who genuinely cared whether or not we wished people Merry Christmas, and yes 'cared' is being used loosely here. Sir Anonymous was bothered or at least thought that it should be expected from this blog of random, rambling Muslim girls. And that makes me happy. I'm happy that even after all the highs and lows we have with this blog and even after how it feels like we're doing such a sluggish job, that our words DO matter. So, yayy

Anyways, to Sir Anonymous (And yes I am quite aware you could be a Madam, but let's just say I'm using the word 'Sir' VERY loosely) and to EVERYONE else that has, does, and will read our blog, I am sorry we didn't send out a holiday greetings, whether you celebrated Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas or Diwali and whatever else I may be missing.

I could give you all the reasons and excuses why each of us forgot to say anything for Christmas, including being out of the country, having blogging lows, being unsure as to which holidays to send greetings for, and some other reasons, but it doesn't really matter at this point. I wished random strangers a Merry Christmas, but I didn't say anything to my readers...that is rude.

So I wanted to say first of to all our Christmas celebrating readers, I truly hope you had a GREAT CHRISTMAS :)

I can honestly say that I love watching the spirit of giving and happiness that comes into people at this time of the year, every year.

And to those who celebrated Hanukkah at the start of December, of this soon to be ending year, I hope you had an amazing experience and your latkes were as yummy as they could be (I've been on a mission to make latkes since last year... and maybe there'll be another awesome youtube song next year...I flip my latkes in the air sometimes saying ayy ohh spin the driedel)

For all the Kwanzaa fans, I hope you're having a HAPPY KWANZAAA!!

For those that celebrated Diwali in November, I'm sorry we're a month behind in wishing that you had a great Diwali, and I hope the one for next year will be just as great as this year if not better.

And to everyone else whose holidays we missed this past year, I hope your holidays in the new year will be experiences filled with good things, happiness and success.

I hope our readers and especially Sir Anonymous can forgive us, if not completely then at least partially, and forgive us if we make the same mistake next year, because to be honest with you, we're not the most organized, efficient or best of humans and we tend to get caught up with our own lives and problems.

So forgive us? Okay? And I really do hope you had a great Christmas Sir Anonymous. Oh and thank you.

CC, out.

I can’t remember who my childhood hero was. I am pretty sure it was one of the power rangers. I was a big fan. And then as I grew a little older I thought my sister was the coolest person. And then it was my dad. Now…I don’t know. I am still my dad’s no. 1 fan.

But here and there you find a few people who you think are so cool. Or maybe not that cool, but they do have some amazing traits or abilities. I go through phases where I think so-and-so is so cool and I wish I could do this-or-that like him/her.

There is one person who I always thought was so cool. We didn’t always get along, but still, there was something about her that I adored. I liked how she is very smart, simple and not a follower. She has her own style. And I don’t mean clothing style (but that too). I just mean everything about her. The way she carried herself. And the things she did or did not do.

And its odd because I don’t get along with this person at all. I guess you can say we are not friends—by choice. Yet, I still admire her. Is that odd?

Anyway, recently I heard she stopped doing the things that she always stood up for. And it made me so sad. I think of myself as a weak, quitter and I hate when other people quit something that they once felt so strongly about. It’s kept me so bummed out for weeks. But I think I learned something from this. I think I need to stop living my dreams through other people. I think I can try to be the person that I always wanted her to be, inshallah.

To be or not to be (my friend)

I have a question for all you intellectual individuals out there.

How do you form true long-lasting friendships?

Not the kind that just last through the four or more months of class you have together. Or the kind that are just there because you're parents are friends but you never really hit it off. Or the kind where you're just friends because you have a close mutual friend.

I'm talking about real, down to earth, selfless kind of friendship. What if you come to a point in your life where you're done with school and the friends you had all moving on, following their own life plans. Maybe you've started to grow apart, not physically, but perhaps mentally. You now have different goals, different interests. Or maybe you feel like you don't have time anymore.

But the reality is that when you have an intimate friend, you'll make the time to hang out and to update each other on your lives.

So thats my question. How do you form true long-lasting friendships?

Somalian Muslim women stands up to militia

Hawa Abdi is a Muslim OB-GYN in Somalia.

Abdi opened a camp for 90,000 people for people "displaced by civil war," a hospital, a school for 850 children (mostly girls), and a jail for men who beat up their wives, in response to the armed militias in the country.

The New York Times reported the militia Hizb al-Islam, a group that is against women taking powerful roles in the country, destroyed the hospital after Abdi refused to step down. The militia later said she could operate the hospital under their command. Again, she refused.

The Times reported Abdi's daughter Deqo Mohamedr, a doctor in Atlanta, asked her mother to give-in to the militia's demands.

"No! I will die with dignity," said Abdi.

Under pressure from Abdi's supporters, the militia group has since apologized, leaving her hospital battered behind.

Abdi is in the United States looking for donations to rebuild the hospital.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/opinion/16kristof.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

The Hermit Kingdom

Disclaimer:This post is all over the place, so bear with me.

The only thing I've ever known about Korea and the Korean people are they make some interesting dramas that Controlled Chaos likes to watch/talk about.

And occasionally I'll join her and watch them too.

That's pretty sad, isn't it?

(My knowledge of the place is sad,not the fact that I watch the dramas.)

My friend, M, recently told me about a documentary about North Korea. Some of the stuff that she was talking about just seemed unrealistic and downright primitive that I had to watch the documentary myself.

So that's what I did this past weekend.

I watched the documentary National Geographic: Inside North Korea, reported by Lisa Ling.

A doctor from Nepal, Dr. Ruetz, was traveling to North Korea to perform cataract eye surgery on approximately 1000 inhabitants of North Korea. He was going treat cataracts of people from the age range of 5-70. All in one week. Lisa Ling joined this doctor, under the ruse of working for the medical team and filming the surgeries. Along with filming the surgeries she was also able to capture, interview, and document the life of people in North Korea.

North Korea is a communist country and is currently under the rule of Kim Jong Il. It is known as the "Hermit Kingdom", because of the government's successful attempt at keeping out anything foreign and allowing anything foreign to come in. The internet is banned. Cell phones are banned. And North Koreans teach their children to hate Americans and America. In the documentary, we see a mother singing a nursery rhyme with her young daughter that goes something like " The pathetic Americans kneel on the ground. They beg for mercy....." The country is basically isolated from the outside world. And Americans are not welcomed. North Koreans still blame America for the divide between North and South Korea. During her time there, Lisa Ling was the one and only American in the whole country.

People worship Kim Jong Il in a god-like way, that it's frightening. After successfully completing 1000+ cataract surgeries, the doctor that performed it was not thanked once. Instead each patient, ran to a picture of Kim Jong Il, praised him, thanked him, and vowed to do anything that he wanted them to do, and continuously talked about how indebted they are to him. I know a large part of it is due to fear. Many people fear the government, the soldiers, and fear for their lives and their family's lives and everything that at stake if they say anything against the ruler.

But the immense gratitude and loyalty that some people show their ruler makes you question and wonder sometimes what they are really feeling.One government minder that was escorting Ling and her camera crew around was extremely offended when one of the photographers laid on the ground in order to capture the full image of a statue depicting the "great" leader. He demanded that the photographer leave the country the next day.


What surprised me the post about the documentary (besides my lack of awareness) was how blinded, both literally and figuratively, the people of North Korea are. They have been brain washed to a remarkable extent that when questioned whether Kim Jong Il could do any wrong in their eyes, many stared baffle eyed at Lisa Ling, and said "We dont quite understand your question." Because in their eyes, he could do know wrong. The question made no sense to them. And I am well aware that there is only so much that they can do for themselves without putting their lives in danger. And when you are only being fed one thing over and over and over, after a certain period of time you become immune and accustomed to it. It becomes your life. Your only chance at survival, sometimes, is to accept it.

This documentary was filmed four years ago in 2006. The state of North Korea now? Probably still the same.

So as not to make this post super long, I just want to end here by saying that it's most peculiar that people are so quick to point fingers and accuse others of oppression/being oppressed. It makes one wonder why those same people dont raise more awareness of things like this, governments like this, rulers like this, that openly and belligerently restrict and suppress their people.


P.S. You can watch the full documentary here:

Fire in Bangladesh garment factory kills 25, injures 100

Bangladesh News:
A Bangladesh garment factory fire killed 25 employees and injured 100 on Tuesday.

Reuters news wire reported the fire burned for five hours after starting on the ninth-floor on the Arifa Ahmed Complex.

Fifty people had serious burn and were taken to four hospitals in Ashulia. Others were caught in a stampede as people tried to leave the building.

The Air Force and soldiers helped rescue people from the building.

Many of the 10,000 employees who work at the complex are women.

Bangladesh is a country southeast of India, with a population of more than 162 million according to the World Food Bank, World Development Indicators. About 88 percent of the population is Muslim.

http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Bangladesh+factory+fire+kills+injures/3974433/story.html

Journalist

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

It's snowing so much here. Where I am.

I just hope school is closed.

For a week.

But that's asking for too much.

So I'm just asking for school to be closed for a day. JUST ONE DAY. Please Dear God.

If we can close school cause of a gas leak, SURELY we can close school because of snow. That's supposedly going to turn into ice overnight.

I got a text from my co-worker:

If we have school tomorrow, I'm kicking the principal's $%#

And my response:

I'll join you!
-----

Update: We got a snow day!!!!

Like a man with his head on fire...

I'm currently reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. And I'm literally forcing myself to read in a remarkably slow manner because I just dont want to lose a friend. And I know that the movie got some not-so-hot reviews which made people all of a sudden critique her book. Wasn't the book receiving all sorts of accolade not too long ago?

Some people said that the book has given women a false sense of hope that they can indisputably leave their lives, drop everything, become selfish, and travel the world. When put that way, of course it sounds preposterous. But nevertheless, so what if it is? Isn't that the whole purpose of books, television shows, and movies.

To escape reality?

Anyways all of that is besides the point, and my intention for writing this post wasn't necessarily to pay homage to the book (just yet).

On the other hand, I wanted to share an excerpt from it that serves as a reminder and I also felt most of us could connect with, one way or another:

Life continues to go on. Even the Italian post office will keep limping along, doing its own thing without you---why are you so sure that your micromanagement of every moment in this whole world is essential? Why dont you let it be?

I hear this argument and it appeals to me. I believe in it, intellectually, I really do. But then I wonder--- with all my restless yearning, with all my hyped-up fervor and with this stupidly hungry nature of mine--what should I do with my energy instead?

The answer arrives, too:

Look for God, suggests my Guru. Look for God like a man with his head on fire looks for water.

-Elizabeth Gilbert-Eat, Pray, Love

A word (or two) to the Unwise.

"Ok, everyone. Let's blend this word together and sound it out."

"K-i-l-t. Kilt."

"Who knows what kilt means? Or what is a kilt?"

::All hands in the classroom shoot up::

"Kilt is like you killing someone and murdering them."

"Kilt is not a verb. It is not when you kill someone"

::All hands shoot right back down::

--------------

"What's a crib?"

That's the place where you live.

------------------
"Ms. Attitude, I was finna do that?"

"You was finna do that? Is that the correct way to say that?"

"Oh sorry, I was going to finna do that."

-------------------

"Who knows what a snob is?"

"Snob is when you are messy."

"No, that's a slob."

"Oh, oh, oh, I know! I know! "

"What is a snob?"

"Snob is when your nose is runny and boogers come out of it. Sometimes it even goes in your mouth."


--------------------------------------
"Ms. Attitude, he called me a name. It hurt my feelings."

"What did he say?"

"He called me boughed."

"Boughed? "

"Boughed."

"What does boughed mean?"

"Boughed is like when you are boughed. It's like when you're mean. And you act uppity."

"Uppity?"

"Uppity."

"Is boughed in the dictionary?"

"Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

"Oh."

"How do you spell boughed?"

"B-O-U-G-H-E-D. Boughed. "

"Wow. It's like a spelling bee. "

------------------------------
Sometimes I teach.

And sometimes they teach me.

And you thought it was a one way relationship.

Mid-week pick me up

Do you not see that God sends down rain from the sky and makes it flow as springs [and rivers] in the earth; then He produces thereby crops of varying colors; then they dry and you see them turned yellow; then He makes them [scattered] debris. Indeed in that is a reminder for those of understanding. (Qur'an. 39:21)


I was just going through the Qur'an when I came across this verse and thought I'd share.