Friday Feature-Urdu(or Hindi) Nursery Rhymes

Asalamu alaikum,

Learning Urdu is difficult for me, but one thing that helps a bit in practicing speaking is to learn little nursery rhymes. Practicing the sound of the words in little silly poems help me be less nervous when actually speaking.

This is the first one that I learned, and the one I know best-

Machli jal ki rani hai
Jeevan uska pani hai
Haath lagaoge to dar jayegi,
Pani se nikalo to mer jayegi,
Machli ko pani men reynedo,
Jeevan uska pani hai.

The fish is the queen of the water,
The water is her life,
If you touch her she will be afraid,
If you take her out she will die,
So put the fish back in the water,
The water is her life.

I like this one, it is a little sad, but very pretty. When my nephew(he is one year older than Saad) was learning this one, he refused to say "mer jayegi". He didn't want to say that the fish will die, but he would substitute another word, like the fish will fall down or something. Saad doesn't mind, and will very happily talk about how he squished a bug and "now it's die". We all die eventually, I prefer not to hide death from him.---(oh, how heavy, can we move on?)

Another poem that is a bit longer is this one-
cham cham cham---
aath aaney ki chalia
aath aaney ka paan
chal mere ghorey Hindustan
hindustan ki pehli gali
pehli gali main liaqat ali
liaqat ali ko goli lagi
sari dunya roney lagi
rotey rotey bhook lagi
khalo beta moongphali
moongphali main dana nahin
hum tumharey nana nahin
nana gaye dehli
dehli sey laye billi
billi ne diye do bachey
Allah mian sachey
sachey sachey jaingey
bhai ki dulhan laaingey
bhai ki dulhan kali
sau nakhron wali
ek nakhra tuut gaya
bhai ka mun sooj gaya!

Cham cham cham
50 cents for one chalia
50 cents for one paan
Lets go, my horse, to India
First street in India,
in the first street lives Liaqat Ali
Shoot Liaqat Ali with a bullet,
all the world is crying
Crying and crying, I am hungry
eat my child, peanuts
there are no seed in the peanuts
I am not your grandfather
grandfather went to Delhi
From Delhi he brought a cat
and the cat gave two children
Allah is truth
go on the truthful way
brother brought a bride
brother’s bride is black
she is very prideful(stuck up)
her pride is broken
Brother is upset.

This one is a favorite of my niece, she can say almost the whole poem in one breath! Saad doesn't know this one yet, it is a bit long, and I am only just learning it. Please excuse any weird bits in translation(totally my fault), I am not very good at that bit, so I had to ask my SIL for some help.

When Pizza Is an Adventure!

Asalamu alaikum,

Last night around 1am I was in the kitchen about to make a late night snack for Saad before he went back to sleep. As I am heating his food, Tariq comes down and says he feels like pizza, get ready, lets go. At first I don't believe him, I mean come on it's 1am, and every time I suggest pizza he says- no, they probably don't taste good, and the pizzas are too small.

He goes to get his wallet and I realize he's not joking. I run upstairs to get my abaya and hijab. While I am in the room I have the strangest urge to throw on a pair of jeans instead of my shalwar ("American woman"+"American Food/PIZZA!"=the need to wear jeans), so I grab the only pair of jeans I currently own and change. I put on the abaya and wrap my hijab, pull up the bottom edge to make a niqab(I feel more comfortable when we go out at night this way-less stares), and rush back down stairs.

We take the big bike(Honda 125) and head out. Saad wants to go but it is too late to be taking him out, so he stays with Tariq's sister and watches cartoons until we get back.

We zoom through the streets, most of them are quiet. Along the main road there are some juice stands still serving, and a couple of restaurants. There is the hum of generators here and there, because of load shedding.

Finally we get to the restaurant, walk in and check out the menu. The guy says they have a special after midnight-buy one pizza get one free. So we pick out two pizzas and also get a side of chicken wings. We sit and wait for the pizzas, then they bring them over and we head out.

Have you ever tried to bring home two pizzas and a box of wings while sitting side saddle on a motorcycle? It was an interesting ride home, with a quick stop to get a 2 liter of Pepsi.

So there I am sitting side saddle on the bike behind Tariq, with these two pizzas and box of wings on my lap, my left hand gripping the boxes tightly(oh, I hope I don't squish the pizzas!), and my right arm wrapped around Tariq's waist to make sure I don't go flying off the bike. We zoom back towards the house, trying to get back before the pizzas get too cold, my abaya and hijab are flapping in the wind, and I've got one foot on the foot stand and other one dangling freely, the air rushing over it. As we turn the corner onto our street, the tip of the toe of my chapple touches the ground briefly as we lean to the left.

Safely home, with our pizzas(not squished at all!), we all sit down to enjoy our late night meal.

Random Graffiti observations

Asalamu alaikum,

A couple of months ago I had noticed a change in the graffiti along the main road in our little bit of Karachi.

Before there was amateurish looking spray painted graffiti, mostly in Urdu, but a bit in English. It was on almost ever bare wall, and the shutters of the stores. There were bits that supported the various political parties(MQM, PPP, PML{N or Q, take your pick}, ANP), and other bits that random nonsense.

More recently (I think it might have something to do with the tension/violence in Karachi the past couple months), the old graffiti was painted over and more professional graffiti was put up.

It is almost all supporting MQM. It seems to be positive graffiti, not trashing other political parties or anything like that.

There are some that seem slightly odd to me though. One piece in particular takes up a huge wall (probably at least 50 or more feet long), saying something about "empowerment for all" and "the symbol of revolution, Mr. Altaf Hussain". There are a couple others that call Altaf Hussain(leader of the MQM political party) "The Father of the Nation". That one kind of makes me confused as I thought the "father of the Nation" would be Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

I don't really think too much about it, as it'll probably wear off and/or be painted over in a while anyways, but it was kind of odd.

Sewing Sarubobo!

Asalamu alaikum,

I saw this over on Umm Aaminah's blog, and I just had to make it. The tutorial is from a blog she follows, Mairuru. So, a big thank you to Umm Aaminah, for the link and finding such a cute blog!


So first I made the orange one. It was so cute and Saad liked it so much that I made another. Of course then I had to make clothes for them, so they got little shirts and hats.
Hanging out on the roof.

After I made the first two I decided to make a mini one as a mobile charm.
Little cutie! Those are a five rupee coin, and a one dirham coin, they are both the size of a quarter.

His measurement before sewing was 2cm by 3cm(3x4 including seam allowance), with a 2 cm head(3cm with allowance).

I really like this little project and will probably make more as my niece saw them the other day and loved them.

Achar...Pickles just aren't what I was expecting

Asalamu Alaikum,

I am used to pickle meaning a cucumber in brine, you know, the dill pickles served with deli sandwiches. The first time I saw achar, I had no idea what it was and had to ask. When Tariq said it was "pickle", I just kind of stared at him. It didn't look like a pickle to me.
Achar from our favorite place in the market.

I didn't like it at first, it smelled kind of odd, it was really oily, and just didn't look very appealing. I mean- mushy, oily, funny smelling vegetables or fruits? Ick!

A bit in a bowl to go with breakfast and the rest in a jar.

As with lots of stuff in my life now, it just took a while to get used to. I eventually gave in and tried a bit. First a bit of garlic, ok, not so bad. Then a small nibble of the carrot, hmm, that's kind of tasty. Then a taste of mango and a bit of lemon, wow that's pretty good actually. It did take a while longer to get used to eating the lemon and mango skins though.

We eat achar with dals(lentils) and rice, and other types of food that are a little on the plain side. Usually there is a little bowl of achar served with breakfast, as it is tasty to eat just plain achar with parathas.

We always buy the mixed achar that has green mangoes, lemons, carrots and garlic. Sometimes they put other stuff in it like olives. There are many different types of achar, but we always stick to our favorite, and we always buy from the same little store in the market.

Friday Feature-Compulsive laundry folding...or my Shalwar kameez storage solution

Asalamu Alaikum,

I am very particular about how I fold my laundry. I never used to be, but then I never really cared about clothes too much, and usually just threw on whichever tee shirt and jeans were on top of the clean laundry pile.

I have tried many techniques for hanging/folding shalwar kameez, and have finally found one that I like. I have gotten to the point that it really bothers me if my suits are not folded the right way, to the point where I will get up from bed to fold them properly before I can sleep. I am not too worried though, ;-) at least the clothes get folded and aren't in a heap on a chair somewhere.

My closet.

On the top shelf is where I keep my Qur'ans and other Islamic books, then the next shelf down is the "really fancy function suits" section. The third shelf is the "medium fancy, guests over/going visiting suits" section, and also the extra hijabs. The fourth shelf is the "house work/lazing around the house suits" section. Finally the bottom shelf is where I keep the "really fancy things that go in a box", the saris, and shararas.

Close up!


First I fold the dupatta in half the long way, and then in either thirds or quarters, whichever makes it about 10 inches wide, as some dupattas are 32" wide and some 45".


Then I fold the shalwar in half and put it on top of the dupatta, with the foot opening at the "top" side of the dupatta.


The kameez goes on the top of the shalwar with the neck opening on top of the feet. First I fold in the sleeves, then roll the kameez from the neck down to the damman(the bottom of the shirt).


Next I roll the kameez and shalwar together, from the top of the shalwar down to the foot opening.


Lastly I roll the whole thing together from the top of the dupatta to the bottom, and get this neat little roll that is just slightly less wide than the depth of my closet shelf. Perfect.

Long motorcycle rides and strange sunburns.

Asalamu Alaikum,

Today Tariq and I(it was too hot to take Saad so we left him home with my SIL) went to the passport office in the Saddar area of Karachi, and we took the Honda 125 this time instead of a taxi.

Since we live pretty close to the airport, it was a somewhat long ride. I think it was probably more than 20 minutes each way. I was sitting side saddle on the back of the bike, and I had put on a niqab(Pakistani style, wrapped and pinned at the back of my head, covering from the middle of my nose down) as I sometimes do when we go shopping.

After we got home and had rested a bit, Tariq kept asking me why my nose was red, did a mosquito bite me? I thought that was probably it, and thought nothing more about it. Until about half an hour ago I looked in the mirror and noticed half my forehead was red also.

Can you see the line of red on my temple or across the middle of my nose?

I do tend to sunburn easily and have had many, many sunburns in the past. One of the benefits of wearing hijab and abaya though, is that I haven't had a sunburn in years. It took me about five minutes of staring at myself in the mirror to realize exactly why I had a red mask around my eyes and nose. When it dawned on me I felt very silly, how could I not know it was a sunburn?

Friday Feature- A Good Cry

Asalamu Alaikum,

Sometimes I get really stressed. Living here can be fun, and I do try to stay upbeat and positive. Sometimes though, it just gets to me. After a while everything starts to add up and I feel like I am going to pop from stress, tension, bickering, load shedding, the phone repair guy not showing up for three days (and then wanting a bribe), and the million and one other things that just build up.

One thing at a time it is easy to handle. Ok so when my sister in law and I are not getting along for a couple days, fine, we'll be back to normal next week(inshAllah!). When the phone repair guy finally shows up, and then leaves and then the phone stops working for the rest of the day, fine, he'll be back tomorrow to fix it, and it's just a day anyway.

But when everything happens all at once? There are just times when I feel like crying. So, I do. I go up to my room all alone and sit and just cry. I know it doesn't help, it won't solve my problems, or make them all just disappear. What it does for me is to help relieve the tension. After a good cry (and a nice big pity party, "oh woe is me"), I can sit up, stop feeling sorry for myself, wash my face and feel a lot better. Nothing has changed, but it is easier to face all the problems after a good cry.

I think partly it is because after the crying/pity party, I find it easier to see the good in my life. Like all the good things are hiding away behind the fog of negatives, and the crying comes and washes the fog away to help me see clearly.

Alhamdulilah, I do have a lot to be grateful for. So now that I've had my cry ;-), I'll just be getting back to life, and trying to keep my eyes on the good in life!

PS-sorry for the Friday Feature on a Saturday, our phone wasn't working the repair guy didn't show up until this morning ;-)

Two haiku for load shedding.

Asalam Alaikum,

Today during our morning load shedding time I was a bit bored and decide to write some haiku.

~~~How long is eternity?~~~
One point five hours seems
Eternal, but only one?
An instant of time.

~~~First Breeze~~~
No electric, wait-
Light ah-gae, fan’s cool breeze comes.
Alhamdulillah.

Friday Feature- Auto Rickshaws

Asalam Alaikum,

One of my favorite ways to get around in Karachi is rickshaws. The only time I get to ride in them though is when I go shopping with my sisters in law. Anytime I go out with Tariq it is always in a car/taxi or on the motorcycle.

A regular size rickshaw.

Peek-a-boo, Saad likes rickshaws too!

View from the back seat, steers with handlebars.

Outside the main market in our part of town the rickshaw drivers line up and wait for a fare.

I love rickshaws so much, when I saw these little toys in the market I just had to get them...for Saad.(Yeah for the baby, right! Babies make great excuses to buy things you are "too old for")

Zipping around in a rickshaw is really fun, the drivers usually go very fast and also turn sharply so it can be quite the adventure. The other day I posted about the truck art, rickshaws are also sometimes highly decorated, inside and out. Sometimes vinyl stickers or paint, sometimes bead hangings or colorful cloth. A couple of rickshaws we have rode in have strands of jasmine flowers hanging from the rear view mirror.

A couple little tips though if you have never been in a rickshaw- always negotiate the fare up front, if you don't then some drivers try to overcharge you by a lot. Also if you are pretty tall (Tariq is 5'10" and has trouble fitting comfortably in the regular rickshaws) then try to find a CNG rickshaw, they are a bit larger and so have more headroom.

Truck Art

Asalam Alaikum,

A couple months ago a neighbor of ours had a tanker come to fill up their water tank and they had the cutest little decoration on the truck, we had to take a picture of it.



Saad loves airplanes and when he saw this one he got so excited to go out with daddy to look at it up close.



I really like seeing all the trucks and buses in Karachi, they are always decorated with vinyl stickers and paintings in every color of the rainbow. Some buses even have large tassels and feathers sticking out of the top. Even trucks that cart around garbage have decorations covering almost every inch! Here is a site with some great pictures of truck art in Pakistan.

I have seen some buses that are older and look pretty beat up, I do sometimes wonder if the vinyl is only for decoration or if it is like the old joke about duct tape being the only thing holding something together! It isn't just trucks and buses either, people decorate their motorcycles and bicycles too.

Pakistan is really a very vibrant, colorful place.

Recycled phonebooks and why they make me so happy

Asalam Alaikum,

Here in Karachi when we buy inexpensive little things, they often give us our purchase in a little paper sack made from recycled newspaper or phone books. I really like this for two reasons- one its recycling and two it is kind of fun to see where the phone books come from. At first I loved to see the phone book paper sacks, and see how many states they came from. Then I got a bit bored with that, and never bothered to check anymore.

Today as I was cleaning out my purse, I checked the two little bags that were left over from our recent shopping trip. I was so excited to recognize where they came from-both were from Jacksonville, Florida where we used to live! One was part of a white pages listing from Orange Park, and the other was a government listing(blue pages) for the Mayport Naval Station. I will admit to getting a little teary and squee-ing a bit. I felt a bit silly afterward(a lot silly actually), but it was just such a weird thing to happen. What are the chances that it would end up here in Karachi, in the same market that I shop at, in a store that I was visiting for the first time ever?

America is a big place, I have seen many pages from New York, Hawaii, etc. but it was so cool to see a little piece of home when we are soooooo far away.

Whose father is getting married now?

Asalam alaikum,

My husband has some really quirky expressions that I have never heard from anyone else. Some are kind of funny and some are just strange.

My favorite that he says is when someone is very excited about something(like wanting to buy a new suit, or makes a fancy meal for no reason) he asks "Tumhara baap ki shadi hai?" Meaning roughly "is your father getting married?(that you are so excited?)" If he is using the expression because I want him to wear fancier clothes for something or take us out for tikka, then he uses "mere baap"(my father) instead of "tumhara".

Sometimes he says "baap ki barat" instead of "baap ki shadi", it is almost the same meaning, a barat is when the groom goes to get the bride. Every time he says it everybody in the room laughs and just says "haan, bap ki shadi(yes, father's marriage)".

I like this one so much that I have started using it, and every time I do he smiles a little. I think it might be partly because when someone else is saying it he can see how silly it is. :-)

Anybody else have any expressions that are not really common, or are just plain silly?

Ludo!

Asalam Alaikum,
I used to play board games in America, usually Monopoly, chess, or checkers, and other stuff like that. When we came to live with Tariq's family I was introduced to Ludo. Tariq and his brother and sisters(and every one in his huge extended family) can play this game for hours on end without getting bored. One of his sisters is a real Ludo expert. It is very difficult to win against her, today alone I lost six games in a row!



This is our Ludo board, Tariq and I found it in a local market, I think it was 50PKR,(less than one USD). Very inexpensive, and tons of fun. We play with some variations, like instead of one die we use two, and we can only come out of the "house" by rolling a six(some people allow you to come out on a one also). If you roll double sixes you get another turn and also if you hit another player that's an extra turn.

It is a lot of fun and one of our main forms of entertainment during load shedding times. The only problem now is that Saad is just getting old enough to want to play himself or "help" mama and daddy to play. It is cute, but it can be a bit frustrating when he rolls the dice and they get lost under the sofa, or throws a temper tantrum and one of the gollees(round playing pieces) flies under the showcase. We are looking around for a simpler type of game that he can learn more easily, so we can all play together.

Here is the Wiki on Ludo, in case you don't play and want to read more.

Dear Etisalat, I am sorry

Asalam Alaikum,
So because in my last post I decided to poke fun of Etisalat, I was without Internet, and also so was 30% of Abu Dhabi for a couple of days. To those who were inconvenienced by this outage, my bad, I'm sorry and in future I will not say anything against the vast conspiracy/plot that is the lovely company Etisalat.

Enough of my crazy ramblings-knitting!
this is my almost completed KAL pochette, more updates to come shortly-

These are pics from our second visit to Baniyas Gardens, notice me knitting.



This is just for fun-

Ten Points to anyone who knows!

Uh huh, Sheep that glow in the Dark!

Asalam Alaikum,

I am the biggest dork I know! Glow in the dark sheep! I know you are all sooooo thrilled by this.

So on to real life---

Some progress has been made on the KAL...I took it to the park with me when we went yesterday. We went to the Baniyas Public gardens...it was pretty nice, very clean and well maintained. Entrance fees were dhs 1 each(adults, they didn't count the munchkin brigade), and the carnival rides dhs 3 each. I sat on the swing and knitted on week 6 of the KAL, as it is now possible(read-not over 100 degrees f) to knit outside!(but only at night)

We shall end todays post with the cutest baby ever, helping mommy in the kitchen today!

Updates of knitting and a little cutie

Asalam Alaikum,

So SOMEONE thinks that I should blog more often, and I totally agree so here we go!

First up, I just cast on this colorful little blur, it is going to be for me, I know I know its a red letter day! This is my own little spin of EZ's Moebius scarf, except that I want it to be sort of a shawl kind of thing so I am trying to make it a little on the big side, so it will sit on my shoulders.


Now this is photographic evidence of my slightly obsessive nature,two an a half BSJs...The brown and grey is for my DS, the pink/purple is for my SIL's Daughter, and the green is for her new son. Two and a half and no end in site, this pattern is a bit on the addictive side!


Here is the DS modeling for you, that'll show me to try and take his picture right after nap time.



Further proof of my insanity...

I, for reasons still unknown even to myself, bought this Barbie, and spent 4 hours, (4 hours people!) making this little outfit for her. Just so that you know, it was made with the leftovers from my suit, so not only do I sew doll clothes, I sew them to match me.

AAAHHHHH!!!!!! A ghost!!


Hey you paparazzi get outta my face!


And finally this is a tease for you, you know who you are!

Long time, no post

Wow, am I a bad blogger, I should have known this would happen given my lack of ability to keep an offline journal...oh well I just have to try harder i guess.

I have been reading a lot of knit blogs, (I am so addicted) and stumbled onto this---

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Eminence the Very Viscountess Eva the Ineffable of Chortling Chesterton Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Strange but fun, in other news I have completed the "first official socks"...they are not really socks, more like house slippers made in the way of socks, just to test the waters of sock knitting, and ya know what, the water is fine come on in! I know I have a long way to go til I can whip up a half-way decent pair but so far, so fun.

I also finished the back of my dh's vest... dratted thing...cheap yarn...you really should be careful what you say..."of course I'll knit you a vest dear and you can even pick the yarn"

Oh, and I also knitted a hat for my aunt, from knitty- a tam. It was so fun to work with the two colors and see the pattern appear that I finished very quickly. Now all thats left is to mail it to her...because we have moved! Or at least started the process of moving, we left nice sunny florida to visit my DH's cousin(Michigan of all places). then we are off to Boston to see my folks, then the big one, we hop on a plane and take a very long flight to Abu Dhabi where we will most likely stay on a semi permenant basis, to live with my DH's family.

To return to the subject of socks for a moment, I have discovered that there is a yarn store that is exactly 1.7 miles from where we are staying right now in Michigan and the DH has promised to take me there. I have never been to a yarn store, as the only ones near to us before the move were a good distance away. I am so excited!! I want to buy some nice sock yarn and make some matching socks for the DH and my adorable new son.

Well, that was a long post, and if I can stick to my resolution to be a better blogger then a new post will follw shortly and may also include pictures.

until next post,
Asalam Alaikum