The Best Eid

Today was Eid, and I can safely say that it was definitely the BEST Eid I've ever had, Alhamdulillah! It was so wonderful, I loved every bit. The funny part is that yesterday my mom and I were talking about our plans for Eid and we had absolutely none lol. And then today, we didn't get back home till around 9:00 pm. My whole day was random but awesome!
So early in the morning, we first went to Dar ul Taqwa for Eid prayer. Haha, our family got there at 8:15 and the prayer didn't start till like 9:30 so it was funny how we were so paranoid about getting parking. But what was even funnier was that after prayer, during the Khutbah (lecture), some kid pulled the fire alarm and the whole Masjid was flashing lights and making fire alarm noises! I was totally cracking up! It was so embarassing yet hilarious at the same time. And the Muslims didn't even seem to care that there could have been a real fire, it was as though we all knew it was fake the instant it went off. So for about 20 minutes, the fire alarm was on and the fire department came. Embarassing, yes. Funny, undeniably!

It was also my mom's birthday today, a great combination isn't it? Killing two birds with one stone =)
So anyway, Eid prayer was nice and I got to see most of my friends and my best friend Amina =). Later we went to a family friend's house. But while I was at Dar ul Taqwa, some of my friends like would go around greeting everyone and then invite them over for lunch at 12:30. It was so funny, I randomly got invited and then I'm like "hmm, I'm not really doing anything anyway. So what the heck? Maybe I'll just go." It was nice how so many girls showed up. So I ended up going home, changing, and then I went to lunch at Olive Garden with a bunch of my girls, which was the highlight of the day! We were all so dressed up and everyone was looking at us with such curiosity and joy. We got so many compliments about being so colorful and pretty, we were in all the colors of the rainbow =) We joined together like 4 tables and had 3 waiters lol. They were probably like "whoa, where'd they all come from? haha!" Yeah, us Desis, we ROCK!

16 of us total

Then we all went to an Eid party together. I went to see my grandparents after and then Sumayyah's house. It was a great Eid, Alhamdulillah =) The only thing is I wish my sister and brother-in-law were there =(. It's our first Eid apart since the wedding...

So Six Flags Muslim Family Day is this Saturday, October 4th. Make it if you can! It's going to be awesome insha Allah.

Since Eid is technically 3 days long, I guess tomorrow is celebrations as well. My mom's side of the family is doing it tomorrow, so will definitely see them. Not only because I get Eidee! (Eid Gift Money that every adult in your family gives you, yeah its a pretty cool concept and you get rich, haha=) but that IS a plus! I still do have to go to school...at least I was off today! So I'm really happy, Alhamdulillah =)

Aww, I miss Ramadan. So long my dear friend. I look forward to seeing you next year!

Oh, wow I have a lot of catching up to do on schoolwork.

Ma'Assalama,
Hena

Eid Mubarak!

Eid Mubarak! I'm so excited about Eid now that I know when it is :p. I miss Ramadan too though =(....So yeah pretty much I'm typing right now with henna on my hands. Thank Allah it's dry or I'd get it all over my laptop lol. So why am I up so late the night before Eid? Good question, and the answer is really simple. Well you see, I told you I have henna on my hands but I didn't pray Isha and I don't have Wudu haha. So I have to sit here and wait till it's a good color and dry enough to wash without funny orange blothes everywhere. That is why I am up online on the night before Eid. Interesting enough?

Random, but you know what sounds funny? Hena is wearing Henna. =)

Again EID MUBARAK!

Ma'Assalama,
Hena

Rainy Day

Today was a good day. A quiet, rainy day.

I sat home in my pajamas and did nothing all day. No homework. No school. Cleared my mind of all that and just relaxed. I should have done my homework, but I didn't lol and it felt so good =)
Eh, I'll catch up tomorrow Insha Allah, lol.
It's almost Iftar time and I'm starved! Aren't you? I love our nice family sitdown Iftars. My mom always makes such good food and everything goes really well Alhamdulillah. It's a nice cozy, quiet dinner that I enjoy, much better than any fancy dawats. I hear the sound of plates and cutlery downstairs so I should go help my mom with preparing dinner.

Today was a good day. A quiet, rainy day.

Ma'Assalama,
Hena

T.A.I.F: Thank Allah It's Friday....

Haha, I just noticed that T.A.I.F. spells Taif, as in a city in Saudi Arabia. Okay...random, I know. But bear with me, it's been a long week =p.
So I just reread my post from this morning and turns out staying up and homework were really getting to my head. But I'm in a much better mood now. I feel so jumpy and happy lol and I don't know why. I know, its wierd that my moods are on such extremes (dead or really giddy). Haha. Do people still use that word? Giddy? Lol, it just sounds so old-fashioned.
So I think I'm so happy is because it's Friday =) I love Fridays. I only have one class and the weekend is tomorrow. It's a good life. Oo and today I got an Eid present from my Secret Sistah so that made my day =) Thanks Sara Haneef, for the chocolates and Bath and Body Works!
So something else that's random: after Jumah prayer today, the announcer was talking about Quran classes that the MSA offers, and then he goes "Quran classes are at the same time for brothers and sisters but in different rooms because I quote 'we're keeping this joint halal' and I just burst out laughing. Haha, I wonder who came up with that because that's just so corny and funny at the same time =)

So I was in a lab yesterday, and in between, I snuck into the Globe Hall to break my fast and pray Maghrib where the MSA (Muslim Student Association) was having an Iftar dinner. Alhamdulillah, the food was delicious and everything looked really wonderful. Btw, this is the MSA at Montgomery College in Germantown, yeah, you're probably confused because I go to University of Maryland. Well, I'm actually just taking one class down at MC (or is it up? haha. i duno) so that's why I was there yesterday. It's funny, I just like left in the middle of Orgo lab and prayed and ate some food and then I see my Muslim labmate (cool, i made up a new word) and my lab partner (who isn't Muslim lol but that's okay =) show up and I'm like "hmm okay, I guess I'm not the only one ditching Orgo lab for food!" and so we spent like a good 15 minutes there and brought back a plate for my teacher =) haha, he really liked the Pakistani/Arab/Afghan food (lol!). So yeah, I love how MC is like home. You know everyone and it's really nice. But UMCP is like home too especially because of the MSA and MWM =) So I guess me and my three homes really do come a long way.

It's the 27th night of Ramadan. Tomorrow's a Qiyam at Dar ul-Taqwa. I'm excited becuase the Qiyams are always very organized and nice Masha Allah, but I'm also sad because Ramadan's almost over =(. I'm really going to miss it.

Okay, I just noticed that my blog posts are always listed under the wrong times. Like it's 6:13 right now not 2:34?! Haha, oh well!

Ma' Assalama,
Hena

What's the Point of Physics?

It's 1:30 am and I'm working on Physics homework. All this is making me wonder...what's the point? Like really, truthfully... I just don't see it!
So...I did a little bit of research and turns out...well, you might as well just read it yourself =) :

"As long as there were people, they wondered why things happened the way they did, and what would happen if they tried other things. Well, that’s all that scientists do. You can imagine a caveman noticing that fire is hot, and that rubbing two sticks together made them warm; he might ask himself, "could I make fire by rubbing those stick together really hard?" That caveman was being a physicist, and when he tried rubbing sticks together, he was doing an experiment." (http://van.physics.uiuc.edu/qa/listing.php?id=249)

So if it wasn't for our dear cavemen, we'd all physics-less. Thanks a lot cavemen. Haha, no they were cool dudes so they really aren't to blame...

I don't know who is to blame for ever discovering this horrible, horrible science.

No offense to physics-lovers. I don't see how you guys do it.

So instead of looking up why I should do physics, maybe I'll get back to actually doing it =)

Ma'Assalama,
Hena

Chocolate Cake, oooo =)

Today I went to meet with my TA for some help. Boy, is it hard to find places in the Physics building but that's irrelevant. So, anyway, I was in the TA lounge and there was this gignormous piece of the most scrumptious moist triple chocolate layered cake I had ever seen. I swear, it just looked so appetizing and I was literally inches away so much so that I could smell it! Boy, it smelled good.
It's wierd because the same thing happen to me in History too! The girl next to me had chewy nerds (which sounds so cool, I'm definately trying it after Ramadan insha Allah! =) and like a bunch of Mini York Patties and that smelled good too. Everything smells good in Ramadan, lol =)
It was totally an eat-candy-and-cake kind of day. I kept telling myself "Hena, you're fasting! That's way more rewarding than that chocolate cake or chewy nerds ever will be!" So in the end, fasting is a challenge and it's supposed to be! Who said Ramadan would be easy? How else would we learn through trials if they weren't challenging? Normally, I wouldn't feel so hungry during the day but boy oh boy, when you've got a chunka choco triple layer cake next to you, you realize what fasting is all about! Haha, so that's the most important thing that happened to me all day! Well, Wednesdays are pretty tight on schedule for me so I can't exactly say I had time to do anything interesting anyway. AAAHH I have a test tomorrow. Allah, help me!

Ma'Assalama,
Hena

I'm dead. Seriously. I slept for one hour today.

Fastathon

Fastathon went well, Alhamdulillah! We didn't run out of food, which was great. And boy did that chocolate cake taste good after a long day. Lots of people came and it seemed to be quite busy all throughout the night. I pulled off an all-niter so we'll see how that goes.

So today is Fastathon. I really do hope it's great. I'm really excited about it insha Allah. We had lots of advertisement for it all around school. Every stairwell and hidden bulletin board had a flyer lol. So not much has happened since yesterday andI don't really have anything so say... class in a little bit. Physics =( Don't want to go, but I must!

Updates on Fastathon soon.

Ma'Assalama,
Hena

School Really Has Started

First week of school is usually all slow and actually quite nice. But you definately know school has started when you've got no free time. When your entire day is hour-to-hour planned out for you and you're on a tight schedule all morning long. But of course, that's life and life goes on, doesn't it? So pretty much, UMCP is coming along nicely Alhamdulillah. It's way different from what I'm used to but I love it! Though the classes are gignourmous!! (240 in my history class alone but I guess that's not a shocker for ppl who r used to it), campus life is just exciting and amazing. I really do love it. Every bit of it.
Wow, but if we didn't have the Musalah, I don't know what I would do. We're so blessed Masha Allah! And the most amazing part of my University experience so far is undeniably the fact that every corner I turn, every building I cross, there is ALWAYS a Hijabi somewhere down the corner. It really brings peace to your heart when you know you're not alone. And what's even more amazing is that you might not even know the sister, but just seeing her face so bright and knowing she's there for the very reason you're there, well it really does make the journey all the more better. It's like us Hijabis, we share a secret code that no one else knows. Just one nod or a smile says a million words.

So anyway, I really should get back to my Organic Chem, which actually isn't that bad...
man I'm really craving some Macarona Bashamal right now =)...

Ma'Assalama,
Hena

Ramadan Comes Knocking...

Once again the best month of the year knocks at your door. I really do love Ramadan because it's like a wakeup call. Think of that morning, when you really don't feel like getting out of bed and you know you have that 8 o clock class you have to go to. The big red letters on your alarm clock just seem to stare at you but you really don't feel like getting out of bed...you see, that's what our lives usually round up being like for most of the year. And then, once Ramadan comes along, it's like that energetic caffeine boost you need that really starts your day on the right foot. Ramadan is like that sweet whipped cream on your morning latte. It's like that warm smell of flowers in your sun-dried garden. It's the morning breeze of the ocean on a sunny day. Ramadan isn't just about not eating or drinking, or praying Tarawih every night, it's about feeling alive again. Feeling re-energized after that long hard year of work-sleep-work lifestyle that just doesn't seem to end. It's about being yourself.
Every year, right around mid-December, you might see those Christmas cartoons on WB and ABC that come on like every night. I admit, I do love those cartoons. "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" and Charlie Brown...but not because they're about Christmas lights or giant trees in your living room. I love them because they always have such important values and messages they send to kids about family, friends, and caring. They're always about family values and showing your friends how much they mean to you. People giving each other presents with the utmost love and honesty their heart can give. That's what Ramadan should be for us Muslims. It should be that time when we hold our loved ones close and bring ourselves closer to Allah. It should be the highlight in a Muslim's mind, that time of excitement and joy that little kids have to celebrate who they are and what they believe. We should have that Ramadan Spirit that kindles our souls the same way Christmas does for many people without all those lights and cartoons and big green trees. We should decorate ornaments in our hearts that brighten our minds and bring us closer together in spirit.
And in heart.

Time for Tarawih soon.
Imma head out.

Ma'Assalama,
Hena