Where do I belong?

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One thing I love about living here is that you see Quran manifested every day. It’s like the Quran has come alive. For example when Allah talks about the blessings of date palm trees to the Ummah. You see it here. When Allah forbids music, you really understand why when you see how music has consumed the Arab culture. When 70% of the channels are music and you see the culture changing and Arabs emulating MTV videos, you understand. All the time ayahs of Quran pop into my mind and find new life and understanding. The only way I can explain it is to say the Quran was like black & white to me and living here is adding color to it. My husband says he is having the same experience, and we often mention the same ayah when we are sharing a new experience. It’s very beautiful.
I also love that there is so much to do here of course if you have the money. There is ice-skating and/or skiing at the all of the major malls. They also have at one mall different activities for kids, such as these big clear balls (like the ones hamster use, only for kids) and the kids get inside and move themselves across the water. Fun city (indoor amusement parks) is in every mall and I just found out you can leave your kids there and go shopping for 20 dhs an hr. =$6. There’s a lot good clean fun stuff to do especially for kids. It is a very much a kid friendly place.
I haven’t blogged in a while and really nothing significant has been going on. Let’s see, since me & the kids where brought over here (UAE) on a tourist visa we had to make a border run to Oman so that we could re enter UAE and thus renew our tourist visas for 30 more days. That was quite an experience- I did that with a friend that I made here who has 4 little ones, so we had to cross with all the kids. The best way for me to describe it is it was like running an obstacle course in which all directions where written in a foreign language, and we started somewhere in the middle and we kept getting sent back to go. It went like this:
Us to UAE Border Patrol: Hi we are crossing to Oman.
BP: You have to go back and get white paper.
Us after searching buildings and finally getting white paper: Hi we are back with white paper (I hand him white paper and passports)
BP: You have to go to immigration to get all passports stamped.
Upon finally finding immigration (no sign), Immigration says: You need white paper.
White paper?! The guy has white paper, I call husband tell him to get white paper from BP. BP says he doesn’t have white paper. I go back and explain the situation, sir you took white paper….
BP: GO back you need white paper.
We go back again for the umpteenth time. Border Patrol guy who kept opening the gate for us to renter took pity on us and wrote us a note.
BP upon seeing note smiles and gives us our UAE exit visas Yaaay! Now on to Oman to get our entry visas, but guess what? After that- back to UAE to get new entry visas….When we finally got to Oman things became much simpler, thank God! By the way I like Omanis! They wear a cool turban and they just seem much more friendly, open, and helpful, even though I only met like 4 of them they had a nice vibe. We are good for 30 more days!

I am hearing all kinds of stories regarding teachers here. Some have gotten their furniture allowances and flew back to their home countries. Some have been terminated and sent back home due to inappropriate behavior. There was a bus accident filled with teachers many injured and one seriously hurt. One teachers apartment was making her very sick. Its nerve racking to say the least. I just pray that Allah SWT protects us and wants only good for us.

I am at a crossroads with myself. I am really thinking things through. I still feel like I haven’t found my own niche yet. Sometimes I feel like this is a temporary situation and I need to make whatever money I can, hustle so I have something to return home with. Then at other times part of me wants to relax and get settled in and make my home here. There are sincere obstacles to both. (sigh) I do know that Allah is making all things clearer and clearer and in time all things will be revealed, Insha Allah.

I am really missing my family and wondering how folks are doing I havent spoken to anyone by telephone except for my grandmother for a few minutes. I talk to my Mom on the computer but I would love to hear her voice and my kids, and definitely my Dad and Granmother who dont go on the computer. the internet connection is so slow here the programs that we have to make calls dont work. When we move soon the connection should be better.

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