Random Happenings

Thursday: Pre-Eid

On Thursday, there was an akikah for someboddy's baby. Coincidentally, it was the same day before Eid. So, after all the eating and most of the people left, me, S, and some of our friends helped decorate the masjid for Eid. We put up the lights is the musalla and the hall. We put streamers over the windows. It was very hard work. While me, S, R, and Keela were doing the lights in the hallway, Keela's brother Zak came and helped a little bit. He got a sticker (goat head) stuck in his sock and he told me to get it out because he was too chicken. Then he asked me if I got henna. I said not yet. But then I saw S getting it, and so I did too. After I got it, I continued with the lights. It was hard 'cause I didn't want to mess up my henna. My hair was all messy and I had to ask Ummi to tuck my hair back inside my tudong. When we were all done, we played in the musalla. R, Keela, and Keela's sister Nabeel were gliding and sliding in the musalla with their socks. Keela's mom took a picture of us (S, me, R, Keela and Nabeel). Then, we left. We went to Albertsons and bought some food for the visitors. We got ice cream, cookies, and Go-Gurt.

Friday: Eid

I woke up like a few minutes before Fajr and I was like wondering if I could go back to sleep or not. Then, after a while, I heard the water being turned on upstairs, and so I knew that daddy was awake. Then, I got ready t'go. I couldn't find the dress, btw, so I had to be tradishunal, much to your disappointment. Then, when we were all ready to go, we went outside. Ummi told us to stand in front of the garage so she could take pictures. We were all worried about the cars passing by and wondering why ugly people in nice clothes were standing in front of a garage like poor peeps, and a ninja was taking pictures of them. XD.

So then we went to the masjid. People were fillin' up the masjid like ants to crumbs. R wasn't there yet, and Mnr wasn't either. So we sat fatly, watching people hug each other and listening to the takbir. And watching the weird, smelly kids. Pretty soon R came in. Her clothes were so JUICY. They were white and turquoise with millions of sequins. Even her socks matched.

(Unfortunately, I couldn't find my pink socks, so I had to wear my blue ones, and they didn't match at all with my pink baju krong.) Then, it was time for the salat. Me and Z went to the kitchen so he could eat, and we watched R's mom Sry do an activity with the little kids. They watched Take Me to the Ka'aba. Then they played a game. Then, my long lost friends came late for the prayer. (Their names are Nr and Hb.) Then I took Z out to the playground.

Pretty soon the prayer was over, and people came pouring to eat. Me, S, and R played at the playground and talked about henna and stuff like that. While I was waiting for Ummi to be done talking and for Abi to be finished drinking tea or something, I sat in the van with the door open and listened to a nasheed that I recorded on my camera. :D Then we went home.

Sandy's dad was supposed to come to our house so we could follow him to the farm. He took like a million years. He finally came. He led us to  place where there were millions of potholes and loads of flying dust. At the farm, nobody was there to supervise us. We took a look at the sheep and the pigs (blech!) and the chicken chickens. There was this teenage chick that escaped from the coop by a hole in the wire door. Abi tried to get it back through the hole by opening it more and saying, "Sini, sini, sini!" But of course chickens don't understand human language, and Malay at that, so it just ran away in fright. Pretty soon all the men came and they chose some good sheep. The only sheep there that wasn't scared of humans was the big black one with big horns. Sadly, we slaughtered it. I took a video of the first sheep to be slaughtered. S thought it was sick and nasty. But me, I could watch without wincing a smidgen, like I said twelve posts ago. I was planning to take videos of the other ones being slaughtered but then I changed my mind.

Finally, after sitting in the van being cold, Abu Yaz (Sandy's dad) said to Abi, "You can go now, F. You have kids." And I silently said, "YAY! Thanks, Sandy's dad." and S chuckled. So we went home, and I slept on the way.
Abi and Ummi cut the meat for a long time. I saw Ummi smashing chicken with the flat side of the knife to make it look more appetizing, as that's how they do nasi ayam in Maleesia.

Then the guests started coming after Maghrib. Auntie Saleem and Kylie came first. Kylie had a broken arm because of his daftness. Then Amunay came. Amunay is one of the coordinators for the Muslim Girls Club. Amunay left early 'cause she was scared about leaving her kids (Suheidi, Lulu, and Yasser) at home alone. Kylie played with H violently. After a while, Muhee, Hal, and Akeely came. Then Tonio, Noha, and Mstfa came. Me, S, H, Z, Kylie, and Mstfa played on the carpet. Mstfa tugged H's hair and pinched Kylie's nose. It was hilarious. Then everyone started to leave. Muhee, Hal, and Akeely left first. Then Auntie Saleem and Kylie left. Lastly, Tonio, Noha and Mstfa left.

Saturday: Post-Eid

I was the first to wake up. The living room was all nice and yellow, and everything was silent. I ate some cookies. Then Z woke up and we made bracelets. Pretty soon Abi woke up and said, "Siap Z! We're going to Chucky!" I told Z to get ready, but he said he didn't wanna go. Pala HOTAK n'kau! (That's Malay. I dunno what it means, but mommy says it and it's funny.)

I ran into my room and said to S, "Wake up, S, if you wanna go da Chuck!"
I ran into H's room and said to H, "Wake up, H, if you wanna go da Chuck!"

Next thing I knew we were in the van driving to the mall. We played at Chucky Cheeses for a bit 'cause H had a soccer game at 1:00 or something. The first thing I played was a bowling game. Then I played a football game.  I was slightly good at it. Then I put two tokens in a basket ball game that was broken and I had to ask the people to get it out.

All too soon, we three used up all our tokens. Boohoo! We fed our tickets to the ticket thingy and got prizes, then left.


The End.

New Camera and Fish

On Sunday, we went to tennis, as usual, and H had brought some water balloons for us to play catch with at the park. So we tossed them at each other, and H got the most wet. S got the least wet. I'm always in the middle. Then, H decided that we have a water balloon fight with the remaining balloons. When the balloons were all popped, we rollerbladed. Z biked with us. H rollerbladed down a hill, and I followed him down, and S stayed at the top of the hill talking to Z. Then H and I went back up, and S and H tried to make Z bike down the hill, but Z was too chicken. Then we went back to the court and timed ourselves coming down another hill. We timed ourselves with S's phone. Then we took off our blades and played at the playground. H wanted to see us hang from a bar from our knees. We timed ourselves again, and I won the first round. I also won the second round, but S won the last round. H said it was because our legs were fleshier than his. So he offended us by taking off his socks and putting them under his knees to imitate flesh. It didn't work, so haha. Pretty soon, Ummi and Abi were done playing tennis. On Saturday morning, I asked Ummi if I could buy another fish, (since Sunset died) and Ummi said, "How 'bout we buy it on Sunday. You should've told me when we were out on Friday, hari tu*!"
I meekly.
So, we went to Staples and Best Buy first, 'cause Abi wanted to buy me a camera, 'cause S burned my other one. Like a meanie. So, while Ummi, Abi, s, and Z went to Staples, H and I went to Best Buy. Abi told me to find some that were on sale. I found some real good ones, like a real nice red one and a nice blue one. I showed 'em to H, and he was like, "K." Then he went to see if the iPod touch came out. We played with the Macbooks and the iPads and computers. Then, we went to a place that had iPod nanos and head phones and things like that. That's when the rest came in. S failed at trying to scare us. I showed Abi the cameras that I chose, and it took sort of a long time 'cause Abi wanted to buy a hideous small Samsoong. (That's how he says it.) But I wanted to get Fujifilem (that's how he says it too) because my last one was like that, and I'm more used to it. So Abi got me the black Fujifilm camera. Yay! It was $86.04. What a price!
Then we left, and H was obsessed with the camera. He's like, "Cool! Can I open it?"
"Yeah," I said.
He put the string thingy on it, and then he put the battery in it, but there wasn't any memory card. H took a junky picture of us in the van. Then we pulled up into Petco. Abi told H to go to Big 5 to look for some things. Then me, S, Z, and Ummi went into Petco. Z wanted to get a fish too. He took years choosing. So did I. The yellow one that I have been talking about for years was gone, so I chose a purple one. Yellow wouldn't have gone good with my red, pink, and purple rocks anyway. So first I chose a nice purple one, but then ummi showed us more bettas, and so I took a purple and pink and red veiltail male. Z got a white one with blue spots and a pink nose. I think it was a Doubletail? I dunno. Then Z chose a 'No Fishing' bowl decor, and got some new water purifier. Then, guess what? We went to the crazy cashier again. Abi paid for everything. Then we went home. H gave me a memory card for 50 cents (he's obsessed with money). Then S helped me put my fish into its bowl. I recharged my camera, because they don't come recharged. How ruuude is that?

N

Z's Plakat Male Betta named Cloudy.

My Veiltail Male Betta named UV, or Ultraviolet. He's constipated. :( See how he's floating on his side?

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*Hari tu means 'that day'. It's Malay.

The Busy Day - and the Interface

This Post Is Ten Days Old. But Read It Anyway.

Sunday, September 23, 2012
THE BUSY DAY

a Story told by N

    Sunday was a busy day. First, we went to tennis (and left John at home). It was fun. The only thing I mostly do there is rollerblade around the court picking up tennis balls. After H got tired of playing tennis he wanted to go climb a tree, so he did. After he got down he tried another tree. He found a nice big thick stick (like his head). He told me to climb it first, and when I tried to, someone came to us with her frilly brown dog. Well, actually, it was a puppy. The owner said the dog was only a few months old. So we petted it, and then the owner went away.

    We continued to climb the tree, but I couldn't, so we went to another tree. H found a silly streams spray can and tried to spray it, but it was clogged or jammed or something, so he tried breaking it open with his 'staff'. The can was pretty strong, and after H whacked it a few times, it sizzled. But nothing came out. Then he got angry and hit it real hard, so much that it broke the stick (LOL). Then we played baseball with the can and the broken stick pieces. Then we gave up and went to the playground. We played something (I forgot) and then pap said, "Challo!" (That means 'Let's go!')

    So after we all stunk up the van with our sweat, we went to Unidad Park, which H calls Wooden Park, which is probably H's most b'loved park in the world. We played Obby Course, we swung on the swings, and then we went on the dreaded tire swing. First, H and Z went on it, and I pushed them. Then, Z got on, and H twirled him till Z did his scared cry. Then, I got on, and H twirled me, but Z didn't get out of the way, and my feet were sticking out, so his big old head got kicked by me. H was like, "Z!!!!!! I told you to get out of the wayyy!" Then it was time to go.

    It's really scary when H's angry, so watch out. He can dig his never-clipped nails into your skin and make you have flat, painful-peel scabs.

When we got home, JS was bathing. It was nine or ten AM, and we were going to the soup kitchen at eleven, so we had to get ready. After we were ready, John and me, we went to the kitchen where H was eating a sandwich. He was sitting on the counter greedily eating a PB & B sandwich.

    We brought the plate of sanwiches in the van and devoured them to death. Then we got to the soup kitchen. Joycie was there, and bald ol' Nubby, and I think Dr. Iqb was there too, I don't know. He was like, "Ohh, the whole family's here! That's nice!"

    So First, we badly made ham sanwiches, and then we wrapped them up. We were working with a girl named Kym. She and mom became the best of friends. Then we served the people. I was assigned corn, but then changed to Tray person by mean ole' Beck. I didn't like it, so mom switched with me.

    S did dessert, and H did watermelon. I did the sandwiches. And just how plain sad is that?

    After all that, the animal shelter person, Jn, was supposed to pick us up at 1 o'clock. We saw her through the window. S said bye to Kym and then we ran out.

    Jn said, "Wow, you guys do a lot of volunteering! I mean, this soup kitchen, the quilts, and the animals..."

     Jn's friend Glo was there too, apparently. Unfortunately.

    There was an open house at the animal shelter (which I'll just call SHAS now), so there was a cookout, sodas, and cookies. Plus more dessert. Oh, and fruits. Including STRAWBERRIES. YUM.

    We (Jn, S, Glo, and me) looked at a few dogs, and Glo and Jn talked to some people, which was apparently very boring and made my feet hurt because I had to stand there in my orthotics which is painful. Then we went to go see the cats. There were some nice new ones, and they were all shy and nice.

    Then went to a hut outside of the cattery, which contained the kittens. When it was finally our turn to go in, we went in (obviously) but Jn didn't wanna go in because she couldn't see no nothing.  So we were left in there with a staff and Glo.

    The kittens weren't quite kittens, they were like teenagers or something. The two boys were gray tabbies, and the girl was black. S and I went in there and petted them till they died. The girl wasn't very active, though, and she was kinda wild.

    We finally left that place and went back to the front to eat some. Then we left.

    There's this thingy, that you have to collect cans to save the animals or something. Always after Jn takes us to SHAS, she takes us can scouting. A lot of people in my location drink Bud Light, apparently.

    Jn gave us snacks and healthy soda. Lemon Lime Blue Sky Soda, cookies, Health Bar, Annie's Bunny Cheddar Cheese Crackers, and something else that I forgot.

   Glo talked too much and says she saw a can, and sounded disappointed when Jn said, 'No' or 'It's too far away'. They FOUGHT. When they both left the car, me and S remained, and I said, "Oh my God." And S said, "I know right? Old woman fight!" And then she laughed nervously.

    We finally were done scouting and Jn sent us home. Rudely.

~THE END~

Next story coming up in a few seconds...

~THE INTERFACE~

But first, let's interest you with some advertisements!

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You have survived the advertisements. Now you may read...

~THE INTERFACE~

    I hate the new Blogger interface. It's messy and not neat, even if those two mean the same thing. It's all hideously white and orange, and hideous. It's so unorganized that I even forgot to to put labels on a post because I didn't know where they were. I mean, seriously, bro.

    What were you expecting this story to be about? Seriously. It's barely even a story, because I think I'll end it right now.

    Bye. See ya later.

Yay! It's My Birthday Today!

Today is October 1st, and today I am the age that is equal to 7 x 2. I am in a hotel right now in Oklahoma City. We started traveling on Friday, September 28 and went to Dallas, TX for a class by Omar Suleiman. The class was called Behind the Scenes. We got there for free Friday. Only me, H, and Abi were taking it, because apparently S had to study for her class or something, and Ummi was too busy with her class. So apparently some people have a lot of classes going on here.

Anyway, the class was kinda boring but Omar Suleiman made a lot of jokes at least. H and I drew a lot in our books, which made Abi scream, but at least some of the drawings were relevant. On Sunday, which was the last day of class, we left. We left right after the class ended. Well, we left after we had our last pee. Oklahoma was three hours away, which is quite surprising.

After the long, terrible three hours in the van, we got there. Our hotel was called Sheraton. We have to go to OK City (it isn't really okay at all) because Abi has a conference there. While waiting in the van for Abi to get our room, we saw some weird people out the back window. I saw a smelly kid peering into the hotel, and there were some weird dancing people. Somebody took the keys of a woman's car and drove it into the parking garage.

The beds are white and the bathroom is white, and the sink is too high. There is orange shampoo, yellow conditioner, yellow bar soaps, and white lotion. Very descriptive, right? Yes, well, anyway, I must tell you how my birthday went.

At somewhere around 3:00, we left the hotel. We had to be back at 4:00 because of Abi's conference. We went on a water taxi, and the tupA' water taxi driver asked the passengers if they had an October birthday today. Ummi stared at me meaningfully, but I don't like to talk muchly, so I remained silent. :D But a smelly person on the taxi named Angela had an October 1st birthday, so good for her. When we went under a bridge, the driver tupA'ly sang the birthday song along with the other tupA' passengers.

"Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy BIRTHday, undear unangelic Angela,
HAPPY birthday TO YOOOUU!"

After the tupA' taxi ride, we went to a souvenir shop. I bought some earrings for me, myself and I. And S too. S got lame ol' silver butterfly ones, and I got big, dangly blue and purple ones with a silver star on each. Then we went to peachwave, a frozen yogurt place. There was a thingy for that if it was your birthday today, you got to get a 16oz cup of frozen yogurt for free. And the weight didn't matter. So isn't that great? Yeah, so S and H told me to get a lot of frozen yogurt since it was free and all. I got what I thought was enough, but they told me to get more, so I hesitantly did. And then, I got loads of toppings. I got strawberries, white chocolate chips, Rolo candy, Skittles, rainbow sprinkles, and strawberry sauce. How good does that sound?!

Anyway, here's where something really eventful happened. They (mom, dad, S, H, and Z) left me in that place to finish off, (and who told me to get a lot?!) and I left the gift bag with the earrings in it in there! We were already walking back to the hotel when I suddenly remembered. So I gasped loudly and everybody stared at me oddly. Well, John and H did. So I told them the problem, and then John told mom, and then dad walked back to that place with me to get it.

So yeah, that's how my birthday went. Mom was playing Montezuma (a game like Bejeweled) on the iPad, and H and Z were playing with her, and then suddenly, mom lashed out at H because he was being annoying.

"Ahh, go a-WAY lah! I'm gonna play by myself. You're not helping!" :D

Then me, Z, and H surrounded mom helped her, but she didn't appreciate it. She said, "Okay, you all be VERY quiet. And don't mention any colors or you will distract me! GOH!"

So we tried to be quiet, but somehow H managed to say something, so the punishment was that mom played another one. But we all couldn't help ourselves, so mom played another one. We managed to
stay quiet and finally it was Z's turn. Then it was my turn, and then H 's. He didn't play Montezuma, though. He played Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja.

Oh yes. When it was my turn, mom chased H and JS around the hotel room with her spit. Mom - a human goat? Correct.

A few hours later, dad came back for his conference, and then Maghrib came, and dinner, and now I'm on one of the white beds typing this post on the iPad.

N

Inchworm, Tomato Hornworm, and Turds.

I found an inchworm yesterday in the 'garden' after watering the plants. It was crawling on a rock. I picked up the rock and lingered around a bit more in the garden in case there were anymore caterpillars around. There weren't, so I went back inside.

H thought the inchworm was just another tomato hornworm but obviously he was wrong. First of all, it didn't have a horn, and second of all, S said that newly hatched tomato hornworm are white or yellow. This inchworm was green. Third of all, tomato hornworms have big heads, and the inchworm had a pretty small head.

Later that day, S found a thready case around the worm. "Oh cool! It's making its cocoon!" S said. "What? Really?! That's awesome!" I said. No wonder it had been moving its head all day.

Also, I found out that my hornworm had turds all over its jar. The turds looked like small blackberries. Seeing them all piled up together was disgusting. I felt like barfing. Ugh. You should've seen it. Get this, I even saw a turd come out of the worm's tocks! It came out and then the slit closed up, quite primly. Yuck. Shortly after that, I found it sleeping, and two turds were stuck to its feet. "Sedapnya tidur, dengan turd turd lagi," said ummi. (Find the translation on Google translate, if you are so inclined.) Later, before abi went to the masjid for Isha, S and I went outside to dump out the turds. S said they looked like little grenades. XD

Ummi said we should have a diary about the caterpillars. So I got my nature journal and made one.

The worms are quite interesting. I can't wait to put up the pictures and videos!

N

Credit

Well, as you know, yesterday was my last day of massage class. Whoopee!!! People kept calling me 'sweetie' and 'dearie' (like my grandma) and they kept saying, "Good job! For a little girl, that's a great job!" I'm not a little girl! So I was extremely offended and I was like 'hehe'. Then we had to leave at like 7:45 pm so we could go to the masjid to break fast. Before we left, we had to get out certificates. And guess what? We both got eight credit hours! Oh and BTW, 'we' refers to me and my dad.

I was like the first one there, well, not really, someone named D was there with her kid named Hl. Hl was drinking and D was getting the dates and drinks ready. Then D sent Hl to the men's side to do some errands, like getting soup and all. Then people came, and someone brought rice. She saw me and asked, "You're alone?"

And I said, "Yeah."

Then she said, "Where's S?"

I said, "She's gonna come later."

Well, at least she didn't ask for my mom. Grr, I hate when people ask for her even though I already tell them she is at home doing things!

Anyways. After the Maghrib prayer Abwadab took me home to finish up iftar and then S and mom got ready to go. Btw we ate our Mexicans and they are really good! No I'm not a cannibal dummy, I'm talking about the brownies! No I'm not racist either. Well maybe I am a little bit. :P

So while S was getting ready, H came in the room and I showed him my certificate. For some reason they were both really amazed that I got eight credit hours.

So we got Z ready to go n then we went to the masjid. We prayed Isha, then Terawih, then we got to stay a li'l longer because Abi asked me if I wanted to and I said yes. So S and I went outside with our friend Sandy (well that's not her real name but I wouldn't really tell it to you would I?) to the masjid's playground.

H and his friend M came and played while we talked, and then they left after women came out of the women's side to leave.

N

Winnings

Yesterday they announced the winners for the questions they gave out Saturday night. And guess what? S won! She got 20 bucks! Everybody got such good answers that they had to do a draw.

And also, S and I are supposed to get our article in the paper soon...

N

Ramadan Day #1

Hold on. This is yesterday's post. Read it before today's.

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012
Today was a big day. I had to go to the masjid for a Girls' Club meeting. We were gonna talk about preparing for Ramadan, our Ramadan goals and our duas. The girls were all bored to death, which was annoying. We all had to say what we liked about Ramadan, and they all mostly said, "because of the food." Seriously! The fatties these days! At least there was one girl who said she likes Ramadan because her mom doesn't force her to eat. But that's still bad. The point of Ramadan is not just about eating, as you know. Anyway, then we wrote down our goals and dua on paper (well what else would we write on?) using Sharpie markers. Then we played with H's hefty friend named Kylie in the men's side. It was fun! Nobody was there, practically. So then we went home and ate dinner, and then we went to 'The Hill' for moon sighting. So we found out that Ramadan was going to be on Friday. Tomorrow. Then we prayed Tarawih and Witr at the Masjid, and then S and I went to the masjid's library to practice Surah Al-Mulk for the Ramadan Quran competition. The End.

N
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And now, here is today's post.

FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2012
Today, after Fajr, we listened to H read Surah Al-Kahf. His reading was SO horrible, I slept through it!!! Just kidding. He just read it, and I nodded my head. I hate that. Anyway, then we listened to a lecture about Surah Al-Kahf. Then we discussed our Quran schedule. I was going to read two pages of Quran a day after every prayer, starting from Al-Fatihah. So I went downstairs with my bazaar bought Quran, and read the first two pages. Then I had to go find the translation for the two pages that I read. This is what I got.

Surah Al-Fatihah translation. From this website. Dar-us-Salam.

1. Surah Al-Fatihah

1. In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

2. All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists).

3. The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

4. The Only Owner (and the Only Ruling Judge) of the Day of Recompense (i.e. the Day of Resurrection)

5. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything).

6. Guide us to the Straight Way

7. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians).

And for Surah Al-Baqarah. First five ayahs.

Surah Al-Baqarah (The Cow)

1. Alif-Lam-Mim. [These letters are one of the miracles of the Qur'an and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings].

2. This is the Book (the Qur'an), whereof there is no doubt, a guidance to those who are Al-Muttaqun [the pious and righteous persons who fear Allah much (abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which He has forbidden) and love Allah much (perform all kinds of good deeds which He has ordained)].

3. Who believe in the Ghaib and perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and spend out of what we have provided for them [i.e. give Zakat , spend on themselves, their parents, their children, their wives, etc., and also give charity to the poor and also in Allah's Cause - Jihad, etc.].

4. And who believe in (the Qur'an and the Sunnah) which has been sent down (revealed) to you (Muhammad Peace be upon him ) and in [the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel), etc.] which were sent down before you and they believe with certainty in the Hereafter. (Resurrection, recompense of their good and bad deeds, Paradise and Hell, etc.).

5. They are on (true) guidance from their Lord, and they are the successful.

N

No Such Luck

Today S and I got picked up to go to the Farmers' Market. We were gonna sell bracelets and bandannas. So we did. It was for the Humane Society. The girls from the Boys and Girls Club came. People passed by our booth and the girls said, "Hello we're sponsors for the Boys and Girls club and the Humane society." And they we're like, "Oh." Then they walked away rudely. We didn't make very good business, but in the end we made $23. And the week before when they sold, they made $49, so in all that's $82. I bought a snow cone for myself and S. Rainbow flavored. Then when we were packing up to go, i got to take a bandanna for myself and S took one too. Then we went home and played with H's tupA' friend. They're out swimming right now.

N

Fun Things

I get to make fruit salad and smoothies in Ramadan for Iftar! Yay! I'm also gonna ask if I can set the table too.
H recently made me a blowdart.
I was planning to make my fish fast for the whole Ramadan, as they can survive a whole month without food, but S said that's not recommended. *facepalm*

Amazed by the Quran

Well, yesterday I came back from Irving, TX. There was a convention held there on Saturday. There were three speakers: Abdul-Nasir Jangda, Nouman Ali Khan (who we all refer to as The Kiddist), and Suhaib Webb.
Their lectures were mostly about being amazed by the Quran. I slept somewhere in between, maybe during Nouman's lecture.
After the whole thing was done, we checked out the booths that were selling stuff. I got a red Bayyinah long sleeved shirt in size M for free.
We met some Malaysians and went to their house. It was super-fancy. The food was da BOMB. Rice, chicken nuggets, beef, pita bread, salad, and mangoes.
Our hotel was nice. There was a green couch, which was also a pull-out bed, and a queen bed. The bathroom was kind of big, and the shower was nice. The bar soap was kind of nasty looking. It was brown with darker brown spots in it. We came back on Sunday night.

N

Play Party!

The performance today was amazing. So the first play went on, and my only part in it was to pour a box of tin cans over a cardboard 'closet door' to make a 'monumental crash'. My part in the other play was being H's cousin. H's name in the play was Simon. My mom did take videos and pictures, but I don't think it would be safe to post them here.
After the two plays, there was an awards ceremony. First, a boy got his certificate. Then it was my and H's turn! H got the Mr. Engineer Award, and I got the Right Hand Gal Award.
Then, we left the theatre and went to the clinic to present our projects. Ours (H, me, and another kid) was an animation on division, as I mentioned in the previous post.
After everything happened, we went to the big room and got cupcakes with fancy rainbow frosting. There was also red and orange punch.
Then, it was time to go.

N

Now Camp is Really Extinct!

Today was the last day of camp. We ate our cookies for snack today. H and I couldn't eat the cookies he and the other group made, because they had vanilla. So I just ate mine. It was so crunchy. The roof of my mouth hurt.

Here are the games I have played in camp so far (Might not be all, I forgot some of the names):

Who Started the Motion?

Making Rain

Barnyard Animals

Sound Motion

I Have a Watch

Whisper Shaft

Duck, Duck, Question Mark

Simon Says

Sharks and Minnows

Lemonade

Machines
One Word Story
The Prince of Paris
The Name Game

And that's all I remember...there was a lot more, I'm sure...

Tomorrow will be the play. We are presenting plays based on the books Noisy Nora and The Doorbell Rang. Then me, H, and another kid will be presenting our animation on division.
Then there will be cake and an awards ceremony. Yay!

It will be from 12:30 to 1:35, supposedly.

Tell you what happens tomorrow,
N

Camp is Extinct!

Tomorrow is the last day of camp. The play is on Thursday.
Tomorrow we get to eat the cookies we made today (they're called Bird's Nest Cookies (I'm in the Bird's Nest group)).
Today I played a game called Apples to Apples with my group. It was so funny, dude!
We have to finish our animation on division with our group.

Annnd....

Yeah. No footnotes today. Sorry.

N

PS: Alah! I have grrroop!

Yay! Summer!

New Things:
Summer classes, friendship bracelets, and traveling. Oh, and I also have something to tell you about Ramadan this year.

My summer class is kinda cacat*. It is called Reader's Theatre. Tomorrow is the last week of it. The play is on Thursday. What we exactly do is we do a play based on a book. It is from 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM. At the end of the day, we get snacks. Wahoo.

The friendship bracelets all started last Sunday. The person who takes us to volunteer at the animal shelter took us to an office and we made friendship bracelets. And today she took us again.

We are going to Dallas this Friday for a class. Our hotel has a stove and the beds are nine minutes apart, driving. We are coming back on Sunday or Monday.

As for Ramadan, Mom has planned something extremely amazing for us to do for Ramadan this year. We are going to study the history of Islam in some countries. We're going to make small mannequins and put clothing on them. Then, on Eid, we might make a pinata and give out treat bags at the masjid!

Catch you later,
N
_______________________________________________
*Cacat is the Malay word for 'lame'. It is pronounced, "Cha-chat."

Party for H

Can you believe it? The masjid is holding a party for H, because he finished Surah Yaseen, which is 1/4 of the Quran. It's on Sunday. I can't wait!

Also, there are some new posts on Poptropical Adventures, if you'd like a nice read.

Newr

Snow Play

I'm in Colorado.

Today I went ice skating and tubing. The hotel we are in has bunk beds. It's quite cold here. I had to wear like five layers of pants!
Ice skating wasn't so fun because there were too much people. But tubing was great. I had to get in a round thing and somebody had to push me down the hill. I hit a bump and went flying. It was so fun! We tubed for a long time and then we came back to the hotel at like around three. We rested and ate for a while and then we prayed Maghrib and Isha. Then we went to the Kiva. We rollerskated a little bit and it was awful because we were better at rollerblading. Then we went up and played Ping-Pong and Pool.

H is on the bed next to me now pretending to be paralyzed.

Oh yeah! How could I forget? The fire alarm went off, and everybody screamed and went outside. But I think it was just our rice cooker. That's when we went to the Kiva.

-Newr-

Eid Al-Adha

On Eid Al-Adha this year, we went to the masjid to pray. Then we ate. I ate a donut. After that we went home and changed our clothes so we could go to the farm. At the farm, we slaughtered four sheep and a ram. There was a nice cat there, a white cat with a ginger muzzle and tail. I think it was partly Siamese. There was a Siamese kitten there, and I think it was the cat's kitten. Anyway, after that we went to visit people. We went to a Singaporian's house. A boy there scared my little brother with a Halloween mask.

Eid Mubarak!

It's Eid-al Adha! Assalamu Alaikum!

Hiking

On Sunday I went hiking up a mountain. It was a Girls' Club event, and there were six girls (including me and Skina) and two adults. We went into a hermit's cave, which was nice and cool compared to the outside weather. At one moment all the girls decided to hide from the adults, so we hid in a nice chair-like part of the mountain. I ate a granola bar. Climbing down the mountain was pretty steep, and one time I fell. I was holding a thin tree branch, and you can guess it broke. I fell and smashed my face into some rocks and plant junk. (Don't worry, I'm okay!) My left leg hurt slightly for a while. When we finally got to the bottom, at the parking lot, we ate. I ate two cheese sandwiches, pineapple chunks, a banana, and something else that was really good, I can't remember what. Then we went to a girl's house to see her new baby sister. We ate pizza. We played soccer, and twice the ball got kicked over into the neighbor's yard.

Newr