Words to live by: Silence

Narrated Abu Hurairah: Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said,

"He who believes in Allah and the Last Day must not harm his neighbour, and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day must show hospitality to his guest, and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak good or remain silent." (Bukhari and Muslim)

I wonder if the underlined part is also related to another hadith narrated by Ibn Umar,

"he who covers up (the faults and sins of a Muslim, Allah will cover up (his faults and sins) in this world and in the Hereafter." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Are you speaking good if you're speaking badly about others? Even if it's minor things? For example "She talks too much." Is there a such thing as a neutral category? It would be interesting to spend a whole day analyzing everything that comes out of my mouth and classifying it as good/neutral/bad and then eliminating all the bad stuff. I wonder how much silence would ensue thereafter.

Lentil Soup: A Ramadan Staple

One of my favorite things about Ramadan (a month of fasting during the daylight hours for Muslims) is all the yummy food. Every Ramadan I look forward to eating lentil soup (shorbet addes). It is so hearty and delicious that sometimes I get full breaking my fast on just this soup.

Lévis: journey to the best ice cream ever

Ferry ticket station

Riding the ferry was probably one of my favorite experiences in Québec. My friend and I decided to go to Vieux-Québec to cross the St. Lawrence River to get to Lévis. We were supposed to meet our other friend there around 3:30 but got there around 5. We had some delays because we got off the bus a couple stops too early and got a little lost. Luckily we asked a woman at the bus stop the way to the port and she said she was riding the ferry also so we could follow her. It's convenient that the monthly bus pass I had worked on the buses as well as the ferry.

À bientôt Québec

One day I will return to Québec, insha'Allah (God-willing).

I stopped updating this blog about halfway through my trip because I was too busy but I will try to rehash some of my experiences in the coming days. I think I'll be able to remember most of it by sifting through the 2000+ pictures I took while there.

My flight left around noon and the departure was an emotional one. It was a beautiful sunny day in Québec. We gave our host-mom a framed picture of all of us as a parting gift. I was tired because I had only gotten 5 hours of sleep in the two days before I left but the traveling went pretty well. I had one connection of 4 hours before returning home. I was kind of nervous for airport security because it was at Newark which is close to NYC, because of my hijab. I got to the part where you had to walk through the metal detector and the guy directed me to stand in an area designated for patting down and then he called for a female assistant. When she arrived a few minutes later she instructed me to pat all over my head and neck area then she wiped my hands with a cloth and put it in a machine. I asked her what it was for and she just said bluntly "It tests for bombs." She was really friendly though.

Panoramas

I haven't had time to write a blog post for a while, and I don't know when I will, so for now I will leave you with some panoramas I have taken while here in Quebec.

Summer festival in Vieux-Quebec

On the ferry on the way to Levis

In Levis

On the way back to Vieux-Quebec

View of the bridges from the Aquarium 

L'autobus

The bus is my main mode of transportation here, except when I miss it then I hope my host-mom is able to give me a ride. For the first half of the week I took the bus to and from my home-stay with at least one of my roommates. Then the time came when I had to take it...alone.

Classes and Jumah

I'm taking 3 classes here, one about French grammar, oral expression and phonetics. All my teachers are humorous and encouraging to their students to improve our French. My grammar class is mostly doing exercises and going over them in class. Also if you arrive to class late you have to sing in front of the class. I was the first one to be late because I had to go to the clinic in the morning, but luckily she let it go that time. Oral expression is mostly discussion based and for the final we have to participate in a debate. Phonetics, my favorite class, is about the 'musique' of the the language. I'm learning so much about why words are pronounced the way they are and about the rhythmic nature of speaking French. If French phonetics is this cool Arabic phonetics must be awesome.

Books for my classes