Love Machines

Assalam u alaikum,

I saw a man with a shirt that said, "Love Machine" on the back of it. I thought that was neat idea. Someone who never runs out of love. That's how we all are, I guess, if we only knew it.

Alhamdulillah everything is going well. This muhaddathah stage is hard because I am expected to memorize all the words that we learn during class and bring them into conversation. There aren't hardly as many exercises but we talk a lot. I think my teacher knows as much about Canada as any Canadian now. We've talked about the health care system, the education system, the economy, anything you can think of. That's the whole point of this stage, is to talk as much as possible and use all the rules and words that you already know in conversation.

I think I'm getting addicted to tea. Egyptian tea is so much better than the tea that we Pakistanis drink. The brand that they have at Al-Diwan is called aroosah which means basically "maiden"; a girl just before marriage and just after is called an aroosah. Nice name, huh? The colour of the tea is a pure ruby red, and we drink it in actual glasses, not mugs, so you can see the light sifting through the liquid, turning it into ambrosia within your mind. I don't think I'm actually physically addicted yet, but the problem is I forget to bring water and I get really thirsty, and Mustafa ordered me not to drink tap water and then I have no choice and...you get the picture. I drink a cup of tea almost everyday with my teacher during the break. That's also part of it; there's the whole mystique of the student drinking tea with his teacher surrounded by a pool of light on the third floor of a building on a busy Cairo street.

I will try to bring my own water because I definitely do not want any more addictions.

Alhamdulillah everything is good. I just remembered that I put the bedsheets in the wash and I forgot to put it out to dry. I'll put it out when I get home insha'allah.

The bawwab (literally, gatekeeper, but he's more like the custodian/guard/jack-of-all trades who lives in the building and takes care of everything) has the cutest son in the whole world. His name is Kareem and he plays this game with us where we growl at him and he growls back. The only word he can say is, "Ammo!"

May Allah make us love machines.

Ma'asalam,

~Ameer