Yowlers

Assalam u alaikum,

Alhamdulillah I am doing well. Today was great, I really enjoyed it. Behind me as I speak a bunch of British guys who have come here to learn Arabic are playing Fifa Soccer on Xbox and are laughing madly. It's pretty funny because they're big guys wearing topis and thawbs and everything but they're still able to enjoy a little game of video game soccer.

Speaking of soccer, I had a great game today. Seeing Mustafa play so well has really inspired me. Insha'allah please pray, we insha'allah insha'allah have a game with "Team Diwan" on Monday: Mustafa, Arif bhai, Atiq bhai, and the two Muhammads who work at Al-Diwan. We are one team and we go to take on a couple of other teams at a "field" (the field was "busy" last week according to Muhammad, that probably means they had to book it; I wonder what it'll be like?).

Yesterday we went with Arif bhai and Atiq bhai to a restaurant called Pasha. It was pretty good alhamdulillah. There was a momentous moment when I tried my first serving of koshari. It was really good alhamdulillah and amazingly cheap! There was so much food but it was only 4.5 guineas. And that's considered to be expensive! The only problem I have know is that I need to find a restaurant near us that serves koshari. I am sure that I'll be able to find one I just need to look.

As for what koshari is, it has rice, dhaal, and chunai, with this kind of sauce that you pour over it. Then you mix it all together and eat it. It's not exactly explosively-tastebud-popping (that's an understatement) but it's really wholesome food.

Ammo Ramly invited us to his parents' house again today but we decided not to go. I think it was a good decision even though his mother phoned and basically begged us to come. We were able to rest a lot today and that was extremely invigorating and refreshing.

My test yesterday was not great. I knew how to do the stuff but I didn't have enough time to do it. I felt frustrated because I wanted to live up to my teacher's expectations that I could do everything, but I just wasn't able to do it. I was actually really huffed and angry (Mustafa can attest to that) but after I prayed Isha (Shaikh Rida was leading and he has a mellifluous voice) and listened to Surah Waqi'a, "Are you the one who makes the crops grow, or is it We who make the crops grow?" I couldn't really stay angry. It's not up to me whether I learn or not. I can only try.

These Cairene cats are slightly insane. Everyday they serenade beneath our apartment, yowling the most hideous caterwauls you can imagine. It sounds like they're being tortured. The cats are beautiful otherwise but when they yowl like that they sound like their entrails are being fried. I originally thought some kids were abusing them but after hearing it everyday for one to two hours I decided the cats were just off their rockers.

Please pray for my oral test tomorrow, I am sort of nervous about it.

Ma'asalam,

~Ameer