tomorrow inshallah i will be flying out to Bangladesh for 3 weeks, i guess its gonna be difficult to blog from Bangladesh but i will try.

I'm really looking forward to it, i have never been to Asia before so its a first for me, actually maybe I'm the first Libyan to go to Bangladesh :)

I was invited by a couple of dear friends who are going so i grabbed the opportunity, i am so going to go with my eyes fully open absorbing every detail.

hopefully they have trees in Bangladesh :)

i will miss you all dear bloggers, i will take alot of pictures inshallah to share with you all,

loads of duas

white african signing out.....

i have already blogged about how i love and adore henna, well when the opportunity came for me to apply some, well me being me i couldn't resist, the strings of henna where pulling at my heart.

a friend of mine is getting married this week and yesterday was her henna and bless her and Allah make her happy, she remembered how much i loved henna so she included me in the henna process, yipeeeeeeee.

i swear I'm typing this with bags under my eyes, I'm so tired due to lack of sleep, all for the sake of henna, i came home in the early hours, and then forty winks later I'm having to wake up to go to work,

the feeling you get when you unravel it and you see the colour is sooooo cool, and during the day the colour gets darker, mine got slightly smudged as you can see on one of the fingers but it doesn't matter I'm just happy that i got hennified, yehhhhhhh.

i have a lovley friend who is due to have an important job interview, so i dedicate this to her:

How to Answer the Tough Interview Questions:

A lot of people know how to write a resume and talk their way into an interview. But when they get into the make or break dialogue, they stumble upon tough questions. Below, is some advice on approaching the tough questions that interviewers like to throw at job applicants:

Why did you leave your last job?
Real answer: It sucked.
What you should say: I felt my talents and abilities were underutilized.

What are your biggest weaknesses?
Real answer: I can't concentrate for more than five minutes, hate all forms of authority and tend to fall asleep at my desk.
What you should say: I'm a workaholic. I just don't know when to put down my work.

You don't seem to hold on to a job long. Why should we think you'll stay here any longer than you've stayed elsewhere?
Real answer: My employers have always had a hang-up about keeping only competent employees..
What you should say: I'm at a point in my career where I am tired of moving around. I really want to feel part of a team, a long-term enterprise, where I can make a contribution.For all those of u aiming for job switches...............

How do you handle change?
Real answer: I deal with it everyday, unless I'm out of clean underwear.
What you should say: I think everyone knows that today the only constant is change. I thrive on it.

How do you get along with others?
Real answer: Fine, as long as they stay out of my face.
What you should say: I think the interpersonal dynamics of the workplace can be among the most satisfying aspects of any job.

What does the word success mean to you?
Real answer: It means that I don't have to drag my sorry ass out of bed to kiss yours.
What you should say: Success, for me, would be knowing I am making a difference working with a team of people to make a more profitable enterprise.

What does the word failure mean to you?
Real answer: It means I continue to collect unemployment insurance.
What you should say: Failure? I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean. That word is not in my vocabulary.

Do you get along with your current boss?
Real answer: I get along fine, considering what kind of a malicious person he is.
What you should say: I don't think I'd call him a boss; he's been more of a mentor to me.

Do you ever get angry with co-workers?
Real answer: I don't get angry, I get even.
What you should say: Nothing angers me more than to see a co-worker not pulling his weight, goofing off or stealing. Yes, sometimes I do get angry with co-workers.

it's Saturday morning, and i slept till 10:30, how cool is that, to be honest i would have liked to sleep some more but i have things to do so boo hoo.

in scouts this week we had a fitness thing going on, we took the kids to the park next to the building and seriously those kids are drama queens lol.

ok so not all of them, but some of them where acting like they had never done any sort of exercise in there so far 10 years of life lol, probably too busy sitting on there bottoms all day playing play station tut tut tut.

i hate PlayStation's, whoever invented it should be turned into a computer game and jammed into a PlayStation to be stuck there for many many years collecting dust.

anyway, the aim behind this was to get them to do different fitness activities and write down there timings and what not, later they will have achieved there fitness badge to sew onto there uniforms.

so some of the kids where really excited to be at the park others needed a shot of the good old enthusiasm shove.

different activities where going on in different parts of the park, and i have to say all the leaders took part in running, jumping, falling even (hee hee that was ever the idealist) apart from white african, i didn't do no such thing, i just walked around taking pictures, I'm so good :)

they had to run around the park, and some of them really ran like they where being chased by a lion, others preferred to trot like an old pony:
can i just point out that i am not the only blogger that attempts to climb trees, 'ever the idealist' attempted to climb a tree, and she didn't get very far, ever learn from the best hun :)
there was quite alot of sitting down happening, lazy kids tut tut tut:

a good childhood game for me was skipping, i used to skip all the time with skipping rope, so cool, and some of the kids really went for it including ever the idealist, you go girl!!!
she was doing really well until i put my foot in the way (purposely) and it ruined her skipping ha ha ha
other activities included measuring how high they could jump against a tree: measuring how far they can throw a ball:

and the good old long jump
so by the end 0f the hour and a half, they where really tired, thirsty and ready for bed i know i was :)

Great finishes to common proverbs

A teacher collected well known proverbs. She gave each child in her class the first half of a proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb.It's hard to believe these were actually done by grade one kids ("6" year-olds):

Strike while the .......................... .insect is close.
Never underestimate the power of............ants.
Don't bite the hand that. ................ ....looks dirty.
Better to be safe than............... .......punch a grade 7 boy.
If you lie down with dogs, you'll..... ......stink in the morning.
It's always darkest before............. ......Daylight-saving Time.
You can lead a horse to water but.... .......how?
No news is.......................... ........impossible.
A miss is as good as a................. .....Mr.
You can't teach an old dog new....... .......maths.
Love all, trust..................... ........me.
The pen is mightier than the........... .....pigs.
An idle mind is........................ .....the best way to relax.
Where there's smoke there's.......... .......pollution.
Happy the bride who..................... ....gets all the presents.
A penny saved is...... ............ ..........not much.
Two's company, three's............... .......the Musketeers.
Don't put off till tomorrow what........ ....you put on to go to bed
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and..........you have to blow your nose.
There are none so blind as........... .......Stevie Wonder.
Children should be seen and not......... ....smacked or grounded.
If at first you don't succeed........... .....get new batteries.
You get out of something only what you.. ....see in the picture on the box.
When the blind leadeth the blind....... .....get out of the way.

I so need this, i sooooo need this, i soooooooo need this


If you have a boss you need one of these anger management dolls:
When you press their left hand, they say one of several obnoxious sayings. For instance, The Anger Management Boss may say “I don’t care if you’re sick, you’re coming in today, and you’re working overtime!” When you have heard enough of their demands, you choke them, and that’s when the fun starts!
Their eyes pop out, their tongues extend, limbs flail, they shriek and gag, and then they change their way. After you choke them into submission, the boss will tell you to take some time off, or give you a raise.

the weekend has been and gone in the speed of a flying humming bird and then Monday comes and the humming bird decides to pause in mid air.

sometimes the working day feels like walking under water.

this weekend really did run past me and i never did get the chance to catch up with it :0)

on Saturday i went to Bury Market and bought jeans and books yipeeee, then in the evening i went to didsbury mosque because every Saturday evening there a girls study circle, and i don't usually go unless I've been asked to cover, so this Saturday i went to help, the circle is aimed at girls aged between 13 -16 and they can seriously be annoying but its worth it when they participate and voice there opinions.

the topic was salah (prayer), and it's always a chore getting them to hush up and listen and leave there mobile phones (i swear i never had a mobile phone until i was like 19) and there is always the bouts of giggling, i never know what they giggle about!!!

my friend started by asking them all to give a fact about salah, and mashallah they where all coming out with different facts like 'salah is part of the 5 pillars of Islam' and 'salah is a form of communication between you and Allah'.

then my friend gave a mini reminder about the importance of praying all 5 prayers and the benefits that come with prayer and after every couple of words one of the girls would have some thing to say, one of the girls asked if it was ok to eat or drink whilst praying so i told her 'only if its halal food' she believed me as well so i had to tell her i was kidding otherwise her parents would tell me off lol.

we kinda got off topic by talking about backbiting which the girls really showed an interest in and then we had to steer it back to the topic on salah.

my friend ended it by telling them a story about a man who approached a sheikh and asked him to make dua (pray) for his wife as she was very ill, and he asked that he announce it in jummah prayers and ask for the musaleen (those who are praying) to make dua for his wife, the sheikh agreed but also asked the man if he prayed himself.

the man replied that he doesn't and the reason why he is not making dua for his wife is because he feels that he is a bad Muslim and that Allah will not accept his prayers, so he would rather ask 'good' Muslims to pray for his wife instead.

the sheikh then told him that Allah is always ready to listen and the man just needed to call him, the number being 2 4 4 3 4, meaning the number of rak3as in the 5 daily prayers as salah is a way of communicating with Allah.

one of the girls turs around to me and takes out her phone and says 'sondes whats that number again to call rabee' loooool

obviously i had to explain to her the story and that it wasn't an actual number, bless.

anyway i thought i would share that amusing story with you all.

this week in scouts was brilliant, I'm currently doing the faith badge with them, so i managed to get hold of a couple of cardboard boxes (one of them from ever so thanks banana) and i got them to make a 3D version of the kaabah yipeeeee.

there where 3 groups, 2 groups of girls and 1 group of boys, and they all equally worked hard to get there kaabahs finished and not only finished but perfect.

each kaabah looked different and each one was brilliant, and i have to say the boys did really well:

me and ever also had a go, i have to say ever you never completed yours tut tut tut: as for my kaabah, i couldn't help writing white african on the roof, also my box was the smallest one, and i had a big fat brush because all the nice little brushes where given out to the kids, oh well the sacrifices us scout leaders must do :) later after they had finished i spoke to them about hajj and the different rituals, mashallah most of them where already well informed, one of the kids got so inspired he started to run around in circles lol.

how cute is this?

i swear i have fallen in love with this photo.

i wanted to share it with you all, hope it brings a smile to your face cause it definatly brought a laugh to mine :)

ok now i want one of these creatures, what are they? not mice?

A 42-year-old man from New South Wales, Australia lost a part of his finger in a bar brawl and walked out of the pub and down the street unaware of it. He did not realize that something was amiss until he saw blood dripping down.
Police Inspector Mark Kellert told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, "He was out on the street and realized there was blood on his hand, noticed his finger was missing, and went to hospital."
After the man reached the bar and informed the guards about the missing finger, they were able to locate it with a huge amount of blood in the pub's bathroom.
The man, whose identity is not yet revealed, is currently being treated in the hospital but it was not clear if his severed finger was reattached or not.

i find alcohol related incidents so amusing, yesterday i had to go to the accident and emergency department of the hospital as my brother thabet had stupidly got hit by a table tennis racket and got himself quite a big lump on the front of his head.

i would have posted a picture but when i took out my camera he told me off and wouldn't let me take a picture sadly, oh well.

you guys should have seen it, it reminded me of the cartoons, you know when they get hit on the head and a huge bump appears on there head lol.

well thabet didn't find it very amusing, i did though, and alhamdullilah he is fine no probs, just has a bruise and a lump on his forehead.

any way the point about alcohol, about 95% of those waiting to be seen at accident and emergency where due to alcohol related incidents, its a pity that a person will get themselves in such situation for the sake of a drink, they don't realise that not only are their lives at risk but others as well and they drag the health system with them, aaaaah frustrating.

apparently according to some of the patients, the NHS (National Health Service) are supplying witch doctors!!!

that's right witch doctors.

i got a call from a patient yesterday requesting a witch doctor, he said he was desperate for one and if we new of any lol.

yep i looked in the yellow pages under the weird category and gave him a number to contact..

witch doctors?????? i swear i think nothing can surprise me any more.

this weekend i managed to spend some quality family time, my dad took us to some place called ellsmere and we spent most of the time in a lovely country park . the best thing was that the park was empty. well nearly, there weren't many people apart from the odd old couple and dogs which my mother would hide away from, i have to say i was good, i didn't run away from any dogs or stand on any picnic tables :)

as usual my 2 brothers managed to entertain us with there acrobatic skills which seem to get weirder and weirder by the day :) my brother hamza wa intent on showing me how he can balance on one hand on this picnic table.

pretty cool actually, lets just say if i tried i would have probably caused one member of my family to collapse from laughing at me, so i left it for the professionals to try. it became like a competition between my 2 brothers, who can do the best moves?

summer saults and flips in the air!! its a good thing the grass was soft although they never once fell so practice does make one perfect indeed.

at one point they turned around to me and said 'white african its your tun' hmmmmmm let me think, what could i possible offer??? i know i will climb a tree, my skill of the day, and low and behold there was a tree right behind where we where sat, now isn't that a coincidence? the funny thing was that after i had attempted to climb it i couldn't get down, i was stuck, and my brothers just stood there looking up at me!! 'help people, damsel in distress here' hamza came to the rescue and i managed to safely hit the floor in a dignified manner if that's ever possible.

thabet went back to being Mr flexible, literally the kid can really bend into all shapes.

and this weird action???????????
yes well after all that our stomachs began to rumble for some food and after lunch it was time to investigate the place and the only one up for it was thabet so of we went, and the scenery was superb.

we came across a canal:

and whilst walking down the side of the canal, a boat came past
the funny thing was i noticed that the name of the boat was 'shukran', and so i started to shout to the man 'helloooo, do you know what shukran means in Arabic?'

to which the man smiled, waved at me said hello and then shouted out 'Thank youuuuu'

to which i said 'correct'

that was weird and unexpected lol.

we saw a bridge in the distance and my brother kept trying to make me run, and i was adamant that i wouldn't, he was trying to prove a point, that he was faster than me, and i kept telling him that how does he know? so he would challenge me and as of yet i haven't taken up the challenge, if he wins he will never shut up about it :)

we walked over the bridge and came across fields, one thing that i love is the colour green and coming to such parks, you are guaranteed to see the colour green in every shade, subhannallahh such amazing beauty that when you stand there you really cant help but say 'subhannallah':
i have already mentioned that i adore and love trees, there something about them that fascinates me and i really can stay all day looking at them, sitting in the shade of a tree with a good book is sheer luxury in my eyes and it really irritates me when i come across a tree that has been vandalised, how can someone do this to a tree?

as well as trees i love pathways paved with trees, plants, flowers, my ideal garden would have a long pathway
and don't you think gates are so pretty? they really look so cottagy and if they squeak when you open them then that's even better :)
and then we came across a wooden floor that was white but i still couldn't help singing 'follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick, follow follow follow follow follow the yellow brick road, where off to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of oz',

the path lead back to the car park and where my parents where waiting for me, it was time to go back to Manchester,building buildings and even more building yipeeeeee.

its nice to have a break and visit the country side and act like that lady from the sound of music, see whenever i see a field i just want to run threw it and sing 'the hillssssss are alive with the sound of libyannnnns'.

i need to buy a fan, a massive, gigantic, absolutely enormous fan, one that is so powerful it will blow my hair away as well as dry my eyes out.

ok so maybe not that powerful, but i seriously need some sort of cooling system, Britain cant handle the heat, it was never designed to withstand anything above 18 degrees. buildings inside are like ovens, slowly cooking away your internal organs that end up resembling something similar to boiled eggs.


and people end up smelling like boiled eggs that have been left out for a century pheeeeeew.


so yeh a fan is what i need, actually i would like some sort of air conditioning system like they have back home, but at the moment i can live with a normal actually not normal, extraordinary fan.

the other day i was waiting in line to pay for a couple of items, when something on the shelf next to me caught my eye, i had to take a picture of it and show my mother.

a couple of months ago i blogged about how horrified my mother was to learn that a colleague of hers eats couscous sandwiched between toast, so when i saw this i laughed.

later that day i showed her the picture and at first she didn't realise what was so special, then i pointed it out, and her facial expression was a picture in itself lol.

i may just go back to the shop, buy this item and try it out myself.

i needed a wake up call today, i hate it sooooo much when i sleep in, i cant stand it, i get like 10 heart attacks, like this morning. i didn't hear the alarm, I'm supposed to wake up at 7:30 am, instead i woke up at 8:10am aaaaaaaaaah, walahi my eyes opened and i saw that it was bright outside, and for like a second i just continued to lie down, i don't know what i was thinking that it was a lazy Sunday or something.

then it hit me, and that when the heart attack occurred, i swear i jumped out of bed sooooo fast i would have been mistaken for a mirage.

i looked at the time and it was 8:10am, my Allah!!! that's the time that i leave the house in the morning, i proved to myself that i can multi task, seriously dearest bloggers, i managed to brush my teeth, wear my hijab and sort out my self all in the same time.

i deserve an applause, thank you thank you thank you...

not only that i managed to get to work on time as well, so all in all it wasn't too bad alhamdullilah.

but I'm sure the alarm didn't go of, i need an new alarm system, maybe something that hits me in the head (softly though) or one that drowns me in water, or maybe one that sings to me to wake up.

I'm usually a peaceful person, I'm being serious, so those of you who are rolling your eyes you can stop that :)

seriously i generally don't go out looking for fights, and i have no problem offering smiles to people unless there likely to take it the wrong way :)

but my anger does creep out occasionally, especially when i am a front seat passenger, i have passenger rage, and certain drivers on the streets will really annoy me and i cant keep quite, i will point out there stupidity to them which most people wont accept, this results in me being sworn at which then results in me getting even more angrier.

take Saturday afternoon for example, my mother and i where on our way home from visiting a family friend who had recently contributed to the population in the form of a baby boy mashallah, it was an afternoon filled with aaaaaah and ooooohs over the little creature and then off home it was.

we had turned into one of the streets, and there was a blue car in front of us which then decided to stop in the middle of the street un-expectantly which nearly caused us to crash into the back, the reason for this unexpected brake in the middle of the road was due to the fact that the driver spotted a friend walking and decided to have a full on conversation, not caring about causing near accidents.

my mother had to swerve to the side and drive past, and i had my window open so i (politely) asked the driver why she had committed the act of stupidity, and that she could have caused an accident through her carelessness, to which her reply was swearing at me as well as waving her arms above her head and making faces that a pit bull terrier would have found attractive.

my mums reaction was to continue to drive and say 'la7awla wala quwata il billah' and i shook my head, thinking that was the end of that.

no my dear bloggers it didn't end there, the lady was so offended by my pointing out her lack of human skills that she took it upon herself to follow us at the same time beeping her horn repeatedly as well as making her friend stick her head out the window like a siren shouting out more obscenities at us.

i asked my mum to park the car to the side, rummaged around in my bag, pulled out ..........my camera (camera, gun, same thing) and stepped out the car, waited for the crazy lady to drive past and took a picture of her car.

her friend noticed me do this as the car suddenly stopped and the friend came out and shouted 'why you taking pictures for?'

to which i took another picture, which angered her even more.

the driver then decided to grace us with her presence and began swearing at me.

now i can usually keep a cool at anything that's thrown my way but if you swear at me then i instantly see red, i cant stand it.

i asked her, actually i shouted seeing how she was no where near me, to come and say it to my face, this resulted in more swearing and threats to which again i said 'why don't you come over here and say it to my face?

the odd swear word was the result and it ended by her calling me a tosser and getting back into her car, by now she had caused traffic as she had parked in the middle of the road again!!!

silly woman, she had committed the act of stupidity and had the audacity to swear and not only that but follow us in her car!!! see how frustrating that is, some people need to be put on a lease until they know how to behave in society, clearly this woman had social issues, social in the sense that she honestly believed her father owned the streets of Manchester and that gave her the right to behave as she does.

actually i have seen many Muslims do this, stop in the middle of the road to have a conversation with a friend, not caring an atoms worth about other cars who are kept waiting, what sort of message is that to others?

A Quick Comparison Between Work & Prison

IN PRISON……you spend the majority of your time in a 10X10 cell.
AT WORK……..you spend the majority of your time in an 8X8 cubicle.
IN PRISON…….you get three meals a day.
AT WORK………you get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it.
IN PRISON……….you get time off for good behavior.
AT WORK…………you get more work for good behavior.
IN PRISON……….the guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK…………you're often required to carry a security card and open all the doors yourself.
IN PRISON………you can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK………..you get fired for watching TV and playing games.
IN PRISON……..you get your own toilet.
AT WORK……….you share the toilet with some people who pee on the seat.
IN PRISON……….they allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK…………you're not supposed to even speak to your family.
IN PRISON………all expenses are paid by the taxpayers.
AT WORK………..you pay all your expenses to get to work, and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.
IN PRISON ……..you must deal with sadistic wardens.
AT WORK………..they're called managers.
IN PRISON…..you spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out.
AT WORK ……you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

also i love pranks, big fan of pranks, and i found these office pranks very inspirational, i may just try some out myself :)

i wonder how much foil it would take to create this.

start collecting the metro newspaper and after a whole year you can start the prank :0)

i have actually done a couple of work pranks myself, but that's another story, sssssssshhhhh don't tell any one.