Monday, 30 May 2011
My first week back in Hijab
15:18 | Posted by
Louise
My first week back into Hijab went sooooo well.
My work collegues loved the different colours of shayla I wore all matched perfectly with my outfits, infact my manager "Janet" was so pleased to see I was not going to be dressed head to toe in black.
Members of the public who came into my office and suddenly realised it was me under that headscarf and were really shocked to discover I was actually a muslim. "I never knew you were muslim, why did you not tell us", well considering most people come into my office to complain about their neighbours, dog crap all over the pavement or the fact their bedroom has damp, its a bit silly to assume I would say to them "Ok dont worry I will arrange a surveyor to assess your damp bedroom wall, oh and by the way I am a muslim, would you like to read Quran with me"
As to what I now wear, well same as before really with the exception that under everything I wear a long sleeved lycra top, I bought loads of new tops all with shaylas that somehow match perfectly. Peacock Blue, Festival Pink, Cranberry Red etc etc. My manager comes out each morning now to see what I have put together for the day lol.
I feel at peace now back in Hijab, because I did it because my heart wanted to do it. I may have been out of Hijab for a long time but Allah knows what was in my heart.
I do miss my Emirati style hijab but its not for the UK to be honest and also my husband does not like it. My Emirati way of life ended the day I left UAE and now I live a different kind of life so I have adapted what I now wear.
I may post some pics sometime inshaAllah
My work collegues loved the different colours of shayla I wore all matched perfectly with my outfits, infact my manager "Janet" was so pleased to see I was not going to be dressed head to toe in black.
Members of the public who came into my office and suddenly realised it was me under that headscarf and were really shocked to discover I was actually a muslim. "I never knew you were muslim, why did you not tell us", well considering most people come into my office to complain about their neighbours, dog crap all over the pavement or the fact their bedroom has damp, its a bit silly to assume I would say to them "Ok dont worry I will arrange a surveyor to assess your damp bedroom wall, oh and by the way I am a muslim, would you like to read Quran with me"
As to what I now wear, well same as before really with the exception that under everything I wear a long sleeved lycra top, I bought loads of new tops all with shaylas that somehow match perfectly. Peacock Blue, Festival Pink, Cranberry Red etc etc. My manager comes out each morning now to see what I have put together for the day lol.
I feel at peace now back in Hijab, because I did it because my heart wanted to do it. I may have been out of Hijab for a long time but Allah knows what was in my heart.
I do miss my Emirati style hijab but its not for the UK to be honest and also my husband does not like it. My Emirati way of life ended the day I left UAE and now I live a different kind of life so I have adapted what I now wear.
I may post some pics sometime inshaAllah
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Deceitful Men
I was reading a really good post on an online friends blog about men who lie and are deceitful to women to try to get a woman to marry them.
I decided to share some of the deceitful and time wasting men who asked me for marraige when I first became a muslim, one of which I actually married.
Not many people know about my first Islamic marraige, its not something I have ever wished to make public knowledge. I guess in reality it caused me so much shame, I kept the story hidden away, but decided to share it today.
Deceitful Man # One
When I converted to Islam way back in 1999, I lived with a local family (husband was local, wife was Pakistani from a very prominant Pakistani Family (her father is Pir Pagara http://www.pirpagara.com/). I decided that I wanted to complete my deen in Islam and get married. I had quite a few people ask for me and one of which was a Qatari man who told me his name was Thamer. He flew over from Qatar to meet me and proposed marraige. He worked for Al Jazeera TV and had a very high position. I agreed to marry him and with the help of the family I lived with it was decided that we would fly to Karachi and have our marraige performed at the beautiful house of Pir Pagara's daughter. Because "Thamer" wanted to get married quickly, the family I lived with did not fly over with us, however the driver and servants were there to meet us and take us to the house and some Pakistani friends also came to the house to be witnesses.
Two weeks before the wedding "Thamer" sent me 5,000 dirhams to buy a ring and whatever else I needed, so I bought a very expensive abaya from Burjuman (cost almost 3,000 dirhams) and my wedding ring plus extra money for the deposit and 3 months rent in advance for a villa on Ajman Corniche where I decided I wanted to live so I could be close to my best friend Fay while "Thamer was in Qatar and overseas with Al Jazeera.
Anyway we flew to Karachi (first class) and the Imam's came to the house and we were married. Unknown to me was the fact that "Thamer" had set my mahr at $1. I was a new muslim and did not know that someone was supposed to ask me what I wanted or tell me what was in the contract.
We then got driven to one of Karachi's top hotels and stayed in a beautiful suite for the night.
On my wedding night, I felt so uneasy as "Thamer" kept dissapearing into the bathroom with his phone, I dont know why but it just made me feel uneasy.
The next day we flew back to Dubai, again First Class and were met at Dubai airport by a limosine. I told Thamer we had to go to the farm in Alawir as all the family and my local friends wanted to congratulate us and I know they had laid on a huge feast and Omran had ordered a sheep to be slaughtered in our honor. "Thamer seemed annoyed at this and was very reluctant for us to go, which again I found very unseasy and strange. I insisted and told him it would be such bad manners especially as this family had looked after me for a long time and treated me as one of the family. We reached the farm and everyone was waiting to greet us. I got showered with gifts of gold and clothes and we ended up staying for a couple of hours only.
I then took my car and drove us towards the Kapinski Hotel where we had a suite booked for one night as "Thamer" had told me before the wedding that he would have to leave the third day for business in Sudan.
As we drove towards the Corniche I suggested we stop at our new villa so he could take a look. He refused and said he would look once he came back from his trip (again I found this so uneasy and strange). We continued onto the Kapinski and stayed the night.
Next morning I drove "Thamer" to Dubai airport and dropped him for his flight and he said he would call me later and hoped to be back in a week or two.
That was the last time I ever saw or spoke to "Thamer" again.
4 Days went past with no phone call or contact, I was deeply upset, I thought something terrible had happened. I tried to call him but his phone was switched off. I was still living with the family during this time as was waiting for Thamer to return so we could furnish the villa and move in.
7 Days after my wedding, the husband of the local family I lived with came home from his company and told me to sit with him. He told me "Thamer" had called him at the office and told him he could no longer be married to me because his wife had found out he had taken another wife (apparently he already had a wife and 4 children), he told my friend that he had sent me 20,000 dirhams to an exchange house and I could collect it that day and it was his way of saying sorry, then he closed the phone.
I was totally devistated, not only devistated I was so ashamed, what would everyone think. Oh the shame, it was the most awful time of my life.
I was also really angry but the family told me to keep my head held high and sent me out to collect the money he had sent.
I collected the money and decided to use it to buy furniture for the villa he had made me rent and to move into it and then try to find a way to pay the rest of the rent for the year.
So the next few weeks were spent on endless trips to Ikea and finally I moved into the little villa and decided that as I had done nothing wrong I had nothing to really be ashamed of.
3 months after the wedding I recieved and email from a lawyer in Dubai telling me I was being divorced and I had to call him so he could tell me when the case would be heared at Ajman Sharia Court. I called the lawyer and demanded to know why "Thamer" had done this to me. He refused to answer and said it would be discussed at the court.
The day of the Divorce came and my best friends local husband Jamal came to the court with me. "Thamer" was not there, only his lawyer and he put the case before the judge. The judge listened and then turned to me, I just burst into tears. It was all performed in arabic with Jamal as my translator. The judge was totally horrified by the entire case, he was disgusted that "Thamer" who I found out during the divorce hearing was actually called "Adulaziz" (so he lied to me about his name) could not even bother attending to face me and had given power over to his lawyer to act on his behalf, he was disgusted that a born muslim man could knowingly take a new muslim and treat her in such a way and he was disgusted because he could tell that this marraige was never meant to be for life, it was obvious to him "Thamer" had taken me as a wife just to spend a lustful time with and he felt he knew this because my mahr had been set at $1.
The judge granted the divorce, however he told the lawyer that before it was granted "Thamer" had to agree to pay rent in full on the villa for one entire year and to give me an additional 5,000 dirhams ontop of the 20,000 dirhams he had given me previously as a kind of payoff.
So for 2 nights with this deceitful man I got a villa for one year and 25,000 dirhams, made me feel a bit like a high class hooker to be honest.
Funny thing is, 2 years later I was sitting having coffee with an old Qatari friend of mine who I had not seen for 3 years and I told him the story of my marraige and he looked shocked and said "Oh my God, so your the girl Abdulaziz married", he then told me he knew my ex husband and told me that he had been married at 16 to his cousin, and because he was devout (haha) he could not cheat on his wife or on the rules of Islam, so he searched out a new muslim, to marry her, to enjoy for the weekend and then get divorced so sex was not haram. Sadly for me, he chose ME.
So that is the story I have kept hidden for years and from so many people.
Deceitful Man # Two
Well after Deceitful Man # One experience I decided to be careful. I met a local called Taha (if I was a Biotch I would state his surname here for all to see, but I wont do that incase his American wife is a blog reader.
I met Taha and we used to speak on the phone many times a day, we met a few times and he wanted to take things further. He told me he had never been married but wanted to settle down and have kids. He worked for the UAE Army and one day he told me they were posting him to Cyprus for training for 8 months and I asked him if he wanted me to wait for him to return ie: not talk to anyone else about marraige etc.
Taha told me "Yes" he really wanted that and we promised to keep intouch via email while he was away and I would keep myself for him until he returned and then we would decide what to do.
So he apparently left for Cyprus and I used to email each day letting him know what I was up to etc, he did email also but only about 2 times a week. After 4 months I began to get a little bored of waiting but as I had promised him, I continued to keep myself for him and not talk to anyone else who asked about marraige. About 7 months after he supposedly left UAE I went to call a friend on my mobile and accidently hit his number instead. He answered the phone and as soon as I recognised his voice I asked him "When did you come back", he closed the phone on me. Then he called me back and said he had arrived the night before and wanted to suprise me.
We agreed to meet the following day in the car park of Al Mulla Plaza (Taha is from Abu Dhabi). When we met, Taha said he had something to tell me, he had lied about being in Cyprus and had been in UAE all this time, he just wanted to know I was dedicated.
I was so upset and angry but because I am too soft for my own good I forgave him.
After this episode, more strange things happened. Once he wanted me to drive to meet him in Abu Dhabi and when I was on my way he texted me to tell me a load of his family had been killed in a car crash and he could not meet me (I had reached Abu Dhabi by the time I actually looked at the messege) so I had to drive all the way back to Ajman again.
I began to really get annoyed now, there was nothing on the news about and entire family from Abu Dhabi being wiped out in a car crash and I began to realise this guy had a serious problem which involved lying. So I just stopped contact and tried to put the yet again almost 1 year of wasted life behind me. It was the upset and anger at this latest liar that I ended up rushing into marraige with Imanes father (if you have read my blog you will know how nasty he turned out to be).
Rolling on a year and a bit I had just given birth to Imane and was at home in Abu Dhabi where I was then living, I had just fed Imane and it was about 4am in the morning when my mobile rang. I answered and it was Taha, he sounded drunk and he began to ask how I was. I told him I had married and just 10 days before given birth to my daughter. He then began to talk really haram, telling me he wished he had Fxxxed me back then, he really regreted not doing that as I turned him on and how he knows I really need his "Mr Pecker". I told him he wasted a year of my life, that I had just given birth and how dare he call me and talk filth at 4am and then closed the phone.
Next day I got another call on my mobile from a woman with an American accent, she demanded to know who I was and why the hell was I talking to he husband. I then realised this snake was a married man, not only deceiving me but cheating on his wife not physically but almost as bad. I could of told his wife A-Z but I politly told her Taha was an old friend, that I was married and had given birth just 10 days prior and Taha had called to congratulate me. After I closed the phone I realised the kids he used to put on the phone to talk to me claiming they were his brothers kids were actually his own.
Why the heck would a sane man make a woman be faithful and wait for him for no reason, maybe he enjoyed the thought of this, who knows what was in his warped mind.
When I came back to UK in 2004 I once wrote to Taha and asked him why he lied, and told him his wife had called me that night and why he denied her existance thus lying to not one but two people and his kids. He did write back but did not answer my questions, just wrote about how he was blah blah blah.
So there you have it. Men can be deceitful I have experienced it and it is not only totally haram but the worst thing to have to have done to you. I pray to Allah that no one goes through what I did. I was stupid in reality to believe everything I was told. Omran offered to run background checks on anyone I talked to as he had the means to find out A-Z about anyone due to him working for interpol but I told him to butt his nose out of my business and its the silliest thing I ever did as I could have saved myself a lot of pain and shame.
I decided to share some of the deceitful and time wasting men who asked me for marraige when I first became a muslim, one of which I actually married.
Not many people know about my first Islamic marraige, its not something I have ever wished to make public knowledge. I guess in reality it caused me so much shame, I kept the story hidden away, but decided to share it today.
Deceitful Man # One
When I converted to Islam way back in 1999, I lived with a local family (husband was local, wife was Pakistani from a very prominant Pakistani Family (her father is Pir Pagara http://www.pirpagara.com/). I decided that I wanted to complete my deen in Islam and get married. I had quite a few people ask for me and one of which was a Qatari man who told me his name was Thamer. He flew over from Qatar to meet me and proposed marraige. He worked for Al Jazeera TV and had a very high position. I agreed to marry him and with the help of the family I lived with it was decided that we would fly to Karachi and have our marraige performed at the beautiful house of Pir Pagara's daughter. Because "Thamer" wanted to get married quickly, the family I lived with did not fly over with us, however the driver and servants were there to meet us and take us to the house and some Pakistani friends also came to the house to be witnesses.
Two weeks before the wedding "Thamer" sent me 5,000 dirhams to buy a ring and whatever else I needed, so I bought a very expensive abaya from Burjuman (cost almost 3,000 dirhams) and my wedding ring plus extra money for the deposit and 3 months rent in advance for a villa on Ajman Corniche where I decided I wanted to live so I could be close to my best friend Fay while "Thamer was in Qatar and overseas with Al Jazeera.
Anyway we flew to Karachi (first class) and the Imam's came to the house and we were married. Unknown to me was the fact that "Thamer" had set my mahr at $1. I was a new muslim and did not know that someone was supposed to ask me what I wanted or tell me what was in the contract.
We then got driven to one of Karachi's top hotels and stayed in a beautiful suite for the night.
On my wedding night, I felt so uneasy as "Thamer" kept dissapearing into the bathroom with his phone, I dont know why but it just made me feel uneasy.
The next day we flew back to Dubai, again First Class and were met at Dubai airport by a limosine. I told Thamer we had to go to the farm in Alawir as all the family and my local friends wanted to congratulate us and I know they had laid on a huge feast and Omran had ordered a sheep to be slaughtered in our honor. "Thamer seemed annoyed at this and was very reluctant for us to go, which again I found very unseasy and strange. I insisted and told him it would be such bad manners especially as this family had looked after me for a long time and treated me as one of the family. We reached the farm and everyone was waiting to greet us. I got showered with gifts of gold and clothes and we ended up staying for a couple of hours only.
I then took my car and drove us towards the Kapinski Hotel where we had a suite booked for one night as "Thamer" had told me before the wedding that he would have to leave the third day for business in Sudan.
As we drove towards the Corniche I suggested we stop at our new villa so he could take a look. He refused and said he would look once he came back from his trip (again I found this so uneasy and strange). We continued onto the Kapinski and stayed the night.
Next morning I drove "Thamer" to Dubai airport and dropped him for his flight and he said he would call me later and hoped to be back in a week or two.
That was the last time I ever saw or spoke to "Thamer" again.
4 Days went past with no phone call or contact, I was deeply upset, I thought something terrible had happened. I tried to call him but his phone was switched off. I was still living with the family during this time as was waiting for Thamer to return so we could furnish the villa and move in.
7 Days after my wedding, the husband of the local family I lived with came home from his company and told me to sit with him. He told me "Thamer" had called him at the office and told him he could no longer be married to me because his wife had found out he had taken another wife (apparently he already had a wife and 4 children), he told my friend that he had sent me 20,000 dirhams to an exchange house and I could collect it that day and it was his way of saying sorry, then he closed the phone.
I was totally devistated, not only devistated I was so ashamed, what would everyone think. Oh the shame, it was the most awful time of my life.
I was also really angry but the family told me to keep my head held high and sent me out to collect the money he had sent.
I collected the money and decided to use it to buy furniture for the villa he had made me rent and to move into it and then try to find a way to pay the rest of the rent for the year.
So the next few weeks were spent on endless trips to Ikea and finally I moved into the little villa and decided that as I had done nothing wrong I had nothing to really be ashamed of.
3 months after the wedding I recieved and email from a lawyer in Dubai telling me I was being divorced and I had to call him so he could tell me when the case would be heared at Ajman Sharia Court. I called the lawyer and demanded to know why "Thamer" had done this to me. He refused to answer and said it would be discussed at the court.
The day of the Divorce came and my best friends local husband Jamal came to the court with me. "Thamer" was not there, only his lawyer and he put the case before the judge. The judge listened and then turned to me, I just burst into tears. It was all performed in arabic with Jamal as my translator. The judge was totally horrified by the entire case, he was disgusted that "Thamer" who I found out during the divorce hearing was actually called "Adulaziz" (so he lied to me about his name) could not even bother attending to face me and had given power over to his lawyer to act on his behalf, he was disgusted that a born muslim man could knowingly take a new muslim and treat her in such a way and he was disgusted because he could tell that this marraige was never meant to be for life, it was obvious to him "Thamer" had taken me as a wife just to spend a lustful time with and he felt he knew this because my mahr had been set at $1.
The judge granted the divorce, however he told the lawyer that before it was granted "Thamer" had to agree to pay rent in full on the villa for one entire year and to give me an additional 5,000 dirhams ontop of the 20,000 dirhams he had given me previously as a kind of payoff.
So for 2 nights with this deceitful man I got a villa for one year and 25,000 dirhams, made me feel a bit like a high class hooker to be honest.
Funny thing is, 2 years later I was sitting having coffee with an old Qatari friend of mine who I had not seen for 3 years and I told him the story of my marraige and he looked shocked and said "Oh my God, so your the girl Abdulaziz married", he then told me he knew my ex husband and told me that he had been married at 16 to his cousin, and because he was devout (haha) he could not cheat on his wife or on the rules of Islam, so he searched out a new muslim, to marry her, to enjoy for the weekend and then get divorced so sex was not haram. Sadly for me, he chose ME.
So that is the story I have kept hidden for years and from so many people.
Deceitful Man # Two
Well after Deceitful Man # One experience I decided to be careful. I met a local called Taha (if I was a Biotch I would state his surname here for all to see, but I wont do that incase his American wife is a blog reader.
I met Taha and we used to speak on the phone many times a day, we met a few times and he wanted to take things further. He told me he had never been married but wanted to settle down and have kids. He worked for the UAE Army and one day he told me they were posting him to Cyprus for training for 8 months and I asked him if he wanted me to wait for him to return ie: not talk to anyone else about marraige etc.
Taha told me "Yes" he really wanted that and we promised to keep intouch via email while he was away and I would keep myself for him until he returned and then we would decide what to do.
So he apparently left for Cyprus and I used to email each day letting him know what I was up to etc, he did email also but only about 2 times a week. After 4 months I began to get a little bored of waiting but as I had promised him, I continued to keep myself for him and not talk to anyone else who asked about marraige. About 7 months after he supposedly left UAE I went to call a friend on my mobile and accidently hit his number instead. He answered the phone and as soon as I recognised his voice I asked him "When did you come back", he closed the phone on me. Then he called me back and said he had arrived the night before and wanted to suprise me.
We agreed to meet the following day in the car park of Al Mulla Plaza (Taha is from Abu Dhabi). When we met, Taha said he had something to tell me, he had lied about being in Cyprus and had been in UAE all this time, he just wanted to know I was dedicated.
I was so upset and angry but because I am too soft for my own good I forgave him.
After this episode, more strange things happened. Once he wanted me to drive to meet him in Abu Dhabi and when I was on my way he texted me to tell me a load of his family had been killed in a car crash and he could not meet me (I had reached Abu Dhabi by the time I actually looked at the messege) so I had to drive all the way back to Ajman again.
I began to really get annoyed now, there was nothing on the news about and entire family from Abu Dhabi being wiped out in a car crash and I began to realise this guy had a serious problem which involved lying. So I just stopped contact and tried to put the yet again almost 1 year of wasted life behind me. It was the upset and anger at this latest liar that I ended up rushing into marraige with Imanes father (if you have read my blog you will know how nasty he turned out to be).
Rolling on a year and a bit I had just given birth to Imane and was at home in Abu Dhabi where I was then living, I had just fed Imane and it was about 4am in the morning when my mobile rang. I answered and it was Taha, he sounded drunk and he began to ask how I was. I told him I had married and just 10 days before given birth to my daughter. He then began to talk really haram, telling me he wished he had Fxxxed me back then, he really regreted not doing that as I turned him on and how he knows I really need his "Mr Pecker". I told him he wasted a year of my life, that I had just given birth and how dare he call me and talk filth at 4am and then closed the phone.
Next day I got another call on my mobile from a woman with an American accent, she demanded to know who I was and why the hell was I talking to he husband. I then realised this snake was a married man, not only deceiving me but cheating on his wife not physically but almost as bad. I could of told his wife A-Z but I politly told her Taha was an old friend, that I was married and had given birth just 10 days prior and Taha had called to congratulate me. After I closed the phone I realised the kids he used to put on the phone to talk to me claiming they were his brothers kids were actually his own.
Why the heck would a sane man make a woman be faithful and wait for him for no reason, maybe he enjoyed the thought of this, who knows what was in his warped mind.
When I came back to UK in 2004 I once wrote to Taha and asked him why he lied, and told him his wife had called me that night and why he denied her existance thus lying to not one but two people and his kids. He did write back but did not answer my questions, just wrote about how he was blah blah blah.
So there you have it. Men can be deceitful I have experienced it and it is not only totally haram but the worst thing to have to have done to you. I pray to Allah that no one goes through what I did. I was stupid in reality to believe everything I was told. Omran offered to run background checks on anyone I talked to as he had the means to find out A-Z about anyone due to him working for interpol but I told him to butt his nose out of my business and its the silliest thing I ever did as I could have saved myself a lot of pain and shame.
Friday, 20 May 2011
Back to Hijab
Well tommorow I am back in Hijab.
Its been a long time coming and not sure really why I stopped wearing it.
I do a difficult job, visit people in their homes, alone and some have mental health issues, drug abuse issues and racism issues. I think before I met and married my husband I stopped wearing it because I was worried about my safety on the job.
Anyway it was my choice back then, Allah knows everything and it is him who will judge me "Only".
In UAE I wore Khaleeji style hijab and loved it, but it is not suitable for UK and to be honest my husband does not like that style.
I will continue to wear my normal clothes (mainly trousers/jeans) however I have invested in a number of different coloured long sleeved lycra tops to wear under anything I have with short sleeves. I have also purchased both in UAE and here the most beautiful and colourful shayla's and cant wait to hit the street.
I am wondering what people on the bus will think monday morning. We get the same bus everyday, they are used to seeing my hair and will probably be sitting there monday thinking "what the heck is this woman wearing" lol.
One of my work collegues "Michael" told me, "but we have seen your hair so what is the point of now covering it", so I told him, "Well when it gets luciously long and glossy or I change my style you wont get to see it will you", he did laugh at that.
Life is pretty good at the moment. I am so tired however. I wake at 5.30am each day, drop Imane to school, make my way to the office and we dont get home until 6.30pm. I then cook a meal from scratch and before you know it, its time for bed.
Husband is due to finish his 3 year Bsc next week, Imane is finally getting tests and things done for her behaviour issues and gender identity issues (we actually have to travel up to London to the Tavistock Clinic next friday) and we are making plans to return to UAE for good next year InshaAllah.
I hope all of you have a blessed and relaxing weekend InshaAllah
Its been a long time coming and not sure really why I stopped wearing it.
I do a difficult job, visit people in their homes, alone and some have mental health issues, drug abuse issues and racism issues. I think before I met and married my husband I stopped wearing it because I was worried about my safety on the job.
Anyway it was my choice back then, Allah knows everything and it is him who will judge me "Only".
In UAE I wore Khaleeji style hijab and loved it, but it is not suitable for UK and to be honest my husband does not like that style.
I will continue to wear my normal clothes (mainly trousers/jeans) however I have invested in a number of different coloured long sleeved lycra tops to wear under anything I have with short sleeves. I have also purchased both in UAE and here the most beautiful and colourful shayla's and cant wait to hit the street.
I am wondering what people on the bus will think monday morning. We get the same bus everyday, they are used to seeing my hair and will probably be sitting there monday thinking "what the heck is this woman wearing" lol.
One of my work collegues "Michael" told me, "but we have seen your hair so what is the point of now covering it", so I told him, "Well when it gets luciously long and glossy or I change my style you wont get to see it will you", he did laugh at that.
Life is pretty good at the moment. I am so tired however. I wake at 5.30am each day, drop Imane to school, make my way to the office and we dont get home until 6.30pm. I then cook a meal from scratch and before you know it, its time for bed.
Husband is due to finish his 3 year Bsc next week, Imane is finally getting tests and things done for her behaviour issues and gender identity issues (we actually have to travel up to London to the Tavistock Clinic next friday) and we are making plans to return to UAE for good next year InshaAllah.
I hope all of you have a blessed and relaxing weekend InshaAllah
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Salam From UAE
We are having a wonderful time in UAE. This trip I have slowly begun to accept the huge changes to UAE since I left in 2004. Its not easy and I miss the old UAE but that is never coming back so I just have to accept the way it is. My husbands family are fantastic alhamdulillah, I love them all so much and they have all fully embraced me into the family. I adore my mother-in-law Ruwaida and also my sister-in-laws, Abeer, Nayla, Shireen, Mona and Tahleel. We have had quite a few girls shopping trips where I have treated myself to some really nice pieces of jewellery. I purchased a very long chain with a beautiful pendant on it which says MashaAllah and today bought my daughter a chain with Allah on it as well as a beautiful Islamic set which incorporates the Iranian stone Fairuz (not sure if spelt right) and little diamonds and the word Allah. My mum in law is the best cook and we have been eating loads of Palestinian dishes. We had a full sheep friday, something I used to detest, however it was so tasty and completly different to the Khaleeji way of cooking Lamb. Imane has fallen in love with Bamia a dish made with ocra and begs for it breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have found out that the way I speak Arabic is 100% Khaleeji, so my in laws are teaching me the Palestinian way to say things. I became a bit like a British Bedu while living in UAE all those years as I mixed with Khaleeji only. Its strange to drive around UAE now. Anyone who came to UAE after 2000 really has no idea about the old UAE. I know I harp on about it a lot but it was so different. You hardly ever saw a western woman adopt the local dress, now everyone seems to be wearing it. Malls were chock a block with locals, now when I shop its hard to spot one, but thats probably due to the amount of Malls here now. Back in the old days we had a limited choice either Lamcy Plaza, Al Ghurair, Wafi, City Center and Burjuman, that was basically it. Can you believe I used to fish behind the Dubai Sharjah road, its hard to believe that now, as it sort of resembles NYC lol and they have got rid of the sea that come through that way. I miss so many things. I have a photo of me which I will scan sometime as I dont think its on my blog. Its of me the first 2 weeks I was in UAE at the begining of 1990, I am standing in Mirdiff, there is nothing there, just desert and one solitary house far in the distance behind me which happens to be the house of my friend Saqar bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Now its unreconisable with all the buildings, malls etc. Ahhhhh the good old days, the days when hardly anyone knew about the UAE, now its a hot holiday destination. I remember the main tourists back in those days were Germans, I used to go to a popular hotel in Jumeriah but it was virtually empty most of the year because UAE was not known to anyone really other than a few adventurious tourists and mainly British expats who were contracted to work in UAE. While here I have been trying to get closer to Islam, after talking with my husband I have decided to start covering my hair again. I need to talk with my manager at work about security issues and they people I deal with (many very racist) but I aim to start wearing it very soon. I will no longer dress like I did before, like a Khaleeji as I am not living the life I had back then. My husbands family do not wear abaya unless they pop to the local supermarket, they dress modestly and cover their hair, thats it. Anyway its storming outside here in Sharjah, everyone is asleep except husband and I, he is studying and I am begining to feel very sleepy to I will call it a night now.
Saturday, 26 March 2011
Did a bit of shopping today
I have been out as early as possible this morning shopping for our trip to Dubai.
I hate shopping, I must be one of the few women who hate it. I like to get in, get out and home ASAP.
My husband Rayed however adores it, he can be out from 9am until 5pm just shopping for a pair of socks, it drives me banana's and I actually always try to come up with an excuse not to go out shopping with him because just to find a simple shirt means, M&S, over to Zara, into debenhams, back to M&S, back to Zara blah blah blah until 6 hours later he buys the first shirt we looked at.
I have been stocking up on Clinque, I hate to admit it but I bought the entire skin care range, including all the anti wrinkle creams, loads of make up and my purse is now roughly £500 lighter (dont tell hubby). I am a DERMALOGICA fan but my skin care regime was costing me roughly £360 ever 6 weeks and I just cant do it financially anymore lol.
Today I bought Imane 2 pairs of shoes from Clarks (gota love clarks shoes for kids), as you all know Imane only wears boys stuff, so I had to sadly shop in the boys section :(
Then got her loads of shorts, TShirts, denim jacket, jeans etc (again from boys sections of M&S and H&M). I got 3 new pairs of lovely summer shoes, loads of clothes that will be suitable for parading around in front of Hubby's family. Even my husband got spoilt, Clinique for men skincare, new CottonCool underpants lol and socks .
(I no longer wear Hijab and my husband does not like me to wear it even when I am in UAE..It is very difficult to wear it in my job anyway, I deal with some very uneducated, racist people who often have severe mental health issues and our daily working life is dangerous without having to do a lone home visit to a racist who has a criminal record while my hair is covered...one of my collegues some time ago was kidnapped by a tenant and kept hostage and subjected to sexual abuse for 5 hours, so I do not want to ever put myself in a situation where I am attacked in someones house because they are racist)
While out shopping, I was people watching a bit. As soon as the sun comes out in UK, so do all the sights of summer. Today we had builders bum's galore, ver fat women in transparent white linen trousers with thongs undeneath, so you could see all their dimply flesh wobbling and their butt crack (Yuck, I have a big butt bu no way would I subject the general public to a viewing of it), All the little madams, with skirts up around their ears with those evil fake tans that turn them kind of orange and all the "Chav" single benefit claiming mums pushing the flashest, biggest white/pink or other Chav coloured pram that their £500 maternity grant could buy them (not from UK and not sure what a Chav is, then google it) with their other 5 or 6 kids tagging along.
As well as the above you get the drinkers walking around town clutching their cans of special brew or swigging out of a large bottle of Cider, while swerving all over the pavement drunk as a skunk. Gota love Brighton in the Summer, its pure entertainment.
I am home now, obviously because I am typing away on here. I am sitting wearing my Slendertone Flex Ab Toner belt on full blast, doing 2000 situps while I type and eat a chocolate catapillar. Imane is over the road with her best buddies Nicolas and Felix, hubby is finishing a project for Uni and the cat is sunbathing in the window. I love weekends.
I hate shopping, I must be one of the few women who hate it. I like to get in, get out and home ASAP.
My husband Rayed however adores it, he can be out from 9am until 5pm just shopping for a pair of socks, it drives me banana's and I actually always try to come up with an excuse not to go out shopping with him because just to find a simple shirt means, M&S, over to Zara, into debenhams, back to M&S, back to Zara blah blah blah until 6 hours later he buys the first shirt we looked at.
I have been stocking up on Clinque, I hate to admit it but I bought the entire skin care range, including all the anti wrinkle creams, loads of make up and my purse is now roughly £500 lighter (dont tell hubby). I am a DERMALOGICA fan but my skin care regime was costing me roughly £360 ever 6 weeks and I just cant do it financially anymore lol.
Today I bought Imane 2 pairs of shoes from Clarks (gota love clarks shoes for kids), as you all know Imane only wears boys stuff, so I had to sadly shop in the boys section :(
Then got her loads of shorts, TShirts, denim jacket, jeans etc (again from boys sections of M&S and H&M). I got 3 new pairs of lovely summer shoes, loads of clothes that will be suitable for parading around in front of Hubby's family. Even my husband got spoilt, Clinique for men skincare, new CottonCool underpants lol and socks .
(I no longer wear Hijab and my husband does not like me to wear it even when I am in UAE..It is very difficult to wear it in my job anyway, I deal with some very uneducated, racist people who often have severe mental health issues and our daily working life is dangerous without having to do a lone home visit to a racist who has a criminal record while my hair is covered...one of my collegues some time ago was kidnapped by a tenant and kept hostage and subjected to sexual abuse for 5 hours, so I do not want to ever put myself in a situation where I am attacked in someones house because they are racist)
While out shopping, I was people watching a bit. As soon as the sun comes out in UK, so do all the sights of summer. Today we had builders bum's galore, ver fat women in transparent white linen trousers with thongs undeneath, so you could see all their dimply flesh wobbling and their butt crack (Yuck, I have a big butt bu no way would I subject the general public to a viewing of it), All the little madams, with skirts up around their ears with those evil fake tans that turn them kind of orange and all the "Chav" single benefit claiming mums pushing the flashest, biggest white/pink or other Chav coloured pram that their £500 maternity grant could buy them (not from UK and not sure what a Chav is, then google it) with their other 5 or 6 kids tagging along.
As well as the above you get the drinkers walking around town clutching their cans of special brew or swigging out of a large bottle of Cider, while swerving all over the pavement drunk as a skunk. Gota love Brighton in the Summer, its pure entertainment.
I am home now, obviously because I am typing away on here. I am sitting wearing my Slendertone Flex Ab Toner belt on full blast, doing 2000 situps while I type and eat a chocolate catapillar. Imane is over the road with her best buddies Nicolas and Felix, hubby is finishing a project for Uni and the cat is sunbathing in the window. I love weekends.
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Beauty Salons in UAE
I used to own quite a large hair and skin care center in Dubai, as I have mentioned on my blog before.
It was on Trade Center Road between Burjuman and the Trade Center.
The basis of the business was treatment rather than somewhere to go to get your face slapped around.
One of the most infuriating things in UAE was the lack of rules on who could run and work in a salon. Basically there were no rules and as I am told, still are no rules. You do not have to be qualified in anyway professionally to offer salon and hair services, which I find totally disgusting.
Here in the UK to become a qualified Beauty Therapist it takes around 3 years at college to achieve your NVQ levels, its hard work. I think UK has some of the most intensive training for therapists anywhere in the world.
To be a good beauty therapist you need to be able to correctly diagnose skin conditions and be able to treat them on the surface, know when to refer someone to a dermatologist and to be able to work out the correct treatment plan and product range for the client. If your not trained how can you do this.
While running the salon and actually working in it hands on as the main therapist I met loads of other salon owners and their staff from the dodgy unprofessional salons that seem to be everywhere in UAE. I once walked into a salon in Karama to see the salon owner sitting over a portable radiator trying to melt the wax covered in some clients hairs, on a fabric wax strip so she could scrape it all off to reuse the strip..YUK, how disgusting is that. The products some of these salons used amazed me, they were cheap, nasty and full of irritating ingrediants. I booked in for one of those 10 treament items for 100 dhs at one salon just to see what was going on. Allah save me, it was the worst experience of my life. To start with the so called therapist did not even ask me anything about my skin, she just began to steam the heck out of my face, started extracting anything on my face that she thought resembled a blackhead (including trying to squeeze a mole off my face), slapped the heck out of it with the most violent facial massage I had ever had. I was then subjected to a face mask which felt like vasaline and finally some very sticky, highly perfumed moisturiser. I came out looking as though someone had slapped me with a frying pan.
In UK you cant not run a salon unless you have professional staff. Companies such as Declor, Guinott, Dermalogica, TIGI etc will not let you use their professional products unless your staff hold a recognised qualification. However in UAE the companies that hold the franchise for professional products sell them to anyone, no qualifications need to be shown.
In my beauty room, before a client had a facial or body treatment, at least 15 - 20 mins was spent talking to the client, asking questions about their skin, analysing it, completing a client skin diagnosis form and finally their skin was mapped. Once this was done I would perform the facial or body treatment to specifically treat the problem they had. Everyone no matter how great their skin looks has a problem or two, be it acne, rosacea, dehydration, excess oiliness, enlarged pores etc etc. Therefore each facial needs to be specific for the skin condition so the client gets the best results possible.
Did you know that if you suffer with acne a therapist should not be slapping your face around during a facial??? You should be having a pressure point massage instead. Often acne can improve from daily gentle exfoliation as a lot of acne cases are caused by an excessive build up of dead skin getting into pores.
Rosacea is another skin condition many people do not realise they have. It causes flushing on forehead and cheeks a bit like a butterfly pattern and often small pustules form under the skin which seem not to break through. Therefore if you have Rosacea the last thing you need is someone to turn on the steamer and then massage your face by roughly slapping and stroking it.
I noticed on my last visit back to UAE that things have still not changed, you have those nasty salons everywhere (normally they call themselves SALOONS). Maybe people find them OK, but in reality your skin is not benefiting in anyway, and being treated incorrectly during a facial can make your skin problem worse.
If you visit a salon for waxing make sure they use either disposable was strips (bit like paper) or you can obviously see they are brand new (fabric ones). Take care to notice the condition of the wax heater also, if you see it all mucky with hairs stuck all over the tin, get the heck out of there.
I wish UAE would bring in proper rules for salons, you would not visit a butcher to get a facelift would you? so why let someone who has no idea about skin or hair (and I mean technical and scientific not how to slap a colour on) touch your face, body or hair.
A good salon will educate you on such things as sun protection, explain the products they are using and how they will benefit you etc etc.
My last bug about UAE and the beauty business is the Beauty Supply shops. Forget the crappy products they sell (they are so awful believe me) its the equipment that worries me. You can walk into somewhere like Nazir Trading and purchase machines without proving you have a qualification. You can use ultrasound, faradic, dermabrasion electrolosis, makeup tatoo machines etc by buying the machine and reading the leaflet that comes with it without any professional training and start using it on clients. That is SO dangerous.
If I come back to UAE I am seriously thinking of opening a very small skin treatment center which specifically treats skin and body problems topically. My brother in law is a plastic surgeon so I am hoping we can work together on this with him prehaps offering non surgical treatments such as botox, fillers when he has time. I love skin and I am passionate about it. I am 44 and have virtually no wrinkles because I take care of my skin, know which products suit my problem (I have had Rosacea since 2006) and protect it from the sun.
When I owned the salon in Dubai I diagnosed at least 2 clients with skin cancer and referred them to a dermatologist who confirmed it (one was a mole on a clients let I noticed during a body scrub, the other was a scab like leasion on a clients neck during a facial). They knew it was there but thought nothing of it, luckily both recieved treatment for it and it was caught before it began to spread and become life threatning.
So if you love going to the salon, spend that little bit extra and make sure your therapist/hairdresser holds a qualification such as NVQ or holds a CIDESCO or BABTAC membership.
It was on Trade Center Road between Burjuman and the Trade Center.
The basis of the business was treatment rather than somewhere to go to get your face slapped around.
One of the most infuriating things in UAE was the lack of rules on who could run and work in a salon. Basically there were no rules and as I am told, still are no rules. You do not have to be qualified in anyway professionally to offer salon and hair services, which I find totally disgusting.
Here in the UK to become a qualified Beauty Therapist it takes around 3 years at college to achieve your NVQ levels, its hard work. I think UK has some of the most intensive training for therapists anywhere in the world.
To be a good beauty therapist you need to be able to correctly diagnose skin conditions and be able to treat them on the surface, know when to refer someone to a dermatologist and to be able to work out the correct treatment plan and product range for the client. If your not trained how can you do this.
While running the salon and actually working in it hands on as the main therapist I met loads of other salon owners and their staff from the dodgy unprofessional salons that seem to be everywhere in UAE. I once walked into a salon in Karama to see the salon owner sitting over a portable radiator trying to melt the wax covered in some clients hairs, on a fabric wax strip so she could scrape it all off to reuse the strip..YUK, how disgusting is that. The products some of these salons used amazed me, they were cheap, nasty and full of irritating ingrediants. I booked in for one of those 10 treament items for 100 dhs at one salon just to see what was going on. Allah save me, it was the worst experience of my life. To start with the so called therapist did not even ask me anything about my skin, she just began to steam the heck out of my face, started extracting anything on my face that she thought resembled a blackhead (including trying to squeeze a mole off my face), slapped the heck out of it with the most violent facial massage I had ever had. I was then subjected to a face mask which felt like vasaline and finally some very sticky, highly perfumed moisturiser. I came out looking as though someone had slapped me with a frying pan.
In UK you cant not run a salon unless you have professional staff. Companies such as Declor, Guinott, Dermalogica, TIGI etc will not let you use their professional products unless your staff hold a recognised qualification. However in UAE the companies that hold the franchise for professional products sell them to anyone, no qualifications need to be shown.
In my beauty room, before a client had a facial or body treatment, at least 15 - 20 mins was spent talking to the client, asking questions about their skin, analysing it, completing a client skin diagnosis form and finally their skin was mapped. Once this was done I would perform the facial or body treatment to specifically treat the problem they had. Everyone no matter how great their skin looks has a problem or two, be it acne, rosacea, dehydration, excess oiliness, enlarged pores etc etc. Therefore each facial needs to be specific for the skin condition so the client gets the best results possible.
Did you know that if you suffer with acne a therapist should not be slapping your face around during a facial??? You should be having a pressure point massage instead. Often acne can improve from daily gentle exfoliation as a lot of acne cases are caused by an excessive build up of dead skin getting into pores.
Rosacea is another skin condition many people do not realise they have. It causes flushing on forehead and cheeks a bit like a butterfly pattern and often small pustules form under the skin which seem not to break through. Therefore if you have Rosacea the last thing you need is someone to turn on the steamer and then massage your face by roughly slapping and stroking it.
I noticed on my last visit back to UAE that things have still not changed, you have those nasty salons everywhere (normally they call themselves SALOONS). Maybe people find them OK, but in reality your skin is not benefiting in anyway, and being treated incorrectly during a facial can make your skin problem worse.
If you visit a salon for waxing make sure they use either disposable was strips (bit like paper) or you can obviously see they are brand new (fabric ones). Take care to notice the condition of the wax heater also, if you see it all mucky with hairs stuck all over the tin, get the heck out of there.
I wish UAE would bring in proper rules for salons, you would not visit a butcher to get a facelift would you? so why let someone who has no idea about skin or hair (and I mean technical and scientific not how to slap a colour on) touch your face, body or hair.
A good salon will educate you on such things as sun protection, explain the products they are using and how they will benefit you etc etc.
My last bug about UAE and the beauty business is the Beauty Supply shops. Forget the crappy products they sell (they are so awful believe me) its the equipment that worries me. You can walk into somewhere like Nazir Trading and purchase machines without proving you have a qualification. You can use ultrasound, faradic, dermabrasion electrolosis, makeup tatoo machines etc by buying the machine and reading the leaflet that comes with it without any professional training and start using it on clients. That is SO dangerous.
If I come back to UAE I am seriously thinking of opening a very small skin treatment center which specifically treats skin and body problems topically. My brother in law is a plastic surgeon so I am hoping we can work together on this with him prehaps offering non surgical treatments such as botox, fillers when he has time. I love skin and I am passionate about it. I am 44 and have virtually no wrinkles because I take care of my skin, know which products suit my problem (I have had Rosacea since 2006) and protect it from the sun.
When I owned the salon in Dubai I diagnosed at least 2 clients with skin cancer and referred them to a dermatologist who confirmed it (one was a mole on a clients let I noticed during a body scrub, the other was a scab like leasion on a clients neck during a facial). They knew it was there but thought nothing of it, luckily both recieved treatment for it and it was caught before it began to spread and become life threatning.
So if you love going to the salon, spend that little bit extra and make sure your therapist/hairdresser holds a qualification such as NVQ or holds a CIDESCO or BABTAC membership.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Not long until our trip back to UAE
We fly end of this month back to UAE
I have missed my husbands family a lot, they are such wonderful people especially my mother-in-law.
My husband is talking about moving back to UAE in the next year or so. I am much older now than when I left, things have changed a lot, I hope I am able to find a job if we move back because I love working, I could not imagine staying home all day. I still have a few contacts there, I would have still had them all if my ex husband had not wiped everyones phone and email's off my mobile while I was in hospital pregnant with Imane.
I am not sure what I would like to do, my background is really in management and Housing Management. I have owned 3 businesses and currently work for the government. Anyway we will see what happens in the next few years. I will probably start another business, its one thing I am good at if you dont mind me blowing my own trumpet lol.
Although when I returned to UAE for the first time last summer, after I was forced to leave in 2004 by my ex husband, I hated what I saw, but I guess part of my heart is still there. I got such a massive shock last summer that my beautiful UAE had become this massive tourist attraction, everything had changed and everyone and their dog seem to now be living there. In my mind I expected it to be as I left it. I still stand by what I said in my post after my last trip back there, about not liking some of the things that go on there, but I was always open about it to my friends when I lived there and I always will dislike those things such as using "Wasta" for personal gain etc and they way people depending on their passport are discriminated against.
We are going for 3 weeks this time so I hope to meet up with old friends as did not have time last visit.
InshaAllah our trip is easy and at least this time the weather will be beautiful, wow how on earth could I forget how hot the summer's used to get, it was a shock to my system last august when I went back.
I have missed my husbands family a lot, they are such wonderful people especially my mother-in-law.
My husband is talking about moving back to UAE in the next year or so. I am much older now than when I left, things have changed a lot, I hope I am able to find a job if we move back because I love working, I could not imagine staying home all day. I still have a few contacts there, I would have still had them all if my ex husband had not wiped everyones phone and email's off my mobile while I was in hospital pregnant with Imane.
I am not sure what I would like to do, my background is really in management and Housing Management. I have owned 3 businesses and currently work for the government. Anyway we will see what happens in the next few years. I will probably start another business, its one thing I am good at if you dont mind me blowing my own trumpet lol.
Although when I returned to UAE for the first time last summer, after I was forced to leave in 2004 by my ex husband, I hated what I saw, but I guess part of my heart is still there. I got such a massive shock last summer that my beautiful UAE had become this massive tourist attraction, everything had changed and everyone and their dog seem to now be living there. In my mind I expected it to be as I left it. I still stand by what I said in my post after my last trip back there, about not liking some of the things that go on there, but I was always open about it to my friends when I lived there and I always will dislike those things such as using "Wasta" for personal gain etc and they way people depending on their passport are discriminated against.
We are going for 3 weeks this time so I hope to meet up with old friends as did not have time last visit.
InshaAllah our trip is easy and at least this time the weather will be beautiful, wow how on earth could I forget how hot the summer's used to get, it was a shock to my system last august when I went back.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
