It's been a long time

So I don't know who reads this any more due to my lack of maintence. I was getting a bit down on writing things because...well sitting in one place doesn't provide a lot of things to write about...until recently. A few weeks back, as i mentioned, I went to Amsterdam after dealing with the wonderful people at Egypt Air and the Cairo airport. Day two was sucsessful and I met up with my parents at the airport. It was so good to see them after being away for 7 months or so. We enjoyed our time quite a bit. We had a good dinner the first night and then the second day I tried to find them at a flower park which was huge! Finding Older people at a Older people tourist attraction is like finding a flower with four pedals instead of five amongst 1000 flowers with five pedals. But alas...we found each other and enjoyed the day together looking at flowers and eating soup. I actually liked taking pictures of the flowers and landscapes. It was quite different from the rugged terrain of the desert.

I then met up with My sister There and her partner Jen while my parents finished their cruise. We did quite a bit of shopping and seeing the more urban side of Amsterdam. I really enjoyed their company as well. We said goodbye to the folks at the airport and then ate lots of frites and watched wolverine and had some real nice north African food. We also stayed in the original Harlem which was pretty cool as well. I realized that I must be Dutch somewhere in the blood line because everyone thought I was dutch and automatically spoke to me in the language. We took a tour of the red light district as well which I have to say is a really strange thing after being in Muslim countries for the past half of the year. I couldn't figure out whether to be happy that the women were in safer environments or be upset that prostitution exists at all. Ah well..I made it through all the pot smoke and peep shows and moved on to part two of my European side trip.

I hadn't told many people...but I met someone back in early February. Her name is Shaista. She currently lives in Sweden. She's Pakastani, speaks perfect American English, teaches, has a degree in Comparative religions and is very active in the Swedish community in dealing with interactions and awareness of the Islamic community. Man what a score! So as things move very quickly in Islam I decided to visit her in Sweden since I would be pretty close in Amsterdam. I should say more like visit her family as they have the biggest say so ... after her of course. But if Mom and Dad don't like you...it's a no go. Her brother and I hit it off well as we are both into music and such. And So did Shasita and I for that matter. That was the first time we actually saw each other. Things are done so differently in Islamic culture compared to the West. I am confident in how they are done now that i have been around the religion and culutre so much but it really is hard for the western mind to wrap around commiting yourself to some one you don't really know. I was so used to dating and the long process it takes for two people to be ready to commit to each other. But it doesn't work that way in Islam. Sure you'll find the spectrum of people and how they go about their lives but most Muslim sisters I know don't want to mess around with the potential for heart break. It can be a loaded gun as the man isn't always the dream the women thought he was going to be. But what I've found is that what Muslim sisters want most is commitment...and I think any woman really. Not just commitment but loyalty and devotion in the worldly sense of the word. To make a long story short...you all are invited to the wedding : )

Talk about a life changing journey huh?