2nd week

My wish for things to slow down did not come true and there are no signs of things slowing down any time soon. This is my first time at home alone for couple of hours and I have the chance to write. A friend that is working in the same department with Naim has been giving us a ride every morning to school. He has such a positive attitude and the girls love to talk to him on the way about their day and what is going on. Na'im and Payam are taking the girls to school this morning and I will follow soon.

So much is going on just with the girls school, I am not sure where to start. The main thing is they still have their positive attitude and are still smiling. They both had a night where they cried while we were putting them to bed and were asking to go home, but most of the times they are very happy. The school is so different here with so much work and preparation... not to mention buying the books, suuplies and getting the books all re-covered with decorative paper (everyone does that here). The day-to-day responsibilities are a lot. They have so many books. They also don’t leave anything in school so every day they have to take with them the books they need for their schedule for that day. They are using the muscles they built in their Karate class to carry the bags up the stairs to get to school.

For the girls it is all new and they are learning both Arabic and Hebrew at school. I asked Nadia the first day how her class was. She said not bad. I said what was the hardest part?. She smiled and said I spent all day trying to keep my eyes open in class; the teacher talked all day and to me it sounded like bla, bla, bla,.. and I did not understand a word. Then, Yasmeen said it is bad enough that I am trying to learn Arabic and can't understand it, my Hebrew teach talks only in Hebrew and then to be nice she explain few things in Arabic and I have no idea what is going on. The good thing is they both really like their classmates and their teachers. The other kids in their classes have been really supportive. And, the Baha’i friends have been life-savers. Two moms especially have been taking care of us and helping a lot. Both moms have kids Yasmeen’s age plus other kids. One of them lives couple of minutes from the school. The girls love to go to her house all the time. Things would have been really tough if it was not for them.

I guess you figured out by now that we still do not have a car. Buying a car here not as easy as going down to the car dealer and giving them money and picking up a car. Ohh no, we had to wait for our visa and then we had to wait to find an agent who can speak English and then we figure out which car we want and pay the money then we wait two weeks at least to get the car from the port. I can’t believe I said it but, when Naim asked what car we should get, I knew exactly which one I wanted when we went to the dealer... but I had my priority straight and my choice was the one we can get with shortest wait. We are almost there Naim is paying for it today and hope to be able to have a car in about two weeks.

Now about the move. I think I said before that the area we are in is really nice however, to be close to the other friends, the kids’ school and work we were thinking about moving closer. Couple of days ago I took the girls to school and went to meet Naim at lunch. How I got there I will tell you later. We were suppose to discuss if we wanted to move or stay where we are and I was going to update him on other flats (appartments) that I went and saw the day before. The conversation was very short because we received a phone call 10 minutes after I got to his office saying that we received our household shipment from the US and we got the visa and that it will be delivered in an hour or two to our flat. So, we had to run get a taxi and arrange for someone to come and pick up the furniture that we already had in the house so the movers can move our thing into the house. Fortunatly everyone was so helpful and came through for us, so that it was possible to coordinate everything at the last minute. The short version is we made it and are still alive. The furniture is in the house but I will not get into the detail of how we got the large furniture up a narrow stairs into a small doors with no elevator. But with a miracle all things are in the house.

The house is really starting to look nice and looking more like home. The girls were so happy last night to sit and eat dinner at our dinning table. We got the washer and dryer working. Nadia slept in her bunk bed and wake up with a big smile. Yasmeen put her music box (the one Nesreen gave her) to go to sleep.

After school almost everyday we have private tutor that works with the kids mainly on their Arabic. Saturday is the only day they have no school or tutor since we will be starting Bahá’í children classes in a week or so. To make up for all the study we been more flexable with ice cream, chocolate and going out more often to beach or mall or other things that they enjoy, whenever we get the chance.

Last thing I want to tell you about is how I made it from the kids school to Naim’s work. I found a gate that leads to the Baha'i terrace gardens next door to the kids’ school gate. After I dropped them off and talked a little to the teachers I went down the street to the the gate and walked in from Abbas street for those of you who were here before. It was early in the morning. It took me about two hours to get to Naim’s work at the CST building. If there is such a thing as heaven on earth it would have been that walk. It is amazing how you could get out of the crowded school and noise of the city, and within a minute be into the gardens of peace. Half way up, when I had a clear view of the Shrine of the Bab, I sat down two terraces below; the sound of the water flowing and the birds singing was breath taking. I brought a book to read but could not pass the first page because every time I started reading I heard an amazing sound that made me I look up and see different type of bird... so close, so real. I sat there and ate my Man’o’sha that I brought from home with a bottle of water and then continued my walk. In my mind I could really see my dad at every part of that mountain.

I guess this post is long enough to make up for not writing for a several days. Please email us and keep us updated with things at your end.