Only 6 days have passed, yet i've learnt alot of things! so far, hamdan lillah,i've truly enjoyed my stay in Syria. there are so many reasons for falling in love with Syam. wanna know why? meh lah sini datang ke Syria ;)
let me share with u a few experiences of places i've visited so far:
-Ma'radh (Bookfair). this only takes place in August every year. my frens n me were so lucky to have arrived in Damascus just the day before the bookfair ends. personally, i lovelovelove it! banyaaaaaaaaak nah buku. almost never-ending. shops from Lubnan, Egypt, Iran, Oman, and a few other Middle East countries also took part. the best thing: the books were cheap! boleh tawar-menawar lagi. as for me, i even got 2 books balaash (FREE!) at 2 different shops. baik nah kan owners tu? i was asking the price of the book cost, n they simply gave it to me. org tak mintak pun. betol! (=P) on top of that,i bought a few books n a Qur'an as well. (tu pun kene paksa diri to resist temptations to buy a few more books. rambangnye mataaa~ Hida n Juwai dah macam my bodyguards, "helped" me to move away from the bookshops, pasal time dah up. hee)
-Maqam Nabi ALLAH Yahya 'alaihis salaam
-Tempat Sayyidina Abi Hurairah selalu bermukim semasa hayatnya
-Hamra' : to reach this place, my seniors, my frens n me (around 20 of us, including some sisters from Russia and Turkey) had to squeeze into the back of a lorry (here, that's one of the mode of transportation. gerek sgt!! altho a bit menyeramkan coz mcm dah over-loaded. huu~ wanna know why we came to Hamra' (around 30 mins journey from our place) in the first place?
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to buy milkshakes! haa! pelik tapi benar. the seniors were saying how sodap the milkshakes are, n i finally got to taste it then. a "small" glass (small according to the Arabs, padahal gelas tu siket punyer tinggi!) costs ard 75 lira (less than S$3). mine was fraise (strawberry), with mix of bananas, strawberries, and pineapple bits...and NUTELLA! very unique n filling, but it still cannot beat the refreshing Laimun Jameed (frozen Lemon) -my top favourite food here so far- that costs as little as 5 lira for a small cup, n 45 lira for a super big cup. SUKER SGT!!!! si Hida sibuk dah plan nak bukak business jual laimun jamuud pat Singapore bila balik nanti -_-" ni kat bawah gambar some of the budak2 yg tgh makan+minum milkshakes tu. hee~
-after filling up our stomachs with milkshakes, "popcorn Arab" (popcorn dorang setakat jagung tu dorang pop kan, pastu letak garam. setakat~) n jagung rebus arab yang nampak je macam sedap tapi..... , we all rode a van (18 of us, plus 2 drivers = 20 ppl sumbat-ed into the van!), all the way UP to Jabal Qasiyuun. on top of this Mountain, we were all presented with the breathtaking night scenery of the whole of Damascus , beautifully lit up. maasyaAllah, indah sangat pemandangan kat situ, nampak the Jami's (masjid2) yang berselerakan di sekitar Damsyik, berangin pulak tu! tempat sesuai nak tangkap lentok, nak feeling2, nak mengagumi keindahan ciptaan Allah! ^-^ veghee noice~ nak pegi lagi!! there are soooo many masjids! (here, they call them "Jami' instead), each within just around 100 metres from one another, such that when it's time for prayer, the azan from the different jami's overlap one another. coOL~ tak akan miss punyer~
-Suuq Jum'ah (the market very near the place i stay -ni everyday gerenti pass by this market. the fruits, like peaches, cherries, figs, grapes, are very cheap! e.g. i once bought half kilo of cherries for only 25 lira, which is less than S$1! uwau~
-Suuuq Hamidi -a further n much bigger market than the one near my place. here, u can find loads of beauuutiful abayas n cloths. pilihan yang bagus untuk sisters yang bakal mendirikan rumahtangga (hehe).
ok i think that's enough for now. actually there are alot more to be shared, such as the dars n halaqahs going on in the various jami's here (maasyaAllah!), how the people here are very generous with du'a (pergi mana2 ada je org yg du'akan kte =D) ... oh yes, this coming Monday, there's a third orientation for the new S'porean students in Syria. the seniors are going to bring us on a tour to the maqams n more places of interests! weE~
till we meet again, biidznillah. Assalamu'alaikum :)
p.s. alf mabruuk tu ukht Salimah, ukht Noorisma and ukht Siti Khadijah yang bakal mendirikan rumahtangga pada bulan 9, 10 and 11 ni respectively. baarakallaahu fikunna wa fi azwaajikunna :)
salam dearest!!!
UIKS!!!! beshnyer! uwargh!! beta sungguh JELES!! u are one lucky girl! *winkz*
enjoy enjoy tu.. jgn luper pelajaran k dear? you make us all proud dear. *hugz*
i tried sms-ing you the other day. manalah tau awak bawak henpon sekali. kekekeke!! sekali ur sibling yang reply. wakakaka!
ma'as salamah!!
ps: i saw mardhiyah in the pic. *grinz* kirim salam pat dier. rindu banget!