First Day into a New Dimension

14 Safar 1434

Alhamdulillah,

Today is my first day in Eygpt.

For such a long time, I've been wanting to come over to this Ardhul Anbiya'.

InsyaAllah, to set my goal and focus right, I will write down my aims here.

My goals of being in Egypt within this three months:

1. Be fluent in Arabic- for myself so that I can understand Quran. For others so that I can teach and explain Quran to others.
2. Learn Quran- to correct my reading insyaAllah.
3. Learn about Muslims here-how Muslims here differ from non-muslims in Australia
4. Travel a bit and learn of the Seerah
5. Find a Zauj- insyaAllah
6. Find myself.

At about 5.40am, I arrived into Egypt, specifically Cairo.

First thing at the airport, this one made me laugh and a bit annoyed actually at one point. The luggage carousel belt- They are semi-auto or semi-manual whichever you prefer to call it. But The bags actually have to queue and wait for traffic to enter the rotating circle belt. So if the belt is full, unless the bag owner remove their bag from the belt, the next bags can never get onto the belt. Imagine if the bag owners came late and these other bag owners had to wait for the traffic. I was amused, but as I realised it was taking forever and I have friends waiting to fetch me, I felt a bit agitated.

As I got out of the arrivals, I saw a lot of Arab men waiting to fetch people. I stole a few glances hoping to find Sarah, but no hope. There was only one lady in Niqab. She didn't react to me so I assumed she was not Sarah. As I walked pass those men, I felt somehow naked- well, that is how you feel when you walk in a public place and you know that is the 'centre stage', so yeah, I do feel that. Makes me appreciate hijab and niqab more. In my mind, the thought of Egyptian men waiting at the airport to 'seduce' Malay ladies came. Thank you Abah and some other people for giving me such thought. It might haunt me these three months.

Then I saw Sarah, her friend and a Musyrif. In Egypt, most of female Malay students will get Musyrif (a male company) to accompany them when they need to leave the house during night time. Quite convenient for the sisters, and you feel safe as well. But for me who have been used to travelling alone, I feel a bit hard, and also for the Musyrif, they really need a lot of sabr to have to accompany the sisters at night outings. May Allah grant them blessings for their works. We took the cab to Rumah Negeri Sembilan- in Egypt, taking a cab is expensive if you get a quote. Always try to get a metered cab, unless you know the estimate charge.

Egypt today is quite different from the Egypt I used to know when I came 16 years ago. It used to be less developed, except for the tourism spots. And the muslim female used to wear less colours- they are more fashionable and modern now. Some in a good way, but some I may say are not very pleasing to the eyes. The hustling and bustling of the vehicles on the road are just insane. You will hear honking every other second. But that hasn't changed since I was 5. If you are scared of crossing the road in Malaysian roads, you won't survive here.

From Rumah Negeri Sembilan in Sabi' area, we left for Abasiyyah, Sarah's place. Then I fell asleep at 10.30am. We promised to go out to get my money changed and buy a sim card for myself after Dzuhr but when I woke up, it was already 3pm. Jetlag-obviously. So, we got ready for the Smart Cirle- sort of a halaqah that Malaysian students here have and as usual, there will be FOOD! Egypt is fruit heaven-alhamdulillah. The fruit cocktail is probably my food of the day for today, you can get it from most fruit shops. This one is a combination of kiwi, apple, pear, strawberry and banana-heaven!

That night, we took the van taxi back to Azhar area. As we were waiting for the Musyrif to get us from the side street, I heard the Athan for Isya'. MasyaAllah, I think I cried- but it was night and dark, no one saw me. Perhaps because I missed the sound of athan. Have only been hearing athan from phones and laptops.

When I get home (the Negeri Sembilan House), I felt asleep again, and woke up at almost 12. Now I'm wide awake- 7am Malaysia. Hopefully my biological clock adjusts soon...

(Sorry, too lazy to upload photos)